Siheyuan: Struggle in the Red Era

It's December now and the weather is getting colder.

As early as the end of October and the beginning of November, everyone started buying winter vegetables such as cabbage and coal for the winter.

Everyone is more relaxed this year. There is a tricycle owned by Chen Datou in the compound. As long as we tell him in advance, we can borrow his tricycle. It really makes things convenient for everyone.

In this way, the Chen family's precarious reputation was somewhat restored.

At least, in terms of friendly and harmonious relations with neighbors, the Chen family has done a good job, which also makes it impossible for Yi Zhonghai to discipline the Chen family for the time being.

Chen Zhaodi has basically stayed at home during this period. After all, she is a patient and has problems with her hands and feet. Of course, she can't continue to run around outside every day.

This also caused Chen Zhaodi's plan to develop the economy to fail.

Fortunately, Hu Meihua was very busy during this period, and Chen Datou at home was not a careful person, which gave Chen Zhaodi the opportunity to sneak into the space.

When cooking, add a small potato, a few vegetable roots, a few pepper seeds, tomato seeds, etc.

Just like ants moving, now her space is full of vitality, and the potatoes that were planted first can be harvested.

That day, Chen Zhaodi finished washing clothes and was about to go home to prepare lunch when she saw Yan Bugui leading a young man into the central courtyard, walking towards the west wing, pointing to the two rooms in the west wing and the south room and introducing them.

"Xiao Li, these are the two houses mentioned in your letter of introduction. They are the best houses in our courtyard. There are two rooms in the west wing of the main courtyard. The house is big and well-lit. Are you and your whole family going to move in?"

The young man called Xiao Li smiled and thanked him: "Thank you, Teacher Yan. I just graduated and the factory assigned me here. I live in this house alone."

Yan Bugui blinked his eyes and said, "You live alone. This, this, this is really spacious."

Xiao Li nodded slightly, opened the door, looked around the room, and said distressedly, "It's been a long time since it was cleaned."

Yan Bugui said immediately, "Oh, it's been nearly half a year since the old Hu family moved out of this house, so of course it's quite dirty. You're young and don't know how to clean it. I'll ask your third aunt to come and clean it for you. I guarantee it'll be spotless. Just wait."

After saying that, he trotted to the front yard, leaving Xiao Li standing at the door with a smile on his face.

Chen Zhaodi saw the whole process and thought to herself that Xiao Li was going to lose a lot of money this time.

Ever since Yan Bugui paid Chen Datou two hundred yuan in compensation, the neighbors in the compound have been reluctant to be fleeced by Yan Bugui, which has caused a significant reduction in Yan Bugui's income. Now that he has met Xiao Li, the victim of the fraud, it would be strange if he could let him go easily.

But this was none of Chen Zhaodi’s business, so she picked up the basin and went home.

She had a lot to do today. She had to cook, peel potatoes, clean, and then, if she had enough time, she would find some time outside to find a way to exchange some chicken eggs and duck eggs so that she could come back and hatch her own chicks and ducklings.

The pasture in the space had been empty for so long, it really wasted her heart.

As for why the Jia family only occupied one northern room in the west wing of the central courtyard instead of all three rooms in the TV series, haha, now the Jia family has only one city hukou, Jia Dongxu. According to rules and regulations, he can only be allocated one room.

By 1965, which is still about ten years away from now, the Jia family had four people with urban household registration, so it was reasonable for them to own three houses.

So, if nothing unexpected happens, Xiao Li won't be able to live here for long.

As time went by, Chen Zhaodi gradually regained the freedom to move around freely.

That day, she had just secretly run to Daqianmen, sold a batch of tomatoes and cucumbers, bought ten pounds of cotton, and put a yard of cotton cloth in the space, preparing to replace her old cotton-padded jacket with new cotton. As soon as she returned to the compound, she saw a lot of noise in the middle courtyard.

She carefully moved forward and looked through the crowd, only to see Jia Zhang at the door of the west wing, clapping her hands on the ground and shouting, regardless of the cold ground.

"Old Jia, please open your eyes! Someone is bullying us, an orphan and a widow! This brat won't let us live! Take him away quickly."

Beside her, Qin Huairu was holding the stick, lowering her head and crying, looking extremely pitiful.

It is now past three o'clock, and most of the men in the yard have gone to work. Only a group of housewives are left. Therefore, not many people speak for the Jia family.

After all, everyone has eyes, and everyone knows what kind of person Jia Zhang is.

Xiao Li, who was surprised that he didn't go to work today, crossed his arms and looked at Jia Zhang impatiently. He glanced at Qin Huairu from time to time and sneered, "Why, you stole something from my house, and now I'm asking you for it, so I'm going to give you no way to live?"

Qin Huairu said pitifully, "Brother Li, it's your sister Qin who is wrong, but my pig is lacking in nutrition and crying from hunger every day. As a mother, I couldn't bear it, so I borrowed some meat from your family. Don't worry, I will definitely return it to you when my family buys meat."

Xiao Li said with a snort: "You borrowed my meat, did you get my consent? If I hadn't come back to get something today, I really wouldn't have known that you, my good neighbor, stole my meat while I was away."

As he spoke, he pushed open the door, pointed at his house and said to everyone in the yard: "Come and take a look, the two plates of meat I kept in the cupboard have been stolen!"

A few curious people ran over to take a look, and sure enough, the cupboard door in his kitchen was wide open, revealing two empty plates with some oil stains on them.

"If you tell me nicely that your Jia Dongxu can't afford to raise his son and needs my support, I'm not such a stingy person and I will definitely lend you some meat, but how did you do it?"

"Taking something without asking is stealing!"

"You are clearly stealing!"

When Jia Zhang heard Xiao Li say that Jia Dongxu couldn't afford to raise his son, she immediately flew into a rage: "You little loser, I'm eating your meat because I respect you, Old Jia! Come up and take a look, we are all being bullied to death, take the people away quickly."

Qin Huairu also cried and said, "Xiao Li, I know our family is poor. We are not as rich as you and can eat two plates of meat every day. It's really because Banggeng smells the meat in your house every day and wants to eat meat. Don't worry, although my family is poor, we will borrow your meat and return it to you when we buy it."

After hearing what Qin Huairu said, the people in the front and back yards asked the people in the middle yard, "Is this Xiao Li really that rich that he eats two large plates of meat every day?"

When asked about this, the aunt said with an embarrassed look on her face: "Xiao Li is a technical secondary school student, he earns about 30 yuan a month, he should be able to afford meat even if he eats meat every day."

"That's not right. Two plates of meat every day means at least two pounds. Meat costs 73 cents, which is 1.5 yuan a day and 45 yuan a month. What about other expenses?"

"Exactly. Look at the clothes he's wearing. They're all new. Not to mention buying ready-made ones, even if they were made from ripped cloth, it would have cost a lot of money."

"He also bought thirty-six legs."

"No matter how you calculate it, this money is not enough for his expenses."

"What kind of family is he from? Capitalist? Big landlord? Otherwise, how could he spend so much money? And he still has so much money to spend."

The discussion in the yard was getting closer and closer to danger, and Xiao Li was sweating on his forehead.

He hurriedly explained: "Don't make wild guesses, my family has been poor farmers for three generations! There is absolutely no problem with my background!"

Some people don't believe it: "Where do you get so much money? Why do you act like a capitalist?"

Xiao Li immediately complained: "How can I behave like a capitalist? Yes, I ate meat for a few days in a row, but I have only eaten meat a few times since I was a child. Suddenly I moved to the city, got a job, and can buy meat. Is that why I bought two more kilograms?"

"I treasured the two pounds of meat I bought. I ate them for a week and there were still two large plates left. But I couldn't bear to finish them all at once, so the Jia family stole them all and ate them today!"

When everyone heard this, they thought, well, if it were them, if they could suddenly eat meat, wouldn’t they also eat as much as they wanted?

Xiao Li did not dare to continue to argue with these old women, and said to the Jia family mother-in-law and daughter-in-law: "Today you stole my meat. What do you think we should do? Compensate with money or meat?"

Qin Huairu was about to speak when Xiao Li interrupted her: "Don't say you'll pay me back when you have money to buy meat. Either you pay for the meat now, or I'll call the police and ask them to judge whether your family should pay and whether you have the money to pay!"