Siheyuan: I am different He Yuzhu

After riding his bicycle back home, He Yuzhu did not rush to rest, but sat on a chair and thought about what to do next. He thought: "The workers will be sweating and thirsty. I have to prepare some tea for them in advance."

He Yuzhu got up and walked to the living room, took out an exquisite teapot from the cabinet, opened a drawer beside it, and put a handful of summer tea that he had made himself in the blessed land into the pot. Then, he picked up the thermos and carefully poured the boiling water into the teapot.

After finishing all this, He Yuzhu nodded with satisfaction. He knew that in this way, when the masters arrived, the temperature of the tea would be just right for drinking. They only needed to pour it gently to taste the cool and refreshing tea, which would relieve the fatigue and thirst brought by work.

After making tea, He Yuzhu did not stop his busy pace. He walked briskly to the small courtyard in front of the kitchen, walked into the storage room, picked up a shovel, and began to dig in the yard. He thought to himself: "Anyway, there is nothing to do now, why not help the masters dig part of the earth pit first, so that when they come, they can save a lot of effort!"

He Yuzhu waved the shovel vigorously and hummed a cheerful little song: "In the small yard, digging and digging, planting small seeds, and small flowers bloom. In the big garden, digging and digging, planting big seeds, and big flowers bloom. In the extra-large garden, digging and digging, planting extra-large seeds, and extra-large flowers bloom..."

Just when He Yuzhu was digging hard, he suddenly heard the voice of the third aunt from the front yard: "He Yuzhu, someone is looking for you!" He put down the shovel in his hand, stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead, muttering in confusion: "Who would come to see me at this time? Didn't I just tell Yangshi Lei to come directly with his men?" With full of questions in his mind, He Yuzhu walked to the front yard, wanting to see who the visitor was.

He Yuzhu came to the front yard and saw the third aunt standing in the yard. He asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Third aunt, who is looking for me? Where is the person?"

"There are three people who say they are working for your family and are standing outside the gate waiting for you!" Aunt Three answered immediately.

As soon as He Yuzhu heard it, he knew that it was Yangshi Lei and his team, and he immediately walked towards the gate of the courtyard. As soon as he walked out of the gate, he saw Yangshi Lei and two middle-aged men standing in the corner. There were shovels and other tools at the feet of the two men. He Yuzhu immediately said enthusiastically: "Master Lei, you are here, follow me in quickly." He Yuzhu explained to Yangshi Lei as he walked: "I'm sorry, Master Lei, the one who stopped you just now is the wife of the uncle who manages the front yard of our courtyard. I forgot to tell her when I came back that we generally don't let outsiders in our courtyard unless they are brought in by someone in the yard."

"It's okay. There are many people living in your courtyard. It would be better to have someone watching the gate." Yangshi Lei said sympathetically.

He Yuzhu led the three people directly to the small courtyard of his kitchen. When Jia Zhang saw He Yuzhu and the three people directly enter the small courtyard of her house, she immediately stood in the courtyard and shouted: "He Yuzhu, what are you looking for these people for? Are you here to dig a cellar?"

He Yuzhu heard Jia Zhang's voice and said to Yangshi Lei, "Master Lei, the three of you should dig down along the place where I am digging. I will go out to deal with this old woman and will be back soon." After that, He Yuzhu left the yard and said to Jia Zhang standing in the yard unhappily, "Aunt Jia, what can I do for you? I invite others to work in my house, so there is no need for me to report to you, right?"

"Zhu Zi, didn't you promise me that you would let my family use your cellar after it was dug? You dug the cellar in your yard, and your yard is usually locked. Now that my vegetables are placed in your cellar, how can I get them?" Jia Zhang said righteously.

"Aunt Jia, when did I ever agree to let your family use my cellar?" He Yuzhu couldn't help but find it funny after hearing what Jia Zhang said, so he patiently asked Jia Zhang back.

"When you were walking around in the yard this afternoon, I asked you what you were doing. You said you were digging a cellar. I told you to dig a bigger one so that my family could use it later. Didn't you say we'd talk about it later? So that means you agree to let my family use your cellar." Jia Zhang said seriously.

He Yuzhu patiently listened to Jia Zhang's serious nonsense. After listening, He Yuzhu couldn't help but praise Jia Zhang's bandit logic in his heart, but on the surface he smiled and said to Jia Zhang: "Aunt Jia, you said it all. I said I would talk about it later, but I didn't directly agree to let you use my cellar. Now I tell you, the small yard in front of my kitchen is small, and I can't dig such a big cellar. After the cellar is built, it can probably only store the vegetables I buy in winter, so your family can't use my cellar in the future."

"Then you won't dig in the corner to the north of my house. That place is big." Jia Zhang said unwillingly.

"That place is big, but I don't have enough money to dig such a big cellar. How about we two families split the money equally. If you agree to pay half, Aunt Jia, I will dig the cellar to the north of your house as you said. What do you think?" He Yuzhu said with a smile.

When Jia Zhang heard He Yuzhu wanted her to pay, she turned around and ran home, saying as she walked, "My family has no money. If you want to dig, you can do it yourself."

He Yuzhu looked at Jia Zhang's fleeing back, and couldn't help but despise Jia Zhang in his heart: "Jia Zhang, you old woman Yu, you still want to take advantage of your master Zhu, bah." Thinking of this, He Yuzhu smiled and shook his head and returned to the main hall of his house, carrying a teapot in one hand and a thermos in the other hand, and came to the small courtyard in front of the kitchen. He Yuzhu put the teapot and thermos in front of the kitchen door, turned into the kitchen, took out two porcelain bowls and put them next to the teapot, and then said to the three people who were working: "Masters, if you are thirsty while working, the teapot contains the tea I prepared for you. It has been cooled down and can be drunk directly. Master Lei, please stop your work first, I want to talk to you about something."

Yangshi Lei stopped what he was doing and came to He Yuzhu with a shovel, "What's wrong, Xiao He?"

"Let me tell you how I build this cellar. You have seen where I dug. Dig 2 meters down from where I dug, and 2 meters on each side. Then I will surround the cellar with blue bricks and pave the bottom of the cellar with bluestone slabs. The height inside the cellar will be 2 meters. The top will also be covered with stone slabs, leaving a -foot square opening in the middle. Then I will cover the stone slabs with soil." He Yuzhu described his ideas to Yangshi Lei facing the excavated area.

After listening to He Yuzhu's words, Yangshi Lei thought for a while and said, "I understand what you said. It's not complicated to build your cellar. You just need to use some blue bricks. The main thing is that it will take some effort to make the stone slabs at the bottom and top. However, the span of your cellar is a bit large. If you use stone slabs, you need to use some wood in the middle to support it. Unfortunately, cement and steel bars are not easy to handle. It's easiest to use cement and steel bars directly. By the way, what are you going to use as the lid for the hole in the middle?"

"Master Lei, this is not the first time we have dealt with each other. After you listen to my ideas, just do it according to your own experience. After all, you are an expert in the field of construction, and I am just a layman. Make the hole in the middle with stone, like the hole of a sewer. My sister is a little young, and if you use other materials, I am afraid that she will open the cellar one day and fall into it, which will be troublesome. You calculate how much this cellar will cost, and I will pay you. As usual, I will not take care of your lunch, 5000 yuan per person per day."

Yangshi Lei thought for a moment, then whispered in He Yuzhu's ear: "Xiao He, we are old acquaintances. Your cellar is built underground, so there is no need to use new bricks. If you don't care so much, I will use old bricks to build it for you. If you use old bricks for this cellar, you only need to give me 40 yuan for the materials and labor. Of course, if you don't like it, just ignore what I said."

"Master Lei, I just don't know where the old bricks come from? Are they enough?" He Yuzhu asked curiously after hearing what Yangshi Lei said.

"Wasn't there a war a few years ago? Some courtyards were blown up, and I picked up some bricks and put them at home." Yangshi Lei's heart moved, and he suddenly remembered the gold bricks paved in the Forbidden City in his collection and said, "Oh, I have a few gold bricks at home. Why don't you use gold bricks instead of stone slabs for the top and bottom of your cellar? I will make you two more wooden supports in the cellar, and you don't need to find a stonemason to make custom stone slabs. In this way, I can build your cellar for you tomorrow, and I will charge you 40 yuan. What do you think?"

"It's no problem to pave the bottom with gold bricks, and we also use gold bricks on the top. Are the gold bricks that big? What if water seeps into the gap between the two gold bricks?" He Yuzhu asked the doubts in his heart after listening to Yangshi Lei's words.

"Don't worry about that. The largest gold brick in my house is two feet two. Three of them are just enough to cover your cellar. I'll get you a piece of tarpaulin to cover the gold bricks to ensure that not a drop of water will leak." After hearing He Yuzhu's question, Yangshi Lei laughed and gave his solution.

"Okay, then let's do as you say, Master Lei. I'll go back to the house and get you the money." He Yuzhu got up and walked to the main room. After a while, He Yuzhu took out 43 RMB and handed it to Yangshi Lei. "Master Lei, this is the wages for this cellar. The extra money is the wages for the three of you for the past two days. I will talk to the aunt in the front yard today. You can just bring the bricks tomorrow. I won't lock the gate of this small yard tomorrow."

Yang Shilei happily took the money He Yuzhu handed over and counted it. After counting, he gave He Yuzhu a thumbs up and said, "Xiao He, you haven't changed at all in all these years. You are still so generous."

"Master Lei, you are too kind." He Yuzhu responded with a smile. Suddenly, He Yuzhu had an idea. Why not take this opportunity to ask Yangshi Lei to help look at the house he lives in and see if he can build a toilet in it. "Master Lei, come out with me."