Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 754 - 755: 60s Siheyuan 3_1

Chapter 754: Chapter 755: 60s Siheyuan 3_1

The original owner of this courtyard house had fled before the liberation, and of course, before leaving, they had partitioned and sold the property.

Back then, when the original owner’s grandfather was still alive, even though everyone said that change was imminent and liberation was coming, and the status of houses was uncertain, they advised him not to buy the house.

Old Master Zhang, who spent his whole life without a house and wandered to Capital City before finding work in a steel rolling mill, always harbored the greatest hope of owning his own home.

Presented with such a great opportunity, how could he be willing to miss it, so he purchased the small courtyard at the entrance.

Originally, this place was specially partitioned off by the main family to serve as a study area for the children, allowing for some separation from the main courtyard house.

However, looking at the passageway that led directly to the courtyard house, anyone going in or out could just glance this way and immediately know what was going on in his home.

This made Zhang Yu very uncomfortable, especially because there was a family living in the courtyard who were not honest, such as Steal Saint, even though the child was still quite young.

But if a child is dishonest, isn’t that likely a reflection of the family’s influence? As for Lady Jia Zhang, besides being unreasonable, were her hands really that clean?

A crooked beam leads to a skewed post, and Lady Jia Zhang was especially adept in looking down on people. Now that the Zhang Family only had the two children, who knows how they might be bullied.

The best solution, of course, was to install a large gate for the compound, so that with the gate closed, it would truly become its own system.

Whatever they wished to do in their courtyard was their business, and as for reinforcing the walls, that was unnecessary, as it would surely cost money.

They could plant cacti on top of the wall instead, to see who would dare to climb over.

And as for the house, it also needed renovating. Living there now was fine, but she just felt it was very inconvenient.

For instance, the water supply was centralized in the middle courtyard, necessitating daily detours around the middle courtyard; if possible, she definitely wanted to minimize contact with the people there.

The best solution was to connect the water pipes to her own house and then construct a bathroom. In the memory of the original owner, it seemed that there had been plans to renovate the sewer pipes near the entrance to the courtyard.

This way, she could also build a bathroom in her own place, so she wouldn’t need to get up in the middle of the night or rely on chamber pots, and they could separate the water and electricity from the main courtyard house, completely cutting off Yi Zhonghai’s means of control over her.

Looking at the height of the house, it seemed a waste to have only one story. It was possible to add a small attic, and for the rooms in the middle section and the gatehouse, a balcony would be an excellent addition for airing clothes or enjoying the cooler evening air.

However, such a series of renovations would cost a fair amount of money. After the death of Zhang Hao and his wife, the steel mill had provided a pension.

Zhang Hao, being one of the "Eight Big Workers," had often smuggled goods, amassing a considerable family fortune.

According to memory, excluding the pension, there was at least eight thousand in savings—in the early ’80s, even a household with ten thousand yuan was regarded as something quite extraordinary.

As a result, the original owner’s savings were about to exceed ten thousand yuan. Of course, most of the money wasn’t kept in the bank. Officially, the Zhang Family only had just over one thousand in the bank.

There was also cash and some valuables that Old Master Zhang had collected during chaotic times, all stored away in one place—a place unknown to the two sisters of the Zhang Family.

Even Yang Zhaodi, who had given birth to two daughters for the Zhang Family, didn’t know about it. It was easy to guess who benefited from these things in the past life.

Sha Zhu must have contributed to the Zhang Family when he later opened his restaurant, but even though this so-called man of honor had received many benefits from the Zhang Family, there was no sign he had ever paid respects to the Zhang family, not even once.

As for this time, Zhang Yu certainly wasn’t about to let Sha Zhu and the others strike it rich again.

She had not thought about touching the items in that place for now, preferring to act as if she was unaware of its existence.

She would wait until Zhang Li grew up, and when the tumult outside settled down, she would discuss it with her.

But that was all for the future. What was most pressing at the moment was deciding who to approach for the house renovation.

After all, it involved exchanging work for help, which was also a troublesome matter. Zhang Li thought for a moment and decided that this issue could only be resolved by consulting Director Wang of the local community office.

The factories now could be said to manage everything for their workers, from birth, old age, sickness, to death, including some household affairs, and the community office played a similar role.

Well, she would just have to make efforts from both ends, and then see how the kind-hearted First Elder, always looking out for everyone, would broach the topic.

Zhang Li rubbed her eyes as she walked out of the room and habitually went to check on Zhang Yu’s room.

Ever since the accident with their parents, Zhang Li had to see Zhang Yu every day; not seeing her would make her panic.

Not finding Zhang Yu in the bedroom made Zhang Li instantly anxious, wondering where she could have gone.

The hurried Zhang Li, rushing out of the room, saw Zhang Yu standing in the small courtyard and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She walked over and hugged her tightly.

"Sis."

Gently patting her hand, she was still a child, a young girl who lost her parents at such a young age, left with only an elder sister to depend on, and then the previous host also passed away a few years later, leaving behind a young girl to live in this so-called model courtyard house.

"I was just thinking about how to fix up the house." At this point, some people in the courtyard had already started to get up.

Before things were clear, she didn’t want more people to know about it.

Taking Zhang Li back to the room, she briefly mentioned her idea.

Zhang Li had not expected that Zhang Yu would actually want to renovate the house; she immediately felt very uneasy, "Why renovate the house when it’s fine as it is?"

"If we don’t renovate the house, just wait until they ask us for donations later, saying that the Jia Family is having hard times and asking us for money.

"Everyone knows we have money in our hands." There was no way to avoid it, the matter of selling work had caught the attention of many; it was truly unavoidable.

Although Zhang Li didn’t participate in the courtyard meetings, she knew that occasionally there were donations made for the Jia Family, "We’re not giving them any donations."

"They’re not good people." The young girl still remembered Lady Jia Zhang’s words after her parents died and defiantly said she would not donate.

"Mom and Dad had also helped them out before, but look at what happened in the end." Ever since the death of Zhang Hao and his wife, the young girl really experienced a great fall from grace, a very big contrast.

"Right, why should we help them? So, I have thought it over, we don’t want money."

"What I want is for them to renovate our house, bring water inside, so we can wash clothes, do our washing up, bathe, and even use the bathroom at home."

Hearing about renovating the house, Zhang Li was initially very reluctant and hadn’t listened carefully, but now after hearing Zhang Yu’s analysis, she fully supported it.

"But would anyone agree to it?" Even without knowing how much it would cost, she was sure it wasn’t a small sum.

"Sha Zhu is now a driver, and the factories aren’t hiring many workers, let alone drivers."

Once a driver is trained, he could work for over thirty years, there are only a few drivers in a factory, which is why it’s considered one of the "eight big positions."

"Right, if First Elder asks you about the job, you just say you don’t know," Zhang Yu made sure to align their stories with Zhang Li first.

Yi Zhonghai might try to find out something from her; if not from her, he might go to Zhang Li.

Zhang Li nodded non-stop, indicating she understood.