Make a Fortune and Become Well-off [90] - Chapter 102

The Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau did not work on weekends, so Jiang Ning stayed in the hospital with Grandpa Jiang. He kept urging her, “Aren’t you here to compete? Go to your competition. You don’t need to stay with me here. I’m fine.”

Others came to the hospital to see a doctor, but Grandpa Jiang came to the hospital to stay.

He was not seriously ill. He could eat, walk, and take care of himself. He looked around the whole hospital and chatted with people in a dialect that others couldn’t understand. When he met people, he always said, “My eldest granddaughter brought me here.”

“My eldest granddaughter is here for a competition.”

“She got a prize.”

“First Prize.”

He chatted with everyone happily, but it was a pity that others didn’t understand what he said, but he didn’t care. He just walked and looked around.

The entire hospital exuded a sense of high-end that was not found in their small mountain village.

These were all his bragging rights when he returned to the village. He had been admitted to a big hospital in a big city. It wasn’t until Monday when the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau opened that Jiang Ning finally told Grandpa Jiang that she was going to the competition.

“Go ahead and have good luck.”

Jiang Ning took the contract and other materials to the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. After paying various fees, she was given a list and asked to come to the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau to get the real estate certificate in half a month with her ID card and the list.

In other words, Jiang Ning still had to take a day off later.

She asked if the real estate certificate could be left at the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau for the time being and she could come over to pick it up after the winter vacation. The staff of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau said, “You can rest assured that the real estate certificate is safe with us. You can come and get it anytime.”

Jiang Ning was on vacation during the winter vacation, but the people at the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau had to continue working, so she didn’t have to ask for leave anymore.

She originally wanted Grandpa Jiang to stay in the hospital for a few more days, but he disagreed and insisted on going back with her. The hospital also said that he could be discharged and prescribed some medicine for Grandpa Jiang to take on time and in the right amount. “Just come back for a follow-up in two months.”

When Grandpa Jiang heard it, he wondered if he could come two months later when Jiang Ning reminded him, “Grandpa, I still have the finals.”

On the way back, Jiang Ning took the opportunity to ask him when his mountain patrol job starts and ends every year. “Is it New Year’s Day?” Jiang Ning asked, pretending to be curious.

“It starts at the beginning of the year and ends at the end of the year. We can go to the brigade headquarters for the pay at the end of New Year’s Day.” Grandpa Jiang stretched out his hand as he thought that he would get this year’s salary soon, and then he could pay the tuition for his eldest granddaughter. He touched the wolfskin hat and was very happy.

It was rainy in winter, and it happened to be rainy on the day they went back. It got dark early in winter, and it was gray when they arrived in Wucheng. There was no bus back, so Jiang Ning asked Grandpa Jiang to stay in Wucheng for one night.

She didn’t dare to take Grandpa Jiang to Wang Yong, fearing that he would misunderstand their relationship, so she found a hotel near the school for him to stay.

Well, Wang Yong happened to come over and tell her that there was a store for rent not far away, diagonally opposite No. 1 High School, and asked her if she wanted it.

That store was originally a milk tea business. He thought the business would be very good since there were two schools nearby. However, it turned out that there was no business at all. The original tenant could no longer continue his business. It was the end of the year, the winter vacation was about to begin, and the school was even more deserted. The tenants simply stopped renting, returned the rent, and went home.

Because it was a milk tea store, the things in the store were extremely simple, with a few tables, a few chairs, and a wooden bar. The store owner called for a tricycle and took them away.

The store was quickly cleared out.

Business on that street was not good. People who wanted to rent a store would rather set up a stall in the next street than rent a store on this street. The rent of the store was very low and there was no transfer fee.

Jiang Ning thought for a while and said, “Please help me ask the landlord if this store is for sale, and if so, how much will it cost?”

Because the store was not far away, and she still had time before evening self-study, she and Wang Yong went to the store together.

The landlord of the store lived nearby. After they shouted a few times at the door, the neighbor selling chicken cakes next door heard them and asked, “Are you here to rent the shop?” He turned around and shouted loudly to the community behind him, “Dagui, Dagui, someone came to see the shop. Qiao Xin, call him.”

The girl who was called Qiao Xin also shouted upstairs, “Uncle Gui, someone has come to visit your shop.”

“Coming!”

Soon a man in his forties ran out of the back room without holding an umbrella because he was so close. As he ran over, he said, “The store is good and has been tidied up. Look.” 

He opened the door of the store from inside and came out. What they saw was a clean white wall and a white floor. There were a few wet footprints on the floor that the landlord had just stepped on.

The previous tenant of the store rented it to run a milk tea business. He originally thought that since there were two nearby schools right next to each other and there were many students, the business would be very good. However, it turned out that the two schools had exactly the same style, and they both detained the students in the school. No one was allowed to come out. The remaining local students came to study at six in the morning and did self-study in the evening until 9:30 at night. When they opened the shop, there was no one at the door. They only occasionally saw the students after school. During self-study, some came over to buy a cup of milk tea, but the money earned was not enough to pay the rent every month.

Seeing that the end of the year was coming, students would be on winter vacation in two months, and the school would be even more deserted. The original tenants couldn’t continue their business, so they simply stopped renting and returned home.

Her home was also local to Wucheng, not far away. The milk tea store at that time did not have various decorations like the franchise stores of later generations. The furnishings in her store were very simple, with a wooden bar, a few tables and chairs, and the store owner called for a tricycle, took his items, and set off, ready to find another shop.

The landlord had a terrible headache. After his store was cleared, no one rented it at all. The stores next to it were the same. Since the store couldn’t be rented out, he opened a small store to sell chicken cakes. Fortunately, his chicken cakes were quite delicious. Students from the next street occasionally came to buy some to take home, and old neighbors also came to buy. Whatever they could sell was a pure profit.

There were also people selling homemade sweet potato rice candies, biscuits, and other snacks nearby. If they couldn’t sell them, they would set up a stall at the gate of Wuzhong No. 1 High School. When students went out of school at noon and evening, they would come over to the main hall across the school. The iron gates were bought from them, and then there was some business.

Because they had been neighbors for many years, they only came to sell after the morning study session and after school at noon. They returned to the store at other times, and the watchman did not chase them away.

Most of the things that were sold were sold to nearby stores. The landlord’s wife originally wanted to open a boutique to sell girls’ hairpins, hairpins, etc., but she couldn’t sell them. Later, she and the surrounding neighbors bought some snacks and other food, but no one bought them. Eventually, they simply rented out the shop. Not only did they not have to worry about it, but they also collected rent every month.

Unexpectedly, the store was rented out every year, but within half a year, it was emptied again.