Eighty-nine: The Three-Person Pact Falls Apart—Come Tear Each Other to Pieces for All I Care (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Still better to keep looking, and wait a little longer.

Based on the listings brought in by the local hustler, there really were two private homes whose owners wanted to sell them for cash. Cheng Xuemin and Feng Jiayou went over as well to have a look.

But every one of them was the same sort of place: old, shabby, and crowded courtyard houses. Not only did Feng Jiayou look down on them, but Cheng Xuemin, who was used to commercial housing and accustomed to running water and a private bathroom, looked down on them too.

They had wanted to move out precisely because crowding their whole family into a shared courtyard was inconvenient. Moving out was meant to improve the young couple's living conditions and quality of life.

So the first house they bought would certainly be for living in, not for speculation. It was far too early to start flipping property anyway. The priority was to improve their own housing conditions first.

In Cheng Xuemin's mind, their first home ought to be an apartment building at the very least.

If not that, then a corridor-style building would do.

At the bare minimum, though, it had to have a private bathroom and its own kitchen.

A shared courtyard was absolutely out of the question. It was too dilapidated, too old, too filthy. Just thinking of having to keep emptying the chamber pot every morning...

Winter was tolerable, Cheng Xuemin could endure it. But what about summer?

In any case, he was completely unaccustomed to that sort of life.

Now that he could earn royalties and his finances could keep up, of course he wanted a better place.

But that was just how this era was. No one's will could change it.

Homes with private bathrooms and kitchens were rare and hard to find all year round.

Especially in this pivotal year.

With millions of educated youths returning from the countryside, and those who had been sent down also streaming back to the city, housing allocations in the capital were already extremely tight.

Needless to say, Feng Jiayou's father, the chief editor at the Foreign Languages Bureau's Chinese Literature desk, and her mother, also a chief editor at October, were still a family of two chief editors waiting for allocation from above.

In a situation like this, demand only flowed upward: those without homes wanted the government to assign them one, and those who already had one still wanted a better place.

The truly good homes, the ones people genuinely wanted to exchange, were generally swapped privately among relatives and friends.

Very few were listed through the housing exchange offices, let alone sold as private property.

On the way back to Yanda, Cheng Xuemin reassured Feng Jiayou, telling her to keep waiting and keep looking. If they waited a little longer, perhaps, just as that street loafer had said, there would not even be any courtyard houses left to find.

And even so, was he really supposed to spend two or three thousand yuan on a filthy, run-down courtyard house?

He would rather wait.

"It's all right, Xuemin. Let's keep waiting. We only just started looking today, and we haven't even gone inside the housing office yet."

"Let's come back in a couple of days. Maybe there'll be a good place then?"

Feng Jiayou was just as dissatisfied with those courtyard houses. This was buying a home, not renting one or taking whatever the authorities assigned. Buying a house was something for a lifetime, so naturally she wanted to choose one she liked.

Besides, Feng Jiayou had never really lived in a shared courtyard since childhood. If not for the few years she spent toughening herself up in the northwest, she would never have gotten used to the courtyard house her family was renting now.

"Yes, that's true. I'll keep looking around. Even if there aren't any good places at this housing office, we'll go farther and visit a few more housing offices."

In all the districts of the capital, there were several housing offices of varying size. If there was nothing good here, then they would simply search farther afield. Sooner or later, they would find something suitable and satisfying.

"Mm-hm."

Feng Jiayou wrapped her arms around Cheng Xuemin's waist, her blissful face buried in his overcoat.

"Beijia, Jianying, what are you all talking about? So lively in here?"

Cheng Xuemin set Feng Jiayou down beneath her dormitory building and let her go upstairs to call the others.

When Feng Jiayou entered the dorm, she found everyone there, clustered around the desk and arguing animatedly, and could not help asking curiously.

"Huh? Jiayou, isn't today a day off with no classes? Why have you come to school?"

Huang Beijia's face was flushed red. Seeing Feng Jiayou at the door, she was surprised as well and asked in confusion.

Jiayou, you came just in time. You've read both Old Xu the Horse Herder's new work, "Endless Affection Like Blades of Grass," and Kuang Yalan's "The Girl Students' Dormitory," haven't you?

"Tell us, which one do you think is better?"

"Just comparing 'Endless Affection Like Blades of Grass' and 'The Girl Students' Dormitory' on their own, not counting Old Xu's 'The Horse Herder,'" added Zha Jianying.

After the two of them spoke, the other girls in the room also turned to look at Feng Jiayou.

"Beijia, Jianying, what's going on? Why are you comparing Old Xu's new work to Kuang Yalan's?"

Feng Jiayou was momentarily stunned and did not catch on. So that was what they had all been gathered here arguing about.

"Jiayou, you don't know yet?"

Seeing her reaction, Huang Beijia knew at once that she really did not know.

"I... what am I supposed to know?"

Feng Jiayou was bewildered again. She even felt that living at home now made her completely unable to keep up with the pace of her roommates.

What was she supposed to know now?

Something to do with her man's piece "Endless Affection Like Blades of Grass"? And also with Kuang Yalan's "The Girl Students' Dormitory," published in the Shanghai Arts and Literature?

But one had appeared in the capital's Capital Literature, and the other in Shanghai, more than a thousand kilometers away. Could there really be some story behind this?

"I knew you definitely didn't know."

"Word's spreading around Yanda again. They say the author of 'The Girl Students' Dormitory' is also a student here at Yanda!"

Huang Beijia told Feng Jiayou at once, shocking her thoroughly.

"Kuang Yalan is also from Yanda? Really?"

"How could that be false? The campus mailroom even has a record of Kuang Yalan's correspondence. It was a sample issue and royalties sent by Shanghai Arts and Literature, and the gatekeeper uncle registered it himself. It can't be wrong."

Huang Beijia said with complete certainty.

"She's really from Yanda? Then do they know which department she's in?" Feng Jiayou asked in disbelief. The author of "The Girl Students' Dormitory" was actually also from Yanda.

For Feng Jiayou, this was astonishing.

It was exactly the same shock that Zha Jianying and Huang Beijia had felt at first, when they learned that the author of The Horse Herder, Old Xu, was from Yanda.

The horse herder had not shaken Feng Jiayou much before, after all, she knew it was written by her man.

But now a new author had appeared, seemingly able to stand shoulder to shoulder with her man, and this author was also from Yanda. How could Feng Jiayou not be astonished?

"Not yet, but Kuang Yalan should be the author's real name. She didn't use any fancy pen name, so it should come out soon enough," Huang Beijia said, nodding as if it were only natural.

"That makes sense."

Feng Jiayou thought the same. Hearing the name Kuang Yalan, she assumed it was the author's real name, just like her own.

If they knew the real name, then finding the author of "The Girl Students' Dormitory" should be easy.

"I don't think so," Zha Jianying shook her head and said. "Didn't you read 'The Girl Students' Dormitory'? The female protagonist is named Kuang Yalan. Would an author use her own real name for the heroine?"

"So I still think Kuang Yalan is just a pen name, just like Old Xu the Horse Herder's."

"Mm, Jianying, what you say does make sense." Feng Jiayou nodded repeatedly, then asked curiously, "Then do you think Old Xu's new work, 'Endless Affection Like Blades of Grass,' is better, or Kuang Yalan's 'The Girl Students' Dormitory'?"

"Honestly speaking, I still think Kuang Yalan's piece is a little better," Zha Jianying said plainly.

"Jianying, you gave up on Old Xu the Horse Herder so quickly? And don't tell me it's because Old Xu the Horse Herder didn't keep his date for the movie last night. I saw you coming out of the Great Hall all by yourself last night!"

Huang Beijia teased Zha Jianying and continued, "Anyway, I still think Old Xu the Horse Herder's piece is a little better."

"Beijia, who said I had made a date with Old Xu the Horse Herder to watch a movie in the Great Hall? Stop making things up!"

Zha Jianying was flushed with shame and indignation from Huang Beijia's teasing, and hurried to defend herself.

After all, she had come out of the Great Hall last night and happened to be seen by Huang Beijia, who was passing by. There was no way to explain it clearly.

She had also realized just how popular Old Xu the Horse Herder was: most of the girls who watched the movie in the Great Hall last night had secretly arranged to meet him there.

Ashamed, Zha Jianying had covered her face and left on the spot, unable to stay any longer.

"Hee hee, what's the big deal? It wasn't only you, Jianying, who had a date with Old Xu the Horse Herder for the movie last night."

"Besides, I wasn't there by pure coincidence either."

Huang Beijia had a rather unrestrained and easygoing personality. Since she already knew that the classmates around her had written reader letters to Old Xu the Horse Herder and arranged to watch a movie with him, what was there to hide or deny?

Might as well admit it together.

"What?! Beijia, you... you were also there to watch a movie with Old Xu the Horse Herder last night? Why didn't you tell me?" Zha Jianying asked, her face reddening even more.

"You didn't tell me either," Huang Beijia replied with a sidelong smile.

"You two... all right, then. Actually, I admit it too. Last night I also arranged to watch a movie with Old Xu the Horse Herder!"

Seeing Huang Beijia and Zha Jianying exposing each other's embarrassment, Feng Jiayou simply decided not to wait for Cheng Xuemin downstairs any longer and laid her cards on the table as well.

"What?! Feng Jiayou, are you serious? You also made plans with Old Xu, the author of The Horse Herder, to watch a movie last night? And your husband had no objection?" Huang Beijia was instantly struck dumb with amazement.

After all, Feng Jiayou was different from them: a married woman, and one already pregnant at that.

Even so, you still dared compete with them to arrange a movie date with Old Xu the Horse Herder?

"Jiayou, you're joking, right? Last time you said you had also written a love letter to The Horse Herder, and we all thought you were kidding!"

Zha Jianying was equally stunned, staring at Feng Jiayou in complete disbelief.

Had she gone mad?

Feng Jiayou was a girl with a family. How could she be the same as them?

The other girls in the dorm also looked at Feng Jiayou with strange expressions, thinking she must be joking.

Four of the eight girls in their dorm had secretly written reader letters to Old Xu the Horse Herder.

But Feng Jiayou absolutely could not have been one of them.

It must be that she was trying to smooth things over between Huang Beijia and Zha Jianying, and deliberately making a joke.

"You don't believe me?"

Feng Jiayou found their expressions rather amusing.

"How could we believe you?" Huang Beijia rolled her eyes. "Of all people, you're the one who knows best how to joke. Believe you for what? Not a chance."

"Exactly. Jiayou, you said you went to the Great Hall to see a movie last night. Then tell us, did Old Xu the Horse Herder go or not?" Zha Jianying asked.

"He definitely went."

"If Old Xu the Horse Herder hadn't gone, why would I have gone?"

Feng Jiayou nodded with absolute certainty and said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"You're bragging."

"Everyone says Old Xu the Horse Herder didn't go last night. The one who went was Chen Jianguo from our Chinese Department, but we all know Chen Jianguo isn't Old Xu the Horse Herder."

Huang Beijia looked at Feng Jiayou with utter disdain. She was really talking nonsense without even drafting it first.

And you're a married woman, too.

"He did go. Not only did Old Xu the Horse Herder go, but Zhuang Dening and Bai Ling from Capital Literature went as well."

"Still don't believe me? Then what about this?"

Today, since Feng Jiayou had decided to come clean to Huang Beijia and the others, she brought out everything she had: the dozens of movie tickets and the stub from her royalty statement, all at once.

"These are... movie tickets? Jiayou, why do you have so many movie tickets?"

"All of them are from yesterday?"

"The royalty statement? A royalty statement from Capital Literature sent to you, Jiayou? My heavens, then Old Xu the Horse Herder is you?"