Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 118

He Yuzhu suddenly felt like he was being forced into a situation, but since the person had already arrived, he couldn't just ignore them, so he quickly went up to greet them.

He greeted Xu Huizhen's brother, Xu Hui.

Xu Hui smiled and said, "Zhu Zi, let me introduce you. This is my parents, and my cousin Xu Huizhi."

Xu Hui didn't introduce the pillar either, which means he had already introduced it to them before.

He Yuzhu quickly greeted them respectfully, "Hello, sir! Hello, aunt! Hello, cousin! You must be tired from your journey. Please come in."

"So you're Zhu Zi. You look honest and reliable, not bad at all."

"Yes, he is indeed a good child."

Xu Huizhen's parents exchanged a few polite words.

Xu Huizhi was still a little girl, rather thin and small, and had not yet started to grow. The clothes she wore were all patched up. After entering the city, she seemed a little shy, holding the old woman's hand and only looking at He Yuzhu with her two big, dark eyes.

He Yuzhu actually disliked this girl. In the TV series, Xu Huizhen was about to give birth, and she, as her cousin, was still able to hook up with He Yongqiang.

Whenever they were going through a tough time, they would come to Xu Huizhen for help, as if they owed her something.

However, she's still just a little girl, so He Yuzhu didn't bother with her. He needed to take care of Xu Huizhen's parents first.

He Yuzhu first invited the three people into the shop, and Xu Hui hurriedly drove the car to the back door to unload the wine. This was the last wine delivery during the Spring Festival period, and they would not deliver wine again until after the Lantern Festival.

Upon entering the tavern, Xu Huizhen rushed out to greet them, embracing her parents and bursting into tears. Although she would usually return home once or twice a month, this was the first time her parents had come to the city to see her.

After a while, Xu Huizhen took her parents to the back room to talk. A moment later, she came out and said to He Yuzhu, "I'd like my parents to stay here for the night. Is that alright?"

"Of course, they can stay until the New Year. I've already asked Dayong to make preparations. I'll cook a few of my signature dishes later so the grandpas and grandmas can try my cooking."

"Yes, Brother Zhu, you're so kind." Xu Huizhen suddenly blushed, as if she had thought of something.

The two elders were very satisfied with He Yuzhu, after all, in just one year, he had grown from an apprentice to a chef and opened two shops.

Although the house near Qianmen was rented, the shop on Yandaixie Street was one he bought himself, which in the past could be described as "Boss He, Master He".

Although she didn't say it explicitly, Xu Huizhen's mother kept praising He Yuzhu's skills and also praising Xu Huizhen for being lucky.

Xu Huizhen, who is usually very generous, blushed with shyness at this moment and lowered her head, not daring to look at He Yuzhu.

After finally making it to the end of lunch, Xu Huizhen took her parents and cousin shopping. He Yuzhu breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he had passed the first hurdle.

"Brother, Sister Huizhen went out without me. Can you take me out to play?" Yu Shui asked, shaking He Yuzhu's arm.

"Okay, I'll buy you whatever you want."

"I want to buy firecrackers: 100-shot firecrackers, 'ma lei zi' (a type of firecracker), 'er jiao' (a type of firecracker), and 'qi hua' (a type of firecracker)," He Yushui said excitedly.

He Yuzhu was speechless. Yushui was talking about the types of fireworks and firecrackers. How could a little girl like her only think about buying firecrackers?

"Shall I buy you some daffodils, or some goldfish?"

"Sure, but firecrackers are a must."

"Do you dare to release it?"

"I wouldn't dare, but I dare to look!" He Yushui said, "Even Miss wouldn't dare to look."

"Alright, let's buy them all then."

If He Yushui really dares to set it on fire, I won't dare to buy it for him anyway, lest it set the house on fire, since the doors, windows and pillars of houses are all made of wood now.

He Yu didn't go far, even with the rain on her back. On the street in front of the door, she first bought daffodils that were about to bloom, and then selected plum blossoms, cypress, pine, bamboo and plum, winter jasmine, hydrangea, asparagus fern, sweet flag and other bonsai.

If you buy too much, just have the shop assistant deliver it to the store.

Goldfish in Beijing are generally divided into two main categories: grass carp and dragon eye goldfish.

Grass carp are small goldfish sold on the street; they are crucian carp, which are a different species of carp.

As for the dragon eye fish, it was too precious and there were none in Yandai Xiejie. He Yuzhu simply had Yushui scoop out more than ten of them from the goldfish pond, put them in a glass tank, and took them home.

They even forgot to buy fireworks and firecrackers.

He Yuzhu had no choice but to buy a whole bunch himself; it's Chinese New Year, how can you not set off firecrackers and fireworks?

Xu Huizhen has been taking her parents and younger sister out to play these past two days, so He Yuzhu has had to stay home and look after the shop.

However, he hardly does any work; the daily operations are handled by his employees.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, He Yuzhu's business has improved significantly, with daily sales several times higher than usual.

He Yuzhu came out with a handful of melon seeds and stood to the side of Yan Bugui, watching him write couplets for someone.

There were also many pre-written couplets on the ground in front of the table, but some people still wanted to try something new and wanted to write their own favorite words on the spot.

After watching for a while, it became clear that Yan Bugui was making quite a bit of money from this: a small couplet cost one mao, a medium one cost two mao, and a large one cost three mao.

There are places where you can buy the "Fu" character separately; you can get a small "Fu" character for just three cents.

"Zhu Zi, what do you think of my handwriting?" Yan Bugui's best skill was his beautiful handwriting, which was unique in the courtyard.

If it's not good enough, you can't come out and write Spring Festival couplets for others in this part of Beijing.

"It's really good. The calligraphy is so elegant and vigorous. You can't write such good characters without decades of practice."

"Back in the day, I used to write 1000 words every day..."

Yan Bugui's family was relatively wealthy when he was a child. His grandfather forced him to attend a private school, and later he went to a Western-style school, which is equivalent to junior high and high school.

Yan Bugui was also bored when he started talking to He Yuzhu about calligraphy, intentionally showing off, and then gave him a few pointers.

A system message suddenly appeared in front of He Yuzhu's eyes:

You have mastered a new profession—Book Spring, level 1.

He Yuzhu was a little confused. He hadn't done anything, so how did he come to understand a new profession?

Shuchun?

What is this for?

He Yuzhu asked somewhat blankly, "Uncle Yan, do you know what Shuchun does?"

"Oh my, Zhu Zi, I didn't expect you to test me with this?" Yan Bugui didn't answer directly, but instead asked a question first.

"Uncle Yan, stop playing games and just tell me the truth."

Yan Bugui said, "What I'm doing now is called Shuchun. Are you testing me with this?"

"Aren't you just a couplet seller? Who tested you?"

"Are you still pretending to be confused? The vendors on this street, regardless of their profession, don't have individual names. Only those of us who write couplets have a special name: Shuchun."

Yan Bugui said arrogantly, "You're going to test this old man with this?"

Yan Bugui said smugly, "After all these years, how could I not know this name?"

He Yuzhu then realized that "Shuchun" was a profession that involved writing couplets for others before the Spring Festival.

It's funny to think about it. Other professions don't have their own names. When you talk about them, they all say they sell firecrackers, sell cloth, sell toys, or whatever they sell.

The only one selling couplets had a special name: Shuchun, which instantly made it sound much more sophisticated. It must have been a poor scholar from the past who couldn't bear to lose face, so he gave the industry a unique name.

"I really don't know, I just heard someone mention it."

"You."

Yan Bugui didn't believe He Yuzhu's story at all, but he didn't say anything more.

When He Yuzhu looked at Yan Bugui's calligraphy again, he could already see some clues. Although it looked nice, it was a bit stiff, and he couldn't see anything else.

Although He Yuzhu has mastered the basics, he has only reached the basics. His handwriting is at best not bad, and it cannot compare to Yan Bugui's handwriting.

He Yuzhu was also puzzled. He had learned to write couplets from Yan Bugui, but the foundation was still calligraphy. Why not just give him calligraphy skills? Why give him the job of writing couplets for the Spring Festival? No matter how well he wrote, he didn't expect to make a living by writing couplets for others during the Spring Festival.

Besides selling Spring Festival couplets, Yan Bugui's stall also sold couplets for the Kitchen God and ancestral worship. He Yuzhu was too lazy to take advantage of Yan Bugui, so he took out red paper from his house, cut it up, and then used his brush to write a set on it.

"Not bad, Zhu Zi. I didn't expect your pencil writing to be so bad, but your calligraphy is quite neat."

"That's right, I've trained too."

He Yuzhu was very pleased. He wrote these two sets of couplets and directly added 4 points of Shuchun experience points.

Yan Bugui laughed and said, "You're panting now that I'm calling you fat."

He Yuzhu returned the completed work, and after thinking about it, he went out to the stationery store.

"Boss, give me a set of wolf-hair brushes and some calligraphy practice books."

"Mr. He, did you buy this for your sister?"

He Yuzhu was about to say that he bought it for himself, but then he changed his mind: "Yes, it's good to let my sister practice calligraphy from a young age. Bring up the large calligraphy brush so we don't have to buy one later."

"Alright, here are the Jiucheng Palace Stele, the Stone Drum Inscriptions, the Cao Quan Stele, the Zheng Wengong Stele, etc. Which one do you want?"

"Just take them all, and let my sister pick a font she likes."

He Yuzhu bought calligraphy copybooks, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, and returned to his study.

He spread out some straw paper, took his newly bought calligraphy brush, dipped it in ink, and began to practice.

He Yuzhu refused to believe that he could master other skills simply by practicing calligraphy.

We absolutely have to replace Shuchun's skills.

When Xu Huizhen returned, she saw the study light was on, pushed the door open and said, "Brother Zhu, I have something I want to discuss with you."