Chapter 11: 90: A Family by the Spring Chapter 11 The Changes of the Times

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

"Xiyu, do you know......"

The elders' reactions were completely different; Aunt Da furrowed her brows and asked, "What does that reporter mean by saying the Old City District is being demolished?"

"I don't know."

Lin Xiyu was stunned, her eyes showing guilt: "I only heard her say one sentence; I didn't ask carefully."

"This matter needs to be clarified."

Da Yifu's expression was grave: "If our house is really demolished, I'm afraid it's not optimistic. When Seventh Road was demolished, whether one lived in public housing made a huge difference......"

"Slap."

The maternal aunt trembled, and the bowl and chopsticks in her hand fell to the ground.

——

Lin Xiyu's great-grandfather, that is, Grandfather's father, was a craftsman, with ancestral roots in Shanxi.

During the late Qing period, the old master came from Shanxi to Jinan to make his way; after finding his footing, he brought Lin Xiyu's grandfather out.

The old master had an obsession: fallen leaves return to their roots. He always wanted to return to his hometown in Shanxi. After working for many years, he had not bought a house of his own.

After the founding of New China, during the War to Resist U. S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the old master, full of patriotic fervor, donated all the savings he had accumulated over a lifetime.

Not long after donating his family property, the old master suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died on the spot; before he died, he had not been able to return to his hometown.

Grandfather scraped together money from east and west to hold the old master's funeral, owing a mountain of debt. From then on, the house was bare, and life became tight and plummeted.

——

Grandmother's family had always rented public housing. In '58, during the Great Leap Forward, every household had to turn in ironware for the great steel smelting.

Ordinary people's homes had no kitchen knives left, and eating became a problem. The Neighborhood Committee changed the Pan Gong Street No. 11 Courtyard where Grandmother's family had originally lived into a large canteen, and the families living in the courtyard were resettled separately.

It was at that time that Grandmother's family moved to Donghua Street No. 9 together with the Zhang and Wang families.

They lived there from '58 until now, for over thirty years.

Over thirty years of wind and rain, experiencing the changes of the times, during which many things happened, and there were also considerable frictions between neighbors.

The largest conflict occurred in '84.

The country introduced a new policy: all confiscated and requisitioned overseas Chinese private houses would be returned.

Huang Daye's family were relatives of overseas Chinese, and Donghua Street No. 9 Courtyard was their private property.

Once the policy came out, Huang Daye's son abroad had ideas; he wanted to drive out the other three families and sell the old house to a southerner doing business in Jinan.

The Old City District was the area inside the moat, a tiny place of a slap's size, with many people and few houses.

The Neighborhood Committee could not solve the housing problem; the three families had nowhere to go and were unwilling to move.

Thus, over the house, they almost tore their faces apart.

Huang Daye's son instructed his domestic brother-in-law to find several hooligans to smash things in the courtyard, forcing the three families to move out.

At that time, Lin Xiyu's biological father was still alive; he brought his comrades-in-arms and gave them a harsh lesson.

The brother-in-law was beaten until he was afraid; he washed his hands of the matter and never showed his face in the courtyard again after that.

This matter caused a huge stir at the time. Overseas Chinese relatives were not just Huang Daye's family; other courtyards also had disputes, which were contested for a long time.

Finally, the Neighborhood Committee stepped in to coordinate. Huang Daye, out of regard for years of neighborly affection, agreed to let the three families continue living there, changing from public rental housing to leasing private housing. The rent also rose from the previous five yuan a month to thirty yuan.

——

"Clang."

The porcelain bowl fell to the ground and shattered into pieces; the abrupt sound struck everyone's heart.

Grandmother's legs went soft; she staggered back two steps and sat down on the bed.