Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

"No, you see, my sister Yushui is currently living and eating at my master's house, so I'm thinking of renting a house near his house so I can take care of her more easily."

Chapter 77 The Dilapidated Shop

He Yuzhu didn't want to live at his master's house, since they didn't have any extra rooms, and if he moved in, he would be taking up space from his master's family.

Staying at Master's house for a day occasionally is fine, but you can't live there all year round.

Tian Zao thought for a moment and said, "This is not allowed under the policy, after all, your family owns a house."

"Then why can't I rent a house? I can rent a private one."

Tian Zao said, "There aren't many houses available for rent now."

Think about it and say, "Unless you rent a shop."

"Shops?"

He Yuzhu was somewhat surprised. Although he had plans to open a shop, he had not yet discussed it with Xu Huizhen.

I don't know if she wants to leave Taifeng Restaurant and go into business on her own.

"Yes, I know there's a shop for rent on Yandaixie Street."

Tian Zao then talked about the shop, which was originally a clothing store on Yandaixie Street.

However, the shop owner was an enemy agent, an outsider. There was a tunnel under the shop, which he used to cover for the bad guys, but his trick was eventually exposed.

The shop owner was arrested and sentenced, and the shop was confiscated and became property of the street.

Tian Zao introduced the shop and then said, "His case is over, and the neighborhood is looking to rent out the house. If you want to rent it, I'll hold it for you."

He Yuzhu asked, "What do you think about me opening a steamed bun shop there? And how much would the rent be?"

Tian Zao said, "Sure, that location is great. You can open any kind of shop there. As for the rent, I'll ask you about it later. It's not expensive."

Although He Yuzhu has money, he has already repaired the house and bought a bicycle, so he doesn't plan to buy the storefront anytime soon.

We'll focus on renting out properties until we've built up the business. Then, we can consider a public-private partnership in 55 years and decide how to proceed. After all, the property is rented.

Xu Huizhen could simply work at this steamed bun shop and receive a salary.

However, we still need to ask her if she is willing to go out and do business.

After asking about the house, He Yuzhu took her to work and then came to Taifeng Building.

Two days later, it was a weekday. I got up early and bought some daily necessities to send to Qian Datong.

After returning home, He Yuzhu had nothing to do, so he fiddled with Qian Datong's old furniture.

Previously, I would find a master to teach me the skills, so that I could learn the techniques of washing hair.

With nothing else to do today, He Yuzhu decided to practice his skills with this pile of old furniture.

It would be great to have a carpenter skill, since I activated the washing skill just by washing clothes, the housekeeping skill by sweeping the floor, and even the tailor skill by sewing a patch.

However, He Yuzhu has always resisted practicing and upgrading these skills.

That way, I won't have to do all the housework myself after I get married, since I'll be promoted to a higher position later.

The bench in He Yuzhu's house was a bit loose, so he found a wooden stick and then used an axe to carve a few wooden wedges.

I plan to drive wooden wedges in so that the benches and chairs won't move.

Just after chopping down two logs, Yi Zhonghai came out of the house, glanced at them, and hurriedly walked up to them, asking, "Zhu Zi, where did you get this timber?"

He Yuzhu thought he was causing trouble, so he looked up and said, "Is it any of your business? I didn't take any of your materials."

"No, I didn't mean anything by it. Do you know what kind of material this is?" Yi Zhonghai asked.

“I don’t recognize it. This is Qian Datong’s old furniture. I took apart a stool leg.”

Yi Zhonghai suppressed his urge to curse and said, "You don't recognize it and you're just tearing it down randomly. This is chicken wing wood, which is very valuable."

"Chicken wing wood? That's all?"

He Yuzhu certainly knows about chicken wing wood, which is known as one of the 10 most expensive woods in the world. It is a top-quality wood for Ming and Qing dynasty furniture, along with rosewood, huanghuali, and ironwood.

He Yuzhu picked up the stool leg in his hand, examined it carefully, and asked, "Is this chicken wing wood? I was wondering why it was so difficult to chop with an axe."

Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but say, "You spendthrift! This timber is very expensive, much better than ordinary wood, and you're using it to cut wooden wedges."

He Yuzhu also felt it was a bit wasteful, but he wouldn't back down, saying, "I don't recognize these timbers either."

"Open that door, and I'll tell you what rosewood and huanghuali are. These pieces of furniture are made of top-quality wood, but unfortunately the workmanship isn't very good; it's a bit of a waste of materials."

He Yuzhu opened the door, and Yi Zhonghai pointed to a coffee table and said, "This is a rectangular mahogany table."

"This is a rosewood bookshelf."

Then, holding up a disassembled stool, he said, "This is the one you took apart, right? The top and legs are made of chicken wing wood."

“His furniture is not a set, so the materials used are also varied. This table is made of cypress, and that chair is made of ironwood.”

Yi Zhonghai searched carefully and pointed to an inconspicuous box, saying, "Look, there's some ebony inlaid on it, and the whole thing is made of mahogany."

He Yuzhu was surprised, not expecting that these were all precious woods, and said, "How come they're all pieced together?"

"It's a long story. Before, Qian Datong didn't have any money. Later, he became a traitor and defected to the Japanese. I don't know how he got some money and bought some second-hand furniture."

Then they started telling old stories, nothing more than how they forced others to their deaths and ruin.

Fortunately, Qian Datong had no blood on his hands, otherwise he would have been executed on the spot.

He wasn't the leader when he did bad things; he was just a lackey.

So he was sentenced to more than ten years in prison.

Although Yi Zhonghai knew that these timbers were valuable, ordinary people were already struggling to make ends meet, and he had no idea that these timbers would be worth a lot of money in future generations. Besides, he wouldn't live to see that time.

He Yuzhu was overjoyed. Now he knew the wood. He could use his spiritual power to carefully identify the texture and structure of the wood.

Although I could recognize it before, I didn't know what kind of wood it was. I only dealt with chefs every day and we never talked about these kinds of woods.

It seems Yi Zhonghai hasn't been wasting his time all these years; he actually knows about timber.

Yi Zhonghai turned around and took a piece of wood from his home, saying, "This is elm wood; use this to make a wooden wedge."

He Yuzhu thanked him, then took an axe and chopped out several wooden wedges, which he then embedded in the movable parts of the chair.

After hammering it in, cut off the excess part, and the chair will be sturdy.

After repairing the second chair, a system message popped up in front of He Yuzhu's eyes:

You have learned a new profession – Carpenter, level 1.

He Yuzhu was overjoyed. As expected, his guess was correct. As long as he worked for a period of time, he could trigger the system to include the relevant profession.

He Yuzhu went to chop wooden wedges again. Each time he completed one, he would receive an experience point of one. It seemed that this carpentry experience was easy to increase.

He Yuzhu was overjoyed and chopped the entire stick into wooden wedges.

Suddenly, a commotion came from ahead, and someone shouted in surprise, saying something about a sewing machine.

He Yuzhu put down the axe in his hand and walked towards the front yard.

In the middle of the yard, there was a brand-new sewing machine, which Jia Dongxu was proudly introducing to his neighbors.

Upon seeing He Yuzhu, he specifically said, "Zhuzi, come over and see what you think of the sewing machine your brother bought?"

Seeing Jia Dongxu's beaming smile, He Yuzhu wanted to punch him. Was he trying to show off his sewing machine in front of her?

He bought the first bicycle in the courtyard. If Jia Dongxu were to buy another bicycle, he would only be second in rank, which wouldn't make him look impressive.

This led them to take a different approach and buy the first sewing machine in the courtyard.

Come to think of it, the most valuable thing the Jia family owned was a sewing machine, and no matter how difficult things got for them, they never sold it.

If someone can afford such a large purchase, it must be for their wedding at this time.

He Yuzhu chuckled twice, then asked, "That's great! Can we lend it to everyone?"

Granny Zhang jumped in and said, "What are you thinking? This is our sewing machine, why should we lend it to you?"

He Yuzhu said, "Don't you feel guilty saying that? Why do you want to lend me your bicycle just because I bought one? But we can't lend you our sewing machine just because you bought one?"

"Borrow what? What unrealistic dreams are you having?"

Granny Zhang said angrily, "You didn't lend me your bicycle when I asked, so why should I lend you my sewing machine?"

He Yuzhu said it on purpose, knowing that Granny Zhang would never lend her sewing machine to anyone else.

Now the onlookers all looked at Granny Zhang with resentment, thinking they could borrow her services, but it seems they were all overthinking it.

Granny Zhang had her son put the sewing machine in front of her to show off, and now that she had achieved her goal, it was time to call it a day.

“Son, take the sewing machine back. How can you lend it to someone else after spending so much money on it?”

Jia Dongxu picked up the sewing machine, walked past He Yuzhu with a smug look on his face, and went into his house.

He Yuzhu ignored the discussions in the front yard and pushed his bicycle out of the courtyard.

There are many hardware stores on Dongzhimen Inner Street. He Yuzhu found a relatively large one and bought some woodworking tools.

I also bought one of each of the following tools on the shop owner's advice: two planes, one handsaw, one large saw, one hacksaw, one heavy-duty chisel and one flat chisel, a wood file, a wood hammer, an iron hammer, a rubber mallet, a wood drill, and so on.

He spent a full 30 yuan, and then He Yuzhu asked where he could buy some wood or old furniture.