I Got Rich in Period Fiction
Chapter 505 Housing Issues

Chapter 505: Chapter 505 Housing Issues

He Juanjuan placed her things down and rushed to see her freshly born little nephew.

He Xuerong also stood nearby, eagerly peering in.

To tell the truth, even now He Juanjuan and He Xuerong did not share the closeness typical of the He Family members there was always something between them.

He Juanjuan knew this little child had a good memory; those past events, although over, weren’t forgotten by her, and it seemed she would hold a grudge against her for life.

She really regretted her past actions, many of which were arrogant, but this particular event she truly regretted.

Especially the words her second brother had said to her in Beijing’s study room really made her feel utterly ashamed.

But the mistake had been made, and the child still had a good memory.

He Xuerong then asked Qiao Qingyu, who was sitting on the kang, "Little aunt, when can he start walking and play with me?"

"That’ll have to wait till next year."

"That long," He Xuerong said, visibly disappointed.

"It’s normal; what child can run and jump right after birth? When you were born, you were like a little kitten..."

At this point, He Juanjuan could not go on because He Xuerong gave her a smile and then turned and walked away.

He Juanjuan felt awkward, and Qiao Qingyu gave her a look. There was nothing she could say about it dealing with a child like He Xuerong, there were some things one just had to endure.

Because He Juanjuan still had not realized that He Xuerong really did not want her to bring up her childhood. He Xuerong felt that anyone could mention it except her.

He Juanjuan, belatedly realizing this, felt her eyes grow red and vented to Qiao Qingyu, "Second sister-in-law, do you think Rongrong will hold this grudge against me forever?"

Before Qiao Qingyu could respond, He Xiuyu lifted the door curtain and entered, his expression mild, "Juanjuan, go to the kitchen and help your elder aunt."

He Juanjuan pouted but knew this was not something she could describe to Qiao Qingyu, and she had no choice but to leave the west room.

Qiao Qingyu’s breast milk was ample, and it was feeding time for the child.

Moreover, these habits had developed in just a few days.

However, being confined during the hot summer was quite arduous.

He Xiuyu wiped Qiao Qingyu’s face and body with a warm, damp cloth.

They had to avoid cold water, as falling ill from it would be difficult to cure.

Yet they could not open the windows either, just stewing in the heat, enough to make anyone fall ill.

He Xiuyu’s work efficiency at his job had increased; he was using more time to come home and be with his wife.

Mr. He and Meng Siqi in Beijing had been informed as well.

But Wu Qianyun and Qiao Zhicai were still in Xichuan, so even if they wanted to come, they couldn’t. Or perhaps they were still unresolved issues. For now, they preferred to delay and avoid meeting, though eventually, they would have to sit down and face each other to dissolve the awkwardness invisibly; otherwise, this discomfort wasn’t going away.

Mr. He called to ask if they had named the child yet.

It seemed if they hadn’t named him, he wanted to give him a name.

With many intellectuals in the family, the child had many names before being registered, but they finally settled on He Chaoxuan.

It was He Xiuyu who chose it, because he was born at dawn when the first light of day appeared in the sky, symbolizing the red morning sun.

It was quite fitting indeed.

Then the name was settled.

The household register of He Xiuyu and Qiao Qingyu had one more member.

The child was easy to care for; as long as he was full, he would either play by himself or sleep soundly, and because he had been on a regular schedule from the start, he did not have the habit of confusing day and night.

Shen Haoze said his daughter was quite a handful; she could sleep a lot during the day but was incredibly alert at night, or she had to be held and walked back and forth on the floor. As soon as your body barely touched the bed, the little girl could sense it and would cry out loudly, startling the parent, who would immediately straighten up and obediently walk back and forth in the room.

So, Shen Haoze had lost several pounds now.

The newly constructed six residential buildings were about to be completed, but they had not yet been assigned.

At that time, there was no talk of decoration; the houses had cement floors and walls painted with lime. As long as there was no dampness, they were ready to be occupied, with heating and electricity already installed in advance.

However, these six buildings were far from meeting the needs of Tenghai Research Base.

Qiao Qingyu had been sitting the month for half a month when she heard from Old Wei’s wife that Old Wei had not been coming home these past nights. He was in the office building, where there was a suggestion box; now it was full of letters from people wanting housing allocation.

If it had been a few years earlier, they would have posted big-character posters, but it had to be said, housing was indeed extremely tight now.

Tenghai Research Base had started its planning in 1975.

It began operation in 1977.

Now, it had been almost eight years.

The young men and women from the beginning couldn’t possibly still be single now; many had gotten married, and in the years before the one-child policy, some double-income families had two or three children.

The family quarters solved part of the problem, but these past two years had seen several times more marriages and childbirths than the previous years.

Thus, the housing issue was indeed urgent.

Regardless of the time, for the people of the nation, housing was always the paramount issue.

In the times of non-commercial housing construction, where demand outweighed supply, if you didn’t meet the conditions, you couldn’t get housing; sometimes seven or eight people would be crammed into a twenty-square-meter house.

Decades later, although there would be more houses, the prices would also have risen; the wealthy could afford several houses, while the poor couldn’t afford even one.

This was a perennially difficult issue.

Ultimately, it came down to the country not being wealthy.

But the issue remained very complex.

Urban dual-income workers could get houses and live in welfare housing, but what about those without jobs? Those encouraged to go to the countryside and mountains in previous years were mostly back now.

After their return, they had neither jobs nor housing.

There were many such people.

And now, even speaking of building houses, raw materials were scarce; things like steel had to be reserved for important infrastructure projects, so even for Tenghai Research Base, this problem not only existed but was also severe.

But then again, if there were no Light Industry Workshop, no advent of tape recorders, no Agricultural Base, even the current six family buildings might not have been constructible. And though it was now the 1980s, ensuring enough food for so many people was still a significant challenge.

Some workers directly raised concerns, questioning why, after so many years of liberation, class consciousness was so distinct; why did cadres and workers not receive the same treatment? Some cadres had families of only two or three but lived in houses of over a hundred square meters, while families of seven or eight had to squeeze into thirty square meters.

These thirty square meters referred to a tube-shaped building newly designated last year for dual-income families. The space was indeed small, transformed from previous dormitories, but each floor had washrooms and sinks.

It’s just that the room sizes were a bit small, and even this tube-shaped building was now full.