The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Xu Damao certainly couldn't have imagined what would happen later.

That day, he heard his mother say...

There's someone I'd like to meet; she's beautiful and tall.

Their family's financial situation wasn't as good as the Lou family's, but they still had enough to eat and wear.

He is a high school graduate, well-educated and courteous.

Xu Damao was delighted and wanted to quickly arrange for her mother to meet him.

Based on his skills in picking up girls honed over the years, Xu Damao was confident he could definitely win her over.

Xu Damao had already planned it out; he would marry his new wife in a few days.

After hosting the banquet, they insisted on making sure to overshadow Sha Zhu in the courtyard.

I'll also earn back the ten yuan I gave as a gift.

Everyone will definitely laugh at Sha Zhu then, mocking him for being a foolish cook who can't even afford a wedding banquet.

Xu Damao couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Sha Zhu's embarrassing appearance.

I was really looking forward to meeting that girl.

The weekend is here again soon.

Yang Dalin visited many guests again today.

I promised Uncle Liu, Liu Haiyang's father, that I would visit him.

We cannot break our promise.

So after breakfast, Yang Dalin brought two bottles of wine, some cooked food, and a few small gifts, thinking he would run into Zhao Yumin and have him deliver them to Aunt Zhao, Zhao Yuqin, and Zhao Yuming.

One cannot break one's word; I promised to bring a gift last time.

Yang Dalin didn't know how many people were in Liu Haiyang's family, so he prepared extra small gifts.

Unexpectedly, after he arrived at the gate of the naval compound and registered, he asked the soldier on guard to notify Liu Haiyang's family.

When Liu Haiyang came to lead him inside, there were so many people there when they arrived at Liu Haiyang's house.

Is everyone free over the weekend?

Many of them were the fathers of Zhao Yumin and Liu Haiyang's group of friends.

Even the father of Wang Xiaohai, the chubby boy who was next to Liu Haiyang, came.

This was a bespectacled, somewhat portly, sharp-looking middle-aged soldier.

Uncle Wang's smile is somewhat similar to that of Maitreya, but Yang Dalin can still catch the sharp glint in his eyes.

Uncle Wang held Yang Dalin's hand and said, "Dalinzi, hello. Xiaohai and the others will play with you, so don't worry, Uncle."

"Do you still have that tea? Uncle is enjoying it."

Liu's father pushed the man surnamed Wang aside and said, "You've really gone too far. Look at you, how dare you directly extort tea from a junior?"

"Come on, Dalinzi, ignore the guy surnamed Wang, come in and sit down."

Well, there are quite a few people in the room, including several middle-aged men.

There was also a woman, presumably Liu Haiyang's mother, and several boys and girls who were younger than Liu Haiyang but looked somewhat similar to him.

These must be Liu Haiyang's younger siblings.

Liu Haiyang and his friends were also there.

One by one, the kids came up and called out, "Boss!" and then introduced their fathers.

Yang Dalin knew that this was probably not because he had a lot of face.

Could it be that my tea leaves caused this trouble?

I should have known better than to bring out that best quality tea.

We should prepare some jasmine tea stems for them.

Were all these uncles here for their tea?

The problem is that even if I had tea leaves, there wouldn't be enough to go around.

Thinking of this, Yang Dalin glared at Wang Xiaohai, who quickly gestured, "Boss, it's not my fault."

I'm not taking the blame. They were just looking for an opportunity to drink together; they weren't coming directly at you.

However, Liu's father and several military officers sat together and chatted with Yang Dalin.

There were many senior colonels and colonels among them, and the implication was that the tea had not yet been returned.

These guys are all pretty much like Li Yunlong's bandits.

However, they didn't seem very eager. Perhaps they were just looking for a topic to chat with Yang Dalin as a starting point. These people had been in the army for many years and probably didn't really know how to chat with a child Yang Dalin's age. These uncles also brought gifts for Yang Dalin.

Some carried military belts, some carried ships made from bullet casings, some carried tobacco and alcohol coupons, and some carried spoils of war captured on the battlefield.

Wang Xiaohai's father gave Yang Dalin a small military knife.

It was a Japanese junior officer's sword.

This pleased Yang Dalin greatly.

But Yang Dalin was still worried that there wasn't enough tea to go around.

Even if you have it, you can't take it out anymore.

Otherwise, Zhao Yumin's father would probably come looking for him too.

Yang Dalin said, "Thank you for the gifts, uncles, but the tea was given to me by someone else by chance."

That's all; I shared it with you guys last time.

"That's all, uncles."

Liu's father stepped in to smooth things over: "It's alright, Dalinzi, you can still accept the gift. As for the tea, it's fine. We can talk about it next time we meet."

It's okay if we don't meet.

A few older uncles gave you a gift, why would you need a return gift?

"Isn't that how it should be?"

Yang Dalin now understood that everyone just wanted to use the tea as a pretext to chat with him.

They didn't actually come for the tea.

Wang Xiaohai's father, Uncle Wang, reacted quickly and laughed, "That's right, Dalinzi, I'm just happy to see you. I'll give you this military knife, but don't use it to bully people, okay?"

Keep it safe for yourself.

This was Uncle's spoils of war back then. Xiao Hai asked for it many times, but I never gave it to him.

He's useless; he doesn't have the presence. Uncle has high hopes for you; who knows, you might be able to use him to take down a few more spies in the future."

This means that these people all know Yang Dalin's background.

I know that he arrested several spies and bad guys.

Yang Dalin accepted the military knife amidst Wang Xiaohai's envious and reluctant gaze.

He pulled out a section of it, and sunlight shone into the room. A sharp, cold glint flashed in his eyes, and Yang Dalin closed it again. The knife was indeed quite sharp.

A colonel standing nearby, who held the same rank as Wang Xiaohai's father, said, "Old Wang, look how stingy you are. Why don't you take out your officer's sword?"

"Just give Da Linzi a junior officer's sword?"

Yang Dalin knew that these spoils were their most prized possessions, and they would be content with just a junior officer's knife.

Taking the initiative to speak up reduced Wang's father's embarrassment: "Uncle Jiang, I would be very content if Uncle Wang gave me a junior officer's knife."

Uncle Wang probably doesn't have many of those either; they're his treasures, and I can't take what belongs to someone else.

I really have to thank Uncle Wang for this. I'll offer him another toast later.

When Uncle Wang saw that Yang Dalin could talk, he quickly patted Yang Dalin on the shoulder and said, "Good lad, you know how to talk."

Unlike these bandits, who are so stingy, they have good stuff at home and are unwilling to let you take it.

My officer's sword was a combat item that our unit finally obtained after fighting a tough battle for three days and three nights.

"This is very important. I'll keep it for now. If I go to see Marx later, I won't give it to Wang Xiaohai, but I'll leave it to you, how about that?"

Uncle Wang's words were quite serious. Yang Dalin clearly saw sadness in his eyes, guessing that the troops had suffered heavy casualties at the time.

Yang Dalin quickly said, "Uncle Wang, you're too kind. Let's keep it for Xiao Hai from now on."

That's your family heirloom; I have no use for it.

I'm content with this officer's sword.

Or you can donate it to a military museum later.