Siheyuan: He Yuzhu since 1958

He lay in bed for more than an hour. When the cock crowed for the first time, He Yuzhu got up from the bed, yawned, got dressed, washed up, and walked into the kitchen. He opened the rice jar and looked around. There were only two bowls of corn flour in the rice jar, nothing else. If memory serves me right, two days ago, they bought ten catties of flour. Even if the two siblings were big eaters, they couldn't finish all that much flour. No need to guess, the flour in the rice jar was most likely stolen by Bang Geng or Jia Zhangshi.

Then He Yuzhu opened the cabinet where he usually kept the leftover food. "Ah!" The clean rats inside would cry. He Yuzhu angrily closed the cabinet door and muttered, "We can't live like this anymore! We must stop the Jia family from coming here to steal things!" Thinking of this, He Yuzhu had an idea and a toolbox, several window latches and door locks in his hand.

He Yuzhu quickly installed the latch on the window, then drilled a hole in his door and installed the double safety lock. Then he went into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast.

After cooking the rice from the supermarket into porridge and making the semi-finished scallion pancakes, He Yuzhu walked out of the house, knocked on the door of He Yushui's house next door, and shouted, "Yushui, get up quickly! Otherwise you'll be late for school!"

"Oh! Here it comes!" He Yushui heard the call and sat up suddenly from the bed. While answering, he put on his clothes quickly.

Not long after, He Yushui ran out of her room with her toiletries. About seven or eight minutes later, He Yushui ran into He Yuzhu's room, took a look at the broken clock at home, and turned to look out the window. He Yuzhu came out of the kitchen with porridge and asked, "What are you looking at?!"

He Yushui replied playfully: "I wonder if the sun rises from the west today?!"

"You stupid girl!" He Yuzhu glared at He Yushui unhappily, put the porridge on the table, and went back to the kitchen. Then He Yuzhu brought out the scallion pancakes. He Yushui sniffed the fragrance in the air, staring at the plate in He Yuzhu's hand. He Yuzhu smiled and put the plate on the table, walked to the door, put down the safety on the lock, walked back to the opposite side of He Yushui, sat down and said, "What are you still standing there for?! Why don't you eat quickly?! Aren't you going to school?!"

"Oh!" He Yushui came back to his senses, grabbed a scallion pancake and ate it while saying, "Brother, don't you usually not make breakfast?! Why did you think of making breakfast for me today?!"

He Yuzhu replied, "After get off work yesterday, I heard from the factory doctor that skipping breakfast can easily lead to illness. Not only does illness cause suffering, but it also costs money. Instead of spending money on hospital treatment, it's better to let you eat well." He Yuzhu took out a five-yuan bill, two catties of grain coupons, and two taels of meat coupons from his pocket and handed them to He Yushui, saying, "You need to use your brain to study, and you are growing up now, so don't treat yourself badly at lunch at school. If you run out of money and coupons, tell me and I'll give them to you."

He Yushui looked at the money and tickets on the table in disbelief. He twisted his leg quietly and felt pain. He Yushui muttered in his heart: "I'm not dreaming?!"

He Yuzhu urged, "What are you still standing there for?! Why don't you take it quickly?!"

"Hey!" He Yushui put down the scallion pancake in his hand, wiped his hands on the cloth on the table, picked up the money and ticket quickly, and put them into his pocket.

He Yuzhu said, "I'm telling you! If you let me know that you treat yourself badly in order to hide your private money, I will never give you a penny in the future!"

"Got it!" He Yushui responded obediently. For some reason, He Yushui didn't feel that He Yuzhu's threats were scary at all, but instead felt a little warm in her heart.

He Yuzhu took out two keys strung together with red ropes from his pocket and said, "Yushui, there are too many people with dirty hands and feet in our courtyard. From today on, I will install a lock on the door. Here are two keys, one for my room and the other for your room. Wait a minute, when you go to school, I will install the lock. In the future, whether you go out or come home, remember to lock the door. Don't let those with bad intentions take advantage of you."

"Hey!" He Yushui picked up the key with a smile, hung it on his chest, and said, "I saw many of my classmates hung their keys. I thought I had no chance. Unexpectedly, brother, you fulfilled my wish today." Then He Yushui asked worriedly, "Brother, didn't the three uncles say that our courtyard is an advanced courtyard and we are not allowed to lock the door. Aren't you afraid that they will cause trouble for you?!"

He Yuzhu said, "The lock I installed is a new product. It is installed on the door and cannot be seen from the outside. Even if they find out, what can they do?! I am not afraid of them!" After saying that, He Yuzhu saw that He Yushui suddenly became dazed, and immediately changed his eyes to a fatherly one and looked at He Yushui and urged him, "Eat quickly! Otherwise, you will be late for school!"

Although He Yuzhu did not open the window when making scallion pancakes, everyone in the Jia family was born in the year of the dog. Saying "dog" is really an insult to this animal. Jia Zhang, who was sleeping soundly on the kang, smelled the faint aroma of oil in the air, and suddenly opened her eyes, cursing and muttering: "That thing that will end my family lineage, made delicious food so early in the morning?! Why didn't you bring it to me as a filial piety?!"

Jia Dongxu, who was sitting at the table and eating a steamed bun, said, "Who else could it be?! Besides Sha Zhu, who else in our hospital has this skill?!"

Jia Zhang climbed down from the kang, walked to the table, took a look at the breakfast on the table, and yelled at Qin Huairu: "Are you dead?! You let your man eat these things in the morning?! Why don't you go to Sha Zhu's house and bring the food over?!"

Qin Huairu pretended to be pitiful and said, "Mom! It's useless for me to go. Sha Zhu won't give it to me! Besides, if I go now, they've already finished eating."

Jia Dongxu drank a mouthful of porridge and said, "Mom! Now is the critical moment to buy a house. It's not appropriate to go to Sha Zhu's house to get food at this time. Let's wait until my master and Sha Zhu have settled the matter and we get the house."

"They keep saying it's coming soon! It's been several days, why haven't we seen any movement yet?!" Jia Zhang muttered as she picked up a steamed bun and started to eat it reluctantly. Bang Geng, who was sitting next to her, suddenly said, "Grandma! I want to eat something delicious! Go to Sha Zhu's house and get it for me!"

Jia Zhang comforted him, "Good boy! Wait until Shazhu goes to work, and then you can go to his house and get it yourself!"

Bang Geng thought of the peanuts under He Yuzhu's bed and the biscuits in the tin box in He Yu's room. His mouth watered unconsciously. He nodded heavily and said, "Yes! I'll get it myself after Sha Zhu goes to work! Anyway, Sha Zhu's things belong to our family!"

After He Yushui finished his meal, he ran out of the yard carrying his schoolbag and dragging a magnet. After meeting up with a few friends, they went to school together. He Yuzhu came to He Yushui's room with tools, first installed a latch on the window, bolted the window, then opened a hole in the door and installed the lock. After trying it back and forth twice and making sure there was no problem, he closed He Yushui's door and prepared to go home with the tools. At this time, Yi Zhonghai came out of the house and asked, "Zhuzi, what are you doing?!"

He Yuzhu replied, "Yushui said the door wasn't closed tightly, so I helped her fix it before going to work."

Yi Zhonghai took a quick look at He Yushui's door, and found nothing unusual on it, so he asked, "Zhu Zi, what do you think about what I told you yesterday?!"

When the neighbors who were washing by the sink heard Yi Zhonghai's words, they all stopped and looked at He Yuzhu at the same time.

He Yuzhu pretended to be dumbfounded and said, "Oh! Uncle! You mean it's about the house?! I'll help you clean it up when I get home from get off work. Uncle is indeed an uncle. He knows that his apprentice's family has housing difficulties and takes the initiative to make room for his apprentice's family?! Uncle, I'll tell Director Wang of the Street Office about this and ask her to help you publicize it!"

"Silly Zhu!" Yi Zhonghai became anxious when he heard what He Yuzhu said. He Yuzhu's face changed and asked, "What did you call me?!"

"Silly Zhu!" Yi Zhonghai didn't notice any change in He Yuzhu and called him again. He Yuzhu said, "You called me Silly Zhu too?! I have a name, I'm He Yuzhu!"

Liu Haizhong came out from the backyard and said, "Your father gave you the nickname Shazhu!"

He Yuzhu glanced at Liu Haizhong and said, "That's right, it's my dad who called me that. You are my dad?!"

Liu Haizhong said: "Although I am not your father, your father and I are of the same generation. Is it not okay for me to call you an elder?!"

"Pa!" He Yuzhu waited for Liu Haizhong to come up to him, and suddenly slapped Liu Haizhong in the face. The heavy slap resounded throughout the courtyard. This slap hit Liu Haizhong's face, and also hit the faces of every resident in the courtyard. He Yuzhu said: "My name is He Yuzhu! Not Shazhu! From now on, no matter whether you are old or young, or a woman! If you hear anyone call me Shazhu, this is the end!"

Liu Haizhong covered his swollen face and roared murderously: "He Yuzhu! You have no respect for your elders!"

He Yuzhu said: "Elder?! We are just ordinary neighbors. You are not my elder?!"

Yi Zhonghai said, "Zhu Zi, I have always told you to respect your elders and take care of the children in the courtyard. What you did today was a bit too much. Hurry up and apologize to the second uncle. Also, pay him five yuan for medical expenses. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude. I will hold a meeting of the whole courtyard tonight to criticize you!"

He Yuzhu said, "Yi Zhonghai?! Are you in menopause early?! Hold a meeting of the whole hospital?! Do you have this right?! If I remember correctly, the subdistrict office selected the three of you as the hospital's managers, and your only rights are to convey the contents of the meeting and guard against enemy spies. It seems that you were not given other rights?! What do you call your situation?! It's called reversing history, and you want to be the king of the mountain. If the subdistrict office knows about this, you will not only have to go to jail, but you may also have to eat peanuts."