Chapter 10: Mortgage

The two families had been discussing the marriage for more than a day or two.

Even the wedding date had already been set.

Not to mention the young couple, even if both families sat down together, the matter of buying a house couldn't be changed with just a simple sentence.

An Songlin thought for a moment and had to agree with his father's words.

But if they didn't touch the money meant for the wedding house, forget about savings—whether they could even keep their homestead in the village was another question entirely!

"Your idea is indeed good, but we must plan it out more carefully... and then discuss it with the in-laws."

"However," An Jianping said, unable to help but pause.

He looked at his son earnestly before saying

"Songlin, if we really discuss this with the Xuan family, your wedding date on May 1st might have to be postponed."

As soon as An Jianping finished speaking, before An Songlin could react, Bi Lizhu stood up with a start

"No! Absolutely not!"

An Jianping furrowed his brows slightly, pulling his wife down with a look of helplessness.

He signaled for her not to be so agitated.

After all, it was late at night.

If she started shouting like this, he reckoned that by tomorrow morning, people would be gossiping about how the couple had been fighting tonight.

Bi Lizhu pursed her lips tightly and sat back down, following her husband's lead, though not very willingly.

But before anyone else could speak, she lowered her voice and emphasized once more

"Jianping, Songlin's wedding date absolutely cannot be postponed."

"Although the invitations haven't been sent out yet, you know as well as I do that everyone close to us already knows the date."

"If we suddenly postpone the wedding for no reason... let alone our own side, the in-laws wouldn't agree to it so easily either."

"After all, I assume the Xuan family is much like us; those who are close to them probably know about it too."

"Lizhu, I only said it was a possibility, not that it was set in stone!" An Jianping hurriedly tried to soothe her again.

Bi Lizhu wasn't stupid, and she stood up again, feeling rather restless.

She paced in a circle twice before knitting her brows tightly

"Once the topic of not buying the house is brought up, do you think it's up to us whether the wedding is postponed or not?"

"Jianping, don't you know? No matter how reasonable the in-laws are, they probably won't be able to accommodate something like this."

An Jianping found it hard to refute his wife's words.

That was why, in addition to asking around for information these past few days, he had been exceptionally troubled.

An Songlin finally waited for his parents to finish speaking and quickly interjected

"Dad, Mom, what I mean is... we could actually discuss temporarily not buying the house."

"The houses we've looked at so far either have a bad location, are too far from the school, or don't have convenient transportation."

"In fact, in the entire Rongdi area, the only elevator apartment building currently for sale is Hongye Haoting."

"So, we chose Hongye Haoting not because it's particularly suitable for us, but because it's the most suitable option we have compared to other neighborhoods."

Bi Lizhu had calmed down and was carefully considering the feasibility of her son's proposal.

But deep down, she still didn't really approve of it.

An Songxiang secretly gave her sister a look, signaling her to observe their mother's expression.

An Songyu felt a bit helpless.

Still, she gently shook her head at her younger sister, signaling her not to say a word.

An Songxiang curled her lips but didn't actually say anything.

After all, no matter how much their parents relied on their son, they had never exploited her as a daughter.

So, if one were to talk about it now, the person in the An family with the most flexible cash on hand was probably An Songxiang, who had only been working for two years and whose parents had never asked her to hand over a single cent of her salary.

This was also why, even though she knew that her friends and classmates rarely prepared a separate new house when getting married, she had never raised any objections to her parents exhausting their savings to buy a new house for her brother's marriage.

However, the situation now was a bit different!

"Actually, it wouldn't be a problem for Brother to buy a house now!" An Songyu looked at her family, who were all exceptionally troubled, and couldn't help but suggest.

The family, all in a complex mood, couldn't help but look over.

Especially Bi Lizhu.

She always felt that her second daughter had been acting strange today.

Every time she spoke, she brought deep shock to the whole family.

"It's just... I seem to have heard people at the hotel mention that besides paying in full, isn't it possible to get a loan to buy a house?"

A mortgage?

This overly trendy term, once it reached the ears of the An family, caused different reactions.

An Songlin, who had been quite conflicted, suddenly felt as if the clouds had parted.

He looked at his family excitedly, "Yes, yes! This mortgage thing, I think it started being implemented a couple of years ago."

"Dad, do you remember how many people at our workplace were discussing this when it was reported in the newspaper?"

"But back then, everyone was basically calling it foolish."

"After all, the welfare housing allocation system was still in place!"

Hearing An Songlin mention this, An Jianping and his wife also realized it.

They had been saying that the term "mortgage" sounded familiar, but they couldn't remember where they had heard it.

Thinking of this, everyone's gaze turned toward An Songyu.

An Songyu spread her hands and said quite helplessly

"I have indeed heard of mortgages, but I don't know the details."

If this were in the future, let alone An Songyu, just about anyone could chat about it for a while.

But it was still 1999, and as for how exactly the mortgage system was implemented...

After An Songyu brought it up, she realized she didn't know when the mortgage policy had actually started!

Fortunately, there really was someone in their family who had heard of it.

"This is easy to find out. It's too late today, I'll go ask someone tomorrow," An Jianping said, making the final decision.

In his heart, he even had more ideas because of his daughter's suggestion.

The next day, the An family continued to be busy.

But this time, their goal was very clear.

When the family gathered again in the evening, it wasn't just An Jianping; almost everyone in the family had found out about mortgages.

An Jianping had even found out more.

However, when the family was together, he didn't say much.

It wasn't until the next morning, when An Songlin mentioned taking his fiancée to Jiang Village, that An Jianping pulled his two daughters aside privately

"A-Yu, A-Xiang, I'm planning to move both of your household registrations back to the village!"