Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 342

As evening approached, He Yuzhu returned early. Although he had no money, he was able to take out some food from his storage space, as he couldn't stomach eating bread and ham every day.

He put the items in the kitchen, then used his mental energy to check. It turned out that the house upstairs was an empty house, so He Yuzhu hid there.

Although I had a relationship with Natasha, I should not have the intention to harm others, but I should always be wary of them.

If the other party brings several police officers, they might be able to escape even if they catch me, the illegal immigrant, but it would cause quite a commotion.

Therefore, He Yuzhu hid upstairs in advance so that he could leave quickly if an accident happened, and the other party would not be able to guess that he was hiding.

Natasha returned quickly with her backpack, but the scene she had imagined did not unfold. She did not come back with a large number of police officers; she returned alone.

After confirming that nothing unexpected had happened, He Yuzhu slid downstairs the moment he opened the door.

Natasha blushed when she saw He Yuzhu stand up to greet her, threw herself into his arms, gave him a kiss, and then asked:

"Are you bored at home? I brought you some novels, but I don't know if you'll be able to get into them."

"Thank you, I also have something to give you."

"what?"

"Come here and take a look."

He Yuzhu led her to the kitchen, and looking at the pork, cabbage, radishes, potatoes, and some strange seasonings, he asked in surprise, "Where can you buy these things?"

"These were all bought from Chinese stores. Today I'll cook some authentic dishes for you."

"You can cook?"

"You probably don't know this, but almost every Chinese person is a culinary expert, and I'm a chef myself."

"Really? Then I'll have to savor your cooking."

The food He Yuzhu cooked was beyond her expectations. Although he added a lot of strange ingredients, it was so delicious that she couldn't stop eating it.

After eating until my belly was bulging, I realized that I had been impolite.

With a flushed face, she rubbed her bulging belly and said, "This is so delicious! It's the most delicious food I've ever eaten."

He Yuzhu said, "Overeating is not good. I will be staying here for at least a month, so I have a long time ahead of me."

"Well, I see."

Natasha cleared away the plates, forks, and other tableware, then brewed two cups of black tea and placed them in front of He Yuzhu.

After hesitating for a moment, He Yuzhu pulled her to sit in his lap.

"I have something to give you. Close your eyes."

"what?"

"Close your eyes!"

Natasha closed her eyes, and He Yuzhu flipped his right hand, taking out a gold necklace from his spatial storage.

Chairman Qi didn't have enough gold, so he used some jewelry instead.

He Yuzhu took it out and gave it to Natasha, who was struggling financially and had to do odd jobs to earn a living after completing her heavy studies.

There were also many emeralds and other jewelry in the space, but second-hand jewelry is not easy to liquidate and is not as good as gold as a store of value.

Then, she unfastened the clasp, wrapped it around her slender neck, lifted her golden, curly hair, and easily fastened it.

By this time, Natasha had already guessed it was a necklace, and without waiting for permission, she opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a glittering gold chain, quite thick, with a four-leaf clover-shaped pendant hanging in the center, which surprised her and filled her with emotion and happiness.

She murmured, "This gift is too precious; I cannot accept it."

He Yuzhu first stepped forward and gave him a light kiss, then said, "Do you expect me to give this to other women?"

Natasha hugged him, brought her cherry-like lips to his ear and whispered, "My man, love me madly!"

Upon receiving the order, He Yuzhu scooped up Natasha, kicked open the bedroom door, and slammed it shut with his heel.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Natasha shed her naivety and seemed like a completely different person, becoming passionate and outgoing.

I once wanted to take control of the battlefield, but unfortunately things didn't go as planned, and I simply didn't have enough physical strength to support my desire.

He Yuzhu was also amazed. Although Natasha was just a little girl, she was incredibly resilient and could handle anything with ease, giving the most enthusiastic response.

The fierce battle eventually came to an end, and when they came to their senses again, it was already eight or nine o'clock in the morning.

Fortunately, it's Sunday and Natasha doesn't have to go to school.

The two lay in bed, and Natasha, having nothing to do, began to correct He Yuzhu's pronunciation. He Yuzhu hadn't been there for very long before, so he hadn't specifically studied pronunciation.

The words I spoke always had some special emphasis, so I didn't pay much attention to this matter. I still have to stay for more than a month, and I'm just idling around anyway.

I also learned French from Natasha. My English was already in the system and I had reached the highest level, but I had never learned French. Luckily, I had a translation teacher, so I learned another language.

When they entered the learning phase, Natasha was surprised to find that no matter what pronunciation point it was, He Yuzhu could remember it after being taught it only once and repeating it.

He mastered the alphabet, phonetics, and words in just one morning.

"It would be a waste of your talent if you didn't become a translator."

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "You're not bad either. You learned what I taught you in just one lesson."

Natasha rolled her eyes, then blushed slightly as she recalled the strange knowledge Professor He Yuzhu had taught her yesterday. She exclaimed, "I'm talking to you about something serious!"

He Yuzhu quickly said, "Then let's continue teaching."

Although learning this language is not useful right now, it may be useful in the future.

It was afternoon when the two left their home and headed to the storefront that He Yuzhu had chosen earlier.

"Why did you decide to rent a house to start a business?"

Natasha had asked He Yuzhu what he had come for, but he didn't say anything and changed the subject, so Natasha didn't ask again.

He Yuzhu said with a smile, "I need to earn money to support you!"

Natasha was overjoyed, feeling as sweet as if she had eaten honey. She reached out and hugged He Yuzhu, saying happily, "You're so good to me."

He Yuzhu thought to himself that this girl was really easy to please and could be coaxed with just a few words. Then he felt a little sorry for her. Natasha had lived a very frugal life before, which could be seen from the daily necessities and clothes in the house. She didn't have any savings.

He Yuzhu showed Natasha several houses she had previously chosen, letting her make her own selection. In the end, several were rejected, leaving two houses.

"Both places are fine."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said, "Let's choose this place. It can be rented or sold."

"Alright, I'll go discuss the contract."

He Yuzhu has a distinct foreign accent, and he is also Chinese. If he takes the lead, renting a house could easily lead to trouble.

Natasha is a top student at Moscow State University, so it's perfectly normal for her to rent a house herself.

The storefront consists of two rooms, including an upstairs area and a small courtyard at the back, which can meet the requirements for both commercial and residential use.

Instead of an annual rent, I only rented for three months because the landlord wouldn't be willing to rent to me for any shorter period.

He Yuzhu didn't mind and told Natasha to make an agreement with the landlord that if she wanted to buy it, she could just buy it directly.

The landlord, who originally intended for the property to be rented or sold, didn't say much and simply stated in the contract that Natasha had the right of first refusal. The contract stipulated that the rent for three months would be 150 rubles, and if she purchased the property, the price would be 9000 rubles.

He Yuzhu didn't have rubles, so he paid the rent directly with US dollars. As for why he didn't buy them directly, it was mainly because exchanging gold and US dollars was inconvenient. If he bought them, it would be difficult to exchange rubles for US dollars later.

The place Natasha chose wasn't actually that remote; it was less than 200 meters from Arbat Street, which is now definitely one of the most bustling commercial districts. Otherwise, the rent wouldn't be as high as 50 rubles a month.

Natasha signed the contract directly with the landlord, and just like that, the house temporarily belonged to He Yuzhu.

After seeing the landlord off, Natasha asked, "What are you planning to do here?"

“My friend can provide me with some vegetables and lamb; he sells those things.”

"Oh, I see. I'm not familiar with doing business either, so you can handle it yourself."

The rented apartment was quite messy, and the landlord was too lazy to clean it. So the two of us had to act as cleaners and clean the apartment inside and out, top to bottom, until it was spotless.

Natasha went out to complete the procedures for opening a shop. When she returned, He Yuzhu had already painted the shop's name on the storefront: Natasha's Vegetable Shop.

Then He Yuzhu went back and continued to learn French. The next day, he went to the storefront, took out some wood and started making a cutting board and a shelf.

It took three days to complete the procedures for opening the shop, and by then the cutting board shelves were also finished.

There was no opening ceremony; they simply posted the shop's paperwork on the wall and then opened the door to start doing business.

He Yuzhu is currently selling mainly pork, mutton, and potatoes.

These three items are beloved by Russians; almost everyone enjoys eating them.

He Yuzhu has a pig farm in the suburbs. Ordinary people raise pigs by feeding them grass and almost never feed them commercial feed.

But He Yuzhu was different. He was willing to invest and found a formula to make highly nutritious feed. While others could only raise pigs to a little over 100 jin (50 catties) a year, He Yuzhu could raise pigs to nearly 200 jin (100 catties) in half a year and produce two batches of pigs a year, each batch containing more than 100 pigs.

All the pigs I've raised over this long period of time have been stored in my space. Not only have I never sold them, but I sometimes even buy them in large quantities from the market.

There's quite a bit stored in the space, so there's no problem selling some of it now. After all, it's only the beginning of 1957, and there are still two years before we start to run out of food.

We'll sell some now, and then figure out how to buy more later.

The reason why it's being sold now is mainly because He Yuzhu discovered that the prices here are not cheap.

Pork costs 0.9 rubles per pound in the market, mutton costs 1.1 rubles, potatoes cost 15 cents, and cabbage is even more expensive.

He Yuzhu set the prices lower: pork was 0.8 rubles, mutton was 1 ruble, and potatoes were only 0.1 rubles.