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

When Yang Dalin turned to go home, Sha Zhu came over and said a few words to him.

"Thanks, brother. I think that bastard Xu Damao is just up to no good. I'm not going to cook for him."

Yang Dalin replied, "Don't mention it, it's nothing serious. Go home and have dinner."

When they returned to the Qi family home, Aunt Qi had already served the meal.

After finishing his meal, Ma San left.

The Qi sisters are washing the dishes.

Aunt Qi called Yang Dalin to the south room, took a handkerchief from under her pillow and handed it to him.

When Yang Dalin opened it, he found a roll of money.

Yang Dalin asked, "Auntie, what are you doing?"

Qi Yulan said, "There is a total of 600 yuan here. There is 320 yuan that you have given me in installments, 260 yuan that I have saved, and 20 yuan that Ma San left with me to help him save."

I told Ma San before he came back at noon today that I must give you his money. I can't help you with anything else. He asked me to give you all the money he deposited for him.

If that's not enough, just sell his yellow croaker.

He'll raise the rest for you.

Yang Dalin was quite touched; his aunt treated him like her own son.

It wasn't for nothing that I recognized Ma San as my brother.

Yang Dalin counted the money, rolled it up neatly, and handed it to Aunt Qi: "Auntie, you keep it, I don't need it."

Qi Yulan didn't take the money and asked, "How could you not need it? I heard from your sister-in-law Xuemei that you need to subsidize someone else's house with 1,100 yuan?"

Yang Dalin smiled and comforted his somewhat anxious aunt, saying, "Auntie, didn't my sister-in-law Xuemei and sister-in-law Tian tell you that their two families would help me raise the money?"

You don't need to take this money. I paid the 500 yuan deposit myself today. The other two families will help me with the remaining 600 yuan, and I'll pay them back slowly. Keep the money at home; don't touch it.

Aunt Qi then said, "That won't do. Where did you get that five hundred? You still owe our courtyard so much money!"

Yang Dalin whispered, "Auntie, you know my profession. It's too easy for me to make some money. Besides, have you forgotten how much I used to earn in a day? I've also hunted a lot of wild rabbits and pheasants. Do you think I haven't saved any money these past few months?"

I can pay it back myself, you don't need to worry about it.

I still have to hand over one hundred to you today.

I still have money, so you don't need to worry about it, Auntie, really.

After saying that, Yang Dalin took out more than a hundred yuan, handed the hundred yuan to Aunt Qi, and kept a few dozen yuan in change for himself.

That means he really has more than enough, so he doesn't need to touch Aunt Qi's savings.

When Aunt Qi saw Yang Dalin take out another hundred yuan and hand her another hundred yuan, she hurriedly whispered, "I don't want it, Dalin. Be careful with those wild rabbits and pheasants. Maybe we shouldn't sell them. It'll be troublesome if someone finds out."

Yang Dalin made up a lie and told her, "Auntie, don't you know what I do? I've never sold anything on the black market myself. You don't know that my Uncle Qi introduced me to his friend who's been through thick and thin with me. That guy works in the pigeon market. I just give it to him. I don't need to go to the black market."

And the group of friends I know that I mentioned to you last time, they all come from military compounds.

They're not short of money, so if I give it to them, they'd feel bad taking it for free.

Besides, who would dare to investigate those large compounds?

And there's the captain of the police station at the train station whom I know; he's openly buying up everything.

I delivered it directly to their company cafeteria. Since it was a personal transaction for a company, it wouldn't be considered profiteering. Besides, they were also experiencing a severe meat shortage there.

Don't worry, Auntie, I'm perfectly safe here.

Aunt Qi felt a little relieved after hearing Yang Dalin's words.

Aunt Qi said again, "Then I'll give you this six hundred, and we'll have the money all together at once, right?"

Why should I borrow money from Sister Xuemei and Sister Tian's family?

Yang Dalin repeated to his aunt, "Auntie, even though we're rich, we should keep a low profile."

If I suddenly take out so much money, and I've only been working for a few months, wouldn't that make people suspicious?

The 500 yuan deposit I gave today includes some of my own earnings and some that you helped me with. Don't let me know later!

Our family is wealthy, and we should lend money when necessary. Otherwise, if everyone else is poor and knows we're rich, they'll all come to you for a loan. What will you do then? We should keep a low profile and not flaunt our wealth.

And then there's Grandpa Wang's family, they won't be moving until next spring. The remaining money doesn't need to be paid now; it can be paid the day before they move out.

By then, we'll have made a lot of money again.

"I'll save up another six hundred dollars later and give it to you to keep for me. I'll ask you for forty dollars every month, and each family will pay back twenty dollars a month, for a total of fifteen months until it's all paid off. How does that plan sound?"

Aunt Qi was relieved and nodded, "Okay, we'll do it your way. But you have to be careful. If it doesn't work out, we can pay it back slowly with our combined wages."

Yang Dalin said, "Auntie, don't be stingy with your salary, spend it as you should. Did you find out that I need to pay extra for moving and that you changed the meals I eat every day while I was away from home?"

Auntie, you really shouldn't try to save this money. I know a very capable person who told me that you can't accumulate wealth by trying to save money.

The real issue is making more money.

Then think about it, if you only want to save money and are unwilling to eat or drink, while Sister Yan and Xiao Ning are still learning martial arts and ruining their health, how much will it cost to see a doctor in the future?

So, my aunt's meals can be restored to the standard I set before.

I can hunt pheasants and rabbits; do you think our family is lacking a little meat?

From now on, eat and drink as you please, and don't take anything to heart!

Aunt Qi was amused by Yang Dalin: "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. I'll keep this money. This hundred will be part of the six hundred you mentioned. I'll save it for you first, and we'll start paying back the money after we've saved up six hundred."

Yang Dalin relieved his aunt's worries before going back to wash his feet and go to bed.

The foot bath basin and thermos had already been placed in my room, and the cold water in the foot bath basin was also ready.

Yang Dalin knew that it was Sister Yanhua who had prepared it for him.

Not long after Yang Dalin arrived, he bought three more basins for the family. He didn't expect that the foot basin could also be used as a washbasin, and sometimes even as a dough mixing basin.

He has his own special foot bath basin.

He doesn't need to wash his bottom; he just needs to take regular showers.

If you're willing to spend the money, there are plenty of public bathhouses available, and their workplace even has a place to shower.

Their workplace has no shortage of coal or space. The stevedores load and unload so much cargo every day, it would be really inconvenient if they didn't build a place for them to shower.

Therefore, Yang Dalin has his own basin at home for washing his feet, hands, and face.

It wasn't that he was particular about hygiene; he was afraid that Qi Xiaoning and the others would find him unpleasant.

Since they aren't blood siblings, I specially prepared a better one.

According to Yang Dalin's original plan, he originally intended to prepare two basins for each of Aunt Qi and her daughter.

It was Aunt Qi who stopped him; that would be too high-profile and not good.

So Yang Dalin only bought them one extra foot basin. They shared one to wash their feet, while they had two for themselves: one for washing their face and hands, and one for washing their feet.