Time flies, and before you know it, it's the weekend. Ma Hua took the documents from the housing management department to the subdistrict office for registration. Everything went smoothly at the subdistrict office; after verifying Ma Hua's identity without any problems, the registration was completed, and the keys were handed to him directly.
After completing the formalities, Ma Hua said goodbye to the street office staff and walked easily to the entrance of "Qinman Siheyuan".
Ma Hua looked at the gatehouse with a touch of nostalgia. Over the years, as Sha Zhu's apprentice, he had often come here to give Sha Zhu gifts.
Ma Hua looked closely for a while and then realized why everyone said this courtyard house was the residence of a high-ranking official from the Qing Dynasty. Just look at the imposing gatehouse and the two doorposts at the entrance. A nobleman used to live here.
Unfortunately, the roof of the gatehouse is dilapidated and covered with weeds, while the crumbling blue bricks beside it add to the sense of desolation of this courtyard house. Yet, it could also be described as possessing a rich cultural heritage.
Ma Hua recalled in his mind that, according to the original plot, this courtyard house had three sections, housing over twenty households and a hundred people. His assigned house was in the back courtyard.
The courtyard was teeming with all sorts of demons and monsters, the most notorious of whom were the three old men who led the way.
Yi Zhonghai, a moral exemplar who vowed to have no descendants.
Seeing that his son was still alive, the father took out Liu Haizhong, the second uncle of the Seven Wolves.
Yan Bugui, the third uncle who was a pedantic scholar and considered himself a bookworm.
The most famous members of this "Courtyard Full of Birds" group are: the delicate and innocent Qin Huairu, the super-simp Sha Zhu, the born thief Bang Geng, the sulky necromancer Jia Zhangshi, the deaf old lady who pretends to be deaf and mute, and the previously familiar first-timer Xu Damao.
As soon as Ma Hua entered the front yard, he saw a gaunt old man wearing glasses, the temples of which seemed to be broken and held together with tape. Upon seeing Ma Hua, the old man stopped watering the flowers in front of him.
A pair of eyes scoured Ma Hua, who looked up and realized it was none other than Yan Bugui, the cunning old man from the courtyard.
Upon seeing Ma Hua, Yan Bugui immediately asked, "Looking for Sha Zhu again?" Sha Zhu's apprentice is really something, coming empty-handed. Tch.
“Hello Teacher Yan, I’m not looking for Sha Zhu. The factory just allocated us a house in our compound! We’re off today, so I came to take a look and tidy up.” Ma Hua handed the paperwork from the neighborhood office to Yan Bugui for a look.
Then he replied quite politely, after all, he had no conflict with Yan Bugui, and he wasn't Tai Ritian, the kind of person who would argue with everyone and everything.
Yan Bugui frowned upon hearing this. "Divided into houses?" Then, as if remembering something, he nodded to Ma Hua: "Oh, so those two rooms in the backyard and the back annex were allocated to you?"
After Yan Bugui finished speaking, he seemed to remember something and hurriedly said, "Well, just keep walking from here and you'll get there. You know our compound well anyway. I have something to do, so please excuse me." After saying that, Yan Bugui went straight home without waiting for Ma Hua's reply, without even packing up.
Ma Hua was somewhat surprised to see Yan Bugui. Wasn't it said that this old rascal would taste the saltiness of the manure cart as it passed by his door? Why was he running away today without taking advantage of him? Could there be something wrong with his house?
Ma Hua shook his head. Whatever, now that the house was allocated to him, it was his, and no one could take it away. With that thought, Ma Hua continued walking towards the backyard.
When Ma Hua reached his house, he realized that it was right next to the deaf old lady's. Ma Hua immediately took out his key and opened the door. Wow! It was filthy; even before entering, he could see the house was covered in dust.
"Alright," Ma Hua thought, "I should open the door and let some air in." He then took out another key to open the door to the house next door, but after several tries, he couldn't open it. Just as Ma Hua was wondering what was going on...
Someone in the next room spoke up: "Hey, isn't this Chef Ma from our cafeteria? What's up, you got assigned to this courtyard?"
Ma Hua looked up and saw Xu Damao: "Yes, Master Xu, you also live in this courtyard?"
Xu Damao happily walked over to Ma Hua: "Yes, this is my home. And over there is Liu Haizhong from Workshop Two of our factory." It was great that Ma Hua had come to this compound; he'd been worried about not having any help.
When Xu Damao saw that Ma Hua couldn't open the door with his key, he immediately curled his lip and whispered, "Don't bother trying. This room is occupied by your old deaf neighbor. Let me tell you, that old deaf man is a scoundrel. He's always showing off in the yard because he's old. You'd better watch out."
Just as Ma Hua was about to nod to indicate that he understood, a child's shouting came from behind: "Who are you? What are you doing in our yard? And why did you open our house door?"
"This is your house, it's my place, you bastard!" Ma Hua turned around angrily, only to find a little boy, over a meter tall, with a bowl cut, staring intently at him. Behind him were two little girls—weren't these Qin Huairu's three children from the Zhongyuan Court?
Xu Damao yelled at Banggeng, "Go away, go away, go play somewhere else. What do you mean 'your house'? This was allocated to Master Ma by the factory. Get lost, and don't cause trouble here!"
Banggeng panicked upon hearing this. His grandmother had said the house would eventually be his, but seeing Xu Damao's fierce expression, he immediately ran towards his house shouting, "Grandma, Grandma, something terrible has happened! Our house is gone! Come quick!"
Xu Damao said somewhat embarrassedly, "These are the three children of Widow Qin from our factory. The eldest boy is named Banggeng, and the next two are named Jiadang and Huaihua. You should know them, right?"
Ma Hua nodded: "I've seen him a few times before when I was delivering things to Sha Zhu."
"Well, let me tell you, you better watch out. Widow Qin's mother-in-law is a real scoundrel," Xu Damao said mysteriously.
{Ding-dong}
{Given that the host's house is currently occupied, God-level selection is activated.}
{Option 1: Silently endure and remain silent; reward: a super sycophantic heart.}
{"Option Two: Take life and death lightly, fight if you disagree, it's my house, I'm in charge! Reward: A set of furniture"}
Ma Hua silently chose option two in his mind. He didn't want to end up like Sha Zhu, a sycophant who ended up with nothing.
“It’s alright, the house was allocated by the factory, what am I afraid of?” Ma Hua said, picking up a brick from the ground and smashing it hard against the iron lock on the door.
With a clatter, the lock fell to the ground. The crowd that had been drawn by the sound looked at Ma Hua's actions in surprise. This kid was too bold. Didn't he know that this was a house occupied by a deaf old lady?
After smashing the lock, Ma Hua threw the brick in his hand on the ground and pushed open the door. The room was even dirtier and more chaotic, filled with all sorts of odds and ends, which looked like they had been there for a long time and were covered with a thick layer of dust.
At this moment, Xu Damao was staring intently at Ma Hua. He hadn't expected this kid to be so brave; he had just told him that this old lady Long was not to be trifled with. Too reckless!
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