Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The inner courtyard of a traditional courtyard house.

Although Qin Huairu had decided to plot against He Yuzhu's house in the backyard, she hadn't come up with a specific plan yet, and since she had to go to work during the day, she didn't carry it out immediately.

As usual, after get off work I took the groceries I bought on my way home into the small kitchen to cook dinner.

I had just finished washing the vegetables and was about to cook them when a commotion suddenly broke out in the yard.

Watching a spectacle is in the nature of Chinese people. Qin Huai subconsciously walked out of the small kitchen and looked towards the yard, wanting to see what the voices that had just reached his ears were all about. They didn't sound like they were from the neighbors in the yard.

“Zhu Zi…who are these people…I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before…” A neighbor in the middle courtyard pointed at several strangers behind He Yuzhu and asked with a wary expression.

"Uncle Wang..." He Yuzhu greeted him with a smile.

"These people want to buy my house in the backyard..."

"Didn't Liang Lati and I already move?"

"The house in the backyard is just sitting empty anyway, might as well sell it and get some money..."

"The renovation of our new house almost used up all of Liang Lati's and my savings... The house in the backyard isn't big, but it should be able to sell for over two thousand yuan..."

"The new house is still missing a lot of furniture, so selling the house in the backyard will be a good way to buy furniture..."

The neighbor immediately looked enlightened and then said, "House prices are pretty good right now..."

“Your house is the main house, and it’s quite large. It should be worth over two thousand yuan… If I weren’t short of money, I would have bought it for my son as his wedding home…”

He Yuzhu didn't reply, but instead said to the men who had brought him to look at the house, "Comrades..."

"These are all our neighbors in the courtyard house, they are all very friendly..."

"Whenever a stranger comes into the yard, they will ask them a couple of questions to prevent any accidents from happening..."

"With neighbors like these, even if I forget to lock the door when I leave for work during the day, I don't have to worry about my house being burglarized..."

"So you definitely won't lose out if you buy the house in my backyard..."

The older brother following behind was hired by He Yuzhu for ten yuan. He had a special talent for banquets and immediately replied, "Master He..."

"I love lively atmospheres..."

"If that house in the backyard is really as good as you say, as big as you say, and the price is right, I'll definitely buy it..."

He Yuzhu continued, "Comrade Zhang..."

"Don't worry..."

"We have a saying in our restaurant: The customer is God..."

"To me, He Yuzhu, you are my customer right now, and I certainly won't lie to you... I'll take you to the backyard now, and I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

Seeing He Yuzhu and several others quickly disappear from the middle courtyard and enter the back courtyard, Qin Huairu became anxious.

If He Yuzhu sells the house to someone else tonight, no matter how meticulously I schemed against He Yuzhu, it will be useless, because the house will no longer belong to Sha Zhu.

In order to ensure that Banggeng will have a house to get married in the future, and also to prevent the Jia family from being controlled by others after Old Wang in the front yard takes away the Jia family's house, and to prevent that old guy Yi Zhonghai from completely suppressing them with the house, they must not let He Yuzhu sell the house no matter what.

He immediately turned to Jia Zhangshi, who was also looking anxious, and said, "Mom..."

"Go chop some vegetables first, I'll go check the backyard... Tonight, we absolutely cannot let Sha Zhu sell the house in the backyard..."

Madam Jia quickly realized, "Huairu, you're right..." "If Shazhu sells the house, no matter how much we scheme against him, we won't be able to get that house in the backyard..."

"Hurry up and go there..."

"Judging from their conversation just now, there's a pretty good chance they'll close the deal soon. I don't care what method you use, you have to stop them from doing so."

"If you can't handle it by yourself, just call me over from the backyard to help..."

"Whether it's resorting to shamelessness or acting like a shrew, we must sabotage this deal and prevent He Yuzhu from selling the house in the backyard."

When Qin Huairu took off her apron and hurriedly arrived at the backyard, He Yuzhu had already led several people into the house, and several neighbors were gathered at the door pointing and watching the commotion.

Ignoring the dissatisfaction of the surrounding neighbors, Qin Huai forced his way in and then heard He Yuzhu explaining the situation to the other party.

"Comrade Zhang..."

"The house I have in the backyard is a main house, with an area of ​​over forty square meters..."

"Although it's not very big, it's elevated very high..."

"Because there were only four people in my family before, two adults and two children, dividing the house into three small rooms was enough for the whole family to live in..."

"If you have a large family, you can definitely divide this house into two floors..."

"Each floor is divided into a large living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom..."

"Upstairs, there are three bedrooms; it could easily accommodate six or seven people..."

"I own this house. As long as we agree on the price, we can go to the local street office to transfer the ownership tomorrow..."

"what do you think?"

The older brother, whom He Yuzhu addressed as Comrade Wang, immediately chimed in: "The house is indeed quite nice..."

"I'm very satisfied with the size and ceiling height, and the location is also good, very close to my workplace..."

"I just don't know if the price can be negotiated further..."

“I just took a look. If I want to divide this house into two floors and convert it into the rooms you just mentioned, it will cost at least five hundred yuan.”

"If buying a house also costs 2,600 yuan, that's 3,100 yuan in total, enough to buy a 70-80 square meter apartment outside..."

"If the price could be a little lower, I'll buy this house. We'll complete the transaction and transfer the ownership tomorrow, witnessed by the neighborhood committee..."

He Yuzhu feigned a thoughtful expression and replied, "How about two thousand four hundred yuan... I'll just give you a two hundred yuan discount, that should be considered very sincere."

"If you were to buy a house of the same size and in the same location outside, you definitely wouldn't be able to get one for 2,400 yuan a month, given the current housing prices in Beijing."

"As for the apartment buildings you just mentioned, although they are very fashionable now, they still can't compare to living in a traditional courtyard house."

"If I had to choose, I would definitely choose a courtyard house."

The other party still seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the price and continued to analyze it for He Yuzhu: "Master He..."

"After I buy the house, I'll not only have to renovate, but I'll also have to tear down all the partition walls that you've already renovated. All of that will cost money..."

"Two thousand four hundred yuan is still too high... How about two thousand yuan? If you agree, we'll go to the street office to make the transaction tomorrow..."

To make the act more convincing, He Yuzhu immediately feigned a troubled expression and shook his head, replying, "Two thousand yuan is too little. It should be at least two thousand three hundred yuan. I can't go any lower." (End of Chapter)