Free Days in Siheyuan

Chapter 1340

Early the next morning, everyone in the family went to work or school, but Zhang Yu slept until dawn and got up calmly when the sun was shining on his butt.

"System sign in."

"Ding, congratulations to the host for signing in successfully. You will be rewarded with one yuan in cash and ten kilograms of pork."

After the reminder sound stopped, Zhang Yu looked at the pork in the space. It was quite fat, but people in this era were short of oil and water, so they loved these fat meats more. He would take them out to improve his life someday. The aunt would definitely be happy to see it.

While eating the rice that his aunt left in the pot for him, he looked at his own house. Because no one had lived in it for several years, even though it was regularly maintained, it fell into disrepair quickly due to the lack of people.

Zhang Yu repaired the house once before he moved in, but it was not a major overhaul. He thought of finding someone to repair it while he had some free time these few days.

By the way, I also renovated several rooms of my aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle have three sons and one daughter. The eldest brother, Zhao Feng, is 21 years old this year. His academic performance was not very good and he could not continue his studies. After graduating from junior high school, my uncle used his connections to get him a job in the security department of the steel rolling mill. Now he is a formal employee and has been working for four years.

The second brother, Zhao Lei, 20 years old, is better at studying than the eldest brother. He went to a technical secondary school and was assigned to the publicity department of the steel rolling mill after graduating in May this year.

The third brother Zhao Liang is 18 this year. He went to high school but failed to get into college, and he said he would never go to college. He has not found a job yet and does odd jobs on the street. He had said before that he would give the job quota compensated by the army to the third brother, but his uncle and the third brother would never agree.

My eldest sister, who is 18 years old this year, is a twin boy and girl with my third brother. She is the one with the best academic performance in the family. She was admitted to a medical school this year and is currently studying there.

He basically did nothing for a whole day, except looking around the house from top to bottom. It was said that the courtyard they were living in was built by a warlord for himself in the early Republic of China, and the courtyards they built were generally slightly higher.

Looking at the height of the house, an idea suddenly came to him: would it be possible to build a second floor at this height?

The sudden idea made him very excited, and he immediately wanted to find someone to ask. Just then, Uncle Zhao passed by the door. "Xiao Yu, what are you doing?"

"Uncle Zhao, I'm looking at the height of the house. How tall do you think this house is?"

"This house! I think it's 4 meters high." He turned his head to look at the house, gestured with his hands, and then said firmly: "8 meters is not bad, it is 4 meters."

"Uncle Zhao, have you looked at the information about the house? How can you be sure it is 4m8?"

"What information do we need to look at? Your uncle Zhao is an experienced fitter with many years of experience. He can tell even the slightest mistake, let alone this house." Grandpa Sun, who heard someone talking in the next room, came out with a cane.

Seeing Grandpa Sun coming out with a cane, Zhang Yu and Uncle Zhao hurried to help him, as he was the treasure of their family. Compared to the deaf old lady in the next courtyard who made shoes for the Red Army, Grandpa Sun's family was the real hero. Grandpa Sun was over 70 years old this year. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, he not only purchased a variety of urgently needed materials from all over the country and sent them to the places where our party was located thousands of miles away, spending all the money in the family, but also sent away his son and grandson who joined the army one after another. Now he is alone.

Moreover, everyone has to give him a thumbs up for his way of dealing with people and things, so people in the courtyard respect Grandpa Sun very much. Grandpa Sun also interprets what it means to have an elder in the family, like to have a treasure. Anyone in the courtyard who has something they can't decide on likes to ask him for advice, and most of the time he can give excellent suggestions.

"Grandpa Sun, come out for a walk! Be careful."

"Go away, I can still walk by myself, why do you need my help?" Seeing the two people coming to help him, Grandpa Sun smiled and waved his other hand. "What are you two talking about here?"

"Grandpa, I'm going to work soon, and the house is leaking a little. I want to fix it, but I don't know when I can vacate it after I start working." He turned his head and pointed at the house, "Look, this house is quite high. Uncle Zhao just said that this house must be 4 meters. I was wondering if this house can be made into two floors by adding a partition in the middle?"

After hearing his words, Uncle Zhao's eyes lit up. In this era, every household lacks a house. Many families of seven or eight people squeeze into two rooms, and when they get married, they just draw a curtain. "Your idea is good. Tell me in detail."

"Uncle Zhao, look, this house is 4m8 high, with 2m6 left at the bottom, a 20cm partition in the middle, and two meters left at the top. Although it is a little low, it is quite spacious just for sleeping." Zhang Yu pointed at the house and introduced it to Uncle Zhao.

"Xiao Yu, you are still young people. This house is great. I was worried that my child is getting married and the company can't allocate a house to him. Where will he live? Now all the problems are solved." Uncle Zhao clapped his hands excitedly: "Xiao Yu, wait a minute, I will go find your Uncle Wang and ask him to see how to repair it." After saying that, he walked towards the front yard without waiting for Zhang Yu to reply.

After a while, Uncle Wang from the front yard came over, listened to their ideas, measured the size of the house, and took a photo of it.

"I think Xiaoyu's idea is a good one. The houses in our yard were built late, and the materials used are the best. We can make a hole in the wall, insert a rough wood, and then lay a layer of wooden boards. It will definitely not be a problem to use it for 20 to 30 years."

In the evening, after my aunt and uncle came home, they heard his idea and immediately sat down with Uncle Zhao and Uncle Wang to discuss how to add a second floor.

After the discussion, he took two days off and Uncle Wang recruited his apprentices, paying them 1 yuan a day. In addition, the apprentices from the steel rolling mill brought by Uncle Zhao came to help after get off work, and the house was built quickly.

While the family was busy with building partitions, Zhang Yu found an opportunity to take over the job of buying food every day.

Just like today, when his aunt was steaming corn tortillas on the stove, he came out to buy vegetables.

I came here at a good chance today, and there aren't many people queuing in front of the meat stall, so I should be able to buy some.

Finally he came: "Master, please give me a pound of meat." The butcher cut off a piece of meat skillfully and weighed it, exactly one pound.

"Master, are you selling this bone?" He looked at the small piece of meat in his hand, thought about the crowd of people, and just happened to see the bone next to it.

"Sell it. How much do you want? If you want a lot, you can take all the bones for fifty cents." Then, Zhang Yu took out the money and bought the entire pig bone.

On the way, he passed an alley and saw that there was no one in the alley. He took out two kilograms of fat from the space. It was the kind of fat that had almost no lean meat. It happened to be the fat he got when he signed in yesterday. He shaved off some of the lean meat, and there was only white fat left.

As expected, when she saw the meat he bought, the aunt grinned with joy, "This meat is good, it's perfect for making oil."

Seeing the big piece of fat meat and the people working hard outside, Zhang Guifang gritted her teeth and cut half of the meat into large slices to stew the cabbage. "Uncle Wang, take a break, come and wash your hands and eat."

After washing their hands, the group lined up with their lunch boxes and asked, "Brother Li, what do you think the boss has prepared today?"

"There must be meat. I can smell the fragrance." Li Qiang took a few deep breaths. After getting the dish, he quickly took it aside. He smiled as he looked at the greasy dish and three or five big slices of fat meat.

For lunch, they had braised cabbage with fat and pork bone soup. All the workers praised his family for its honesty. Many people were reluctant to eat it. For example, Li Qiang picked up half of the cabbage, drank the bone soup, and kept the meat and put it in his bag. He was so happy that he would go home in the evening and ask his wife to add two more cabbages and stew them with the oil and fat in the vegetables, so that the children could have some meat.

The food was easy to prepare and the work was not very difficult, so it was almost done in two days.

The inside of the house was repainted with a layer of white putty, making it look a lot cleaner. Since the partitions were made of wood, people could move in on the same day.

After the house was repaired, the neighbors in the yard came to visit. The house was divided into two floors. The upper floor had three houses of the same size, which would be used as wedding houses for the three brothers in the future.

The room on the lower floor where my aunt and uncle lived was basically unchanged, except that the larger room was vacated and the original partition was removed. Most of the space was used as a living room and dining room, so that there was a fixed place for eating in the future, and there was no need to move the table and chairs every time, which took a long time to move.

A small room was built near the window to be used as a kitchen, so that when it rains, my aunt doesn't have to cook in the rain.

Looking at the newly renovated house, the children's wedding rooms have been completed, solving the biggest problem. The younger sister-in-law was so excited that she pinched her uncle's arm and rubbed the painful arm. Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't help but smile. After solving the house problem, the children's marriage problem will be easier to solve in the future.

Compared to his aunt's house, Zhang Yu's house was built a little slower. The two houses started construction at the same time. There were more people on his side and the rooms were smaller. Logically, his house should have been completed first.

But in fact, he finished the repair two days later than his aunt.

Because the repairs he made were more detailed, it could be considered a major renovation, and the important thing was that he repaired the toilet.

It can be said that there are not only advantages but also no disadvantages since his rebirth. It is okay to have space subsidies for food and drink, but what he can't stand the most is the toilets of this era.

Not only do you need to go out to the toilet, but it's okay in winter, just cold, but it smells like summer. So he took the opportunity to build a bathroom while building the house.

Speaking of this bathroom, the construction process was not simple. He encountered one problem after another. Although the location of his house was not very good, there was one advantage: the utility room was very close to the sewage pipe of the municipal government.

After finding a specialist to measure the length, I bought a ceramic pipe. To be precise, it is not ceramic. It is called a tile pipe, the same material used to make water tanks, and it is glazed inside and out.

In order to facilitate drainage and prevent blockage, the room used as the bathroom was raised a lot with bricks and cement.

There was no running water, so a tank was placed to hold water for flushing the toilet.

After it was fixed, the family members tried it again and again with excitement and curiosity. "Xiao Ning, this is a good idea. Not only can we take a shower at home, but we don't have to go out early in the morning to queue up with others for the toilet."

"Yeah! I said it would be useful to repair the bathroom."

After trying the toilet and getting over the novelty, the group continued to look inside. Although his house also had two large rooms and one small room, it was not as big as my aunt's house. It was only about 40 square meters in total, but it was spacious enough for him to live alone.

The second floor was also built. The original utility room on the lower floor was used as a bathroom, and the room with good lighting was used as a bedroom. A table was placed on one side, and it can be used as a workshop with a screen in the future. The other room is similar to the one my sister-in-law built, but the living room is not that big due to the area.

The upper part has five houses of the same size. My aunt was a little surprised by his approach, as the houses were so small and she wanted him to make them bigger.

But he also has his own ideas. Although his parents divorced and did not want him, the love given to him by his aunt and uncle, brother and sister in two lives was enough to free him from his fear of marriage.

The beginning of a new life gave him hope for marriage. He liked children and hoped to have more. His aunt explained the five rooms like this, "Aunt, you see, although 8 square meters is not big, look at this room, it is 2 meters long and 5 meters wide. When the time comes, put a 2-meter-long and 2-meter-wide bed. Then there will be 1.5 meters left at the end of the bed to put a desk for homework. No problem. There is still 0 meter of width next to the bed. That means there is still half of the space to put a small wardrobe in the corner. Now I have a bed, a place to study, and a cabinet to put things. When the time comes, I will have more children."

Hearing his words, the group burst into laughter. "Yes, yes, yes, we should build a few more rooms. Xiaoyu, what kind do you like? Do you want your Aunt Wang to recommend one to you?" Aunt Wang, who was accompanying the tour, said with a smile.

"I can also introduce one, Xiaoyu, what kind do you want?" some people started to make a noise.

"No, no, I'm still young. Let's talk about it in two years." Zhang Yu waved his hands quickly. He was afraid of these aunts.

Hearing his words, the group burst into laughter. "Yes, yes, yes, we should build a few more rooms. Xiaoyu, what kind do you like? Do you want your Aunt Wang to recommend one to you?" Aunt Wang, who was accompanying the tour, said with a smile.

"I can also introduce one, Xiaoyu, what kind do you want?" some people started to make a noise.

"No, no, I'm still young. Let's talk about it in two years." Zhang Yu waved his hands quickly. He was afraid of these aunts.

"Okay, then, Xiaoyu, what kind of person do you want? When you want to get married, tell your aunt and Aunt Wang will introduce you to one." Although they said it with a smile, the aunties took it to heart.

Zhang Yu has grown up with a good temper and behavior. I heard that he is now working in purchasing at the logistics department of a steel mill, which has always been a lucrative department.

There is a house, which has been newly renovated. They were watching during the renovation. All the materials used are of top quality, so it will definitely be no problem for two or three generations to live there.

Although it's a little small, isn't it like this at this time? There are many smaller ones than this.

The only drawback is that I don’t have my parents to help me, but I have my aunt and uncle to help me, so my life will definitely be good in the future.