When the staff at the Housing Authority saw the money Luo Qiao took out, they somewhat knew that she must have scraped together every bit of her family's savings, not even having time to exchange the Mao notes for larger bills.
Soon, the property certificate was in hand, and Tiong Qingfeng and Luo Qiao exchanged a few words at the entrance of the Housing Authority and then parted ways.
Luo Qiao went to the nearest department store to buy a large lock and a smaller one, returned to the yard, took a look around, and then gathered all the furniture into one room. That way, next spring, when she hired someone to renovate the place, she would only need to lock this one room.
Some of the furniture was damaged, but most of it was just scratched paint from careless handling. She thought about having a carpenter fix it all next year and then repainting it anew.