She Only Cares About Cultivation

Not sure if it’s the luck brought by Anning, but in the afternoon after class, when selling eggs (since newborns mostly eat, drink, and sleep, there’s still time to run errands), a middle-aged man approached her: "I heard you’re looking to buy a house?"

An Yi looked at him cautiously: "Not strictly buying, renting is fine too. Do you have a place?"

The man chuckled, "Follow me."

Eventually, she was led to a well-decorated tavern.

"This is my family’s tavern. Due to the merger of public and private sectors, among other reasons, we donated it to the state. The backyard is my home, a small courtyard: three rooms in the hall, one room on each side, a courtyard in the middle, and a water well. If you want to buy, come take a look inside. If not, forget I mentioned it. We are only selling, not renting because my whole family is moving to Beijing, so we decided to sell this property."

Upon hearing about the courtyard, An Yi was intrigued. After looking inside, she realized it was separated from the tavern by a road. Despite being called a small courtyard, it totaled around 400 square meters, which wasn’t small; it was actually quite large, with a water well, electrical wiring, and even running water. Its location in Dingyuan County was quite good.

"Do you have the property deed?" Immediately, the man pulled out a document from a synthetic leather bag, encased in a hard folder, and stamped with the bright red seal of Dingyuan County Housing Authority, indicating it’s a new property deed issued after the founding of New China, acknowledged by the state.

After reviewing the deed, An Yi looked around the courtyard to find that everything had been moved out, "Is your whole family relocating?"

"Yes, I work in Beijing, and the old man and Old Lady are here. It’s too far to commute back and forth, so we’re relocating them too. Managing the tavern was not our interest, so we handed it over to the state. But this ancestral property, they couldn’t bear to donate it. Still, they know they’re likely going to retire in Beijing. I’m the only son. It’s with a heavy heart they’re selling. If you want to buy, it’ll be five hundred yuan, we can transfer it today. But don’t say it’s a sale; just say you’re my sister, and I’ll transfer it to you. You get what I’m saying?"

An Yi raised an eyebrow, surprised at how meticulous this middle-aged man was.

"We can’t have any receipts between us. You give me the money, I transfer the property to you—this is the promise. If you trust me, we’ll proceed this way; if not, forget it."

This man really paid attention to detail, possibly to avoid leaving any evidence, as this involves a large sum of money.

Even though transactions are free now, to avoid unnecessary trouble, or perhaps because he works in a government department and knows some insider information, he offers this kind reminder.

"Trust me, I do this so both of us can cleanly and quickly end things, without being dragged down by unnecessary items!"

"What if your relatives come to me saying I’m not the real kin and want to take the house back?"

"No, not only does my family have no relatives, even if we did, this is our house. Once transferred to you, it’s yours, and irrelevant to others. What the government acknowledges is the deed, not what others say. Rest assured, if I’m selling, I’m severing all roots, so we won’t have entanglements in the future. Maybe you don’t understand now, but you surely will later."

Looks like this man truly knows a bit of inside information. Given that, An Ran pursed her lips: "Could tomorrow afternoon work?"

"Let’s do it today, they haven’t clocked out yet. If you don’t have enough money on hand, you can give it to me in batches. Let’s handle the transfer first; I don’t want to coordinate this again. I’m in a hurry to leave, if all else fails, you could wire the money."

An Yi was incredulous: "You really believe I can come up with that money?"

The man chuckled, "Of course, I’ve been watching you closely. Standing outside the door, you must have already estimated a value."

If she dared to enter, she must have some assurance?

Five hundred thousand, just like five hundred yuan in New Coins, buying a house like this is a real bargain.

"Since you put it that way, should I indicate a bit of interest and negotiate the price?"

The man chuckled, "Sure, since you’re straightforward, I’ll be too—four hundred fifty thousand, how about that?"