Early the next morning, Chen Jianghai eagerly went to Elder Jiang's home. The matter of renting a room had to be settled as soon as possible.
Arriving at Elder Jiang's door, Chen Jianghai knocked.
"Ah, Master Chen, you've arrived!" Elder Jiang, who answered the door, greeted him.
Chen Jianghai smiled and said, "Good morning, Elder Jiang! Have you discussed the renting matter with your granddaughter?"
"I've told her. Come in!" Elder Jiang said as he turned his head and called out.
"Shuyao, the matter I talked to you about this morning, the principal party is here."
Soon, a young woman around twenty years old emerged from the central room, dressed in a light blue floral dress, her face still bearing a hint of scholarly aura.
Chen Jianghai caught a glimpse and couldn't help but silently exclaim in his heart, what a delicate girl.
Lin Wanqiu was a rare beauty, but Elder Jiang's granddaughter before him was in no way inferior to Lin Wanqiu.
If Lin Wanqiu was like a gentle and demure beauty, the woman before him was the epitome of an educated and graceful lady.
Seeing his granddaughter come out, Elder Jiang quickly introduced the two.
"This is Master Chen, the one who fixed my radio last time, and this is my granddaughter Jiang Shuyao. You can discuss the renting matter with her."
Chen Jianghai gave a slight smile to Jiang Shuyao and said, "Hello, I've already agreed on the price with Elder Jiang yesterday. I think we should sign a contract so that both parties have security. Elder Jiang said to wait for you to decide."
Jiang Shuyao sized up Chen Jianghai and nodded, "Hmm, you said you want to sign a contract. Do you have one?"
"We can write it on the spot," said Chen Jianghai offhandedly.
It was a contract, in fact, a simple rental agreement, and its content was not complicated.
The spirit of the agreement was something Chen Jianghai valued greatly.
Even in the nineties, in an era when people were relatively sincere, Chen Jianghai did not want to abandon this spirit.
Only with black and white set down on paper could one's interests be better secured.
Jiang Shuyao looked at Chen Jianghai with a touch of surprise.
A home appliance repairer who actually wanted to write a contract for renting a house?
You should know that in this neighborhood, a receipt was usually enough for renting a place. Who would specially write a contract for it?
Moreover, could he even write one?
"Then you write, let me have a look," Jiang Shuyao said, unfazed.
Chen Jianghai nodded, "Alright, if there's anything unsuitable, we can discuss it."
Jiang Shuyao thought this was pretty good and fetched paper and pen from inside the house, handing them to Chen Jianghai.
"Alright, take a look."
After Chen Jianghai quickly finished writing, he passed the paper to the other party.
Jiang Shuyao glanced over it and saw that it outlined the rent, the lease term, and some other considerations, all straightforward with no hidden pitfalls.
Unexpectedly, compared to the contracts Jiang Shuyao had seen before, it had all the necessary elements, and some terms were even more stringent.
"Shuyao, is it alright?" Elder Jiang followed up and asked.
Jiang Shuyao looked at Chen Jianghai with a hint of surprise and said to Elder Jiang, "Grandpa, it's fine."
"Then I'll write another copy. One for each of us," Chen Jianghai declared.
Jiang Shuyao nodded, "Okay, let's do that."
After signing the contract, Chen Jianghai handed over three months' rent and said, "Elder Jiang, I'm paying the rent all at once. If I want to renew the lease, I will let you know a month in advance."
"That's fine, Master Chen, I trust the way you handle things."
Elder Jiang happily took the money.
"Elder Jiang, I'll come over later to clean up and bring some things."
"Sure, I'll go get you a key."
With that, Elder Jiang went back into the house.
Chen Jianghai couldn't help but ask casually, "You're in college, aren't you?"
"Yep."
Jiang Shuyao nodded, her tone filled with profound pride.
College students from the nineties were not comparable to those in later times; they were truly the favored children of heaven, possessing every right to be proud.
Getting into college was like a fish leaping over the dragon gate, altering one's destiny.
However, it wouldn't be long before the state stopped assigning jobs to college graduates, and the value of a college degree would gradually begin to fade.
Faced with the girl's pride, Chen Jianghai simply smiled faintly, saying nothing more, not even a half-hearted compliment.
Seeing this, Jiang Shuyao couldn't help feeling a bit nonplussed.
Why is he like this? Even a look of envy would have been something!
Every time she mentioned she was a college student, didn't everyone respond with thumbs up and praise?
This guy must be feigning his composure.
"Little Master Chen, keep the keys safe." Soon after, Grandpa Jiang came out with the keys.
Chen Jianghai took the keys and cheerfully said, "Grandpa Jiang, I'll take my leave now, so as not to disturb you any further."
"Of course, of course." Grandpa Jiang's face was all smiles.
Once Chen Jianghai left, Jiang Shuyao couldn't hold back any longer, tugging at her grandfather, "Grandpa, what does he do?"
From the moment he entered, Chen Jianghai's behavior had sparked immense curiosity in Jiang Shuyao.
She was determined to see what kind of confidence this Chen Jianghai had to present such an attitude.
Grandpa Jiang glanced at his granddaughter, "Didn't I tell you this morning? Little Master Chen repairs appliances, and he's very skilled at it!"
"Isn't it just fixing appliances? What's so great about that?" Jiang Shuyao pouted, slightly disgruntled.
Grandpa Jiang immediately frowned, "What? Are you looking down on skilled workers? When your grandpa was..."
"Alright, Grandpa, that's enough. Those old stories can rest, no need to continue." Jiang Shuyao hastily interrupted.
Whenever Grandpa Jiang started like this, he wouldn't stop for at least half an hour.
Jiang Shuyao initially found her grandfather's stories quite interesting.
But after hearing the same tales countless times, even the most fascinating stories could become dull and eventually tiresome.
Grandpa Jiang seemed ready to say more, but Jiang Shuyao turned and entered the house, leaving behind a single remark.
"Grandpa, I'm going inside to read."
Hearing that Jiang Shuyao was going to read, Grandpa Jiang naturally didn't dare to continue and promptly closed his mouth.
After finishing with the rental, Chen Jianghai went straight to the warehouse.
He had a task in the afternoon: accompanying Lin Wanqiu to Zhongbai Department Store for shopping.
Lin Wanqiu had taken a half-day off to prepare for the arrival of her mother-in-law in two days, planning to buy some daily necessities to avoid any inconveniences later on.
It was still early, so Chen Jianghai decided to stop by the warehouse to see if there were matters to attend to.
From a distance, Chen Jianghai could see Zhao Changgui sitting at the entrance, looking like a door deity, immobile for the entire day.
"Changgui, has Aiguo come by?" Chen Jianghai asked as he parked his bicycle.
Zhao Changgui nodded and then shook his head, "He came by in the morning but left soon after. He told me to tell you that customers are chasing after him for televisions and he hopes you can assemble a few more units quickly."
It was clearly an urgent matter, yet Zhao Changgui relayed it with a tone devoid of any urgency.