Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

"So the three of you came here just to take the money back?" He Yuzhu asked. "Have you become some kind of big shots in the management office? You got the job done, and now you want the money back? There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Yi Zhonghai asked, "Zhu Zi, I'm asking you, why did you lie to me and say that you've known Hetian Zao since you were little, since school?"

He Yuzhu said, "You don't care whether we've known each other since childhood or we met later. I'm just asking you, will I do what I promised you?"

Chapter 68 How dare they come here asking for money?

"We can still be big shots in the management department even without you," Liu Haizhong said angrily.

He Yuzhu said angrily, "You three are really something, daring to come here asking for money?"

"Who in the world asks someone for a favor and then expects to get it back?"

He Yuzhu donated all the money. Besides, even if he hadn't donated it, he never asked for the money back when asking someone to do something for him.

“We don’t want to go back, it’s just that you handled this matter unfairly. You didn’t contribute anything and cheated us out of our hard-earned money. I even suspect that the money was never given to Tian Zao.”

Yi Zhonghai has inquired about Tian Zao's character over the past two days. She can be described as a kind-hearted girl who hates evil and is very chivalrous.

She did everything she could to support several orphans before liberation. How could such a young girl possibly accept bribes?

Yi Zhonghai concluded that He Yuzhu took the money from the three men but didn't spend it at all; he embezzled it all.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have done something like this—ending it all and then coming back to ask for money.

"Alright, that's enough. Anyway, I'll just say one thing: I have no money, but you can have my life. You want money? No way!"

"you..."

Seeing He Yuzhu's expression, Yi Zhonghai knew that the money request wouldn't be fulfilled today. He Yuzhu was stubborn and had a bad temper; once he made up his mind, it was hard to persuade him.

It would be too difficult to just forcefully get the money back like that. Moreover, since Sha Zhu never mentioned that the money was already in Tian Zao's hands, it made his judgment more consistent. So Sha Zhu didn't give the money to Tian Zao; instead, he kept it for himself.

After arguing for a few more minutes, the two were red in the face from their heated words. Xu Wude couldn't stand it anymore and stepped in to act as a peacemaker, pulling Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong outside.

"I knew we wouldn't get this money back!"

Liu Haizhong said angrily, "It's better if you don't get your 50 back. We get 100 yuan back, which is more than two months' salary for me."

“That’s hard-earned money too!” Xu Wude protested.

"Alright, everyone's suffered losses, we can't let our own people panic first," Yi Zhonghai said.

"I think this is how things should be. What can we do if we can't get the money back? We can only suffer in silence."

The three discussed it for a while but couldn't do anything about He Yuzhu. After all, the money was in his hands, and they couldn't just go up and forcibly take it from him if he didn't agree to hand it over. Even if they did, they wouldn't be able to get it back.

Several solutions failed, and the meeting ended unhappily.

The next day was Sunday. He Yuzhu got up early and did some horse stance exercises in the house before going out to buy food.

Aunt Yi carried the fried dough rings and soy milk into the old lady's room in the back. "Breakfast is ready. I bought fried dough rings and soy milk for her."

The old lady said, "Just leave it there. We haven't had any meat for half a month. Shall we buy some?"

"Buy meat? Let's wait a bit longer. We don't have any money right now. That damned idiot Zhu has swindled us out of it."

Aunt Yi couldn't help but roll her eyes; this old lady was getting more and more outrageous.

"What? That pillar cheated me out of money? What happened?" the old lady asked hurriedly.

"You don't know you've had a cold these past few days. Ever since He Daqing left, Zhuzi has been like a different person. He beat up Dongxu and Damao a few days ago, which is bad enough, but recently he's even learned to cheat people. He swindled Lao Yi out of several hundred yuan."

The old lady asked, "How is that possible? I only had a cold and stayed in bed for a few days, and the pillar changed?"

"Yeah, you don't know how bad he is now. Just the other day, when they were electing the head of the management department, Zhu Zi asked Lao Yi for 100 yuan. He said if he didn't get it, he would report Lao Yi for having affairs and try to slander my aunt so that he wouldn't be elected."

"Is this something Zhu Zi would do? You'd be more likely to say that some bastard surnamed Xu would do something like this."

"you listen to me."

Aunt Yi recounted what had happened, but of course, she didn't tell the truth. Instead, she made up a story: He Yuzhu came to Yi Zhonghai's door and threatened to cause trouble if he didn't pay her money, so that Old Yi wouldn't be elected.

He Yuzhu had just finished breakfast when he heard footsteps. He thought it was one of the three people coming to ask for money again, but when he turned around, he saw that it was the old lady from the backyard coming in.

At this time, the old lady was only in her fifties, still very strong, and had not yet started using a cane.

He Yuzhu was quite surprised, as he hadn't been to the backyard or paid any attention to the old lady during this period.

Although the old lady treated the original owner very well and left the house to He Yuzhu after her death, some things are chilling when you think about them carefully.

Not to mention that the old lady was supported by Yi Zhonghai for so long, her stance was aligned with that of the Mediterranean.

This is why He Yuzhu didn't want to have anything to do with the old lady.

Moreover, Lou Xiao'e was a notorious infertile woman back then, yet the old lady still tried her best to bring them together.

What's the thought behind this?

Does this mean that Sha Zhu also married a hen that can't have children?

Thinking of this, He Yuzhu's face turned sour. He hadn't wanted to talk to the old lady for so many days, but she came to his door this morning.

He Yuzhu didn't care what the old lady was thinking at the moment. He felt the same way about her as he did about Qin Huairu, and he didn't want to deal with her anymore.

Although it was through the matchmaking of Old Madam Long in her previous life that she had a child with Lou Xiao'e, she certainly wouldn't repeat that path in this life and have such an entanglement with Lou Xiao'e.

After all, the old lady was on the same side as her godson Yi Zhonghai. If she recognized him as her grandson, wouldn't he become Yi Zhonghai's son?

Of course, I wouldn't want to do something like that.

He Yuzhu has now figured out a lot of things, so he doesn't want to get too involved with the deaf old lady Yi Zhonghai and the Jia family at all. He just wants to be an ordinary neighbor.

He Yuzhu asked directly, "Grandma, is something the matter?"

"Can't you come see my precious grandson if there's nothing else going on?"

Grandma Long took the initiative first, and then said, "I've had a cold for so many days and you haven't come to see me even once. My dear grandson, have you forgotten about your old lady?"

The deaf old lady had a kind, smiling face, and while speaking, she also looked He Yuzhu over again.

I haven't seen him for a while, and he really does look like a completely different person.

Although He Yuzhu was very annoyed by Grandma Long calling him "eldest grandson" repeatedly, he couldn't say anything since she kept calling him that, so he could only acquiesce.

"What brings you here? I'm going out to play with rainwater today."

He Yuzhu was usually not in the courtyard during the day, and on Sunday, he didn't want to stay there either. He could take He Yushui fishing outside the city to cool off and get away from that den of beasts.

The old lady stopped her stroll and said directly, "I heard you had a little conflict with your Uncle Yi? How could you forget the tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the young? How could you cheat your uncle like that? Hurry up and return that money to him."

He Yuzhu then realized that the old lady had come to ask for money on behalf of Yi Zhonghai.

The old lady hasn't eaten the meat He Yuzhu gave her yet, and their relationship isn't close at the moment. Naturally, the old lady is leaning towards her godson, Yi Zhonghai.

"Respecting the elderly and caring for the young is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, I don't deny that, but I'm not happy that you said that to me, ma'am."

"What's wrong? You cheated your Uncle Yi out of a hundred yuan, and you still think you're right?"

"He lent it to me, I didn't take it for free. I'll pay it back later, it's not like I'm not going to return it."

He Yuzhu had already planned it out. He had been using the pretext of a loan, and now it was the perfect way to shut the old lady up.

The old lady said, "Then you should pay it back. Even paying back half is fine."

"Grandma, you make it sound so easy. I've already spent all the money, how am I supposed to pay it back?"

"Isn't this just being a scoundrel? You cheated your Uncle Yi out of money and you don't want to pay it back?"

"Grandma, how did I act like a scoundrel? I'm repairing this house so I can find a wife. Don't you want me to find one?"

If the old lady dares to say no, then He Yuzhu can turn hostile, and there's a reason for that.

The old lady opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.

"Don't meddle, old man. How can someone borrow money and then want to go back in a couple of days? I've finished building this house, how am I going to pay him back?"

No matter what the old lady said, He Yuzhu simply said that he had spent all his money, had no more money, and would rather die than lose a single copper coin.

The old lady talked for a while, but He Yuzhu wouldn't listen to reason. Then he saw the noisy old lady out the door, locked the door with He Yushui, and walked outside.

He Yuzhu had originally planned to go fishing, but he changed his mind and decided to buy a bicycle while he had the day off, so he could ride back with He Yushui every night.

When they arrived at the front yard, they ran into Yan Bugui, who was carrying fishing gear and a bucket.

"Uncle Yan, are you going fishing?"

"Yeah, Zhuzi, where are you going?" Yan Bugui asked with a smile.

"I'm taking He Yushui to buy a bicycle."

"Buy a bicycle? Are you kidding me? Do you even know how much a bicycle costs? There's no one that costs less than 300 yuan. And you want to buy a bicycle?"

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "That's settled then. I want to buy a bicycle, but you're not allowed to lend it to me."

Yan Bugui said arrogantly, "If you don't want to lend it, then don't. Do you think I'm any special?"

After all, there wasn't a single bicycle in the entire courtyard, and everyone was reluctant to buy one.

In the immediate aftermath of liberation, some remaining saboteurs inflated prices, causing the Renminbi to depreciate rapidly. Over the course of 50 years, the price of daily necessities increased more than tenfold, which also led to the ever-increasing denominations of the Renminbi.

This resulted in the rapid devaluation of the money in ordinary people's hands, with less than one in ten remaining. The reason He Yuzhu was able to obtain a large amount of savings at the beginning was mainly because He Daqing sold off his stored gold and silver dollars in preparation for fleeing.

Yan Bugui assumed He Yuzhu was just joking; how could an apprentice like him afford a bicycle?

He turned and went into the house, then said to his wife, "How did Sha Zhu become like this? He's even learned to brag."