“Old Lin, why is your family splitting up? Isn’t that bad?”
In the front courtyard, Yan Bugui sat in The Lin Family’s home, trying to persuade them.
Earlier, Lin Xiaoman and Lin Dong had beaten Sha Zhu and a few others in the middle courtyard. Yi Zhonghai had initially grumbled about wanting to call the police, but Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong talked him out of it.
After calming down, Yi Zhonghai realized he had been rash today.
Not to mention that The Lin Family splitting up was their own business, but given Lin Xiaoman’s notorious reputation outside, if he got agitated, he might find people to put a sack over him and beat him up.
As the saying goes, the soft fear the hard, the hard fear the ruthless, the ruthless fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who don’t care about their lives. Lin Dong, the eldest of The Lin Family, was foolishly reckless, and Xiao Man, the second eldest, had been aimlessly messing around in the alley for a long time and was somewhat fearless. Compared to them, he had a family and a home, so it really wasn’t worth it.
Finally, under the persuasion of Liu Haizhong and others, Yi Zhonghai dropped a “I don’t care anymore” and walked home.
He had already noted this down and would definitely seek revenge whenever he had the chance.
Returning to the front courtyard, as the front courtyard manager and neighbor, Yan Bugui went to The Lin Family again to persuade them.
The two families were neighbors, and their family structures were very similar. If The Lin Family split up now, their children might follow suit later.
If they split up, his plan to control the Yan Family might fall through.
Facing Yan Bugui’s persuasion, Lin Shanhe could only show a hint of helplessness.
He never expected The Lin Family to reach the point of splitting up, but children grow up and are no longer controlled by their mothers; they find new wives and forget their old mothers. His daughter-in-law now held half the authority in this family.
Now, the second son and the eldest daughter-in-law were not getting along. If they stayed together for a long time, the remaining bit of kinship would surely be exhausted. It was better to split up early.
They all said distance creates beauty, and perhaps their relationship would be better after splitting up.
Seeing that he couldn’t persuade The Lin Family, Yan Bugui immediately thought of another aspect. He looked at Lin Xiaoman, his small eyes narrowing into a slit, and asked, “Xiao Man, if you split up, where will you live?”
Lin Xiaoman knew from Yan Bugui’s smile that he had other intentions, so he followed the topic and asked back, “What, Third Uncle has a suitable recommendation?”
“Let me say this first, I’m only doing temporary work now, and my income is limited, so whatever you recommend must be low-priced.”
Yan Bugui liked talking to smart people. He pointed to the inverted house and said with a smile, “Xiao Man, what do you think of the inverted house?”
“The inverted house? Does anyone have a vacant one?”
During these difficult years, many people from the suburbs of Beijing and other provinces flocked into Beijing, and housing in the urban area became increasingly tight.
Lin Xiaoman had originally thought of finding a house to rent outside, far away from this peculiar Siheyuan Courtyard.
But if he could work at the Steel Rolling Mill, he would only be able to rent a house nearby. However, he had been messing around outside for years and knew that the area around the Steel Rolling Mill was overcrowded, with no vacant houses at all.
Even if there were one or two occasionally, they would be rented out immediately.
As for the inverted house Yan Bugui pointed to, there were no vacancies there either.
Thinking of this, Lin Xiaoman looked at the smile on Yan Bugui’s face again, seeming to understand something.
“Third Uncle, you’re not talking about the room Jiecheng is living in now, are you?”
Yan Bugui, that old fox, was cunning and had been planning for houses early on.
Previously, when a family left an inverted house in the front courtyard, he had already managed to secure the house through his connections, and then Yan Jiacheng moved in.
“Hehe, just tell me if that house is okay or not?” Yan Bugui implicitly admitted it.
“That house,” Lin Xiaoman paused for a few seconds before continuing, “the house is a bit poor, it’s shady, has no windows, and is dark and damp!”
“Hey, no, Xiao Man, houses are tight now, so having one is already good!” Yan Bugui immediately retorted.
Looking at this old fox, he must have had a plan early on, intending to rent the house to Lin Xiaoman. Actually, it couldn’t be called renting, because it was originally rented from the Street Office.
It’s just that there were many such private arrangements, and if no one reported it, the Street Office wouldn’t pay attention.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Bugui took a step back and said, “If you rent this house, I agree to let you open a window in the back.”
“The cost of the window will be deducted from the rent?” Lin Xiaoman asked.
“That won’t do!”
“Hehe!”
After several rounds of negotiations, it was finally decided that Yan Bugui would rent a 10-square-meter room in the inverted house to Lin Xiaoman for 1.5 yuan a month.
The two signed a contract, but the contract stated that it was temporarily borrowed by Lin Xiaoman, and the monthly rent became a fee for item wear and tear paid by Lin Xiaoman.
What item wear and tear? The tables and chairs inside were all discarded items Yan Bugui had picked up from other families.
However, the two had agreed, but Yan Jiacheng, as a key stakeholder, did not know about it.
“Third Uncle, will Jiecheng agree?” Lin Xiaoman asked casually.
“How dare he not agree!”
Yan Bugui snorted, then thought for a moment and said, “If he doesn’t agree, at most I’ll share a bit of the rent with him. Anyway, he doesn’t even have a marriage partner yet, so he can just squeeze in with us!”
“Alright then, I’ll leave this to you. I’ll just move in tonight!”
The two reached an agreement here, and Lin Xiaoman readily paid half a year’s rent.
Having picked up 50 yuan from Yi Zhonghai in the morning, Lin Xiaoman was quite well-off for the time being.
As they were talking, a loud bang suddenly came from outside the room, followed by wailing.
Yan Bugui glanced at Lin Xiaoman and smiled rather unkindly.
“You just hit Jia Dongxu, and now Jia Zhangshi is here!”
During the fight earlier, Jia Zhangshi was outside using the restroom. Now that she was home and saw her son beaten, she naturally came to confront them.
“Son, stay here and don’t go out. I’ll go talk to Jia Zhangshi. She’s shameless, you can’t reason with her!”
Wang Xiuzhi had been by the side. Upon hearing Jia Zhangshi’s voice, she stood up. Although she was usually easygoing, since someone had come to their door, she naturally couldn’t lock herself in the house and not go out.
Lin Xiaoman looked at his mother, then at his sister-in-law, Fang Zhaodi, and said, “Mom, you should leave this to my sister-in-law, she’s good at it!”
Fang Zhaodi’s face turned ashen. Lin Xiaoman wasn’t just beating around the bush; he was calling her a shrew, just like Jia Zhangshi!
But, surprisingly, even though she usually didn’t get along with Lin Xiaoman, she didn’t act like a coward this time. She got up and walked out without saying anything.
Lin Xiaoman had only said it casually, but he didn’t expect Fang Zhaodi to actually go out. At this moment, he had a new understanding of his sister-in-law.
What to say? Selfishness is selfishness, but who can say they are not selfish?
Whether in his previous life or this one, Lin Xiaoman was also a selfish person.
Just like how he was thinking of splitting up now, that was also selfish; he didn’t want his sister-in-law, this “brother-supporting demon,” to drag him down.
Selfishness doesn’t matter, as long as one can stand up on matters of right and wrong.
Before long, the sounds of Fang Zhaodi and Jia Zhangshi cursing at each other emerged from outside the house.