Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 35

I thought Xu Zhaodi was just coming over to have some fun, but I didn't expect she came with a mission.

“Call him Uncle Xu!” Xu Zhaodi corrected him somewhat angrily.

He Yuzhu immediately felt embarrassed and said awkwardly, "Sorry, it was a slip of the tongue. Uncle Xu wants to treat me to dinner?"

Xu Zhaodi's face softened, and she said:

"Yes, I asked my brother to invite him, but he absolutely refused, so I came instead. Come on, the food is all ready, you won't be rude to me, will you?"

Without even guessing, it was clear that Xu Wude also wanted to be a senior member of the management team, but no one expected that Xu Wude would actually lower himself to invite him to dinner.

After all, he had beaten up Xu Damao before, which showed no respect to the Xu family.

"Alright, might as well eat it, it's not a waste, and I'll save myself a meal."

"puff"

Xu Zhaodi laughed out loud: "How come you have such a set of stories?"

"There's no trickery involved here."

Xu Zhaodi rolled her eyes: "What do you mean by talking nonsense?"

"No...nothing."

He Yuzhu, of course, didn't offer much explanation. He got up, and the three of them went out together. They passed through the moon gate in the corner and ran right into Liu Guangqi, the eldest son of Liu Haizhong's family.

"Zhu Zi, what's going on?" Liu Guangqi was a little surprised. Didn't Sha Zhu beat up Da Mao a couple of days ago? How come he's with Zhao Di now?

"Nothing's wrong, are you going out?" He Yuzhu certainly wouldn't say that he was being invited to dinner, so he asked instead.

"I need to use the restroom." As he spoke, Liu Guangqi covered his buttocks and ran off quickly.

Upon arriving at the door of the west wing, Xu Wude immediately stood up and greeted him warmly:

"Zhu Zi is here, please have a seat."

They acted like old friends, without any airs of elders, and were very affectionate.

As for the incident of beating Xu Damao a few days ago, it seems that he has already forgotten about it.

They tried to pull He Yuzhu to the head seat, but He Yuzhu, of course, knew the seating order and sat down in the second seat, with He Yushui sitting next to him.

A moment later, Xu Damao reluctantly came out, called out "Brother Zhuzi," and sat opposite him, sullenly eating peanuts.

Xu Wude was very talkative. He joined He Yuzhu in cursing the Qing Dynasty, and then they started talking about the courtyard house.

His words were full of stories about how he enthusiastically helped others, cared for his neighbors, and found joy in helping others.

They also took the opportunity to inquire about the relationship between He Yuzhu and Tian Zao. He Yuzhu could only resort to the same excuse he used to fool Yi Zhonghai, making it sound like the two had a very close relationship.

Now Xu Wude was even more convinced that He Yuzhu was capable of influencing the choice of the courtyard house manager, and he became even more affectionate.

After a short while, having eaten and drunk their fill, Xu Zhaodi gave her children a signal and then led her younger sister and Yushui into the inner room.

Xu Damao also left and went outside. Only then did Xu Wude bring up his intention to become the head of the management office.

He Yuzhu blurted out, "Uncle Xu, you also want to be the head of the management office? Yesterday, Uncle Yi treated me to dinner, and he wants to be one too."

"Old Yi also invited you to dinner. What did he say?" Xu Wude asked, pretending not to know.

“I didn’t misspoke. Yesterday, Uncle Yi treated me to dinner. He didn’t mention anything about being a good uncle. He just asked me how I was doing and even lent me 100 yuan.”

Xu Wude was genuinely surprised this time: "Old Yi can lend you 100 yuan?"

"Yes, they also said that I am currently struggling financially and am just an apprentice, so I shouldn't rush to pay them back and should do so when I have the money later."

Xu Wude thought to himself, "I don't believe your lies. You two must have made a deal in private. You're speaking well of him to Tian Zao, otherwise why would Lao Yi lend you 100 yuan?"

They said the money they borrowed was definitely gone and could never be recovered.

Although on the surface, Lao Yi and Sha Zhu have a good relationship, Xu Wude also knows that Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu have had several conflicts recently. If the two of them can get along well, then the sun will rise in the west.

Then I felt a pang of guilt. Old Yi, aren't you just inflating prices? That's so dishonest.

If you're just a big shot in the management department, giving 10 or 20 yuan would be a high price, but you gave me 100 yuan directly. What am I supposed to do?

The average worker's wage is only around 20 yuan. I originally thought that giving him 10 or 20 yuan would be a lot.

Old Yi actually raised the price to 100, and he felt embarrassed to spend another 20 yuan.

But if I were to take out 100 yuan, it would be too painful for me, as that would be three months' salary.

I already treated He Yuzhu to dinner today. If I hadn't lent Sha Zhu money, Sha Zhu definitely wouldn't have spoken well of me in front of Tian Zao over just this one meal.

On the contrary, they might speak ill of her in front of Tian Zao and kick her when she's down. After all, Da Mao scared Yu Shui to tears a few days ago, and the two families had a fight.

Given Sha Zhu's vindictive nature, even if he were elected, he would still sabotage his own chances.

Xu Wude thought it over and over in his mind, and decided that he had to lend the money to Sha Zhu today.

It would be absolutely impossible for He Yuzhu not to use his position as a scapegoat to seek justice; on the contrary, he might ruin Tian Zao's reputation and cause him trouble.

Although borrowing money is a bit painful, it's better to spend money for peace of mind.

“Zhu Zi, your father is gone, and you are indeed having a hard time now. Since Lao Yi can lend you money, your Uncle Xu can’t fall behind.”

He Yuzhu was secretly pleased. This old Yi was the benchmark. Xu Wude wanted to advance and become the manager, and he was afraid that he would stir up trouble and sow discord, so he could only think of bribing him with money.

"Yes, Uncle Xu, you see, Jia Dongxu is living in an old house and going on blind dates with girls, but none of them want to go. So I have no choice but to renovate the house so that we can get married in a couple of years, right?"

"Yes, you're 16 now, it's time to start thinking about marriage."

“But repairing the house will cost a lot of money. The 100 yuan I borrowed isn’t enough to repair the house,” He Yuzhu said with difficulty.

The message was quite clear: although Lao Yi had borrowed 100 yuan, he was still short of money himself, so he should hurry up and send the money.

Xu Wude thought that if he lent out 100, it would be more than three months' salary for him, which was really too much.

“Zhu Zi, you know that Lao Yi’s salary is more than 60 yuan a month. I can’t compare with him. I can’t lend you 100 yuan, but Uncle Xu can lend you 50 yuan.”

When Liu Guangqi came out of the toilet, he felt that something was wrong. When did the Xu family get together with Sha Zhu?

There must have been something that happened that I didn't know about.

When they arrived at the backyard, there was no one there, so they quietly went to the eaves of the Xu family's house.

After listening for a while, I became more and more alarmed.

Why would Yi Zhonghai, who clearly doesn't get along with Sha Zhu, lend Sha Zhu 100 yuan?

Chapter 48 If I don't get enough, won't I be looked down upon by Sha Zhu?

Liu Guangqi only heard part of the story and didn't hear the beginning, so he didn't know that Sha Zhu and Tian Zao had a special relationship.

Just as I was about to listen more and figure out what the problem was, I heard He Yushui and Xu Xiaomei, the third daughter of the Xu family, start arguing.

Then He Yushui started clamoring to go home and refused to play with Xu Xiaomei anymore.

Fearing being discovered, Liu Guangqi stopped listening and quickly left.

When he got home, he saw his father, Liu Haizhong, still sitting at the table drinking. He sat down and told him everything he had heard and seen.

"What? You're saying that Lao Yi invited Sha Zhu to dinner and even lent him 100 yuan?"

"Yes, Dad, why do you think Uncle Yi lent so much money to Sha Zhu? That's 100 yuan!"

Although Liu Haizhong usually dotes on Liu Guangqi, he only gives him a few cents or two as pocket money.

After all, Liu Guangqi is only 10 years old and just over 10 years old. He's still a young boy.

"Isn't Old Yi just trying to act like the boss of the management department?"

Liu Haizhong rolled his eyes at his son and offered a few words of explanation.

Liu Guangqi understood now.

Liu Haizhong recalled that when he woke up in the morning, he was still half asleep and went to ask Sha Zhu to say nice things to him.

Looking back now, I realize that my attitude at the time was somewhat inappropriate. I had no grudge against Sha Zhu, but instead, I ended up causing trouble for him.

How could I have done something so stupid?

In the west wing.

He Yuzhu had been thinking about how to get some money from Lao Xu, but he didn't expect Lao Xu to be so shrewd. Before he could even ask, Lao Xu offered to lend him 50 yuan.

Even though it was 50% off, 5 yuan is still almost two months' salary for Lao Xu, which is quite a lot.

He Yuzhu was naturally very satisfied.

"Then I'll thank Uncle Xu," He Yuzhu said quickly.

Xu Wude went into the house with a pained expression, took out fifty yuan and handed it to He Yuzhu.

"I'll treat you to a meal when Uncle Xu becomes the manager."

After eating and drinking their fill, He Yuzhu put fifty yuan in his pocket and took He Yushui home.

Mrs. Xu was heartbroken about the fifty yuan and complained, "You just gave him the money so easily?"

"Do you think I wanted this? It's just that he has a good relationship with the management committee."

Then he said fiercely, "Just wait, I'll teach Sha Zhu a lesson when I become the manager."

When Xu Wude said this, he knew that Sha Zhu had connections with the management committee, so he couldn't bully him too much, otherwise he would also suffer retaliation from his superiors.