60s: I have a store

Chapter 649 Delivering Candy Late at Night
Master Gu worked at Li Chongguang's house until evening, finally finishing the last kitchen tile. After packing up his tools, he didn't even have time for dinner before rushing to Zhou Yimin's courtyard house with his toolbox on his back.

He had a plan in mind. These days, it's hard to find renovation work. Zhou Yimin wanted to combine the two side rooms, and since Zhou Yimin was known for his high standards, he used only the best materials.

This is a big job, and if we arrive late and another craftsman gets there first, we'll lose a lot of money.

When we arrived at Zhou Yimin's house, it was just getting dark, and the door was locked, so Zhou Yimin obviously hadn't gotten off work yet.

Master Gu wasn't in a hurry. He put his toolbox against the wall, sat down against the door frame, took out his pipe and started smoking. Every now and then he would look up at the alley entrance, afraid of missing Zhou Yimin's return.

He waited while smoking his pipe, knowing that as long as he could secure this order, he wouldn't have to worry about not having work for a while.

In this era where people can't even get enough to eat, who has the money to renovate a house? So the workload has suddenly decreased a lot.

This resulted in a significant decrease in income, and with the price of food constantly rising, the children in the family often went hungry.

After waiting for about half an hour, the "buzzing" sound of a motorcycle came from the alley entrance. Master Gu quickly stubbed out his pipe, stood up, and patted the dust off his clothes.

Zhou Yimin parked his motorcycle and saw Master Gu standing at the door. He was a little surprised and quickly said with a smile, "Master Gu, what brings you here? Why didn't you wait until you finished eating before coming over? You've been waiting here for so long."

Master Gu scratched the back of his head, a simple and honest smile on his face. He said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's nothing, it's nothing. I just finished the work at Section Chief Li's house and was thinking of coming over to coordinate with you as soon as possible so you wouldn't have to worry."

He was too embarrassed to say that he was afraid of losing his job to someone else, so he just gave a polite excuse.

When Zhou Yimin saw Master Gu carrying his toolbox and looking travel-worn, he immediately understood—he must be in such a hurry because he was afraid of losing his job.

He smiled and stepped aside, saying, "Master Gu, come in first! It's windy outside, let's talk inside."

As he spoke, he took out his key, opened the courtyard gate, and let Master Gu in.

He took out another key from the house; this was the key to Grandpa Li's house before. Since the renovation wasn't finished, there was no need to bring an extra key: "Master Gu, please come with me to take a look at the house next door. Let's get a general idea of ​​the direction first."

Zhou Yimin opened the door and turned on the light in the room, illuminating the empty space: "Master Gu, I don't have many complicated requirements for the renovation, just two things—first, demolish the courtyard wall between these two rooms and open it up into one large wing room. After the courtyard wall is demolished, the edges should be built flat to prevent bumps and knocks in the future."

"Secondly, the interior decoration should be done the same as the room I'm currently living in. The walls should be repainted white, the floor should be paved with new blue bricks, and the doors and windows should be replaced with sturdier wood. I already have a kitchen and bathroom there, so there's no need to do that here."

Master Gu followed Zhou Yimin, holding a small notebook in his hand, occasionally drawing a few strokes in it with a pencil, while muttering to himself: "It's just tearing down a wall, finding an apprentice will be enough."

While it's true that more people mean more power, having more people means paying more wages, resulting in less money actually being taken home.

Seeing that Master Gu was listening attentively, Zhou Yimin said, "Master Gu, please take your time here and think it over carefully. I'll go back and get you a glass of water and take care of some things at home. If you have any questions, we can discuss them in detail later."

"Okay!" Master Gu nodded quickly, his eyes still fixed on the walls and floor. Before Zhou Yimin could leave, he took out a measuring tape from his toolbox and began measuring the room's dimensions.

First, he measured the width of the wall, then the length of the floor, muttering to himself, "The room's width is..."

The notebook was quickly filled with numbers, and he had even calculated the approximate material costs. His smile became more and more reassured.

Not only is the job secure, but the profit is also substantial, so the trip was definitely worthwhile.

Zhou Yimin returned to his room and poured himself a cup of hot water when he remembered that Master Gu had come directly from Li Chongguang's house that evening without even having dinner.

He glanced at the kitchen and thought to himself: Master Gu has gone to great lengths to make the trip, so we can't let him talk business on an empty stomach. Why not cook a meal so we can eat and discuss the renovation costs at the same time? It would make things more lively.

He rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen, scooped out two bowls of rice from the rice container, rinsed them clean, and put them into the pot to simmer.

Then he took out a piece of pork belly from the shopping basket, which he had just bought from the store.

Zhou Yimin cut the pork belly into cubes, put them in a pot to blanch and remove the blood foam, then took them out and drained them. He then heated oil in a wok and sautéed ginger slices and scallion segments until fragrant.

Add the pork belly and stir-fry until the surface is slightly yellow. Add soy sauce and cooking wine to taste, then add hot water, cover the pot and simmer slowly. Soon, a rich aroma of meat will fill the kitchen.

Next, he took out a bunch of fresh greens from the cellar in the corner, washed them, chopped them into sections, cracked four eggs, and stirred them together for later use.

When the rice was almost cooked, he first heated the pan and stir-fried the greens. The oil sizzled, and he sprinkled some salt to season it. A plate of bright green stir-fried greens was soon ready.

Then he poured the egg mixture into the pan and stir-fried it into golden-brown scrambled eggs, which smelled delicious.

Just as Zhou Yimin was putting the last plate of scrambled eggs on the table, footsteps came from the courtyard gate. Master Gu walked in carrying his toolbox and clutching the small notebook filled with numbers in his hand. He smiled and said, "Yimin, I've finished measuring. I've even roughly calculated the materials and labor costs!"

He looked up and saw the food on the table, and his eyes lit up immediately.

The braised pork belly was glossy and reddish-brown, still steaming hot; the stir-fried vegetables were emerald green and tender; the scrambled eggs were golden and fluffy; and there were two bowls of steaming rice on the side.

Master Gu originally wanted to say "No need to trouble yourself," but when he looked at the delicious aroma filling the table, he couldn't bring himself to say it. He just scratched his head and stood there somewhat embarrassed.

Zhou Yimin smiled and handed him the chopsticks: "Master Gu, don't stand, sit down! I see you came straight from Section Chief Li's house, so you must not have eaten. I haven't eaten either, so let's eat and chat, and I can hear your calculations of the expenses."

Chef Gu took the chopsticks, sat down at the table, and couldn't help but glance at the braised pork.

These days, meat is precious, and we can only eat it a few times during the Chinese New Year. I didn't expect Zhou Yimin to be so hospitable and cook such a sumptuous meal.

He swallowed hard and said in a low voice, "Yimin, you've gone to so much trouble. This meal is too lavish; it's even better than what I ate during the Chinese New Year."

"Don't mention it, it's just a simple meal." Zhou Yimin served Master Gu a bowl of rice and then put a piece of braised pork into his bowl.

"Try it and see if it suits your taste."

Master Gu took a bite of the braised pork. It was fatty but not greasy, with a rich, savory sauce. He squinted his eyes in delight and nodded repeatedly, "Delicious! So delicious! Yimin, your skills are even better than the chefs in restaurants!"

As he ate, he opened his notebook, pointed to the numbers on it, and said, "Let me calculate for you, demolishing the courtyard wall and rebuilding the perimeter will cost twenty yuan."

"Painting the walls white and laying blue bricks on the floor will cost about fifty yuan for materials and labor. Replacing the doors and windows with pine wood will cost thirty yuan. Adding in all sorts of other materials, the total cost will be about one hundred and twenty yuan."

After speaking, he looked at Zhou Yimin nervously, afraid that his price was too high and that he would not be able to take the job.

Master Gu only earns a little extra for his hard work; these building materials are basically priced slightly higher than cost.

As Zhou Yimin listened, he considered the price in his mind. It was lower than he had expected, which was very reasonable.

He picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, smiling as he said, "Master Gu, your price is very fair, I'll do it your way."

Seeing Zhou Yimin's straightforwardness, Master Gu was even happier. He picked up another piece of egg and put it in his mouth: "Don't worry! I'll definitely pick the best ingredients for you, and I'll ensure the work is meticulous. I won't let you down!"

"Yimin, could I ask for grain instead of money, like Section Chief Li did? Is that possible?"

Zhou Yimin nodded: "No problem. Do you still want whole grains? Or white flour?"

Master Gu quickly replied, "Coarse grains are fine."

"We're just happy to have enough to eat right now; we don't even dare to dream of eating well," Zhou Yimin said. "Okay."

The two continued eating and chatting, and soon the food was all gone.

Master Gu ate to his heart's content, even ordering two more bowls of rice.

Before leaving, he repeatedly instructed Zhou Yimin: "Tomorrow I will bring some people over to demolish the wall first, and then I will go and get some suitable building materials to ensure that the project is completed in the shortest possible time."

After hearing what Master Gu said, Zhou Yimin felt very relieved, as the place where he was living was the place where Master Gu worked.

After seeing Master Gu leave, Zhou Yimin also took action, first buying ten catties of sugar from the store.

I'm going to distribute these candies to everyone in the courtyard. Construction on the house is starting tomorrow, and I need to let everyone in the courtyard know.

Starting from the front yard, they knocked on an old man's door.

The old man was a little puzzled. Why would anyone be looking for him at this hour? He opened the door and saw Zhou Yimin: "Yimin, is there something you need?"

Zhou Yimin spoke up: "Uncle, I bought Uncle Li's house. I'm planning to start renovations tomorrow, so I wanted to let everyone know in advance."

The old man nodded, understanding the situation: "Okay."

Zhou Yimin reached in and grabbed a handful of candy, saying, "Grandpa, please don't mind."

An old man saw that there were at least a dozen candies in the bag. Only Zhou Yimin in the courtyard would be so generous. Besides, candy couldn't be bought without coupons, so why would he complain? "Thank you, Yimin."

After giving out the candy, Zhou Yimin left immediately. There were still so many households in the courtyard; if he didn't hurry, the people behind him would probably fall asleep.

In less than ten minutes, all the households in the front yard had been notified.

No one expected Zhou Yimin to be so generous; he simply gave them a handful of candy after making an announcement.

After more than half an hour, Zhou Yimin finally notified everyone in the entire courtyard.

Finally, they arrived at Li Youde's house and gave him the remaining candy.

Li Youde hadn't expected such a benefit at the end. Since the two were so familiar with each other, he didn't stand on ceremony and accepted it directly.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Zhou Yimin was awakened by the sound of a cart being pushed outside the courtyard gate.

He put on a coat and went to the door. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Master Gu waiting with a worker.

Zhou Yimin said, "Master Gu, you've come to start work so early!"

Master Gu replied, "Isn't it because I wanted to come and start work as soon as possible so that I could finish the job sooner?"

Zhou Yimin didn't say much and simply handed the key to Master Gu.

After receiving the keys, Mr. Gu immediately began work.

"Xiao Zhang, smash this wall."

Xiao Zhang nodded: "Okay, Master."

After saying that, he picked up a large iron sledgehammer and started smashing the wall.

The commotion quickly reached the ears of everyone in the courtyard.

However, last night, Zhou Yimin gave prior notice and even gave each household so much candy.

Although I was a little annoyed, I couldn't say anything.

When Master Gu saw his apprentice start working, he had other things to do, so he didn't stay in the courtyard any longer.

Moreover, we went to a place that specializes in selling building materials, to a store we frequent.

When the shop owner saw Master Gu arrive, he said, "Old Gu, it seems you've got a lot of work lately. Once you're done, you'll be at the next shop."

Master Gu replied, "I'm lucky. This time I need pine wood doors and windows, blue bricks, and white lime. Do you have any of those here?"

The shop owner replied, "We have everything you need. I'll go get it for you right now."

Master Gu quickly added, "Old Huang, don't try to pass off inferior goods as superior ones. This time, it's an expert."

Moreover, there's always the possibility of needing Zhou Yimin's help in the future, so we can't ruin this hard-won relationship.

The shop owner nodded quickly: "Old Gu, don't worry! Don't you know my character?"

Master Gu didn't want to complain, but he spoke up to remind you because he knows your character.

A short while later, the shop owner brought out a bunch of things.

Master Gu was still a little uneasy, so he went forward to check and confirmed that there was no inferior product: "The item is good, how much?"

The shop owner was speechless when he saw this. After so many years of friendship, he still didn't believe him: "It's twenty-three yuan in total."

If Master Gu knew what the shop owner was thinking, he would definitely cry foul.

In order to get back to help as soon as possible, he didn't even haggle over the price, paid directly, and left with his things.

A short while later, he returned to the courtyard house where Zhou Yimin lived and shouted, "Xiao Zhang, come out and help me get these things."

Upon hearing his master's call, Xiao Zhang quickly put down the large iron hammer in his hand and ran out.

Seeing the pile of things at Master Gu's feet, he started working without saying a word.

The people in the courtyard were surprised to see that although Xiao Zhang wasn't very strong, he was surprisingly powerful.

In less than ten minutes, Xiao Zhang had moved a bunch of things inside.

The sound of banging on the wall finally woke Zhou Yimin up. He realized that the two of them had come so early and probably hadn't had breakfast yet.

He then bought four large meat buns from the store and went straight to Master Gu, who was still busy: "Master Gu, have a bun before you get back to work!"

Upon hearing Zhou Yimin's words, Master Gu and Xiao Zhang both stopped what they were doing. They originally wanted to refuse, but when they saw that it was a white steamed bun, they swallowed hard.

(End of this chapter)