Time-Travel: The Tragic Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character Makes a Comeback
CHAPTER 15: The 1970s Naive Supporting Girl (15)
The courtyard house left behind by Song Susu’s mother was quite far from the City Center.
Its location was also a bit out of the way. Two factories sat nearby, and most people avoided living here because of the noise, so housing prices were more than half cheaper than those in the City Center.
But as the factories expanded, the plan decided last month to build new staff dormitories. Overnight, the land in this area suddenly became hot property.
Back in the day, this courtyard was worth next to nothing. Now, it could easily sell for four or five thousand yuan.
The factory owner had his eye on the courtyard belonging to Song Susu’s mother and contacted the Song family about it.
The Song family, hearing this, immediately raised the price sky high and asked for ten thousand yuan. Unexpectedly, the other party urgently needed the land and agreed on the spot.
Thinking they had struck gold, the Song family rushed to call Song Susu back to sign the paperwork, fearing the factory owner might change his mind.
When Song Susu arrived, people were already outside the courtyard measuring the foundation.
She took the property ownership certificate from her pocket and spoke up. “Everyone, this is my family’s house. Who is your person in charge here?”
Seeing that it was just a young girl, the foremen doing the measurements were momentarily confused and called out for their leader.
“Director Ma, there’s a young girl here saying she’s the owner.”
Before long, a plainly dressed man in gray hurried out from the back. When he saw Song Susu, confusion flickered across his face as well.
“Hello, I’m Ma Guoqing, the person in charge here. And you are?”
“My name is Song Susu. Xu Peilan was my mother and the owner of this courtyard. As of this morning, the property has been transferred to my name.”
As she spoke, Song Susu lifted the ownership certificate for him to see.
After looking it over, Ma Guoqing dusted off his hands and smiled. “Hello, Miss Song. I’m from the neighboring dye factory. We already discussed this with your family elders a few days ago. You’re here today to sign the contract, right?”
Song Susu shook her head. “No. This property was left behind after my mother passed away. It has nothing to do with the Song family, and they never informed me either. I’m here to take back this house. Please stop what you’re doing.”
The moment she said this, Ma Guoqing frowned. Thinking of how outrageously high the Song family’s asking price had been, he immediately understood what was going on.
“I’m sorry, Miss Song. We truly didn’t know. When we asked around about the owner of this property, the Song family said they had full authority to decide. That’s why our factory director moved forward with the land purchase discussions.”
As he finished speaking, Ma Guoqing gestured for the workers behind him to stop, then led Song Susu aside with a much gentler attitude.
“Miss Song, may I ask if you’re willing to sell? We can still offer the originally agreed price of ten thousand yuan.”
Song Susu had never even seen the house yet and had not decided what to do with it, so she replied tactfully, “I’m not really short on money. This was my mother’s home, so I need some time to think it over.”
Ma Guoqing choked a little. Those three words, not short on money, left him with no room to argue.
The factory already had clear plans for this land. This plot sat right in the middle of everything and there was no way around it. Giving it up was simply not an option.
As a section chief, he could not afford to take responsibility for this alone. He had to report it to the factory director.
“How about this, Miss Song. Please wait here for a moment. I’ll go speak with the factory leadership. If needed, we can sit down and talk it through again.”
With that, he hurried off.
Song Susu did not say anything either. She took out her key and walked straight over to unlock the door.
But hanging there was a shiny new lock.
One look told her it had been pried open and replaced by the Song family, probably after they brought the factory people to see it.
Song Susu borrowed a hammer from the surveying crew. Two loud strikes rang out.
The lock snapped off and fell to the ground.
She pushed the gate open and stepped inside.
The courtyard before her was overgrown with weeds, but beneath the mess, its neat layout was still visible.
The structure was square and orderly, with blue bricks and white tiles. It was spacious and open.
A narrow path had been trampled through the grass. Song Susu carefully followed it and took a slow walk around.
The courtyard plus four rooms added up to roughly two or three hundred square meters. No one had cleaned the place in years. Cracks had formed along the walls, and thick layers of dust covered everything.
She did not linger long and soon came back out.
Sitting on the stone step by the entrance, she casually scanned the surroundings.
There were very few households nearby. At a glance, only one or two could be seen scattered in the distance.
Nearby, there was only the small convenience shop she had passed earlier. There were hardly any other stores around.
Most of the people going in and out belonged to the two factories next door. Both factories were enclosed by tall walls, so you could not see anything inside.
The courtyard itself was a decent size, but it was in rough shape. If someone wanted to live there, it would need a full renovation.
And in its current state, the area was not suitable for living at all. With development and construction still to come, it would take at least a few more years.
For the Song family to ask for ten thousand yuan for this place was already sky high for this era.
Even a prime courtyard in the City Center would not cost half that price.
So Song Susu decided it was better to sell.
By coincidence, Ma Guoqing returned with the factory’s deputy director.
“Miss Song, this is Comrade Sun Qiang, the Deputy Director of our dye factory.”
Song Susu stood up and greeted him, “Deputy Director Sun, hello. I’m the owner of the house, Song Susu.”
Seeing that she was just a young girl, Sun Qiang smiled kindly. “Hello, Comrade Susu. What happened earlier was due to our lack of caution. There was no intention to offend you, and I hope you can forgive us.”
“As for your concerns, Director Ma has already explained them to us. If you feel reluctant to part with this place, once the staff dormitories are completed, we can reserve one unit for you. It will be no smaller than one hundred square meters. You can think of it as keeping a root here. The price will still be the original ten thousand yuan. What do you think?”
Song Susu was extremely satisfied. “That works.”
As soon as she said that, everyone present let out a sigh of relief.
In these days, houses were not worth much, especially worker housing. The factory was never aiming to make a profit anyway, so giving up one unit was not considered a real loss.
Seeing how readily the young girl agreed, everyone grew afraid she might change her mind. Director Ma immediately took out the original contract and added an extra clause for the gifted apartment.
After that, both sides signed smoothly. Sun Qiang drove the factory's car with Song Susu to the city to complete the property transfer.
After spending the whole morning dealing with her, Sun Qiang felt that this young girl was nothing like how fragile she looked on the surface. She was brave, resilient, and very sharp.
He even smiled as he gave her the factory’s contact number, clearly interested in keeping in touch.
Since the other party had no ill intent and was also a Deputy Factory Director, someone who might come in handy later, Song Susu did not miss the chance to build connections and left him her address as well.
With another ten thousand added to her savings, on top of the original twenty three thousand, her total savings now reached thirty three thousand. On top of that, she even gained a free apartment.
From food and clothes to housing, she no longer had anything to worry about.
On her way back to the hospital, Song Susu passed by a hair salon.
She went in and had her annoying bangs trimmed.
They had grown too long to tie up, and parting them was just as troublesome. In the end, she decided on a clean cut, trimming them short to reveal her brows and eyes.
The salon lady kept praising her looks. Her long hair, braided into a loose plait with a slight natural wave, her fair skin, and delicate features made her look like a fairy.
“Just tidy up the ends a little.”
The salon lady gave her a quick trim. Song Susu rebraided her single plait, paid, and left.
Without her bangs to hide behind, as she walked down the street, quite a few people turned to look at her.
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