Chapter 665: Overseas Chinese Village
After returning to Shanghai, Song Yuanchao first dealt with the work of the branch company, and then he had time to do other things.
After two busy days, it was Sunday. In the morning, he took Lin Yan and the child to Changfeng Park. At three o'clock in the afternoon, he sent Lin Yan and the child home, and Song Yuanchao went to Gu Jie's house.
Gu Jie no longer lives in his original place. He bought a house for his family more than half a year ago. However, unlike Song Yuanchao, Gu Jie bought the first batch of commercial housing in Shanghai.
Commercial housing appeared in Shanghai earlier than in other cities. In 1980, the Wannan Overseas Chinese New Village was built. Although it was foreign-related commercial housing , it was also real commercial housing.
In 1982, the city determined the construction and sale qualifications for foreign-related goods, and commercial housing began to appear in Shanghai. Of course, the official sale of domestic commercial housing had to wait until the year after, that is, in 1986. Currently, all commercial housing in Shanghai is foreign-related housing, and ordinary people are not eligible to buy it.
Gu Jie now holds a Hong Kong passport and is considered an overseas Chinese. So he bought several houses in the newly built Wannan Overseas Chinese Village, one for each of his parents and siblings, and one for himself.
In addition, Gu Jie also took a fancy to the newly built villas in Hongqiao Township and pre-ordered one in advance. However, the house has not been completed yet, so it is naturally impossible for him to live there. Therefore, he still lives in Wannan Overseas Chinese New Village.
Wannan Overseas Chinese New Village is actually not far from the city center and is close to the Sports Center, but from a geographical point of view, it is outside Zhongshan Ring Road, which is the inner ring road in later generations.
Nowadays, Shanghai people still regard Zhongshan Ring Road as the dividing line between the urban area and the suburbs. The area within the ring road is called the urban area, and the area outside the ring road is called the suburbs.
Of course, this statement has gradually changed with the passage of time. After the inner ring road was built, the area outside the ring road also belonged to the urban area. When the middle ring road and outer ring road were opened to traffic one after another, the concept of the urban area was further expanded. This is the result of urban development.
Wannan Overseas Chinese New Village, from the perspective of later generations, is just an ordinary six-story building, no different from other ordinary residential areas.
But in this era, those who can live in an apartment building are the envy of the people. You should know that among Shanghai's nearly 12 million people, the vast majority have housing difficulties. Many people still live in the small and crowded old city areas for generations, or even live in "dwelling houses". Some young people have no place to live at home, so they can only rent a house to get married, or they have to make do with what they can, trying their best to find a place to put a wedding bed in the limited living conditions.
Living in an apartment building with running water and flush toilets is a dream for many people, let alone in a high-end foreign-related residential area like Wannan Overseas Chinese New Village? Ordinary people can't even enter the gate, let alone live here.
Song Yuanchao drove there. It was only about ten minutes from his home to Gu Jie's place. When he arrived at the gate of the community, the strict guard saw Song Yuanchao's car coming and opened the door and let him pass without asking any questions. This saved Song Yuanchao a lot of trouble.
After entering the residential complex, it was easy to find Gu Jie's home by following the building number outside the wall. After parking the car downstairs, Song Yuanchao went upstairs carrying two boxes of tea.
"Brother Yuanchao? Why are you here?" He arrived and knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened. Gu Jie was surprised to see that it was Song Yuanchao standing at the door.
"What? Don't you want to invite me in and sit down?" Song Yuanchao asked with a smile.
"Come in, come in..." Gu Jie came to his senses and hurriedly called Song Yuanchao into the house. Song Yuanchao entered the room, looked at the waxed floor, and took off his shoes directly.
"Brother Yuan Chao...it's actually okay. Just step on the floor. I don't need to be so particular."
"Haha, won't your shoes get dirty if you step on such a beautiful floor?" Song Yuanchao said with a smile, putting on the slippers that Gu Jie gave him, and at the same time handed him the gift in his hand: "What a fool you are, you didn't even invite me to drink after moving? Here, I came in a hurry today, and I didn't bring any good gifts, so these two boxes of tea from home are also congratulations on your moving to a new house."
Gu Jie took the tea leaves, took a look at them and smiled: "Brother Yuan Chao, your gift is not a small gift. This tea of yours cannot be bought outside even if you have money."
"Haha, tea is not a rare thing. If others don't know about it, how can you not know about it? Okay, stop pretending and put it away. Your house looks nice. Can I take a look?"
Song Yuanchao looked around with a smile. Gu Jie put the tea aside and took Song Yuanchao to visit his little nest.
The houses in this community look no different from ordinary residential communities in later generations from the outside, but they are quite different inside.
Since this community was built for sale as foreign-related housing, its standards are much better than those of the workers' new villages and the six-story ordinary residential communities built in the early 1990s.
There are two types of house structures in the entire community , one is a two-bedroom, one-living room house of 70 square meters, and the other is a three-bedroom, one-living room house of 92 square meters.
There is no such thing as public areas nowadays. This area is real. If calculated according to the area in later generations, the area of a two-bedroom, one-living room house like the one Gu Jie lives in now is close to 90 square meters, and a three-bedroom house is even larger.
There is a two-meter corridor at the entrance, and the living room is at the end of the corridor. The living room faces south and is connected to the balcony. The kitchen is on the right side of the corridor, and the bathroom is beyond it.
Passing through the kitchen and bathroom, there are two rooms at the end. One facing south is the master bedroom, which is about 12 square meters, and the other room with windows facing west is the second bedroom, which has now been renovated into a study by Gu Jie.
The whole house looks neat and tidy, especially the large living room, which is rare in ordinary public housing in this era. Gu Jie is still very attentive to the decoration of the house. Although the decoration of the whole house looks simple, the materials used are very good. The floor is teak, and there is a carpet in the living room. There are two sets of large leather sofas, and there are fruits and a few magazines on the glass coffee table.
A combination cabinet was built on the opposite wall, with a large TV in the middle and a set of Sony speakers on the side. As for the bedroom and study, their styles are roughly the same as the living room, except that there are not many books on the bookshelf against the wall in the study. Instead, there are a lot of newspapers and magazines.
"Well done." After turning around, Song Yuanchao nodded with a smile, and went back to the living room to sit down with Gu Jie.
"It's okay, just a quick fix." Gu Jie said with a smile, poured two cups of tea and put them on the coffee table, and put away the magazines.
"Why not buy an old villa?" Song Yuanchao asked after taking a sip of water.
"I don't have a suitable one for now, but I have booked a new house in Hongqiao. It will be completed by the end of next year. I will invite you to come and visit me when the house is ready."
"It's a deal!" Song Yuanchao nodded with a smile. The houses in Hongqiao will belong to the best area and the most valuable in Shanghai in the future. It would be a good idea for Gu Jie to buy there directly. What's more, he is right. Although there are many old houses in Shanghai, commercial houses have not been truly opened to the public. In addition, the property rights of many old houses are troublesome due to historical reasons, and some houses also involve the issue of return.
Song Yuanchao was lucky to get that house. Zhang Jianguo and Luo Yang bought it earlier, but there were not many old houses that they could look at and had clear property rights, especially those in the old French Concession. On the contrary, there were a few in the former Japanese Concession.
But compared with the former, the latter is disdainful.
People in other cities may not know this, but old Shanghainese are very particular about this. Compared to the old French Concession, the former Japanese Concession was called the "lower corner", and the old houses there had a mixture of Western and Japanese styles. Compared with the distinctive Spanish-style old houses in the old French Concession, the old houses in the Japanese Concession were just a makeshift monster that was not at all up to standard.
"I heard you have a girlfriend? Are you planning to get married?"
"Hehe, Daqi told you that, right?"
Song Yuanchao smiled and nodded. Gu Jie stood up and walked to the side, taking out an exquisite invitation from the cabinet.
"I was planning to send it to you personally, but I didn't expect you to come today, so it's easier. Here are my wedding invitations. The wedding will be on the 23rd, in Jinjiang."
After receiving the invitation, Song Yuanchao opened it and took a look. On it were the names of Gu Jie and his lover, as well as the words "Song Yuanchao and his whole family".
Song Yuanchao agreed immediately. He had to attend his friend's wedding. Besides, it was Gu Jie's wedding, so how could he miss it?
He put the invitation away with a smile, took the cigarette handed to him by Gu Jie and lit it.
Song Yuanchao casually asked about Gu Jie's recent situation. The two chatted for a while, and then Song Yuanchao mentioned that he met Li Daqi in Jinling some time ago.
When Gu Jie heard Song Yuanchao say that Li Daqi's girlfriend was Zheng Guoyuan's sister, he was also very surprised and found it funny at the same time.
This world is so small. I never expected that the girlfriend Li Daqi met in Pengcheng would be the sister of Zheng Guoyuan, the director of Jinling Quanlin Factory. It really is fate that brings people together despite being thousands of miles apart!
"Old Zheng is now the executive vice president of our Si Te company. Having such a relationship is also a good thing for the company." Song Yuanchao mentioned Zheng Guoyuan by the way. After hearing this, Gu Jie sighed, but at the same time he was happy for Song Yuanchao.
"Congratulations, brother Yuan Chao. I remember you tried to recruit Zheng Guoyuan before, and now you finally got what you wanted. Zheng Guoyuan is a very capable person, and it will be much easier for you to have him around."
"Yes, Lao Zheng is indeed quite capable. Before I came back this time, I had already officially announced his appointment as executive vice president. Now he has gradually taken over some of the work and is doing a very good job, saving me a lot of worry."
At this point, Song Yuanchao glanced at Gu Jie and said meaningfully: "But no matter what, Lao Zheng can't compare with you. Sanmao, you were my brother who conquered the world together. Now that you're gone, I'm not used to not having you in the company. I always feel like something is missing around me..."
"Brother Yuanchao, please don't say that. I... hehe, it's not that exaggerated..." Gu Jie shook his head a little embarrassedly: "I'm just an ordinary director. Now the company is on the right track, and talents like Lao Zheng have also joined the company. He is much better than me. Besides, you know my family situation. I'm getting married soon. I've worked hard for so many years, and I deserve a rest..."
"Sanmao! Do you think I believe these words?" Before Gu Jie could finish, Song Yuanchao interrupted him and asked, "Sanmao, I have always regarded you as a brother. I always feel that it was not easy for us to go through hardships together. In my heart, I hope that we can be friends and brothers for life. Since we are friends and brothers, what can't we say? Do you have to use these as an excuse?"
"Of course, I didn't have time to think about why you wanted to leave, but now I know it. Sanmao, Sanmao, you always call me Brother Yuanchao. Since I am your brother, why don't you open up to me? Is it so difficult for you to tell me the truth? Or did I do something wrong that made you feel uncomfortable?"
Gu Jie didn't expect Song Yuanchao to suddenly bring up the matter. He was stunned for a moment and then showed an expression of shame.
