Chapter 20 Yi Zhonghai's Sadness
Yi Family,

Aunt Yi looked at Yi Zhonghai with envy on his face and couldn't help but said with great self-blame,
"Old Yi, why don't you just divorce me?

After you divorce me, you can do what He Daqing did, marry a wife and have a son, so that I won’t be a burden to you.”

Hearing his wife's words, Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but feel sad.
If you can give birth,

How could he just waste time here?

In this chaotic world, it is hard to find a three-legged frog, but there are plenty of two-legged women.
But the problem is that he can’t give birth!

"Okay, why are you talking about all this nonsense?

Even if I give birth to a son now,

It will be nearly 20 years before he grows up and can take care of me in my old age.
Do you think I can live till then?"

Yi Zhonghai is 36 years old this year, and he will be 20 in 56 years.

To be able to live to such an old age in this chaotic world was something the couple could not even imagine.

Didn’t you see that Lao Jia suddenly disappeared?

Thinking of the old Jia who just died, Aunt Yi couldn't help but ask,

"Old Yi, what do you think of Dongxu? We watched him grow up. He is a filial child."

To be honest, although Yi Zhonghai did not directly agree to let Jia Dongxu take care of him in his old age,

But in my heart, I recognize Jia Dongxu.
I know that although Jia Dongxu has some minor flaws, it's nothing serious.

The key is to be filial.
This is what he is most satisfied with.

But the reason why he didn't agree was precisely because of Jia Dongxu's filial piety. Who made him have such an unreliable mother like Jia Zhang!
"The child is a good child,
But I have a mother like Zhang who is so troublesome, and I am a little worried about her."

Thinking of what Jia Zhang had done over the years, Aunt Yi couldn't help but nod her head.

"Too,
Mrs. Zhang is a character that everyone hates in the courtyard.
If she hadn't instigated Zhuzi to beat Xu Damao two days ago, the courtyard wouldn't have been in such a mess, and Old Jia might not have died!"

This was the first time Yi Zhonghai had heard this argument, and it seemed to make sense at first.

But as soon as he heard it, he frowned.
"Where did you hear these gossips? I've never heard anyone say this before."

If He Yuzhu was here, he would definitely know that this was a rumor spread by Xu Damao.

But Xu Damao was very careful when spreading rumors.
Aunt Yi heard the news after it had been processed by who knows how many hands, so naturally she couldn't figure out where the news came from.

"I heard from the neighbors who came to the banquet yesterday afternoon,

I heard from them that the news started circulating on the day that Lao Jia died, but they couldn't tell me exactly how it came about.
I just said that subconsciously when you said that Mrs. Zhang was unreliable."

Seeing that his wife didn't know the source of the news, Yi Zhonghai didn't ask any more questions. He couldn't scold his wife for news he didn't know the source of.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense like this.

I just saw Lao He telling Damao and the other kids to go to the front yard to clean up the house, so let's go and help them."

"to make."

As soon as Yi Zhonghai and his wife arrived at the front yard, they saw Yan Bugui standing at the door of the east wing, leaning against the door frame and talking to He Daqing with a smile.

So he smiled and asked,

"Old Yan, why are you just standing at the door? Why don't you help Old He clean up?"

Without even turning around, Yan Bugui knew it was Yi Zhonghai who was speaking just by hearing the voice. He smiled and pointed into the room.
"You're wrong to say that, our Jie Cheng is helping!
Besides,

Look at how many people are in the room. I will definitely get in the way if I go in." When he arrived at the door, Yi Zhonghai took a look inside the room and found that it was just as Yan Bugui said.

So he didn't go in, but just stood at the door and talked.

"Lao He, I remember that this room has not been occupied for several years.
See if the kang is still usable. If not, you'd better make a decision soon, because the weather will get colder in two months."

As the saying goes: [Haidian has three unique features: the floor-standing bed, the Jade Spring, and the tiger-skin wall].

Although ordinary people have begun to use iron coal stoves for cooking and heating,
But now we are at the end of the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty.
midwinter,

Peking is still covered in ice and snow.
The north wind was howling and the cold wind was biting. The insignificant heat from the coal stove alone could not warm up the room at all.

The main means of heating for people in the north is still the earthen kang passed down from their ancestors.

Not to mention ordinary people,
Even the palaces in the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, and the Changchun Garden were built with earthen beds.

The only difference, perhaps, is that the ones used by the royal court are more exquisite.

"Old Yi, you are ignorant. This is the work of the Jiao family. How could it break down after not being used for a few years?
The Jiao family knows about the ground kang!
When their family was at its peak, they built a garden for Mr. Buddha."

When they heard He Daqing say that this was the kang built by the Jiao family, not only Yi Zhonghai but also Yan Bugui were a little surprised.

"Old He, is this really the kang built by the Jiao family?
Isn't it said that since the Qing Dynasty, these palace masters have declined?
How come we can invite people from the Jiao family to set up the kang in our courtyard?"

“I don’t know about that.

Anyway, when the old lady's family was repairing their house, the craftsman who made the kang claimed to be from the Jiao family.
I don’t know if it’s real or not, but the craftsmanship is impeccable.”

I heard from He Daqing that the craftsman's skills in making the kang are beyond reproach.
Thinking back to the kang in my own home, it heats up faster than the previous kang and is much more comfortable to sleep on.
Yan Bugui and Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"That's right,

But Lao He, you still need to check it, so as not to find problems in winter.

Then the pillar will suffer."

In Beijing, the winter nights are long and the days are short.
In the cold winter, people's only activities are on the kang, whether they are eating, sleeping or playing, they basically do it on the kang.

If there's a problem with the earthen kang, the whole winter will be uneasy.

So after hearing what Yi Zhonghai said, He Daqing thought about it for a moment and then took action.
"Zhu Zi, go to the middle yard and bring some coal over.
Let's light up the stove and see how the kang works."

Heat is valuable.

The ancients made the most of the hard-earned energy provided by fuel.

The so-called ground stove is a stove that is connected to the kang (baked bed) for boiling water and cooking. It can boil water and cook while also heating the kang, killing two birds with one stone.

Upon hearing He Daqing's instructions, He Yuzhu hurried back to the middle courtyard to get coal.

The Jiao family was indeed an expert. After the stove was lit for a while, the kang gradually became warm.

Sitting on the warm kang and looking at the spotlessly clean room, He Yuzhu felt extremely happy.
In his previous life, he was a house slave.

But just a few days after crossing into this era, there were already three large tiled houses.

This is a courtyard house in the center of Peking, at the foot of the imperial city. It is completely incomparable to the building in my previous life that looked like a pharmacy drawer.

After cleaning up the house, He Yuzhu did not immediately start moving.

Instead, he followed He Daqing to the bathhouse.

(End of this chapter)