Chapter 42

He Yuzhu rubbed He Yushui's head and said, "How have your studies been these past few days?" He Yushui excitedly said, "Brother, I got first place in this exam, our teacher even praised me, saying I'll get the Three-Good Student award for this semester, ah Brother, did you bring me something tasty or not?"

He Yuzhu looked at He Yushui and said, "Yushui, you're amazing; keep working hard next time. I wasn't sure what you wanted to eat, so I was thinking of taking you and Tingting straight to the store to buy something."

"Great, Brother, Tingting sister, hurry up, let's two of us put down our schoolbags and go with my brother to buy snacks." After saying that, the two held hands and ran home. Seeing the little girl who had obviously gained quite a bit of weight, He Yuzhu thought about whether he should cut back on their snacks.

He Yuzhu took the two to Fragrant Rice Village, bought them some pastries, then returned to the Wang residence; Wang Youde hadn't come back yet. After they finished eating and Wang Youde returned, He Yuzhu briefly updated him on recent events, and when mentioning his consultancy at Yagangchang, Wang Youde patted He Yuzhu's shoulder and said, "Zhuzi, you've really grown up. Old He really doesn't know what he's thinking, giving up such good days—what a sin."

He Yuzhu saw his master bring up this matter again and hurriedly said, "Master, I don't blame my father; he really has his difficulties, but I can tell you, Master, my father definitely didn't go to Protected City because of the White Widow."

"Zhuzi, you said last time your father had difficulties—what exactly are they? If there's anything, we old brothers can still help, right?"

"Master, I still can't say it now; I'm waiting for you, waiting for an opportunity. When the opportunity comes, I'll go and settle this matter clearly." After He Yuzhu said that, his expression turned resolute.

Wang Youde looked at He Yuzhu's eyes and said, "Zhuzi, you must not do illegal things; the He family only has you as its sole heir."

"Oh Master, where are you thinking? With such a bright future, how could I do something illegal? You should rest soon, Master—I need to get back to school before the gate closes." After He Yuzhu said that, he stood up to leave.

Wang Youde stopped He Yuzhu and said, "Wait a moment, Zhuzi." After saying that, he went into the inner room, soon came out with some money and handed it to He Yuzhu, saying, "Take this money, Zhuzi; the school's meager subsidy is nowhere near enough." He Yuzhu currently receives a monthly subsidy of 15 yuan; if it weren't for the money Lou Dong gave him and his earlier income from selling radios, he would have been broke long ago, but he would definitely not accept Wang Youde's money.

"Master, what are you doing? Yushui has been living at your place, so I should be the one giving you money. I'm not short on cash—Lou Dong previously gave me eight hundred yuan, and I still have plenty left." He Yuzhu pushed Wang Youde's money back toward him.

Seeing He Yuzhu say that, Wang Youde could only take the money back, seeing He Yuzhu out to the gate before returning, all the while urging He Yuzhu to study hard and definitely not engage in illegal activities.

After leaving the Wang residence, He Yuzhu arrived at the school gate to find it already closed; he took something out of his pocket and shouted at the guard's room, "Master Li, could you please open the door for me?"

"Yo, Zhuzi's back! Today Director Liu even came by specially to tell them to leave the gate open for you." As Master Li spoke, he opened the gate and let He Yuzhu in.

"Thanks for the trouble, Master Li." He Yuzhu passed a cigarette to Master Li, expressed his thanks, then rode off to the dormitory.

The next morning, He Yuzhu came to Yagangchang; at the gate he did not follow the crowd of workers entering the factory, because without a work uniform he would surely be stopped if he went straight in. He pushed his bicycle to the side gate, just about to speak, when he heard a security cadre say, "Consultant He, you can go right in; Factory Manager Yang has already informed us."

"Oh, okay, thanks, comrade." He Yuzhu pushed his bicycle into the factory, then mounted it and rode to the office building.

After everyone had started work, He Yuzhu led the people from the Office of Safety Production around the factory for a whole day, recording many safety hazards. After returning to the office, He Yuzhu He Yuzhu had everyone organize today's records, preparing to start drafting the employee handbook tomorrow, and then He Yuzhu left Yagangchang.

He Yuzhu left Yagangchang and headed straight to the Caishikou Trust Store, found Zhao Huamin, explained his purpose; Zhao Huamin took He Yuzhu to the back courtyard, pointing to the fireplaces in the wall corner and said, "Zhuzi, look at these—just sitting there gathering dust, nobody wants this useless junk. For thirty yuan, you can take any four-meter pipe you like."

"Sure, Brother Zhao, I'll have a look." After saying that, He Yuzhu walked to the wall corner, picked out a fireplace that looked fairly new, pointed at it and said, "This one, Brother Zhao; you can make out the invoice later—I'll give you the money, then go find a big cart and two porters."

As he spoke, He Yuzhu handed the money to Zhao Huamin, prepared to leave the back courtyard directly; just as he was about to exit the gate, he saw some tiles piled behind the door, pointed at them and asked, "Brother Zhao, how much per tile?"

Zhao Huamin stepped forward and said, "Which ones? If you don't need many, I'll just give you some; these tiles are too narrow—aside from the bathhouse, nobody uses them anywhere else."

"That's great, Brother Zhao, thank you so much—I won't need many." After thinking about the size needed for a bathtub, He Yuzhu said, "That's about twenty to thirty 【tiles】."

"Fine, go find a cart; later you just need to take thirty 【yuan】." After saying that, Zhao Huamin waved at He Yuzhu and went inside to settle the payment.

After He Yuzhu went outside to fetch a cart and two porters and returned, Zhao Huamin was already waiting by the fireplace; he didn't give He Yuzhu an invoice, and He Yuzhu didn't ask for one. Five people loaded the fireplace and tiles onto the cart; He Yuzhu gave each porter a mao, then, with the driver, headed toward the Courtyard House.

He Yuzhu originally wanted to build a bathing room for summer convenience, but seeing the tiles reminded him of something he'd heard in his past life: in the south there's a pot-bath, where you put a large cooking pot filled with water and bathe inside, with someone outside controlling the temperature. Of course He Yuzhu wouldn't actually bathe in a pot; he merely wanted to borrow that method.

Arriving at the Courtyard House, He Yuzhu summoned Lai Yourong and four others to take the two wooden poles, tie the fireplace with rope, and four people carried it into the inner courtyard. After unloading the tiles in the inner courtyard, he said to Lai Yourong, "Master Lai, please make these tiles into a bathtub for me." Then the two went inside to plan the bathroom's location; you should follow these dimensions, but make the bottom hollow like a bed platform, connecting it to the bedroom's kang.

After hearing He Yuzhu's idea, Lai Yourong said, "Zhuzi, how did your brain grow? You could actually think of such a method—this way you'll be able to bathe at home in winter. Besides, your room isn't that big; if the fireplace and kang are made windproof, you'll surely stay warm."

"Hey, Master Lai, I'm just the type who likes to mess around when I have nothing to do." After He Yuzhu said that and chuckled, once he finished giving instructions to Lai Yourong, he mounted his bicycle and headed for school. It had been almost two days since he last saw Gao Yue; he had come back late yesterday and hadn't gone to the dormitory to look for Gao Yue, and not seeing her for two days really left him feeling a bit out of sorts.