Chapter 6: 90: A Family by the Spring, Chapter 6: Courtyard No. 9, Donghua Street

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

Lin Xiyu's biological father was a soldier who took part in the Self-Defense Counterattack War against Vietnam and died when she was eight years old.

Her mother remarried and had another son after remarrying.

The remarried household was full of trouble; her stepfather had a daughter with his former wife, who was one year older than Lin Xiyu.

The former wife's daughter disliked them, and relying on her father's favor, often provoked and insulted them. Worried that she would be bullied by the father and daughter, her mother left her at her maternal grandmother's home.

Lin Xiyu grew up with her maternal grandmother from a young age.

Her maternal grandmother had two daughters and one son.

After the eldest daughter married, she was allocated a house in the railway dormitory, and the whole family moved out of the siheyuan.

The second daughter, Lin Xiyu's mother, lived at her husband's home after remarrying, bringing her young son home once a week to visit her daughter and elderly mother.

Now living in the siheyuan with the old lady, besides Lin Xiyu, there were also her son and daughter-in-law.

Lin Xiyu's Uncle and Aunt were both laid-off workers at Plastic Factory No. 14.

After being laid off, Uncle worked at a privately run hotel, riding an electric tricycle to deliver goods and vegetables.

Aunt rented a public telephone booth and also sold newspapers, magazines, and cigarettes to earn some pocket money to subsidize the household.

The couple had a very good relationship and lived in harmony; their only worry was that they had no children after many years of marriage.

For this matter, Aunt drank a lot of traditional Chinese medicine, heard a lot of gossip, and often quarreled with neighbors out of spite.

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Donghua Street No. 9 was not home to just one family, but four households living together.

The landlord's family surnamed Huang; after Huang Daniang passed away, Huang Daye lived alone in the best spot in the siheyuan, three south-facing rooms.

Lin Xiyu's maternal grandmother's home was directly across from Huang Daye's, also three rooms, with the door and windows facing north, the south side being the courtyard wall, adjacent to the alley.

The family living on the east side of the courtyard surnamed Wang.

Wang Daye knew how to make noodles; with Huang Daye's consent, he converted two of his own rooms into a noodle workshop.

The old couple and their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson—five people—could not fit in the remaining one room, so they expanded the kitchen and turned it into a small bedroom.

His family had no kitchen and could only borrow Huang Daye's kitchen to cook.

For three meals a day, they incidentally cooked Huang Daye's meals as well.

Huang Daye was eighty-two years old, with poor mobility, and his son was not by his side; with Wang Daye's family taking care of him, his days were fairly comfortable.

The family living on the west side of the courtyard surnamed Zhang; after the old couple passed away, their son and daughter still lived there.

The rooms on the west side were the smallest.

Because Huang Daye had planted two pomegranate trees outside the windows of his west rooms, plus a grape trellis, taking up nearly two-thirds of the area.

So there were only two rooms on the west side, one with windows facing east, slightly larger in area.

One was at the northwest corner of the courtyard, connected to Lin Xiyu's maternal grandmother's home, with windows facing north, slightly smaller in area.

Zhang Da Fen's brother Zhang Dashan was an honest man, eight years older than her, and like Uncle and Aunt, was also a laid-off worker at Plastic Factory No. 14.

After being laid off, he did odd jobs everywhere; his wife had no job, and the couple had a daughter, living a life that was not affluent.

Zhang Da Fen was different; she studied well, was beautiful, got into Secondary Vocational School, and after graduation was allocated to work at a bank with a formal establishment.

Also for this reason, her temperament was somewhat proud; she was picky about finding a partner and only found a suitable match at twenty-eight, the other party six years older than her, working at the Provincial Party Committee, said to be a Section Chief.

After marriage she could move into the Provincial Party Committee Compound; she felt her status was different, became even more arrogant, with her nose stuck up in the air, looking down on the neighbors in the alley.