A whirlwind marriage with a high-ranking official: Lights out, don't force me to take the initi

When Ye Wenxi arrived at the clothing store, Lang Yuqin and Zhang Yunxia were tidying up the enamel basins used to hold the vegetables at noon.

"Wenxi's here?" Lang Yuqin looked up and asked, "Have you had lunch yet?"

"I've already eaten; I ate at home before coming here."

Lang Yuqin wiped her hands on her apron: "The pot of braised fish and cabbage you asked me to stew, I put it on the stove this morning when I left home. It's been stewing all day, I reckon it'll be just right for your dinner. Should I bring it to your house tonight, or somewhere else?"

Ye Wenxi slapped his forehead: "Oh dear, I completely forgot about that!"

Ye Wenxi enjoyed this stewed crispy fish so much last time that she asked Lang Yuqin to stew another pot for her today, so that her family could try it together.

"Aunt Lang, could you please deliver this to Unit 4 of my building? My parents are visiting, and I want them to try your cooking."

"Oh, you're bringing this for your in-laws again? You're so filial! You just made braised pork a few days ago, and today you're bringing stewed fish." Lang Yuqin smiled, her eyes crinkling into slits. "Alright, alright, I'll deliver it to your apartment near unit four after get off work. You can wait there?"

"Oh, thank you so much, Aunt Lang."

"What trouble! You're paying me, aren't you? I'm earning money, why would I be afraid of trouble?" Lang Yuqin waved her hand and walked towards the door with the enamel basin in her hand.

Ye Wenxi turned around and looked for Zhang Yunxia.

Zhang Yunxia was organizing the interview notes from the morning when she saw her coming over. She handed the notebook forward and said, "Come on, let's talk about the interviews."

"I finished calling those people this morning," Ye Wenxi said, pulling up a chair to sit down. "I've scheduled two interviews for them."

One is Xie Linfeng, tomorrow afternoon; the other is Feng Guizhi, the day after tomorrow afternoon.

"I know Feng Guizhi, she seems to be a veteran from the factory," Zhang Yunxia nodded. "I've talked to four others here, one of them is alright, named Liu Degui, also a veteran from some factory. I'm just wondering, why aren't these factory veterans working there anymore?"

"What factory does that Liu Degui work for?" Ye Wenxi turned to ask Zhang Yunxia.

Zhang Yunxia glanced through the interview records: "It seems to be a garment factory in Fujin County."

"That Feng Guizhi seems to work at this factory too," Ye Wenxi frowned. "Did something happen to their factory?"

Zhang Yunxia shook her head: "I didn't ask any details, I just said I was quitting and would ask again when the other person arrived. So, about this Liu Degui, will you interview him or should I?"

"You're more familiar with sewing than I am, so you handle the dough. If you think it's okay, I'll talk to him again," Ye Wenxi said.

"Okay." Zhang Yunxia put away her notebook, then suddenly remembered something, "By the way, that Xie Linfeng... is he from Hong Kong?"

"He's not from Gangcheng," Ye Wenxi laughed. "He's from Harbin. He went to Gangcheng with his aunt when he was a teenager. He was never able to settle down there, and his status was hanging in the balance, so he couldn't stay."

"Now that the mainland has opened up, he has come back. Moreover, he has been exposed to a lot of international designs in Hong Kong, which broadens his horizons and is perfect for filling the gap in our field."

"That's good." Zhang Yunxia nodded, then turned to another page. "By the way, Xiaoxue called this morning. She said she's arrived in Harbin and checked into a guesthouse. She's looking at the candidate addresses you gave her, one by one. She can give you a general overview when she gets back tonight."

Ye Wenxi hummed in agreement and was about to speak when Zhang Yunxia added, "But I noticed her voice was a little hoarse, so I asked her if she had a cold, and she said she was fine."

"Oh dear, I heard her sneezing a couple of days ago!" Ye Wenxi frowned. "She probably caught a chill that rainy day. Is it serious?"

She said she was fine...

"Did you write down the guesthouse's phone number?"

"I've got it, but she should be looking at apartments out right now. I won't be able to contact her until tonight."

Ye Wenxi nodded: "I'll call her tonight."

Harbin, Qiulin Subdistrict.

Wang Yingxue stood in front of a street-facing shop, holding a notebook in one hand and a measuring tape in the other.

Accompanying her was Sister Liang, a military wife in her early forties who had been temporarily transferred from the mutual aid society. She was responsible for helping her with counting and assisting her.

Zhou, an officer from the Housing Bureau, took out his key, unlocked the door, and pushed it inside: "Comrade Wang, take a look at this room. We just took this house back. It used to be the small auditorium for this block, where we held cultural events and meetings."

"Later, a new auditorium was built in Qiulin, and this place became vacant. The overall structure is still intact, but the interior needs to be rearranged."

Wang Yingxue nodded, took out her camera from her bag, and started snapping photos as soon as she entered the room.

She started walking slowly from the doorway, her eyes scanning every inch of space like radar.

The house was quite deep, square, and about fifty square meters. She walked to the innermost part, turned around, looked up, and exclaimed in surprise.

"This is so high..." she squinted.

"Close to five meters," said Zhou, the clerk, "It used to be an auditorium, so the ceiling height is quite high."

Wang Yingxue raised her camera and snapped a picture of the ceiling.

Then we walked to the walls on both sides, pointed the camera at the walls, where there were traces of old wooden beams and repaired nail holes.

"Officer Zhou, was a second floor added to this house before?" she asked, pointing to the marks on the wall.

"Yes, we did." Officer Zhou leaned over to take a look. "It used to be the auditorium, right? We built a small mezzanine, but it was all torn down when we cleared the area. If you want to add another floor if you rent it again, you'll have to get approval."

Wang Yingxue nodded and snapped a few more photos.

She handed the measuring tape to Sister Liang and then began to measure the dimensions: length, width, height, door and window positions, and column spacing, noting them down in her notebook.

"The lighting is quite good." Wang Yingxue pushed open a window, and the afternoon sunlight poured in, making the dust on the ground appear white.

"This street has a good flow of people. Qiulin Company is to the north, and Qibai is to the south. Most of the places in Harbin that sell good things are gathered here," said Director Zhou.

Wang Yingxue walked to the door and then looked back at the overall layout.

Ye Wenxi had explained her strategy: first look at the three best ones, then carefully measure their area, structure, and dimensions to determine the baseline.

If any of the houses we look at after this one are clearly inferior to this one, we can just pass on them and not waste time comparing them in detail.

So Wang Yingxue directly picked the one with the best location and the largest area to look at first.

In those days, apart from large department stores and long-established state-run restaurants, the area of ​​street-front shops generally did not exceed 100 square meters.

Shops selling fabrics and providing tailoring services are considered large if they are 40 or 50 square meters; 20 or 30 square meters are more common.

This old auditorium is over 120 square meters, square in shape, and has a five-meter-high ceiling; it's the first of its kind on this street.

"Officer Zhou," Wang Yingxue said, putting her camera back into her bag, "how much is the monthly rent for this apartment?"

"It's 16 cents per square meter," Zhou calculated, "and the monthly rent is probably less than 20."

Wang Yingxue wrote the number down in her notebook, then looked up at the high ceiling.

Five meters means that two more floors can be added, which can significantly increase the actual usable area, making it a worthwhile investment.

"Okay, thank you, Officer Zhou." She closed her notebook. "Let's take another look, and I'll double-check the dimensions."

"Okay, you see, I'll wait outside." Zhou nodded, turned around and went out the door.

Wang Yingxue and Xiao Zhou measured several key dimensions again and checked the data. Sister Liang was taking notes when she suddenly heard Wang Yingxue cough twice.

At first it was just a light cough, but it got worse and worse and wouldn't stop, with a gurgling sound coming from its trachea.

Wang Yingxue's face turned bright red. She bent over, one hand supporting herself against the wall, the other covering her mouth, coughing so hard that her whole body was shaking.

"Xiaoxue, are you alright?" Sister Liang put down her notebook and went over to help her.