"Why should I hate living in a rough house?" Every handful of dirt, every piece of dust, every square meter here is what I have worked so hard to earn. In July this year, Xiaoli, a post-90s girl in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, received widespread attention for "spending ten years of savings to live in a rough house", which caused heated discussion at the same time. Nearly half a year later, in early December, she was interviewed by Nandu and N video reporters again, talking about the various challenges and surprises here, and she was unexpectedly calm.
With the care and help of many netizens, Xiaoli, who wanted to "work hard for two more years to make money, and then decorate herself", the decoration progress was greatly advanced. In late November, a Shandong company directly transported a truckload of building materials, furniture and home appliances to her downstairs, and Xiaoli was incredulous at first, the other party really donated free of charge, and did not have any requirements for herself. The company responded that it was touched by her spirit of struggle and was willing to do its best to make her have a warmer home as soon as possible.
Since moving into the new house in June this year, Xiaoli has updated the "Rough Room Diary" on the short video platform almost every day, and the picture has gradually transitioned from the summer when she fell asleep with two rows of mosquito coils to the cold winter of hugging the kitten in the plush warm quilt. In December, because of the official start of the renovation, the home demolished the window, smashed the wall and then built the wall, she first slept in the corridor where no one passed, and then set up a tent on the original boundary of the "master bedroom", and now moved to the renovated bathroom. She laughed and said, "There are always more ways than difficulties." Every day is gray-headed, but life is interesting. ”
Previously, Xiaoli was in her rough room.
When renovations are in progress
In July this year, when Xiaoli first appeared on the hot search, a Nandu reporter spoke to her on the phone at 3 a.m. In her words, at that time, she was "busy making money to repay loans and striving for early liberation", and when she encountered projects that had to rush to work, it became the norm late.
Today, her most important project has become her own renovation project. The house itself is already a thousand and one things, not to mention that for Xiaoli, it is also necessary to strictly control the cost and try to take into account the needs of their "overnight construction site". In a video diary, she almost "wailed": "Smashing the wall, building the wall, it is another cost... Is the living room a plank or a floor tile? Painting the wall involves the ceiling, how to paint the wall without this ceiling? But these problems, after the catharsis came out, she finally had to take the idea, and Xiaoli, who bought a house for the first time and decorated, also stepped on many "newcomer pits". For example, when she first received the house, she "spent a lot of money" to decorate the toilet, because she did not plan well, and then paid someone to smash it in the back, which made her regret and heartache.
Fortunately, in these months, many people online and offline have reached out to her. Xiaoli counted the Nandu reporter in detail: "There are curtains sent to me, there are doors sent to me, and there are those who say that they want to paint me..." On November 16, she was even more excited to share a good thing like "pie in the sky", and a Shandong company took the initiative to contact her, expressing its willingness to provide decoration materials, furniture and home appliances worth 100,000 yuan free of charge, direct delivery to the door. This unexpected gift allowed her to plan to "save two years to start again" rough house renovation, which she had planned to "save for two years" and immediately put it on the agenda.
According to Xiaoli, in fact, this company contacted her as early as July this year, but she did not pay attention at the time, "because (after the hot search) there were many decoration companies and advertising companies looking for me to cooperate, and they came up to let me sign a contract and sign it for two or three years." Although I want to make money, I don't want to mess up my account, so I don't pay much attention to them. ”
Unexpectedly, on October 28, the Shandong company came to her again and expressed its willingness to help. "I thought to myself, 'I can't sign a contract anyway, and I can't pay a penny,' and I told them, 'If you want to help me, come here,' and then I didn't take it seriously." As a result, after a few days, they really dragged things over with a big truck overnight, and after they came, I believed that there was really such a thing! ”
Xiaoli told nandu reporter that the other party did not make any request to her, even outside the words, did not want her to mention this matter too much on her account, "The person in charge said, we are holding the mentality of helping you, if you mention it like this, the nature will change." I said okay, then I wouldn't mention it. In the end, Xiaoli came up with a "slight mention" juxtaposition method, hoping to express her gratitude to the donor.
In late November, the day after receiving this batch of love building materials, Xiaoli couldn't wait to start the renovation. First, the bedroom window was demolished, two unreasonable walls were smashed, the wall was rebuilt, the window frame was installed, and then the tile workers were arranged to enter the site to paste the tiles. "I went to find the bricklayers myself, and I have to wait for the master who is good at the craftsmanship, but they are very busy at the end of the year." Xiao Li explained to the Nandu reporter. After waiting patiently for a few days, the belated bricklayer temporarily increased the price, so angry that Xiaoli dismissed him on the spot and found someone again.
"After the tiles are pasted, it should be carpentry underneath, so I still have to think about making cabinets." Xiao Li calculated, "If it involves brushing paint and formaldehyde, I certainly can't live in this place, hey... Take it one step at a time, and then we'll talk about it later. It is also necessary to see how the weather is after I paste the tiles, if it is too cold, I may have to wait until the New Year to paint. Because the paint is easy to crack in winter, people painters are not happy to do it. ”
Recently, the night temperature in Taizhou dropped to single digits, and Xiaoli's home was not heated, but she repeatedly said: "It's just that it's cold outside, and it's fine inside." The new house was changed back to the construction site, full of cement and yellow sand, and could not live anymore, she also smiled and said, "Fortunately, I am witty and have purchased a tent online." Therefore, he first set up a camping tent to sleep in the corridor where no one passed, and after being persuaded by the property to leave, he moved back to the original boundary of the "master bedroom". In recent days, she has moved the bedding to the renovated bathroom, laid the floor under the shower, and replied to the comment: "Everyone does not have to envy Ha." Your own house should sleep in every corner to avoid losses. ”
Her quilt is a plush version, very warm, but because the bathroom is not equipped with doors, there is only a layer of curtains for shelter, and the wind in the hall at night always pours in the air conditioning. In her December 7 "video diary," she confessed that she "woke up several times a night" and decided to immediately "arrange" the bathroom door that was not willing to install in summer and autumn.
Home from scratch
The young owner of the rough house, Xiaoli is not the first, nor is she the only one at the moment. At the same time that some peers choose to "heavily decorate the rental house", they choose to spend their savings to buy their own property, but they have no spare energy to decorate, and they are reluctant to pay another rent, so they live in a rough house after simple decoration and adapt well to it. Many "rough house owners" will joke that their favorite decoration style is "Syrian style".
The same is roughly the case with Xiaoli. In March this year, she purchased a 120㎡ three-bedroom house in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, took the key in April, and completed the "infrastructure" such as water and electricity and sealing the bathroom in mid-to-late June. The night the workers withdrew, she moved in. "At that time, the house was a big pile of cement and bricks, and there was ash everywhere, and it took me at least two or three hours to clean it up. Then I slept in it. In the interview in July this year, Xiaoli recalled to the Nandu reporter. The reason why I live in a rough house, one is because the total price of the house is more than 1 million yuan, she has to pay off about 3,000 yuan of mortgage every month, and then rent a house is really unbearable, the second is that this new house is just near the place of work, usually riding an electric car to commute to work only takes more than ten minutes. "Then why can't I stop?" Although it is now a rough house, I am not disgusted. In the past, the house in my hometown was mud, and when it rained, there was still water, and I lived there for more than ten years, and I didn't have to abandon the rough house. ”
She did exactly what she said. Today, she has lived alone in this "cement box" for nearly 6 months and has never been self-pitying. When looking back on this experience, he even unexpectedly replied: "[This life] seems to be very plain, there is no difficulty, and it is very ordinary." ”
Xiaoli told Nandu reporter that what she was most impressed with, that is, when she suddenly went on the hot search, "Those few days were still quite unforgettable, I didn't expect to be paid attention to by so many people at once, everyone around you was talking about you, a lot of friends came to you, really a little 'feeling in the air'." I didn't seem to dare to speak for a few days, for fear of saying the wrong thing, and others would scare me... Gradually, I stopped looking at it, and my thoughts never wavered. ”
When the whole network is hotly discussed, Xiaoli, who is the protagonist of the story, is buried in life, and the "rough room diary" she recorded with video is also constantly updated. In the first video, the "most luxurious place" in the house was only the bathroom, the living room was full of construction waste and unused materials, and even sand shovels and trolleys; the master bedroom had not yet been fitted, she felt "too terrible", so she slept in the smaller room opposite, with an iron bed, pink sheets and yellow small floral pillowcases. A few days later, the living room was completely cleaned out, but there was too much dust, she bought a roll of felt "carpet" pressed on it, and later felt that it was not effective enough, and bought "ground solid", "wall solid", and personally brushed 3 times.
During this period, various soft installations and electrical appliances were also slowly added. The kitchen was filled with a sink of one or two hundred yuan, one horizontal and one vertical, and two folding tables supported by the wall, which became an "L-shaped cooking table", and put on the induction cooker, rice cooker, oil, salt sauce and vinegar and a beautiful porcelain plate porcelain bowl, so the fire was fired, and there was fireworks in the house. The cooking table is slightly more regular, and the far right side makes room for one person, which becomes her table, and a mini refrigerator is added next to it. Although it is only temporary, this corner is focused on by her, and Xiaoli has made a miniature landscape and framed the painting herself, which looks particularly warm. After earning a little more money, she replaced the entrance door lock with a fingerprint lock, equipped with a security cat's eye; on a rare day off, she also painted the inside of the door with her hand to her favorite smog blue...
In many of this summer's videos, Xiaoli wears the same black, white-collared doll dress, and she doesn't pursue going out to wear new clothes, but also enjoying life on another level. For example, I installed the Internet and WiFi for my home - "watching TV will not get stuck"; and raised a small milk cat, after it is mature, you can sleep with it in your arms at night.
In the past six months, from winter to summer, the kitten has grown up visibly, becoming more and more relatives, and Xiaoli's "video diary" has become more and more smooth. She said: "Many people think I have a team, but in fact, I don't have it, I am trying to find out on my own. At the beginning, I didn't know how to shoot videos, shoot here, shoot there, and after sending it to the circle of friends, people's perception was particularly bad. Now I'm also working on things like video. ”
When interviewed by Nandu reporters, she, who has 200,000 fans, said frankly that the next step is to start a business with short videos: "I think others can make money through short videos, why can't I?" I'm going to learn too. But she doesn't plan to find a team, and she just wants to use it as a side business at the moment, "I'll just grope for myself, make a little money, and strive to pay off the mortgage earlier." ”
"Own house" will be kept forever
Living alone is free, but the pressure on a mortgage is heavy. Xiao Li once told nandu reporters, "I regret that the house was big." But there is really no more suitable small apartment in this area, and the pressure of repayment will make her more motivated, and in general, she still feels that "the advantages outweigh the disadvantages." When she first moved in, she described it as "the happiest day of my life".
However, his house can be said to be a "safe haven", but it is not an impeccable armor. In an interview nearly half a year ago, Xiaoli talked about her happiness to the fullest, and now this happiness has been mixed with more colors.
Although she is not willing to show weakness to the outside world, and even "allergic" to sympathetic eyes, she still reveals some fragile moments in this "video diary" of more than a hundred days. For example, what prompted her to put curtains on more and more doors and windows was a "fear of being spied on"; before going to sleep every night, her habitual action was to lock the door and check the bottom of the bed again, "afraid that there was someone hidden inside." The north-south transparent living room is equipped with white gauze curtains, and the window is "fairy fluttering" as soon as it is opened, but when sitting quietly, looking at the darkness outside the window, she will also feel lonely: "This community, should be me living alone, right?" For a while, she thought about recruiting roommates for the rough room, but the person who applied for the contract was not so easy to find.
Even if she has moved out alone, Xiaoli after 90 has not escaped the urging of her parents. In July, she angrily said in a video that her mother called her home for a blind date and said that with so many mortgages, it was "difficult to find a partner," and told her not to pick and choose. The peers around her also invisibly affect her mentality, she described this feeling as "others have turned in their exam papers", although she is "hahaha" every day, but she has begun to have a vague uneasiness in her heart.
"Seriously, I'm a little overwhelmed. My family had to let me go on a blind date, from the New Year to the present. It just so happens that I have lived alone for a long time, and I am indeed a little lonely, so I thought and said, then look at it, it doesn't matter, right? So, not long ago, Xiaoli met with the blind date arranged for her by the family. The other person came to her rough room, but there seemed to be no performance or representation. In Xiaoli's opinion, this young man is a little too introverted. She told the Nandu reporter that the other half of her heart must be a little more enterprising, a little better temper, "Absolutely can not eat lazy, but also spend other people's girls' money, this kind of person I despise the most." ”
Xiaoli said that in some online discussions, some people summed up her views as "it is better for girls to buy a house than to get married", in fact, she did not intend to compare these two things, "I just wanted to buy a home that belongs only to me, it has nothing to do with marriage, it has nothing to do with anything, and I did not think about 'buying a house without getting married'." ”
It's just that while yearning for a good marriage, she is determined to be an "independent woman" – in her understanding, the word means that women must be able to be financially independent and have their own careers whether they are married or not. Xiaoli said: "I think girls must go to work, earn money to support themselves, can't count on other people (to protect their own lives and future), and then become a reason for their laziness." ”
Buying this house with ten years of savings from a part-time job is like a "manifesto" for her. She told Nandu reporters that all the difficulties encountered after moving into the rough house were not as difficult as the difficulty of making a down payment on the house, "I remember that at that time I wanted to buy a house, the down payment was still 80,000 yuan, and I didn't sleep at night." I was thinking, I can't wait any longer, I must buy, then look at myself, turn my brain a little more, think of a way, and then go to borrow (foreign debt). Now that the house is being slowly renovated, she is even more determined: "Even if I get married in the future, this house will not be able to sell." Because the 'owned alone' on the title deed is the most solid sense of security in my heart. ”
Xiaoli has always been a person with low expectations of the outside world. She came from a rural area, had a brother in her family, and knew from an early age that she had to plan for herself. In her words, "when I was young, I ate half of the bananas first, and the other half was eaten later." As a teenager, she entered the society, her first job was to put on a woolen sweater in a textile factory, and later worked as a dishwasher, running a small business such as a florist and aquatic products, and also tried micro-business entrepreneurship. In order to pay the down payment for the house, Xiaoli once pieced it together, but she did not ask her parents.
On September 13 this year, Xiaoli got the real estate deed as she wished, and she did not expect to receive a call from her father after that. The father snorted, trying to figure out, "Does it cost money to get a real estate deed?" Xiao Li smiled, "Don't spend money, I have already paid this money before." One night at the end of September, her father suddenly transferred 10,000 yuan to her and did not say much. After a few hours of silence, Xiaoli clicked "Receive."
"From working as a teenager to now, [this is] the first time I've taken my parents' money, and the last time." Xiao Li knows that her parents are not easy, and now they still have to work and work overtime, and it is estimated that the family owes a lot of foreign debt because of her brother's marriage. Finally decided to accept this money, but also because she was about to renovate, really urgently need to use the money, she also wants to wait for the economy to be rich, the 10,000 yuan back.
Xiaoli does not know exactly what kind of psychological activities her parents have experienced, but she just guesses that they should have seen the news or video, "Maybe they will also be quite touched, so many years have not really understood the inner state of their daughter." However, Xiao Li said from the bottom of her heart that she had never blamed them.
"When I have money to renovate, I have to install a big shoe cabinet here, and then put a sofa here, and then put a big TV here, and I can lie on the sofa and watch TV and see sleeping..." In the Video on June 21 this year, Xiaoli was drawing in the empty living room, depicting the "appearance of home" in her dreams. In late November, when the company delivered a pile of furniture to her home, she first removed the sofa and lay flat on it. The life in the dream seems to be no longer far away.
However, due to the need for decoration, she quickly put the sofa package back, including various furniture and home appliances, and she also seriously told the Nandu reporter: "Can't be demolished!" Because there is too much ash at home, it will be very troublesome! ”
Wait for this wave of decoration to be completed, and then slowly feel the unboxing. Speaking of this, Xiao Li smiled happily: "Well, yes, I am still looking forward to it." She also hopes that when conditions permit, people who have helped her will be invited to visit her home.
Producer: Nandu Instant
Written by: Nandu reporter Hou Jingjing