“My brother is very smart, isn’t he? By the way, where did my dad go?” Su Ti saw her brother’s unconvinced but hesitant expression and kindly retorted for him.
"Your dad is weeding in the back. You're not planning to plant any vegetables, so why is he tidying up the ground?"
Guo Xuqing took Su Ti to the backyard. The yard wasn't big, but it was divided into a front yard and a backyard. Her father was weeding in the backyard.
Without saying a word, Li Baichuan went forward to help.
“Nannan and Baichuan are here. I’ve tidied up this place for you. When spring comes, you can plant whatever you like.”
Mr. Su thought that now that his daughter was living on her own, she couldn't just buy food all the time, so it would be more convenient for her to cook for herself.
“Nannan and Baichuan still have to go to work, how can they have time to tend to this land?” Guo Xuqing thought of the vacant lot downstairs in her family compound, which Su’s father had used to grow vegetables, and she hadn’t forgotten about it even after coming here.
“I think Dad is right. It’s more convenient to grow our own vegetables.” Li Baichuan felt that resources were already scarce.
They were able to have enough to eat because of the portions allocated to their grandfather and father, and they didn't lack money or coupons.
After they move here, they will need to register their grain rations with the local street office and receive their per capita grain rations.
Li Baichuan calculated that there was enough for the two of them to eat, but after the child was born, it would be a challenge for the four of them to eat well.
He didn't plan to rely on his grandfather and the others for subsidies indefinitely; even with money and ration coupons, food was hard to come by these days.
“Yes, our ancestors all toiled in the fields. No matter how high we climb, we must not forget our ancestors.” Father Su was afraid that his son’s status would change and he would become arrogant at such a young age.
“Dad is right.” Li Baichuan paused, knowing his father-in-law was giving him some pointers, and nodded obediently.
Su Ti and Li Baichuan didn't stay long. Guo Xuqing saw that it was almost lunchtime, so they decided to just eat whatever they had brought that morning.
They told Suti and the others to go back and eat something hot, and left before their grandparents returned.
As soon as Su Ti and Li Baichuan stepped out of the alley, they were stopped by a woman holding a child.
"Comrade, you live here too?"
"Yes, is there anything I can help you with?" Li Baichuan asked, looking at the man while holding the handlebars.
"N-nothing...it's nothing." The man wanted to say something more, but he was frightened by Li Baichuan's gaze and hurriedly left.
"Wife, am I scary?" Li Baichuan looked at Su Ti behind him with a wronged expression. He had been very polite just now.
"They're not scary, they're just cowards." Suti thought that the man probably wanted to get information out of them, but he didn't dare to ask Baichuan because he seemed too intimidating to be trifled with.
“I think so too.” Li Baichuan watched his wife get settled, then rode off without looking back.
"Du Laowu's wife, what did you say to that man?" The woman carrying the child was stopped by several people as soon as she entered the alley.
"Oh my, you didn't see how scary that guy was. He was definitely not someone to mess with. I just asked them if they were going to live here from now on, and he glared at me fiercely."
"His eyes looked like he wanted to eat me alive, and I was so scared that I didn't dare to ask anything."
The woman holding the child is Zhang Manli. She has been married into the family for almost two years. She married the fifth son of the Du family in the alley.
She married well; although her husband had many brothers, they were a large family living in the same courtyard.
The courtyard is large, and each family can have their own room, unlike other families where several households live in one courtyard.
If you hang your clothes out to dry and block her view today, tomorrow her things will be less. Living in the same courtyard, you have to hide what you eat.
Many married couples live in separate rooms, with barely any room to put their feet down.
However, this is the case for everyone. It's rare for a family like the Du family to have several generations occupying one courtyard, which makes many people extremely envious.
"I can tell too. That family is not to be trifled with. Have you counted how many people live in that family?"
"That yard is quite big. I was thinking of going to reserve a room first, but the street office won't give out keys."
"I wonder who this family is. How did they let people in from the other side of the street? They must have brought gifts. There were quite a few people coming and going yesterday. I wonder if they filled up the whole house."
The group of people gathered together were from families living in cramped conditions, and they all dreamed of having their own rooms.
These people all have jobs, and many of the houses here are rented by their work units, which means they were allocated housing.
The rent is paid by their employers, so as long as they have jobs, they can continue to live in the house.
But the work unit only allocates one room, and after several generations and many children, there are simply not enough rooms available now.
"Didn't you see? The stuff in that car this morning was terrifying. It was all brand new, like it was free."
“I went over there this morning and saw several people inside. They looked like they belonged to several generations, but there weren’t many of them.”
"Even if we only consider those two young men, there are only so many of us. We can't let them take up a whole courtyard, can we?"
They've lived here for so many years, even if they've never been inside the courtyard, they can still calculate how many rooms there are, and they can tell at a glance that it's not fully occupied.
“That family is so cunning. I’ve asked them several times but haven’t been able to find out anything. The neighborhood committee doesn’t care either. Are we just going to watch them move in?”
The group grew angrier as they talked. When someone came to clean the yard that day, they went to the neighborhood committee to inquire. The committee said that it was someone else's house.
What do you mean by "own house"? These houses have been uninhabited for years; the owners are all gone.
The houses they live in now weren't all privately owned before; those owners either died or fled during the chaos of war.
Some have been demoted and their houses have been confiscated. Why should they be considered personal property? The neighborhood committee must have accepted bribes to say that.
They didn't dare to cause trouble, because if they angered the people on the street, they would definitely be kicked out.
If we don't rent to them, the company can't do anything about it, and the more they think about it, the more resentful they become.
"What can we do? Didn't you see yesterday? So many military vehicles, and all that furniture, everything was brand new, it took two truckloads to haul it all away."
"Who knows how they got here, and so blatantly at that. They're obviously not an ordinary family; how could we afford to offend them?"
A few more level-headed individuals didn't dare to join in the commotion.
"We're not being unreasonable. They can live in their own rooms, but they have to give up the extra rooms. Does having connections give you the right to bully others?"
Some people are afraid to offend others, while others are still willing to accept it. After all, it's a house; wouldn't it be great if it were allocated to them?
“Go ahead and make a scene if you want. My house may be small, but it only has my husband and now only my sister-in-law is staying at home.”
“Once she gets married, the house won’t need to be separated anymore, and we can all live in one room as a family. I’m content.”
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