Chapter 418 - 151: Green Tea Female Side Character in a Period Piece (38)

Chapter 418: Chapter 151: Green Tea Female Side Character in a Period Piece (38)

People now took pride in living in clean, convenient apartment buildings. It was a symbol of status, and you weren’t even qualified to apply without a position of some rank.

A single-story house of the same size, however, came with a sizable courtyard and a row of rear-facing rooms, making its total area equivalent to two apartments.

The only downsides were that the single-story houses had more mosquitos in the summer, their water pipes were prone to freezing in the winter, and the toilet was a public outhouse. Any city dweller with a preference for modern comforts flocked to sign up for the apartment buildings.

Chi Yun’er’s brow furrowed slightly. "Brother Hua, could we renovate a single-story house?" ℯℯ𝑙.

She had barely started speaking when Jiang Yihua knew what she was thinking. He glanced at the brand-new red apartment blocks for staff families, gleaming in the sun, then looked at the low-lying single-story houses surrounding them.

Compared to other work units, the agricultural institute didn’t have that many employees. However, because it was tasked with increasing grain production—a matter of feeding the nation—the unit had been allocated a large area of land.

The leadership valued the agricultural institute highly. The year before last, they had even shut down an underperforming factory and transferred its land to the institute, which was how this large residential compound for staff came to be.

Only with good benefits could the technical staff and researchers pour all their energy into their work.

The single-story houses had also been built recently. They were beautiful and orderly little courtyard homes with gray-green bricks and red-tiled roofs. They came in various sizes to accommodate the needs of employees at every level.

Jiang Yihua was considered a key member of the technical research staff. However, he hadn’t been with the institute for long, so despite his immense contributions, he still had to wait his turn behind some of the senior employees to choose a house.

The larger apartments were basically on the Fourth Level and above. He could get a lower-floor unit if he chose a slightly smaller layout, but if he wanted a ground-floor apartment with a yard, he’d have to settle for a standard-sized one.

This meant his options were more limited than with the single-story houses. He thought it over for a moment, then pointed at an apartment building and asked, "Comrade, where are the septic tanks for these buildings located?"

The official was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and pointed. "There are two in total, one on each side of the block, both located in the central area."

He then personally led them over for a look.

There were single-story houses right next to both locations, and one of the houses in particular was quite large.

Jiang Yihua and Chi Yun’er conferred quietly for a moment. They decided to ask for the largest available single-story house, and then they would hire someone to spend some money and effort renovating it.

Everyone else was opting for the apartment buildings. Meanwhile, a project Jiang Yihua had recently participated in had made huge strides, but the institute hadn’t yet had a chance to give him his reward. This house could serve as that reward.

The house had previously belonged to a vice director. It was a very well-laid-out home with five main rooms, three rear-facing rooms, and a sizable courtyard. A previous family with many children had also added east and west wing rooms.

And this particular house had been expanded with two additional rooms in both the east and west wings!

The courtyard had also been nicely maintained. Concrete paths divided it into four neat plots, and each plot was bordered with red bricks—a touch that was both attractive and practical, as it kept mud from washing out and soiling the paths during a rain.

A grape arbor had been built over the two plots in front of the main house, with a stone table and chairs set up beneath it. It was the perfect spot for enjoying a cool breeze and eating meals on summer mornings and evenings.

There was also a pomegranate tree with sprawling branches that reached right up to the bedroom window, and it was currently adorned with brilliantly colored blossoms at the peak of their bloom.

"Here’s a peach tree, and that’s an apple tree, a cherry tree... and there are watermelons in the patch over there..."

"Those two plots are vegetable gardens..."

The vegetable gardens were quite large, occupying the space between the wing rooms and the rear-facing building. A trellis had been built against the wall of one of the wing rooms, and it was covered in vining melons and beans. Other vegetables grew in the soil as well.

Even the area in front of the house had large water vats filled with soil, where various edible herbs, fruits, and vegetables were planted. The land was truly utilized to its fullest potential, all while maintaining a certain rustic elegance.

And in one corner, there was even a chicken coop...

In a place like the Capital City, where you needed money and ration tickets to buy food for every meal, a well-utilized plot of land could save a family a huge amount of money each month.

"It’s a good thing you were the one applying, Mr. Jiang. If it were anyone else, our section chief absolutely wouldn’t have approved it, even if they offered to pay extra," the young official said with a smile. "If Vice Director Yuan hadn’t managed to get that ground-floor apartment by the outer wall—the one where you can enclose the sizable alley between the building and the wall to build another row of rooms—his family would have been reluctant to move out of here at all."

"A lot of people had their eye on this courtyard house. Some even went to pester our section chief about it every single day, but he always stood firm."

"When I brought you to see the houses today, the section chief gave the order: Mr. Jiang, whichever unit you set your heart on, as long as it’s unoccupied, it’s yours. And for this one, you won’t even have to pay extra."