“What a coincidence. Remember last year when my landlord decided to take their place back and I had to look for a new place? A mother of my daughter’s schoolmate referred me to this seller. I was going to rent their place but the old lady there said my children will destroy their furniture and refused to rent it to me. If this is their place you are talking about, I’m afraid we will run into issues with the old lady.” Lin Hui’s Third Aunty left a lasting impression with Shu Yan.
“I know which old lady you are talking about. Don’t worry about her. She has two sons and a daughter and she only cares about her boys. Her daughter never once returned to visit her after she got married. She had always been nice to her sons until the landlord had to a daughter. After the younger son had a son, she is always trying to have the older son supplement the younger son and even wanted the older son to give the house to the grandson. Of course the older son and his wife wouldn’t agree to that. Things were tense between them. If you heard that the landlord had designated his mother to take care of the house, I’m pretty sure she made that up. The landlord most likely designated the old lady next door to help.” Lao Hu knew very well things that went on around this area.
“If that is the case, the old lady for sure would come and make scenes.” Shu Yan frowned. The old lady had her eyes on the house for a while now. She would never had a day of peace if she bought it.
“It’s fine. The landlord bought the house himself. It had nothing to do with the old lady. Besides, buying is not the same as renting. When you rent, the house still belongs to someone else. When you buy, it is yours. If she dares to come and make a scene, you call the cops. When push come to shove, you still got me. If we can’t stop her legally, we can always do it through other means.” Lao Hu was quite confident that he could keep the old lady under control.
As Lao Hu had reassured her so, Shu Yan had no more reasons to be bothered by that. That being said, very few houses had deeds back then. That was key. All was fine if there was no demolition. If there was demotion, issues would arise.
And this area would be demolished. It was critical that she had it sorted out.
“That’s not a problem. I can help you get the deed. It will cost a little bit of money though.” Lao Hu asked if that would be a problem with Shu Yan.
Of course she wouldn’t mind. So what if she had to spend a little bit of money right now? She would make it back multiple folds in the future.
“Is the landlord home right now?” asked Shu Yan.
“Yes, he is back. They are applying to immigrate. He will be tied up for quite a while.”
As the landlord was there and Shu Yan was free in the afternoon, she decided to go take a look at the place with Lao Hu.
A smart-looking woman opened up the door shortly after they knocked. She was particularly happy when she saw Lao Hu. “Ah, we have someone coming so soon? Like I have said, lots of people are interested in this place,” said the woman purposefully. She wanted to give the impression that her house was in high demand and, therefore, would be expensive.
The two didn’t pay too much attention to what she had said but walked into the yard. The land on both sides had been tilted and only some flowers and two fruit trees remained.
“This is Miss Shu. She had been thinking about buying so I mentioned it to her when you said you want to sell. We figured we will swing by and take a look as we have time today,” said Lao Hu with a slight smile, implying that they were just there for a tour and that they were not in any rush to buy.
“Hi, Miss Shu. So, what do you think? This house is nice, right?” said the woman, filled with confidence.
“Let me take a look first.” Shu Yan did not respond to her question. She looked at the place in details again. Buying is not the same as renting. When one rents, it is fine as long as the place is clean. There are a lot more to take into consideration when one buys.
The house was built in the fifties and was almost 30 years old. The materials were of good quality, however. And the landlord maintained it well and it still looked pretty new. The house was about 150 m2 in size; 200 m2 or so with the front and back yard. It was definitely quite sizeable for City Nan.
