Chapter 704: The Housing Construction Commotion

In the No. 95 Siheyuan, Yan Bugui began organizing the construction of makeshift houses.

Calling them "makeshift" was actually not simple at all; he was digging foundations based on two small houses of eight square meters each, real and solid.

If these houses were truly built, the neighbors across the way would be the ones to suffer.

The area in front of Wang Zhifu's house would instantly become a public space.

Sister-in-law Wang came to his door and said, "Teacher Yan, isn't this going too far? Once your earthquake shelter is built like this, the space in front of our house becomes public ground. By what right?"

Yan Bugui tilted his eyes and said unhurriedly, "Sister-in-law Wang, what kind of talk is that? It's true I'm standing on public space, but I haven't crossed the walkway, have I? If your family wants to follow my lead, I'm not stopping you."

Stung by his retort, Sister-in-law Wang froze for a moment, then sneered, "Fine, since that's how you talk, then we will build houses exactly like yours."

Yan Bugui chuckled, "Build away! No one is stopping you."

By evening, this matter had blown up throughout the entire courtyard.

At first, Yi Zhonghai wanted to pull Liu Haizhong along to persuade Yan Bugui, but he didn't expect that Liu Haizhong would be inspired and want to build two houses himself.

"Lao Yi, I heard that everyone in Si Jiu Cheng is doing this. I want to build two as well. The law doesn't punish the masses; let's not worry about it."

"But if we build like this, the whole courtyard won't even have a place to hold meetings."

"I don't think He Daqing will build; we can just hold meetings in the Zhongyuan later!" Liu Haizhong said with a grin.

"You wish! I'm going to build a kitchen too!" Yi Zhonghai huffed and went to find He Daqing.

"Daqing, Yan Laoxi is too calculating. Once he took the lead, the Wang family started building, Liu Haizhong wants to build, and Xu Damao wants to build... I can't control it anymore! How about we each build two as well? Your place is big, you could build three."

He Daqing shook his head and said, "Zhonghai, I think let's just forget it. We can't control people in the front and back courtyards. How about we in the Zhongyuan agree not to build, what do you think? We should leave some activity space for the children in the future; otherwise, once every family has kids, they'll have nowhere to play."

"I can persuade Dongxu, but his mother is hard to deal with!" Yi Zhonghai said, feeling troubled.

"I'll have Guizhi go talk to Zhao Yingzi and Bang Geng; it shouldn't be a problem," He Daqing said.

Yi Zhonghai shook his head, "Daqing, if you can't persuade Jia Zhangshi, then I'm going to build a kitchen!"

He Daqing nodded.

Liu Haizhong was eating eggs and drinking wine, feeling quite pleased with himself.

The Second Aunt asked, "Old man, if we build two rooms, will the neighborhood office make us tear them down?"

Liu Haizhong shook his head, "They won't. We have three sons and only two rooms. When Lao Er and Lao San come back, where will they live? It'll be different once these two rooms are built. Even if they don't get assigned housing, we'll have given them a nest."

"I really didn't expect that this earthquake would actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise for us!" the Second Aunt said happily.

"Isn't that right?" Liu Haizhong felt this was a pie falling from the sky, and he absolutely had to pick it up.

With both managing masters taking the lead in building, the others were even harder to hold back. The entire crowded courtyard, under the banner of building earthquake shelters, was bustling with infrastructure construction.

Jia Zhangshi was eager to try, but was ultimately stopped by Zhao Yingzi.

Zhao Yingzi said, "Mother, Uncle He doesn't want us to build in the Zhongyuan, so we'd better not. Our family has received many benefits relying on the He Family; why ruin that favor?"

Jia Zhangshi also understood that Zhao Yingzi's job was found by He Yuzhu, and now Bang Geng was also working under He Yuzhu and had even been promoted. It wasn't worth falling out with the He Family over this.

Jidong.

On the night before he left, Secretary Liu called He Yuzhu over and asked, "Zhuzi, you've performed a great service this time; what reward do you want?"

He Yuzhu shook his head and said, "I don't want anything. Just credit the merit to the Liushi Trading Company, and there's no need to pay back that money; just consider it their donation."

"How can that be? The value of those supplies is an astronomical figure!" Secretary Liu said.

He Yuzhu smiled and said, "Then just keep that account. If one day private enterprises like the Liushi Trading Company are allowed to buy land, just have the state grant them a plot so they can build a few office buildings and a large museum!"

Secretary Liu laughed heartily after hearing this, "You kid, you want to display those antiques you've collected, don't you?"

He Yuzhu smiled, "Are you going to be moving to a new position when you go back this time? Then I'll congratulate you in advance; I'm afraid it won't be so easy to see you in the future."

Secretary Liu shook his head and said seriously, "Zhuzi, no matter how high a leader I become, as long as you want to see me and I have the time, we'll be just like before."

He Yuzhu smiled, shook hands firmly with Secretary Liu, and then left.

Two days later, He Yuzhu returned to Si Jiu Cheng.

As soon as he entered the gate of the No. 95 courtyard, he saw that the courtyard was packed with houses squeezed into every available space, leaving only a walkway about a meter wide.

He sighed softly, "This place has really turned into a crowded tenement."

After entering the house, Shen Guizhi came to greet him, looked him up and down, and said with heartache, "Zhuzi, you look like you've lost a lot of weight. Haven't you been sleeping well? Your eyes are dark, and you have a lot more wrinkles."

He Yuzhu nodded, "Hey, disaster relief is hard work, how could it be easy? I could only make do sleeping in a tent."

He Daqing sat to the side and said slowly, "Zhuzi, you see it now, don't you? This courtyard is no longer fit to live in!"

He Yuzhu asked, "Dad, didn't you all report this to the neighborhood office?"

He Daqing snorted, "I ran into Wang Xia a few days ago, and she said almost every courtyard is like this; there's simply no way to manage it."

He Yuzhu sighed and said, "Dad, I think it might be better to open up the Erfang next to us to the East Cross Courtyard, so you can walk through the East Cross Courtyard from now on."

He Daqing waved his hand, "No need. The courtyard is a bit annoying to look at, but it doesn't hinder walking."

Days passed by just like that, and in the blink of an eye, several more years went by.

Xu Damao and Yan Jiecheng resigned from their units one after another and plunged into the business world.

Yan Jiecheng opened a restaurant, and the chef was hired from the Rolling Mill.

Xu Damao, on the other hand, got mixed up with a social drifter named Li Huaide and started a company.

Xu Damao had been very fond of showing off lately. Seeing He Yuzhu, he asked, "Great Factory Director He, how much do you make a month now?"

He Yuzhu looked at Xu Damao, who was wearing a foreign suit, and laughed, "Did you take out the things you hid before liberation to sell?"

Xu Damao was startled—he had indeed taken out some things he had stored to sell and started a trading company in partnership with Li Huaide. But how could He Yuzhu know about this?

"What are you talking about? What things are there to sell? Everything I have now is money I earned from running my trading company. Do you know who I'm partnering with?" Xu Damao said with some pride.