The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Yang Dalin asked Aunt Yulan to leave the door open for him, and soon he arrived at the main house in the middle courtyard.

He knocked gently on the door: "Brother Zhu, I'm here!"

"Sigh, you don't need to knock, just come in."

Yang Dalin pushed the door open and entered: "How can you not knock? Isn't that impolite?"

"What if Brother Zhu has a sister-in-law? Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to come in without knocking?"

Sha Zhu quickly gestured for Yang Dalin to sit down and poured him a glass of water: "Your sister-in-law is still in her mother's womb. Sigh, why aren't you speaking your Lu dialect now?"

"Hey, Brother Zhu, my Mandarin is so bad sometimes, I'm still learning as I go."

"That's true, you'll get used to it gradually."

Mandarin was promoted starting in 56, with the local dialect of Beijing as the main language. However, at that time, many cadres still spoke with a strong local accent. Shandong Province even had a foreign minister who spoke with a local accent.

Yang Dalin glanced at Sha Zhu's room. The living room was right inside the door, and there was a double bed on the north side of the living room.

There was a stove right behind the south gate, and next to the stove was a long table with some cooking utensils on it.

There was a tall table against the east wall, with various daily necessities on it, and of course, the mirror he often used for grooming was placed on it.

There's another door on the left side of the living room, presumably to partition off an inner room, but that door is closed.

The east wing wasn't directly connected to the main room. It's better that the room is small, as it helps to keep it warm. Otherwise, if all three main rooms were connected, it might get cold in winter.

Apart from a few changes of clothes on a bed and the blankets not being made, the room was quite clean.

Even Sha Zhu's thin cotton-padded jacket was clean and tidy, unlike the sloppy clothes described in other fanfictions.

It's normal to smell a bit of smoke on your clothes.

He wears an apron and sleeves when he cooks.

It's true that you might smell a little oily, but to say that someone is so thoroughly tainted by the smell of scallions that they don't know how to clean themselves is nonsense.

He's making food that's meant to be eaten; if he were truly slovenly, do you think any leader would eat his cooking?

Calling him stupid is a stretch; he's just foul-mouthed, reckless, and stubborn.

However, some professions require a single-minded person to do well, such as the egg fried rice played by Huang Guifu.

If he weren't a bit dim-witted, he might not have done it well.

Sha Zhu probably thinks so too.

Xu Damao said he was stupid and couldn't cook.

That big boss isn't stupid. He's eaten and seen it all. If he really couldn't do it well, why would he keep having Sha Zhu cook for him? Later, when he gave him the phonograph, he said that he would cook twice a week in exchange for the phonograph.

"How's it going, little brother? How's my house?"

"Not bad, quite spacious. Brother Zhu's house is nice."

"That's right, it's a family heirloom. Shall we brothers have a drink?"

Yang Dalin quickly waved his hand: "Brother, I'm only sixteen, too young to drink. If you want to drink, you can have some yourself. You can smoke, I'll light one for you!"

Yang Dalin lit the remaining Daqianmen cigarettes from the afternoon.

"You're something else, kid, smoking Daqianmen cigarettes?"

"No, I don't smoke. My aunt gave me this to carry around when I go out to find work. Offering her a cigarette makes things easier!"

"You'll get it too."

Yang Dalin wasn't there to curry favor with Sha Zhu; he just wanted to ask him for a small favor.

He's the only one in the whole courtyard who's easy to fool and seems the most enthusiastic; if you don't go looking for him, who else would you go looking for?

Sha Zhu took a bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) and a dish of peanuts from the west room next door.

They insisted that Yang Dalin have a drink with them, but Yang Dalin said, "Brother Zhu, I'm young and have never drunk alcohol before. I really can't drink. Besides, I came empty-handed today, which is embarrassing. If you really want to drink, let's wait until I've made some money. I'll bring the alcohol, you cook, and we can have a drink, okay?"

Yang Dalin had a bad habit in his past life: he would avoid getting involved in drinking parties with people he didn't know well, because there was nothing to talk about, and besides, he didn't know what kind of person they were when they drank; whether they drank too much or not was pointless.

Sha Zhu is the main character in the TV series, and I don't intend to fawn over him; I just want him to do me a small favor.

Besides, these are all living, breathing people. We'll run into each other all the time, so as long as we're polite to each other, that's fine. We don't have any life-or-death feuds.

However, I could try Sha Zhu's cooking another day, since I've never eaten anything by a particularly amazing chef in my past life.

Seeing that Yang Dalin really wouldn't drink, Sha Zhu poured himself a cup and slowly drank it with peanuts.

Yang Dalin gave the remaining half pack of cigarettes to Sha Zhu: "Brother Zhu, I'm sorry, I really don't have much money. I'll make up the difference later. I'm asking you for a small favor."

Sha Zhu isn't that cunning. If he likes you, he'll do whatever you want with you. But if he doesn't, then it's a different story.

"Alright, brother, tell me what you think is best. I'll definitely help if I can."

Look at what this sounds like, it's not something a fool would say. It means if you can't help, then don't help.

Yang Dalin took out a drawing of a knuckle duster that he had made at home using Qi Xiaoning's homework paper.

He handed it to Sha Zhu: "Brother Zhu, I've been doing odd jobs outside with the gatekeeper, Uncle Qi. You know how unsafe it's been lately. I'd like to ask you to help me find someone at the steel rolling mill to deliver two of these for self-defense."

Sha Zhu held the paper in both hands, glanced at it, and said, "Brother, I think I've seen this thing before. The spikes at the front are so short?"

"Brother Zhu, we might have had these in ancient times, but their thorns are very long. I'm asking for something to protect myself, something easy to carry, something that can protect me."

"This isn't difficult, is it? Just don't cause any trouble on the street, or Aunt Yulan will worry."

"Hey, Brother Zhu, do you think I'm the kind of person who likes to cause trouble? To tell you the truth, I've seen a lot of people robbing others because they were starving while I was fleeing the famine. Really, you've probably heard about it on the streets, there must be some. I just use it for self-defense, to protect my own safety."

During his escape, Yang Dalin did not witness cannibalism firsthand, but he certainly saw many people robbing food and valuables.

"Yeah, I've heard about some of those things too. Don't go looking for trouble. I'll have someone ask you about it tomorrow. This thing shouldn't cost much."

Yang Dalin took out two yuan and handed it to Sha Zhu: "Brother Zhu, I don't know if this money is enough. You can take it first, and I'll make up the difference later if it's not enough. Thank you for your help."

Sha Zhu looked at Yang Dalin with satisfaction and waved his hand: "No need. I'll find a worker in the factory. He can finish it in no time with some scrap materials. It won't cost any money."

"That won't do. We can't let Brother Zhu do us a favor and waste his time. If he really doesn't want to take money, he can use the money to buy two packs of cigarettes. You can give one pack to the foreman and the other to him. It's best to pay for the materials as owed. Don't take advantage of the factory and cause gossip."

"Haha, alright, you know how to handle things. But it won't cost two dollars, one dollar is enough. If it's not enough, we'll make up the difference, okay?"

"Okay, let's do as Brother Zhu says."

Sha Zhu left one yuan, and Yang Dalin took the other yuan back.

The two chatted for a while longer, and Yang Dalin left without even taking the half-pack of cigarettes on the table.

Seeing the half-pack of cigarettes and the one-yuan coin on the table, Sha Zhu muttered to himself with satisfaction, "They're quite particular."

Meanwhile, in the east wing of the central courtyard, a highly respected old man was having trouble sleeping.