Siheyuan, my new life

He Daqing was very afraid of the deaf old lady from the bottom of his heart. Since he was twelve years old, in addition to learning cooking from his father and master, he often sneaked to the overpass to hang out with a group of boys who practiced wrestling. He heard a lot of rumors about the underworld from them, including some stories about killing to silence people. He witnessed Mrs. Long killing two defeated soldiers with his own eyes. What if Mrs. Long wanted to kill him to silence him?

After a few days of fear and anxiety, when He Daqing heard from the casual conversation of the two doormen that Mrs. Long was planning to find a live-in son-in-law for her goddaughter, he immediately became interested.

Mrs. Long's goddaughter, Miss Xiao Cui, is pretty and gentle. In the past, He Daqing would never have dared to have any ideas about her, because as Mrs. Long's cook, he certainly knew that Miss Xiao Cui had a deep relationship with Mrs. Long and was her treasure, and someone of his status simply could not afford to marry her.

Now Madam Long was planning to recruit a live-in son-in-law for Miss Xiao Cui, but she met two men in a row, and neither of them caught her eye. Although He Daqing looked a little older than his peers because of the smoke and fire in the kitchen every day, he was tall and strong, and had no extra burden.

So He Daqing bravely found Mrs. Long and put forward his idea. In fact, He Daqing had another thought deep in his heart, that is, once he married Miss Xiao Cui, he and Mrs. Long would be a family. He believed that as long as he kept his mouth shut, Mrs. Long would not kill to silence her.

Mrs. Long was quite satisfied with He Daqing, especially when the defeated soldiers came to rob that day, He Daqing's performance made Mrs. Long particularly happy. Although he would occasionally hang out in the Eight Great Hutongs, in Mrs. Long's eyes this was just a common problem among men, so after seeking the opinion of her goddaughter, she agreed to their marriage.

If Xiao Cui had not had the accident when giving birth to Yu Shui, their family would have lived a very happy life now. Unfortunately, fate played a trick on them and Xiao Cui passed away at a young age.

Over the years, He Daqing would occasionally visit some half-closed-door houses to play, but he never thought of remarrying. The main reason was that he was afraid of the deaf old lady.

Although the old lady was nearly seventy years old, she was still in very good health. In He Daqing's eyes, the huanghuali cane she usually leaned on was probably just a show in front of outsiders.

In particular, one time the son went to the backyard to play with the old lady and saw the old lady wiping a small pistol. Although the old lady told Zhuzi not to let others know at the time, he couldn't help but tell his father after returning home.

At that time, He Daqing beat his son severely and warned him that if he dared to tell this to others again, he would break his legs.

He Daqing was not too surprised that the old lady had a gun. After all, he had seen the pistols in the hands of the two doormen with his own eyes. It was normal for the host to have a gun for self-defense. However, He Daqing was even more afraid of the old lady.

Ever since he got together with Widow Bai, He Daqing once tried to test the old lady by going to pay his respects to her. He deliberately said that he was hosting a wedding banquet for a friend, and that the friend had remarried a widow who was less than 30 years old.

At that time, the deaf old lady told him directly that if he wanted to find another woman, she had no objection, but the woman must be a young lady with a clean background, and before he remarried, he must separate from Zhuzi and put the two main houses in the middle courtyard under Zhuzi's name. He Daqing could then apply for housing at the steel rolling mill again.

Knowing that the old lady was still determined, He Daqing gave up the idea of ​​marrying Widow Bai into Courtyard No. 95.

This afternoon, Widow Bai once again urged He Daqing to go to Baoding as soon as possible, which gave him a headache. He was reluctant to go to Baoding and leave everything in the capital. If he didn't go, Widow Bai might break up with him, but he was reluctant to give up such a beautiful lady.

So after dinner, He Daqing sat at the eight-immortals table and drank alone.

Yi Zhonghai's arrival gave He Daqing a glimmer of hope. Perhaps Yi Zhonghai could come up with some good way to help him out of this predicament.

But when Yi Zhonghai heard that he was looking for a widow, he directly objected. While listening to Yi Zhonghai's words, He Daqing sneered in his heart, "Our eldest brother, don't laugh at the second brother. Yi Zhonghai appears to be honest and loyal, and has gained considerable reputation in the courtyard by staying with his fertile wife. He even took the initiative to take care of the deaf old lady in the backyard at the whole courtyard meeting, and was commended by the street office, which completely consolidated his position as the manager."

But Yi Zhonghai was also a scheming cat. He Daqing had discovered Yi Zhonghai fooling around with the half-open door several times, and he also heard jokes about Yi Zhonghai from an old lover. Yi Zhonghai even had the crazy idea of ​​asking the widow to give birth to a child for him. If it was a boy, he would give the widow 500 yuan as a reward, and if it was a girl, he would give her 200 yuan.

When He Daqing heard this, he couldn't help laughing out loud. He didn't know if Yi Zhonghai was out of his mind. How could he think of letting a widow give birth to a child for him? Not to mention whether he could guarantee that the child was his, the little hardship fee he asked for, which widow would be interested? Only those old and ugly women would be tempted.

These half-opened door businesses can earn at least 30 to 50 yuan a month in normal times, and even hundreds of yuan when business is good. Who would quit a job that makes easy money and go to work hard for ten months to get only 500 yuan at most? Only a half-opened door business owner would be kicked in the head by a donkey. Moreover, once a widow becomes pregnant, she will definitely face pressure from public opinion. Even worse, she will be paraded through the streets by the street office with a broken shoe hanging on her body. Let alone 500 yuan, it is estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 yuan is enough.

He Daqing felt that instead of spending three to five hundred yuan to find a widow with a half-closed door to help give birth to a child, Yi Zhonghai would be better off divorcing his wife and marrying another older girl, then spending a hundred or eighty yuan to pick a beautiful one from the nearby countryside.

However, He Daqing secretly admired Yi Zhonghai's determination not to divorce his wife.

You have to know that in the social environment at that time, people regarded passing on the family line as the top priority. The three unfilial acts were not having descendants and the worst of them. This concept has been deeply rooted in the hearts of ordinary people.

Under the circumstances at the time, even if Yi Zhonghai divorced his fertile wife, it would not have much impact on him, and most people in the factory and the courtyard could understand it.

He Daqing treated Yi Zhonghai as a friend because he remained loyal to his wife Xiuqin.

In fact, when He Daqing learned that Yi Zhonghai planned to find Banyanmen to help with having a child, he once persuaded him to adopt a little boy during a drinking session. This way, even if the couple really had their own child in the future, they would have found a helper for the child. Anyway, with Yi Zhonghai's salary, they could afford to raise the child.

But it was obvious that Yi Zhonghai did not listen. It seemed that he still hoped to have a child of his own.