"Aunt Liu, Aunt Hu, it was a pleasure doing business with you. I'll look for you again if there's a chance to cooperate in the future."
The cleaning aunt was surnamed Liu, and the female doctor who provided the residency quota was surnamed Hu.
Tang Li was also very happy to greet them after receiving her residency permit.
Tang Li knew that this was not a one-off transaction.
If she wanted to get priority residency quotas for the underground city in the future, she might have to cooperate with them again.
Leaving a good impression would make future cooperation more convenient.
After Dr. Hu left, Aunt Liu did not.
She asked Tang Li again, "Miss Tang, where are you planning to stay after you enter the city?"
Tang Li was stunned by the question and replied truthfully, "I plan to stay at the exchange."
Although Tang Li had purchased a residency quota for Jiangcheng, she was not Dr. Hu's friend or relative, so she could not stay in the house allocated by Dr. Hu.
As for the resettlement housing, it was for the temporary accommodation of disaster victims by the authorities and was very limited.
Tang Li was not considered a disaster victim, and she did not want to squeeze in with others, so she would not choose it.
Originally, Tang Li's idea was to stay at the exchange until the great earthquake. It would be expensive, but she would be comfortable living there.
However, hearing what Aunt Liu implied, it seemed there were other avenues.
So she asked, "Aunt Liu, do you have any better suggestions?"
"Many people are coming to Jiangcheng from all over now. All the exchanges are overcrowded, and housing prices are very high. Cheaper places are often a mixed bag, which is not safe for you two young girls," Aunt Liu said. "If you trust me, I can find you a place in the villa district. You can live there by paying rent, which is cheaper than the exchange, and there are fewer people."
Tang Guo asked curiously, "Hasn't the official confiscated all the extra housing from everyone? Why are people still renting out houses?"
Aunt Liu explained, "The officials only confiscated the extra housing held by individuals and some houses with outstanding mortgage payments, not including self-owned houses with complete property rights."
"Jiangcheng has a large flow of people and housing is tight, so there are many people who want to rent. Many homeowners have extra space in their self-owned houses. They renovate part of their self-owned houses and rent them out to people who want to rent, exchanging them for material coupons."
"However, like buying and selling residency quotas, such things are done privately."
"Renting out houses that have not been confiscated can also relieve the pressure on the authorities to allocate resettlement housing, so the officials naturally turn a blind eye."
Tang Li nodded upon hearing this, "Aunt Liu, of course, we trust you."
"Then I'll go with you to see the house. If it's suitable, we'll rent it today and move in tonight."
She then said to Tang Guo, "Guoguo, you stay at Exchange Number Five for now and pack our luggage and clothes. I'll come back to pick you up after I find a place."
Tang Guo quickly nodded in agreement.
Coincidentally, the clothes she washed last night were not dry yet, so she had to find a way to dry them before leaving.
Tang Li, driving the off-road vehicle, followed Aunt Liu's directions into the urban area of Jiangcheng.
The urban area of Jiangcheng was vast, not just the city center of Jiangcheng before the apocalypse. It had several districts, including the new city, old city, and industrial zone.
The villa district mentioned by Aunt Liu was located between the new city and the industrial zone, still a distance from the city center.
However, Tang Li found it to be very prosperous. Especially near the industrial zone, there were many vendors.
But Tang Li did not ask further at this moment. Aunt Liu had already informed the landlord by phone about someone coming to rent a house, and the landlord was waiting at home, so Tang Li did not want to waste time. It wouldn't be too late to ask later.
I forgot to mention, because Jiangcheng had restored electricity, communication was also restored.
Of course, this was only before the solar storm. Four days later, after the solar storm began, even Jiangcheng would experience power outages again, and all electrical appliances would be damaged.
Tang Li drove to the villa district mentioned by Aunt Liu.
The entire villa district was surrounded by a circular ice and snow dike, and there was no snow inside.
Within the ice and snow dike, according to the location of the villas, circular domes were built, with ice walls supporting each circle.
This was similar to the ice wall Tang Li had someone build with water between the two buildings of the supermarket.
Within the ice walls, ventilation pipes were also laid, allowing the chimneys of each villa to vent outwards.
Seeing this, Tang Li smiled and said, "It seems that there are capable people in this villa district!"