185 Chapter 185: No Property Deed
“Available! It’s still available!”
“Recently, I’ve asked someone to look for buyers, but so far, no one has bought it.”
“Yesterday, Dalang even asked me to make a trip to the broker today to check with the broker.”
“I was just about to go there now. Now that you’re here, it’s great!” Grandma Huang’s face was filled with joy.
“So I have come at the right time?” Madam Liu smiled and responded.
“The two children of this family are looking for work in town. They will come to my house at noon.”
“Aunt, if it’s convenient for you, why don’t I bring them over at noon, and you can take them to have a look?”
As it was not convenient for the guys to enter the Sun family’s house, whenever the two children came over to look for Big Girl and the Liu family’s Xiaomei, they spent most of their time at the Song family’s house.
They didn’t go into the house and just stayed beside the stone table and stone bench in her courtyard. They were very polite.
Grandma Huang’s eyes lit up.
“Sure! My Dalang is coming back at noon. When the time comes, I’ll have Dalang take them there,” she said immediately.
Madam Liu agreed with a smile.
Suddenly, Grandma Huang said, “Oh yes. There’s something I need to explain to you first.”
“Aunt, please go ahead,” Madam Liu said hurriedly.
“It’s a courtyard house in the illegal construction area. The environment there is definitely not as good as our Yong An Lane.”
“In addition, that courtyard house… There’s no property deed, only a land deed.”
Madam Liu was shocked.
“It’s actually quite common in the illegal construction area,” Grandma Huang said with a smile.
“For those who buy the courtyard house in the future, if they want to change the land deed into a property deed, they can go to the government office to look for someone to do it. But…”
“I guess they will have to prepare some silver.” When she said this, Grandma Huang’s eyes gave some hints of what she meant.
“Oh.” Madam Liu quickly answered to show that she understood.
Since the illegal construction area was defined as ‘illegal construction’, the construction of many courtyard houses in it was definitely against the law.
Under such circumstances, it was not easy to change the land deed to a property deed.
If the buyer went to the government office and used his connections to bribe them with silver, there was indeed hope that this could be done.
However, if he didn’t know anyone there, it would be difficult to achieve this.
Grandma Huang was satisfied when she saw Madam Liu’s expression.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter whether there’s a property deed or not,” she added.
“Before I moved to Yong An Lane, my family lived in the illegal construction area for more than ten years. After that, we rented out the courtyard house for more than three years. The government office has never sent anyone to investigate.”
“It’s actually nothing much, even if they really investigated. There are many courtyard houses like that in the illegal construction area. The government office can’t possibly tear down everyone’s houses by force, can they?”
At this point, Grandma Huang’s face broke into a smile.
“Actually, it’s a good thing if they really investigated. At that point, the government office will most likely gather and organize everyone to change the land deed into a property deed.”
“At the same time, the illegal construction area will undergo renovation and repairs. When those courtyard houses have property deeds, the price of the courtyard houses can only go up.”
Madam Liu nodded her head when she heard that.
“Then, Aunt, how much are you going to sell your courtyard house for?” she asked.
Grandma Huang’s eyes flickered.
“We’re neighbors, so I won’t hide it from you. If your old neighbor wants it, we won’t go through the broker, and we can sell it for 90 taels of silver.”
She saw Madam Liu’s eyes flicker momentarily.
Grandma Huang quickly added, “My house is huge. There were five individual rooms. In addition, there’s a hall, kitchen, storage room, woodshed, and lavatory.”
“Also, the courtyard of that house is big.”
“The previous tenants were from two different families. They even built another kitchen in the courtyard.”
“To tell you the truth, it wouldn’t be a problem for two or three families to live in that courtyard house of mine.”
When Madam Liu heard this, her mind spun quickly, and she could roughly imagine the situation.
“Then, is someone still living in your courtyard house?” she asked Grandma Huang.
“There’s still one family.”
“But in three days, they will move out. Ahem. They feel that the rent is too expensive!”
“I might as well not rent it out anymore and let them find another place to stay!” Grandma Huang replied with a smile.
Madam Liu’s heart skipped a beat.
“Alright! I get it. I’ll go back and tell the two children about the situation.”
“It doesn’t matter whether they come to take a look or not. I’ll still come over in the afternoon to update you.” After saying that, Madam Liu stood up.
Grandma Huang hurriedly followed suit.
“Alright. Then I won’t go to the broker today. I’ll be waiting for your message.” With that, she smiled and sent Madam Liu off.
Back at the Song family’s place.
Qin Xiaoyao and Wang Xiaomei arrived home one after another.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, Madam Liu came up and told Qin Xiaoyao about what she had discussed with Grandma Huang.
...
Wang Xiaomei didn’t walk away either and listened to the entire conversation.
“It’s a bit expensive to buy a courtyard house in an illegal construction area for 90 taels. But according to Grandma Huang, that courtyard house is rather big, so it might be worth this price.”
“When Daniu and the others come back later, let’s tell them. Let them see for themselves and let them decide for themselves whether to buy or not.”
The truth was that Qin Xiaoyao didn’t know how much money the Liu family had set aside to buy the courtyard house.
“Alright,” Madam Liu answered.
She said a few more words before leaving.
After Madam Liu left, Qin Xiaoyao turned to look at Wang Xiaomei.
“What’s the matter?” she asked with a smile.
This girl had been listening to them for a long time, but she had held her tongue all this while.
Wang Xiaomei’s face froze for a moment. A hint of hesitation flashed across her face before she finally spoke.
“Mrs. Song… do you think there will really be people from Brook Falls Village fleeing the drought?” she asked Qin Xiaoyao.
...
She had been feeling uneasy ever since she heard the news this morning.
She was not worried about her mother.
When her mother made the decision to sell her to the Zhang family, and then she led the Qian family to beat up her big brother and chase her big brother out of the Qian family’s village, she no longer treated Madam Qian as her mother.
She did not really care about her father now either.
Her only worry was her big brother.
If all the people in the villages within ten miles really fled, would her big brother and father also follow suit?
If they fled, what if something happened on the way?
However, if they didn’t flee, they would have to make some preparations in advance, like the Liu family.
It was indeed a good idea to move to town and live there.
However… the Wang family was penniless now and could not afford to buy a courtyard house.
Qin Xiaoyao was surprised.
This question…
Alright. She was sure people would flee.
Could she say it out loud directly? Of course not.
“This… If the weather continues to be dry and River Ringwaters also dries up, maybe… they will flee.”
Of course, it wasn’t ‘maybe’. It was ‘definitely’.
She didn’t know if River Ringwaters would dry up, but her husband had said that in at most half a month, there would be a locust plague in the areas surrounding Mountain Spring Town.
When the locusts passed by, the greenery on the ground would be almost completely destroyed.
Even the forest would suffer severe damage.
In this way, even if the villagers wanted to hide in the mountains to survive, it would be very difficult.
Seeing the little girl frowning, Qin Xiaoyao stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder.
“Let your big brother worry about the matters at home. There’s a limit to what you can do, so don’t give yourself too much pressure.”
She knew the little girl had bought food to help her big brother.
Since she was spending the money she earned, Qin Xiaoyao had no objections.
However, seeing her like this, she still felt a little sorry for her.
“Mm-hmm.” Wang Xiaomei appeared visibly touched momentarily. She mumbled a reply and did not say anything else.
When it was almost noon, Big Girl Li and the others came to the Song family’s place.