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

Yang Dalin was puzzled as to why his aunt wouldn't agree with his idea.

However, as soon as Aunt Qi mentioned it, Yang Dalin understood her concerns.

That is, if Yang Dalin proposes to convert his south-facing side room into a bathroom, can the neighbors in the yard borrow the bathroom for a while?

If you don't lend it, people will say you're stingy; if you lend it to one person, then everyone in the hospital might want to use it.

There are nearly forty or fifty adults in the entire facility, and dozens of children, with some families still having babies.

There will be more and more children.

What if they all come to borrow it?

At that time, your own bathroom might become a public bathhouse.

Aunt Qi works at the neighborhood office, but she's heard far too many unpleasant stories about people who like to take advantage of others.

For example, some families with few members converted a corner of their front door into a toilet.

As a result, it eventually became a public toilet for the entire hospital. If you didn't let them use it, they would scold you for being stingy. If you borrowed it once, they would borrow it twice.

They even make your toilet very dirty, and they don't care; you have to flush it yourself.

How bad?

Some people dug cellars, but everyone ended up using them, making it impossible for them to store their winter vegetables.

This is such a trivial matter.

Aunt Qi had heard too many stories, which is why she didn't want Yang Dalin to build a bathroom for them.

Otherwise, even if it's repaired, it'll mostly end up being used by others.

It's not that Aunt Qi is stingy, but rather that she causes a lot of trouble and annoys people.

Yes, Aunt Qi's concerns are valid.

Upon hearing this, Yang Dalin decided against it and agreed not to bother with the repairs.

It's already troublesome enough to fix it.

However, Yang Dalin suggested that if all else failed, they could build a wooden frame near the south wing and put a black-painted oil drum on it. Then, they could put a ladder next to it so that water could be dried on top.

Drill a hole in the bottom of the bucket and put water directly underneath. That way, you can carry a few buckets of water up every morning and have warm water to take a bath when you come back in the evening!

Aunt Qi still disagreed when she heard this.

The reason is the same as before: you might dry some water, but before you even use it, the kids in the yard have used it all up by the afternoon.

What can you do if people say the child is too young and doesn't understand?

Why would you chase after someone else's child and hit them?

Why would you argue with an adult over something so trivial?

It's not worth it.

Yang Dalin knew that the courtyard was still spacious now, but once many of the children in the courtyard grew up and had no place to live, and after a major earthquake, many small kitchens and earthquake shelters that many people had built would not be demolished, and the courtyard would definitely become a cramped tenement.

In the summer, the space in the yard for drying water in basins will become smaller and smaller, and more and more messy.

So even though it's a good thing, we can't do it.

Come on.

We can only ask Aunt Qi and the others to continue using basins to dry the water every day.

This matter left Yang Dalin quite frustrated.

I tried to do something good for my family with good intentions, but I couldn't.

Had to give up.

After finishing breakfast, Yang Dalin took Qi Yanhua and her sister to school.

Then he strolled over to his new house to take a look.

The house he was allocated was a bungalow he exchanged with the elderly couple surnamed Wang.

Not far from the freight station.

This place is not far from the homes of Qi Desheng and Tian Xueyi.

Old Wang and his wife moved away in the spring.

The three main rooms and the three east wing rooms all belonged to him.

Old Wang and his wife also left him a lot of old furniture.

He thought that since a bathroom couldn't be built in the courtyard of Nanluoguxiang, he could build one in his new house.

But then I realized I wouldn't have time to use it even if I made it myself.

Unless you move in yourself.

Now that I've moved in, my aunt is definitely not happy, especially since I'm often away on business trips.

Never mind, we'll talk about it later.

Yang Dalin rode his bicycle to the new home that Grandpa Wang and Grandma Wang had moved into, which was on the first floor of a residential building built by the Ministry of Railways.

There is central heating here in winter, which makes the elderly couple much more comfortable.

When they arrived at the new building, Grandpa Wang was at work and not home; only Grandma Wang was there.

Grandma Wang was very happy to see Yang Dalin.

Yang Dalin also gave some of the food he had brought with him to Aunt Wang.

Aunt Wang said kindly, "Dalinzi, I'm already very happy that you came to visit me. You don't need to bring gifts every time."

"It's alright, ma'am, I got these from hunting, they didn't cost much."

How is it feeling since you moved here?

"Are you settling in well? If you want to go back, feel free to stay there. I haven't touched the main house; when I have time, I'll stay in the east wing."

"Hey, this place is pretty good. There are few rooms, so it's easy to clean. You don't have to worry about leaks in the summer or the roof collapsing under heavy snow in the winter."

On this floor, I didn't feel it was very hot in the summer.

pretty good.

"When it gets warmer, I'll go back and stay for a while. Thank you, Dalinzi."

"Don't mention it, ma'am. I'm not in a hurry to move in right now. It's alright. An old house shouldn't be deserted forever. You can go back anytime you want."

After exchanging pleasantries with Aunt Wang for a while, Yang Dalin said goodbye to her and rode his bicycle to the courtyard.

In the spring, Wang Dama's family moved away, and the main house and east wing were completely renovated by a construction team from the nearby street that Qi Desheng hired.

The interior was painted white, as there weren't many good renovation materials available at the time.

Just paint it white, that's fine.

Yang Dalin opened all the doors and windows.

Let it air out to smell.

Then I looked at the wine stored in the cellar.

Yang Dalin locked the cellar.

He has stored a lot of wine here.

If we don't lock it, it wouldn't be good if the children of the two neighboring houses in the west wing and the back room stole the drink.

Yang Dalin brought some candy for both families' children.

According to the neighbors, Aunt Qi, Qi Desheng's wife Gong Xuemei, and Tian Xueyi's wife Liu Meimei often help with the cleaning.

No wonder, when I opened the room I found that the furniture was quite clean and there was no dust.

It used to be that someone would come to clean it regularly.

A pomegranate tree that Yang Dalin had someone plant for him on the left side of the main house entrance has already been planted.

There was a jujube tree and a grape vine planted on one side of the entrance to the east wing.

Yang Dalin really likes the idea of ​​this grapevine climbing all over the yard and hanging grapes all over the yard in the future.

It was absolutely beautiful back then.

Yang Dalin thought that since he had cleaned up the house, he had never invited Aunt Qi to stay with him for even a day. He planned to have a hot pot dinner there tonight.

My whole family will be staying here tonight.

It's my new home after all.

Instead of having dinner at Qi Desheng's house tonight, we'll change the location and have them come to our house for a hot pot meal.

I'll be staying here by myself for the night.

Aunt Qi and Ma San can also stay for one night.

The main room in the east wing was reserved for Grandpa and Grandma Wang, while Aunt Qi, Sister Yanhua, and Qi Xiaoning stayed in the west bedroom of the main room at night.

He himself lived in the north room of the east wing, while Ma San lived in the south room.

The place is very spacious.

After thinking it over, Yang Dalin went out and bought some daily necessities.

Pots, pans, and other utensils—I bought a few extra basins because of the hot weather.

Convenient for washing up at night.

Seeing a space at the junction of the main house and the east wing, Yang Dalin thought about building a wooden frame there.

There was a black-painted iron bucket on the shelf.

Water is placed inside to dry.

It's also convenient for Aunt Qi and the others to wash up in the evening.

I don't live here often, so it's fine. Let the two neighbors use it if they want.