"When will that family leave?"
When Bai Fangqiu took Gu Xiashi and Jiang Yilu out, a person in a room in the courtyard withdrew his gaze from the window, took a sip of the white wine in the bowl, and said with a drunken look.
"Who knows?"
A tall, thin woman came in from outside the house carrying a stack of peanuts. "Those people are peasants from the countryside who sent their children to the capital to attend university. They won't stay here for long."
This woman was the fierce woman who had argued with Jiang Erni over the coal stove that day. Her name was Wang Lan. The short man with sparkling eyes sitting at the dinner table was her husband.
Wang Lan had a bad temper, but she was not bad looking, with a good figure and a pretty face. But the man was not so good. He had small eyes, a flat nose, and a mouthful of slightly protruding yellow teeth. He chewed the peanuts that Wang Lan had just brought over, making a crunching sound in his mouth.
"What on earth is wrong with this world? The old man from the Bai family should have been drowned in spit in the square a few years ago. But now this old man is occupying so many houses and won't let go. Isn't he afraid of starving himself to death?"
The turmoil had just been settled not long ago, and many people's thinking had not yet changed from that era. To ordinary people, Bai Fangqiu, the so-called director of the Capital People's Hospital who had been sent to labor reform for ten years and only returned, was nothing special.
Wang Lan got angry just thinking about it. She looked at the crowded little room now. The bed, cabinets and dining table were all squeezed together. She had to go to the yard to light the stove to cook. It was cold in summer and hot in winter. Cooking every day was a pain. Her family used to live in the inner yard. The factory allocated them three rooms. They had lived there for ten years. How could they just go back when they were told to?
"That old man has several courtyards under his control. People from other courtyards didn't move, so why did only people from our courtyard move?"
"Just bear with it a little longer."
Yu Sheng, Wang Lan's husband, had a sinister look in his eyes, making his already ugly face even uglier: "Once those people leave, I'll make that old man give up those rooms."
Yu Sheng chewed the peanut kernels in his mouth fiercely, took a gulp of the liquor, and let out a long sigh.
******
"Brother Sheng Rong."
Bai Fangqiu took Gu Xiashi and Jiang Yilu to the courtyard next door. The gate of the courtyard was open and people could be seen walking in the yard. When they went in, they found that there were many people living in the yard. When they saw them come in, no one stopped them. They just glanced at them from time to time and then went about their own business.
The Sheng Rong mentioned by Bai Fangqiu is the owner of this courtyard. He lives in a small house temporarily built with wooden boards in the inner courtyard. When several people went in, he was eating a bowl of porridge with a pile of pickles. This was his lunch.
The courtyard of the Sheng family is much larger than Bai Fangqiu's old house. This may also be related to the Sheng family's previous wealth. The Sheng family was a well-known wealthy family in the capital at that time. Moreover, Mr. Sheng at that time was a traditional and stubborn old man. He did not like the luxurious Western-style buildings popular during the Republic of China. After he became rich, he just kept buying houses near the old house and continued to expand the mansion.
This small courtyard, which was once exquisite and elegant, has now been transformed beyond recognition. The courtyard pond that was originally planted with flowers, plants and trees has been completely filled in, and many houses that did not exist before have been built in the yard, and four or five families have been squeezed into the yard.
Today, this courtyard house bears no resemblance to the former glory of the Sheng family. It is crowded and noisy, and has become a slum.
"Brother Bai, this is the buyer you mentioned."
When Sheng Rong saw them come in, he quickly put down the bowl in his hand and stood up.
His movements were a little slow, and he supported himself on the table with both hands. It took him a while to straighten up: "It's an old problem. The older I get, the less I can control my body."
Sheng Rong is different from Bai Fangqiu. He is just an ordinary businessman. His greatest ability in this life is to make money. But in this era, no matter how many ways he has, there is no way to make money.
Rich people like him suffered the most and had the lowest status in those years. Even if he has been rehabilitated now, he can't get the attention of his superiors like Bai Fangqiu, who has a skill. Now every second in the country is torture for him.
This makeshift house is only about five or six square meters in size, with a bed and a cabinet. There are no chairs in the room. The dining table is placed next to the bed. When eating, the bed serves as a chair.
He is obviously the real owner of this house, but now he lives in the most shabby house in this courtyard. Jiang Yiluo sighed in his heart.
Bai Fangqiu frowned as he watched Sheng Rong's clumsy movements: "I'll take a look at you later and prescribe some medicine for you to recuperate."
Sheng Rong is four or five years younger than him, but now he looks older than him. This is all due to the suffering he endured over the years.
When he first came to the old house of the Sheng family, Bai Fangqiu felt a little regretful. Looking at the residents of the old house of the Sheng family, they were more troublesome than his family. If Shitou bought this house, there would be endless troubles. But now seeing the haggard appearance of his childhood playmate, he couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Forget it, at worst he could let Shitou buy the house and he would give the money to Shitou. Anyway, it would be of no use for an old widower like him to have so much money in his hands.
The Sheng family's property had long been an unsolved case in those years. The room full of antique furniture was smashed and burned in the first few years, and some gold and silver artifacts were hidden away during the chaos.
Everyone knew what was going on, but they also understood that it would be difficult for Sheng Rong to get those things back, and what Sheng Rong wanted to do most now was to go to the United States to join his son whom he had just contacted.
The reason for selling the ancestral home was just to avoid causing too much trouble for my son when I went to the United States.
"Is this the young man who wants to buy a house?"
Sheng Rong wanted to invite Bai Fangqiu and the others to sit down, but realized that there was no chair available in his house, so he withdrew his outstretched hand in disappointment.
"You've seen the situation here. There are 17 families living in this big yard, and each of them has children. You can't mess with them or scold them." Sheng Rong sighed and smiled bitterly. This is how the world is. It's obviously your things, but you let them live here for more than ten years. If you want to take them back now, you would be committing a heinous crime.
He didn't want to cheat the young man in front of him, but his son's life in the United States was not easy. If he went there empty-handed, he would be a burden to his son, and he would be too ashamed to face his wife in her grave.
Sheng Rong looked at Gu Xiashi in front of him and said, "If you really want to buy it, I won't cheat you. I only want 1,500 yuan. If you have Mi Jin, I will only charge you 800 yuan."
Sheng Rong pointed with his fingers. The current exchange rate between rice and gold and RMB is about 1 to 1.73. Eight hundred rice and gold is about 1,400 yuan.
Nowadays, ordinary families may not have that much savings. 1,500 yuan, according to current prices, is enough for a family of three to live comfortably for three to five years.
But if you really compare it to the large house in front of you, this price is really a bargain. Even Gu Xiashi, who was hesitant after seeing the situation in the house, couldn't help but be tempted.
He had also inquired about it these days. A courtyard house like Uncle Bai's would cost at least two or three thousand yuan. The Sheng family's courtyard was even bigger than the Bai family's. If there were no residents in that house, even if he asked for four thousand yuan, Gu Xiashi would not even blink an eye.
"My price is already the bottom line. Our Sheng family spent far more than 50,000 yuan on this ancestral home." Sheng Rong felt very painful when he shouted out this price, but on the one hand, he needed the money urgently, and on the other hand, this house was indeed troublesome, so he gritted his teeth and lowered the price.
The Sheng family was very wealthy during the Republic of China, and they spared no expense in renovating their ancestral home. The floor was paved with white marble, and the beams were made of golden nanmu. The materials used in this courtyard were the finest, and they never skimped on money. Although this house, which cost a huge amount of money, is now in ruins, the materials used in the main building have not changed. As long as it is properly repaired, it can still restore 50% of its former grandeur.
"Uncle Sheng, I want to—"
Gu Xiashi hesitated for a long time and decided to reject the deal. After all, he would have to leave in a few days and he didn't know what to do with so many people in the room.
"Uncle." Jiang Yilu tugged at the corner of Gu Xiashi's clothes without waiting for him to refuse.
Gu Xiashi looked at his nephew who was almost as tall as himself with confusion.
"Grandpa Sheng, my uncle and I want to go for a walk in the yard again. Buying a house is a big deal and we can't be rash about it." Jiang Yilu could see that his uncle didn't want to buy this house, but he did want to.
Sheng Rong had just seen Gu Xiashi's refusal, and was feeling disappointed, when he heard Jiang Yiliu's words and saw Jiang Yiliu's intention. At this time, Jiang Yiliu's voice sounded like the sound of nature in his ears, so how could he refuse? He quickly opened the door and wanted to take them for a walk in the yard, but was repeatedly rejected by Jiang Yiliu.
Although Sheng Rong was a little disappointed, he still stayed in the house and talked with Bai Fangqiu about the past, but his heart was on Jiang Yilu, hoping that the young man could convince his uncle.
"I tell you, this courtyard house is not for sale. Even if you buy it, we will not move out." The residents living in the courtyard house warned Gu Xiashi vigilantly.
Everyone living in the courtyard knew that Old Man Sheng had no relatives in China, otherwise, they would not have the courage to force the real owner of the courtyard to live in that shabby cabin. They also knew that Old Man Sheng wanted to sell the house and go abroad.
The property rights of the house have been returned to Sheng Rong, and he has kept it well hidden. The people in the yard can live there shamelessly, but they can't stop the old man from selling the yard.
Now the people in this yard have united together to fight against all those who want to take away their house. They don't believe that they can't deal with those who want to buy the house. Even if they have to scare them, they have to scare them back. When the old man can't wait to go abroad, then this house will truly belong to them.
Gu Xiashi and Jiang Yilu have seen too many weird residents of Grandpa Bai's house these days, so they didn't take this small threat seriously.
Under the stares of everyone in the yard, the two of them walked around the yard.
It has to be said that the layout, area and building materials of this courtyard are all excellent. If the unsightly sheds in the yard could be demolished and the leveled private plots could be restored to the original exquisite garden, it would be an excellent choice for the whole family to live in such a spacious and comfortable courtyard.
Gu Xiashi calculated that if Xiaobao stayed here, there would be enough space for eight or ten children to live here. If the younger sister's family got older and wanted to come and live with the younger son, there would also be room for them to live here.
Just the original tenants...
"Xiaobao, do you want this yard?" Gu Xiashi asked his nephew.
Jiang Yiliu nodded, with a shy smile on his face: "I have some money on hand, so it's no problem for me to buy this yard."
Gu Xiashi stumbled, startled by his nephew's words: "One thousand and fifteen, that's not fifteen dollars! Where did you get so much money?"
This is not a game. Gu Xiashi has been running a business privately for many years and has only saved up 18,000 yuan. Judging from his nephew's appearance, he will still have some money left over even if he takes out 1,500 yuan.
It is only the end of the 1970s, and the purchasing power of the RMB cannot be underestimated.
Gu Xiashi narrowed his eyes and looked seriously at the half-grown boy in front of him.
"Where my uncle gets his money from is where my money comes from."
Jiang Yilu was speaking in a flowery tone, but in fact, he had no idea how his uncle made money, but he probably had to do with the antique trading on the black market.
In fact, all this money was earned by him disguising himself and selling grain in Yuchuan County and Lin County. Since he got a little older, his family members relaxed their vigilance against him. First, the social atmosphere these days was very good, and people could leave their doors unlocked at night. Thieves, robbers, and human traffickers were almost wiped out in these years. Farmers' children were left alone, and as long as they went home on time for meals, no one would care if they disappeared for half a day occasionally.
"You are so brave, kid."
Gu Xiashi was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he gave Jiang Yilu a big slap for the first time.
"Puchi." The face was stern for a short while before it could no longer be held back, and he grinned, "But like me, I'm smart." Gu Xiashi touched his nephew's head and said proudly.
"Tell your uncle the truth, how much money have you saved now?" Gu Xiashi poked his nephew's shoulder and asked Jiang Yilu with a curious look on his face.
"Not much. There is not much money left after buying this courtyard house." Jiang Yilu said vaguely.
"Monkey spirit, you are still hiding something from your uncle."
Gu Xiashi rolled his eyes at his nephew, but he was not very angry in his heart. His nephew was only at this age, but he had the ability to save money that other families could not save in their entire lives. He was so happy that he could not contain his laughter.
"Do your parents know about the money you have?" Gu Xiashi asked his nephew, and Jiang Yilu shook his head.
"Do Da Ni, Er Ni and the others know about this?" Gu Xia Shi continued to ask, and Jiang Yilu still shook his head. If it weren't for the house purchase, he still didn't want to let people around him know that he had such a large sum of money in the past few years.
It was not that he was worried that his uncle and sister would covet what he had, but it was too troublesome to explain the origin of the money. He originally thought that after a few years, when the economy was open, he would take out the money with a reasonable reason.
Gu Xiashi nodded. He was not worried about Dahai and the old couple of the Jiang family. Xiaobao was the apple of their eye and the apple of their eye. He was worried about his increasingly weird sister. He was worried that if his sister knew that Xiaobao had such a huge sum of money, she would cause some unhappiness.
They were all born after ten months of pregnancy, so there was no need to compare them in everything. Gu Dongmei thought she had hidden it well, but people who knew her noticed that she seemed to be particularly cold to Xiaobao, and she was partial to one of her four daughters, putting Dani in the front and being indifferent to the children behind. As long as Dani came home, her whole spirit was different. She had never liked Dani so much before.
Fortunately, the children have a deep relationship and did not take advantage of her private actions.
No matter how stupid what Gu Dongmei did was, she was still his beloved sister, so Gu Xiashi could only try to make amends for it behind the scenes to avoid hurting the relationship between her and the children.
"Uncle, I want you to keep this a secret for me. This courtyard will be registered under your name. Just say you bought it." Jiang Yilu said to Gu Xiashi embarrassedly, "The policy is changing now. These houses are not valuable now, but it may not be in the future."
If his uncle didn't want to buy this yard, Jiang Yilu wouldn't have thought of buying it himself: "Uncle, the value of houses in the capital will definitely increase in the future. You should buy a few more houses while you are in the capital this time."
"Does it take you to tell me that?"
Gu Xiashi glared at him. If he didn't see this, would he be a fool to buy a property in this foreign land?
"Then what are you going to do with the people in this yard? Are you going to just keep them here?"
Renovating a house is a costly and time-consuming project. Xiaobao bought the yard, so he can't just let it fall into disrepair.
"Of course I have my own way. Don't worry. By then, not only this courtyard, but also the people in Grandpa Bai's courtyard will be gone without a trace."
Jiang Yilu blinked, revealing a rare cunning that was typical of his age.
"Okay, then let's go back and pay the money to go to the Housing Authority to change the household owner." Gu Xiashi patted his nephew's shoulder without questioning Jiang Yilu's intention or asking for his thoughts.
In his opinion, boys need to be tempered. There is no need to be afraid of failure. The most he will lose is the yard. It is a good thing to suffer a loss and learn a lesson.
Just by going out for a walk, Gu Xiashi changed his mind and decided to pay the money on the spot. Sheng Rong was afraid that Gu Xiashi would go back on his word, so without saying a word, he took Gu Xiashi to the Housing Authority and transferred the property rights.
When they returned to the Bai family's old house, Jiang Dahai and Gu Dongmei, who stayed in the house, had no idea what had happened in the past one or two hours. They thought the three of them had just gone out for a stroll.
In the next few days, Gu Xiashi often left the group and was busy outside doing something unknown. Gu Dongmei nagged about this for a long time. Jiang Yilu knew that his uncle had his own secrets and had no intention of snooping into them, but judging from his uncle's expression, what he wanted to do might not go smoothly.
******
"Brother Ruan, Dahai, why don't you stay a few more days?"
A group of people gathered at the train station to see Ruan Yuanjiang and the Jiang family off.
"No, Uncle Bai, I've troubled you enough these days." Jiang Dahai said gratefully: "Er Ni, San Ni, Xiao Bao, you brothers and sisters should study hard in the capital, visit Uncle Bai and Xiang Xue more often, their school can only go out once a month, Er Ni, as the oldest sister here, you must take good care of your younger brothers and sisters."
Jiang Dahai reluctantly said to his children: "If you are short of money, just send a telegram back. Even if your parents tighten their belts, they will not let you go hungry."
It's a good thing that children have a bright future, but as they are about to part, grief still fills my heart.
"I'm watching over here. The children will definitely not go hungry." Bai Fangqiu smiled and comforted Jiang Dahai.
"Dad, don't worry, I will take good care of Sanni, Xiaobao and Xiangxue." Jiang Erni said carelessly, patting her chest.
"You're a girl, don't be so rude."
Gu Dongmei glared at her second daughter, looked around, and lowered her voice: "You are not young anymore. In school, look around your classmates to see if there is a suitable partner. Your sister married Qianjin when she was your age. It is best to find a partner in college and get married early. Otherwise, you will be 24 when you graduate. If you find a partner by then, it may be difficult to have children."
Jiang Erni curled her lips after hearing what her mother said, but she didn't refute it, nor did she take it to heart. Jiang Yilu was also dissatisfied with his mother's words, as if women had no value except getting married and having children. However, he knew that his second sister had the right ideas and would not be moved by his mother's words.
The group chatted for a long time before leaving, and then the train whistle started to blow, and then they left reluctantly.
*****
The rest of his life was spent in study, study, and study, peaceful and fulfilling. Jiang Yilu and his two sisters lived in the school dormitory, and every Saturday night they would go to Grandpa Bai's house to spend the night, help him clean the room, and accompany him to relieve boredom.
That night, when everyone was in a deep sleep with only the chirping of insects and birds, a scream was suddenly heard.
“Ghost——”
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