Chapter 216: Arranging Accommodations

Zhou Yimin led Zhou Xiaoying and the others to the neighborhood committee office.

“If you run into any problems you can’t solve in the future, and you can’t get in touch with me, just come here and find someone from the committee,” Zhou Yimin said.

Zhou Dafa and the others nodded in understanding, and then Zhou Xiaoying added, “Don’t worry, Sixteenth Uncle, we won’t cause you any trouble.”

After all, it hadn’t been easy to earn the honor of becoming workers. None of them wanted to be sent back to the countryside in shame.

Especially her—she knew all too well what awaited her if she returned.

Zhou Yimin trusted them enough and said, “Wait here a moment. I’ll go inside and find Director Li.”

Arranging accommodation for ten people at once was no small matter. With more and more people pouring into the capital, housing had become increasingly difficult to manage.

Many courtyards had been damaged during raids and were now uninhabitable. The neighborhood committee didn’t have the funds to repair them all, so they were left as-is.

Zhou Yimin, familiar with the place, headed straight to Director Li’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” came the voice from inside.

When Director Li saw him, she couldn’t help but tease, “Yimin, you’re such a busy man. How do you have time to visit me here at the committee office?”

Everyone knew Zhou Yimin had invented quite a few things. Plus, he had access to meat products, making him quite well-known in the area.

Even she, as the director, sometimes needed his help to source meat.

“I’ve been so busy lately. Otherwise, I would’ve come by to chat with you sooner, Aunt Li,” Zhou Yimin replied with a sheepish grin.

Setting aside their personal connection, she herself had almost run out of formula at home. If she couldn’t get more, her little grandson would go hungry. So, as long as it wasn’t against the rules and she could help, she always tried her best. Formula wasn’t easy to come by.

Zhou Yimin got straight to the point. “Here’s the situation—Brother Zhao gave us ten positions at the instant noodle factory. I’ve brought people today to start work, but the factory can’t house them all. I wanted to ask if our committee has any spare housing available.”

As soon as she heard it involved ten people, Director Li looked a bit troubled but still said, “Hold on, Yimin. I’ll go check.”

She stepped out and headed to the department that handled housing.

“Xiao Yang, check if we have any vacant rooms in our district,” Director Li instructed.

“Yes, Director. Give me a moment,” Xiao Yang replied and immediately began flipping through records.

Not long after, he reported, “There are still some vacancies, but not many. There’s one large shared courtyard with three empty rooms, and another compound a bit further away with two more rooms.”

Director Li nodded. Only five rooms, which meant they’d have to double up for now. Once more rooms became available, they could adjust.

“Xiao Yang, come with me to the office.”

Zhou Yimin waited in the office and soon saw Director Li return with a young man—someone new, around his own age. Likely just started the job.

Director Li said, “Yimin, there’s a big shared courtyard nearby with three rooms available, and a two-entry courtyard farther out with two more. What do you think?”

If they delayed too long, someone else might claim them. Given the current housing crisis, five rooms was already a stroke of luck.

Zhou Yimin considered it. The large shared courtyard was a bit chaotic, not the safest place for the girls—especially Zhou Xiaoying and the others who had just arrived from the countryside. If they were scammed, it would be a real problem. “Can we take a look at that big courtyard first?” he asked.

The only way to be sure was to see it for himself. If the residents were decent, it might still be workable.

“Xiao Yang, take Yimin and the others to inspect the courtyard,” Director Li instructed. She had too much on her plate and couldn’t go herself.

“Understood, Director,” Xiao Yang replied.

He led them to the courtyard, which was only a ten-minute walk away.

But once they arrived, Zhou Yimin was startled by the condition. The environment was far worse than expected.

Even though there were no tall buildings blocking the light, the entire place felt gloomy and cramped. Junk was piled up everywhere, and the corridors were covered with sheet metal to stop leaks, making it impossible for sunlight to get in. The air was thick with an indescribable odor.

“This place has been marked for renovations for a while now. It’s already much better than before. Don’t worry—it’ll continue to improve,” Yang explained.

Thankfully, the vacant rooms weren’t deep inside the courtyard but closer to the outer edge—otherwise, the conditions would have been even worse.

Zhou Xiaoying and the others had their dreams of city life shattered. Their homes back in the village seemed more livable than this.

When they reached the rooms, Yang unlocked them. A wave of stale, musty air wafted out, clearly from being unoccupied for a long time. He quickly opened all the doors and windows to air them out.

Zhou Yimin asked, “Can you accept this kind of environment?”

If it were him, he’d find it hard to tolerate—even with private bathrooms, let alone the public latrines here, which were likely horrendous.

The dry latrines smelled unbearable. Unlike in the future, no one cleaned them regularly, and people often didn’t aim properly, leaving messes everywhere.

Zhou Dafa didn’t like it either, but with no better options, he said, “We can manage.”

Seeing someone take the lead, the rest didn’t want to trouble Zhou Yimin further. They’d already been given jobs—just having a place to sleep was enough. Everyone nodded in agreement.

But how would they divide three rooms among ten people?

Zhou Xiaoying asked, “Sixteenth Uncle, how should we divide the three rooms?”

There were four women and six men—mixed-gender housing wasn’t an option.

Zhou Yimin suggested, “How about this—let Zhou Dafa and the other five men take the three rooms here. Zhou Xiaoying, you girls can move to the two rooms farther away. The environment should be better there, even if it’s not as convenient.”

If that didn’t work out, they could stay in his courtyard. He wasn’t using it anyway.

No one objected to his arrangement. Even though the farther place might have a better environment, the commute would be longer—and they were already exhausted from work.

“We’ll go with your arrangement, Sixteenth Uncle,” Zhou Dafa agreed.

“I can stay with my brother,” Xiao Xue suddenly spoke up.

Zhou Yimin shook his head. “His room is a bit cramped. Let’s check the other courtyard first,” he said, giving her a knowing look.

She was still too young—didn’t realize that having more rooms assigned was a good thing. Rural girls were just too naive sometimes.

Then he turned to Yang. “Comrade Yang, sorry to trouble you.”

As he spoke, he slipped him a pack of cigarettes. Though he didn’t smoke, he always carried some just in case.

Yang was delighted and quickly said, “Just doing my job.”

As for the girl offering to stay with her brother, he pretended not to hear it. He’d heard of Zhou Yimin’s name—finally a chance to build a connection. With his wedding coming up and meat so hard to come by even with ration tickets, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

Soon, he led Zhou Xiaoying and the girls to the other courtyard.

This one was clearly far better. Just as they were about to enter, someone stopped them.

“You’re not residents here. What are you doing?”

Yang had fallen behind and wasn’t visible at first.

But once the man spotted Yang, he greeted him at once. “Comrade Yang! What brings you here today?”

“They’ve been assigned to one of the vacant rooms here, Grandpa Chen,” Yang replied.

To Zhou Xiaoying and the others, he explained, “Grandpa Chen manages this courtyard. If you ever need help, just go to him.”

Understanding that these girls were the new tenants, Grandpa Chen stopped questioning and led them in. The vacant rooms were in the front courtyard, near the entrance, with decent lighting.

Yang opened the door. The room was relatively well-furnished—even had a table—and was bigger than the ones before.

Seeing this, the girls were relieved. Even without a choice, they had still hoped for a better place. The distance didn’t matter anymore.

“How’s the place?” Zhou Yimin asked.

He was quite satisfied himself—it was on par with his own lodging, aside from lacking a private bathroom.

“Very satisfied,” Zhou Xiaoying replied.

Yang, seeing that they were happy, said, “That’s great. The committee has other business to handle, so I’ll be heading back.”

He left the keys and went off.

Grandpa Chen wasn’t like those busybodies in certain courtyard dramas—he didn’t insist every little issue be handled internally. So there was no need to instruct him to look after the girls.

Zhou Yimin didn’t stop Yang. He knew how busy the committee was these days.

He then asked the girls, “Check if there’s anything you need to buy.”

“We’ve brought everything we need,” Zhou Xiaoying replied.

People were extremely frugal now. Supplies were scarce, and things were repaired until they absolutely couldn’t be fixed anymore. Most essentials had already been issued by the factory.

“In that case, I’ll lend each of you ten yuan to help you get through this month. Give it to Zhou Dafa tomorrow. Starting next month, you’ll get your wages,” Zhou Yimin said.

He added, “I’ve got other things to handle, so I won’t stay.”

He also had a brief word with Grandpa Chen and gave him some cigarettes.

Grandpa Chen understood. With these girls living in the courtyard now, they were part of the community, and he wouldn’t let anyone bully them.

It was also obvious to him that Zhou Yimin had strong connections with the neighborhood committee.

Zhou Yimin spent the morning at the courtyard and returned to Zhoujiazhuang in the afternoon.

He felt more at ease there.

“Yimin, those eggs you were incubating—some are starting to hatch,” the old village secretary reported excitedly.

He knew how valuable the eggs were and had been checking the hatchery multiple times a day. If this batch was successful, they’d have a steady supply of eggs and chicken meat in the future.

An egg now cost a cent. A bigger one might go for two. By weight, it could be several cents a jin. A single chicken was worth a couple yuan—so the hatchery was practically priceless.

Zhou Yimin figured it was about time. Without even stopping home, he hurried to the hatchery.

Inside, though the sounds were faint, he could hear the soft chirping—sign that chicks were about to hatch.

About 24 hours before hatching, chicks begin softly peeping inside the shell. The sound, called “pre-hatching chirping,” is meant to draw the mother’s attention and let her know they’re coming.

Mother hens can tell whether the chicks inside the eggs are cold or hot based on changes in their chirping, and adjust their brooding behavior accordingly.

However, the actual hatching process isn’t accompanied by chirping. The chicks start communicating with the hen through chirps even before breaking out of their shells.

Though the chirping of a single egg is very faint and hard to hear unless one listens closely, there are five hundred eggs here. Even without listening carefully, the sound is still quite clear.

The old village secretary said, “I wonder what the success rate of this hatching will be?”

After all, this time they were using artificial incubation rather than a hen, so the success rate remained an unknown.

“Don’t worry, Secretary. The success rate should be at least eighty or ninety percent,” Zhou Yimin said.

If the technology were more advanced, he could’ve claimed a full one hundred percent with confidence.

Upon hearing Zhou Yimin’s reassurance, the old secretary still couldn’t fully relax without seeing it with his own eyes. The heavy weight in his heart remained.

Just then, chicks began to break out of their shells—more than just a few. From the looks of it, there were at least twenty or thirty of them.

(End of this chapter)