Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

He Yuzhu invited the man in, served him fragrant tea, and exchanged pleasantries. After Mr. Su congratulated him, he talked about the difficulties of doing business before finally speaking: "Brother, you were very successful yesterday, managing to make four large yellow croakers in one go. Right now, it's the lean season, and all my money is tied up in grain. I'd like to borrow some cash from you to tide me over."

Seeing that He Yuzhu's expression was normal and he showed no surprise, he continued, "Brother, don't worry. I'm not the kind of person who doesn't know how to clear out debts. How about I give you a penny of interest?"

He Yuzhu said with a wry smile, "Brother Su, it's not that I don't want to lend it to you, but I've already handed over this big yellow croaker to the Military Control Commission. In exchange for this property, I even had to pay more than 100 yuan."

He Yuzhu was extremely grateful to himself. Luckily, he had changed properties; otherwise, he would have offended countless people just by dealing with those who wanted to borrow money.

Suddenly receiving a large sum of cash, there are always people who want to borrow some. If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but this Manager Su is the most shrewd. He has a large house outside the city where he stores a lot of grain. He made a lot of money during last year's grain crisis.

In the past, grain merchants were the worst of the bad guys. They would hoard large quantities of grain when it was harvested and then sell it at high prices when food supplies were low. This was considered normal practice.

What's most infuriating is that they hoard large quantities of grain during good years, only to sell it at the highest prices when disaster strikes and people can't afford to eat.

He Yuzhu hates these kinds of heartless rich people the most. Capitalists are just slowly sucking blood, but these people are even worse than capitalists. They don't care about other people's lives at all, and they can make a fortune when there is a disaster.

Last year, shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, an epidemic broke out in the Northeast, preventing food supplies from reaching the region. Meanwhile, war was raging in the South, leading to a food shortage in Beijing.

Within a year, grain prices skyrocketed several times, with the highest increase reaching tenfold.

This led to a significant devaluation of the RMB; otherwise, there wouldn't have been an exchange rate of 10,000 to 1 RMB. It's worth noting that in 1949, banknotes were issued in denominations of 1, 2, and 5 RMB.

Although Manager Su wasn't a particularly large grain merchant, he made quite a bit of money last year. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and stopped in time, thus avoiding being purged.

Of course, He Yuzhu learned all this through conversations with his neighbors. The owner of the general store, Mr. Zhao, had warned He Yuzhu to be careful of this Manager Su.

Shopkeeper Su asked in surprise, "You traded this storefront for a large yellow croaker?"

"Yes, times are tough these days, and money is depreciating too much. I can't keep paper money, so I changed the property deed, and now this house is mine."

"I'm sorry, I really don't have any money to lend to Brother Su."

"What a pity, what a pity."

Manager Su said, "It's alright, Brother He. I was being presumptuous and came at the wrong time."

Even though he couldn't lend money, Manager Su didn't leave immediately but stayed to chat.

He Yuzhu asked, "Brother Su, do you think the price of grain can go up again?"

"It's hard to say."

Manager Su said, "I'm just a small merchant, and all the grain is sourced from outside the city. I just want to stock up on more goods. As for whether prices will rise, it's hard to say right now."

"Sigh, if prices go up, my steamed bun shop won't be able to operate smoothly," He Yuzhu sighed.

"Yes, it's so hard to do business these days."

He Yuzhu asked several times in a roundabout way, but he couldn't get any definite information.

He Yuzhu quickly asked the other party to deliver two tons of wheat flour and some corn flour at the current market price, and also bought a lot of miscellaneous grains.

He Yuzhu only rented the house for less than two months and even got a refund of some of the rent, which he used to store grain.

Aside from keeping some money for daily expenses, I used all the money I earned to buy food and raw meat.

The space already contains a considerable amount, with eighty-one pieces alone weighing several thousand kilograms.

However, He Yuzhu didn't want to make any changes; he wanted to prepare for the future era of negotiable instruments.

In He Yuzhu's view, no matter how much is prepared now, it will not be enough.

After chatting for a while, Manager Su got up to say goodbye, and He Yuzhu escorted him to the door.

Turning back, Xu Huizhen asked, "Are you here to borrow money too?"

"Yes, this is the fifth one today."

Fortunately, He Yuzhu's business had only been open for a short time, so he only knew a few shops nearby and was not familiar with those further away, so it was difficult for others to come to his door to borrow money.

"Luckily you exchanged the money for the house, otherwise you would have offended people whether you lent it or not."

"Yes, you can't have money on hand at this time."

In the past two years, I've learned to exchange money for gold and silver, or to store up supplies, in order to cope with prices that could skyrocket at any time.

Ordinary people don't have much money, and the market is facing a shortage of supplies.

However, these things didn't have much to do with He Yuzhu. After dealing with these neighbors who shamelessly came up to borrow money, He Yuzhu finally had time to think about his own things.

For example, He Yuzhu's wrestling skills have reached level five, and several of his fellow disciples are no match for him. However, he is still somewhat inferior to Tie Dan in a fight.

However, He Yuzhu was confident that he could defeat Tiezhu in a year or two.

I practice wrestling simply to improve my health and lay the foundation for learning martial arts; I just haven't found the right path to martial arts yet.

For He Yuzhu, even tinkering with the furniture was more fun than cooking. His woodworking skills leveled up relatively slowly, and he had only just reached level 4.

However, this level is already considered intermediate. He Yuzhu is already quite skilled at making ordinary furniture and is no worse than those professional carpenters.

He Yuzhu currently cooks for a maximum of six tables a day. The rest of the time he either practices woodworking or goes out to teahouses to drink tea and listen to opera.

They live a carefree and leisurely life.

However, Xu Wude is currently in a precarious situation, being put on the spot by He Yuzhu.

Having just returned to his courtyard house after finishing get off work at the factory, Yan Bugui immediately started talking about antiques.

Xu Wude knew perfectly well that his abilities were limited; he only knew a little more than the average person. He had originally intended to trick He Yuzhu and get his fifty yuan back, but who knew that He Yuzhu would end up buying a different house instead.

Xu Wude dared not agree to Yan Bugui's request to go see the antiques together, so he gave a few perfunctory replies and went into the courtyard.

Yan Bugui said resentfully, "What's there to be proud of? So what if they know how to look at antiques? They're acting all high and mighty."

After He Yuzhu finished cooking for dinner, Xiangcao delivered the dishes upstairs. He then washed his hands and came to the lobby. Xu Huizhen asked, "Are the dishes upstairs all cooked?"

"Yes, everything is ready."

Xu Huizhen suddenly said, "How about we go for a walk?"

He Yuzhu asked, "Why are you thinking of going to the night market again?"

Although the two run a shop here, they don't usually go shopping there. After all, they have to take care of the shop's business in the evening. By the time business here is over, it's already past 10 o'clock, and there aren't many people strolling around there.

Xu Huizhen simply said, "I want to go shopping today, so will you come with me?"

“Okay, of course I’ll go with you, otherwise what if someone else picks me up?” He Yuzhu said with a smile.

Xu Huizhen blushed slightly and gave He Yuzhu a dirty look.

A moment later, Xiangcao came over, and Xu Huizhen told her to watch over the tavern, then pulled He Yuzhu out impatiently.

Vanilla stomped her foot in anger: "They didn't even take me with them!"

Senior Sister Hung Chin-yen said with a smile, "Why don't you go too, and I'll keep watch?"

"Forget it, I'm not going to be a third wheel."

Vanilla said sullenly, "Hmph, I knew it. They made me guard the tavern instead of letting me go with them."

Hong Jinyan didn't say much, just smiled and continued working.

"Why is the night market here much more lively than usual today? Is it because the weather is cooler and everyone's out and about?"

Xu Huizhen looked at the endless stream of people in front of her, which was more than half the usual number of people visiting the night market.

He Yuzhu said, "The key is that you picked the wrong day. Yesterday you made such a big commotion that even people who don't usually come here came. Look, those are people from our compound."

He Yuzhu pointed to a group of people, including Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and seven or eight women, with Xu Wude, whose face looked bitter, in the middle.

Although he declined Yan Bugui's request to go to the night market together, after dinner, Lao Yi, Lao Liu, and others invited Xu Wude to go to the night market.

Unable to refuse their hospitality, Xu Wude reluctantly agreed to be dragged out to play by several people.

Xu Huizhen said in surprise, "Really? No wonder there are so many people tonight. I was wondering why there were so many more people drinking at our little bar tonight."

He Yuzhu pulled Xu Huizhen forward and came to the opposite side of the three old men. He then said with a smile, "Uncle Xu, thank you so much for yesterday. If you hadn't let me buy that Tang Dynasty Buddha statue, I wouldn't have been able to find four big yellow croakers!"

Xu Wude's face twitched involuntarily. Was this even human language? It was like stabbing himself in the heart with a knife.

I clearly didn't ask anyone to buy that Buddha statue. I just randomly picked a few items, and that didn't include a Buddha statue.

But in this situation, if Xu Wude were to argue that he hadn't made him buy the Buddha statue, wouldn't he seem unsophisticated? After all, he was still planning to continue fooling He Yuzhu after a while.

They only got back ten yuan of the fifty yuan, and now they're going to keep ripping off Sha Zhu.

Xu Wude laughed and said, "Zhu Zi, you're too kind. To be honest, I'm not sure either, only about 50 or 60 percent sure. But I have to support my family, so where would I get the spare money to buy antiques?"

These were his humble words, but they were interpreted differently by Yi Zhonghai and others.

A 5-6% chance? Does that mean if you buy two, one of them will be genuine?

Even if the success rate is lower, you can still guarantee that one out of every three antiques you buy will be genuine.

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "You're too modest. Take me to the night market again sometime. I've suddenly discovered that I like antiques."

Xu Wude was secretly pleased. It was good that Sha Zhu liked it, so he would have more opportunities to trick him in the future.

Otherwise, if I get scammed, when will I ever get my 50 yuan back?

After exchanging a few polite words, He Yuzhu did not join them for a stroll. After they parted ways, He Yuzhu continued to walk forward, holding Xu Huizhen's small hand.

Xu Huizhen said shyly, "Brother Zhu, will you let go of me?"

He Yuzhu said, "There are too many people here. I'm afraid I won't be able to find you if I let go."

There were quite a few people around, so Xu Huizhen let He Yuzhu hold her little hand and walk forward.

Xu Huizhen paused for a moment and asked, "Brother Zhu, which stall did you buy the directions from yesterday? Shall we go and take another look?"