Chapter 18: Homeowners (Part Two)

This Erdaojie ran perpendicular to Dongdajie, stretching south to connect with Yidaojie and then on to Dongmen Dajie. Although sixty-eight households were registered, there were only forty or fifty courtyards — more than ten of them housed two families or more. Outside every courtyard wall, open gutters had been dug to prevent flooding. The street surface was dirt, patched here and there with small slabs of bluestone. Nearly every courtyard had a shopfront; fewer than half had been converted purely to living quarters, while the greater part operated as shops. The variety was wide: fruit shops, raw and prepared medicine shops, hat shops, eating houses, washing and starching services, and more — hat shops being the most numerous. Most people in the city who wanted to buy hats came to Jingdongfang, so the street saw a fair amount of foot traffic, and business seemed to be doing rather well.

Fortunately, every household on Erdaojie had its own privy, so the road was not piled with filth. But not far ahead on Yidaojie, two great heaps of excrement and rubbish sat stinking to high heaven. There was no help for it — Yidaojie was even better located than Erdaojie, and more people rented there. Many households had filled in their old latrines and built new rooms; for the call of nature they relied on chamber pots, and if they missed the night-soil cart, they simply dumped the contents wherever they pleased. For the first time, Chen Xin thought that having city inspectors might not be such a bad thing.

"Brother Chen!" someone shouted from behind.

Chen Xin turned and saw it was Lu Lvzi.

"Chuanzong, what is it?" Chen Xin had finally recalled Lu Lvzi's real name.

Lu Lvzi squirmed for a long while, his face red and his neck bulging, but he could not force out a single word.

Chen Xin looked at him curiously. The day Lu Lvzi had confronted Tang Caokou, he had been outrageously arrogant and sharp-tongued. Who would have thought he could look like this?

At last, "Brother Chen, Er Tun's wound is getting better. The physician says in a few more days he won't need the dressing changed."

"Ah, that's very good. So he plans to go home?"

"Yes... no. He doesn't want to go back himself. Brother Dai forced him to. Brother Dai is forcing me to go back too."

"So that's how it is. And do you mean to obey him?"

"Er Tun listens to Brother Dai. As for me, I still need to think it over. I don't want to go back to farming. Brother Chen, you're a big brother too — I'd like to hear what you have to say."

Chen Xin thought for a moment, then led Lu Lvzi north along Erdaojie. Lu Lvzi had come to ask his opinion, which most likely meant he wanted to follow Chen Xin. But now that he knew Chen Xin was merely an accountant, with uncertain prospects, he was wavering and wanted to sound out whether Chen Xin had any other plans.

Thinking this, he walked slowly and said to Lu Lvzi, "Brother Lu, if these were peaceful and prosperous times, I would tell you the same as your Brother Dai — go back and farm. But these are not such times. You may not believe it, but the Great Ming's age of chaos is imminent. When chaos comes, whether you are a boat tracker or a farmer, no one can hide from it. Would you rather hide to one side and let others decide whether you live or die, or would you rather seize a chance amid the chaos and decide your own fate? Neither path is clearly better than the other. This is not something others can decide for you — only you can."

Lu Lvzi scratched his head. "And you, Brother Chen? What would you choose?"

Chen Xin looked at Lu Chuanzong and smiled faintly. "Right now, your big brother is only an accountant. But I firmly believe there will be opportunities in Tianjin, so I am staying here, waiting for them to come. At present, I can't give you anything — I can't even pay you wages. If you are willing to stay in Tianjin, you can live at my place and first find some work for yourself."

Hearing this, Lu Lvzi grew even more hesitant. Chen Xin patted him on the shoulder and said, "Think it over carefully. Make your decision once you've thought it through."

"Mm..."

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That afternoon, Zhou Laifu took Liu Minyou, Dai Zhenggang, and the others to buy urgently needed bedding and such. Jiang Wang led Zhang Erhui and Wang Daixi in washing down the courtyard. Jiang Wang's wife also came to help — a woman in her early thirties who usually helped Jiang Wang sell a bit of incense and votive goods. She had a ready tongue, and she personally took Wang Daixi in hand to give the stove platform a thorough cleaning.

Chen Xin and Lu Lvzi, utterly clueless about housework and dreading its tedium, had no choice but to wander about outside. They strolled over to the Sanyi Temple to the northeast, had a look around, and reckoned Liu Minyou and the others should be back by now, so they turned and headed home.

The moment they entered the courtyard, a hubbub of voices greeted them. Several neighboring families had come over. The stone table was piled with bolts of cloth and bedding. Zhou Laifu was directing a few women in sewing. The ground had been scrubbed spotless. A large iron pot sat on the stove, and along the stove ledge a jumble of coarse ceramic bowls and plates had been set out. From the main room came Liu Minyou's loud voice: "Raise this side a bit higher — this bed is for the wounded. Tie it tight, don't let it collapse..."

As soon as Zhou Laifu saw Chen Xin return, he hurriedly pointed to the women and said, "Young Master Chen is back! Look, we're just about finished. These are all neighbors from the same tithing. When they heard a new household had moved in, they all came to help."

Then he turned to the women and said, "See? This is Young Master Chen. He's an accountant. From now on, if you need any writing or figuring done, no need to hire a scribe — just ask Young Master Chen for help."

At once the women began chattering, each greeting Chen Xin in turn. They were all women from the surrounding houses, and in the end Chen Xin did not manage to remember a single name. Entering the main room, he found it even more crowded than the courtyard. Dai Zhenggang, drenched in sweat, was tying a bed curtain onto a bamboo pole, looking even more exhausted than when he wielded his fine-steel staff. Hai Gouzi was steadying the pole for him. This main room was originally the central chamber and had no bed. As it happened, Zhou Laifu's family had an old one lying unused, so Liu Minyou bought it, set it up with bedding and curtains, and prepared it for Er Tun. In the other main room, several people were also tidying up.

Fortunately, many hands made light work. By suppertime, the rooms were finally in order. The crowd of women hurried home to cook. Zhou Laifu and Jiang Wang also went home. Those who remained were all their own people. Wang Daixi, after cleaning the stove, had become a sooty-faced clown. Dai Zhenggang's face was streaming with sweat. The others had been running about all afternoon too — tired and hungry, but seeing the courtyard tidied and renewed, they looked at one another and chuckled.

After enjoying the moment, Liu Minyou gathered everyone around the stone table and began assigning rooms. "I'll take the west main room. The east main room is for Er Tun and the other wounded. Daixi, you take the first side room on the west. Hai Gouzi, you three will have to rough it for now — sleep in the shopfront. Brother Dai and Brother Lu, you'll look after the wounded, so you take the second side room. Chen Xin slacked off today, so he gets the third side room."

Dai Zhenggang hastily protested, insisting that the main room should go to Chen Xin. Chen Xin smilingly declined — the room arrangement had been discussed between the two of them beforehand. In high spirits, the group went off to an eating house for dinner. After the meal, Dai Zhenggang and Lu Lvzi took their leave and headed back out of the city.

By the time the six of them returned to the courtyard, the sky was nearly dark. Liu Minyou lit the two lanterns they had bought for illumination. With no outsiders present, Wang Daixi immediately leapt up and darted about everywhere like a joyful little bird, racing in and out of every room. Once he had seen enough, he went into his own side room and did not come out. Faintly, the sound of muffled sobbing could be heard. Hai Gouzi and the others, meanwhile, rigged a crude bed in the shopfront using spare door planks, haphazardly hung a bed curtain, and inside they wrestled and shouted, raising a terrific rumpus.

Liu Minyou watched with a grin and said calmly, "These youngsters really can't contain themselves."

Chen Xin, holding a tree branch, was pacing around the stone table and water vat in the courtyard, measuring this and that. As he did so, he said to Liu Minyou, "Later, once Er Tun and the others have left, I'll move into the main room. Hai Gouzi and the others can take my side room. We'll remodel the kitchen, tear down this stone table in the middle, and clear the courtyard for exercise and leisure. Then we'll sink a well in the corner — that'll make fetching water much easier. What do you think?"

Liu Minyou immediately expressed his approval, even suggesting in concrete terms the installation of parallel bars and a pommel horse, complete with a feasibility analysis. Then he kept Chen Xin company for a while longer, yawned, and said, "I don't know why, but I'm unusually sleepy today. I'm turning in." Chen Xin nodded and continued measuring the dimensions of the firewood stove.

The moment Liu Minyou entered his room, he shut the door, hung up the lantern, and with lightning speed pulled out the red deed. His hands trembling, he stared at it for a long while, his face streaming with tears, his lips quivering. "I've finally bought a house in Tianjin! Several thousand catties of grain, and I've bought a house! A standalone ready-built house in a prime location — no mortgage, no shared area, no major repair fund, no property management fees. Fully furnished, with a shopfront, a free garden, free kitchen and bathroom, free furniture, permanent property rights. Am I dreaming? Yin Wanqiu, don't you put on airs — can you afford this..."

In the end, only Chen Xin remained standing in the central courtyard, perfectly composed. He muttered to himself with a face full of dissatisfaction, "Zero connection to water, electricity, gas, television, or broadband. No landscaping, no clubhouse, no security, no cleaning. And the design is seriously flawed — where am I supposed to tether the BMW I'm going to buy?!"