Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The Jia family in the middle courtyard.

As soon as Bang Geng walked in, he asked Qin Huairu with expectation on his face: "Mom..."

"I just heard someone say Xu Damao is back and has made a fortune out there. The woolen coat he's wearing alone is worth seventy or eighty yuan. Is this true?"

Qin Huairu was angry with Xu Damao.

After spending more than an hour busying around Xu Damao's house, he didn't get any benefit and didn't even find out what Xu Damao was doing outside.

Qin Huairu had been married into a courtyard house for several decades and had never suffered such a big loss.

When he heard his son asking about Xu Damao's situation, he replied with an unhappy expression: "How should I know? Why don't you ask someone else?"

Banggeng then turned his gaze to Kuihua and asked in a low voice: "Kuihua?"

"Mom, what's wrong with you? Why do you look like you've taken gunpowder?"

Seeing that Qin Huairu was busy cooking and not paying attention to her, Kuihua replied in a low voice: "I heard from Father Yi that Mom suffered a great loss at the hands of Xu Damao today."

"I originally wanted to find Xu Damao to find out how he made his fortune and what he does outside. In the end, I helped Xu Damao tidy up the house for more than an hour, but I didn't get any useful information."

Bang Geng felt relieved after hearing this, and his whole face became full of anticipation. He looked at Kui Hua with shining eyes and asked, "So, Xu Damao really made a fortune out there..."

Kuihua answered without thinking, "I don't know whether he got rich or not, but the clothes he wore today are indeed very valuable."

"Just a woolen coat and a pair of leather shoes cost more than a hundred yuan..."

"He also pushed a brand new bicycle..."

Hearing this, Bang Geng became more certain of what he had heard and made a direct judgment: "If Xu Damao had not made a fortune outside, he would definitely not be able to afford such expensive clothes and shoes..."

"Kuihua, can you find out what Xu Damao is doing outside to make his fortune..."

"Although my salary outside is twice as high as that of an apprentice in a steel mill, it is still far from enough to marry a wife."

"If I can get Xu Damao to take me out to make a fortune, maybe I can get married next year."

"I will find you a wealthy husband by then, so you can live a good life in the future."

Banggeng thought that the promise he made to Kuihua was very good, but it seemed to be of no use because Kuihua did not respond to him immediately.

Instead, he shook his head and answered with embarrassment: "Brother..."

"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that Xu Damao is too tight-lipped."

"Today, many people wanted to find out what Xu Damao was doing outside, but in the end they didn't get any information. They only knew that Xu Damao made a fortune outside."

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai on the side suddenly said: "Great..."

"I advise you..."

"No matter how Xu Damao made his fortune, you shouldn't get too close to him."

"This person has evil intentions and likes to do crooked things. No one knows whether the money he earns is clean or not."

"If he's not clean, and you follow him out there to make money, you might end up getting yourself in jail."

If Yi Zhonghai had said this a few years ago, people might have listened to it.

At that time, Yi Zhonghai was an eighth-level fitter in a steel rolling mill. He was knowledgeable and must have known a lot of things that Bang Geng didn't know. Bang Geng subconsciously thought that what Yi Zhonghai said was right.

It's different now.

Yi Zhonghai became an unemployed old man a few years ago. Although he had a lot of savings, he was not working after all, so he didn't know how much the outside world had changed.

In Banggeng's eyes: the current situation in Beijing can be completely described by the four words "money rules the roost". As long as you have money, you can do anything. As for where the money comes from, it doesn't matter.

Anyway, if you have money, you are the boss, you can do whatever you want, and others will fawn on you like the stars surround the moon. In this case, Banggeng thinks that Yi Zhonghai's reminder will not only not bring him any help, but may also delay his fortune.

He replied with a disdainful expression: "Dad Yi..."

"That was the former Xu Damao..."

"They are making a lot of money now, which means they are capable..."

"To put it bluntly, if I ask people to help me make money now, they may not be willing to do so."

"It's not that other people are begging me to make money with him, so don't spread these words."

"You and Xu Damao's relationship was never good."

"Now he's my stepfather. If Xu Damao knew that you were cursing at him behind his back, he would not even bother to talk to me when he wanted to make money with me."

"When the time comes, I won't be able to make big money with Xu Damao, so I'll have to rely on you."

Seeing that Bang Geng completely ignored his reminders and even thought that he was stopping him from making a fortune and blocking his path to wealth, Yi Zhonghai was not the kind of person who didn't know what was good for him, so he decisively chose to shut up.

As a stepfather, I have given the necessary reminders and I have fulfilled my responsibilities.

If something really happens between Banggeng and Xu Damao in the future, it will have nothing to do with him.

…………

The front yard is Yan Fugui’s home.

As soon as he returned to his room after dinner, Yan Fugui took out all his family assets and began to calculate how much money the old couple had saved over the years.

A worried expression immediately flashed across the wife's face: "Old man..."

"You don't really plan to go out and make a lot of money with Xu Damao, do you?"

"We don't even know what Xu Damao is doing outside. Isn't this too risky?"

Yan Fugui rolled his eyes at his wife and replied, "What do you know about yourself..."

"As the old saying goes, time waits for no one..."

"Perhaps my chance to make a fortune lies with Xu Damao. If I miss it, I will never get such a good opportunity to make a fortune again..."

The wife always felt that Xu Damao was unreliable, so she reminded him again: "Old man..."

"I think you are too impulsive..."

"Even if we don't go out to earn money with Xu Damao, we will have enough money to spend with these savings and your future pension..."

Seeing that his wife was still trying to persuade him, Yan Fugui immediately stopped her in an impatient tone: "Shut up..."

"The money we have saved over the years is indeed more than 4,000 yuan. My pension plus the pension money given to us by my eldest and second eldest brothers is less than 50 yuan per month... It seems like a lot, but don't you see that the prices in Beijing are getting higher and higher?"

"Two years ago, a person only needed five or six yuan a month for living expenses, but now even ten yuan a month is not enough."

"It's equivalent to doubling in two years."

"If it doubles, the living expenses for the two of us will be forty dollars a month."

“And this is still several years later.”

"In another ten years, maybe the one hundred yuan a month for the two of us won't even be enough for food."

"If I don't want to find a way to make money, why would I ask a few unfilial sons for money?"

"I don't want to be a beggar and be looked down upon by them." (End of this chapter)