A Siheyuan Home Brings Good Fortune

Chapter 22 Preparing for Marriage
Cai Wenqing and He Yushui ate with their mouths full of oil. The current Quanjude roast duck tastes really good, unlike the later generations when locals rarely eat Quanjude.
The people who eat at Quanjude are all tourists. The chefs are still very professional. The roast duck is cut into 108 pieces, the duck bones are used to make soup, a plate of shredded green onions, a plate of shredded cucumbers, a plate of secret sweet noodle sauce, and a special pancake.

He Yukai began to do the logistical work. Cai Wenqing and He Yushui kept stuffing food into their mouths. After the last duck entered the stomachs of the three, they drank a bowl of soup made from duck bones. It was perfect.

After dinner, He Yushui was sent to school. He Yukai followed Cai Wenqing to Courtyard 97 to look at the house allocated to Cai Wenqing.

When I opened the door, I saw that the house was newly renovated. It was well decorated. There were only a bed and a stove inside, but the bedding was brand new.

One of the back houses is empty, and the other is filled with coal briquettes. They might have been placed there by the street office. After all, winter is coming soon.
He Yukai likes the vegetable garden in the yard very much. The vegetable problem in summer is solved. The west wall of the yard happens to be the back wall of his house.
This is perfect. I can just find a time to open the door to my house.

"Xiaoqing, the yard is nice. There's basically no problem with opening a back door in my house. It's better to keep this yard secret.

You don't know much about the situation in No. 98 Courtyard. It is a place where a bunch of evil spirits live. The temple is small but the evil spirits are strong. The water is shallow but there are many turtles. Too many houses can easily arouse others' jealousy.
I'll quietly open a back door and then I'll disguise myself and eat something delicious in your yard.

Now supplies are running low, and a cunning rabbit has three burrows. We usually live in Yard 98. You can also take a look at who lives in this yard."

"Okay, I'll listen to you. I think so too. This yard is very quiet. Director Wang also told me that the people in this yard are all from the machinery factory. The manager is highly respected.
In the two years since Director Wang arrived, I have hardly heard of anything happening. Everyone is living their own lives."

"Well, Xiaoqing, you see we are not young anymore, let's find some time to get married."

"Okay, we don't have any elders to get the marriage certificate on Monday, so we can just find a time to set up two tables."

Although I was still a little shy, I didn't care. It was already decided a long time ago.

"It's not easy. Do you know how I've been through these past two months? I've had matchmakers come to my house every day. I've been treated like a rich bachelor.
Fortunately, I sent a telegram to the company urging you to come over. If you hadn’t come, I would have been living in the factory duty room.”

"Telegram? What telegram? When did you send it?"

“It was last Friday.”

"I'm going to kill you, you fool. I had already set out at that time. After arriving in Beijing, I visited my parents' old comrades-in-arms, and then came to report to the street office."

He Yukai was dumbfounded. He was finished and embarrassed because the telegrams sent to individuals were specifically given to individuals.
But if the person is no longer around, it will be reported to the leader for handling. My team leader has such a loud voice that it must have spread like crazy by now.

Cai Wenqing looked at He Yukai's expression and felt that something was wrong. If He Yukai showed this expression, it would mean that he would definitely make a fool of himself.

"what happened"

"Um... the content of my telegram is as follows: Wife, please return to your seat immediately. The matchmaker will come to your house without delay. I want to hold you and loudly swear my sovereignty. Come back quickly."

Cai Wenqing was finished when he heard this. The head of the regiment must have known about it because of his loud voice. Now the whole regiment probably knew about it.
At that time, many people were not convinced that He Yukai had married the beauty. How could he face his old comrades in the future? It was so embarrassing.

"You fool, when will you be able to restrain yourself? How can you say such things casually? I asked you to claim your sovereignty, and I asked you to return quickly."

Cai Wenqing started to kick He Yukai. Cai Wenqing was very tough. Although in a life-and-death fight, Cai Wenqing was no match for He Yukai.
However, in terms of boxing and kicking, Cai Wenqing is slightly better than He Yukai, mainly because He Yukai's Bajiquan is very powerful and he also incorporates his own special moves into the battle.
So it is definitely not possible to perform it, but Cai Wenqing's Tai Chi can achieve great results with just a little effort while making you feel like you are powerless.

The two talked about their respective experiences, and then went out to buy furniture. This time, Cai Wenqing's wallet was almost emptied.

Following this guy, I looked at the full set of golden nanmu furniture and bicycle in the house, which cost me a full two thousand yuan. I looked at the remaining one hundred yuan in my wallet and felt like crying, because this was the money I had saved for several years.

"Are you sick? Ordinary furniture will do. Why buy such expensive furniture? If you don't buy it, you will lie in bed and not get up. It's embarrassing. If people knew that the security chief of a steel rolling mill was acting like a rogue, where would you put your face? My uncle was watching at the time."

"Xiaoqing, you don't understand. This set of golden nanmu furniture is really extraordinary. Just think about it, golden nanmu was only used by the royal family back then, so it's precious. It's said that antiques are in times of troubled times and golden times in prosperous times. If it were a prosperous time, our children would have nothing to eat and wait for death. Take a closer look at this bed and that square table."

Cai Wenqing was stunned and read it carefully. The poem on it was not written very well and was signed by Changchun Jushi.

"Mr. Changchun? Who is this?"

"Xiaoqing, I'm going to shock you by telling you this, but Changchun Jushi is the nickname of Emperor Qianlong."

"What? You mean it's for Qianlong only?"

"That's why I asked you to buy it back. It is said that in his later years, Emperor Qianlong called himself Changchun Jushi and was particularly fond of the Humble House Inscription. He also liked carpentry for a period of time. Maybe this was made by Emperor Qianlong himself.
This is why my uncle didn't stop me when he saw me doing that. I thought about it and decided that we won't use this yard anymore. We can use it to store antiques or something.

I've become familiar with Master Lei. I'll dig a basement here. It will be very useful to me when these antiques attract attention."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Cai Wenqing also graduated from Jingcheng University. How could he not know the value of these things? Although they look insignificant now,

Some were even sold to scrap yards, but that doesn’t mean they have no value in the future.

Jingcheng University is mainly focused on liberal arts, and the school atmosphere is very good. I have taken many related courses in my spare time. The things are good, and it is really worth buying them.

After finishing the work, Cai Wenqing tidied up the house. He Yukai immediately went to find Master Lei. After coming in from Yard 97, he told him about the plan to repair the basement.

"Master Lei, please keep this matter strictly confidential. I don't want others to know that we built a basement here."

"Chief He, don't worry. This basement is easy to repair. You have a private house. You can spread the soil from the basement in the yard or vegetable garden. You can cultivate the land and it won't affect your vegetable planting.
Winter is coming soon. I will finish it before winter comes. I will take my two apprentices with me and not hire other workers. Don't worry. I will have no problem working overtime for half a month."

Master Lei knows the importance of this. A security chief is in charge of patrolling his own street, and a deputy director of the street office will have a lot of things to ask for his help in the future.

Who dares to spread the things that were told to him? Master Lei is determined not to tell his family. Besides, everyone knows the character of his apprentices, and the master cannot afford to offend them.
At that time, people built basements to store important things. Looking at the room full of good materials, Master Lei knew that He Yukai might like to collect those old things.
This is something that rich people play with. My family is still struggling to make ends meet. In the past, when wealthy families built basements, Wan said that he would get rid of all those who knew about it. Why?
It's not for confidentiality.

"That's good. Don't tell anyone about this yard. If anyone asks, just say you're going to renovate the house and yard. When you come in to work, just lock the door from the inside. Prepare for two days and start next Monday.
Also, open a doorway at this location, and then ask Master Lei to come over to my side and camouflage it. This is your specialty."

I have dealt with Master Lei a lot, and he is trustworthy. After getting the license next Monday, Cai Wenqing can move into Courtyard 98. We can start here. As for the excavated soil, it is easy to deal with it by ourselves.
Master Lei's ancestors were repairmen of the imperial palace, so it was easy for him to build a secret room.

Of course, Master Lei also saw a complete set of golden nanmu furniture in the house. Wow, while sitting there, he also saw the words "Changchun Jushi". Master Lei immediately understood what the basement was used for.

Master Lei had to admire the vision of these two young people. He also had a basement at home and stored a lot of things, but this thing was tacitly kept.

Who knows how the policy will change? At the same time, people nowadays don’t pay attention to these things, and they won’t know them in the future.
Nowadays people are struggling for food, but according to history, this was the case in the early days of the country. However, after one or two generations of hard work, it would enter an era of prosperity, and by then these things would be worth a lot of money.

Nowadays, many people don’t pay attention to these old things. When the country was first founded, most people were still very poor. Before people became rich, few people paid attention to old things.
Nowadays, those who collect these things are either academic representatives who specialize in research, or those who have a family background in learning, and some speculators. They are good at buying gold in troubled times and antiques in prosperous times.
When the prosperous times come, these things will be more valuable than gold. Master Lei will not have that much money. If he really wants to hoard all the good wood, many of these good things were previously used exclusively by the royal family.
For example, golden nanmu, anyone who dared to use it before the Qing Dynasty would have his family confiscated and his clan exterminated. Although I was really envious of it, I didn't have any greed.

Master Lei has no spare money to support his family, otherwise he knows that many people have things in their hands. As an inheritor of ancient building restoration, he knows the situation of those old people and young people.
There are many people who exchange things for meat. Let's take a look at He Yukai's situation first. If this young man is okay, I can act as a middleman to prevent those prodigal sons from giving good things to people who don't know the details.

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(End of this chapter)