Before Chen Lishu could speak, a hand suddenly reached out from the side, yanking the man off the upper bunk. Wang Dazhu spat, "What's all the nonsense? Get lost, or I'll give you a taste of my fists."
Dare to speak to his sister-in-law like that, and it was already restrained not to beat him.
Startled by the sudden scare, the man's narrowed eyes widened, and his pale face looked at Wang Dazhu, "You, you!"
He stuttered "you" for a long time, but Wang Dazhu's imposing physique and his glaring eyes, along with the warning wave of his fist, the size of a bowl, made the narrowed eyes very wisely shut.
Soon, along with his two companions, they grabbed their luggage and sheepishly left the compartment. However, before leaving, the man glared at Chen Lishu with extreme unwillingness.
Chen Lishu was amused and angered. They didn't dare to provoke Wang Dazhu, so they were targeting her as a pushover.
"Sister-in-law, the quilt on the top bunk was soiled by that scoundrel. You sleep on this one." Wang Dazhu was a rough man and didn't care much for formalities. Since Chen Lishu was a woman, he proactively gave her the cleaner bunk.
Chen Lishu didn't refuse. Seeing that it was late, almost midnight, they quickly put their things away, turned off the lights, and lay down, closing their eyes.
Perhaps it was due to the late boarding time, Chen Lishu slept soundly until dawn. The sounds of people getting up and talking around her couldn't wake her.
When she opened her eyes again, Wang Dazhu had already gone to get a thermos of hot water and placed it by the table. "Sister-in-law, you go wash up. I'll watch our things."
Chen Lishu nodded, took her shoulder bag, and went to the restroom.
Inside, she had brought her toothbrush cup, toothpaste, and towel, so she could wash up even on the train.
Passing through the corridor, she saw the two men and one woman from last night again. They had no seats and likely hadn't managed to find any. They were currently huddled between two carriages, sitting casually on their luggage.
"Hmph." The man with narrowed eyes sneered when he saw her. "There are many people who flaunt their connections these days. Just a bumpkin from a small town, sleeping in a crappy..."
Before he could finish, he suddenly felt a pain in his foot. Looking down, he glared at Chen Lishu angrily and said, "Are you blind? Didn't you see my foot was placed here?"
Chen Lishu looked down at him, a half-smile on her face, and said, "If you hadn't said anything, I really wouldn't have realized someone was sitting here."
She emphasized the word "person" heavily. The man with narrowed eyes instantly realized she was mocking him, and his face turned red with anger. He suddenly stood up straight from his luggage.
Because he was wary of Wang Dazhu, the man with narrowed eyes didn't say anything further, only glaring angrily.
"Forget it, Shengli. We only have one more day before we get off the train. There's no need to argue with such vulgar and uncivilized people," the girl next to the man with narrowed eyes said, glancing at Chen Lishu.
Chen Lishu's eyebrows twitched, and her gaze met the girl's. "I think you're the uncivilized ones. What, you've occupied someone else's bed without permission and you're still in the right?"
"Damn it, you're getting bold, aren't you? Let me tell you, if you weren't a woman, I would have taught you a lesson by now." The man with narrowed eyes stepped forward, getting very close to Chen Lishu, as if ready to strike at any moment.
Chen Lishu frowned, took a step back with disgust, "Stop wasting your breath on me. Believe it or not, if I call out now, my companion will make sure you can't get off the train."
The man with narrowed eyes stared at Chen Lishu for a moment, his face turning ashen as if he had eaten something foul.
Chen Lishu ignored them and turned to go straight to the restroom.
She and Wang Dazhu hadn't bought any food when they boarded the train. So after washing up and returning their things to the compartment, Chen Lishu went to the dining car to buy boxed meals.
At that time, the train dining car was quite clean, and the prices weren't as expensive as they would become later. A meal with pig skin jelly cost only twenty-five cents.
Fearing that Wang Dazhu wouldn't have enough to eat, Chen Lishu bought three servings in total, one for herself and two for him.
After eating, there wasn't much to do on the train. Chen Lishu took out a book and read quietly. When she felt sleepy, she slept again.
The next afternoon, the train finally slowly pulled into Beijing Station.
As she and Wang Dazhu got off the train, they saw the group of men and women also disembarking.
As it was too late and the house wasn't far from the train station, Chen Lishu wasn't in a hurry. She first went with Wang Dazhu to a nearby guesthouse and got two single rooms to stay in.
Meanwhile, Zhao Shengli and his two companions stood outside a dark gate, pointing at the blue bricks and grey tiles within. "I didn't lie to you, did I? I told you my family had a siheyuan, but you didn't believe me. Come on, let me show you inside."
"Wow, Shengli, you're amazing! I didn't expect your family to have such a big house." As soon as they entered the courtyard and saw over a dozen rooms in the front and back, the male companion said with surprise and envy.
"Shengli, do you guys live in all these houses?"
The girl was Zhao Shengli's girlfriend. They met when they were both sent to the countryside. She only knew that Zhao Shengli's family was from Beijing. This time, she came to see his family's financial situation before deciding whether to get married. Although he wasn't particularly good-looking, seeing these conditions made the girl's heart flutter, and she was already a hundred percent in agreement.
"My family doesn't need so many rooms. We just live in the main building, and the rest are all rented out."
The girl was surprised. "They're all rented out? Then the rent must be quite a lot, right?"
Zhao Shengli said with some pride, "It's not much, only over twenty yuan per household."
Over twenty per household?
With over a dozen rooms in this courtyard, they could earn two to three hundred yuan a month without even working!
"Shengli, you're back?" Aunt Liu saw her son return and walked out with a smile.
"Mom, this is my girlfriend Xiaoli, whom I told you about, and my friend Xiaotang."
Aunt Liu's gaze fell on Xiaoli, and she became extremely happy. She quickly beckoned, "Quick, come inside. Your dad and your older brother are waiting."
...
The next morning, Chen Lishu and Wang Dazhu first walked around the vicinity of the house and inquired about the approximate rental prices. The rent for each room had already increased from the original twelve to thirteen yuan per month to twenty-two to twenty-three.
Chen Lishu had a general decision in mind.
For the past two years, Aunt Liu had been sending her fifty yuan every month, which had remained unchanged. However, not long ago, two tenants had moved out, and the rooms were temporarily vacant. The monthly rent had also dropped from fifty to thirty yuan.
"Sister-in-law, is this entire large courtyard yours?" Wang Dazhu looked at the spacious courtyard, repeatedly gasping in amazement. Even the landlords in their village couldn't afford such magnificent houses.
Chen Lishu nodded. "I happened to buy it two years ago when I came here."
As they were talking, an old woman in her sixties emerged from a side room. Chen Lishu smiled and approached her. "Auntie, you're a tenant here, aren't you? I'd like to ask you something..."