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

It was almost seven o'clock in the evening when Yang Dalin finally arrived at his hometown, Zhujiazhuang, in this life.

Why is it called Zhu Family Village?

Because the surname Zhu is the most common, most villages in western Shandong are named after the majority of the surnames in the village.

For example, in the next village, the most common surname is Ma, so it's called Ma Family Village; if the most common surname is Wang, it might be called Wang Village.

If another village also has many people with the surname Wang, and these two villages are very close to each other, then one might be called Dawangzhuang and the other Xiaowangzhuang.

There are also villages with the surname Zhang that are located in the five neighboring villages. These villages could be called Qian Zhangzhuang, Hou Zhangzhuang, Dong Zhangzhuang, west Zhangzhuang, and the one in the middle is called Zhangzhuang.

Zhujiazhuang has the most people with the surname Zhu, as well as six other surnames.

The surname Yang has the second lowest number of people, with fewer than ten families.

The Guo family has the smallest population; there's only one family in the village, with two sons, so it will eventually grow into two families.

They are few in number, very honest in the village, and have a very low profile.

Most of the ancestors of Zhujiazhuang migrated from the vicinity of the Big Locust Tree in Shanxi Province during the Hongwu period.

I heard that at that time, there was constant fighting on the North China Plain. The Yuan Dynasty was enclosing land for raising sheep, which almost wiped out the population.

The Hongwu Emperor then ordered the relocation of people from Shanxi Province.

Zhujiazhuang has gradually developed and now has more than 100 households, making it a small village.

However, the population is about five or six hundred.

The two largest villages closest to Zhujiazhuang have a considerable population.

There are thousands of people in each village, and some large villages have two or three thousand people.

Keep in mind that this is the North China Plain, where the population density is very high.

Yang Dalin came from Lishu Commune, and happened to enter the village from the east.

The Yang family lived at the westernmost end of the village, which was located on the outer perimeter of the former village wall.

The village only has two main roads.

The two roads intersect, forming a cross shape, dividing the village into four main sections.

Then, on both sides of the main road are alleys. Apart from the residents living along the main road, all the other families live in the alleys.

This is a plain, and the village is very well planned.

It doesn't feel like a mountain village, where each household lives far apart.

Yang Dalin headed west of the village with a flashlight, but he didn't encounter anyone on the street, and there were no dogs barking in the village, probably because they had all been eaten.

In winter, there isn't even a wild boar in the plains of the village, so there's no need for militia patrols.

Yang Dalin arrived at the north alley of the last alley in the west of the village.

Entering the alley, we arrived at the gate of the second house from the east.

The gate was woven from thick tree branches, and the courtyard wall was made of yellow earth and wheat straw.

Yang Dalin started shaking the gate and shouted, "Second Grandma..."

This is the home of Yang Dalin's grandfather's second aunt.

Yang Dalin should actually call her Second Grandma, since she's a generation older than his own grandmother.

But Yang Dalin has been called that since he was a child, so it doesn't matter.

The second grandmother's family is among the younger generation with seniority.

My second grandfather has passed away. He was Yang Dalin's second uncle.

He's not much older than my grandfather, but he's a generation older.

My second grandfather had three sons and three daughters, but he couldn't support his third son.

The two sons had long since separated from the family and lived independently, and the three daughters had long since married.

Second Grandma lived in the home of her eldest son, Yang Jinhai, and the first house to the south belonged to her second son, Yang Jinjiang.

Knocking on the gate is useless; some people will tie a bell to the gate or tie two tiles together.

The gate swayed violently, and even the roof tiles collided with each other, making a sound.

So Yang Dalin could only shake the gate while shouting.

Fortunately, it wasn't dark for long, so the people inside weren't sleeping soundly.

Soon, Yang Jinhai's voice came from inside the house: "Who is it?"

Yang Dalin called out, "Uncle Jin Hai, it's me, Dalin, Yang Dalin."

Upon hearing this, Yang Jinhai, who was inside the room, recognized that it was his cousin Yang Jinfeng's (Yang Dalin's grandfather) grandson and quickly called out, "Wait a minute, Dalin, I'm getting dressed."

Then a dim light came on in the east room of the north-facing house.

At this moment, Yang Dalin took out a large sack of dried sweet potatoes from his spatial storage and placed it on the back rack of the car.

It weighed over 200 jin (100 kg), and included 20 jin (10 kg) of cornmeal.

This was prepared in advance by Yang Dalin at the request of Master Duo.

He brought the seafood and asked Master Duo to help him exchange it.

I probably only come here once in a while, so I was a bit generous.

In Yang Dalin's memory, his second grandmother's family was very close to his family, and his second grandmother often helped his family out.

Unfortunately, Yang Dalin is now the only one left in his family.

Yang Dalin had several other relatives, but their relationship wasn't as good as that of the second grandmother's side.

Therefore, Yang Dalin is not planning to go this time either.

Soon, Yang Jinhai, wearing a cotton-padded coat covered in patches, came out of the house.

Yang Jinhai is now in his thirties, younger than Yang Dalin's father in this life.

Yang Jinhai didn't even have a flashlight when he went out; he just went out like that.

Yang Dalin first shone the flashlight on the other person's path, and then shone the flashlight on his own face.

Yang Jinhai said happily, "It really is Da Linzi."

Where did you come back so late at night? Has my sister-in-law Jinfeng come back yet?

Yang Dalin knew he was asking about his grandmother.

Yang Dalin said, "Uncle Jin Hai, please open the door first. I came back alone."

The simple gate was tied with straw rope.

Actually, it's easy to open from the outside, but Yang Dalin certainly couldn't open it without permission.

As Yang Jinhai untied the rope, he said, "Good, good, it's good that you're back."

It must be cold outside. Come inside and warm up.

Yang Jinhai helped to lift Yang Dalin's car and push it into the yard.

He found a large sack of marijuana in the back of the car, but didn't ask anything about it.

They didn't ask Yang Dalin about the bicycle either.

Yang Dalin parked the car, unloaded the sacks, carried them in one hand, and followed Yang Jinhai into the house first.

Yang Jinhai wanted to help, but Yang Dalin went into the house in a few steps.

After all, it's too cold outside, and it's not convenient to talk.

After Yang Dalin entered the house, Yang Jinhai quickly closed the door.

This house is an adobe house, very low, with three rooms.

The living room is in the middle, and the bedrooms are on both sides.

Yang Jinhai lived to the east, but no one came out; only his voice could be heard: it was his wife, Grandma Jinhai's, voice: "Is that Dalinzi?"

Yang Dalin responded: "It's me, Grandma Jinhai. I came back from Beijing. I was on a business trip and just stopped by to go home."

At this moment, Yang Jinhai brought over the oil lamp from the east room and placed it on the octagonal table in the living room.

From the east room, only voices could be heard, but no one came out: "Dalinzi, I don't have a cotton coat, so I won't go out. Why did you run so far? How is your grandma?"

Yang Dalin originally intended to keep the news of his grandmother's death a secret.

But I figured I couldn't hide it any longer, so I decided to just say it directly: "Grandma Jinhai, you don't need to get off the kang anymore. It's warm on the kang. My grandma... my grandma... her body couldn't take it when she came to Beijing, and she passed away soon after. She didn't get to enjoy any happiness."

Yang Dalin's voice was already trembling with tears.

The person in the east room also fell silent, unsure of what to say.

At this moment, an elderly woman in her fifties came out of the west room. She was not tall, and although thin, she was still quite energetic.

This is Yang Jinhai's mother, also known as Yang Dalin's second grandmother.

Hearing Yang Dalin's words, she paused for a moment, as if she had seen life and death many times before. She grabbed Yang Dalin's hand and said, "Good child, your grandma is gone and can go to heaven to enjoy happiness. She suffered too much in this world."

You need to live well, try to be positive.

Yang Dalin nodded heavily, his eyes reddening.

Yang Dalin helped the second grandmother sit down.

She was wearing a thin cotton coat, which was patched upon patched.

However, they are better off than Grandma Jinhai, who didn't even have a thin cotton coat. This couple is very filial, as they gave the elderly woman a set of thin cotton coats.