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

Gong Xuemei asked him with a charming smile, "Really? You even gave it to him. Wouldn't it be enough if the two of us gave it to one person?"

You even gave us both separate gifts. Tell me, what's the difference between yours and his?

Yang Dalin said with a smile, "In my hometown, there is a kind of sour pear that is so sour that it will make your teeth fall out if you eat it directly. However, if you steam it before eating, it is very effective in treating coughs in children and the elderly."

Brother Tian asked me to deliver a bag of sour pears to Brother Sheng, but the ones I gave you are all sweet and delicious varieties.

When I arrived, Sheng-ge was chatting with Tian-ge, their teeth aching from the sourness.

Gong Xuemei laughed when she heard this, and slapped Yang Dalin's arm: "You two are just messing with your brother Sheng. Be careful he finds out later and makes things difficult for you."

Yang Dalin protested, "Sister-in-law, I swear to God, it was all Brother Tian's idea, it has nothing to do with me. I have you backing me up, I'm not afraid."

Gong Xuemei laughed heartily: "Okay, you're really cunning, you even managed to shift the blame onto your brother Tian."

"But I'll protect you. If that Qi guy dares to cause trouble, just tell me, and I'll take care of him."

Gong Xuemei naturally didn't care about such a harmless joke.

Gong Xuemei gave Yang Dalin a detailed account of the house near their home.

Three families live in the house.

The person who moved is the original owner of that courtyard.

Only the elderly couple are left in the house, and they want to move to a smaller apartment.

I heard that heating will be available in the future.

It's easy to tidy up, and the lady of the house is in poor health, so she wanted a small, cozy house.

Their house now consists of three main rooms, two side rooms, and three east wing rooms.

The west wing and the rear building each housed two families.

Both families are good neighbors.

He was a kind person, and the three families had basically never had any major conflicts.

The two side rooms of the east wing and the main house need to be properly repaired, as they have not been inhabited for a long time.

To exchange a small area for a larger one, some money needs to be given to the other party. The money will be lent to Yang Dalin by their family and Tian Xueyi's family first.

I can pay it back slowly later, no rush.

Yang Dalin then told Gong Xuemei, "Sister-in-law, my brother Sheng just said that I've done another good deed this time, and he doesn't know how he'll reward me."

I suggested that my workplace contact a house repair team in our neighborhood to help me fix my house. The workplace would pay for it, and I would even be allowed to pick out some furniture from the neighborhood warehouse.

Gong Xuemei held a pear in her hand and played with it, not in a hurry to eat it. She said excitedly, "That's great! This way, your house won't cost much."

At most, we'll compensate them for the cost of two rooms.

"Your wife and I, along with your family, will only need to contribute a few hundred yuan."

Yang Dalin thanked Gong Xuemei again: "Thank you very much, sister-in-law. I will try my best to pay back the money next year."

Gong Xuemei slapped him again and said, "Why are you being so polite with your sister-in-law? Our two families aren't in a hurry."

You still have the money you borrowed from your neighbors in the courtyard to buy a radio, a sewing machine, and a gadget.

Let's pay them back first; we're not in a hurry.

Yang Dalin chuckled and said, "Sister-in-law, you don't know, there are too many messy things happening in our yard, so I deliberately borrowed money from some rich people. I wrote down that I would pay them back in two or three years."

They weren't in a hurry, they lent me money, and they didn't dare to cause me any trouble.

These days, the one who owes money is the boss.

Gong Xuemei laughed again: "Okay, you're really something."

"Then we're not in a rush to pay you back; you can save them up slowly."

Yang Dalin did not continue discussing the repayment with Gong Xuemei, and agreed to go see the house with his sister-in-law the next day at noon.

Then Yang Dalin prepared to go home first.

After saying goodbye to Gong Xuemei, Yang Dalin went to the bicycle parking area at the freight station. Taking advantage of the absence of anyone, he released the bicycle from his storage space, found his own car, and tied the large basket of pears to it.

Only then did he ride his bike out of the freight station.

As Yang Dalin passed by the security office at the gate, he poured another bag of pears for his colleagues there.

Sometimes they also accompany the trucks, and it's important to maintain good relationships with these colleagues.

Security personnel are generally not sent by small long-distance bus fleets in urban and suburban areas.

Judging from what Qi Desheng said, it seems that they will likely send security personnel to accompany them as much as possible from now on.

Because there have been more and more road safety issues lately, the security department has had to carry guns and accompany vehicles. Moreover, it is always Yang Dalin who leads the drivers to achieve merit, which makes the security department very uncomfortable.

Having the security department send someone along would prevent a major accident from happening.

Yang Dalin left the freight station and went to the train station square, where he found Ma San, who was waiting for work.

When Ma San saw that Yang Dalin had returned and there was a basket on the cart, he wanted to help carry it home.

Yang Dalin refused him: "You don't need to do it. A basket of pears doesn't weigh much. I'll just take it with me. Don't delay your wait for work. I'll give you two to eat first. You don't need to come to the station tonight. Just go home. I'll treat you to something nice tonight."

After saying goodbye to Ma San, Yang Dalin had just ridden onto the main road home when he remembered that he hadn't gone to Brother Tian's house yet.

I turned around and went to Brother Tian's house again, bringing him some pears, apples, and a braised chicken.

He also thanked Sister Tian for offering to lend him money to buy a new house.

Like Gong Xuemei, Sister-in-law Tian loved to laugh and said it was no big deal. Besides, you're Brother Tian's apprentice, so it's only right for a master's wife to be good to her apprentice.

On his way home, Yang Dalin thought to himself that both of his sisters-in-law were nice and understanding.

In the future, if there's something delicious, please give it to them more often.

When Yang Dalin returned to courtyard number 95, many people who were at work or school were not home.

Several old women were gossiping while doing handicrafts in front of Yan Laokou's house.

When Yang Ruihua saw Yang Dalin returning with a basket on his back, she took the initiative to come over and help Yang Dalin hold the cart.

"Dalinzi is back from his business trip. What did you bring? It's so heavy. Let me help you."

Does this move look familiar? It's exactly the same as Yan Laokou's.

Now that Yan Laokou has gone to work, it's Yang Ruihua's turn to demonstrate.

Yang Dalin greeted everyone with a smile.

This basket of pears is meant to be displayed openly for everyone to see.

It doesn't matter how many neighbors there are in the courtyard.

Otherwise, if I were to share this huge basket with my neighbors, I would seem rather stingy.

Many neighbors will share some of their things with their close neighbors.

However, since Old Man Yan had lent him money, it would seem petty of him to only give it to those he was close to and not to his family.

So Yang Dalin took the basket down and slowly placed it on the ground, saying, "I went back to my hometown on my way on a business trip and picked up some pears."

Dear aunties, ladies, let me give you a few to try.

There are many people in our compound, so distributing them by the number of people isn't appropriate. I'll distribute them by household, five per family. Those with fewer people can have an extra bite, and those with more people shouldn't feel left out.

Yang Dalin lifted the straw mat and gave each of the old women in the front yard five pears.

Among them was Jia Zhangshi, but Qin Huairu was not seen. Jia Zhangshi accepted the pear and thanked Yang Dalin with a normal expression.

Yang Ruihua took the five pears, compared them, and picked out a smaller one. He then took the initiative to exchange it for a larger one from the basket, saying, "This one is a bit small, I'll exchange it for Da Linzi. Thank you so much. It's really not easy to get some fruit in Beijing these days."

"You brought quite a lot, Da Linzi. Look how much you still have left. How about..."

After saying this, Yang Ruihua still looked at Yang Dalin's large basket of pears.

What, you're still not satisfied?