Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The Jia family of Zhongyuan.

Today is also the day that Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu both receive their salaries.

Because of her lack of work experience, Qin Huairu, who is not yet fifty years old, has not been hired by any factory.

To earn money to support her family, Qin Huairu had no choice but to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant, where she could only earn forty yuan a month despite her best efforts.

Yi Zhonghai was too old. Although he had fitter skills, no factory dared to hire him, fearing that he might have an accident during production. So he could only find a street sweeping job with no age requirement, earning 24 yuan a month.

When Yi Zhonghai returned to the Central Hospital, exhausted, Qin Huairu, who had finished get off work an hour earlier, had already prepared the meal.

Perhaps to celebrate receiving their paychecks today, a meat dish was placed on the table.

The pork, weighing less than half a pound, was sliced ​​thinly and stewed with a large amount of potatoes.

Although there wasn't much meat, it was very oily, which whetted Yi Zhonghai's appetite. He ate three steamed buns made from two kinds of flour before stopping.

"Old Yi..." Yi Zhonghai had just burped and put down his chopsticks when Qin Huairu's voice rang in his ear.

“Vegetable prices at the market have gone up again, and the price of mixed noodles has also increased significantly… Even if we only eat stewed meat three times a month now, ten yuan per person for living expenses isn’t enough to last a month…”

"I just did the math..."

"The allowance you give me each month needs to be increased to at least fifteen yuan..."

"I can eat meat two more times a month."

Yi Zhonghai frowned and refused after hearing this: "No... the price has risen too much..."

"I'll give you at most twelve yuan a month for living expenses..."

Although Yi Zhonghai knew that Qin Huairu was only taking care of him to get his pension and house, he never dared to say anything too harsh to Qin Huairu, for fear that the two of them would part ways and he would lose his caregiver.

After all, the Jia family still had a house at that time, and Bang Geng had a job that could earn money. Even if they left him, the Jia family could still live well in Beijing.

Things are different now...

Six months have passed since Banggeng borrowed money from Old Wang's family in the front yard.

If Qin Huairu fails to raise 1,700 yuan within six months, the Wang family will take over the Jia family's house in the central courtyard.

Without a house, Qin Huairu had no choice but to live in her own home.

Although the house she was living in no longer belonged to her, Qin Huairu was unaware of this.

In order to keep this "only house" and ensure that Bang Geng wouldn't be homeless after his release from prison, Yi Zhonghai clearly held the upper hand in the conflict between the two men.

When he spoke to Qin Huairu again, Yi Zhonghai no longer felt guilty or worried, but instead became very confident.

Qin Huairu knew that Yi Zhonghai would definitely refuse, and he didn't intend to directly raise Yi Zhonghai's living expenses to fifteen yuan.

The reason he quoted such a high price was to leave himself room for negotiation, but he still feigned a helpless expression and replied, "Old Yi..."

"You don't know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt until you're in charge of the household..."

"Prices in Beijing are changing every day...they're rising too fast..."

"If the allowance doesn't increase, thirty yuan definitely won't be enough for the three of us to eat for a month..."

"If you think fifteen yuan is too much, fourteen yuan will do..."

"It just means the extra meat dishes from those two meals are gone... It's still the same as now, three meat dishes a month." In order to save more money, Qin Huairu had to calculate everything with Yi Zhonghai piece by piece.

Even though he earns forty yuan a month, after deducting the twenty yuan he and Jia Zhangshi spend on living expenses, he still has twenty yuan left.

But Bang-ge is still in prison watching over her financial support.

A few months ago, Qin Huairu failed to rescue Banggeng from the detention center. He felt that he had let down his only son and was afraid that Banggeng would turn against him and not take care of him in his old age.

To ease tensions between the two, Qin Huairu would send Banggeng ten yuan every month, hoping to ensure he ate well in prison and wasn't mistreated.

The effect was excellent; in less than two months, Bang Geng's hatred towards Qin Huairu disappeared.

Every time Banggeng visited Qin Huairu in prison, he would coax her gently and kindly, as if afraid that she wouldn't give him ten yuan.

Little did they know that the real reason Bang Geng did all this was not because he had forgiven Qin Huairu, but because he wanted the ten yuan every month.

But Qin Huairu was unaware of these things.

In order for Banggeng to speak a few words to her gently each month and call her "Mom" a few times, she insisted on taking out ten yuan from her meager salary to subsidize Banggeng.

As a result, Qin Huairu's monthly salary was reduced to only ten yuan.

After Banggeng is released from prison, he will not only have to find a new job, but also get married and carry on the Jia family line.

The house for getting married can be the one Yi Zhonghai is currently living in, but the cost of getting married still needs to be saved up little by little by Qin Huairu.

If you save ten yuan a month, you can only save a little over three hundred yuan in three years. With the soaring prices in Beijing now, it definitely won't be enough to get Qin Huairu a wife in three years.

Under these circumstances, Qin Huairu could only turn her attention to Yi Zhonghai, hoping to get some money from him to save for Bang Geng's wedding.

Even if you can only make one yuan a month, you'll still have more than thirty yuan in three years.

As long as Yi Zhonghai agrees to give him fourteen yuan a month for living expenses, he can save three yuan from the living expenses to help Bang Geng get married. In three years, that will be more than one hundred yuan.

Qin Huai had no choice but to be meticulous about money.

Yi Zhonghai had long seen through Qin Huairu's little scheme. Even when Qin Huairu cried and talked about how high the prices were outside and how much her living expenses were, Yi Zhonghai's face remained calm and unchanging.

Meeting Qin Huairu's expectant gaze, he coldly snorted and replied, "Huairu..."

"Although I rarely go to the farmers' market..."

"But some of my fellow street sweepers often go there..."

"Although prices in Beijing have risen considerably compared to before, eleven or twelve yuan a month should be enough for our current standard of living..."

"I can only raise my living expenses to twelve yuan at most."

Qin Huairu hadn't expected Yi Zhonghai to be so difficult to deal with.

If Qin Huairu hadn't known that the Jia family's house would definitely be lost in six months, and that Jia Zhangshi would have to move to Yi Zhonghai's house, and that Banggeng would also have to get married at Yi Zhonghai's house in the future, she would have turned against Yi Zhonghai long ago.

Suppressing the rising anger within him, he took a breath, forced himself to calm down, and then spoke: "Old Yi..."

"Twelve yuan is indeed enough to eat for a month... but then you'll only have three meals of meat and vegetables a month..."

"We're getting old, we can't go a whole month without eating meat..."

"For an extra dollar, you'll still have three meat meals a month..." (End of Chapter)