sbdcsierra Chapter 1740 Buying a House in the City
Chapter 1740 Buying a House in the City
Chapter 1740 Buying a House in the City
The photo studio has two floors and looks to be over 200 square meters. Its area is far smaller than the department store across the street, but the supermarket that Zhao Jun wants to open mainly sells daily necessities and some foods that can be stored for a long time, such as snacks, instant noodles, and sausages.
He doesn't sell home appliances, fruits, or vegetables, and he doesn't make pastries in the shop, so he doesn't need that much space.
This two-story building has enough space: the upper floor sells daily necessities, and the lower floor sells snacks.
Of course, Zhao Jun didn't just decide to open a supermarket here on a whim because the house was for sale; he had his own ideas.
First, set up the supermarket here, right across from the department store. The department store has people coming and going every day, which will bring in customers.
Zhao Jun is not afraid of competition because, according to his and Zhao Weipeng's plan, all the goods sold in their supermarket will be priced more reasonably than those in department stores.
For ordinary people, the main thing is to be thrifty. If the same thing is cheaper in the supermarket and there is a buy-two-get-one-free promotion, who would go to the department store to buy it?
Another issue is service. Although department stores in Northeast China don't have that classic sign that says "Do not beat customers without cause," their service attitude is still poor.
Zhao Jun knew what kind of service he should provide to customers, and opening the supermarket here would allow him to compete with the department store across the street.
Of course, opening a shop across from a department store will definitely make you hated.
This aligns with Zhao Weipeng's consideration that the problem of local gang members causing trouble can be addressed together.
Actually, this is easy to solve. Just walk 100 meters east from the photo studio and you'll find the police station. What kind of wicked person would come here to cause trouble right next to a police station?
Another point is that the road where the photo studio and department store are located is called Forestry Road. If you walk west to the end of the road, you will find the back gate of the Shanhe Forestry Bureau compound.
Li Chunming, the head of the security section of the Shanhe Forestry Bureau, was a good friend of Zhao Youcai. The two had once braved ice and snow, traveling day and night to hunt down Siberian tigers. During that time, they forged a deep friendship.
Especially during the later pursuit of Black Tiger, Zhao Youcai saved the lives of the four members of the Tiger-hunting Team.
With this kind of relationship, you can't even protect a supermarket?
Looking at the photo studio, Zhao Jun had already made his plans. He would go to the Forestry Bureau and find someone to connect him to an internal forestry line. That way, it would be convenient to call either the Forestry Bureau or Yong'an.
Zhao Jun thought it over and over and it seemed more and more reliable. Just then, he heard Li Baoyu's voice behind him: "Brother, what are you looking at? Come in."
"Yes," Zhao Jun replied, and stepped into the photo studio, followed closely by Ma Ling, Li Baoyu, and Liu Mei.
When Zhao Jun entered the room, he saw the same boss sitting behind the counter.
At that moment, a man was sitting outside the counter, blocking the photo studio owner's view.
The photo studio owner leaned to the left, and seeing that someone had indeed come in, he quickly stood up and greeted Zhao Jun, saying, "Come on, let's take a picture?"
"No photos, just film development," Zhao Jun said, glancing around the room.
The first floor has a counter, a backdrop, a darkroom with the door tightly closed, and it seems there are two other rooms, which may be the living quarters and warehouse of the photography studio owner.
At this moment, the man in black sitting outside the counter stood up and said to the photo studio owner, "Then I'll head back now."
"Hey, come over when you have time," the photo studio owner replied, taking the envelope Zhao Jun handed him.
The envelope contained rolls of film. The shopkeeper was about to ask something when Zhao Jun spoke first.
"Master," Zhao Jun looked up and glanced at the ceiling, asking, "This house is for sale? Where is the owner?"
At that moment, the man in black who had just reached the door stopped in his tracks.
As the man in black turned to look at Zhao Jun, the shop owner pointed at him and said, "Isn't the landlord here?"
Zhao Jun turned around, smiled, nodded to the man in black, and then said, "Is this house all owned by someone else? Are you selling the whole thing?"
Although both the upper and lower floors had signs saying "For Sale," Zhao Jun needed to find out more. Because these days, some houses are strange; the four walls are privately owned, but the roof is public property.
“It’s for one person, the whole building is for sale.” After answering Zhao Jun’s question, the man in black asked in return, “You want to buy it?”
"Yes, I want to buy it." As soon as Zhao Jun said this, Ma Ling nervously grabbed Zhao Jun's arm, while Li Baoyu and Liu Mei looked at Zhao Jun in surprise.
It's just developing film, why do you need to buy someone else's house?
“Well, I happen to be home today.” The man in black invited Zhao Jun, “Let’s take a look upstairs and downstairs. If you like something, we can chat about other things.”
"Okay, that's great." Zhao Jun replied, while the man in black turned to the photo studio owner and said, "Old Xu, show this young man around your studio."
"Okay, sure." The photo studio owner said, holding up the envelope to Zhao Jun, "I'll put this in my cabinet for you first."
"We can pay first and get a receipt," Zhao Jun said, walking towards the counter.
When paying and receiving the receipt, the photo studio owner instructed Zhao Jun: "Next time you come to pick up the photos, take the ticket to the south street, find number 53, and it will still be under my sign."
After saying that, he tore off the bottom sheet and gave it to Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun carefully put the item away, then followed the photo studio owner and the landlord to see the floor.
This floor has a film developing darkroom, two bedrooms, and a kitchen. The owner's family lives here, except that his wife went to work and his son and daughter went to school today.
There was also a large room used as a storage room, piled with backdrops and other things used in the photography studio, as well as some daily necessities.
"How big is this floor?" Zhao Jun asked. The homeowner replied, "Over 140 square meters."
These days, everyone talks about building area.
Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Then let's go upstairs and take a look."
The photo studio owner didn't go upstairs with them; the landlord took Zhao Jun outside and onto the outer staircase.
As Zhao Jun walked up the stairs, he frowned, feeling that the stairs were affecting the business upstairs.
The upstairs room was divided into eight rooms, one of which was a kitchen, and the rest were bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms were furnished, while the other five were empty.
Before Zhao Jun and his three companions could ask anything, the landlord said, "The leases for these rooms expired, so I had them vacate them. These two are where my family lives."
"Ah..." Zhao Jun peeked into each room, when he heard the homeowner ask him, "Young man, are you buying this house to live in yourself?"
“I want to start a business,” Zhao Jun said, walking towards the door. “This staircase is… not well done.”
"What's there to be afraid of?" the landlord said. "There are no stairs, how are you going to get upstairs?"
As he spoke, the homeowner pointed out the window to the department store across the street and said, "Doesn't that store have stairs too?"
"Isn't the staircase inside?" Zhao Jun asked. The homeowner replied, "Isn't this our own home? It would be such a nuisance to put the staircase on the first floor."
Hearing the homeowner's words, Zhao Jun didn't say anything more about the stairs, because he knew there was nothing he could do about it.
Then, Zhao Jun asked the homeowner, "How much are you selling this house for?"
"Forty-eight thousand." The landlord stated the price, and Zhao Jun was taken aback. Then he heard the landlord ask him, "Isn't that cheap?"
"You're kidding me," Zhao Jun laughed. "What's so cheap about it? How much does a two-bedroom, one-kitchen apartment in the Forestry Bureau's staff housing cost?"
“My house is huge!” the homeowner exclaimed. “How many two-bedroom, one-kitchen rooms are there in total?”
"Can you calculate it like that?" Zhao Jun laughed, "They have running water and sewage systems there, but you..."
At this point, Zhao Jun suddenly thought of a very important question and hurriedly asked the homeowner, "Where do you get your domestic water?"
It's one thing to not have running water or a toilet these days, but people usually go to public toilets anyway.
But after looking around, Zhao Jun realized that there was no running water in the house. So how would they get water for daily use?
Even if Zhao Jun doesn't come to the supermarket once it opens, the supermarket employees still need water.
"There's a well behind here," the homeowner said, and Zhao Jun quickly went to the south window to look down.
After glancing at it, Zhao Jun asked, "Where is it? Whose is it?"
“Look at my own hand pump,” the homeowner said, pointing down below. “Look, that’s the boiler room. The hand pump was drilled over there.”
"Then show me around," Zhao Jun said, glancing down as he spoke.
The photo studio on the first floor faces north, and behind it, on the south side, is a small room, which is the boiler room the owner mentioned.
Although it's in the city, there's no central heating, so you have to keep warm yourself in winter.
Zhao Jun and his three companions followed the landlord downstairs, with Ma Ling holding Zhao Jun's arm tightly. She didn't know what Zhao Jun was going to do and wanted to advise him to think twice before acting, but in front of outsiders, Ma Ling was afraid that giving her opinion would make Zhao Jun lose face.
Even more worried than Ma Ling was Li Baoyu. He had been busy these past few days and hadn't spent much time with Zhao Jun. He didn't know what Zhao Jun was up to and thought his brother was going to buy a house and move to the city.
The thought of separating from Zhao Jun made Li Baoyu feel even more complicated than Ma Ling's feelings.
"Come on, take a look." The landlord led Zhao Jun and the other three to the boiler room. He opened the door, and what came into view was a handcart.
The homeowner pulled out a handcart and made room for Zhao Jun to go inside.
When Zhao Jun entered the room, he saw that the boiler room was not large, only about twelve or thirteen square meters. On one side was the boiler, and on the other side was the hand pump.
At this moment, Zhao Jun gestured towards the door and asked the homeowner, "Is that the cart that pushes coal?"
"Yes, yes." The homeowner nodded and said, "Just unload the coal from the east into the corner of the house, put it in a cart and push it. Wouldn't that save us from having to make one trip after another?"
"Ah..." Zhao Jun nodded slightly, and as he walked out, he asked the homeowner, "Does this include the well and boiler room?"
"Hmm," the landlord said, looking at Zhao Jun. "Forty-eight thousand isn't expensive, is it?"
As he spoke, the homeowner pointed upstairs and said, "The radiators upstairs and downstairs were all newly replaced two years ago."
“That’s really not expensive,” Zhao Jun agreed. The landlord said, “Right? I’m in a hurry to leave, otherwise I wouldn’t do it for less than 50,000.”
"In such a hurry to leave?" Zhao Jun smiled upon hearing this and said, "Master, since you've put it that way, can you give me a discount?"
"Hey?" The landlord had just taken out his cigarette case to offer Zhao Jun a cigarette when he heard Zhao Jun's words. He quickly put the cigarette back and said, "Young man, you can't take advantage of someone's misfortune."
“How can this be considered taking advantage of someone’s misfortune?” Zhao Jun laughed. “When buying things, who doesn’t bargain? If I were to pay whatever price they asked for, wouldn’t I be a fool?”
“You…” The homeowner pointed at the house and said, “This is cheap enough…”
"How much of a discount do you mean?" Zhao Jun laughed. "It doesn't matter if you give me a discount of a thousand yuan."
"You still owe me a thousand yuan?" The landlord looked at Zhao Jun with an exaggerated expression and said, "I'm already being generous by giving you a discount of five hundred yuan."
"Five hundred is fine too." Zhao Jun said directly without waiting for the homeowner's reaction, "Then forty-seven thousand five hundred will do."
"Seven..." The homeowner took a deep breath, then exhaled before nodding and saying, "Alright, if you've decided, I'll sell it to you."
"Leave this cart for me too," Zhao Jun said, tugging at the cart. "Now let's see what else we have."
"It's nothing!" the landlord said angrily. "Can I just leave the rice cooker with you?"
Zhao Jun ignored the landlord's sarcastic remarks and looked at the landlord, saying, "It would be great if you could leave it with me. Otherwise, I would have to hire people to work, and they would eat the meals provided by the landlord, and I would have to prepare the pots and pans."
The landlord smirked and said, "Alright, look at the second floor, under the tarpaulin at the corner of the stairs, there's an old pot and some plates and stuff, you can keep them all."
“Okay, okay.” Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun clasped his hands in thanks to the homeowner, “Thank you so much. If we don’t have our house here, we have to come all the way here to get anything we need. Buying things all costs money.”
"Okay, no problem, here you go." The landlord said, handing Zhao Jun a cigarette. Zhao Jun politely declined, but Li Baoyu took the cigarette and put it in his mouth. He heard the landlord say, "You have to be careful with your money when doing business."
After saying this, the landlord suddenly asked Zhao Jun, "Young man, what kind of business are you planning to do?"
"I...hehe..." Zhao Jun chuckled as he tried to answer the question. He pointed north and said, "Whatever business is happening across the street, that's what I'll do."
"Ah." The homeowner nodded slightly after hearing this, muttering, "Across the street, across the street is... um?"
The homeowner, realizing what was happening, looked at Zhao Jun in shock and asked, "You run a general store?"
Ma Ling, Li Baoyu, and Liu Mei were equally shocked.
Buying a house is one thing, but why go into the department store business?
Running a department store is one thing, but to run one right across from a state-owned department store?
That is to say, they knew that Zhao Jun did not drink alcohol, otherwise they would have all thought that Zhao Jun had drunk too much.
"Young man, you..." The homeowner didn't know what to say for a while before finally saying, "Are you kidding me?"
“I’m not joking,” Zhao Jun said. “Master, do you have a property certificate for this house, or what? Let me take a look, and then I’ll pay you the deposit.”
"I don't have the physical certificate," the landlord said. "I have a white paper certificate."
"Then let me take a look." Zhao Jun didn't mind, because that's how it is these days; few people have property ownership certificates.
Even the buying and selling of houses is done privately, with both parties and the middleman simply signing and affixing their fingerprints to the contract.
These days, people don't sell their houses only to try and get them back when faced with relocation compensation, nor do they go to court to sue this or that for no reason.
"Young man, do you know anyone in Shanhe?" the landlord asked Zhao Jun. "Are you going to find a middleman, or should I do it?"
"What are you looking for?" Zhao Jun pointed ahead and said, "Why don't we just find the photographer?"
After saying that, Zhao Jun added with a smile, "Even if you go to another place, he can't escape."
The homeowner laughed and led Zhao Jun and the others forward.
Ma Ling, Li Baoyu, and Liu Mei walked forward. When they reached the front of the house, a jeep suddenly stopped in front of the photo studio, followed by a clear female voice: "Brother Zhao Jun, Brother Baoyu!"
(End of this chapter)