Volume 1 Chapter 0009 A House Worth Billions
After three rounds of drinks, Xian Yaodong took Nan Yi to the house near Sham Cun Bay.
Before this, the two of them had already put on long sleeves, tied their collars tightly, and put on rain boots.
A house that has been uninhabited for a long time will lack vitality and be full of negative energy.
The Five Poisons like to take root in places like this.
Of course, this is a weird statement. To explain it scientifically, if no one takes care of it and no one cares about leaks, the house will become damp and cold, and centipedes, spiders, and poisonous snakes all like to drill into such places.
Not long after walking, Nan Yi saw an isolated house not far away.
With a quick look, one can basically judge that the area of this house is no less than 3,000 square meters. At this time, Nan Yi is in front of the house and can see a circle of blue brick walls surrounding it. It has a strong sense of age, but it does not look dilapidated at all.
Just scrape the moss off the wall and it will become brand new.
"Uncle Xian, you said that no one has lived in this house for decades, but how come the walls are still in such good condition?"
“I heard that this wall was built using the techniques of ancient city walls. You see, those city walls have stood the test of hundreds of years. This wall is only this high and not that old, so it must be well preserved.
I tell you, you are lucky. If it weren't for that little thing back then, this house would have been occupied by someone else long ago. Let's go into the yard and take a look."
Pushing open the heavy gate, a huge screen wall comes into view.
There is a big "Fu" character carved in the middle of the screen wall, and a picture of hundreds of cranes presenting good fortune is carved on the side. It is lifelike and must have been the work of a famous craftsman.
Passing through the left side of the screen wall, you can see a large courtyard, which should have been planted with flowers and plants, but is now abandoned and overgrown with weeds.
When Nan Yi shone his flashlight over there, he could hear a rustling sound and the grass swaying.
Judging from the swaying of the grass, it should be a snake.
There are many poisonous snakes in Bao'an, the most common one is the Pit viper. Other species such as the Bungarus multicinctus, the Bungarus bungeus, the Five-step snake and the Cobra can also be seen frequently.
"Uncle Xian, I'll come here to catch snakes tomorrow morning. Judging from the noise, it won't be a problem for me to make a few dozen dollars."
"You'd better take it easy. I used to know a snake catcher who was an expert in catching snakes in the area, but he still died at the hands of a snake. As the saying goes, those who are good at swimming are the best."
“He who is a good swimmer drowns in water.”
"Yes, yes, that's right. Most of those who drowned were good swimmers."
"Ha, Uncle Xian, you can rest assured. If I really come to catch them, I will be fully prepared. I will first get a thick protective suit like those used in chemical factories, and then wrap myself up in it before dealing with them."
The two men pulled aside the weeds and walked through the yard. They saw an archway in front of them. Through the archway, they could see a patio. Looking through the patio, they saw a hall, bare and empty.
It turned out that there should be an octagonal table in the center, with two armchairs beside the table, and two rows of chairs should be placed symmetrically on both sides of the hall.
However, at this time, the tables and chairs were gone, probably because they were moved to the members' own homes.
After looking at the hall, Nan Yi looked around again. This house was divided into a front yard and a back yard, with two entrances and two exits. There were eight bedrooms in the back yard and twelve rooms in the front yard.
The kitchen and warehouse are fully equipped!
The doors and windows are all decorated with carved columns, and the roof is also decorated with intricate carvings.
If it were thirty years later, this house, in Bao'an, would not even be worthy of a look unless you could afford tens of millions of dollars in viewing fees.
If it had been forty years later, it would have cost at least tens of billions to take it.
This house used at least several hundred cubic meters of wood. The window frames, carvings, corbels (beam supports), and even the purlins and rafters on the roof were all made of golden nanmu, if Nan Yi was not mistaken.
Take it down, this house must be taken down.
Moreover, it needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible and all the golden nanmu wood needs to be replaced. What kind of family can afford to live in such a luxurious house? Do you think your surname is Zhu or Aisin-Gioro?
Having made up his mind, Nan Yi walked out of the house and approached Xian Yaodong who was smoking outside.
"Uncle Xian, I want this house, but I can only take out 200 yuan for now. The rest, when we make money from our business, you can deduct it from my share. Is that okay?"
"Okay, then you just need to write a note to the team leader. After all, this is public property of the team."
In those days, it was common for members' families to suffer from famine and owe the brigade food or money for several years or even more than ten years.
Like Nan Yi, giving a small amount first and then owe the rest is considered more reliable.
It's just that the famine he caused was a little too big.
"Nan Yi, let me be frank. The team will only let you owe the money for three years at most. If you don't pay it back by then, the team will take back the house."
"Uncle Xian, don't worry. Even if our business fails, I have other ways to make money. I can definitely pay it back in three years."
"Uncle Xian, of course I believe you. Come to the brigade headquarters tomorrow and let's write a note together in front of the other team members."
"okay."
…
The next day, Nan Yi went to the brigade headquarters and, in front of all the members of the brigade, wrote a note to the brigade and handed 200 yuan to the accountant Xian Jimin.
In this way, the original Liu House became the current Nan House.
In the next two days, Nan Yi was busy with the settlement of his household registration. He went to the Youth Office to end his grain and oil relationship, and went to the commune to apply for a household registration book. Considering the future, Nan Yi did not register himself and Liu Zhen together. They each had their own household registration book.
The grain and oil issue fell to Wenchangwei, and then the next step was to measure the private plots.
The good relationship with Xian Yaodong worked, as Nan Yi and Liu Zhen’s private plots were both on the other side of the barbed wire fence.
From Luohu Port to Shencun Bay, there is a wire fence separating the other side from this side. The other side of the wire fence belongs to Xiangkeng. But there is a piece of land belonging to Wenchangwei on the other side of the wire fence. It cannot be said that the land with the wire fence belongs to Xiangkeng.
In order to solve this problem, some members of Wenchangwei hold a "Cross-Border Farming Permit", which allows them to cross the barbed wire and farm on the other side.
"Nan Yi, I won't hide it from you. Across the street, we have already started distributing land to each household."
"Uncle Xian, I'm not blind. Those members are just slacking off here, but working their ass off over there. It would be strange if there's nothing fishy going on."
"You are smart, kid. Okay, you don't have a permit yet, so you can't get across. The private plot allocated to you is not far from the barbed wire fence. I will tell the border guards later, and you can just stand by the barbed wire fence and watch."
"Okay, Uncle Xian, can I get a copy of that cross-border farming certificate?"
"Are you stupid? All the private plots have been allocated to you over there, so of course I have to give you one."
"Haha, that's right!"
Nan Yi nodded seemingly foolishly.
Even if you are smart, you don't have to show it all the time.
Only those who know how to hide their shortcomings are truly smart people.
Xian Yaodong greeted the patrolling border guards, and Nan Yi was allowed to approach the barbed wire.
Nan Yi stood there watching as the land was being measured. Xian Yaodong inserted branches into the four corners of the land allocated to Nan Yi and the other man, marking the dividing line for him.
Private plots are usually dry land that is inconvenient to irrigate, and most people will keep them as vegetable gardens.
Of course, this is something that will happen a few years later.
At this time, you generally don't have the final say on what to plant in your private plot. You just pick one or a few crops from the ones your boss tells you you can plant.
"This piece of land belongs to you and Liu Zhen. You can plant whatever you want. The commune won't make too many demands now. They will just turn a blind eye."
"I plan to use half of it as a vegetable garden, and plant seven-mile olive and snake-killing herbs on the other half."
"What is Snake Extermination Sect? I've never heard of it."
"Snake-killing herb is also called Wangjiangnan and Yecassia. It can be found in the neighboring province of Guangxi. It is very strange. As long as it is planted, snakes will not dare to come. I brought a few seeds, not many. Once they are grown here, I will transplant them to the yard."
"This is great stuff. We need to plant it around the entire Wenchang area." Xian Yaodong said excitedly.
"Take your time. Wait until I have planted the seeds and selected them. Let's wait until next year."
…
Nan Yi spent two days alone to clean up the house.
Dig out the weeds in the yard and dig out the poisonous snakes, centipedes and toads.
At last, there were fifteen snakes, more than thirty centipedes, more than forty toads, and countless other insects such as grasshoppers.
This result surprised Nan Yi a little. There was no complete food chain in the house. Centipedes and toads had no worries about food, but the snake was a bit precarious. One snake could only get three toads, which was obviously not enough.
Moreover, poisonous snakes have their own sphere of influence, and no matter how big the yard is, it is not enough for the poisonous snakes to divide their territory.
This made Nan Yi think of the cellar and the treasure house. There might be a secret passage leading to the outside under the ground, and this secret passage had been discovered by the poisonous snake.
Perhaps, this yard is not their long-term residence.
With this guess, Nan Yi didn't rush to look for it. He continued to clean the yard. After the yard was cleaned, a well in the corner of the yard was revealed.
Without rushing to dig the well, Nan Yi inspected the entire house again. After making sure there was no poison, he called Liu Zhen over and brought a bundle of ropes and buckets. He also caught a few frogs on the way.
Nan Yi walked to the well, lifted the flat, thick bluestone covering the well, threw two frogs into the well, and then lay down at the mouth of the well to observe.
"Brother, what are you looking at?"
"Check if the water is poisonous."
Nan Yi watched intently for nearly an hour, and the two frogs were still swimming happily in the water.
I tied the bucket to a rope, drew up a bucket of water, put my nose close to it and sniffed it. I didn't smell any pungent smell, only a rusty smell.
"Go pick up two stones."
"Um."
Liu Zhen obeyed obediently, walked out of the yard, and came back with two stones after a while.
Nan Yi put his ear to the well platform and gently opened his hands. The stone fell freely onto the water surface, making a "dong" sound, and then a "da" sound after a while.
"The water is less than six meters deep, and the bottom is not all mud, there are stones or bluestone slabs."
"Ah? Brother, how did you know?" Liu Zhen asked in surprise.
"You don't need to learn how to listen to sounds. The scope of application is very narrow. If the water is too deep, you can't tell how deep it is. However, if you can't hear it, it means the water depth has exceeded the safe depth. Don't take the risk."
As he spoke, Nan Yi made one end of the rope into a lasso and looped it around the wall of the well, then sat on the well platform. "I suspect there is a cellar or treasure house in this house. Although the mechanism to open it is unlikely to be in the well, I still want to go down and take a look."
"Why not?"
"If a poor novelist can think of this, then any human being should also think that there might be something wrong with the well. If I were a craftsman making machinery, I would definitely do the opposite, because the well is too conspicuous. Besides, we don't know if there is a treasure house, and this is just my guess."
"Brother, why don't you not go down? What if there is danger?"
"It's okay. I value my life very much. If I hadn't confirmed that the possibility of danger was not high, I would not have gone down." Nan Yi smiled and said, "Keep watch for me."
After saying that, he fell headfirst and leaned backwards.
