Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

When I returned to the office at noon, Wenxiu and He Yushui had already prepared the meal. Since the separation, He Yushui rarely lives in the school. He comes back to the office after school every day. Lunch and dinner are basically prepared by Wenxiu and He Yushui, and Lou Xiaoe and Chen Xiaolan also help.

Breakfast is usually bought by the third brother from outside and everyone eats together, unless it is Laba Festival like today, then Liu Guozheng will get up early in the morning to cook porridge.

Why was the job of buying breakfast given to the third brother? It was because he got up early and he always kept the habit of getting up early to exercise.

In the afternoon, Liu Guozheng and Li Dabao went to the street office, paid the money, applied for the real estate certificate, and found a decoration master. Then, under the leadership of Director Zhang, they went to No. 95 Courtyard together.

"Director Zhang, how come you have time to come to our hospital today?"

"Director Zhang, are there any new policies that you want to publicize and study?"

"Isn't it possible that someone else has had an accident?"

"Director Zhang, do you want me to call everyone at home to hold a meeting?"

"..."

As soon as Director Zhang and his men arrived at the front yard, all the old ladies surrounded them. No matter whether there was anything to do or not, they just wanted to get to know them first.

There was only one exception, and that was Jia Zhang. When she saw Director Zhang and Liu Guozheng behind him, hatred flashed in her triangular eyes.

She hated Director Zhang because he made her live in a cowshed in the countryside for two or three months, and she hated Liu Guozheng because his Jia family lost nearly two thousand yuan.

"Okay, okay, I'm here for no other reason than to find out that the two houses in the backyard have been taken care of. I'll bring someone to take a look."

Anyway, everyone in this courtyard will know sooner or later, so it’s better to tell them now to avoid them from making wild guesses.

"Ah? Is it divided so soon?"

"Are both rooms divided? I was thinking of applying for it, but now I'm a step too late."

"Director Zhang, who were the two rooms allocated to? Was it Liu Guozheng?"

"Doesn't their office have a small courtyard? What do they need so many rooms for?"

"That's right, you are so greedy. Director Zhang, we don't welcome Liu Guozheng to live in our hospital."

The last sentence was said by Jia Zhang. She couldn't help but wanted to make things difficult for Liu Guozheng.

"Ms. Jia Zhang, see what you can do, then move away from the Jia family."

Director Zhang has no good feelings towards Jia Zhang.

"Director Zhang, please don't, please don't argue with me."

Jia Zhang was frightened, but she was not stupid. The house they lived in was not small. After moving away, they could not find such a big house nearby.

Director Zhang said unhappily, "You are getting old and confused. Just stay at home and don't come out and cause trouble for others."

Jia Zhang smiled bitterly and dared not speak any more.

The aunties around here have been enduring so hard. Don't you think Jia Zhang is a cheap person? You knew that Director Zhang had something against your family, but you still showed up. Who else can you blame?

At this moment, Jia Dongxu walked from the hall to the front yard, saw Director Zhang, and simply greeted him. Before leaving, he gave Liu Guozheng a meaningful look.

Liu Guozheng smiled slightly and naturally understood the meaning of Jia Dongxu's eyes.

He thought he had a sure win this time, but he didn't know that they had already lost from the moment Liu Guozheng saw them.

In this era, most people's salary is only 20 or 30 yuan, and there are many people in the family, so this money can only maintain the basic life of the whole family. If Jia Dongxu and others team up to cheat out more than 10 or 20 yuan, the whole family will have to starve.

If Hou Si and Jia Dongxu were more ruthless and set up a stall at the intersection on salary payment day every month, who knows how many people would have been cheated.

Someone said, as long as you can hold it in, that's all.

The problem is that it is human nature to like to watch the fun. If you watch it more, and see many people win fifty or a hundred every time, do you think you will be tempted? Do you feel itchy?

This is just like playing chess on the street. If there are five people around, four of them are agents.

So the harm is still very great. Losing ten dollars is basically a serious loss for an ordinary family in this era.

It's different in the future. Losing one or two hundred dollars doesn't matter. It has little impact on your life. At most, you will feel sad for a few minutes. After losing a few times, you will understand that it is a lie.

"Aunt Xu, we're chatting."

When we got to the backyard, there were naturally a few old ladies gathered together chatting and sewing shoe soles.

"Guozheng, Damao isn't here, how about I go out and look for him?"

Xu's mother thought that Liu Guozheng came to see Xu Damao. Liu Guozheng would not come to the courtyard when he had nothing to do, especially since he did not have a good relationship with many people in this courtyard.

"Aunt Xu, I'm not looking for Damao. We're here for other things."

"Okay, Guozheng, if you have something to say, just tell me. Otherwise, how about having dinner at home tonight? I'll go buy groceries now."

"Aunt Xu, no, no, we'll do it another day, definitely another day."

"Then let's make a deal."

"it is good."

Liu Guozheng didn't expect Xu's mother to be so enthusiastic.

"Ok?"

The seal on the deaf old lady's door remained intact, but the lock had been opened.

Director Zhang asked, "Li Jinzhi, who in your backyard unlocked this room?"

Xu's mother, also known as Li Jinzhi, slapped her thigh and said, "Oh, I really didn't notice this. Usually, no outsiders come to our courtyard."

At this time, an old lady nearby said, "The day before yesterday, Banggeng was hanging around in the backyard for a long time. A child can't possibly open a lock, right?"

Liu Guozheng was shocked after hearing what the aunt said.

Could it be that the Thief Saint has already learned the lock-picking skill? It seems that I have to remind the people living in this courtyard in the future, such as Li Dabao, He Yushui, and the east wing where Gu Nian lives in the front yard. Usually, no one is at home, which may attract the attention of the Thief Saint.

"Guozheng, Dabao, take a look, how is it, is it spacious?"

After removing the seal, Zhang Xia opened the door and several people walked in one after another.

"Well, Sister Xia, you've got to say it, it's really spacious. How about Dabao? Are you satisfied?"

Liu Guozheng nodded when he saw these two rooms. They were indeed more spacious than other houses.

"Brother Zheng, I'm satisfied, satisfied."

What is a surprise? This is a surprise. Li Dabao never dreamed that he would have two such spacious houses in the city.

"As long as you are satisfied, you can decide on the decoration yourself, or wait until the blind date is successful and then get your partner's opinion?"

Liu Guozheng's words aroused the dissatisfaction of the decoration master. You are not sure whether you want to decorate it, so what do you want us to do? Isn't this delaying the work?

However, since their nominal superior was right beside them, they just looked a little unhappy and didn't say anything.

Li Dabao said: "Then wait."

"Masters, I'm sorry, but don't worry, I'll leave this job to you. I'll pay you a deposit of fifty yuan now."

Now that things had come to this, they just agreed. After all, the trip was not in vain as they had secured a job.

Before leaving, Liu Guozheng gave each person five candies as compensation for their wasted trip.

Normally a grown man should give out cigarettes, but Liu Guozheng doesn't smoke and doesn't usually carry cigarettes with him, mainly because he just can't remember.

The several decoration masters had no complaints at all and thought the trip was worth it.

When leaving, I gave each of the aunties in the backyard a few candies, which made the aunties very happy because they usually didn't want to buy candies.

"Guozheng, your pockets aren't that big, how come you can hold so much?"

After leaving the courtyard, Zhang Xia took a special look at Liu Guozheng's clothes pockets and found them to be very ordinary.

"Sister Xia, that's because you didn't notice."

As he said that, he gave Zhang Xia another handful of candy.

"Oh, this candy is good. Guozheng, you are really willing to spend it."

"Sister Xia, as long as Dabao's matter is settled, you can just ask for any candy you want in the future."

"So I'm serious, huh?"

"That is required."

"Dabao, wait for me at the office tomorrow morning. Also, dress up. Don't wear anything too casual."

Director Zhang gave some instructions and left happily.

"Brother Zheng, thank you."

"You are my brother, why are you saying these things? Just go home."

"Ah."