Break out of the courtyard

Zhang Heping looked coldly at Qin Huairu, who walked towards him with her hands tucked into her sleeves and bowed with a smile on her face, without any response.

Qin Huairu was as thick-skinned as ever. When Zhang Heping ignored her, she just talked about her purpose. "Heping, I heard that your shop is for rent. Can you..."

beep

A long car horn sounded.

Zhang Pandi let go of the horn and said to Zhang Heping who was standing by the road, "Brother, come with me to the restaurant first!"

After being interrupted, Zhang Heping immediately understood what his second sister meant. He guessed that Qin Huairu had asked about renting the shop before, but his second sister and others did not agree.

However, Zhang Heping did not leave. Instead, he asked Chen Shuting and her youngest daughter Zhang Nuo to get in the car first, and then asked her parents to get in the electric mini car of her eldest sister Zhang Zhaodi.

Zhang Heping didn't get in the car, and his eldest sister and second sister didn't drive away either. The whole family looked at Qin Huairu, wanting to see how Zhang Heping would solve the problem.

However, Zhang Heping ignored Qin Huairu and turned to look to the west. Several taxis drove over from the direction of the street office.

After the Zhang family left in the car, Huaihua and Xiaodang came out from the public toilet.

Xiao Dang ran over, looked at the doors and windows of the Zhang family's first-floor shop, and asked hopefully, "Mom, what did they say?"

Qin Huairu sighed, "Let's go! Go help your brother close the stall!"

Huaihua looked at Zhou Laoer's shop, which was bright as day, and said, "Mom, even if the Zhang family doesn't allow us to open a restaurant downstairs, we can rent the shop and let my brother sell other things. Look at that store selling clothes, shoes and socks. There are still people picking things inside at this time."

Qin Huairu sighed again, hunched over and walked towards Nanluoguxiang, and said with some disappointment: "It's not that they don't allow it, it's that they never thought of renting it to us."

"Why?" Huaihua was very puzzled, as if she had lost her childhood memories.

However, Qin Huairu still remembered the conflict between their family and the Zhang family, and the scene when Ma Xiuzhen, Zhang Pandyi and others confronted Sha Zhu with knives!

……

"Why did Zhou Chengwu move in here?"

In the Capital Hotel, the Zhang family, who were originally talking and laughing, gradually became quiet.

Cousin-in-law Zhou Chengwen was a little embarrassed. Cousin Ma Lili opened her mouth but didn't know how to start the conversation because she was the first to ask Zhou Chengwu to come and live with her.

"Have they rented the east wing of No. 95 Courtyard? Have they removed the bamboo decorations inside?" Zhang Heping did not look at Ma Lili and her husband, but looked at his mother Ma Xiuzhen and asked, "Have they removed the bamboo family portrait in our house?"

Ma Xiuzhen glanced at Ma Lili and said with a smile, "Someone on the street is saying that the house we are renting now might be sold to a tenant and turned into a private property, so Chengwu and his family haven't given up the lease yet and want to wait and see."

"Brother-in-law, tell Zhou Chengwu that I will take down the family portrait tomorrow morning." Zhang Heping looked at Zhou Chengwen and smiled faintly, "Zhou Chengwu doesn't live in the east wing over there. With the temperament of those people in No. 95 Courtyard, they will get rid of Zhou Chengwu sooner or later."

Zhang Heping's meaningful words were conveyed by Zhou Chengwen to his mother Chen Liqin, as well as Zhou Chengwu and his wife that evening.

That night, on the second floor of Building 10, in the bedroom of Zhou Chengwu and his wife, Zhou Chengwu's wife frowned and asked, "Brother, does Zhang Heping not want us to live here?"

Zhou Chengwen frowned. He had the same idea before, but when Zhang Heping said he wanted to take down the bamboo family portrait, he changed his mind.

"Given what those people in Courtyard 95 have done, if you don't live in the east wing over there, they will definitely report you, and you may not be able to keep the house over there." Zhou Chengwen said in a deep voice:

"What your sister-in-law and I mean is what we said before. You can live in the shop on the first floor and the house on the second floor as long as you want."

Zhou Chengwu thought for a moment and said, "Isn't he going to take down those bamboo strips tomorrow morning? I'll go with him tomorrow and ask him what he means then."

"Chengwu!" Chen Liqin said from the side: "Think carefully before asking, don't offend anyone!"

"Got it, Mom!" Zhou Chengwu said with a smile, "I was counting on him to help me get rich!"

The next morning, it was foggy.

Zhang Heping came back from his morning run, still damp, and saw an electric off-road vehicle parked in front of a shop on the first floor. It was being charged by a diesel generator that was clacking on the ground.

There were two people guarding the car. They seemed to be street urchins from the other side of the river. I hadn't seen them for several years.

"Brother Heping!" The two street urchins were stunned for a moment when they saw that Zhang Heping's appearance had not changed much, and then they hurriedly greeted him.

Zhang Heping sensed that there was a stranger in the living room, so he nodded to the two street urchins and trotted into the two open vermilion lacquered doors.

Biaozi, who was sitting in the living room and talking to Lao Zhang and Zhou Chengwu, stood up quickly when he saw Zhang Heping coming back, "Brother Heping!"

Looking at Biaozi's fur coat with a fur collar and the pile of cigarettes, alcohol and gifts on the table, Zhang Heping said with a smile: "I thought you were going to take your people to settle down in the south and never come back. Why are you willing to come back this year?"

Biaozi quickly replied: "I heard that Brother Heping's family built a house, so I came back to take a look."

"What? You want to renovate the house too?" Zhang Heping said, and went to get the teacup on the table.

Seeing this, Biaozi hurriedly picked up the teapot and poured water into Zhang Heping's cup. "I heard that houses in Hong Kong Island are sold for tens of thousands of yuan per square meter; and houses in Shenzhen are also sold for hundreds of yuan per square meter."

"I was thinking that the housing prices in the capital are cheap, and maybe they will go up like Hong Kong Island and Shenzhen in the future!"

"You have a good eye!" Zhang Heping picked up the teacup and blew on it, then said slowly, "If you can build a large yard by the lake, you can sell it for 100 million in 30 or 40 years. Do you believe it?"

"One hundred million?" Biaozi widened his eyes, somewhat incredulous.

Over the years, he has been moving south with a group of people, hiding from place to place and reselling goods, and has only saved more than 300,000 yuan so far.

Biaozi couldn't help but start to calculate in his mind how many courtyard houses he could buy with the money he had hidden at home...

Zhang Heping took a sip of the hot tea, put down the cup, patted Biaozi on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "I'm going upstairs to change clothes, you guys chat first."

The reason why Zhang Heping gave this former street urchin some advice was, firstly, this guy still respected him, secondly, he had made a name for himself in the south, and thirdly, it was the gift of cigarettes and alcohol that Biaozi had given him.

Compared with Qin Huairu who came to the door with her sleeves tucked in last night, Biaozi, this grassroots entrepreneur, is more worthy of making friends.

So, when Biaozi heard that Zhang Heping was going to No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, he drove his electric SUV to take Zhang Heping and Zhou Chengwu there.

While Zhou Chengwu was holding a crowbar and volunteering to climb onto the earthen kang to dismantle the bamboo family portrait, Zhang Heping and Biaozi were standing at the door of the east wing, talking in a low voice about the house.

"Brother Heping, I heard that your house was exchanged with the street office for houses in other courtyards?"

"Yeah!" Zhang Heping looked at the self-built house outside the west wing and said softly, "In two years, when these rental houses are privatized, we won't have to go through so much trouble to change them."

Biaozi had also heard about the privatization of rental housing, but was unsure when the policy would be implemented, so he asked, "Brother Heping, I heard that when Aunt Ma changed houses before, it wasn't very smooth; there were always one or two families in the yards she liked who were unwilling to change."

Zhang Heping raised his chin and motioned Biaozi to look across. "If the west wing opposite is your home, and an outsider only offers you a west wing or the main house in a separate courtyard in exchange, will you trade it?"

Biaozi looked at the red brick self-built house outside the west wing opposite and frowned, saying, "If it were me, you would have to give me at least two west wing rooms before I would trade this west wing and the red brick house outside to someone else."

Zhou Chengwu was carefully lifting up the bamboo strips on the wall while eavesdropping on the conversation between Zhang Heping and Biaozi. It was obvious that he was concerned about the "one hundred million" that Zhang Heping had mentioned before.

After Zhang Heping took back the broken bamboo family portrait, he asked Biaozi to help him get a dozen bamboos, and then he started to repair the family portrait in the living room.

However, after he restored the family portrait of six people and hung it in his parents' room, Old Zhang sat in the room looking at the bamboo family portrait for most of the day, wondering what he was thinking about.

...

Qianmen, Loujia Restaurant.

"Boy, have you heard? Your third uncle built a row of three-story buildings in Houhai. They're very impressive!" He Yuzhu leaned against the counter, eating melon seeds and teasing Zhang Xin who was reading a novel behind the counter.

"If I had such a rich relative, I would stick to him shamelessly, just like you shamelessly stick to your mother's shop." Sha Zhu saw that Lou Xiao'e's eldest son had stopped reading, and laughed:

"Let me tell you, their house is very big now. If you just move into the new building, I guarantee that the matchmaker will introduce you to someone every day!"

"Get out of the way!" Lou Xiao'e came over and pushed Sha Zhu, then said to Zhang Xin, "Don't go looking for trouble. Zhang Heping doesn't like you."

"Why?" Zhang Xin put down the yellowed novel, frowning, as if he was persuaded by Sha Zhu.

"Don't worry about why, just go over there!" Sha Zhu wanted to instigate him, but unexpectedly Lou Xiao'e picked up a feather duster and chased him away.

After Lou Xiao'e beat Sha Zhu aside, she frowned and said to Zhang Xin, "Because your father and grandfather are ungrateful wolves!"

Seeing that Zhang Xin wanted to refute, Lou Xiaoe continued: "At the beginning, your father was just a country boy. It was Zhang Heping who gave his father Zhang Bing's job to your father..."

Zhang Xin said dissatisfiedly: "My dad bought that job for 1000 yuan!"

"Heh..." Lou Xiao'e sneered, "Did your father tell you where they, a family of farmers, got 1000 yuan to buy a job?"

As she spoke, Lou Xiao'e glanced at He Yuzhu, who had a gloomy face, and knew that this lover remembered the experience of being betrayed by the Zhang family.

Lou Xiao'e turned around and saw that Zhang Xin was still indignant. She frowned and continued, "Zhang Heping not only gave your father a job, but also helped your second uncle to get Sha Zhu's main house and annex."

"Do you know that Courtyard No. 6 on the north bank of Houhai was originally given to your father by Shazhu and his friends?"

Lou Xiao'e didn't care about Sha Zhu's thoughts and told Zhang Xin everything she knew.

"So, don't provoke Zhang Heping, and don't cause trouble for me!" Lou Xiao'e said, and then looked at Sha Zhu, her tone turned cold, "Sha Zhu, if you pick up Zhang Xin and go to Zhang Heping again, I will tell Zhang Heping that you are behind this!"

Sha Zhu threw the chef's hat in his hand onto the table awkwardly, then walked out with his hands behind his back.

The reason why he did this today was entirely due to the influence of Qin Huairu.

Qin Huairu failed to help her son Banggeng rent a shop from the Zhang family, so she told Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu that Zhang Heping ignored her.

Sha Zhu didn't dare to provoke Zhang Heping, so he could only find ways to make Zhang Heping uncomfortable.

Zhang Cuishan and his son Zhang Xin, who were not favored by Zhang Heping, were naturally the best targets for instigation.

Unfortunately, after Zhang Cuishan went to the south to make money, he hasn’t been seen for more than a year.

Otherwise, given the relationship between Zhang Cuishan and his third uncle Zhang Bing, as long as Zhang Cuishan is instigated to go to the Zhang family again to admit his mistake, there is a great possibility that Zhang Heping and his father Zhang Bing will fall out, and they will not be able to have a good Spring Festival!

Just as Lou Xiao'e was about to go upstairs to rest for a while, she heard the landline phone at the counter ringing. It was her second brother Lou Wenjun calling.

"Yes! Zhang Heping and his family are back!"

"Help him to invest in his car factory?"