Siheyuan, my new life

After Yi Zhonghai settled down in the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, he was introduced by a deaf old lady to work as a junior fitter at Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill.

After some days, as the Japanese invaders entered the city, the city gates that had been closed resumed normal operation.

Yi Zhonghai found an opportunity to leave the city and went to the small village where he had buried his treasures. As expected, the mule and cart that were originally grazing in the yard had disappeared long ago. Fortunately, the treasures he buried under the big tree were intact.

The situation was turbulent at the time and the Japanese devils were very strict in checking people entering the city, so Yi Zhonghai did not touch those properties. He just came to check every month under the pretext of going out of the city to collect firewood.

It was not until more than a year later, when the Japanese relaxed their checks on people entering the city, that Yi Zhonghai hid the valuables in wood and secretly brought them into the city several times. However, the only things he gave to his wife were the small yellow croakers he brought from Shencheng and some cash; the rest of the gold was hidden by Yi Zhonghai.

Two years ago, when the country called on residents to exchange their private gold hoards to support national construction, Yi Zhonghai asked his wife to take the small yellow croakers to the street office to exchange them for cash in order to show his positive attitude. As for the things he had hidden, he did not touch them at all.

Now Yi Zhonghai can only use the gold. He has less than two thousand yuan in cash. Moreover, he cannot let his wife know about this. You know, jealousy is a woman's nature. Once Qu Xiuqin makes a fuss, not only will his reputation become even more ruined, but if some wicked person reports him to the police station, he will be finished.

Moreover, Yi Zhonghai thought carefully on the way home. Even if he had enough cash in his hands, he couldn't appear too happy tomorrow. Otherwise, who could guarantee that Liu Dali and his gang would not be tempted by the money and continue to blackmail him?

After making up his mind, Yi Zhonghai quickened his pace. When he arrived at the gate of Courtyard No. 95, he couldn't help but feel lucky that it was not closed yet. For safety reasons, the gate of the courtyard would be closed at nine o'clock every night. If someone came back late, they could only ask someone outside to open the door for them.

In the past, the job of opening and closing the door was given to Yan Bugui who lived in the front yard. Of course, this was definitely not a free job. All the residents in the compound had to pay Yan Bugui a dime as a labor fee every month. If they came back late at night and asked Yan Bugui to open the door for them, they would more or less give him a cigarette or something else.

Now that Yan Bugui has been arrested and imprisoned for labor reform, the Yan family's housing has been taken back by the Red Star Primary School. They have now moved out of the No. 95 courtyard house and moved into a temporary residence arranged by the street office.

The two east wing rooms in the front yard where Yan Bugui's family originally lived are now empty, and the street office has not yet arranged for new residents to move in. However, as housing in the capital becomes increasingly tight, it is estimated that new residents will move in here in a few days.

In fact, if Yi Zhonghai had not been dismissed from his position as the manager, Jia Zhang would have really thought about these two houses. The Jia family had two side rooms in the central courtyard. This was because old Jia died of an industrial accident at the Lou's Steel Mill. Out of consideration, the factory allocated the adjacent side room to the Jia family. Of course, the Jia family only had the right to live there. As long as someone from the Jia family worked at the Lou's Steel Mill, they could continue to live there, and the monthly rent would be deducted directly from their wages.

At the beginning, Jia Zhang asked for a huge sum of money, wanting the Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill to directly give the two houses to the Jia family. Unfortunately, the owner of the house was a deaf old lady in the backyard. The Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill only rented most of the houses in the courtyard No. 95 from the deaf old lady, and then sublet them to the workers in the factory at a low price. The workers only needed to pay one-third of the rent outside, and the rest of the cost was borne by the steel rolling mill. In addition, the Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill did not charge rent for workers who reached the technical level of master chefs.

When Old Jia was alive, he was one of the three masters with the highest technical skills in fitter at Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill. Therefore, the Jia family did not have to pay for the room in the middle courtyard where they lived at that time. However, with the death of Old Jia, this benefit was no longer available. The reason why the factory agreed to let Jia Zhang mother and son continue to live there was because the factory promised that Jia Dongxu could continue to work at Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill after he became an adult, and agreed that the rent for the Jia mother and son would be borne by Lou’s Steel Rolling Mill before Jia Dongxu officially started working.

Now that Jia Dongxu is married and has a family and has given birth to a son and a daughter, the family's housing situation is a bit tight. If Yi Zhonghai had not lost his position as the housekeeper, Jia Zhang would definitely come to him and ask him for help in getting another house.

Yi Zhonghai walked into the courtyard of No. 95. At this time, most of the families in the front yard had turned off the lights and gone to bed. There was no one in the yard. He hurriedly walked through the lotus gate and entered the middle courtyard. He first stuck his head out to look around the middle courtyard, and when he found that there was no one, he hurried back home.

Now, Yi Zhonghai was not only beaten on the back and buttocks with sticks by Liu Dali and others, but his face was also red and swollen. He didn't want others to see his miserable appearance.

When he walked into the house, he found his wife Qu Xiuqin sitting at the eight-immortal table in the main room drinking tea. Seeing his red and swollen face in the dim light, Qu Xiuqin quickly stood up and asked in a low voice: "Zhonghai, what's wrong? What happened?"

Yi Zhonghai sat down on the chair, and the severe pain from his buttocks made him groan. He endured the pain and grabbed the teacup on the eight-immortals table, drank it in one gulp, then picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea. He sighed heavily. On the way back, he had thought of what to say after returning, after all, he would never hide his injuries from his wife who shared the same bed with him.

Yi Zhonghai took out his cigarette case and lit a cigarette. He took a puff before explaining: "I went to Deputy Director Pan's home tonight, thinking of asking him to help put in a few good words in front of Director Wang, to see if I could be exempted from going to the Street Office every day for ideological education. I finally got Deputy Director Pan to agree to help. But when I left Deputy Director Pan's home and was about to go home, I was put in a sack and beaten with a club in the alley in front of me."

After hearing this, Qu Xiuqin quickly came forward to check the injuries on his face. Yi Zhonghai quickly waved his hand and said, "It's just a skin injury on the face. Hurry up and get the medicinal wine. My butt and back were beaten with a stick. Please apply some medicinal wine on me and rub it."

When Qu Xiuqin went to the inner room to get the medicinal wine, Yi Zhonghai got up and closed the door, then walked into the bedroom, took off all his clothes, and lay directly on the bed.

Qu Xiuqin walked to the bed with the bottle of medicinal wine. When she saw the scars on Yi Zhonghai's back and buttocks from being beaten with sticks, she couldn't help but frowned. However, she didn't ask any questions. Instead, she poured the medicinal wine into her palm, gently applied it evenly on Yi Zhonghai's back and buttocks, and then slowly massaged him.

Yi Zhonghai, who was lying face down, could not see the frowning brows and gloomy expression of his wife Qu Xiuqin. At this moment, he could not help but groan in pain as his wife kneaded him.