Today, while tidying up the furniture at home, I suddenly discovered that the wall had mold on it, like ghostly symbols, everywhere, and I could smell the mold. I was taken aback and quickly informed the landlord about this "good news."
In the afternoon, I discussed with my husband and suggested that he go with me to the Shangshe area to look at houses, as I had seen many people posting about it on video platforms, and it seemed quite nice.
At first, my husband was reluctant to go; he suggested going to Changgang and even mentioned eating Rong fish. In the end, he couldn't resist me, so we took a bus together to Tangxia Shangshe. My husband wasn't very familiar with Tangxia Shangshe, but I was more familiar since I had worked nearby before. However, I wasn't very clear about the rental situation there; I just came because I was familiar with the area.
After a long journey, we finally arrived at Shangshe. As soon as we got off the bus, my husband went to grab a bite to eat because sitting for a long time made his stomach uncomfortable, and eating something could alleviate that discomfort.
After walking for a while, my husband started messaging people who were renting out properties. The other party sent a location, pinpointing it at the Shangshe market. We had always thought it was a second-hand landlord, but in reality, it was just someone posting information, which we found out later.
Not long after we entered Tangxia Shangshe, we noticed an older woman setting up a sign by the roadside, listing single rooms, one-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments, etc., and she approached us directly to sell.
We thought she was a landlord, or at least a property manager. After watching a few videos on her WeChat, we decided to check out a room with better lighting.
So she rode her bike in front, leading the way, and we followed closely. Along the way, we noticed many people on both sides of the road displaying signs for rental properties, making it feel as bustling as a market, which surprised us. Were there really that many landlords here?
At an intersection, this so-called landlord contacted another woman, who then led us up to the seventh floor. There was no elevator, so we had to climb up one floor at a time. By the time we reached the seventh floor, we were already out of breath.
After walking around the room, we found that the bathroom was sunny, but the living area was blocked by the building across the street, which seemed to be much taller than this one.
This woman started introducing the house, saying it used to accommodate three people, and if more people were added, they could put a bed in the living room. I thought to myself, this is definitely a place for migrant workers.
In the end, we decided to think about it, but the woman was persistent and contacted another woman, saying that the newcomers wanted to rent a place with better lighting.
So, under her guidance, we went to see the so-called well-lit house. After walking for a while, we were handed over to another woman who led us up to the fifth floor to see the house. When we opened the door, we found that the view outside was completely blocked by the neighboring building, which didn't meet our expectations. Of course, the rent was relatively lower.
Later, we declined and started looking for the original contact person again. I saw that she had sent me her phone number, so I called it, but it turned out to be another person who told me to find the person I had contacted.
So I contacted that person again on WeChat and explained the situation. She then sent me another number. I called that number, and the other party told me to find him. At that moment, I realized that the person posting the videos was just a broker.
Thinking that it was hard to come all this way, I still wanted to find the person to see the house. However, after walking around, we didn't see anything, but many rental people were trying to sell us houses along the way, making it feel busier than a vegetable market. You would feel that there was no shortage of vacant houses here.
In the end, we decided not to look for that person anymore. However, just as we stood there for less than a minute, someone rushed over to ask if we were looking to rent a house and what kind of house we wanted.
My husband said we needed a place with better lighting.
The other party said there was a place with better lighting, but it was in an alley. Did we want to go take a look?
I hesitated, but the other party said, since we were already here, we might as well go take a look.
My husband also said to go take a look, so we followed her.
We followed this woman through the alley, where tall buildings were densely packed, and the alleys were narrow, making it hard to see even a palm's width of sky. The alley was damp and had a lot of humidity.
After following her through several turns in the alley, we finally arrived at a building, and we followed her upstairs. It turned out to be the second floor, with a damp floor and wet walls, clearly not meeting our expectations.
This place felt uncomfortable due to the dense buildings and narrow alleys, making it feel chilly and damp as we walked through.
However, what surprised us the most was that the rental situation here was like a market, with groups of people renting out houses on both sides of the street, seemingly turning it into an industry.
After visiting here today, I was completely disheartened and would never come back a second time. The entire Shangshe felt like a huge hive, with people bustling about, and the house introducers were in groups, also very busy, something I had never encountered elsewhere.
Maybe I was just ignorant; I had never experienced this before, and neither had my husband. He said, doesn't this indicate that the turnover rate for housing here is very high?
I told my husband that this place is just a gathering spot for workers. I kept emphasizing to him that there are many delicious foods here, with food vendors everywhere, better than our previous place.
My husband said we weren't here just to eat; we came to look at houses.
In the end, we didn't eat there but went to the entrance of Tangxia Shangshe, which was relatively spacious, and the dining area seemed much larger. However, there were very few people eating inside, and I didn't know why.
Eventually, we entered a place that was supposedly famous for Henan lamb, and indeed, the food inside was much more expensive than in other places. We ordered lamb soup and some dishes, but to be honest, it wasn't good at all.
My husband said this lamb soup was far worse than the one from his hometown and not tasty at all. I didn't know how good his hometown's lamb soup was, but this soup had some chili oil added, which I disliked, so I let my husband drink it.
By the time we finished eating, it was already late. The thought of taking the bus again made me feel uncomfortable after such a long day, so we decided to take a few buses and then transfer to the subway. I thought we could transfer at Tianhe Interchange, so I kept dismissing my husband's plan to take the nearest subway. Later, my husband checked the map and found that it was actually farther, and after looking at the map, I was convinced, so we finally got off at the Sports Center.
After getting off, we walked a bit and transferred from Line 1 to Line 8, returning to our original place. By the time we exited the subway, it was already dark, and I sighed, realizing that I had spent the whole day looking for a house.
My husband said we had already set off after two o'clock, and the travel time was long, but we didn't spend much time looking for a house. However, the bustling rental market in Shangshe today was refreshing and even a bit unbelievable.