Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

A crisp, resounding slap sent his hand flying. He Yuzhu coldly raised his eyes: "Respect? The He family ancestors are in Baoding. Who are you to act like a father here? You barged into someone's house without even knocking. Do you expect me to respect your lack of manners or your shamelessness?"

Liu Haizhong's face immediately darkened: "Idiot Zhu! Can't you think before you speak? Can't you just reason with me?"

He Yuzhu shook his hand as if it were dirty, and said in a lazy and sarcastic tone, "That's just my temper. If you don't like it, get lost."

Don't try to get any good things from me; save them for your son's wedding dowry.

Do you really think he's stupid? The events of his past life are still vivid in his mind—only Yan Bugui saw through his meager existence and occasionally helped him by collecting scraps; the rest of them ate and drank from him, taking it all for granted like vampires.

After Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong passed away, one house was given to Bang Geng, and the other was given to his own grandson. He didn't even get a single brick.

Fuck!

Yan Bugui quickly tried to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, what's all the fuss about! Lao Yi, we really didn't knock, we're in the wrong first."

Get to the point, don't beat around the bush.

These words finally calmed Yi Zhonghai down. He took a deep breath and said coldly, "If Director Yang wants to find a chef, you're the first one I'll turn down."

"Getting a job at the steel rolling mill means you'll be assigned a level six salary, which is more than ten times better than what you'd get at Fengzeyuan! This is a tremendous opportunity; you must cherish it!"

He paused, then adopted a parental tone: "And another thing, how long has it been since you brought food to the old lady? She's the matriarch of our compound! You bought a radio today, right? We old men have decided to put it in the old lady's room during the day to keep her entertained, and then move it to the yard at night so we can all listen to it together."

"Don't hold onto your bicycle so tightly; share it and improve neighborly relations..."

He chanted a string of scriptures, as if He Yuzhu were a clay figure he could mold however he pleased.

He Yuzhu's temples throbbed, a cold smile creeping across his lips. He slammed his hand on the table, making the bowls and chopsticks rattle.

"Yi Zhonghai, do you really think you're something special? You arrange my radio, you assign me my car, and now you even dare to pick out my job? Who do you think you are? Are you some kind of feudal patriarch with the illusion of being an old man?"

Yi Zhonghai was stunned, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on his face, and he couldn't react for a long time.

Didn't he hear me? A Level 6 chef! A position that countless people would kill for, and he got Sha Zhu that job with just one sentence!

"Shazhu!" His voice trembled, and his hand pointing at He Yuzhu shook violently. "Do you know who got you this opportunity? I said so many nice things to Director Yang to get you a Level 6 certificate right from the start! How dare you talk to me like that!?"

"Level six?" He Yuzhu scoffed, his eyes filled with disdain as if he were watching a joke. "So what? I gave up my Level two cook position at Fengzeyuan to go to the steel mill and do your hand-picked Level six job? Should I kneel down and kowtow to you?"

He paused, a sharp smile curving his lips. "How about I help you register for a Level 4 fitter certification at the machine factory tomorrow? How about it, aren't you going to thank me?"

"Level... Level 2?!" Yi Zhonghai's pupils constricted sharply, his voice trembling. "You... you said you're a Level 2 cook?"

His mind went blank—in the service industry, the lower the level, the more prestigious. What did a level two cook even mean? Even a level seven fitter might not be as good! Besides, He Yuzhu was only eighteen or nineteen!

How is that possible!

"Get out." He Yuzhu stood up, his gaze sharp as a knife. "Don't disturb my sister and me while we're eating."

Stop trying to take my things from now on, and practice your skills instead, so you don't get publicly called useless by Director Wang every day.

Did you hear me? Get out!

The last two words were shouted so loudly that Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong were so frightened that they took two steps back, their faces turning purple and white in turns. They were so ashamed that they wished they could disappear into the ground. They turned around and left in a sorry state.

This trip was truly humiliating—I took a Level 6 position as a favor, only to find out the other party was a Level 2 expert.

The room quieted down, and Yan Bugui was still standing at the door, rubbing his hands with a dry laugh: "Zhuzi... I didn't... I didn't know Lao Yi had this idea."

He said he had something good to discuss, and I had barely sat down when he dragged me here... I really didn't get involved in this mess..."

He chuckled awkwardly, his eyes darting away, but he dared not linger for another second.

"Alright, Uncle, let's not talk about that nonsense. Have you eaten yet? Why don't you come in and sit for a while, and we can have something together?"

"I've already eaten." Yan Bugui waved his hand, but his eyes involuntarily glanced into the house. "Zhuzi, I heard from your third aunt today... you bought a radio?"

He Yuzhu chuckled upon hearing this—what else could be so stingy as to make this old man, who was as stingy as he was, rush over to try and get on his good side, even though he couldn't even spare a meal?

"Okay, please wait a moment!"

He turned around, took a few steps into the house, and took the big, black machine out of the cabinet.

Tuning was as natural to him as breathing; the old-fashioned radios he had played with in his previous life were at least ten times more complicated than this.

With two clicks as the knob was turned, a crackling sound of electricity rang out, and then the voice of Zhongyang Radio steadily drifted out.

There was only one channel, and the programming was terrible, but in those days when even television was scarce, it was enough to make one's ears burn and one's heart flutter.

A long storytelling performance is playing right now, and the tune is just like the old storyteller under the overpass, only with a different megaphone, so it can travel much farther.

Yan Bugui was stunned when he heard this, his eyes fixed on the radio.

He Yushui listened intently, her mouth agape.

Before long, a crowd began to gather at the entrance, heads packed together like iron filings drawn by a magnet.

The area around the wall was crowded with neighbors peering in, and even Old Li, who lived deep inside the courtyard, hobbled over with his cane, muttering, "Listen to that noise! ​​It sounds like a theatrical performance at a temple fair!"

……

"I'm so angry!"

Yi Zhonghai practically stormed out of the He family's house, his face so dark it looked like ink could drip from it.

He encountered Liu Haizhong greeting him along the way, but he didn't even lift his eyelids, simply turning his head and walking away.

A dignified seventh-level fitter at the steel rolling mill, the most respected elder in the courtyard, was actually told to "get lost" by a mere young boy. If word got out, how could he ever hold his head high in the courtyard again?

He kicked open his own yard gate, almost breaking the bolt.

"Zhonghai, what's wrong?" The deaf old woman was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) picking vegetables. When she looked up at his expression, her heart skipped a beat. "Didn't you say you were going to call Shazhu over for dinner? Where is he?"

Today, an older woman bought half a pound of meat, intending to cook it herself. But as soon as Yi Zhonghai walked in, he said, "Don't touch the meat yet, I'll go call Sha Zhu to cook it."

The meaning couldn't be clearer—if Sha Zhu is in charge of cooking, the meat won't go to waste.

But seeing his angry expression now, the old lady knew that she wouldn't be able to eat.

She sighed softly and asked slowly, "What happened? Tell me."

"Old lady!" Yi Zhonghai plopped down, his face as long as a donkey's. "That idiot Zhu is truly biting the hand that feeds him! I kindly helped him protect his reputation by having him bring out his radio and bicycle for everyone to see, to show off how impressive and respectable he was! And what did he do? He turned around and told me to get lost! Right in front of Liu Haizhong!"

He became more and more aggrieved as he spoke, his voice trembling, but he had already cut out the whole story, leaving only how kind and righteous he had been and how the other party had repaid kindness with enmity.

In his eyes, he was doing this for Sha Zhu's own good—showing off the radio would make the neighbors praise you for being rich and knowledgeable; displaying the bicycle would make everyone say you were doing well. Wasn't this helping you build a good reputation? In the future, when you get married and live a good life, what won't you rely on this?

But Sha Zhu doesn't understand! He's such a simpleton, completely clueless about social etiquette, and he even yelled at him, the old man, to leave, making him lose face completely!

The deaf old lady listened, her eyes narrowing slightly.

She's an old woman with a sharp mind; how could she not hear the embellishment in his words? But none of that matters right now.

Something else was on her mind—a second-level cook!

She originally thought that Sha Zhu's good cooking skills were because he worked hard in the cafeteria every day, but she didn't expect that he had already reached level two! This is no joke, he is much better than He Daqing back then!

Her mind immediately started racing: she really needed to rethink her retirement plans.

"Zhonghai," she said slowly, her tone calm, "this matter is not urgent."

In my opinion, when it comes to entrusting my old age to Sha Zhu, I'll still have to rely on him.

Yi Zhonghai was taken aback and was about to retort when the old lady waved her hand to interrupt him.

"Jia Dongxu is no good." She said bluntly, "He does listen to you, but he's too weak-willed to support the family."

"My family is barely making ends meet right now. Imagine what it will be like when my husband and his family get married and start their own families—housing, dowry, kids' schooling—all of that will cost a fortune! He won't be supporting you then; you'll be the one supporting him!"

She paused, then lowered her voice: "Besides, that woman Zhang Xiaohua is short-sighted and has a sharp tongue. If you move in there when you're old, you'll suffer a lot."

Yi Zhonghai nodded outwardly, but inwardly he was unconvinced.

He was confident in the successor he had chosen; Bang Geng was a bright kid who would definitely amount to something in the future.

"I understand, ma'am. Let's eat first," he replied casually.

The deaf old lady didn't realize he wasn't being sincere, and kept nagging him on how to build a relationship with Sha Zhu: get an older woman to help with laundry, sweeping, or look after He Yushui, take it slow, don't rush.

She's old, what does she want? Just a hot meal, right?

Now that she knows Sha Zhu is a level-two cook, she's been craving him for so long that she wishes he would cook for her every day.

But the previous times I went there, I either came away empty-handed or they had finished eating and cleared the table, and I didn't even get a drop of soup.

This time, she was determined—she absolutely had to invite this Kitchen God into the house.

The old lady had just placed the food on the table when the deaf old woman picked up her chopsticks and gently stirred the meat. The aroma was irresistible, but she paused for a moment, her eyes glazed over, as if she had remembered something.

A moment later, a soft sigh escaped her throat—He Yuzhu's cooking was truly authentic.

But she didn't say anything in the end. She lowered her head, picked up a piece of meat, put it in her mouth, and chewed it slowly.

These days, white meat is a rare treat. Who doesn't only get a sliver of oil on their plate during holidays? No matter how picky you are, you have to swallow it.