Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

After the New Year, the courtyard, which had been bustling for half a month, became quiet again.

Some are at work, some are at school, and some are doing odd jobs.

But Bang Geng wasn't happy at all when he received his first paycheck.

I worked like a dog for a month carrying bricks on a construction site, exhausting myself, and all I got in return was less than fifty yuan.

After deducting the dozen or so yuan I gave my family for living expenses, I was left with only thirty yuan. If I continued doing this job, I could only save three hundred and sixty yuan a year, and three thousand six hundred yuan in ten years.

After working for a period of time, he has gained a deeper understanding of the prices in Beijing.

Two years ago, the house where the Jia family used to live could only be sold for two thousand yuan.

Now, two years later, if you want to buy a house of the same size in a nearby courtyard house, it would cost at least five thousand yuan.

If you want to buy the most popular apartment in Beijing right now, you'll need at least 50,000 yuan.

With my current income, I couldn't buy a courtyard house the same size as the original Jia family's even after working for ten years, and I couldn't buy an apartment even after working for a hundred years.

Without a house, you can't get married.

Bang Geng is already thirty years old. If he doesn't get married soon, he might end up a bachelor for the rest of his life.

He was the only son of the Jia family. Neither Qin Huairu nor Jia Zhangshi, nor Bang Geng himself, would allow himself to remain unmarried and childless in the future.

Faced with this predicament, Bang Geng considered changing jobs.

But high-paying jobs either require a diploma or technical skills.

But he has no technical skills, no academic qualifications, and has a criminal record, so it's almost impossible for him to find such a job in the short term.

Therefore, relying on your own money to buy a wedding house is definitely not a viable option.

Unable to take the right path, but desperately needing a house of his own to marry a wife, Banggeng had no choice but to resort to crooked means.

As a result, the house where Yi Zhonghai, an employee of the Central Courtyard, lived was targeted by Bang Geng.

Her own mother was Yi Zhonghai's legal wife and his only heir. If Yi Zhonghai died, the house in the west wing of the central courtyard would be inherited by her.

Since he was Qin Huairu's only son, inheriting the house to Qin Huairu was equivalent to giving it to him.

If Grandma passes away then, it will be just me and Qin Huairu living together.

Let my mother, Qin Huairu, live in a small cubicle, and then I can have the two larger cubicles to myself.

The larger room is reserved for his wedding, and the smaller room is for his future children... In this way, the biggest problem that has been troubling him to get married is solved.

But there is a prerequisite: something must happen to Yi Zhonghai and his grandmother, Jia Zhangshi.

Both of them are currently in very good health, especially Yi Zhonghai. Perhaps because of his work outside, his health has not deteriorated with age, but has instead become better and better.

Under these circumstances, the possibility of Yi Zhonghai experiencing an accident in a short period of time is almost zero.

If Yi Zhonghai dies a natural death, he might not even be able to own this house ten years from now.

The sticks can't wait.

Then a very bold idea popped into his head.

Since Yi Zhonghai cannot die a normal death in a short period of time, I will find a way to make him die in an accident.

Anyway, Yi Zhonghai is old, so if he dies unexpectedly, not many people will suspect anything.

As long as you've done nothing wrong, no one will suspect anything.

More importantly, during the three years he was imprisoned, Yi Zhonghai worked outside. Although the salary was not high, his mother analyzed that after deducting living expenses, Yi Zhonghai could save at least ten yuan a month. Over three years, he could save at least three hundred yuan.

Adding to the wealth Yi Zhonghai had accumulated, his family's wealth should be the most substantial among all members of his family.

If Yi Zhonghai were to die in an accident, not only would the house he currently lives in belong to his biological mother, but the few hundred yuan he had painstakingly saved for his retirement would also belong to his biological mother and ultimately end up in his hands.

Evil arises from the gall.

Faced with the enormous benefits that the plan might bring him if it succeeded, Bang Geng became more and more excited, and soon a very bold idea sprouted in his mind.

…………

The Yan family's front yard.

Today is the day my three sons will contribute to my retirement savings.

He didn't give his three sons a penny more than they should, just five yuan each, which he left on the table before going back to his room to rest.

Seeing the RMB on the table suddenly drop from fifty yuan last month to fifteen yuan now, Yan Fugui was on the verge of tears, his face extremely pale.

If he hadn't been worried about losing face, he would have loved to have a good argument with his three sons.

"Old man... are the eldest sons really planning to only give us fifteen yuan a month for retirement?" Yan Fugui's wife asked worriedly as her three sons closed the door one after another, her face full of disappointment.

"Didn't you see it?" Yan Fugui replied, suppressing his anger.

"The money is right on the table. Do you think the boss and his gang, with their stingy nature, would voluntarily give us more money?"

Yan Fugui's wife panicked upon hearing this: "What should we do?"

"Today I went to the market to buy things... the price of grain, vegetables, and meat... everything has gone up, although not by much. But I heard the vendors at the market say that prices will continue to rise this year..."

"Old Zhou's eldest son in the backyard is getting married and plans to buy an apartment."

"Last year I thought the price was too high, nearly 50,000 yuan, so I planned to wait and buy it, maybe it would be cheaper."

"They went to check again today, and the price has increased by more than three thousand yuan compared to before the Lunar New Year."

"Old Zhou's family didn't dare to wait any longer, so they paid the deposit on the spot."

"Although his eldest son works at Dongjun Hotel and is a junior manager, earning a couple hundred yuan a month, the price increase of three thousand yuan in just one or two months means that he has worked for nothing for more than a year."

"Prices in Beijing are getting higher and higher. The boss and his men only give us fifteen yuan a month for retirement, and the amount you receive each month is not much either."

"It only costs a little over forty yuan in total."

"It seems like this money is enough for the two of us to eat now, but in another year or two, I'm afraid it won't be enough for the two of us to eat..."

"Old man, you have to think of a way..."

"If we can't afford to eat in the courtyard house in the future, we'll be so embarrassed."

“We have three sons, none of whom are filial. If we were to retire, our lives would be even worse than Yi Zhonghai, who has no sons at all. We would lose all face.”

Yan Fugui has been thinking about the relationship between the elderly couple and their three sons lately.

As people get older, they value family ties more and more.

If you think about it too much, you'll naturally see some of the tricks of the trade.

Knowing that his own scheming and parenting methods played a significant role in the deteriorating relationship between the Yan brothers and their elderly parents, he realized that his own actions had contributed greatly to the situation. (End of Chapter)