Chapter 59: The Void Manure Cleaner Yi Zhonghai

After this major battle.

Yi Zhonghai finally got his wish and returned to the Siheyuan he had been longing for.

As for the ashes of Kameda Meiko, they had already been scattered, leaving only a small box and a small black-and-white photo that had been trampled beyond recognition.

Yi Zhonghai even passed several false teeth when he went to the toilet, and he had been terrified during this time, fearing that the ghost of the Deaf Old Lady would come to seek revenge on him.

Besides this, Yi Zhonghai also had to consider the problem of his own livelihood.

After all, he had already been fired by the Rolling Mill.

He had become a true-blue street loafer.

It was also thanks to his godson Shazhu being somewhat useful that he still knew to bring some carrots to honor him on weekdays.

Originally, with his own substantial family savings, he wouldn't have starved to death.

But a lot of the money had been used by the First Aunt to pull strings, and Master Wang had also swindled a lot of money from him, only that old scoundrel was now locked up in a big prison.

His assets had all been confiscated, and he had no way to get them back.

Looking at it, Winter Begins was in two days.

Relying on those few cabbages in his cellar, he definitely wouldn't last a month.

Moreover, Yi Zhonghai currently had no say in the courtyard at all, and he even had to go find the current First Uncle, Liu Haizhong, for such a small matter.

"Old Yi, I understand your family's situation, but this matter is very difficult to handle!"

Liu Haizhong spoke in official jargon, lecturing Yi Zhonghai with a pretentious air, truly a case of a petty person drunk on power.

Yi Zhonghai dared to be angry but dared not speak, and even had to force a smile along with him.

Xu Damao had also become Liu Haizhong's number one bodyguard.

He was holding a brick in his hand even now, which made Yi Zhonghai shudder just looking at it.

"Old Liu, ah no, Brother Liu, just help me out; if things go on like this, our family won't even have enough to eat."

"We're living even more difficultly than Dongxu's family now..."

Yi Zhonghai held the only cabbage left in his home.

Regardless of whether Old Liu was willing or not, he sent it straight into the house; before Liu Haizhong could even make a sound, the Second Aunt was overjoyed and hurriedly agreed to the matter on Liu Haizhong's behalf.

Although the Old Liu family was "father kind and son filial," chasing his two sons to beat them every day, he was still terrified of his own tigress of a wife on weekdays.

Old Liu hadn't intended to help, but when the Second Aunt glared, Old Liu instantly wilted.

"Ahem, after all, we are all neighbors; logically speaking, we should help each other."

"How about this! You go home and wait for news first; I'll go to the Street Office and find a good job for you..."

Old Liu was extremely reluctant, but he still took on the matter.

Yi Zhonghai was overjoyed when he saw this.

He was dumbfounded when the next day arrived.

This damn thing actually had the Street Office find him a job cleaning out feces?

And the scope of work was the toilets of all the Siheyuan managed by the Street Office!

You have to know that the Siheyuan he lived in alone had dozens of households, not to mention the other Siheyuan; even if they were all public toilets, this was hard to handle!

Most importantly, the pay was too damn low!

Ten yuan a month.

This was even lower than being an Apprentice at the Rolling Mill!

But there was no other way; without a job, he would starve on the street, and relying on the First Aunt to stitch shoe soles for others every day wouldn't earn much money at all.

"A molting Phoenix is not as good as a chicken! When I have a chance in the future, I will definitely not spare you," Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth until they creaked.

The former Level 8 Fitter Yi Zhonghai had transformed into a glorious Toilet Labor Manager.

Carrying a manure fork and a manure scoop on his shoulders all day, with a large manure basket on his back, he wandered around the alleys all day long.

Wherever there was manure, he went; every day, his body carried a stench of excrement.

"This old guy swam in the latrine last time, and now he's working as a manure cleaner; he really has a fate with it!"

"If you put it that way, didn't Shazhu go down there too? When will he inherit his father's career and become a 'manure-cleaning boy' in the future?"

Just as Yi Zhonghai was passing by carrying the manure scoop, he heard many people gossiping about him.

Although he felt bad inside, he remained harmonious and amiable on the surface, striving to continue building the image of a "good old man."

And this tactic of his was indeed effective.

Some people even started calling him First Uncle again, saying they were used to the name and couldn't change it back.

On the other side, because of Zhao Gangzi's habit of having to use the toilet at 12 o'clock every night, he specifically had someone build a toilet on a small plot of empty land next to his house.

And the level of luxury far exceeded the public toilets in the Siheyuan.

After all, the public toilet in the courtyard had to endure the abuse of dozens of people every day; not only was the smell terrible, but it was also incredibly dirty.

By comparison, the toilet at Zhao Gangzi's house was the cleaner kind, but because it was a private toilet, the Street Office didn't manage it, and he had to do the cleaning himself.

Zhao Gangzi was worrying about this matter; he couldn't bring himself to do it, and just at this moment, Yi Zhonghai appeared from afar carrying a manure fork.

He was just preparing to go home and rest.

Zhao Gangzi's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stopped Yi Zhonghai, smiling: "Isn't this Master Yi? Our toilet is full; could I trouble Yi Zhonghai to clean it for us?"

Yi Zhonghai just glanced at him slightly.

This kid actually dared to ask him for help; it was clearly a deliberate humiliation. After all, the Deaf Old Lady's affair had a lot to do with this kid's interference.

And that matter of him going to prison—wasn't it because he swallowed their family's subsidy, leading to his own imprisonment?

"Not doing it. Your toilet is not under my jurisdiction; go find someone else!"

Yi Zhonghai held his head high with arrogance and was about to leave with the manure scoop in his hand.

Zhao Gangzi wasn't angry, but took a one-yuan bill out of his pocket and shouted: "There is a reward for cleaning our toilet once, one yuan per time!"

Seeing that one yuan, Yi Zhonghai also stopped in his tracks.

This money was once a mere drop in the bucket for him, but now his salary was only ten yuan a month, and since it hadn't been paid out yet this month, this one yuan seemed particularly tempting.

However, he was also struggling violently within himself.

This is Zhao Gangzi, for crying out loud; who knows what kind of foul trick he's got brewing in his head.

Nevertheless, old Yi still bowed his head to that one yuan.

Third Uncle Yan Bugui, who had been wandering around, heard the commotion from somewhere and, determined to earn that one yuan, grabbed a fork and prepared to charge into the person's latrine.

Once Yi Zhonghai saw there was someone trying to steal his business, he couldn't stand still either and hurriedly agreed, "Gangzi, I'll do the work at your place; I'm quite professional, and I clean it thoroughly!"

"Old Yi, didn't you say you wouldn't do it? Don't wrong yourself; if it really won't work, let me do it," Yan Bugui began to compete with Yi Zhonghai for the business, determined to win that one yuan.

Zhao Gangzi was amused, just watching these two old geezers fight at his doorstep.

Yan Bugui even lowered his price on the spot, indicating he could do the job for nine mao.

Yi Zhonghai was even more ruthless, directly stating that eight mao would also work.

Even if they didn't earn the money, they had to win the argument; the price was forced down to five mao by the two of them, and Yi Zhonghai had already declared that he would even lick the latrine clean if he had to.

Zhao Gangzi, considering the professional nature of cleaning a latrine.

Ultimately chose to let Yi Zhonghai help clean his latrine.

Thanks to the assist from Third Uncle, he even saved himself five mao, and he made Yi Zhonghai do it willingly.