"Getting attached to this car?"
"What's there to be attached to? This old clunker," Mr. Chen said, patting the steering wheel. "Didn't your mom tell you? We're planning to buy you a new apartment in the city. We've saved up almost enough money. We'll just have to take out a small loan and we can buy it."
"Huh?" Chen Yuan was stunned. "You didn't discuss this with me?"
"There's nothing to discuss. You're about that age. A few of the older teachers at my school already made plans for their kids long ago. We're actually late to the game."
In small northern cities, the traditional family mindset was to prepare for buying a house and getting married as soon as the children reached a certain age.
In rural areas, you could just build your own house.
In the urban districts, families would start planning to buy a house when their children were still in middle school.
"But," Chen Yuan said hesitantly, not quite understanding, "I might not live around here in the future."
"I know!"
