Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 394

It's such a waste for such a good daughter to marry Yi Wending, a eunuch.

Now that the price had been agreed upon, Yi Zhonghai handed the money directly to Xu Xiaomei. He felt quite upset, as after all that, he had lost 1000 yuan, meaning he had only gotten 500 yuan back.

Once outside, there was no one else in the courtyard, and Xu Wude immediately said:

"Little sister, it's not safe for you to keep this money. Give it to me, and I'll deposit it tomorrow."

"Alright."

Xu Xiaomei readily agreed, but instead of handing over all the money immediately, she began to count it.

Xu Wude was taken aback for a moment and asked, "Didn't we just check? It's exactly 1000 yuan."

Xu Xiaomei said, "You want to take it all?"

"What do you mean by that? Shouldn't all the money be given to me?"

Xu Xiaomei said, "Dad, this money was earned at the cost of my entire life's happiness. How can you have the nerve to take it all?"

Xu Wude curled his lip. What do you mean by a lifetime of happiness? You're a daughter, sacrificing your happiness for your brother. Isn't that what you should do?

But you can't say it like that, otherwise it would seem too heartless.

“Little sister, the family is in a difficult situation right now. Your brother is about to reach the age of marriage, and we need to build up some savings, otherwise how will he get married?”

"My brother, my brother, haven't I sacrificed enough for him?"

Mentioning Xu Damao made the younger sister angry, and she couldn't help but shout, "If he hadn't acted impulsively, how could he have caused such a mess? He's ruined my life now, what more do you want from me?"

After saying that, he stuffed the 500 yuan he had counted into Xu Wude's hand and said, "This is 500 yuan, which is enough for him to get married."

He paused for a moment and said, "Not only did I sacrifice myself, but I also managed to get 500 yuan to repay your kindness in raising me. Don't bother me with anything at home anymore, and I won't take care of you anymore."

Although Xu Xiaomei was willing to marry Yi Wending for her brother Xu Damao, she still harbored deep resentment towards her parents.

Who would force their daughter to marry a eunuch? She was fed up with this father long ago; he was full of wicked schemes. If he hadn't been having an affair with a widow, he wouldn't have been reported and caused all this trouble.

So even though Xu Xiaomei gave 500 yuan, she also wanted to sever all ties with her family.

"Little sister, what do you mean by that?"

I have made myself very clear.

Xu Xiaomei said, "You have ruined my life's happiness. From now on, I am a daughter-in-law of the Yi family, so don't count on me. I have also repaid your kindness in raising me."

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face. She turned away, wiped her tears, and ran out.

Xu Wude, holding the 500 yuan, stomped his feet in anger and shouted, "How can there be such a good thing? If I hadn't raised you, you would have starved to death long ago. You're dreaming if you think you can cut ties with me."

He Yuzhu asked from behind, "Old Xu, what do you mean by 'cut ties completely' and 'dream'?"

Xu Wude was startled. He turned around and saw that it was He Yuzhu. He said, "When did you come out? Why did you walk so quietly?"

He Yuzhu said, "Look at what you're saying. Of course I make noise when I walk, you just didn't hear it."

Schwood asked, "What did you hear?"

“I’ve heard everything I needed to hear, Old Xu. You’re really good at tricking your daughter.”

“I…” Xu Wude didn’t know how to explain.

He Yuzhu just chuckled twice, then turned and went out. When he arrived at the alley, he saw that Xu Xiaomei was already waiting for him.

I rode my bicycle and took her back with me. On the way, Xu Xiaomei told me about what had just happened.

"This is fine, but it's made you suffer."

"I'm not wronged. At least I won't marry someone else. I'm just your woman. It's good to live like this for the rest of my life."

After Xu Xiaomei settled her affairs with the Yi family, life became peaceful again.

As the weather gets hotter, the task of pest control becomes increasingly busy.

Because sparrows can fly, catching them is very troublesome. I don't know who came up with the brilliant idea, but people were banging drums and gongs in the streets and alleys. If they had nothing else, they would use bamboo poles to make colorful flags to drive away the sparrows and prevent them from landing on trees or antennas to rest.

As long as you see sparrows landing, make noise to scare them away. And you know what? This trick works. Many sparrows are exhausted from running around and don't get a moment's rest. When they run out of energy, they fall headfirst from the sky.

They also placed poison bait in some areas, and from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., more than 8 sparrows died from exhaustion, poisoning, or being shot. This was just the result of one day's operation.

Some of the sparrows in the city were killed, while others fled to the suburbs. The machine factory also received a task, and everyone was mobilized.

He Yuzhu didn't ask them to use poisoned bait; he just drove them away so the sparrows wouldn't get any rest and would die of exhaustion.

Alternatively, you can use a shotgun designed for shooting sand grains; one shot can kill more than 100 sparrows, which can then be collected and sent to the canteen for employees' extra meals.

It cost a lot of money to buy them at a price of one cent each, and after two years it will be difficult to find them again.

Director He Yuzhu arrived at the street with the prepared documents. The original signboard had been replaced at some point, and the original name of District 5 was no longer there.

It has been changed to Jiaodaokou Subdistrict, Dongcheng District.

He Yuzhu glanced at the brand-new signboard and went straight into the compound. He was most relieved that the street director was still Li Hongying.

Logically, with his qualifications, he should have been promoted to the district level, but for the sake of his children and husband, he ultimately chose to continue serving as the director of the street office.

After waiting for a while, He Yuzhu was invited into Li Hongying's office.

He Yuzhu didn't stand on ceremony and made tea himself before starting his work report.

First, they talked about the machine factory's achievements in eliminating sparrows and mosquitoes during this epidemic, and then they said:

"Director Li, after a period of adjustment, the steelmaking blast furnace in the machinery plant has completed trial operation and trained specialized technical workers. It can be said that we have achieved phased results."

Last year, He Yuzhu was thinking of buying a blast furnace from a medium-sized machinery factory and then scientifically refining steel so as not to produce useless steel.

Last year, a plan to build a new steel workshop was proposed, which received Li Hongying's support.

The workshop was built and the blast furnace was installed before the Spring Festival, and trial production began.

However, the workers had no experience in steelmaking, so He Yuzhu invited a master craftsman to teach them the skills. After several months of training and learning, a group of skilled workers who could maintain production have been formed.

With summer fast approaching, He Yuzhu had completed all the preparations.

"Great! I knew you were a talent. Entrusting the machinery factory to you was the right decision," Li Hongying said happily.

Originally, there was no infrastructure on the street. The growth and expansion of the entire machinery factory was entirely the result of He Yuzhu's own efforts.

The machinery factory now has more than 500 employees, making it a large factory.

Li Hongying was very moved and said happily, "Okay, I'll go take a look tomorrow. Then we can produce steel ourselves."

The next day, Li Hongying went to the machinery factory for an inspection. She was extremely satisfied to see the scrap iron being thrown into the blast furnace and then producing qualified steel.

Time flew by and it was July. Newspapers and radio broadcasts were constantly promoting the project, calling on everyone to get involved in the iron smelting task.

Fortunately, He Yuzhu was prepared and had stored a lot of scrap metal in his space, so he easily completed the task of handing over the scrap metal to his home.

But it's different in a courtyard house; everyone has their own task.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I heard an argument.

The old man was cursing loudly in the yard: "That damned bastard stole the scrap metal I picked up?"

Chapter 287 Smelting Iron and Steel

He Yuzhu opened his mouth and asked, "What's wrong with Third Uncle?"

"Is it Zhu Zi who's back?"

Yan Bugui sighed and said, "You be the judge. I picked up two pieces of scrap iron and put them under the eaves. Who knew someone would steal them?"

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "Who is so shameless as to dare to mess with the powerful and provoke the tiger?"

"Who would have thought? The one I found was a bit dirty, so I didn't keep it in the house. I was planning to take it to the recycling center today, but who knew it would be stolen."

He Yuzhu comforted him, "Don't be angry. Since it's lost, it's lost. Just go pick up some more scrap metal."

"You make it sound so easy. It's not that simple. There are scrap metal collectors all over the streets. Where are we going to find so much scrap metal for us to collect?"

Just then, a group of people poured into the courtyard, led by a little boy of eight or nine years old.

After entering, he pointed at Yan Bugui and said to the adults behind him, "He's the one who stole my scrap metal."

The young man behind him shouted, "You, Yan Bugui, you call yourself a teacher, yet you steal a child's scrap metal?"

They were all neighbors from the surrounding alleys, and they all knew each other. As soon as they came in, they could immediately call out Yan Bugui's name.

Yan Bugui blushed and shouted, "Nonsense, I clearly picked it up from the ground."

There was another child behind, who stepped forward and said, "You're talking nonsense. We picked it up outside the city. It fell on the ground, and you snatched it and ran away."

The two children quickly explained the situation, one after the other.

The two of them found some scrap metal outside the city and carried it home. Halfway there, a piece fell off, and by the time they realized it, they had already walked several meters away.

Just then, Yan Bugui picked up the scrap metal that had fallen to the ground and turned to run away.

The two children were furious and wouldn't listen to any of their calls, so they had no choice but to go home. For some reason, they went to confront Yan Bugui again the next day.

Yan Bugui was utterly humiliated. He never expected that these two children were from this area and recognized him. When he got home and told them about it, their parents came looking for him.

He Yuzhu then realized that Yan Bugui would do such a thing for a little scrap iron, and quickly stepped back, not wanting to get involved.

Yan Bugui's face turned bright red with embarrassment. Fortunately, one of his students was among the people who came over. He stepped forward to apologize and paid them a dime, which finally made the group of people who had come to his door give up.

Just as He Yuzhu was about to leave, Yan Bugui called out from behind, "Zhuzi, wait a moment, I have something to tell you."