Courtyard House: He Yuzhu started in 1948

The Spring Festival holiday is seven days long, starting on the first day of the fourth lunar month.

With no students at the school, He Daqing left the household affairs to He Yuzhu and went to the suburbs to buy supplies.

Once he brings the supplies from Tianjin, Haidian, Shunyi, and Daxing, he can sell them to the school at 90% of the market price, thus earning some hard-earned money.

When spring arrives and flowers bloom, the market becomes more crowded, and Tian Zao and her mobile stall's business improves considerably.

To facilitate mobile vendors' operations, He Yuzhu designed a human-powered tricycle that could be ridden backwards, drawing on his childhood memories from later generations.

Commonly known as: riding a donkey backwards.

This mode of transportation was prevalent in Northeast China and northern regions such as Shandong and Henan during the 1970s and 80s, but it disappeared afterward.

Actually, this thing isn't difficult. It's based on a bicycle, with the rack that used to hang at the back moved to the front and the rider sitting backwards at the back. It's just that compared to a normal bicycle, it looks like you're sitting backwards.

He Yuzhu can talk about designing, but he doesn't actually do it.

Yi Zhonghai was a professional and quickly put into practice what He Yuzhu had asked for, using a second-hand bicycle as a makeshift solution. Yi Zhonghai learned that this bicycle was made to make it easier for Tian Zao to do business, so he even found some scraps from the steel mill to reinforce the bicycle. Although the bicycle wasn't very good-looking, it was sturdy.

Yesterday, He Daqing bought mutton offal and mutton bones, and He Yuzhu cooked a pot of soup, then added vermicelli and chopped mutton offal. This is the local specialty dish that became known as "jar soup" in later generations.

It's not expensive, cheaper than braised pork.

Pair it with coarse-grain steamed buns or dumplings, and add a spoonful of free freshly pressed chili oil—it's simply divine!

A bowl of braised soup used to cost 20 copper coins, but now you can get a bowl of hot soup and two big steamed buns for 20 copper coins.

When Tian Zao and the others came to pick up the goods, He Yuzhu and Dayong poured the cooked soup into a thermos.

A thermos is simply a wooden bucket with a lid. The outside of the bucket is wrapped with several layers of cloth, and the outer layer is tied tightly with rattan, thus forming a simple thermos.

According to He Yuzhu, adding another layer of stainless steel would be more suitable, but he thought it was unnecessary because business was good and the products sold out before they could cool down.

Once he's done with his work, He Yuzhu will be free.

He Yushui has an older woman to help take care of her, as well as coal and dumplings to help out. He Yuzhu is a homebody and doesn't like to go out.

In 2025, He Yuzhu did backbreaking work. He was born in the 90s and came from a remote county. To earn a living, he worked part-time during college. When Meituan's ground promotion team appeared, he joined because of the high performance-based pay. He could have easily made a living with the benefits, but unfortunately, he had a falling out with the station owner.

Later on, he did all sorts of things. When the construction industry was booming, he spent his summer and winter vacations on construction sites. When the real estate industry was booming, he worked as a real estate salesman. He dressed smartly every day, but no rich woman could see through his strong facade.

Because he was too tired from work, He Yuzhu liked to stay at home during his rest time. He opened a self-media account on Toutiao and tried to gain popularity by writing popular science articles that attracted traffic, such as about chips. Later, when online novels became popular, he started writing fan fiction. He did whatever made money.

Even after traveling back to Beiping in 48, he didn't intend to experience the scenery of Beiping at that time.

Everyone says that old Beiping has a very rich historical atmosphere.

What historical significance does it have?

In this chaotic world, thugs and ruffians run rampant, and scoundrels and deserters wreak havoc. He Yuzhu has to carry a foot-long white waxwood stick in his pants to protect himself whenever he goes out.

But it wasn't very useful. It could only deal with small-time thugs like Xu Damao. The bigger thugs all had knives or axes, so his wooden stick wasn't very effective.

The alleys outside were also unclean, with sewage flowing everywhere and a terrible stench.

Once the army enters the city, Beiping will remain unchanged, so it's not impossible to visit it then.

It's just a matter of waiting another year.

For now, let's keep a low profile and develop quietly.

The courtyard was relatively clean, allowing He Yuzhu to enjoy some peace and quiet. He took out a primary school Chinese textbook he had found in the Fifth Middle School library and began to read it.

Autumn fields

Autumn winds rise, the weather turns cool.

Autumn clouds drift lightly as geese fly in formation.

Cotton fields are white, rice fields are yellow.

Farmers are busy coming and going in every household.

Red Leaf Village, Luhua Port.

The sounds of insects can be heard everywhere.

I must say, it rhymes quite well.

He Yuzhu was reading a book. When Jiaozi and Meihe saw him reading, they came over. Although they didn't recognize the words in the book, their eyes were full of longing.

"Coal nuggets, dumplings, do you want to learn to read?"

He Yuzhu became interested. Looking at the two children who were eager for knowledge, He Yuzhu said to them, "I can teach you."

"Really?"

Mei He and Jiaozi stared at He Yuzhu with wide eyes, both saying in unison.

"Of course it's true. When has Brother Zhu ever lied?"

He Yuzhu was naturally willing to teach. "How about you learn your own names first? You need to be able to not only read them, but also write them!"

"Thank you, Brother Zhu!"

The coal core loudly expressed its gratitude, and the dumplings echoed its thanks from the side.

They had no paper or pen, so they broke off a few tree branches, about 20 centimeters long, dug up the soil on the ground, and tamped it down with their feet, thus softening the hardened ground.

He Yuzhu can write his own name; he taught coal cores first.

Because He Yuzhu instinctively preferred simplified Chinese characters, and had to find traditional characters in books, he found the name "Meihe" and taught it to Meihe stroke by stroke.

Because there was no pinyin, he broke down the name of the coal core into dots, strokes, vertical strokes, horizontal strokes, and so on, and then put them back together to form the name of the coal core.

The coal core practiced stroke by stroke alongside the dumplings, just as the dumplings themselves did.

When Wang Xiulan, who was holding He Yushui, heard that He Yuzhu was going to teach people to read, she came over to watch. He Yushui in her arms did not cry or make a fuss, but blinked as she watched He Yuzhu teach the two children to write.

Wang Xiulan felt that He Yuzhu was becoming more and more successful. Not only did he get a job as the manager in the school's kitchen, but he also helped those around him to become successful.

He has the ability and is willing to help others... What a good child, such a good child!

"Rain, look at your brother's handwriting, it's so beautiful! When you grow up, how about your brother teaches you to read too?"

He Yushui didn't understand the importance of studying and kept babbling incomprehensible words.

He Yuzhu looked at Wang Xiulan and said with a smile, "Auntie, would you like to write your name?"

"I will, I will."

Wang Xiulan waved her hand, indicating that she could write it.

Yi Zhonghai was a fitter at the steel mill. In those days, being a fitter was a highly skilled job. He not only had to be able to read blueprints, but also had to be able to do calculations on his own.

During the Republic of China era, there were also professional qualification certifications and their own grade classifications. However, compared to the period after the arrival of the New World, the classification and promotion of professional grades were more stringent. The grade classification for fitters started in Northeast China in 50 and was extended to the whole country in 56.

In the TV series, Yi Zhonghai was rated as an eighth-grade fitter. This was in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, it was very rare for someone to be rated as an eighth-grade fitter in the 1960s. He must have been rated as an eighth-grade fitter sometime between 1956 and 1962.

Level 8 fitter, the ceiling of human capabilities.

Handcrafting aircraft carriers, mobile work machines... they can probably do everything you can't imagine.

Regardless, Yi Zhonghai is a senior skilled worker, someone who has likely studied at a school or under a renowned teacher, so it's reasonable that he could teach Wang Xiulan to write.

Logically speaking, a highly qualified person like him shouldn't live in this crowded tenement, and Lou Bancheng wouldn't treat his senior workers like this.

It must have been Yi Zhonghai's own request, right?

Thinking of Yi Zhonghai's worry about finding someone to take care of him in his old age... He Yuzhu felt relieved.