Period drama: Old Cao's carefree life

Chapter 18 Untitled
"Gentlemen, we've arrived."

The car slowly came to a stop in front of the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang. Camel Xiangzi wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel, radiating heat in the sunlight. Untitled

"You're pushing yourself too hard, look how out of breath you are." Duomen paid the fare, patted Xiangzi on the shoulder, and said, "Don't push yourself so hard. You're still young, don't ruin your health."

Camel Xiangzi grinned, feeling a warmth in his heart: "Uncle Duo, it's alright, I'm fine. I'm still hoping to buy my own rickshaw, so I need to keep running around."

"You..." Duomen shook his head helplessly and didn't say anything more.

Cao Weida suddenly spoke up: "Xiangzi, I usually need a rickshaw when I go out. The rickshaw you pull is indeed quite stable. Are you interested in hiring a rickshaw?"

Camel Xiangzi hesitated, "Yes, there is, but I've already made it clear beforehand that I'll only pull the rickshaw and won't do anything else."

He had pulled rickshaws before, but the owner made him do all sorts of chores, treating him like a slave.

The problem was that there wasn't much money, but a lot of work to do. The boss's arrogant attitude made Xiangzi so angry that he quit that very day.

After that, he became more cautious, having been scammed before.

Cao Wei Da laughed and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Pulling a cart is fine, I'm not a heartless landlord who treats people like donkeys."

“I go out quite often and use my car quite frequently.”

"You just need to keep your rickshaw in check. If I tell you to follow, then follow. When I don't call you, you can do whatever you want. Twenty silver dollars a month, how about that?"

"Really?" Camel Xiangzi was intrigued. Despite his tireless work every day, his rickshaw was never idle.

More often than not, he couldn't get any customers and just drove around empty.

Moreover, regardless of whether he makes money or not, he still has to pay the full amount of the daily car rental fee.

On average, that means I can only earn ten dollars a month.

This is only during the peak season. If it's the off-season, such as rainy days, snowy days, or periods of severe cold, then you'll earn even less.

The price for chartering a car is generally between 15 and 20 yuan. If Cao Weida only needs him to pull the car, it would be hard not to be tempted by this price.

"You silly Xiangzi, hurry up and agree!" Duomen slapped him and frantically winked at him.

In the past, Duomen would definitely have stopped Cao Wei Da from such extravagant behavior. He only earned six or seven silver dollars a month, and he had too much money to burn by hiring a car.
But times have changed. Now that he's connected with Ono Oda, twenty silver dollars a month is just a drop in the ocean for Cao Wei Da, so he naturally won't stop him.

You've made money, can't you enjoy yourself a bit?

"Alright, I agree." Since Duomen had made it so clear, and knowing Duomen's character, he immediately agreed.

Then, he was about to return the money to Duomen: "Since you've already agreed..."

"My last name is Cao."

"Since we've already agreed to hire the car for Master Cao, we don't need to pay the fare."

"Take this money. This is for before you charter the car." Duomen waved his hand dismissively. He was about to make a lot of money, so why would he care about such a small amount?

Besides, it wasn't Cao Weida who chartered the car, but he who did.

"This"

Seeing his troubled expression, Cao Weida said with a smile, "Just take it. One thing at a time. I don't need your money."

"Well, thank you very much, Master." Seeing that Cao Weida had said so, Xiangzi had no choice but to accept the money.

"Alright, you wait here for a bit, we'll need the car again soon." At this point, Cao Weida joked, "But if we need the car again, we won't just pay you."

"Master, what you're saying is absolutely right."

The two men stepped into the courtyard. A thin, bespectacled man in his thirties was washing diapers. Seeing the two officers enter, he quickly got up, hastily wiped himself down, and ran over with a fawning smile.

"Oh my, isn't this Master Duo? May Master Duo be blessed!"

"Old Yan, what are you busy with?" He introduced to Cao Weida: "This is Old Yan, Yan Bugui, a resident of the courtyard house."

Cao Wei Da nodded slightly as a greeting.

So this is Yan Bugui.

Cao Weida looked at him with great interest. Yan Bugui's appearance was somewhat similar to that in movies and TV dramas, but he seemed to have a more refined and scholarly air about him.

But at this moment, Yan Bugui was listless, completely destroying his refined and scholarly air.

Yan Bugui hurriedly nodded and bowed. Although the patrolmen were just low-ranking soldiers, they were already a force to be reckoned with for ordinary people.

"Oh, my wife just gave birth, and I'm busy taking care of her during her postpartum period. What brings you two gentlemen here? Please give your orders!"

"It's nothing. I need to speak with the Jia family at the Intermediate People's Court. You can continue with your business."

Just as he was about to go inside, Yan Bugui hurriedly grabbed him: "Wait a minute, Master Duo, can I ask you for a favor?"

"what's up?"

"Uncle, it's like this, my wife is currently in her postpartum period, but these days there's really nothing nutritious to eat, and her breast milk is almost gone," Yan Bugui sighed, his face full of worry.
"You have no idea, my wife doesn't have much breast milk, and that boy is almost sucking blood from it. He cries every day because he's hungry. My heart is breaking."

"I was thinking of going to the black market to get some nutritious food for my wife, but as you know, they've been cracking down hard these past few days. I don't dare go to the black market now. Even if I did, I probably wouldn't get anything."

"I was thinking, could you help me come up with some ideas and help me find some? Don't worry, I won't shortchange you a single penny." Duomen looked troubled. He usually only ate things like mixed noodles, and occasionally he would secretly eat some rice and millet that Cao Weida had found.

At times like these, it's not so easy to find something nutritious.

Wow~~ Wow~~

A baby's cry came from the room. The cry was weak and feeble, clearly indicating that the baby was very hungry.

Upon hearing the crying, Yan Bugui trembled, his eyes reddened, and his face showed even more sorrow.

Hearing the child crying, Duomen felt bad and pulled Cao Weida aside. "Cao'er, do you have a way to get some for us?"

Cao Wei Da was not a heartless person. If it were an adult, he certainly wouldn't care, but he really couldn't bring himself to refuse a child.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "How about this, I'll get you some rice, some rice porridge and rice oil to drink, and I'll try my best to provide meat and other things."

Some people don't know what rice oil is. Actually, rice oil is the white layer that floats on top of rice or millet porridge when it's cooked.

Li Shizhen said: Children who eat rice oil will become fat in a hundred days.

From three-month-old babies to eighty-year-old seniors, rice and oil are considered very nourishing, and there was once a saying that rice could be used as a substitute for ginseng soup.

If there is meat, that would be best, but if there is no meat, we can only settle for second best.

Duo Menjiang relayed these words to Yan Bugui, who immediately knelt down with a thud.

Cao Wei Da quickly pulled him back, saying, "Please don't do this, it's shortening my lifespan! Get up quickly."

"Sir, please let me kowtow once. Otherwise, I really don't know how to thank you enough. You are our family's benefactor!"

How could Cao Wei Da really let him kowtow? After much persuasion, he and Duomen finally managed to pull him up.

Cao Weida has watched the TV series "Full House of Love" and has also read many fan fictions.

In those novels, Yan Bugui was portrayed as ugly in every way, doing all sorts of things for a single yuan, scheming and plotting against each other, displaying his despicable behavior in every way.

But when watching the original series, he didn't dislike Yan Bugui, nor did he find him that ugly.

It's true that he's good at scheming, but that just means his methods might be flawed. That doesn't mean we should condemn a person or exaggerate their abilities.

From an outsider's perspective, although Yan Bugui was a bit scheming, he wasn't a bad person.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at the later part of the story, Yan Bugui's willingness to humble himself to reduce the pressure on He Yuzhu shows that he is not a bad person and even has the integrity of a scholar.

"Alright, wait here for a bit."

He went out and called out to Xiangzi, who quickly ran over: "Master, what are your orders?"

Cao Wei Da initially wanted to say that they shouldn't keep calling him "master," but after thinking about it, it seemed there was no other way to address him.

Master Cao?

Too high profile.

anything else?
We can't exactly call him Brother Cao, he's even younger than Xiangzi.

"Xiangzi, do you know where Xiao Erduo's house is?"

“Sir, there are very few people around the overpass who don’t know Little Ears Lian, of course I know him.”

"That's good. Go find Little Ears and ask him to bring you ten catties of rice. Just say it was me who ordered it, and he'll know."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Xiangzi simply nodded in agreement without asking anything else. This attitude made Cao Weida nod in agreement.

This is the attitude he wants; he doesn't like someone who likes to talk too much.

After going back inside, Cao Wei Da said, "Someone will bring you ten catties of rice later. I can help you with this, but don't go around telling everyone. Just eat it secretly at home."

Yan Bugui nodded immediately, his eyes already red-rimmed. "Don't worry, sir, I will keep my mouth shut."

"That's good, Master Duo, let's go in."

I'll show you the way.

Cao Weida interrupted Yan Bugui's overtures, saying, "No need, you just stay here and guard, Master Duo, let's go in."

The two entered the Central Courtyard. At this time, Beiping was very different from the late post-liberation period.

At this time, Beiping was not the capital. The previous capital of the Nationalist government was Nanjing, and now it was Chongqing. Beiping would only be designated as the capital after liberation.

At that time, the population of Beiping was about 1.8 million, which was far from the 7.87 million in 1965 when the plot of "Full House of Love" began.

Because the population was not that large, housing was not in short supply, and the courtyard house did not house more than a hundred people.

Upon arriving at the Intermediate People's Court, I saw a disheveled, pale-faced woman sitting blankly on a stool with lifeless eyes.

“She is Jia Zhangshi,” Duomen said, pointing with his chin raised.

(End of this chapter)