The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 156 - 153: Lu Jingqiu’s Greedy Heart

Chapter 156: Chapter 153: Lu Jingqiu’s Greedy Heart

Every room had a light bulb, and Jiang Nanzhou planned to install one at the entrance door as well, so there would be light when going out at night. He intended to run a water pipe to the backyard and build a pool for the convenience of watering the plants.

In their bedroom, they’d add a ceiling fan.

"I’ll look for someone to do the electrical wiring in the next couple of days, and the whitewashing shouldn’t be a problem to get done."

"We don’t need to find someone for the wiring, do you know the house next to mine, Regimental Commander Liu’s? Aunt Liu works at the wire factory. Why don’t I ask Aunt Liu the day after tomorrow when I go back, or you could ask my dad to talk to her. Hmm... the fridge and washing machine and other large appliances in the future will need a thicker wire." Jingqiu finished saying this and couldn’t help but let out a laugh. "We’re fixing up this rented place as if it’s our own, covering all bases. Maybe after a year, we’ll just leave."

Jiang Nanzhou looked at her sweet smile and really wanted to lift his hand to pinch her cheek, but reason told him he couldn’t do it now. His hands twitched below, and he said, "Didn’t you say that Comrade Xiao Shen is studying and won’t be back for a few years? If we like this place, we can stay a few more years, and even if we buy a house it’s no big deal. So let’s fix it up according to our own preferences; it’s all good. By the way, I have something to show you." Saying this, he took a small box from the outer storage room: "This is the compensation from the Shen family."

Jingqiu gave him a puzzled look, and seeing that he was still being secretive, she had no choice but to open it herself.

When she opened the box, Jingqiu had an epiphany and giggled at the contents: "This jade bracelet... is it real?"

Jiang Nanzhou saw her adorable, money-loving expression and smiled indulgently. "It’s real, top-quality jade. There’s also a black jade ring inside, a few silver coins, and two Dahei Ten notes from their collection. Initially, they agreed on two hundred yuan, but when they brought some silver coins and the Dahei Ten, I wasn’t pleased. They sent me two jade pieces the next day, which I figured could sell for over a hundred yuan, so I didn’t give them a hard time after that."

"Over a hundred yuan?" Aiyowei, the "locals" might not understand. Not to mention these two jade pieces, just one of the Dahei Ten, kept for twenty years, could sell for enough to buy a whole house. Looking at them, they seemed quite new.

She didn’t understand much about the other gems, but as long as they were real, they could also be worth hundreds of thousands, right?

What were the Shen family thinking, offering these items for merely two hundred yuan? Oh, that’s right, they probably didn’t realize their value yet, just like Jiang Nanzhou.

"We can’t sell them; I like them, I want to keep them."

Jiang Nanzhou knew she would like them and couldn’t resist the urge to fondly ruffle her hair, saying, "Sure, keep them. These are indeed valuables, and nobody should care in the future."

"Okay. In consideration of their giving us these things, let’s fix up the house nicely for Xiao Shen, it won’t be a loss."

"Alright. Come on, let’s go eat first."

"Okay."

The two didn’t ride bikes because there was a restaurant not far from the alley. White rice cost two cents a bowl, braised meat three cents a piece, a hot serving of pork head cooked in pig’s fat was fifty cents, and a large bowl of tofu was eight cents. They ate their fill.

After eating, it wasn’t even one o’clock, and the sports meet would start at two.

Jingqiu said, "Let’s not buy furniture from the furniture store. I’ve got to know a carpenter nearby, let’s have him make it."

"Alright."

"Come on, I’ll take you to have a look."

The two cycled back and reached the carpenter’s place in about ten minutes.

There were people at the carpenter’s at noon, and seeing Jingqiu, they quickly greeted her with a smile: "Comrade Lu is here. Are you ordering a table this time?"

Having delivered a table to the Agricultural University for Jingqiu, the carpenter had already received orders for the same kind of table from two other people.

"Uncle, we’re not ordering a table this time; we’re getting married and need to order some furniture for our home."

The uncle immediately welcomed them heartily. He was a former furniture factory worker who stepped down to let his son take over. Some of the neighbors knew about his skill, so they would occasionally ask him to make furniture privately.

He didn’t ask for money but accepted payment in the form of grain, brown sugar, or any day-to-day essentials.

Over time, as he kept working, his reputation grew. Now with increased freedom, more people sought him out for furniture.

"Dear comrades, I have some ready-made pieces. You can pick from what’s in the yard. If you don’t like any, I can make new ones for you. I can make any of the designs available in the furniture stores."

After thinking it over, Jingqiu said, "Uncle, we need a two-meter bed, a one-point-eight-meter bed, a set of wardrobes, two TV cabinets, two coffee tables, two sets of sofas, a shoe cabinet, a dining table, two long desks of two meters in length and ninety centimeters in width, a normal-sized desk, and two sets of bookshelves."

Upon hearing this, the uncle quickly took out a notebook and wrote it down, "Oh, these are double portions. Other than the bed, do you have any size requirements for the other items?"

"Yes, uncle, in a while I’ll have my fiancé pay another visit, and take you to our place so you can help us take a look at our staircase, see if you can help us refurbish it."

"Alright, you pick the styles."

Lu Jingqiu, holding Jiang Nanzhou’s hand, strolled around the yard, selecting a bed; by this time, beds from this era were typically those distinctive post-and-rail beds, and they chose a simple style, the kind with wooden slats at the foot of the bed.

The wardrobe was a rather simple four-door style, the TV cabinet one tall and one short, and the wooden sofa also had a simple, slatted back.

The wood that Lu Jingqiu chose would be coated with clear varnish to achieve a rosewood hue.

Since the wardrobe had no specified dimensions, it was impossible to calculate the price.

After leaving the uncle’s place, Jiang Nanzhou dropped Lu Jingqiu off back at the university. Upon reaching the entrance of the Agricultural University, Lu Jingqiu, worried that he, a man, wouldn’t haggle over the price properly, uneasily said, "If you’re too embarrassed to discuss it, just say we’ll discuss it when I come back. I’ll talk to the uncle on Sunday."

He was a fully capable and outstanding soldier, so why did he feel so weak in front of a petite woman? Suddenly, he laughed, "Rest assured, the man you chose won’t let anyone take advantage of him. Our money will definitely be well spent."

Lu Jingqiu also smiled, "Okay then, I’ll leave the rest to you."

"Should I pick you up here tomorrow afternoon, or should I go to your school?"

"Hmm... come here, I guess. I’m finished by just after four."

"Okay, go on in."

"Be careful on the road."

Jiang Nanzhou nodded at her and rode his bike to the carpenter’s house, taking him to the property.

The uncle saw that it was a small building and realized why they needed two sets of everything.

"Oh, you’re knocking down this wall? It’s just the two of you living in the bridal suite; no other family members are moving in?"

"None."

"No wonder. Nowadays, most families don’t have enough space to live in. It’s not common for young couples like you to have such a large house. Having two lounges, one on each floor, is indeed nice. The smaller one upstairs should have a plain cabinet, and the sofa could also be smaller."

"Okay, you’ve been in this line of work for decades; you have the experience, so please take extra care with our project."

The carpenter loved hearing that and nodded eagerly.

All the furniture added up to a total of one hundred and eighty-six yuan. The carpenter gave a discount of six yuan and settled for a round figure. In the end, Jiang Nanzhou insisted he include a wooden rack for storage, to be placed in the storeroom, the kind with partitions where you could store some grains and dry goods.

The carpenter agreed to make it using some leftover materials.

Finally, they came to the staircase. Repairing the stairs was labor-intensive, but the materials were cheap, and the varnish even more so. To refurbish it, he charged twenty yuan.

He then asked Jiang Nanzhou whether he should add door casings, "Those old merchants from before really liked casings; it looks good. Seeing how much effort you’ve put in, and how nice it looks, adding some framing would be decorative. I can make curved door frames with the wood color your wife chose, for a unified and attractive look. Don’t let my age fool you. When I was young, I did quite a bit of decorating for these western houses, and those people were all about appearances. They were generous with money too."

Jiang Nanzhou had also seen such decorations in the homes of the wealthy. He liked those houses with a touch of ancient charm, and Jingqiu... she would definitely like them too.

He instantly agreed with the uncle’s suggestion to add casings in the dining room, kitchen, the small upstairs lounge, the three bedrooms, including the one on the third floor. Where doors were damaged, he had the uncle replace them, and those that could be reused were simply to be recoated with varnish.

After doing the math, it came to another one hundred and twenty yuan. Jiang Nanzhou bargained it down to one hundred yuan and also had him throw in some spare planks to form a flower bed around the terrace.

The uncle, seeing how much business the family brought in, didn’t refuse. With three hundred yuan, he could make a profit of forty yuan.

A three hundred yuan job with a fifty yuan profit wasn’t much; at that time, labor was undervalued.