Sha Zhu's Rebirth in the Courtyard: Starting with Hitting Someone in the Head

Chapter 51 Master Zhu Gets Rich

As the year draws to a close, He Yuzhu rides his three-wheeled motorcycle towards the countryside. With the New Year approaching, many people's eyes light up at the sight of cloth, brown sugar, mutton, and wild boar meat.

After the exchange, they even asked when I would come back next time.

He Yuzhu had been running around for five days, and all he had left in his storage space were two bolts of blue cloth and a bag of brown sugar. The various kinds of grains he had obtained in exchange were too numerous and too fragmented to keep track of.

Back in the courtyard, Yushui was hunched over her desk doing her winter break homework. Seeing him come in, she threw down her pencil. "Brother! Have you forgotten what you promised? Last year when you taught me and Xiao'e to ice skate, you said you'd take us to Shichahai this winter break!"

He Yuzhu took off his military overcoat and hung it behind the door. "Okay. I'll go tomorrow."

"Really?" Yu Shui jumped off the chair, ran to him, and looked up at him. "Get up early tomorrow and go call Sister Xiao'e!"

The next morning, He Yuzhu rode a three-wheeled motorcycle with Yu Shui and Lou Xiao'e sitting in the back. The two were wrapped in a quilt, with only their heads sticking out; one wore a red leather hat, and the other a blue felt hat, their breath steaming in the air.

People were already skating on the ice of Shichahai Lake. There were children in cotton-padded coats pushing iron frames on the ice, young people in Lenin suits holding hands and skating with skates, and old men sitting on small stools chiseling ice to fish.

The willows on the riverbank were bare, with frost clinging to their branches.

Yu Shui and Lou Xiao'e put on their ice skates and went down onto the ice hand in hand. When they were first taught last year, the two of them couldn't stand steadily and had to hold onto him to move on the ice.

This year is different. Rainwater slides out first, then the red hat darts far away with a bend in the waist and a push of the legs, weaving through the crowd. Lou Xiao'e follows behind, the blue hat chasing the red hat, the two racing in circles.

There was an ice hole in the ground, which the old fisherman had chiseled. I didn't see the rain and almost stepped into it. Lou Xiao'e grabbed her arm, and the two of them swayed several times before they were steady.

The old man shouted from the side, "Be careful! Don't play here!"

The two girls glanced at each other, covered their mouths and laughed, then quickly slid away.

A little while later, she started playing tag on the ice with two children she didn't know. Yu Shui closed her eyes and counted to ten. Lou Xiao'e hid behind the old man who was squatting and fishing. The old man turned around and glanced at her, but didn't say anything.

Two other children were also hiding, blending into the crowd; one of them even took off his cotton-padded coat and wore it inside out.

Rain opened its eyes and swept around. The red-hatted child weaved among the children, first catching one, then pulling out the one wearing his cotton-padded jacket inside out from the crowd.

They searched for Lou Xiao'e for a long time, and finally Lou Xiao'e couldn't help but laugh out loud before she was discovered.

The children were laughing so hard they could hardly breathe.

Seeing that the two girls were having fun, He Yuzhu didn't disturb them. He continued to glide slowly nearby, keeping his spatial awareness active, checking from time to time to see if they had fallen or bumped into anything.

Within thirty meters, the ice surface and the area beneath it were completely covered. Children chased each other on the ice, leaving crisscrossing marks from their skates. Bored, he skated towards the center of the lake, intending to skate around once and then return.

Suddenly, a wooden box appeared in my perception, half-submerged in the mud, with its corner sticking out of the mud. The wooden planks were rotten and black, and the copper lock was rusted into green lumps.

A sensory probe penetrated the box, revealing a shimmering golden expanse. Large yellow croakers. Neatly stacked, there were at least several hundred of them.

He Yuzhu stopped on the ice and looked back. Yu Shui and Lou Xiao'e were still chasing after the children, their red and blue hats weaving in and out of the crowd.

He turned around and slid forward. The gold bars in the wooden box were all stored in his spatial storage. The rotten wooden box shell remained in the mud, the lid collapsed, and mud slowly poured in.

Two more identical wooden boxes appeared in my senses, not far apart, both half-buried in the silt. My senses probed inside; one box was filled with silver coins, densely packed. The other contained a mixture of large and small yellow croakers, the large ones at the bottom, the small ones filling the gaps.

He put all the gold bars and silver coins into his spatial storage, leaving the rotten wooden box at the bottom of the lake.

Gliding across the center of the lake, he began to glide in circles, sliding outwards, his senses carefully searching the lakebed. Just as he reached the area near the north shore, he discovered two wooden crates. One was full of ocean coins, and the other was piled high with yellow croakers of various sizes.

After finishing, he stood on the ice, put his hands in his sleeves, and took a deep breath. The cold wind filled his lungs, and the white mist he exhaled was dispersed by the wind.

He slowly glided around the lake, his spatial awareness sweeping through the silt inch by inch. The silt was thick and black, full of debris: broken boat nails, shards of porcelain, torn fishing nets, and rusty anchors.

He swept up several pieces of porcelain buried in the mud, porcelain bottles and bowls stacked together, their glaze bluish-white, and put them all into his spatial storage.

I also found a few more jade artifacts—jade pendants, bracelets, and thumb rings—covered in mud and black, which I also bought. I also found a Xuande incense burner; when I pulled it out of the mud and sand, it was mottled with verdigris, but the shape was intact.

There was a gilded bronze Buddha statue stuck diagonally in the mud, its body covered by mud, with only its head showing. He carefully put it into his space, intending to go back and clean it before checking its age.

When the two women called him back after the rain, a small mountain of gold had appeared in the corner of the space. There were more than a thousand large yellow croakers, more than three thousand small yellow croakers, tens of thousands of silver dollars, several rows of porcelain, jade and bronze artifacts, and a small pile of gold and silver ornaments, many of which were still covered in mud.

"Brother! We're hungry!"

Yu Shui and Lou Xiao'e stood hand in hand on the shore, their red and blue hats askew, their faces flushed and steaming. He Yuzhu skated over, bent down, and took off his skates.

Lou Xiao'e came closer, holding a candied hawthorn skewer in her hand, with a half-eaten hawthorn still hanging on the bamboo stick. "Brother He, why did you skate so far by yourself just now? We've already ridden the tricycle!" She held the candied hawthorn to his mouth.

He Yuzhu bit into a hawthorn; it was sweet and crunchy, with the sugar coating crumbling in his mouth.

"Brother, let's go eat hot pot this afternoon!" Yu Shui tugged at his sleeve. Lou Xiao'e nodded in agreement, the two girls grabbing his arms on either side.

He Yuzhu smiled and agreed, leading them toward the three-wheeled motorcycle. The sun was warm, and the children's screams still echoed across the ice.

He glanced back at Shichahai, its ice surface a dazzling white expanse. This place truly was a treasure trove; how many more treasures lay hidden beneath the walls of Beijing?

He was so focused on revenge, on building a good relationship with the Lou family, and marrying Lou Xiao'e that he forgot all about the many legends of Beijing. If those legends were true, how much money could they possibly have?

Lou Jiacai was so poor that he was known as Lou Half-City.

And what about me? What province? Hebei?

The three-wheeled motorcycle sputtered away from Shichahai. Yu Shui and Lou Xiao'e chattered in the back of the vehicle, discussing how many plates of mutton hotpot they wanted and how to make the sesame sauce.

He Yuzhu twisted the accelerator and hummed a little tune. He didn't even feel the wind brushing against his face.

Today, Master Zhu is making a fortune! All the mutton is served with cucumber strips, lamb brain, and lamb tenderloin cooked to a honey-like perfection. Roasted lamb leg, braised chicken stomach, and all the other lamb dishes are included.

I'll serve them chicken and white fungus soup, and I'll have braised oxtail.

There's so much money we can't even spend it all. We should make sure Xiao'e has a few more sons in the future.

On this day, He Yuzhu's mind was in complete turmoil after his rebirth.