Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

"What's wrong?" Aunt Yan asked.

Yan Bugui said, "He just came to me saying he wanted to buy a bicycle. Does that idiot Zhu even know how many wheels a bicycle has? He wants to buy a bicycle? Bah!"

"Who knows if Lao He left him any savings, unlike your Yan family, who stubbornly refused to sell their house and ended up being classified as small business owners."

"I wanted to sell it before Liberation, but we were fighting every day back then, who would I sell it to? Who knew I could get a class background check?"

"If you sell the house, you could buy several bicycles."

Aunt Yan gets angry when she talks about this. She's been holding onto this storefront so tightly, but who would have thought it would be classified as a small business?

It can't be rented out now, so it's better to sell it; keeping it would only cause trouble.

He Yuzhu didn't say anything more, and led He Yushui out of the courtyard and towards Di'anmen Street.

At that time, there was no Wangfujing Department Store; it wouldn't open until September of 9. He Yuzhu knew that there was a bicycle shop on Di'anmen Street, which was privately owned, of course.

He Yushui asked, "Brother, do we really want to buy a bicycle? My good friend Zhang Dani's family has one, and her dad takes her to school every day. She looks so cool sitting on the back of the bicycle."

He Yuzhu said with a smile, "Brother would never lie to me. If I said I'd buy you a bicycle, then we'll buy you a bicycle today."

"Really? I'm so happy! I can ride a bicycle now!"

Soon we arrived at the specialty store, which had five bays and was divided into three areas. It was Sunday, and there were quite a few people choosing bicycles.

The first brand we see is Flying Pigeon, whose predecessor was the Changhe Factory established by the Japanese in Tianjin in 1936, which assembled and produced Iron Anchor brand bicycles. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the brand was changed to "Victory" and "Zhong".

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the factory quickly resumed production. It was named "Flying Pigeon," symbolizing the company's soaring success. Through the efforts of several generations, "Flying Pigeon" has become one of China's time-honored brands.

After looking around for a while and listening to the shopkeeper's introduction, I learned about the history of Flying Pigeon. Then I came to the middle area, where the Flying Pigeon brand bicycles were displayed.

He Yuzhu was not familiar with this brand. There were two traditional Chinese characters for "production" in the middle of a ring that looked like a gear.

According to the shopkeeper, this bicycle was produced by the Shanghai No. 3 Bicycle Factory. He Yuzhu was very puzzled. He had only heard that Shanghai had Phoenix brand bicycles, but he had never heard of any other brand that produced bicycles.

Then we arrived at the innermost part, which was also the most crowded area. We stood at the back of the crowd and listened to the introduction for a while.

The bicycles sold here are Forever brand, which are also made in Shanghai. The Forever brand was changed after the liberation. Before liberation, it was called Wrench brand, and its logo at that time was a polar bear standing on the top of the earth.

After liberation, it was decided to abandon this trademark and that's when the name "Yongjiu" (永永) was adopted.

He Yuzhu asked, "You've seen all three types of cars, which one do you think looks the best?"

He Yushui asked, "Let me choose?"

"I'd like to ask for your opinion."

"Then let's buy this permanent one. The red sign looks festive, and look, there's a five-pointed star on the bottom. It looks so friendly."

"Okay, I'll buy this permanently."

There are only two styles available right now: the 28-style for men and the 26-style for women. He Yuzhu is tall and strong, so of course he chose the men's style.

He pulled the shop assistant aside and asked, "How much is this bicycle?"

"Hello sir, this is the latest model, it costs 350 yuan."

"Is it that expensive? Can you make it cheaper?"

"It's already very cheap; it's 10 yuan cheaper than last month."

"That's too expensive. We can't just set a price for you."

A bicycle today is like buying a car in later times; most people simply can't afford it, since their meager wages are used for living expenses, and only a small number of people are willing to buy a bicycle.

Since the shops were all privately owned, He Yuzhu didn't want to be ripped off. After some haggling, he finally settled on a price of 330 yuan.

He had been thinking of waiting until the price was cheaper to buy it, but that would take at least five or six years. He Yuzhu had recently made enough money from selling fish, so he gritted his teeth and bought it.

"Sir, you need to go to the police station to pay the fees and register your vehicle, otherwise you will be stopped on the road."

Chapter 69 Uncle Yi, do you think what I did was right?

"Got it, thank you."

He Yuzhu paid the money, chose the bicycle he was most satisfied with, took the free lock, and pushed it out.

Excited, He Yushui rode all the way to the police station. A license plate costs 80 cents, a vehicle registration certificate costs 2.25 yuan, and then there is a 2 yuan fee to be paid every year before a bicycle is qualified to be driven on the road.

As soon as I got the book, the first thing I saw was Li Changying and Tian Zao entering the courtyard of the police station.

He Yuzhu quickly greeted them.

Tian Zao was surprised to see the bicycle in his hand and said, "You bought a bicycle?"

"Yes, if you need to use a bicycle in the future, just let me know."

I knew beforehand that Tian Zao's family didn't own a bicycle.

"Wow, I didn't realize I'd be so rich just from taking on an apprentice. I could buy a bicycle with that money."

"No, this is money left by my father. I was thinking that I didn't know if prices would continue to rise, so I exchanged the money for a bicycle to save myself the trouble."

"Grain prices may still rise further, so it's better to exchange it for other goods."

Li Changying said, "When the neighborhood needs to borrow it later, you can't refuse."

"Don't worry, Director. Even if I don't use it myself, you guys will have to use it first."

As they were talking, the young man who had just processed He Yuzhu's paperwork came out and asked in surprise, "You two know each other?"

"Let me introduce it to you."

Tian Zao first introduced He Yuzhu to him, and then introduced him to He Yuzhu: "This is Uncle Gui's son-in-law, Ye Dapeng. You two should get to know each other better in the future."

"Hello, Brother Ye."

"Hello, I've heard Xiulan mention you before. So you're the apprentice that Sister Tianzao took on on her behalf."

He Yuzhu chatted with them for a few minutes, then left their work undisturbed, agreeing to talk again later.

After exchanging pleasantries, He Yuzhu and his sister left the police station and went to the market together, where they bought some meat, vegetables, sugar, and dried plums.

In the summer, the first choice for people in the capital to cool off was sour plum juice, followed by watermelon juice and mung bean soup. After these high-end refreshing drinks, there was a commoner's drink called "Snowflake Fall" (pronounced "lao," not "luo"). This was a crude form of ice cream, but its production method was completely different from that of ice cream in later generations.

He Yushui was restless the whole way, chattering about plum juice and mung bean soup, and even asking He Yuzhu to buy her a watermelon.

"You little foodie, watermelons aren't in season yet. I'll buy you some when they're available."

"Brother, you're the one who's a little foodie."

The brother and sister bickered for a while, and soon returned to Nanluoguxiang.

"Who bought a new bicycle?"

"Isn't this He Daqing's child?"

"Didn't they say He Daqing ran off with the widow?"

"Yes, let me tell you, this is what happened, He Daqing..."

Several women were cooling off by the roadside. They chatted about bicycles for a bit, and then the conversation veered off to how He Daqing seduced a widow and was eventually subdued by her.

He Yuzhu listened for a few minutes and then pretended not to hear. Riding a brand-new bicycle now is indeed more stylish than driving a car in later years. There will definitely be a lot of talk about it in the coming days. It's best to just pretend you don't know anything.

Along the way, they attracted many envious glances. He Yushui was also very excited and kept urging him to ride faster.

They quickly returned to the courtyard house. Yu Shui got out of the car, and He Yuzhu carried the bicycle inside the gate.

"Hey, where did this bicycle come from? Did you buy it?"

Yan Bugui went fishing, and Aunt Yan was sitting in the yard with her child. When she saw He Yuzhu carrying a brand-new bicycle into the yard, she shouted, attracting a lot of people to come out.

"Zhu Zi, you bought a bicycle?"

"No way, didn't you say that He Daqing didn't leave you any money when he ran away?"

"Yeah, where did you get the money to buy a bicycle?"

He Yuzhu had no choice but to stop, letting the neighbors aunties and uncles examine him. Yan Jiecheng even mischievously rang the bicycle bell, making a crisp sound.

He Yuzhu said, "I came back too late at night, it was past 9 o'clock, and there were no buses running. My master felt sorry for me, so he lent me money to buy a bicycle."

Of course, they couldn't admit that they paid for it themselves; they could only push the blame onto their master.

"Your master is so good that he paid for your bicycle?" Aunt Yan asked, somewhat incredulously.

He Yuzhu said, "It's normal for a master to be good to his disciple. Yushui stays at my master's house every day. Look how chubby his little face has become. Buying him a bicycle is because he feels sorry for how hard I work taking care of Yushui."

Suddenly, Aunt Yan had an idea and asked, "Zhu Zi, does your master need any apprentices? Why don't you take my eldest son with you to be his apprentice?"

“That’s enough. Master said he’s not taking any more apprentices.” He Yuzhu quickly cut off the other side of the conversation. He hadn’t expected Aunt Yan to be so cunning. Did she want to send Yan Jiecheng to get a new bicycle?

I must say, Aunt Yan is quick-witted; it seems she's learned how to take advantage of others from Yan Bugui.

“I’ve heard that apprentices work for free for three years, and then for the next two years, all the money they earn goes to their master.”

"Wouldn't that mean five years of work would have been for nothing?"

He Yuzhu said, "Yes, you have to think carefully about not making a single penny for five years."

Aunt Yan was thinking that if she didn't earn money for 5 years, wouldn't she have to support her son for another 5 years?

Then look at the brand-new bicycle that He Yuzhu is pushing. If you could exchange your son for a bicycle after five years, you don't know if it's worth it or not.

Unfortunately, Zhu Zi said that his master was no longer accepting apprentices. If he were to find another master, he wondered if he would be given a bicycle.