Chapter 38 Reciprocity
Bai Tang had Gu Yanxu swipe his card at the sales office to pay Duan Jia the commission.
Then they turned back and asked Pingping whether he wanted to contribute points or for them to continue paying him food.
Li Ping shook his head and said, "No need. Duan Jia has been leading the way for you all today. I haven't done any work, so I can't accept your things."
Bai Tang didn't insist on giving him any more money or supplies; she just thought to herself that she would invite the brother and sister to meals in the next few days.
All the public units and stalls in the base have card readers, so you can pay your contribution points directly by swiping your card. It's convenient and simple.
After Bai Tang and her group finished the property transfer at the sales office, Bai Tang was about to leave with the keys when Duan Jia called out to them, "Miss Bai, please wait a moment. There are still some discounts we haven't given you yet."
Upon hearing that there were additional discounts, Lin Fan hurriedly returned to the counter and asked, "What other discounts are there?"
Bai Tang and the others also walked back.
Duan Jia said, "We have a rule here that if you buy a house with cash, you get a month's worth of heating, water, and electricity."
Don't underestimate the cost of heating and utilities each month; it adds up to a significant amount of contribution points. I'll process it for you now, please wait a moment.
Seeing how honest Duan Jia was, his colleagues gave him all the discounts.
Their sales department has an unwritten rule: when selling a house, they don't reveal all the discounts. They wait until the customer offers something before telling them about the preferential policies.
Seeing that Duan Jia hadn't gotten any benefits, but had blurted out all the discounts, his colleague couldn't help but sigh: "This guy is a complete fool."
Duan Jia didn't care what they thought. He was just happy that Gu Yanxu and the others remembered him when they bought houses and asked him to act as their agent. He was already satisfied with the commission he could earn.
A short while later, Duan Jia finished processing their paperwork, then came out from behind the counter and personally saw them out.
As they were leaving, Gu Yanxu offered Duan Jia a pack of cigarettes, but Duan Jia waved his hand and said, "I can't accept it. The fact that you remembered me when you came to buy a house is already a great help to me. I can't accept anything else."
Bai Jiyang then said, "Brother Duan, just take it. That way, we can easily find you if we need anything in the future, right?"
After some initial hesitation, Duan Jia accepted the pack of cigarettes, thinking to himself: If I ever need anything again, I will definitely help them out.
The group went out and got into the off-road vehicle. They then asked Pingping to take them to the place in the base where they set up stalls to sell goods. The small courtyard was empty, so they needed to buy some furniture.
The house was so bare that it was uninhabitable. Li Ping asked worriedly, "Sister, now that you've bought a house, are you no longer going to rent to us?"
Bai Tang turned around and looked at Li Ping sitting in the back row, and said, "Pingping, are you a little dense? We bought a bare-bones apartment, there's no furniture in it. If we're not going to rent your house temporarily, then we'll go live in the bare-bones apartment."
Don't worry, we'll continue renting from you until we finish renovating our house.
Bai Tang knew what the child was worried about; he was worried that Bai Tang and the others would just move out and not pay the rent.
Bai Tang wouldn't be that stingy. Taking the two siblings out for breakfast is one thing, but she'll pay the rent. One thing at a time.
They ate breakfast with them because Bai Tang and the others felt sorry for them. The two little kids were so hungry, and the older brother didn't even eat, giving all the food to his sister while he drank water to stave off hunger.
Their parents were also careless, leaving their two children alone at home.
Li Ping had previously mentioned that their parents had gone to Beijing for scientific research and couldn't take them with them, so they asked their older brother, Li Ping, to take good care of his younger sister.
Since their parents are scientific research experts, the official base will definitely protect them well. It's just a pity that they couldn't protect the two children who stayed in Shengshi.
As Bai Tang was thinking, they arrived at their destination. They parked the car in a nearby small parking lot, and Bai Jiyang and the others got out of the car carrying bags.
There are quite a few people selling goods at stalls here. Most of the people walking around looking at the goods are carrying bags, which probably contain either food or supplies.
So Bai Jiyang, Lin Fan, Lin Feng, and Lin Zhou also carried backpacks.
Bai Tang hugged the canned food to her chest to prevent it from being stepped on by some inconsiderate person.
However, Guantou's weight has been soaring recently, and Bai Tang felt her arms getting a little sore after holding him for only a short while.
Gu Yanxu noticed how heavy the canned food was, so he said, "Tangtang, let me carry the canned food for a while, you can rest."
Upon hearing this, Bai Tang handed the canned food to Gu Yanxu.
The canned food turned around and meowed at Bai Tang, as if to say: You promised to always hold me and love me, but you turned around and let someone else hold me.
There was nothing that could be done; the canned food was being fed too well and had grown quite a bit. Bai Tang thought it must be mutating.
Bai Tang turned her head away, ignoring the can's accusations.
They walked around looking at the stalls, big and small.
The stall was filled with all sorts of items, including high-end jewelry, luxury bags, and various mink coats.
Some stalls also displayed calligraphy and paintings that looked like antiques.
Anyway, the items displayed at the stalls were all kinds of things.
There were also furniture vendors, but they looked like they had been flooded.
They can buy things here using contribution points, or they can barter. Originally, the base managed the barter system, but later they found that it was impossible to control.
Let's just loosen the reins and let them buy things however they want.
Many people here need supplies to sell things because the items in the base's supermarket are a bit more expensive, and the contribution points they earn from selling things aren't enough to buy food in the supermarket.
There is a supermarket in the base, but it is jointly managed by the government and the military to prevent any disturbances.
Only those who have some work at the base can accumulate contribution points to buy food at the supermarket. In addition, the wealthy also shop at the base's supermarket.
The snow stopped just as they were shopping; lately, the snow has been falling intermittently.
Now that the snow has stopped, there are even more people setting up stalls here.
Li Ping said to Bai Tang, "Sister, I heard that there is an official place in the base that sells decoration materials, but I heard that they are very expensive."
Bai Tang said, "No rush, let's browse around this stall first. If we find something suitable, we'll save money."
The vendors at the stalls were all shouting weakly as they tried to sell their goods.
A woman, seeing how clean Bai Tang and his companions were dressed, immediately began promoting some flashy but impractical luxury items from her stall.
The woman said, "Young lady, would you like to come and take a look? All the bags and clothes here are from high-end luxury brands, they're all designer labels."
Bai Tang shook her head and refused her.
In this state of affairs, what's the use of luxury goods? They can't fill your stomach, they can't keep you warm, and they're even too smelly to be used as firewood.
When Bai Tang refused her, the woman muttered, "These are all genuine products. I wouldn't be selling them if I weren't starving."
Bai Tang and the others ignored her completely.
So what if those luxury goods are genuine? Not to mention that Bai Tang has a lot of luxury goods that she bought a long time ago in her space.
These days, those things aren't even as valuable as a cookie.