Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

It was hard to imagine that this was the residence of an eighth-level fitter. In the entire courtyard, no, in the entire steel mill, the number of people with higher salaries than Yi Zhonghai could be counted on one hand. Yi Zhonghai had no children, but even at an old age he had a pension. He was the only one who knew where all the money he had saved had gone.

Seeing the deaf old lady coming, Yi Zhonghai immediately stood up to greet her. According to the arrangement of the neighborhood committee, Yi Zhonghai took care of the deaf old lady's life in the courtyard. In return, Yi Zhonghai could get half of the low-income security of the deaf old lady. In the original work, the deaf old lady was called a five-guarantee household, which is debatable. The 1956 "National Agricultural Development Outline (Draft)" first proposed the concept of five-guarantee households, and Article of the draft mentioned: "In implementing the five-guarantee system, agricultural cooperatives should make unified arrangements for lonely and widowed elderly people who lack labor and have no one to rely on in life, and provide them with production and life care, including providing food, clothing, fuel, educating children and young people, and taking charge of funeral affairs to ensure that they have support for life, death and burial." The five-guarantee system is implemented within the agricultural cooperative. The deaf old lady is a native of Beijing, how could she be a five-guarantee household?

Therefore, there must be other reasons behind the deaf old lady getting special care from the street office and becoming the ancestor in the courtyard. Taking care of the deaf old lady was a task assigned by the street office, and Yi Zhonghai couldn't refuse even if he wanted to refuse. What's more, he had his own plans. The deaf old lady's family was well-off, and after she died, he would have the opportunity to share part of the inheritance.

"Oh, the old lady is here? Have you eaten yet?"

The deaf old lady looked at Yi Zhonghai and shook her head secretly. She moved into this compound a few years earlier than Yi Zhonghai. As neighbors for decades, how could she not know Yi Zhonghai's character? If he was said to be a wicked person, it was not entirely true. In his early years, Yi Zhonghai was indeed an upright and warm-hearted person. However, since the old lady was found to be infertile, he became a little obsessed, and his mind was full of looking for someone to take care of him in his old age. Why was he interested in the pillar?

The deaf old lady had long regarded He Yuzhu as her own son. To be precise, He Yuzhu was actually her grandson. This matter dates back to 1950, when various places began to divide class origins. Tan family cuisine is royal cuisine, how could it be learned by generations of poor peasants? He Daqing must have an extraordinary background. It was only later that his family fell into decline, and his property was plundered by the rebels during the war, which led to his decline. Before liberation, he had set up a steamed bun stall on the street. In order to avoid trouble, He Daqing, under the persuasion of the deaf old lady, forged his background. What he didn't know was that the class identification was traced back three years, and past mistakes would not be pursued. Therefore, He Daqing's family of three generations were hired workers, and they had no extra real estate, so there was no problem with their identity as hired workers.

Then, the deaf old lady revealed some news to He Daqing through Yi Zhonghai. She said that He Daqing's forged identity had been known. He Daqing was immediately panicked. In addition, he had an emotional entanglement with the White Widow at that time. He originally held the attitude of "life is precious, children are more valuable, if it is for the sake of a widow, both can be abandoned." So he planned to abandon He Yuzhu and He Yushui and elope with the White Widow. The deaf old lady seized the opportunity, gave He Daqing a sum of money, and promised to take care of He Yuzhu and He Yushui. The condition was that He Daqing must write down the documents according to the old rules. It seems that He Yuzhu has been regarded as the grandson of the deaf old lady. Otherwise, why is the deaf old lady only particularly good to He Yuzhu and calls him a good grandson all day long?

He Daqing only went to Baoding, not overseas like the Lou family. He didn't come back to visit He Yuzhu and He Yushui for so many years, wasn't it because he was worried that the forged origin would be exposed? The deaf old lady did this because she saw that Yi Zhonghai was unreliable. She also hoped that He Yuzhu could help her in her old age. Moreover, she had never had children in her life, and she had watched He Yuzhu grow up and had long regarded him as her own son. Therefore, she would never allow Yi Zhonghai to ruin He Yuzhu's marriage.

Facing the hand extended by Yi Zhonghai, the deaf old lady dodged it directly, paused with her cane, and said, "Old Yi, I have arranged a marriage for Zhuzi, and Weidong is now proposing marriage. You are the elder, so you have to take the trouble to help deal with the affairs in the courtyard."

Yi Zhonghai frowned upon hearing this. If it was only the deaf old lady who came to visit, he might not think much of it. But he got wind of the news that Li Weidong was coming to propose marriage for Teacher Liang, and his heart suddenly sank.

As soon as Yi Zhonghai heard Li Weidong's name, he immediately realized that something was wrong.

"Madam, I haven't heard anything. Please be careful!"

The deaf old lady said calmly: "Don't worry, I have walked across more bridges than you have walked on roads. I am not stupid, how could I be fooled so easily?"

Yi Zhonghai smiled awkwardly and said, "That's true, but important matters like marriage proposal should be handled by me. Young people are not reliable and can't do things. What does Li Weidong know? Qin Huairu's cousin, right? Forget it, I'd better go and ask in person to avoid trouble again."

Yi Zhonghai was about to go out after he finished speaking, but before he had taken a few steps, he was stopped by the deaf old lady.

"stop!"

"Ma'am, what else do you want?"

"I've already said that this matter will be left to Li Weidong. I believe in this child, and Zhuzi is not going to marry Qin Huairu's cousin."

Yi Zhonghai frowned and asked, "If it's not Qin Huairu's cousin, then who could it be?"

The deaf old lady smiled and said, "Don't worry about this. Just take care of the yard and I'll take care of the rest."

This made Yi Zhonghai very dissatisfied, but he did not dare to confront the deaf old lady head-on.

Are you kidding? If you make the deaf old lady angry, who will bear the consequences?

Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to agree temporarily, wondering in his heart who He Yuzhu would marry.

For others, this choice has little impact, but it is very important to Yi Zhonghai.

Because he has already listed He Yuzhu as his retirement recipient.

If He Yuzhu married a strong wife, how would his plan go?

In his opinion, Qin Huairu's cousin Qin Jingru was the most suitable candidate.

This woman is simple-minded and easy to control.

At first, Yi Zhonghai even wanted to bring He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu together.

With Qin Huairu's personality, she will definitely keep He Yuzhu under tight control, and he may very well become a family without a son like him.

When the time comes, it will be easy for him to let He Yuzhu take care of him in his old age.

But now everything has become chaotic.

After sending the deaf old lady away, Yi Zhonghai thought more and more that something was wrong, so he turned to the aunt and said, "Old lady, go and find out what's going on with Sha Zhu's marriage. He was about to get married with Qin Jingru, but how could this suddenly happen? I don't think it's right."

As Yi Zhonghai's bedmate, Auntie naturally understood his thoughts.

And she is more anxious than Yi Zhonghai, after all, Yi Zhonghai still has income.

If Yi Zhonghai passed away before her, she would be left alone.

"Okay, I'll go find out."

As she spoke, she took off her apron and went out.

He Yuzhu and Han Zhizhi's affair was kept very secret. If it hadn't happened last night, he might not have decided to marry Han Zhizhi. Currently, only He Yuzhu, Li Weidong, Yu Li and the deaf old lady know about this. Even He Yuzhu's sister He Yushui doesn't know because she was recently sent to study and hasn't been home for many days.

The old lady asked almost all the residents in the yard, but still got nothing. This incident aroused the curiosity and attention of some people, such as Yan Bugui, who had given up on the matter between Qin Jingru and Yan Jiecheng, but after hearing that He Yuzhu was getting married, his mind became active again. Given the opportunity to choose, he naturally would not fancy Yan Jiecheng, but what if there were no other choices? Yan Bugui thought he should seize this opportunity, but in order to avoid trouble for his family, he decided to get rid of Cuihua first to prevent Yan Jiecheng from pestering the half-hidden woman again.

On the contrary, after careful consideration, the second uncle Liu Haizhong felt that there was nothing to do with this matter, so he turned around and put it behind him. Now that Xu Damao was arrested, there was no one to support him in the yard, and the second uncle felt a little bored.

"Xiao Han, the He family's gifts are all here. You should notify your parents as soon as possible and ask them to come to Beijing." Li Weidong said.

"Okay, Master, I'll send a message to them right away and ask them to take the earliest train." Han Zhizhi was very happy.

Last night, under the influence of alcohol, Han Zhizhi pushed He Yuzhu down twice. If she were to try again, she might still do it. For a strong girl like her, as long as she could capture He Yuzhu's heart, it would belong to her sooner or later, and other things didn't matter.

Li Weidong was about to leave when he suddenly remembered that there was something important that he hadn't mentioned. "By the way, Xiao Han, regarding the betrothal gift, you can first understand your parents' thoughts so that He Yuzhu will have an idea. Otherwise, if the gift is too little, it will cause a conflict and that won't be good."

When Han Zhizhi heard this, her expression instantly became tangled. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "Master, my family is not well off, so I can only come up with about 2888 yuan. I'll get some more myself. How about yuan?"

Li Weidong frowned when he heard this. 2888 yuan was an astronomical figure at the time. Even if he sold He Yuzhu, he couldn't afford the money. When he married Yu Li, the betrothal gift was only 88 yuan, which was considered normal at the time. Li Weidong wanted to tell Han Zhizhi that the money was too much, but then he found something wrong. What did Han Zhizhi say just now? Her family couldn't afford so much money? Was she going to give He Yuzhu a betrothal gift, or 2888 yuan?

Li Weidong's eyes suddenly changed when he looked at Han Zhizhi. How come he hadn't realized that the girl in front of him was actually a very wealthy woman? He Yuzhu was so lucky. After marrying Han Zhizhi, his life would definitely improve in the future!