Courtyard House: He Yuzhu started in 1948

He Daqing looked at He Yuzhu and thought to himself, "This kid must have really lost his mind."

So you'd give up earning money just to study?

If we don't earn money, how will our family of three survive?

"Dad, what's the rush? Let me finish speaking, okay?"

He Yuzhu stopped He Daqing, who was about to get angry, and said to him, "Dad, I found a few people, about my age, to help us sell steamed buns and take care of the rain. I think they are reliable. The leader is Tian Zao from Suoyi Hutong."

"Tianzao?"

He Daqing hesitated for a moment, then remained silent.

It's obvious that he knows Tian Zao.

But he also raised a crucial question: "What about money? Kid, that girl Tian Zao has more than ten mouths to feed. We can't support them all by just selling steamed buns. What if we can't feed them and our family goes into a famine?"

coming.

He Yuzhu hesitated and said, "Dad, the world is getting more and more chaotic. The rich don't eat the steamed buns we sell, and the common people eat steamed buns but can't afford white flour ones. Do you think we could make the steamed buns with mixed grain flour, a mixture of white flour, sorghum flour, and corn flour, and render the fatty meat into cracklings and put lard in the filling? What do you think of making them like this?"

He Daqing has a strong commitment to his craft, and the place where he cooks is too prestigious. He doesn't know much about what ordinary people eat, and as a cook, he doesn't lack food at home. He might not agree to He Yuzhu's suggestion.

"Once the lard cools down, the steamed buns don't taste good."

When He Daqing started talking, he was concerned about his cooking skills. He worried that people would criticize him if they ate the steamed buns he made.

Is this all the steamed buns made by the chef at Fengzeyuan are?

He glanced at He Yuzhu and found him staring at him. He put the wine cup on the table and stared at He Yuzhu: "What are you thinking? Are you really stupid? You can't even take care of your own family, and you're thinking about taking care of others? And why do you have to study? If you become a cook, as long as you have the skills, you'll never go hungry in your life."

"We won't starve, but we can't let people keep chasing after us calling us 'Silly Zhu'."

He Yuzhu didn't reveal his ultimate intention in making this choice, but instead offered the reason that He Daqing would find most acceptable: "Dad, some people are ungrateful; helping them will only harm you. But some people are loyal and righteous; if you help them once, they will remember your kindness for a lifetime. Wealth can be scattered, but people can be gathered together! These days, people are more important than money."

He Yuzhu helped the ungrateful bastard in Courtyard No. 95, but in the end, he got nothing in return.

The situation was different with Tian Zao. He Yuzhu had inquired about Tian Zao's past that afternoon. They shared both good times and bad. More and more people gathered around, but none of them left. The neighbors took good care of Tian Zao, and Tian Zao also helped the neighbors a lot.

That's enough!

Helping Tian Zao and her brothers is better than helping the people in No. 95 Courtyard!

Wealth disperses, people gather; people are more important than money.

He Daqing thought He Yuzhu's words made sense, but he was also unwilling to waste his skills: "How about this, we'll steam buns made with mixed grain flour, and we'll also steam buns made with white flour... We'll steam more mixed grain flour ones."

"OK."

He Yuzhu was surprised that He Daqing agreed so readily. His attitude was the biggest obstacle to He Yuzhu's plan. Now that the obstacle was gone, the plan could continue.

He Daqing tapped the table and said to He Yuzhu, "You've said so much, but I only have one thing to say: life is important. If we lose our lives, our family line will end."

These are the words He Daqing said to He Yuzhu this morning, and now he's emphasizing them again.

He Yuzhu nodded vigorously: "Yes, I've got it."

People these days don't really value money that much. He Yuzhu values ​​money a lot, but he knows that he doesn't need that much money now; people are more important.

……

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, He Yuzhu got up to empty the chamber pot. On his way back, he ran into an old acquaintance.

That old acquaintance is so annoying!

"Hey, you silly Zhu!"

Thirteen-year-old Xu Damao, three months younger than He Yuzhu, already had a face that looked like it deserved a beating at his young age. He shook his head and looked at He Yuzhu, saying, "I just came back from my hometown and heard that your dad calls you 'Silly Zhu'? 'Silly Zhu' sounds better than your name, hahaha, you big idiot!"

He's as annoying as ever!

Instead of putting the chamber pot on his head, He Yuzhu put it down and lunged at Xu Damao.

Xu Damao's biological father, Xu Wude, was a projectionist at the Daguanlou Cinema on Qianmen Street. Later, the Daguanlou Cinema was acquired by Lou Bancheng, and Xu Wude moved into the courtyard house.

Logically speaking, film projectionists are highly skilled workers, and Xu Wude should have saved a lot of money. However, Xu Wude did not. He considered himself to be of noble status and his consumption of food and drink was extravagant. Even the primary school that Xu Damao attended was a church school. In addition, with his frequent eating and drinking, his family not only failed to save money, but also incurred a lot of debt. However, Xu Wude did not care about the debt at all and continued to live a carefree life.

Xu Damao graduated from elementary school last year and didn't want to continue his studies. He considered himself an adult and wanted to become an apprentice at a movie theater so he could earn a salary and go out and have fun as soon as possible. However, after working as an apprentice for half a year, he couldn't take it anymore and started clamoring to go back to school. It was said that Xu Wude had asked Lou Bancheng to arrange for Xu Damao to attend Shuntian Middle School.

As for No. 5 Middle School, it was not even within Xu Wude's consideration. It was just a commoner's school, how could it compare to Shuntang?

Xu Damao's future bad habits were largely influenced by Xu Wude.

He Yuzhu had no intention of changing Xu Damao's bad habits. Although he didn't dislike Xu Damao, it didn't mean he was willing to have more contact with him.

But they still have to be beaten.

Xu Damao is the same. He can't beat He Yuzhu at all, but he's always being sarcastic and provocative. He gets beaten in the morning but forgets about it in the afternoon. He's like a punching bag, and He Yuzhu has to beat him up every time it's time.

"Brother... Brother Zhu, I was wrong, so wrong... Let go... My arm is going to break!"

Xu Damao kept wailing and begging for mercy, but He Yuzhu ignored him and beat him mercilessly, targeting the fleshiest parts of his body until he was drenched in sweat. "You bastard, if you call me 'Silly Zhu' again, I'll beat you every time I hear you!"

Xu Damao loosened up, stretched his muscles and bones, and did some exercise early in the morning...

Comfortable!

雅！

Xu Damao struggled to get up from the ground. Looking at his soiled clothes, he felt terrible. These were the new clothes that his grandmother had just made.

Turning to look at the culprit, Xu Damao was only left with stubbornness: "Idiot Zhu! I think you're a complete idiot!"

He Yuzhu pretended to chase after him, but Xu Damao took off running. After Xu Damao ran out of the alley, He Yuzhu took the chamber pot and went home.

Back home, He Daqing was already rendering pork cracklings. He rinsed a large pot of meat with water, then washed it with warm water, poured it into the pot, and started rendering it. Once the water evaporated, the pot made a crackling sound, and soon the aroma of lard began to waft out.

Jia Zhangshi, who lived across from the central courtyard, also woke up. Smelling the aroma of oil, she came over and said, "Oh my, Brother Daqing is truly a master chef. This oil is so fragrant. I'm so lucky to live in the same courtyard as you."

This is clearly an attempt to take advantage.

But was He Daqing so easy to get along with? As soon as Jia Zhangshi leaned closer, he knew what she was up to, and chuckled as he said, "It smells so good, isn't that a blessing? You don't even need to add oil when cooking, just the aroma is enough."

Does lard smell good?

Fragrant!

I won't give it to you!

Jia Zhangshi: ...