The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 178 - 173: I Want to Be a Hardworking Little Bee

Chapter 178: Chapter 173: I Want to Be a Hardworking Little Bee

The next day, after a simple breakfast, Lu Jingqiu prepared some millet porridge for Hua Hua and Hua Guoguo, along with two egg yolks—truly a meal that was better than her own.

There was no other way; cat food wasn’t available at the moment. However, she knew how to make cat food cans, it’s just that pig offal and chicken intestines were not commonly sold these days.

When Lu Jingqiu arrived at the construction site, two mud-brick uncles were busy digging the foundation. Seeing her, they said anxiously, "Young Comrade Lu, you’ve come."

"What’s wrong, uncle? Is there a problem?"

"Indeed there is. Your new house must connect to the city’s sewage pipeline and tap water, right? You need to register with the Urban Construction Bureau and Water Supply Bureau."

"Oh, I didn’t know about that. What do I need to bring, uncle?"

"Just take your property deed. They are not closed today, so if you go now, you’ll be in time."

"Alright, I’ll go check it out right now. Is there any issue here, uncle?"

"No, we are just digging the foundation today. Every part is being excavated according to the blueprints you’ve prepared. But in some load-bearing areas, we need two pillars, particularly here." The uncle, while speaking, pointed to the location of the hall in two rooms on the first floor because above them were two bedrooms and a bathroom that required support. "Uncle, let’s go with your recommendations. Structural integrity is very important. I can only draw plans; there’s so much I don’t understand like you do. I’m not around here all the time, and even if I were, I might not know as much as you do. So, please do take some extra care for me." As she spoke, she handed the two boxes of cigarettes she had brought to the two uncles.

Seeing the whole box of Daqianmen brand cigarettes, the uncles were delighted and nodded repeatedly, assuring her not to worry.

Lu Jingqiu was not to be outdone. She rushed home on her bicycle and headed straight for the Urban Construction Bureau with the property deed in hand.

The Urban Construction Bureau also had a lobby. For instance, some institutions’ staff housing allocations, government-provided housing, or housing repairs had to be registered here. Civilians looking to build new houses also had to file their plans, given that in the past couple of years, the city had improved the sewers and water pipes, making the latter available directly in the houses—a part of the unified renovations from previous years. Of course, those who missed out on this could also come here to file their plans.

The window that served her was specifically for dealing with sewer and water pipe issues.

"You’re building a new house, eh? Connecting to the sewer will require quite a few pipes. You’ll need to pay five yuan, and we will issue you five water pipe coupons. You can take these coupons directly to Wujiao Chemical Plant to purchase the pipes."

"Thank you." So, it meant spending five yuan here for five water pipe coupons, Lu Jingqiu observed, with one coupon equivalent to ten meters, and five adding up to fifty meters.

Unsure if it would be enough, she decided to consult the uncles upon returning. After leaving the Urban Construction Bureau, Lu Jingqiu went to the Water Supply Bureau, which also had a large hall.

After explaining her purpose and showing her property deed, they checked her address and gave her a water meter installation application form. After filling it out and paying twenty yuan, which included the cost of the water meter,

they said to come by tomorrow to arrange someone to install the new meter and introduce the water pipes to her property.

All the costs for introducing the water pipes were included.

Gosh, this was much cheaper than the initial installation fees in later years.

Of course, it’s not fair to compare with the future; twenty yuan was not a small sum back then.

By the time she had finished these tasks, it was almost eleven o’clock. Lu Jingqiu hurriedly rode her bike to the construction site to inform the uncles about the water meter matter.

"Uncle, how much water pipe do we need? I believe someone will come over for the sewer connection in the next few days."

"We checked during the past few days and indeed haven’t found the sewer connection yet. That’s still for the folks from the Urban Construction Bureau to handle, but such matters involve waiting. If they can come over in ten days to half a month, that would be good."

"Ah, they said they would arrange it in the next couple days. I thought it would be quick. What should we do, since we can’t stop work on the site?"

One of the uncles replied, "No problem, don’t we have contacts in the city construction bureau? I’ll go talk to them tonight to see if we can get it arranged earlier for us. As for the pipes, better to get them now, and we’ll figure out more if it turns out not enough later."

"Okay, I’ll go check it out this afternoon."

"In the afternoon, let Yangzi go with you. He can push a cart and bring them back directly."

The uncle then called over a savvy-looking young man: "Hello, Comrade Lu, my name is Zhang Yang, and I’ll accompany you this afternoon."

"Sure." Lu Jingqiu, seeing that he was around seventeen or eighteen, probably younger than her, thought it was appropriate for him to call her ’sister’.

Now with some time on her hands, Lu Jingqiu looked over the excavated foundation. Indeed, with decades of experience and many years spent at the Urban Construction Bureau, the two uncles from Nanzhou really had genuine skills.

The foundation was maximized for use. The house was set to the back, leaving a large open space at the front, enough for bicycle parking. If one were to open a restaurant, wealthy patrons could park at least two cars there.

As everyone went home for lunch, Lu Jingqiu went to a nearby state-owned restaurant and noticed they were serving beef noodles today.

Her luck really was good: a full bowl of noodles and plenty of beef. With two grain coupons and eighty cents, well, the beef was certainly worth it.

After lunch, it was just after twelve o’clock. With nowhere to go, Lu Jingqiu decided to take a walk around Fish Tail Market.

There were still people setting up their stalls in the marketplace at noon, and to her surprise, Xue Jianian was there too, with flour and rice on the ground, accompanied by some eggs.

"Niannian, have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, I have. Jingqiu, what brings you here?"

"I came to check on the construction site. You really push yourself hard, not even taking a break at noon."

"Hey, I just picked up some things this morning and started setting up here."

"Traveling all the way to the suburbs and then setting up shop immediately, I truly admire your energy."

"What can I do? It’s all for money. I have four elders at home. My maternal grandparents are getting old, but fortunately, my parents still have their salaries. They’re not young either, and I don’t want them to work too hard."

"With a daughter like you, Professor Shi certainly won’t have a hard time in the future." Lu Jingqiu looked down at her goods and said with concern, "You come here every Sunday. Does your Wei Jincheng know about this?"

"He knows. He used to come with me to the suburbs to pick up goods, but he’s been busy with the army recently and hasn’t been back much."

"Oh, that’s indeed the case lately."

"By the way, Master Chen said that the medicine is almost ready. If you don’t have time this week, you can go pick it up next week."

"I really don’t have time this week, so let’s go together next week."

"Sure, how about next Friday?"

"Great, those chickens you have are quite fat. It’s a pity I have errands this afternoon and can’t take one."

Xue Jianian voiced the curiosity in her heart, "How much did it cost you to build that house?"

"Why, are you thinking of buying a house too?"

"I am considering buying one here. After all, my man is a soldier in this place, and I also want to stay here after graduation, but it’s really hard to find a house right now. I even went to the housing authority a few days ago to register."

"I have registered too. As for this house, my second cousin helped me find it. But really, building a house is not as good as buying a finished one—it’s too expensive and too troublesome."

"I see that now."

"Building three rooms should cost about two or three thousand yuan. That’s roughly how much I’m going to spend."

The amount Lu Jingqiu indicated really surprised Xue Jianian. She had been selling goods every day for a year and had only earned seven or eight thousand yuan.

After spending over four thousand, she now had just over four thousand yuan on her.

Meanwhile, Lu Jingqiu owned a rental property and was building a new one, as well as planning to buy a house in Yangcheng City: "Tsk tsk, the gap shouldn’t be that big. You’re making me green with envy."

"I earned this through hard work. You save the money you earn, while I use all mine to buy houses."

"You’re involved in your cousin’s business, aren’t you?"

"I am."

"Why are you so keen on houses? Buying a house costs several thousand, and renting it out will take many years to earn back the money spent on it. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me."

"You can’t just look at the short term. Haven’t you noticed that houses are getting less available? When houses are scarce, their prices naturally increase. In a few years, the house I bought for three thousand yuan could be sold for five thousand—do you believe that? With that flip, I make money."

"Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. It does make sense." Xue Jianian mulled over her own finances; she had been thinking of saving to rent barren land.

She also wanted to buy a house. Sigh, she really needed to work even harder.