Siheyuan, my new life

The old man in charge of the front yard is Yan Bugui, a Chinese teacher at Hongxing Primary School. He relies on his salary to support his family of five, and is extremely frugal. The phrase he says most often is "You won't be poor if you don't have enough food and clothes, but if you don't plan well, you will be poor."

Since becoming the manager, his favorite thing every day is to come back early in the afternoon and wait at the gate of the courtyard. When he sees the residents in the courtyard coming back with things, he will enthusiastically come over to lend a hand.

Most of the old Beijing people care about their face, and some people can't save face so they have to give him a little bit of food, which is just worthless things like onions, ginger, and garlic anyway.

But after a long time, everyone started to feel uncomfortable, and some people gave Yan Bugui the nickname "Yan Laokou" behind his back.

Yan Bugui had a disastrous experience at the construction site of the West Crossing. After returning, he gave his wife Yang Ruihua some instructions. He had originally planned to get some bricks, tiles and cement from the construction site. Before that, he had brought back a lot of things from the ruins of the West Crossing with his whole family. Most of the materials used for the small kitchen built outside his house came from there. The few purlins he brought back are now hidden under the big beds of his sons.

Seeing Yan Bugui tinkering with things at home, other residents in the courtyard became eager and joined the team that was demolishing the house.

Soon, the already dilapidated west wing was left with only a pile of broken bricks and tiles that no one cared about. Even the old doors and windows were taken away and used as firewood.

Yan Bugui returned home with a gloomy face, and his heart seemed to be bleeding at this moment. Today at the construction site of the West Cross Yard, when Yan Bugui saw the piles of bricks, tiles and wood, his breathing became a little rapid. At that time, he had only one thought in his mind: he must get them.

Yan Bugui, who always considered himself a cultured person, actually looked down on all the neighbors in Courtyard No. 95, including the eldest uncle Yi Zhonghai and the second uncle Liu Haizhong. Although the salary of these two people was much higher than his, in Yan Bugui's heart, these two people were no different from others, just some unpresentable peasants.

After all, Yan Bugui was a man who had seen and experienced a lot. Although his family could not be said to be well-off, they were still a wealthy family with great wealth.

Unfortunately, Yan Bugui was born out of wedlock, and like his other brothers, he had no right to inherit the family property. According to family rules, only the eldest son was eligible to inherit the family property. When the other children came of age, they would be given a settlement fee and sent out to separate and start their own families.

Yan Bugui took the resettlement money from his family and found a job as a teacher. Later, he married Yang Ruihua and had three sons. Fortunately, he was born out of wedlock and had left the Yan family when he became an adult. When the class status was assessed a few years ago, Yan Bugui was assessed as a small business owner.

Although the eldest uncle Yi Zhonghai is now a sixth-level fitter at the Red Star Steel Mill, with a monthly salary of 72.3 yuan; the second uncle Liu Haizhong is a fifth-level forger at the Red Star Steel Mill, with a monthly salary of 61.7 yuan, both of which are much more than himself. However, compared with the family background, these two people are not qualified to be compared with himself. Yan Bugui does not count the savings he has accumulated over the years. If he really takes out the yellow croakers of all sizes that he got when the family was divided, he can definitely beat them.

However, Yan Bugui was a miser by nature. Over the years, he only used a small yellow croaker when he left the Yan family. Later, when he had a teaching job to make a living, even if he had simple meals every day, he never thought of using the gold again.

What made Yan Bugui greedy was the neatly arranged pile of wood, especially the dozen or so beams of varying thicknesses, which made him salivate. With his eyesight, he would definitely not make a mistake, as those beams were all precious huanghuali wood, and the other woods were all valuable mahogany.

Yan Bugui seemed to have seen a huge huanghuali desk and a whole set of mahogany furniture in front of him. Mine, mine, all of these should belong to me! He kept shouting in his heart.

However, with the cold words from the street office staff, the three managers, who had their own thoughts, were suddenly hit hard. It was obvious that the other party had no intention of saying any more nonsense to these so-called uncles.

Yan Bugui's greed was crushed to pieces by these words. He realized clearly that he dared not even think about the wood in front of him. If he dared to secretly take some back, he would be severely punished by the street office if they knew about it. At the very least, he would be criticized and educated, and at the worst, he would be taken directly to the police station. If he was really taken to the police station because of such a thing, he might even lose his job.

Although Yan Bugui had enough money to buy wood of the same grade as Huanghuali, he was so stingy that he would never be willing to spend that kind of money.

Right under the eyes of the residents of No. 95 Siheyuan, the reconstruction of the west wing was quickly completed, but the fist-sized lock on the lotus door blocked everyone's curious eyes. In addition, the staff of the street office specifically explained that anyone who dared to enter the west wing without permission would be sent to the police station for a few days.

More than half a month later, a large truck stopped at the gate of Courtyard No. 95, and a group of people carried a lot of furniture and decorations directly into the west wing.

The truck made three consecutive deliveries. The people in the courtyard watched helplessly as the obviously valuable items passed by. Although many people were jealous, no one dared to go over to take advantage. The reason was simple: every time someone came to deliver something, there were always a few police officers in uniform. The deterrent power of police officers in this era should not be underestimated.

Although the residents of the courtyard did not dare to take the things in the west wing, out of curiosity everyone had been discussing privately who would live in the west wing, perhaps they would be able to get some benefits from this family in the future.

After Lin Yu drove back to the west wing this evening, several residents who saw him gathered together to discuss the matter, speculating on the identity of the young man driving the car.

After people came back from work, the news that someone had moved into the west wing spread quickly throughout the courtyard.

Because of a school meeting this afternoon, Yan Bugui came home later than usual. As soon as he entered the house, his wife Yang Ruihua, known as the little loudspeaker of the courtyard house, immediately told him the news.

Yan Bugui couldn't help but feel annoyed after hearing this. It happened that he came back late today. Otherwise, with his cleverness, he would definitely be able to get some benefits from the young man. Just based on his status as the third uncle, the other party would have to treat him to a drink as he had just arrived.

Yan Bugui couldn't help swallowing saliva when thinking of drinking. His family hadn't had any meat for almost a month. But when he looked up at the sky outside, it was almost time for dinner. According to the rules of the old Beijing people, it didn't make sense to go to someone else's door empty-handed when eating.

Yan Bugui claimed to be a cultured and sophisticated person. Although he usually liked to take advantage of his neighbors in the courtyard, he really couldn't do such a tasteless thing as going to their homes empty-handed at mealtime. However, he wanted Yan Bugui to bring wine and meat to his home, but he was reluctant to spend the money.

Yan Bugui's eyes rolled around, and suddenly he walked out of the house quickly, hurriedly passed through the hanging flower gate, walked into the central courtyard, and went straight to the house of his uncle Yi Zhonghai.

At this time, Yi Zhonghai was sitting at the eight-immortal table, drinking tea while waiting for his wife to cook dinner. When he saw Yan Bugui walking into the house, he asked, "Old Yan, what happened that's so urgent?"

If it were any other day, Yan Bugui would definitely have to get a cup of tea first, but today he had other plans, and was going to drag Yi Zhonghai to the West Wing. Given Yi Zhonghai's personality, he would definitely not go empty-handed, so he could get something for nothing, so he quickly said, "Old Yi, have you heard? A young man has moved into the West Wing. As the head of the courtyard, should we go over and meet the new resident?"

Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but frown after hearing this. He looked at Yan Bugui's anxious eyes. How could he not understand what the other party was planning? He said, "Old Yan, I think we should just forget it. The young man just moved in this afternoon. He must have a lot of things to sort out. Let's not go over and cause trouble at this time."

Before Yan Bugui could speak, the loud voice of the second uncle Liu Haizhong, who had just walked to the door, rang out: "Old Yi, this young man is too ignorant of etiquette. He just moved into our courtyard, how dare he not come to visit our three stewards first? Not to mention setting up a table to treat us to a drink, at least you should bring some peanuts, melon seeds and cigarettes to visit us? I think this young man is disrespectful to the leader. We three stewards must criticize and educate him, so that he can integrate into our united and friendly family as soon as possible."

Looking at Liu Haizhong standing at the door of his house and talking nonsense, Yi Zhonghai sighed speechlessly. This idiot is obsessed with being a leader and acts like one all day long. I really don't know what's growing on his neck.

Yan Bugui's little calculations were all in his head. Wasn't it just to get some benefits from the new residents? He also claimed to be a cultured person all day long, but he didn't use his brain to think about it. How could a young man wearing a police uniform and driving a car take a few old managers seriously? The residents of the No. 95 courtyard didn't know. Could it be that these two guys had also forgotten what the old managers were?

In the past two years, in order to strictly prevent and crack down on enemy spies, mediate neighborhood disputes, convey the spirit of instructions from superiors, and publicize new policies, the street offices and police stations selected respected people from each courtyard and tenement in their jurisdiction to serve as managers.

Most of the residents living in Courtyard No. 95 are employees and their families of the Red Star Steel Mill. The director of the sub-district office wanted He Daqing, deputy director of the Red Star Steel Mill canteen, to be the steward. However, He Daqing refused the director's proposal on the grounds that he often had to cook special meals for the leaders in the factory and he simply did not have the time. He recommended Yi Zhonghai, a level 6 fitter from the Red Star Steel Mill who lived in the middle courtyard, to be the steward.

After all the residents of Courtyard No. 95 voted, they finally elected Uncle Yi Zhonghai, Uncle Liu Haizhong, and Uncle Yan Bugui as managers.