Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Although Yi Zhonghai had Qin Huairu under his thumb by using the house, he still needed her to support him in his old age, and he didn't want to strain their relationship over a few dollars.

His current monthly salary is 24 yuan. As long as he gives Qin Huairu no more than 14 yuan for living expenses, he can save 10 yuan each month.

In addition to the few hundred yuan I had saved up for a rainy day.

When I'm completely unable to work anymore, I'll definitely be able to increase my savings to 1,000 yuan. If I'm careful with my spending, it'll be enough for me until I die.

He immediately replied, "Okay... thirteen yuan it is..."

"Starting next month, I will give you thirteen yuan for living expenses on payday every month."

…………

The backyard of Liu Haizhong's house.

Ever since the money he invested in Xu Damao went down the drain, Liu Haizhong has become silent.

Especially after their two sons got married and left home, the large Liu family home was mostly occupied by the elderly couple except for Chinese New Year. They had no one to talk to most of the time.

Previously, Liu Haizhong always felt that Yi Zhonghai was inferior to him.

Although Yi Zhonghai had a higher rank than him, he had no sons, while he himself had three sons.

When Yi Zhonghai gets old, he will likely have no one to support him in his old age, while he will have three sons to support him. Liu Haizhong has used this as a pretext to mock Yi Zhonghai more than once.

Now that he's retired, Yi Zhonghai has to scheme and scheme to find a reliable person to support him in his old age.

I thought that since I had three sons, they would definitely fight over who would take care of me in my old age, and I would live a very comfortable retirement.

As a result, instead of vying to support him in his old age, his three sons all ran away faster than the last, none of them wanting to support him.

Later, after chatting with the old neighbors in the courtyard, I learned that the cause of the problem was entirely my own fault.

When their sons were young, they were disciplined with sticks every day and were not given food. Over time, even the deepest father-son relationship will dissipate.

If it weren't for concerns about his reputation, his sons probably wouldn't have come to see him on New Year's Day.

But there's no going back in life.

Now that his sons all have their own families and are full of complaints about him, Liu Haizhong can't mend his relationship with them even if he wants to. He can only take it one day at a time.

So Liu Haizhong spent all his time locked in his room except when he went out to work as a consultant to earn money, fearing that others would mock him because he was estranged from his sons.

Over time, the neighbors almost forgot that Liu Haizhong even lived in the courtyard.

…………

The house in the backyard, belonging to He Yuzhu, was also the house where the deaf old lady used to live.

For He Yuzhu, today is a day worth celebrating.

After discussing it with Liang Ladi for a long time, they finally decided to move out of the traditional courtyard house and into a new courtyard house they had bought a year ago.

Da Mao and Er Mao are already married, San Mao has found a partner in college and they will get married after graduation, and Xiu'er is currently in high school...

With the addition of the son and daughter that Liang Lati gave birth to for He Yuzhu, the family has a total of ten people, and it is definitely not enough for them to continue living in the two rooms of the courtyard house.

He Yuzhu bought a two-section courtyard house. Although it is not as good as a three-section courtyard house, it still has more than ten rooms of various sizes. It can accommodate ten people, let alone ten more.

"Dad... my older brother asked me to come and ask if you've packed your things yet, and if you need me to help with the cleaning..." He Yuzhu's son, who was almost seven years old, rushed up to He Yuzhu and asked.

He Yuzhu took a day off from work at the hotel to prepare for the move, and looked at his son with great joy.

"Dad's almost done packing..." "Go tell my older brother... I borrowed a big truck from the restaurant's delivery team, it should be here soon..."

"Once they've packed their things, move them to the entrance of the courtyard house and wait there. Also, help the big truck that's coming to move our things, so they don't go to the wrong place..."

"Also, prepare two packs of cigarettes and a bottle of soda for them..."

"Give them a two-yuan red envelope...we can't let them come all this way for nothing..."

Perhaps because he knew he was moving to a new house, his son was in a particularly good mood. As soon as He Yuzhu finished speaking, he rushed out with a happy face, almost bumping into Liang Lati who was about to enter the house...

"Fifth brother... slow down, don't fall..."

Seeing his son dash into the courtyard in the blink of an eye, Liang Lati could only shake his head with a wry smile, then turned his gaze to He Yuzhu: "Zhuzi..."

"The house in the middle courtyard originally belonged to our landlord..."

"Once Da Mao and Er Mao have moved their things out, clean up the place one last time, and then hand it over to them..."

"This house in the backyard is our own. If we leave it empty after we move, I reckon it'll fall apart in a few years..."

"What are you going to do about it?"

This is indeed a problem.

Many houses in siheyuan (traditional courtyard houses) are made of wood. If no one lives in the house for a long time, problems will arise within a few years.

Seeing He Yuzhu frowning and not responding, Liang Lati directly voiced her idea: "How about we find someone to rent it out..."

“Now, Beijing is full of migrant workers… With the current rent in Beijing, we can earn at least ten yuan a month in rent for this room, which is one hundred and twenty yuan a year.”

If this had happened a few years ago, He Yuzhu would have been overjoyed to hear that he could get 120 yuan in rent for free every year, and would have agreed to the idea immediately.

It's different now.

Although He Yuzhu has not yet become the head chef at Dongjun Restaurant, his monthly salary and bonuses already exceed five hundred yuan.

For him, the rent of 120 yuan was only enough for seven or eight days' income, which was better than nothing.

More importantly, renting out a house can lead to various disputes, and if there's a problem with the house, you'll have to find someone to fix it, which is too troublesome.

Shaking his head, he replied, "Then we might as well sell it..."

"Although this room is not as big as the main house in the central courtyard, with the current housing prices in Beijing, it should be able to sell for two thousand yuan without any problem."

"The interest rate for depositing money in the bank is very high now. You can earn more than 100 yuan in interest on 2,000 yuan without doing anything."

"Instead of renting it out and creating trouble for others, it's better to sell it and put the money in the bank to earn interest..."

"As for the house..."

"If you think one courtyard house isn't enough, we can always buy another one next year when we've saved enough money..."

"If you really can't buy a courtyard house, then buy an apartment..."

"Now a lot of apartment buildings have been built in Beijing... Each apartment is over 100 square meters, with a kitchen, toilet, living room, and bedroom. They are no worse than traditional courtyard houses."

"A house only costs a few thousand yuan."

"Instead of keeping this room in the backyard, we might as well exchange it for money and buy an apartment..." (End of Chapter)