"Brother-in-law, are you taking the medicine I gave you on time?"
“I’m taking it, every day. And you know what, it’s really good. I’ve noticed a significant difference in my physical condition lately. She also uses that ointment you made for her sister every day. What is that? It’s all black and she puts it on her face every day. It looks kind of scary.”
"Haven't you noticed that my sister's complexion has improved a lot lately?"
"We're together every day, I didn't even notice!"
"It's still a bit short a time. The effects will be more obvious in a while. Don't let my sister get younger and younger and not like you anymore, brother-in-law," Li Chu joked.
"Hey, what are you saying?" Wang Ziwen laughed and scolded him.
After returning home, Li Chu ate dinner before leaving.
Things have been calm for a while now, and the weather is starting to get warmer at the end of May.
After finishing get off work and having dinner in the afternoon, Li Chu returned to the courtyard house. The renovation was complete, and he had come back to check on it. It had taken 10 days longer than originally planned because the renovation plan was revised just three days after construction began.
The exterior of the house remained largely unchanged. Upon opening the door, the original main room had been partitioned off; the right side was divided into two rooms, with the bathroom at the back. The bathroom itself was also divided into two sections. At the front was a urinal, which, being for urination only, had no tank; water was simply scooped up for flushing. At the back was an enamel bathtub, heated by firewood, so bathing was possible even in winter. Inside the wall was a chimney leading directly outside, allowing smoke from the firewood to escape.
The other small room was converted into a study, which can fit a desk and a bookshelf. Although the space is a bit small, it is very practical.
The remaining part is the living room. There weren't many changes here, except that the ceiling was re-plastered and the entire floor of the house was covered with cement, making it very smooth and dust-free.
The floor of the inner room was dug down a little over four inches, roughly 15 centimeters, and it was divided into two rooms. The larger one was the kitchen, with a stove built in it. A section of the wall next to the stove was carved out, just big enough to fit a stove. Above it was built a chimney leading to the second floor. When the kang (a heated brick bed) needed heating, the stove was placed underneath. For other cooking, the stove could be taken out, which was very convenient and practical.
The staircase leading to the second floor is right outside the storage room. It's a wooden structure, and the second floor has two bedrooms side by side, one large and one small, connected by a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), which separates the rooms. The smaller bedroom can be used by children in the future.
Overall, Li Chu was very satisfied with the house renovation. Now he would have enough room to live in the house after he got married and had two children.
I went downstairs to the living room and looked around. The house was empty now, with nothing there. The old furniture wasn't made of good wood; it had all been chopped up and put into the storage room.
He plans to use his time off this week to browse the trust store for some furniture. Ideally, he'd get a sofa; it would really make a difference in the living room.
There are still quite a few things to buy: a sofa, a desk, a bookshelf, and a wardrobe.
He turned around, went out, locked the door, and prepared to go back to his dormitory.
Just then, the old man across the street also came out of his house.
"Hey, Uncle San, have you eaten yet?"
"Xiao Chu's back! I just finished eating. Is your room all tidied up yet?"
"It's all done. It's been almost a month of work. When I have some time off, I'll buy some furniture and then move it back."
"Now that you've finished tidying up your house, isn't it time to start looking for a girlfriend? How about I introduce you to someone? I'll tell you, we have a few pretty good teachers at our school." The old man's abacus beads started moving again.
"Haha, no rush, Uncle. I plan to look for one myself first, and if I don't find a suitable one, then I'll ask you to introduce me to someone."
The third uncle smacked his lips, "I'm not going to get the matchmaker's gift!" He said somewhat unwillingly, "You're not worried at all? In our courtyard, there's you, Xu Damao, He Yuzhu, and Liu Cheng from the back house. The four of you are about the same age. Liu Cheng's child is old enough to run errands, and Xu Damao and He Yuzhu have people introducing them to potential partners. You're the only one who's single. Get your act together."
Upon hearing this, Li Chu was immediately excited. He hadn't been away from the courtyard for very long, and both of them already had partners? He quickly asked, "Xu Damao and He Yuzhu both have partners?"
"Xu Damao was introduced to someone by his mother through a friend. I heard she's a rich girl."
Li Chu thought for a moment, and concluded that Xu Damao's girlfriend must be Lou Xiao'e. "What about He Yuzhu?"
The third uncle burst out laughing as soon as He Yuzhu was mentioned, choking on his own laughter and coughing.
"Let me tell you something interesting about He Yuzhu. Aunt Wang from that alley behind the house introduced him to a girl about two weeks ago. She works at a wool mill, and the two of them were quite happy with each other when they met."
Li Chu interjected, "Isn't everything fine? If everyone's satisfied, shouldn't we set a date?"
The third uncle slapped his thigh: "That's where things went wrong. The old lady in the backyard, as an elder, accompanied Zhuzi to the girl's house with gifts. At first, everything went well, and the girl's parents were quite satisfied with Zhuzi's side. The dates, the bride price, and so on were all basically agreed upon."
Li Chu was a little confused when he heard this. What could possibly go wrong if everything had been agreed upon?
The third uncle continued, "The talks are almost over. The woman's brother told He Yuzhu that he should treat his sister better and not bully her, otherwise he, as her brother, would stand up for her."
Yes, that's normal. It's normal for the girl's brother to say harsh things because he loves his sister. There's nothing wrong with that.
"And do you know what the pillar said in the end?"
Li Chu was a little confused. What else could he say? He should just say a few nice things.
Before he could say anything, the third uncle continued, "Zhu Zi, just tell the woman's brother, 'You think you can mess with me? I could beat two of you. What business is it of yours, an outsider, with our marriage?'"
Li Chu was completely dumbfounded. Could such a thing even exist? Was He Yuzhu's thought process different from ordinary people? Was his head filled with seasonings?
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