Living in a Siheyuan

Li Pingan returned home, lying on the newly bought big bed, looking around the newly renovated home. Now he has a stronger sense of belonging.

When he first came here, he felt like a passerby. But with the knowledge of the later generations and the blessing of space, he had a strong sense of superiority.

But through the interactions with everyone during this period, especially with Yu Li, he had a sense of the reality of love.

Moreover, the people in the courtyard are not demonized as described in other novels. Although everyone has their own calculations, they are all for survival.

For example, the family of six of Uncle Yan Bugui was supported by his salary. Some people wrote that Yan Bugui's salary was more than 40 or 50 yuan. In fact, it was not that much.

I wonder if anyone has heard of this? In the 1980s, there was still a saying of "poor teachers" and "don't marry a sour scholar".

So if Yan Bugui didn't take it for granted now, someone in their family would starve to death. Especially during the three years of disaster that will start next year. That would be even more difficult. But it was also because he had taken the blame that he had also lost the affection in his family.

In the past half month, the courtyard has been relatively quiet. Jia Dongxu's leg has not healed yet, and he moves around with a cane every day. Qin Huairu is about to give birth. The Jia family now relies entirely on Yi Zhonghai's support. Jia Zhangshi has no energy to make trouble anymore. How can she have the energy to make trouble when she can't even eat enough?

So Li Pingan planned to let the Jia family continue to maintain this fine tradition, and wait until Jia Dongxu's leg healed before finding an opportunity to break it. Let him continue to lie down until he is 60 years old.

Since Yi Zhonghai came back from the hospital after Li Ping'an caused him a brain hemorrhage, he knew that the doctor told him not to get angry anymore. He has been much more low-key now. In addition, his hands are shaking more and more, and he can't process many precision workpieces. I heard that the workshop director has applied for his demotion.

Li Pingan thought about this and found that the current courtyard house was the courtyard house he expected. Everyone lived in peace and tranquility. How wonderful it was. Why did someone have to provoke him and make him uncomfortable?

He slept until dawn. Li Ping'an had just gotten up and was washing up in the bathroom when he heard Yu Li knocking on the door. There was also the chattering of a little girl named Yu Haitang. After coming to eat a few times, this girl became familiar with Li Ping'an. She often pestered Yu Li to bring her over to play.

After opening the door, Yu Li saw that Li Pingan had just gotten up and asked, "Why are you getting up just now? What time is it?"

Yu Haitang also said: "It's my brother-in-law. My sister said she was going shopping today."

Yu Li patted Yu Haitang on the head and said, "How many times have I told you? Now you can't call me brother-in-law. You have to call me Brother Ping An."

Li Pingan watched the two sisters playing and felt happy early in the morning. He said to Yu Haitang, "I am shopping with your sister, not with you."

After hearing what Li Ping'an said, Yu Haitang raised her head and said, "Humph, that's impossible. My mother asked me to look after my sister, but I came here with a mission."

The three of them entered the house, and Yu Haitang walked around every room. Then he came out and said to Li Pingan, "Brother-in-law, I think your little room inside is also very beautiful. Can I live in it in the future?"

Yu Li said angrily: "You are a girl, why are you going to someone else's house instead of staying at your own home?"

"Is this someone else's house? This is my brother-in-law's house. It's none of your business!"

Listening to the two sisters' bickering, Li Pingan went to continue washing up. Yu Li also started making breakfast in the kitchen. Yu Haitang shouted from outside the kitchen: "Sister, I'm going to look for He Yushui first. Call me when you've made something delicious."

After saying that, she ran out. She was the same age as He Yushui, both were only thirteen years old. They were classmates, so whenever Yu Haitang came to Li Ping'an's place, she would go to play with He Yushui.

After washing up, Li Pingan looked at the rice porridge, cucumbers, and leftovers cooked by Yu Li. He planned to go out and buy some buns.

When he came back, Yu Li's meal was ready. Yu Haitang was taking He Yushui to visit the house.

Several people sat at the table and started to eat. During this period, Yu Li not only cooked for the workers at noon, but also cooked breakfast and dinner for Li Pingan. It can be said that he felt the life of having a wife in advance.

Today he and Yu Li were going to buy some cloth to make curtains and put them up. They were also going to add some things to the kitchen.

After they finished eating and packed up quickly, He Yushui went home. Li Pingan then set off with Yu Li and her sister. Yu Haitang sat in the front and Yu Li sat in the back. Li Pingan quickly rode to the department store.

After entering, Yu Haitang began to look around. Especially those beautiful clothes made her eyes keep looking there. Yu Li also occasionally glanced at those clothes with a sparkle in her eyes.

Li Pingan thought that he was such a straight man that he had never thought of giving Yu Li a gift for such a long time. If he were in the future, he would probably be single for a hundred years.

So he brought the two of them to the women's clothing section first and said to Yu Li, "I'm going to bring Aunt Wang to your house tonight. Pick out some pretty clothes and dress up beautifully."

When Yu Li heard that they were going to buy her clothes, although she wanted to, she said, "Forget it, I still have clothes. Let's go look at curtains first."

Li Pingan pulled Yu Li and said, "It's okay, just choose without worry. I have plenty of cloth coupons and money."

Because he had the Seven-Colored Magic Clothes, he could change into any kind of clothes at will, so the cloth coupons he bought on the black market last time had never been used.

After hearing this, Yu Li also looked at the clothes carefully. Li Pingan saw Yu Haitang looking at him, so he said, "Haitang, go and look too. I'll pick one for you too. When you get home, say something good about your brother-in-law."

When Yu Haitang heard that she also had a share, she immediately said happily: "Don't worry, brother-in-law, I will definitely praise you when I get home."

After saying that, he took Yu Li's hand and started choosing together.

After a while, they each picked out a piece of cloth. Li Pingan also went over to pay the money and ticket, and then took it to the cloth side.

Yu Li picked out a few pieces of cloth for curtains and asked, "Brother Ping'an, do you want to buy your quilt cover and bed sheets as well? I can make them together when I get back?"

Li Pingan thought about it and decided to buy it, since he still had his own cloth coupons. The sheets and quilt covers would have to be replaced sooner or later.

So I bought a few pieces of cloth to make bed sheets and quilt covers.

After leaving the department store, Yu Haitang looked at all the cloth and said, "Sister, when the time comes, you can take this cloth to Aunt Liu's house in the next yard to make some. Her sewing machine can do these very quickly."

Yu Li also said: "Well, I plan to go to Aunt Liu's house to do it."

After hearing what Li Ping'an said, he thought about buying a sewing machine himself. He was getting married soon, so he should at least have one that could turn three gears and make a sound.

I wanted to buy a sewing ticket from the black market, but it was too eye-catching. Then I remembered that I seemed to have seen a sewing machine at the Trust Store last time, so I said, "Why don't we go buy one? I saw one for sale at the Trust Store last time. I wonder if it's good? Let's go and take a look."

Yu Li listened to Li Ping'an's words and thought that she would need it in the future and it would be more convenient if she had it herself, so she agreed.

So a few of them rode to the trust store with their things.

When they arrived at the Trust Store, they saw that there were indeed three sewing machines on display. Yu Li tried them one by one and chose a Butterfly brand one. This sewing machine was 90% new. The price was not cheap, costing 180 yuan. But since there was no ticket, it was relatively cost-effective.

After paying the money, Li Pingan thought, since he was here, he might as well take a look at the radios. If he found something suitable, he would buy it.

I went to the place where radios were sold and picked out a Shanghai brand one, which I spent sixty yuan on.

Seeing how much money had been spent, Yu Li said with some distress: "We can't spend money like this anymore. We spent nearly 300 yuan on this trip. This is too much of a waste."

Li Pingan smiled and said, "Don't worry, your husband is rich. You will be in charge of the money at home from now on, right?"

They called a tricycle, loaded the sewing machine, and went home.

When they got home, Yu Li couldn't wait to try out the sewing machine, while Yu Haitang asked Li Ping'an to turn on the radio.

Li Pingan spent a long time debugging before he found a channel that was still full of opera. Yu Haitang stopped listening after a while. He ran inside to change into his bra and went to show off to He Yushui.

Li Pingan saw Yu Li using the sewing machine to make curtains skillfully, but he did not disturb her. He rode his bike to the supply and marketing cooperative outside to buy some seasonings and kitchen utensils. On the way back, he took out a piece of beef, a fish, a piece of pork and some vegetables and walked back.

I went to the kitchen and put everything in order. I also added a lot of rice to the rice jar.

Seeing Yu Li still making curtains in the house, Li Ping'an had nothing to do, so he started to tidy up his own vegetable garden. He broke up the soil inside, and spread a layer of fertile soil from the space on top. He watered it once, and after dinner, he could plant vegetables.

At noon, Yu Li cooked beef stew and braised pork. She also cooked boiled fish and a vegetable according to Li Ping'an's instructions. Yu Haitang's mouth was full of oil. She was more determined to live in Li Ping'an's house.

In the afternoon, after Yu Li finished making the curtains, she took Yu Haitang home early. Li Ping'an was going to her house in the evening, so they had to go back to make preparations.

At around five o'clock, Li Ping'an brought a chicken, a wild rabbit, three pounds of meat and some fruits. He also brought two bottles of wine and a pack of cigarettes for Yu Linhai. This was considered a generous gift.

When they arrived at the subdistrict office, Director Wang was also waiting for him, and the two of them rode their bikes to Yu Li's home.

Arriving at Yu Li's house, everyone in her family was at home tonight. I also met Yu Li's younger brother, Yu Xiaohu, a seven-year-old kid. He was chubby and was very affectionate to Li Ping'an. After all, he brought so much meat to his family.

Yu Linhai warmly received Director Wang and Li Pingan.

Yu's mother also looked very satisfied with Li Ping'an. She was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling after taking Li Ping'an's things.

The two families had a meal together and decided on their marriage. Since Li Ping'an was not old enough to get married, they decided to bring the matchmaker to set a date after the Chinese New Year.

Moreover, the betrothal gift is just a symbolic amount of ten yuan, and Yu Linhai will also make a dressing table as a dowry.

The discussion went smoothly, and Li Pingan and his friends left Yu Li's house early.

After returning home, Li Ping'an sighed that he was finally going to get married, and felt that time was passing so slowly.