Siheyuan: The Counterattack of Passerby

Chapter 622 Preparing to Move

In just the first year, when the accounts were settled at the end of the year and dividends were distributed, all the brothers and friends who had partnered with Lin Geng made a fortune. Even Yan Bugui received tens of thousands of yuan in dividends, and in the blink of an eye he became a rare millionaire in that era.

As for Sha Zhu and Xu Damao, as the founders of the company, they naturally got more. The two brothers Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu, who were responsible for the management of the distribution center, also each received dividends of nearly 100,000 yuan.

After a group of people discussed, they felt that the dividend money, even if it came from the company, was of little use. So Lin proposed that all shareholders withdraw 30% of the dividends for personal living, and keep the rest in the company account for subsequent investment and expansion.

Xu Damao and Sha Zhu had no objection to this. Even if only 30% was raised, everyone could get at least 10,000 or 20,000 yuan, and some could get 30,000 or 40,000 yuan. This amount of money was enough to meet their daily needs and improve their quality of life.

After getting their share of the money, these people were all overjoyed, grinning with joy, and at the same time they were all very arrogant. They all followed Lin Geng's advice and did not deposit the money into the bank. Instead, they asked around and each bought a courtyard house. This was also what Lin Geng told them. Firstly, an independent courtyard house would definitely appreciate in value in the future. Also, they were used to living in a courtyard house and it was more comfortable to live in.

Although many enterprises and institutions were building buildings at this time and they were very popular, some of the residents of No. 95 Courtyard moved into the buildings allocated by the factory after the factory distributed houses. They were proud to move into the buildings and felt that such two-bedroom, one-living-room buildings were more comfortable to live in.

After all, most of the courtyard houses at that time were large compound houses with many residents living in them. Each household basically lived in one or two rooms and had no kitchen. Most of the time, they built a small shed outside the house as a kitchen. There was no toilet in the yard either. Normally, people had to go outside the yard to go to the toilet. But in winter, they had to get out of the warm bed and run out to go to the toilet, which was really a test of their will.

Therefore, at night, the residents in the yard often put a urine bucket in their homes to relieve themselves, making the house smelly all night. If they need to defecate, some people would rather endure the cold and run out to the toilet outside the yard.

Although the structures of the residential buildings being built now are not reasonable, every household has its own bathroom and kitchen. Although they are small, many people still feel that living in such a building means they don’t have to run outside at night and can just solve the problem and take a shower at home. Therefore, many people are proud to live in such a building.

But Lin Geng was used to living in such a courtyard house. In later lives, he also lived in various buildings, but where could he own an independent courtyard house in the old city and live comfortably with his family?

As for the bathroom, kitchen, heating, etc., you already have a courtyard house, so do you still need to worry about having no place to arrange these things?

What's more, Lin Geng knew very well that in later generations, the price of any small courtyard house in the old city started from a small goal. Just relying on a courtyard house, even if one did nothing in later generations, one could sell it and buy a house and live a life of a wealthy man without worries about food and clothing.

Therefore, Lin was determined not to buy that kind of building. He preferred these courtyard houses. Not only did he secretly buy several courtyard houses, he also encouraged Sha Zhu and Xu Damao to buy one while the price of courtyard houses was low and no one wanted them. At most, they could decorate it well. Wouldn't it be more spacious and comfortable than those pigeon cage buildings?

As for Sha Zhu, Xu Damao and Yan Bugui, they all follow Lin Geng's lead and think that Lin Geng has a sharper eye than them. Since Lin Geng said that the price of siheyuan houses will definitely increase in the future, and they are used to living in siheyuan houses, Lin Geng is right. Now that they have money, the worst that can happen is that they renovate the house properly and build a toilet, bathroom and kitchen in the yard. Isn't that much better than a two-bedroom, one-living-room house that looks like a pigeon cage?

So Sha Zhu and his friends happily took the money and started asking around the city if anyone had a courtyard house for sale. At that time, it was not too difficult to buy a smaller courtyard house with one or two entrances.

After the reform and opening up, many old people who used to live in the old city began to think about leaving the city and going out to see the world, but they had no money and did not plan to come back, so they looked for buyers to sell their courtyards.

So Xu Damao and his family didn't have to spend much effort to find the courtyard they liked and bought it for more than ten or twenty thousand yuan.

At this time, Lin Geng also took Yu Li on a tour of the several courtyards they had bought before, picked out a courtyard that Yu Li liked, and started looking for someone to renovate it.

Lin would rather these dilapidated houses be restored to their original state. They should look like authentic old houses from the outside, but with some renovations done inside. The sheds and kitchens originally built in the yard should be demolished, and the former rooms should be converted into toilets and bathrooms. A boiler room should also be arranged to heat the house in winter.

In addition, a room was selected from the wing to be used as a kitchen, and a study and guest room were also arranged. Each child in the family was allocated a room, and the remaining ear room was used as a storage room.

The yard was replanned to reserve a flower bed, and a pavilion was built in the yard. A few grape vines were planted next to it. After they grew up, a rack was put up to form a pergola, which is very comfortable.

After a thorough inspection of all the houses, we replaced the wood that had been eaten by insects or rotted, and then carried out anti-insect treatment. We also installed heat-insulating ceilings on the roofs, and replaced all the roof tiles with new ones to make them waterproof. We also removed all the broken floor tiles in the yards and re-laid them, and replaced all the original electrical circuits and water pipes with new ones...

After Lin Geng explained his ideas in detail to the decoration master he hired, he handed the matter over to the decoration master. He gave the master an additional 10% based on the price he offered, with only one requirement: to use genuine materials, the best materials, and the most environmentally friendly things for the decoration.

The decoration masters are a group of masters who have cooperated with Lin Geng many times in the past year or so. They have decorated several branches for Lin Geng. Both parties trust each other very much, so Lin Geng does not have to worry that these decoration masters will be sneaky, use inferior materials or cut corners.