Siheyuan: I am different He Yuzhu

After cleaning up the kitchen, He Yuzhu returned to the house to take a nap. When he woke up, he was going to chat with Zhang Hu and the others. They had been working at the scrap yard for more than four months, and they usually went to Zhang Hu to collect debts at a fixed time. It was rare that he had time today, so he took the opportunity to chat with them to see how their work was going and whether they had received any valuables.

He Yuzhu woke up at 1:6am when the alarm clock woke him up. He Yuzhu woke up Yushui who was sleeping with him. After washing their faces, He Yuzhu rode his bicycle with Yushui to Chunshu Hutong. Because He Yuzhu had informed Zhang Hu in advance and asked the six people to wait for him at home on the weekend afternoon to talk to him, the six people were waiting in the house that He Yuzhu rented to them in Chunshu Hutong.

After He Yuzhu pushed the cart into the yard, he said to He Yushui beside him, "Yushui, can you play in the yard by yourself for a while? Big brother wants to discuss something with someone."

He Yushui nodded obediently. He Yuzhu touched Yushui's head and Yushui ran to the side to play with stones. He Yuzhu called a few people to the back house in the south. He Yuzhu asked them to find a place to sit down. He Yuzhu waited for them to sit down before speaking.

"You guys have been working for almost 5 months now. How do you feel? Are you used to the job?"

Zhang Hu, Wang Chao, Ma Han and others looked at each other and started laughing.

"Looking at the looks of you guys, it seems that you have done a good job and tasted the sweetness. You have fallen in love with this job. Tell us about your feelings about your work. Zhang Hu, you go first." He Yuzhu pointed at Zhang Hu. The looks of several people reminded He Yuzhu of the law of true fragrance proposed by the famous philosopher Wang Jingze in later generations.

Zhang Hu touched the back of his head. "Although the job of collecting junk sounds bad, and you may get dirty after a whole day, but when you really do it, you are right, brother Zhuzi, there are many tricks in it. When we go back to report the things we received, the price given to us by the junk station is a little higher than the price we charge for ordinary people, which allows us to have a certain profit margin. Moreover, when we go out to collect junk, we set the price of some things ourselves. When we go back to hand them over to the junk station, the station will give us a separate price based on the quality of the things. In short, if we do it well in a month, we can make more than 30 yuan in extra income alone. With the monthly salary, we can make more than yuan a month."

"As long as you don't mind your job and don't embarrass yourself by telling others, don't spread the fact that the scrap yard gave you the price difference. This is the private rule of your industry. Once outsiders know about it, you will be breaking the rules of the industry and you will probably not be able to do your job. The best way is to make a fortune quietly. Don't show off or spend your money recklessly. You are old enough to get married soon, and I will personally prepare your wedding banquet when the time comes."

"We won't tell anyone about this. If it weren't for your guidance, Brother Zhuzi, we wouldn't have known that although the job of collecting junk is embarrassing, it can actually bring in so much extra income. In a few years, when my younger brother grows up and is old enough, I plan to let him work in the scrap yard and collect junk with me." Liu Changchuan said formally.

"You are going to become a rag collector. By the way, if the company distributes houses, remember to apply. Although you have a house now, the house distributed by the company will be yours as long as you keep working for the company. It may not be as big as the house you rent now, but its nature is different. Have you found any treasures in the past few months? If so, bring them out so that I can see them and broaden my horizons."

Several people were waiting for He Yuzhu to say these words. After He Yuzhu finished speaking, several people ran back to their rooms to find out the treasures they had saved when collecting scraps, intending to ask He Yuzhu to help check on their treasures.

Zhang Hu came in first, carrying a bundle of books. "Brother Zhuzi, these are some relatively good books I picked out when I was collecting junk. What do you think of them?"

He Yuzhu untied the rope, picked up a book and flipped through it. He took a quick look at the contents of the book and found it was a miscellaneous book from the Qing Dynasty. While He Yuzhu was reading, several other people came back with their treasures. Wang Chao took two porcelain bottles, with the inscription on the bottom saying "made in the reign of Emperor Qianlong", Ma Han took a porcelain bowl with the inscription "made in the reign of Emperor Kangxi", Zhao Dashan took a bronze mirror with some rust, Yang Shulin took a snuff bottle, and Liu Changchuan took a large vase with the inscription "made in the reign of Emperor Chenghua".

"What are you going to do with the things you collected? Are you going to keep them for yourself or find someone to sell them to? I suggest that you keep them for now and then find someone who knows the business to take a look and estimate the value. Then you can decide whether to keep or sell them. What do you think?" He Yuzhu said after looking at the things of several people.

"We'll listen to Brother Zhuzi. When someone gives us an estimate of the price, we'll just sell it to you, Brother Zhuzi."

"Brother Zhuzi, if you want the books I collected, I will just sell them to you."

"Okay, what's your price?"

"I charge 2000 yuan per kilogram of waste paper." Zhang Hu said embarrassedly.

"I don't see what's so special about your pile of books. I'll charge you 5000 yuan per pound. In the future, when you receive books of this quality, I'll charge you 5000 yuan per pound. Find a scale to weigh the weight, and I'll give you the money after that. You can just put it in my yard in Qudeng Hutong."

"No need to find a scale, I weighed it before and it's 15 kilograms in total."

"Since you have weighed it, there is no need to bother anymore. Here is the money. Keep it." He Yuzhu took out the money from his pocket and handed it to Zhang Hu.

Zhang Hu took the money happily, while the people next to him were envious. They made a fortune just by reselling a pile of books. If they had known that they would hand over all the books to the station instead of trying to save trouble, they could have earned tens of thousands of dollars.

"Okay, I heard that there is an old man named Guan in the Zhengyang Gate area. It seems that his ancestor was a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty who was the governor of the Nine Gates. If you have time, go and ask him about it. It seems that this old man is good at antiques. Tell me when you find out. I want to see if I can ask him to give you some advice."

"Starting next month, we can supply 2000 kilograms of eggs per week. You can work together to figure out how to sell them."

Several people immediately became excited when they heard this. Zhang Hu was the first to speak: "Brother Zhuzi, is this temporary or long-term?"

"In the long term, it may increase in the future, and eventually stabilize at around 3500 kilograms a week. What's wrong? Are you asking this because you're worried that there will be too much to sell?"

"No, Brother Zhuzi, how could we complain that we can't sell all the eggs? We are worried that there will be too many eggs at the moment and there will be no more in the future. When we were working with you, didn't you say that you would give us a commission of 500 yuan per pound of eggs? Now the weekly volume has doubled, and the commission we can get can also double. We are very happy, don't you think so?"

Several people nodded quickly. He Yuzhu looked at their expressions and then remembered that the material shortage in this era was not as abundant as in later times. No matter how many materials there were, there would be no worries about not being able to digest them. After a few years of waiting for the era of bills to come, there would be no need to worry about not being able to sell any food.

"Will the commission remain the same as before?" Zhang Hu thought for a moment and asked cautiously.

"The commission is still the same as before, it should be how much. But I still say that you must pay attention to safety when selling eggs and don't attract the attention of the relevant departments. It will be troublesome if you are caught, do you understand?" He Yuzhu reminded them again.

"Brother Zhuzi, don't worry. Even if we are caught, we will not betray you. If you hadn't given us food to eat back then, we would have starved to death. If anyone dares to betray you, I will never let him go." Zhang Hu looked at several people with a fierce face and said.

Several people followed suit and said, "Even if they are arrested, they will take the responsibility alone and ensure that He Yuzhu will not be implicated."

"Just pay more attention to it. I'll see if I can get some new supplies. Eggs alone are too simple. Follow me and work hard. I will never treat you unfairly. When I get more supplies, I will probably find a few more brothers to do it. It's not that I think you earn too much, but when the shipment volume is large, it will be easy to attract other people's attention if you just rely on a few of you. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

He Yuzhu looked at the people and shook his head. "If everything is fine, I'll leave. If there's anything urgent, tell Zhang Hu. Zhang Hu, go find me at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang. I made these two roast chickens and brought them to satisfy your cravings." He Yuzhu handed the roast chicken wrapped in kraft paper to Zhang Hu.

"Yushui, stop playing. We have finished talking about big brother. We are leaving now. You guys don't have to see us off."

He Yushui picked up the stones and put them in her pocket, then trotted to He Yuzhu. He Yuzhu pushed the bicycle towards the gate. After they got out of the gate, He Yuzhu picked up He Yushui and put her on the child seat on the crossbar of the bicycle. He got on the bicycle, pedaled away, and said to He Yushui while walking on the road.

"Yushui, you will have summer vacation in half a month. During the summer vacation, will you follow me to my steel mill to play every day, or will I send you to my master Wu Baotian's home so that you can play with Sister Xiangyun?"

"Brother, I want to go to Uncle Wu's house to play with Sister Xiangyun." He Yushui answered without thinking.

"Okay, when the time comes, I'll send you to my master's house before I go to work, and then pick you up after get off work. But you have to behave yourself when you're at someone else's house."

"I've always been very well behaved, big brother."

"Yes, my sister Yu Shui has always been a good child. I am sorry for what I said, big brother."

"It's okay, hehe." He Yushui said mischievously.

"Brother, let me take you to buy some candy."

"Big brother is the best."

He Yuzhu looked at He Yushui who was smiling brightly. Although his adoptive father He Daqing had passed away, He Yushui was not affected at all under his care, which made He Yuzhu feel very relieved.

He Yuzhu took He Yushui to the department store and bought a pound of hard candy. On the way home, He Yuzhu gave He Yushui some instructions.

"Yushui, you can only eat three pieces of candy a day from now on. Eating too much candy will damage your teeth. Your teeth will be infested with worms and they will damage your teeth. You will have trouble speaking and you will become like a toothless old woman."

"Then if I listen to you and only eat three candies a day, my teeth won't get rotten, brother."

"Yes, as long as Yu Shui listens to his elder brother and eats three candies every day, his teeth will not get damaged. He also has to brush his teeth every day."

"Brother, look at that man, he looks like our father. Is it our father who has returned with his stepmother?"

He Yuzhu looked in the direction of He Yushui's finger. There was indeed a man in the corner who looked very similar to his father He Daqing. He Yuzhu rode his bicycle towards the man. When he got to the man, He Yuzhu took a closer look. He found that the man was not his cheap father He Daqing. The man looked younger than his father He Daqing, and looked to be in his early 20s. Judging from the man's clothes, he should be a laborer.

"Master, may I ask what your name is?"

"My name is Cai Quanwu. What do you want to talk to me about?" When Cai Quanwu heard someone calling him, he immediately raised his head, stood up and looked at He Yuzhu standing in front of him on a bicycle with a puzzled look on his face.

"Nothing. My sister saw you just now and said that you look a bit like my dad, so I came to take a look. It turns out that you really do look like my dad, but you are much younger than my dad. Maybe you are related to our family."

He Yuzhu got off his bicycle and stood on the ground holding onto it. He Yushui took out a candy from his pocket and handed it to Cai Quanwu, "Uncle, have some candy."

Cai Quanwu took the candy handed over by He Yushui, peeled off the candy skin, put it in his mouth, and said to He Yushui with a smile: "Thank you, little girl, this candy is really sweet. What is your father's name and what does he do?"

"My father's name is He Daqing. He's a cook. Have you heard of him? My name is He Yuzhu, and this is my sister He Yushui."

"Did your ancestors cook Tan's dishes?" Cai Quanwu said excitedly after hearing He Yuzhu's words.

"How do you know that my ancestors cooked Tan's cuisine?" He Yuzhu looked at Cai Quanwu in shock.

"Our two families are indeed relatives. When my mother was still alive, she told me that she had a sister who was a dozen years older than her and married a cook named He. The cook's family cooked Tan's dishes, but they lost contact due to the war. I wonder if your grandmother's surname was Guo, and her name was Guo Chunhua. When my mother passed away, she told me to find her eldest sister when I had the chance. If her eldest sister was gone, I should check on how her descendants were doing. In the past few years, I have been asking around in Sijiu City for a cook who could cook Tan's dishes, but many people I asked didn't know."

"Yes, my grandmother's name is Guo Chunhua. She passed away when I was very young. I don't even remember what she looked like. After the Beiyang government was gone, my family stopped cooking the traditional Tan family dishes. My father even switched to Sichuan cuisine, so it's hard for you to find out. So according to what you said, you are my father's cousin. According to seniority, I should call you uncle."

He Yuzhu never expected that when he just took He Yushui shopping to buy some candy, he would meet a long-lost relative on the street. He couldn't help but sigh at the magic of fate.

"Where is your father now? Can you take me to see your father?" Cai Quanwu was very excited to meet his long-lost cousin and his family on the street.

"My father estimates that you won't be able to see your uncle for a while. If it's convenient for you, come with me to my house to get acquainted with the place first, and then we can talk slowly when we get home."

So He Yuzhu asked Cai Quanwu to sit on the back seat of his bicycle and took Cai Quanwu to the courtyard house No. 95.