Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

"It's normal that this sounds familiar, after all, it's someone from our Niu family. Alright, it's getting late, let's go to sleep!" Niu Youliang tapped his pipe under the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

The four of them went into the outer room. The three brothers took off their padded jackets and crawled into bed. "What are you looking at?"

"It'll be warm soon, don't you all still have those traditional light-colored clothes?"

"Just a single layer of clothing? My master gave us monk's robes, so we can alter them later," Dayu said, looking up at Niu Dazhuang.

"Sigh! Time to get down to business. Time to sleep!" Niu Dazhuang was under immense pressure. Suddenly, three big-eater young men had appeared in his house, and not only was food running out, but even basic necessities like firewood, rice, oil, and salt were scarce. And then there was the issue of where to live.

Monday marked the start of another busy week. Sanxiao went out for a stroll, while Niu Dazhuang wandered around the courtyard.

Thankfully, thankfully, the two east wing rooms in the west courtyard were still unoccupied. Niu Dazhuang tiptoed and peeked inside; they were filled with coal briquettes and firewood.

On second thought, it seems a bit abnormal. Although it's not like it was in 1965, when the houses were packed full and even the back rooms were scrambling for space.

But the living space isn't very spacious. Why is no one living in the east wing of this courtyard?

With these questions in mind, Niu Dazhuang went out to scout out some properties again, this time not to follow that guy surnamed Sun from the cardboard box factory.

This is the capitalist man who followed Ye Chunlan back then. He said to his sister-in-law that he would teach his family a lesson and get Ye Chunlan out of the house. Since he said it, he must do it.

It was almost noon when Niu Dazhuang cursed at a departing Willys Jeep, "Damn it! What a beast! You just leave the house and ride off in a four-wheeler, how am I supposed to follow you?!"

I found a noodle shop on the street and ate a bowl of Old Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles in Xianyu Hutong in the southern part of the city.

Damn it, I have to borrow Ye Chunmei's bicycle tonight. I'm running back and forth between the east and south sides of the city, and I haven't even gotten the job done yet. I'm already exhausted.

Niu Dazhuang stared at a woman from afar who was wearing a short red jacket, with two braids hanging naturally in front of her chest, big eyes, and surprisingly, double eyelids. She was wearing blue pants, which, upon closer inspection, were slightly different from the pants worn by other women.

Other pants are loose, but hers are form-fitting, especially around the hips, clinging tightly to her body and perfectly outlining the curves of her rounded hips.

It was especially obvious when she bent down to buy fish, which made Niu Dazhuang's heart flutter.

"Damn, Sun Yibo is too lucky with women. He's an old cow eating young grass. Doesn't he care about hurting his old back?"

Except for the afternoon when she went out to buy a fish, this pretty young woman never left the house.

As darkness fell, Sun Yibo returned, glancing around warily as he knocked on the door.

Niu Dazhuang was waiting for an opportunity, waiting until no one was home, to go and check out his house first, to confirm whether he was a spy, so as not to kill the wrong person.

Unfortunately, it's been two days now, and that beautiful young woman generally doesn't go out except to buy things. I don't know what's so great about staying at home alone.

They walked back to the courtyard house again. The three little ones came back late today. When Niu Dazhuang came back, they were still cooking.

"Grandpa, what's the deal with those two east wing rooms in the west courtyard?" Niu Dazhuang asked.

"People have hanged themselves here. And not just once. Dazhuang, I think it's quite nice living here, it's lively!"

Niu Dazhuang scratched his head sheepishly: "I just wanted to bring my wife over too!"

"Are you sure? Once you bring your wife here, you won't have as much freedom. You'll have to come home every night. Don't let this cause a fight between you two!" Niu Youliang reminded him.

"It's okay, I can handle it. Wildflowers may smell sweet, but they're never as convenient as my own wife!"

"That's true, you can decide for yourself! Once your wife arrives, I'll give her all my salary, and you two can manage the household from now on. I won't have to worry about it."

"Oh, whose are those two side rooms?"

"This large courtyard belonged to Lou Bancheng before liberation. In the first few years after liberation, it was used by employees of the steel rolling mill. Later, the employees who lived there spent some money to buy it back, and Lou Bancheng simply donated the rest."

"Understood, I'll go to the neighborhood committee to ask tomorrow." Then, Niu Dazhuang pointed to the west wall and asked, "What's the deal with this old lady?"

There were three main rooms, and the deaf old lady lived in one of the west rooms.

"The old lady was here when we moved in. She's probably a relative of Lou Bancheng. We don't know the specifics. Why are you asking about her?"

"It's nothing, I'm just curious."

Dinner was set on the table

"Big brother, we've been wandering around here for days, and we're getting bored. Can you find us three some work?" Dayu asked first.

"Want to get some work done?"

"Yeah, we want to live a better life too. How can we just eat and not work?" Usually, Dayong eats the most; he can eat as much as Da Xiong and Da Xiong combined.

"Alright, I'll assign you a task tomorrow."

"Okay. I guarantee I'll complete the task."

After dinner, Niu Dazhuang went out again. Ye Chunmei worked during the day and didn't come home for lunch, so the only time to find her was at night.

Chunmei opened the door for her. As soon as they entered, Chunmei whispered, "You've come at the right time. That person is here and is bothering my second sister."

"Who is it?"

"That's my second sister's ex-boyfriend, that bad man."

"What do you want me to do?"

Ye Chunmei's mind raced, and she came up with an idea: "When you go in, tell him that you're now my second sister's boyfriend. That will make him give up on that idea."

"Hehe, I can handle this. If I can't, I'll beat him up while I'm at it."

"Okay, but don't fight too hard."

"Don't worry, I'm very accurate. I was just worried about not being able to find him, and he actually came to my door tonight." After saying that, she pretended to be very angry and pushed open the door.

The door frame slammed against the wall with a loud bang.

Startled, Ma Xingbang turned around and asked with a grim face, "Where did this bumpkin come from, daring to trespass on private property?"

Niu Dazhuang, who was just looking for an excuse to beat someone up, strode up to him without a word, grabbed him by the collar with one hand, and slapped him across the face with the other. He didn't stop slapping him while doing so.

"You think this is still the pre-liberation era? This is the era of the working people. I'll teach you to look down on people and harass my partner."

Ye Chunlan was stunned. This was too violent! But I liked it. By the time she came to her senses, Ma Xingbang had already been slapped so hard that blood was gushing from his nose and mouth.

Ma Xingbang was so badly beaten that his head was spinning, and he forgot how to fight back.

When the two sisters saw that Ma Xingbang was bleeding from the beating, they quickly pulled Niu Dazhuang away, saying, "Dazhuang, Dazhuang, stop hitting him. It's not worth getting yourself hurt for someone like him."

Niu Dazhuang knew in his heart that it was just scary to look at, but nothing serious. Although he stopped slapping Ma Xingbang, he didn't let go of the collar.