Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

The three of them worked together to carry the return furnace into Gao Jianguo's house.

Gao Jianguo grabbed the pipe he had prepared beforehand and quickly connected it.

He also shoveled the small fire burning in the tin stove into the blast furnace.

Live together.

Jia Dongxu stared intently at the stove, his eyes practically glued to it.

"This thing is really good. It can be used for heating and cooking, and the top can even be used as a dining table. Just looking at it makes me feel warm all over." He rubbed his hands together. "Master, let's get one for our family sometime, so the kids can come over to your place to warm themselves by the fire."

Yi Zhonghai nodded.

"Hmm, it's a good thing. I heard it saves coal when burned. I should really get one."

The old lady had never been in very good health, and Yi Zhonghai thought to himself that if this medicine were burned, it would definitely be good for his wife's health.

Over the years, no matter how the elderly couple treats outsiders, their relationship with each other has always been genuine and beyond reproach.

Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu left Gao Jianguo's house and went back to their respective homes.

From Yan Bugui's door across the hall, a slight noise came through the crack in the door.

In fact, Yan Bugui had been watching Yi Zhonghai and his apprentice through the window for a long time before they left.

Seeing the two men leave Gao Jianguo's house, he quickly crawled out of his own house, walked a few steps to the opposite door, and knocked twice.

Gao Jianguo got up and opened the door. When he saw it was Yan Bugui, he stepped aside to let him in.

"Oh, Teacher Yan, you're here so late. What a rare guest!"

Yan Bugui entered the house, sat down by the stove, and kept sighing.

"Wow, it's so warm, Jianguo, your little nest is so comfortable."

Gao Jianguo knew perfectly well that this old comrade was never one to act without a reason, never to visit the temple without a reason, and too lazy to beat around the bush.

"Teacher Yan, is there something you need?"

This blunt question left Yan Bugui speechless.

He composed himself and quickly continued the conversation.

"Oh, yes, that's right. Jianguo, I heard you've become a leader at the factory?"

Gao Jianguo was taken aback.

Where did this nonsense come from?

He waved his hand.

"That's baseless. Who told you that? I've only been at the factory for a few days. The steel rolling mill belongs to the government, not the government."

Yan Bugui did not believe in superstition.

"I've heard that Old Yi and his apprentice all work under you, that can't be true, right?"

Gao Jianguo slapped his thigh and burst out laughing.

"Hey, so that's what you're talking about after all this time. Master Yi and Dongxu were sent by the factory to help us with the work. We were just a temporary team that was put together. Once the work was done, we were all gone. We had absolutely no connection with the leaders."

Yan Bugui didn't remember anything else, but he did remember one sentence: "Master Yi has to listen to me."

Humans have an amazing ability to selectively listen to half of what is said and then fill in the rest themselves.

Even the old man in the courtyard, Lao Yi, has to listen to you. What else could you be but a leader?

Yan Bugui was still immersed in his own logic, and he kept talking.

"Jianguo, this is what happened. My eldest son, Jiecheng, you've met him. He finished junior high school, didn't get into high school, and doesn't have a proper job. He's always just scraping by, which isn't a long-term solution."

Gao Jianguo thought to himself, if he really finds a proper job, you'll have to charge him five yuan a month plus food expenses.

Yan Jiecheng is currently unable to find any decent work.

If you calculate it all, what you actually get might not be as much as what you're getting now.

Gao Jianguo did not respond.

Yan Bugui kept talking.

"I was thinking, could you lend a hand and help him find a job, so he won't just wander around all day and create instability in society?"

As a cultured person, the addition of this last sentence immediately elevated the tone of asking for favors to the level of social stability.

Gao Jianguo had no intention of giving Yan Bugui an empty favor; he directly poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"Teacher Yan, as I just told you, I'm not a leader, just a technician who just joined the factory. If it were three, five, or even eight or ten years later, I might actually be able to get this done for you. But right now, I really can't help you."

Yan Bugui usually likes to use fancy words, so he took the phrase "I can't help you" to heart.

They had no choice but to create a way out for themselves.

"Oh, I see. Well, I apologize for being so forward. Sigh, this child will be idle for ages."

Upon hearing this, Gao Jianguo thought of Wang Tiezhu.

In their unit, the joint defense team might be able to arrange someone.

Although it's not exactly a formal job, it's better than being idle.

Although Wang Tiezhu was in charge of criminal investigation, it wasn't difficult for him to pass a message to the public security department.

But Gao Jianguo didn't mention this to Yan Bugui.

Whether this is even likely or not is still uncertain.

People are like that; if you first make them give up all hope and then give them a surprise, they'll remember your kindness.

If you fill him with hope first and then extinguish it, he might hate you.

Ultimately, everyone wants to help, but the feelings they have are just different.

Thinking of Wang Tiezhu, Gao Jianguo pondered something else.

We'll have to get him an internal purchase quota for a return air furnace from the factory later.

Even if the couple doesn't use it themselves, they'll definitely find it useful if they use it to support their elders.

The couple could definitely afford the stove, but right now everything required ration coupons.

Once the return air furnace hits the market, it will definitely require tickets, especially the sought-after industrial tickets.

It's not certain that the couple will be able to get their hands on these tickets.

Just as Yan Bugui was about to go home, something else popped into Gao Jianguo's mind.

煤。

Gao Jianguo's stove was the kind that never went out.

If he went home and reheated the stove, it would freeze for quite a while, and he couldn't bear that suffering.

At most, I'll turn the air intake down a bit before going out or before going to bed at night.

However, with this method of burning coal, the monthly ration of eighty catties of coal per person is not enough.

Unfortunately, the coal shops that were struck by lightning along with me are definitely gone now.

There are portable gas canisters and outdoor mountain gas canisters, but these days who dares to take them out? And stoves don't need these things.

Yan Bugui's family is large. Although he is the only one who earns money, his whole family has urban household registration and receives a quota.

One advantage of coal is that if one person burns a certain amount, a family can burn about the same amount together.

Yan Bugui, in particular, is extremely frugal, and he's sure to accumulate a lot of quotas.

Gao Jianguo called out to Yan Bugui.

"Wait, Teacher Yan, you've come at the right time. I need to discuss something with you."

Yan Bugui thought to himself, "Oh no, I've failed to get things done, and now I'll have to pay for something else."

There was nothing we could do.

"Jianguo, you speak."

Gao Jianguo explained the coal matter, and then added a final sentence.

"Look, I don't want any more. Eighty catties a month is the ration for one person. You name a number."

If Yan Bugui makes exorbitant demands, Gao Jianguo doesn't plan to bring up the matter of the joint defense team on Wang Tiezhu's side anymore.

This has nothing to do with how much money you have; it's a matter of respect.

Yan Bugui has indeed been selling off excess quotas.

He sold everything, not just coal, but any other ration he could save.

If he didn't do it this way, he would have starved to death long ago if he were to support such a large family on his own.

He pondered for a while.

Gao Jianguo is an open and honest person; he's definitely not here to fish for my speculation.

Judging from his extravagant spending on heating, he's really short of coal.

After mentally calculating the amount his regular customer would order, Yan Bugui quoted a price.

"Jianguo, to be honest, there's a little bit of coal left over from the ration. I can manage to get eighty jin (40 kg). How about this: eighty jin of coal at the standard price is 24 cents. You give me 40 cents, is that okay?"

The price is quite reasonable, to be fair.

Although the price increase seems quite high, that's only because the goods were originally cheap.

Gao Jianguo readily agreed.