Courtyard House: Passing through the Silly Pillar, Activating the Blessed Cave Heaven

61

Madam Jia stared at He Yuzhu, who brushed past her without a word, his gaze lingering on his tall, handsome figure for a long while. Inwardly, she cursed, "A handsome face all he has, he can't even speak a decent language! We've lived in the same courtyard for decades, and he doesn't understand a thing or two. He deserves to be a bachelor his whole life, childless and without descendants!"

As soon as He Yuzhu stepped into the house, his younger sister, He Yushui, excitedly rushed towards him: "Brother, you're finally back! I missed you so much while you were gone that I cried!"

He bent down and hugged his sister, then took a piece of candy from his pocket and put it in her mouth: "Brother also wants rain."

Have you been listening to your father these past few days at home?

With a sweet candy in her mouth, He Yushui's eyes curved into crescent moons: "I'm so good! Now I can dress myself and get out of bed all by myself!"

"Our rainwater is really capable!" He Yuzhu smiled and kissed his sister's cheek. "Next time I come back, I'll bring you candy."

At that time, the wave of land reform swept through cities and villages, and the work of classifying family members was also in full swing.

After rural areas were divided into different classes such as hired peasants, poor peasants, and middle peasants according to historical evolution, cities followed suit, subdividing into more than twenty categories such as workers, cadres, and urban poor.

The He family was classified as working class. At the same time, Lou Bancheng donated No. 95 Nanluoguxiang to the state, and the street office began to redistribute the vacant houses in the courtyard.

The front yard welcomed the shrewd Yan Bugui family—this man was originally a small merchant who went bankrupt due to the collapse of the legal tender. Later, because he was literate, he was assigned to be a teacher at Hongxing Elementary School.

Liu Haizhong, who believed in corporal punishment, moved into the backyard.

Yan Bugui, along with his wife and children, squeezed into the west wing of the front yard, finally ending their days of renting rooms everywhere.

Liu Haizhong was originally a forging worker at a steel rolling mill, and the house he previously rented was quite far from the factory.

To make it easier for the factory's employees to commute to and from get off work, the street office and the steel rolling mill negotiated and arranged for Liu Haizhong's family of five to live in the backyard of the courtyard house at No. 95, and allocated them a room in the east wing.

He Yuzhu's house in Qudeng Hutong was also re-registered at this time, and the property deed was changed from one issued by the old regime to one issued by the new regime.

He personally experienced that the "confiscation of houses" often mentioned in novels was mainly aimed at capitalists and bureaucrats. Ordinary people could simply rent out their surplus properties voluntarily.

Relevant departments will assist landlords in finding tenants and help collect rent on their behalf. Landlords can simply go to the neighborhood office to collect the rent each month.

When Yan Bugui first moved into No. 95 Courtyard, although he was a thrifty person, he was far from being as stingy as later generations had described.

Perhaps because he had run a small business in the past, and also because he had to raise two sons, he was exceptionally frugal in his daily life.

In the autumn of 1950, He Daqing responded to the call of the street office and sent He Yushui to Hongxing Primary School.

After the child started school and had peers to play with, no longer clinging to his father all day, He Daqing immediately felt much more relaxed.

He Yushui also really enjoys campus life, no longer having to play alone in the steel mill office like before.

On the eve of National Day, a shelling case planned by foreign spies was cracked in Beijing. The main culprits were Italian Li Andong and Japanese Yamaguchi Takashi.