The complicated relationship between Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman was, after all, their own affair. Before long, people stopped paying attention to their story; everyone has their own life to live.
Perhaps because the deaf old lady focused all her energy on Yi Zhonghai, she didn't have time to cause any more trouble. Life in the courtyard gradually returned to peace. Everyone had their own things to focus on.
Looking at the Jia family's house, Wei Hua decided to build one. Although he didn't need it now, it was just sitting there empty anyway.
Taking advantage of his free time over the weekend, Weihua gathered a few people and told the construction workers about his idea, asking them to rebuild the house according to his vision.
Wei Hua simply explained his general idea; how to implement it was their business. Wei Hua knew that professional tasks should be left to professionals.
Wei Hua had to make several trips to the neighborhood committee office about this. It's difficult to alter the house's structure without their permission. Fortunately, it was being rebuilt on the original site. The people at the neighborhood committee office didn't give Wei Hua any trouble.
With permission from the neighborhood committee, Wei Hua handed over the renovation plans to the construction workers. The workers, following Wei Hua's instructions, began renovating the house.
After more than two months of renovation, the house is finally finished. However, it's not habitable yet because it's newly renovated and there's still a strong odor inside.
The Wei family wasn't in a hurry to move in, so they didn't. Many people looked at the Wei family's houses with envy; in a time of such housing shortages, owning two houses was a significant achievement, putting them far ahead of the average person.
Everyone admired the house, but no one was truly envious. The reason was simply that the Wei family had paid a high price for it. Wei Hua had bought the ruins for over 700 yuan, and with the cost of reconstruction, the house's total cost was at least 900 yuan. With 900 yuan, one could easily buy two houses of that size.
Seeing that Wei Hua's family had built a house in the courtyard, the Yan family became nervous because they still owed Wei Hua 400 yuan. A year or two had passed, but they hadn't even paid the interest.
With the repayment date drawing ever closer, they are worried that Weihua will take their house away. They originally thought that 400 yuan was not a big deal, but now they realize just how huge a sum of money 400 yuan really is.
Yan Jiecheng's salary kept decreasing, and he only earned about 20 yuan a month. His third aunt alone spent six or seven yuan a month on medicine. The remaining ten or so yuan was barely enough for daily expenses. Although they could save a few yuan a month, the last time Yi Zhonghai burned down the courtyard house, the little money the Yan family had managed to save was quickly spent.
If they hadn't still had the money from selling their jobs last time, the Yan family might not even have enough for their daily expenses. With the repayment date drawing ever closer, Yan Jiegui could only urge everyone to be more frugal, while constantly nagging Yan Jiefang about it.
It's been snowing for a while now, so even if we wanted to go out and earn money, there's no way to do it. In this kind of weather, there's nothing we can do but stay home. Even if Yan Bugui keeps nagging, Yan Jiefang can't do anything about it.
Seeing the household expenses increasing, Yan Bugui had no choice but to move a stool to sit at the entrance of the courtyard house. Anyone passing by would try to take advantage of the situation.
Even if someone just passed by the courtyard house, Yan Bugui would try to take advantage of them. Every extra penny spent by his family pained Yan Bugui more.
Although everyone knew the Yan family was struggling financially, no one tolerated Yan Bugui. They were all long-time residents of the courtyard house and knew Yan Bugui's character well. If you let him take advantage of you today, he'd be blocking your doorstep tomorrow. If you didn't let him succeed, he might hold a grudge, but he wouldn't dare push his luck.
Yan Bugui, unable to gain any advantage, usually stays at home except when the sun is out. Staying outside for long periods makes it easy to catch a cold, which costs money.
Time is like sand in an hourglass, slipping away unnoticed. Before we knew it, the year was over, and the steel mill was closed for the holidays.
Soon the courtyard house became lively. Once people had some free time, more and more interesting things started to happen.
Wei Hua's house was definitely the most crowded in the courtyard, especially the children who were on holiday and spent almost all their time there. This was because Wei Hua's house had the only television in the entire courtyard.
Wei Hua was quite kind to the children. He had been a child himself. He didn't care about the small electricity bill.
However, Wei Hua doesn't leave the TV on all day. It's turned on at least at 9:00 AM, and everyone is sent home at 9:30 PM.
Although Wei Hua allows others to watch TV, he doesn't allow them to disturb his own life. Fortunately, these children are quite understanding; Wei Hua is already being generous by letting them watch TV all day, and it's past 9 o'clock by the time they need to wash up. As soon as Wei Hua turns off the TV, the children will voluntarily go home.
Children can sleep well, but adults may not. Why do people have so many children these days? Besides the lack of entertainment at night, it's because people believe in strength in numbers.
An average family will have at least three or four children, and it's not uncommon for some to have ten or more. For example, Sha Zhu is currently discussing having a third child with Yu Li. Nightlife is practically nonexistent these days; in the dead of winter, people are either at home researching having children or on their way to research having children.
Even after everyone else had left, Wei Hua would still discuss having a child with Yang Tao. There was simply nothing else to do at night. Especially with a delicate wife lying right next to him, few men could resist.
If Yang Tao hadn't been still breastfeeding, she might already be pregnant with her third child. Although we don't plan to have children, my husband and I spend a long time cuddling together every night after the baby falls asleep.
Although everyone is on holiday, their lifestyle remains unchanged. Yan Bugui sits at the entrance of the courtyard house whenever the sun comes out; it's very cheap.
Yan Bugui has practically become the face of the courtyard house. Yan Bugui is Yan Bugui; even with his legs amputated, he'll still sit at the courtyard entrance, scheming to take advantage of others. They say it's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature, and someone like Yan Bugui will never change in this lifetime.
Moreover, not only Yan Bugui's personality couldn't be changed, but Liu Haizhong's personality didn't change much either. After the Liu Guangtian brothers left, you became the one who got beaten up.
Fortunately, Liu Haizhong is a bit better than Yan Bugui. At least Liu Haizhong only beats his own son at home and basically doesn't cause any trouble in the courtyard.
Now, the young master of the Liu family finally understands what it means for a father's love to be as solid as a mountain. It is said that where there is oppression, there is resistance, and Liu Guangqi, unable to bear it any longer, had no choice but to rise up in rebellion.
The final result was that both father and son were severely injured. Neither Liu Haizhong nor Liu Guangqi had particularly good tempers; once they started fighting, they would go to extremes. It was a classic case of "killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of their own"—a perfect description of the father and son.
Realizing he couldn't gain the upper hand against Liu Guangqi, Liu Haizhong turned his attention to Zhao Tingfang. Unfortunately for him, Zhao Tingfang was no pushover either; over the years, she had long since seen through Liu Haizhong's character. Whenever Liu Haizhong dared to make a move, Zhao Tingfang would run away, silently grab a weapon, and strike him a few times when he wasn't looking.
What was once a perfectly good home has been turned into something that doesn't feel like a home at all. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were watching a spy drama, with people constantly resorting to underhanded tactics.
This added a lot of fun to the courtyard house. Whenever the Liu family got into a fight, everyone would rush over to watch the excitement.
Now that everyone's on holiday, they have even more free time, and they like to go to the backyard when they're not doing anything. Live broadcasts are much more interesting than TV. Even Wei Hua sometimes brings his kids to watch plays.
Perhaps to avoid being laughed at, or perhaps because he was struggling to make ends meet, Liu Haizhong could only try his best to suppress his temper.
Seeing that the Liu family's farce had come to an end, everyone went home. The Liu family's affairs were just a spice, making everyone's lives a little more interesting.
Everyone was still preparing for the New Year. After the steel mill closed for the holiday, Wei Hua even took the people from the courtyard house up the mountain to set up some traps.
The so-called trap was just a pretext. Sometimes, you need an excuse to have a good New Year.
Otherwise, other things wouldn't have the ability to grow legs and fly into his house. It's not that Wei Hua wants to show off his wealth in front of others; it's just that his child is getting older.
Children aren't as discreet as adults. If they show off a few skills in front of others now, even if people find out they're eating delicious food at home later, no one will have anything to say.
If someone else had started this, perhaps very few people would have responded. But when Wei Hua said he was going hunting in the mountains, many people became interested.
Whether it was Sha Zhu or the Liu brothers, they all followed, and even Xu Damao was not to be outdone.
Almost all the young people in the courtyard participated. Except for the Yan brothers, who not only didn't participate but also made sarcastic remarks. After all, Wei Hua had never displayed this kind of talent before.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com