Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 177: Moved from a rented courtyard to own shop

The square bricks come in light blue-gray and dark black-gray, and the price is about the same as what Qixi said.

Shen Yu and Li carefully selected and compared, and chose a small light blue-gray brick that was one foot square.

The bricks are smooth and relatively thick, costing seven cents each, and it would cost about four hundred and twenty bricks to cover the entire room.

Shen Yu and his assistant decided on the quantity and asked him to deliver the bricks. He also discussed the construction period with the craftsman. The craftsman said that it would take about a day or two to complete the laying and they would start work this afternoon.

Shen Yu asked Zhou Dalang to buy some gray powder and repaint the walls around.

Dun Dun and Yu Cheng helped Zhou Dalang, doing tasks like holding ladders and passing brushes.

After the work was divided, Shen Yu no longer took care of the shop and went home with Jiang and the others to steam buns and porridge for lunch.

When delivering lunch at noon, one portion was also given to Zhou Dalang and his friends at the store.

After finishing the meal delivery task, Shen Yu and others went to clean up the yard and house at the back.

Although the shop looks shabby and dingy, the yard and house behind it are well maintained.

Although Mrs. Hu deliberately tore the window paper before leaving, the floor tiles in the house were neat and flat, and the walls on all four sides were painted white.

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Zhou Dalang said that this house was renovated last year, which saved us a lot of trouble."

Li couldn't help but curl her lips: "Mrs. Hu is really attentive to where she lives. If the store is also so attentive, the business wouldn't be so bad."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "Mom, let's not talk about this anymore. Come and see what kind of paper is best for this window."

Li spread her hands and said helplessly, "Hey, it would be great if it wasn't torn. It would save a lot of money and you can paste any paper you want. Choose the one with the lowest price. When you have more money in the future, you can change to a better one."

Having said that, everyone worked together to clean up the torn window paper on the windows. When they went to buy paper to paste the windows, at Shen Yu's insistence, they still bought the more expensive tung oil and bark paper.

This kind of paper is very thick. Although rough, it is very tough. Both sides are brushed with a layer of tung oil, so it is not afraid of rain. It is windproof and waterproof.

Shen Yu’s reason was that it was already autumn and the weather was getting colder, so it would be better to use thicker veneer so that the house would be warmer in the winter.

Although Li felt that she did not have enough money, she was also worried that the children would be cold in the winter.

Just think about it, if the window paper gets wet and blown in by the wind and snow, it would be terrible if the children get sick. It is safer to buy better window paper.

Two days later, the yard was cleaned up, new square bricks were laid in the shop, and the walls on all four sides were repainted. Although the shop had not yet been put in with tables, chairs and kitchen utensils, it looked brand new, bright and spacious, and seemed a lot bigger.

On this day, August 30th, after delivering lunch, Shen Yu's family moved.

When I first came to Anping County, I moved from the inn to the courtyard, and all my luggage was loaded onto a small cart.

By the time they moved from the courtyard to the shop, they had to make five or six trips back and forth before they finally finished moving.

Li wiped the sweat off her head and breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, the move is done. Fortunately, it's not too far away, otherwise, we really need to hire someone to move it."

After moving here, everyone helped Zhou Dalang move his home to the small courtyard.

It was Li who had mentioned in the past that the house should be rented to Zhou Dalang.

Before Li went to Mrs. Liu's house, Shen Yu repeatedly told Li not to show off the fact that they had bought a shop.

Instead, we should emphasize that the money used to buy the shop was borrowed.

After buying the shop, I will live on this street and get along well with all the ladies.

Li knew the pros and cons of this and repeatedly assured herself that she would never say anything boastful, so Shen Yu let her go over and talk.

After Li came back, she expressed her feelings: "At first, I was worried that the ladies would distance themselves from me and say bad things about me because I bought a shop."

"I didn't expect them to congratulate me sincerely. They knew that I had borrowed money to buy the shop, and they asked me if I had enough money for repairs. If not, they would chip in some."

"They also praised your cooking skills and kindness, which gave you the opportunity to buy a shop and no longer have to pull a cart to set up a stall."

"They say I'm blessed and I know how to educate my daughter."

Li paused, then continued, "If this happened in the village, those people wouldn't be so kind. Seeing that you're doing better, let alone sincerely congratulating you, they would even dare to make up stories in front of you, saying that your family didn't earn their money in a legitimate way and that you'll have bad luck sooner or later."

Li concluded, "The ladies in the county town are more knowledgeable and kind-hearted than those in the village."

Shen Yu secretly felt lucky that he had insisted on leaving the village quickly, otherwise there would be no consequences if he continued to live there.

After moving in, the family discussed and allocated new rooms.

The house in the backyard of the store is somewhat different from the houses of ordinary residents. The three main rooms are separate and each has its own door, and they are not connected.

There is one more room in the house, so four people no longer have to squeeze into one room.

Li and Jiang chose a room near the west end of the backyard gate.

Their reason was that they were old and alert when sleeping, so they could hear any noise at the door.

After discussing it together, the two little guys, Dun Dun and Yu Cheng, rushed to choose the room closer to the east wall.

Yucheng patted his chest and said that he was a man and of course he had to protect his sisters.

The room in the middle is reserved for the two girls, Shen Yu and Yu Tao.

Shen Yu was touched. No matter what, he felt safe knowing that his family members really cared about him and wanted to protect him.

A craftsman was hired to re-arrange the stove in the adjacent room.

In order to maximize the heat energy, Shen Yu drew blueprints and demonstrated with the craftsmen in the side room. After a whole day's work, he finally made a stove with two pots.

The two stoves share one stove door, so you can steam two pots of buns at the same time. If you can't use both pots, you can use the other pot to make broth or boil hot water.

I also built a small stove behind the two stoves, and I can cover the stove when it is not in use.

If you need to stew soup in a casserole or boil water in a kettle, just take off the stove cover and put the casserole or kettle on it. It is so convenient.

The craftsman had never built this kind of stove before, and was confused by Shen Yu's instructions.

After everything was done and the mud was smoothed, the craftsman praised it highly and said he would make one for himself when he got home, which would save him a lot of money on charcoal in a year.

Because he didn't have much cash on hand, Shen Yu temporarily planned to separate one-third of the front of the store to make a small kitchen for cooking, and the remaining two-thirds would be used to set up tables and chairs for customers to dine in.

There was no stir-fry in the restaurant at that time, so Shen Yu planned to stir-fry it quickly as the restaurant's signature dish.