Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 17

After getting married, he and his wife will live in the three rooms in the west wing, while his mother will live in the room in the east wing, so that they won't disturb each other.

But He Yuzhu knew perfectly well that no matter how eloquently Jia Dongxu spoke, he was determined not to lend Jia Dongxu even that one house.

He Yuzhu shook his head: "No."

Jia Dongxu took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and said, "Can't I rent your house? I'll pay you rent every month."

"Now that your father is gone, and you're just an apprentice with no money, what will you eat?"

"I'm renting your house for your own good. With the rent money, your life will be easier."

He Yuzhu watched with a grin as Jia Dongxu eloquently persuaded him, thinking to himself that like teacher, like student.

Jia Dongxu wasn't very good at technical skills, but he mastered Yi Zhonghai's deceptive rhetoric perfectly.

If it were an ordinary person, they might actually be fooled by Jia Dongxu and readily rent out the house.

He Yuzhu shook his head again: "No."

Jia Dongxu wanted to persuade him further, but Yi Zhonghai spoke up, saying, "Zhuzi, Dongxu is right. You currently have no source of income, so renting out one of the rooms you don't live in can alleviate your financial pressure."

"I already said I wouldn't rent it, so why do you insist on renting mine?" He Yuzhu retorted.

"How can this child not know right from wrong? We're only doing this for your own good," Yi Zhonghai said, somewhat angrily.

"What do you mean by 'for my own good'? Of course I can manage my own life. If I say I won't rent, then I won't lend."

He Yuzhu turned around and walked out in anger.

"Hey, don't go!" Jia Dongxu called out from behind.

Yi Zhonghai said, "Forget it, I'll think of another way."

When renovating a house, all the furniture should be moved out. Since He Yuzhu was unwilling, we had to find another way.

He Yuzhu went to the toilet and when he came back, he saw the three of them still discussing things in the yard.

Just walked over.

Jia Dongxu said angrily, "He Yuzhu, what else do you want to do?"

"none of your business?"

He Yuzhu replied, then said to the bricklayer, "Master, since you're here, would you mind taking on another job? Do you think my house needs some repairs?"

Chapter 24 No Borrowing

Before the bricklayer could speak, Jia Dongxu jumped out and said, "Shazhu, do you have money to repair the house?"

He Yuzhu raised his fist: "Try calling me 'Silly Zhu' again?"

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue."

Jia Dongxu said, "You don't have money to repair the house, so don't cause trouble here."

He Yuzhu had previously stated that He Daqing had taken all the money with him when he fled, leaving him with nothing. He himself had no money.

That's why Jia Dongxu said those things.

He Yuzhu has been living a very awkward life these past few days. He has very few supplies, and the kitchen is under a shed. It's okay now that it's spring, but it will be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

What I find most unsettling is going out to squeeze into public restrooms. A group of men using the toilet together always feels disgusting, especially with the unpleasant and pungent smell. Every day feels like living in misery.

This is all good. In some areas, public toilets haven't been built yet, so people just relieve themselves in corners.

There was a space of about 30 square meters between the three main rooms and He Yushui's side room. He Yuzhu planned to convert this space into two rooms, one as a bathroom and the other as a storage room.

I was wondering where to find a bricklayer, but I didn't expect Yi Zhonghai to have already found one for me.

“I won’t lend you money if I don’t have it. Repairing the house is a serious matter, and I also want to repair the house, so I can’t lend it to you.”

He casually explained why he had refused earlier, after all, he wanted to maintain a superficially friendly neighborly relationship.

The bricklayer watched the three of them bickering back and forth, but just smiled and didn't say anything more.

Then he interjected, "Wait a minute, I've already discussed the house renovation with Master Jia."

He Yuzhu nodded, said thank you for your hard work, and then waited on the side.

The three of them had already explained the situation to the Jia family. As long as the Jia family vacated the house, they could start renovations.

After finishing his business, Yi Zhonghai introduced Master Song to Sha Zhu and then asked, "Zhu Zi, how do you plan to fix it? I'd like to give you some advice."

He Yuzhu rolled his eyes, knowing that Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu were up to no good.

However, repairing a house is a big deal, and it can't be kept secret. There's nothing that can't be said.

"Master Song, come in and take a look at the house. How's the quality? Does it need major repairs?"

The houses in the courtyards are all old-fashioned, made of blue bricks and small tiles. He Yuzhu didn't know anything about them, so he let Master Song stick his hand into the house and look around.

The master and his apprentice followed them in.

After Master Song inspected the items, He Yuzhu poured him some water and asked, "How is it?"

"Your house has probably been repaired before, so there's not much of a problem overall. You just need to replace some of the broken roof tiles with new ones."

"There are also broken floor tiles, which will be replaced then. The walls inside the house will be re-mudded, and the ceiling will be fixed at the same time."

He Yuzhu was relieved and said, "I plan to build a wall here and then build a heated kang (traditional Chinese bed).

The east room and the main room are the main rooms, with no gable wall in between, and they only have one coal stove, so it's too cold in winter.

Since he had already set it up, He Yuzhu wanted to simply install the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) so that it would be much warmer in winter.

“That’s fine, we can repair the heated brick bed too.”

Jia Dongxu said, "Heating a kang (heated brick bed) wastes a lot of firewood and coal."

He Yuzhu said, "What's it to you? If you think it's a waste, then don't set up a heated kang."

"Why don't you two go home instead of waiting here for me to provide meals?"

"Hmph, let's go." Jia Dongxu left first, and Yi Zhonghai, feeling there was nothing else to do, said goodbye and also got up to leave.

He Yuzhu said, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, we had some disagreements."

"It's nothing, many of the neighbors are like this. Your house is in good condition overall, it will only take two or three days to repair."

He Yuzhu apologized and then said, "By the way, Master Song, could you come out and take a look? I have a vacant lot here and I want to build two houses."

The reason I chased Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu away before was to keep them from knowing that I planned to fix the corner, so as to avoid any further complications.

The two got up and went to the shack on the east side of the house.

"Master Song, I want to build a house on this plot of land, one room for storage and the other for a toilet."

"A toilet? You're going to move the outhouse into the house?"

"Yes, I've heard people say before that in foreign countries they put their outhouses inside the house so it's warm in winter and cool in summer."

“I’ve heard of this situation before, but you can’t put your septic tank inside the house.”

He Yuzhu's hometown in his previous life was in the countryside, where every household would dig a small septic tank around their house. The volume was less than one cubic meter, but it was enough to last for decades.

He Yuzhu said, "Then let's leave a small alley on the far east side and put the septic tank in the alley."

After discussing it, Master Song understood He Yuzhu's requirements.

"Okay, that's easy. I can get it done in a couple of days."

Then the two discussed the materials. Building two houses would require a lot of bricks, which He Yuzhu would need to provide himself.

After discussing the matter, He Yuzhu saw Master Song out of the courtyard and then went to the east wing.

He knocked on the door, entered the house, and said irritably, "What are you doing here?"

He Yuzhu smiled and said, "What's wrong, sir? Who made you angry?"

"Don't you know who made me angry?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "I really don't know."

"Alright, I'm not going to play games with you. Just say what you want to say." Yi Zhonghai didn't give him a friendly look.

Aunt Yi raised her foot and lightly kicked Yi Zhonghai, annoyed that he had spoken too harshly.

Then, smiling, he said to He Yuzhu, "Zhuzi, don't be angry. You old man, I've been having a bad day."

"It's nothing, why would I argue with an old man?"

"So what's wrong? Just tell us, and we'll help you with anything we can."

Aunt Yi sighed and said, "Your father just ran away. It must be difficult for you to live on your own. If you need anything in the future, just come to us."

"There really is something I need to trouble you with, grandpa and grandma."

He Yuzhu said with a smile, "Auntie, the repairman just calculated that I need 200 yuan to repair the house, but He Daqing ran away with all the money and only left me a few yuan for pocket money."

Aunt Yi said, "He shouldn't have done that! He's leaving you no way to survive!"

"Yes, that's why I came to this old lady's place. Auntie, could you lend me 200 yuan to fix the house?"

Before Aunt Yi could even speak, Yi Zhonghai asked in surprise, "What? You want to borrow our money to repair the house?"

He Yuzhu nodded: "Yes, where would I get the money to repair the house?"