Chapter 117: A Courtyard Where Someone Died

It was still Zhou Yimin who drove Chen Baishu back. Zhou Dazhong had returned to the city right after the apprenticeship banquet.

By the time they got back to the courtyard house, dusk was settling in.

“Yimin, want to eat at my place?” Chen Baishu offered.

Zhou Yimin shook his head. “No, I need to go find Dapeng and the others about something.”

Alright then.

The First Uncle didn’t insist. He carried the apprenticeship gifts that Zhou Daqiu had given him and returned to his own home. Zhou Yimin parked the car and then headed over to Luo Dapeng’s place.

“You’re back, dear? Oh my! More gifts again? Yimin is really too polite,” the First Aunt exclaimed, thinking Zhou Yimin had brought more gifts.

That wasn’t good—after all, they’d already accepted a batch in the morning.

One event, two sets of gifts? That didn’t make sense.

Chen Baishu set the items on the table and said with a laugh, “We went to Zhoujiazhuang, accepted a new apprentice. These are apprenticeship gifts from the family. You don’t know anything.”

Then he explained in detail why he had accepted an apprentice and so on.

“Mainly, it was Yimin’s suggestion. I thought the kid had potential, and he’s also sensible,” the First Uncle concluded.

After hearing this, the First Aunt nodded. “If Yimin suggested it, then it’s hard to refuse. This is good, too—our relationship with Yimin will be even closer.”

“Mom, it’s canned yellow peaches!” the youngest daughter said excitedly.

The First Aunt immediately put them away so the kids wouldn’t ruin them.

Canned yellow peaches were so valuable—they’d be perfect to bring along when visiting relatives!

As for the two strips of cured meat, they could eat one tonight to treat the kids.

The First Uncle carefully opened the can of tea leaves. Seeing that the leaves inside were intact and unbroken, he was quite pleased. High-grade tea like this was hard to come by—sometimes even money couldn’t buy it.

Besides, just looking at the container, it screamed high-end.

Later, when friends came over, he’d have something to show off. Just lay out that tea—wouldn’t that make them jealous?

“This cured meat and canned fruit are really good,” the First Aunt praised.

Chen Baishu replied, “Nowhere near as good as this tea.”

The First Aunt couldn’t be bothered to argue. Tea—can that fill your stomach or what?

That stuff was only something her husband could enjoy alone. The cured meat, on the other hand, the whole family could eat, and the canned fruit could be gifted. So of course she valued the meat and peaches more.

“Mom, let’s open one can to eat!” The second child was already craving the peaches.

“Yeah!”

The kids started to protest. Come on—two cans and they weren’t allowed even a taste? Not even a stingy miser would do that!

“Just open one for them,” the First Uncle said.

These were apprenticeship gifts from a disciple—how could you just re-gift them to others?

“Alright then.”

Since her husband had spoken, the First Aunt carefully opened one can of peaches and made sure to divide them evenly, including the syrup. Their family always emphasized fairness, so the kids wouldn’t grow up thinking their parents were biased.

“Dear, Daqiu is coming over tomorrow. Where’s he going to stay?” the First Aunt asked.

Their place was cramped; they didn’t have a spare bed for Daqiu.

“Yimin said he’d handle it,” Chen Baishu replied.

They had already discussed this on the way back.

Only then did the First Aunt remember—Yimin’s home was quite big, and he lived alone. He definitely had space.

What she didn’t know was that Zhou Yimin wasn’t planning to have Zhou Daqiu stay at their courtyard house. He went to see Luo Dapeng specifically to ask how the negotiations for the single-family courtyard were going.

If they bought that place, someone would definitely need to live there. An empty house draws suspicion.

Best case scenario? One of their own people moved in and kept watch overnight.

In the future, if anyone from Zhoujiazhuang came over and needed a place to stay, Zhou Yimin would arrange for them to stay at that courtyard. If it was all their own people, there’d be nothing to worry about.

“Yimin really cares about his nephew,” the First Aunt remarked.

He arranged for an apprenticeship and even housing—those are things parents usually handle!

“Yeah, this is better.”

Zhou Yimin arrived at Luo Dapeng’s place.

Li Youde was there too, sorting through items they were planning to take to the black market that night. Every time they went, it was all carefully planned. What to sell, how much, whether to even go—all of it was decided by Li Youde.

Luo Dapeng didn’t mind; he wasn’t the type to rack his brains. He knew Li Youde was the sharper one.

Li Youde didn’t have much free time either. He had to analyze the black market every day, gather intel, and then decide what to sell and at what price.

As soon as he reached the door, Zhou Yimin pulled out some lu zhu (braised offal) he had bought earlier—still warm!

“Have you eaten?” Zhou Yimin asked.

Luo Dapeng and Li Youde glanced at the lunch boxes in Zhou Yimin’s hands and, upon seeing the lu zhu inside, said they hadn’t eaten—whether they had or not didn’t matter now.

“I’ll go grab a bottle of liquor,” Luo Dapeng said eagerly.

Zhou Yimin stopped him. “No drinking. What’s going on with that courtyard you mentioned?”

Li Youde fetched three bowls and chopsticks from Luo Dapeng’s cupboard and rinsed them.

The lu zhu Zhou Yimin brought was all sliced and packed into two large containers.

“It’s set—we can transfer the deed anytime. But I only bargained the price down to 950 yuan. Give it two more days, and I bet he’d—”

Before Luo Dapeng could finish, Zhou Yimin said, “950 is fine. First thing tomorrow morning, find him. We’ll go to the subdistrict office and transfer the deed.”

“Oh, and that courtyard—there’s really nothing wrong with it?”

A courtyard going for over 900 yuan should’ve drawn a lot of interest.

Even if it was a single-section courtyard, it was still pretty big—over a hundred square meters.

The one Zhou Yimin currently lived in was a three-section courtyard: front, middle, and back. A single-section one only had a front yard—no middle or back yard.

Still, it could house three or four families.

“There’s a flaw—it’s a bit run-down. But someone’s always lived in it, so it’s still decent. That said, I did hear a rumor,” Luo Dapeng admitted.

As long as someone lives in a house, even if it looks worn, it stays solid.

But if no one lives in it—even a relatively new place—within a few years, it’ll fall apart and become uninhabitable.

“What rumor?”

“Someone died there,” Luo Dapeng said truthfully.

Zhou Yimin and Li Youde rolled their eyes. So what if someone died there? What house hasn’t seen a death? Some even had ghost stories!

“Dying there isn’t a big deal.”

“It was a hanging—right at the entrance. That’s why people are wary. But it happened a long time ago, before we were even born,” Luo Dapeng added.

“Doesn’t matter.”

Zhou Yimin honestly wasn’t concerned. In the future, there’d be houses where people had even been dismembered.

“If you say it’s fine, then it’s fine,” Luo Dapeng breathed a sigh of relief.

He decided that once they finished the lu zhu, he’d go find his contact.

(End of Chapter)