My Mother-in-Law is Reborn [Seventies]

The scorching summer evening was still and windless, with cicadas chirping incessantly. It was a night like any other, utterly ordinary, no different from the countless nights before. Yet, this night was also unlike any other. Everyone who could return had returned, and the entire courtyard was gathered together, their faces flushed with excitement. If you looked closely, you could see just how thrilled they were—and who wouldn’t be? This was a monumental occasion.

They sat there, glancing at one another, until Zhao Guihua cleared her throat and broke the silence, “Why is everyone so quiet?”

Her words instantly heightened the excitement. Aunt Zhou chimed in, “Is the news about the demolition real? Could it just be a rumor?”

“Oh, come on, Aunt Zhou, don’t you trust my sources? An old customer of mine is involved in this. He said it’s almost certain—even the household registrations have been frozen. You can’t transfer your hukou now even if you wanted to.”

Zhou Qun nodded in agreement, “I heard the same. I even went to the neighborhood office to ask, and they said the same thing—no transfers allowed. Think about it, this is definitely happening.”

“Then it must be true. This is incredible news!” Aunt Wang began calculating. She owned several properties in the area—six houses in total!

She had three houses herself, plus one each for her two grandsons, and Li Zhenzhen had another one on the backstreet. This was a windfall! She was practically floating with joy. The others weren’t doing too badly either. Zhao Guihua, not counting her children’s properties, owned one house in the courtyard and several others nearby. She had built up quite a fortune over the years, having been in business for over a decade during its heyday.

She was one of the earliest street vendors in the capital. Even now, if you go to Xidan, many people still recognize her.

What’s that?

Prestige!

After years of business, she had saved up quite a bit. Bank interest rates were meager, and at her age, she wasn’t interested in luxury goods. Instead, she invested in property. “Everyone says apartments are better, but look at us—we’re doing just fine,” she said proudly.

“Absolutely,” someone agreed.

“Aunt Zhao! Aunt Zhao… Oh, you’re all here.” Little Sister Yu hurried over and asked eagerly, “Aunt Zhao, I heard our area might be up for demolition. I came to ask you about it.”

Zhao Guihua replied, “That’s right. We were just talking about it. Grab a seat.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Little Sister Yu found a spot and sat down, listening intently. She knew this courtyard was always well-informed. Zhou Qun added, “I heard that last year, when the shantytown near the textile factory was demolished, they compensated based on property deeds—one square meter for two.”

“Wow, so my 65 square meters would become 130? That’s not bad at all!” Bai Fendou calculated, clearly pleased.

“Don’t act all innocent, Bai Fendou. Everyone knows you’ve got two other properties nearby.”

Bai Fendou smirked, “Well, that’s true. But you can never have too much money. I’ve got to save something for my daughter, after all.”

“Look at you, so smug. As if no one else has properties.”

“Wait, I remember back in ’88, when Zhao Guihua’s area was demolished, they offered 2.5 times the area. Why is it less now?”

“Auntie, these things are negotiable. This isn’t the final offer. We’ll have to discuss it, and we’ll need to stand united,” Zhou Qun said, suddenly sounding quite shrewd.

Li Junjun added, “Our courtyard owns quite a few properties in this area. We’ve got a significant stake. We’ll need to act as one.”

Zhao ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‍Guihua agreed, “Absolutely. If it’s for public facilities, we’ll take whatever they offer, as long as we’re not shortchanged. But this is being sold to some foreign investor. Why shouldn’t we take advantage?”

“Exactly. Who would turn down more money?”

“Aunt Zhao, what do you think we should do?”

This was a matter for Zhao Guihua to decide.

These days, there wasn’t much talk of courtyard management, but everyone still turned to Zhao Guihua for advice. She was a sharp one—while the younger generation was still figuring out the internet, she had already ventured into cyber cafes.

She was said to have visited the first internet café in the country—a one-of-a-kind place charging five yuan an hour. She spent two hours there, leaving the youngsters in awe of her tech-savviness.

This was a modern-day granny, ahead of her time. Naturally, everyone valued her opinion. Li Weiwei asked, “Grandma Zhao, do you think it’s better to take money or property? With such a large area being bought by this Hong Kong investor, what if we ask for too much and they refuse to negotiate?”

Zhao Guihua chuckled, “You’re overthinking it. They’re the ones who need to negotiate with us, not the other way around. If their offer isn’t good enough, we don’t have to move. Do you think they’d dare to force us out in the capital? Besides, we’re not being unreasonable—we’re just looking out for our own interests. If they’re not happy, they can’t just kick us out. We’ll stay put, and who knows? In a few years, someone else might come along with a better offer. Back in ’88, how much was a square meter worth? Look how much it’s gone up since then.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. “You’re absolutely right.”

Zhao Guihua knew the Hong Kong investor who had bought the land planned to develop it into a residential area. But they dragged their feet for over five years before barely starting construction. What should have taken two years stretched into nine. Talk about dragging things out!

Zhao Guihua said, “This demolition process is going to take years. I’m not planning to take property this time. I’ll push for a fair compensation and take the money. Why wait for them to rebuild when I can buy a new place elsewhere?”

“Huh? You’re not taking property this time?”

Zhao Guihua shook her head, “If it’s demolition, I’m not taking property. I’ll fight for the best compensation and buy a new place. Why stretch things out with them when I can get something solid?”

“Aunt Zhao, whatever you decide, we’ll follow. We’ll do as you say.”

“That’s right, we’ll follow your lead.”

Aunt Zhou even went so far as to grab Zhao Guihua’s arm, saying, “Old Zhao, we’ve been friends for over fifty years. That’s half a lifetime! If we were married, we’d be celebrating our golden anniversary. You can’t leave me behind. Wherever you go, I’m going too.”

The younger generation cringed at the sight, unable to handle such a display.

Aunt Wang pulled Aunt Zhou away, saying, “She’s my old friend, not yours. I’m sticking with you.”

She looked firmly at Zhao Guihua and said, “Guihua, we’re family.”

Zhao Guihua couldn’t help but laugh, “What’s gotten into you all?”

She added, “When the time comes, we’ll discuss everything together. I’m just an old lady—I might not always see things clearly.”

“Aunt Zhao, we trust you. If you can’t see things clearly, then we’re even worse off. Look at how much we’ve all benefited from following your advice on buying property.”

Zhao Guihua waved this off, “You earned your money yourselves. Don’t credit me. Everyone knew I was buying property back when I was running my stall. But not everyone followed suit. You made your own decisions, so thank yourselves, not me.”

She glanced at Su Jinlai, who protested, “I didn’t lose money! That’s ancient history. My business is doing great now. Don’t judge me by the past.”

Zhao Guihua replied, “I wasn’t talking about you. Even those who made money didn’t necessarily buy property. So don’t say it’s all because of me. Everyone makes their own decisions. Be grateful to yourselves, not others.”

“Auntie Zhao, you’re being too modest.”

“Exactly, if it weren’t for you buying a house, I wouldn’t have bought one either.”

When it came to buying houses, everyone really hadn’t paid much attention at first, until… Zhao Guihua’s property was demolished. Demolition! With housing prices these days, just thinking about it and then looking at Zhao Guihua, this old lady is ridiculously wealthy now.

It’s not too late to learn from her, and now, she’s reaping the benefits.

Zhuang Zhixi smiled and said, “Alright, everyone, stop flattering my mom. Can’t you see she’s about to float away with all this praise?”

Zhao Guihua shot back, “Mind your own business.”

Zhuang Zhixi chuckled and said, “Isn’t today’s topic supposed to be about the demolition?”

“Right, right, it’s about the demolition.”

“Anyway, we need to stick together on this.”

“Absolutely.”

Aunt Zhou chimed in, “All I’m saying is, wherever you live, I’ll live too.”

Zhao Guihua replied, “Oh my, you’re such a nag. I’m richer than you. You probably couldn’t afford to live where I do.”

“Oh, stop boasting. You’d love to live in a big, standalone courtyard, but wouldn’t you find it too lonely? Think about it, it’d be so dull. If we’re together, we can even play mahjong.”

“That’s true, we’ve got to keep the mahjong games going.”

And just like that, the topic drifted again.

They started chattering about everything from the five-cent mahjong games to whether Zhao Zhongxiang would appear on this year’s Spring Festival Gala. Aunt Zhou said, “My current idol is Uncle Zhao Benshan. I just love his style, that face of his, ha!”

“I’m a big fan of Andy Lau. That guy is so handsome.”

The younger folks just sat there in silence.

“Wife?” Yang Shulin came over looking for his wife, and Little Sister Yu waved him over, saying, “Come here.”

Yang Shulin quickly sat down and joined the conversation.

Little Sister Yu had saved up money from running a street stall and had bought a house on the same street. It wasn’t in the same compound as her parents’ place, but it wasn’t far either. They had been in business for many years and could have easily bought an apartment, but they chose to stay nearby to take care of the elderly.

It’s hard to say sometimes. Back then, Old Yu and his wife had favored their son and neglected their daughter, but in their old age, it was their daughter and son-in-law who took care of them. The old couple had passed away two years ago, in their eighties, which is a decent age.

But no matter who you ask, everyone agrees that Little Sister Yu and her husband were right to take care of them. After all, if it weren’t for the old couple selling their house, their son Erlin wouldn’t have grown up so well. Now he’s a capable young man, studying medicine, just like Li Zhenzhen, who was his senior.

Perhaps because of his childhood experiences, he has a natural reverence for the medical profession.

After the old couple passed away, they left their house to their daughter in their will. Now, Little Sister Yu’s family is doing well. They had already bought a house and settled down long ago. Ever since she found out how her in-laws treated her daughter, she had never taken her children back to her husband’s family home.

Her husband, Yang Shulin, did go back once to handle some family matters and transfer the household registration before leaving for good.

Perhaps because of the contrast between his in-laws and his own parents, he was truly disappointed in his parents. He would still send them the required support money, following the standard practice in their village, but he didn’t send it directly to them. Instead, he sent it to the village office, and the village distributed it.

He trusted the village chief’s integrity but not his parents’. Later, when the village chief’s granddaughter got into a university in the capital, Yang Shulin and Little Sister Yu would sometimes look out for the girl. The village chief had helped their family a lot back in the day.

Xing'er also remembered Sister Xiaozao. It was Sister Xiaozao’s great-grandmother who would secretly save food for her when she had nothing to eat. Xing'er never forgot that.

Over the years, Yang Shulin’s family never really knew how they were living in the capital. They didn’t think the family had gotten rich, especially since Erlin had been sickly as a child and needed constant medication. Back in the village, they had been the poorest family.

Now that they were in the capital, the villagers assumed that Little Sister Yu’s parents had sold their house to pay for Erlin’s treatment. They didn’t know if he had recovered, but they figured that someone who needed constant medication couldn’t be living well.

The old couple had stayed in the village with their eldest son, who turned out to be unfilial. When they were young, the son and his wife had fawned over the old couple, hoping for their support. But once the old couple grew too old to work, they were no longer welcome. Even though life in the village was improving, the old couple’s lives had gotten worse. They didn’t last many years before passing away. Little Sister Yu didn’t even attend their funeral.

She didn’t let her children go back either. Back then, they had entrusted Xing'er to her in-laws, but they had abused her, not feeding her properly and even intentionally scarring her face. If Xing'er hadn’t run away, Little Sister Yu couldn’t bear to think if her daughter would still be alive.

She couldn’t imagine her daughter traveling alone all the way to the capital. What if she had encountered bad people along the way?

She could endure anything herself, but harming her children was an unforgivable act.

As for Erlin, he had been born with a chronic illness, so his grandparents had never paid much attention to him or cared for him.

Her mother-in-law, Mrs. Yang, once famously said, “He’s going to die anyway, why waste any affection on him?”

So Little Sister Yu never let her children go back. They had no affection for her children, and she wouldn’t let her children waste even a shred of emotion on “people who don’t matter.”

Little Sister Yu was the head of the household. Yang Shulin had occasionally thought about taking the children back, but remembering how his parents had treated his wife and children, he sighed and gave up on the idea. After his parents passed away, he truly had no ties left to his hometown.

As for his older brother?

Yang Shulin couldn’t even stand to look at him. He remembered the first time he went back to handle the household registration. His niece had come up to him and asked, “Uncle, is Xing'er going to school now? Has her face healed?”

The malice in her tone made him slap her right across the face.

His brother, sister-in-law, and nephew tried to fight him, but Yang Shulin held his own against the four of them. He didn’t come out on top, but he didn’t lose either.

Cowards.

Since then, he and his wife had stayed in the capital. Over the years, they had worked hard. They weren’t rich, but they were comfortably middle-class. Their children were both university students, while that wretched niece of his was still in the village, squabbling over trivial matters and gossiping about everyone.

Now, their house was about to be demolished, and life was only getting better.

Yang Shulin took his wife’s hand, both of them filled with excitement. Little Sister Yu whispered to him, “Wherever everyone buys a house, we’ll buy one there too. It’s more fun to stay with our old neighbors.”

Yang Shulin agreed, “Absolutely.”

He had heard that some people lived in the same building but didn’t even know their neighbors. He found that hard to imagine. A lively, close-knit community was much better. As the two of them whispered, the conversation finally circled back from the Spring Festival Gala to the original topic.

Zhuang Zhixi said, “I have a friend who’s a real estate developer. They’ve developed a neighborhood nearby called Xinghua Li Community. It’s not too far from here. They haven’t started selling yet, but if you’re interested, I can arrange for you to take a look and maybe even get you a discount.”

Nowadays, besides the flashy, auspicious names, many neighborhoods were named after the streets or communities they were in. Their area was called Xinghua Li because of a lane that ran through it, and the entire area was known as Xinghua Li Lane.

The new neighborhood was a bit further away but still within Xinghua Li Lane, so it was named Xinghua Li Community.

Zhuang Zhixi added, “Since you’re planning to take the money instead of relocating, you might as well consider that area. I think it’s quite nice. It’s next to a park, and the landscaping in the community is well done. It’s a six-story building with an elevator. You don’t see many of those these days; everyone’s building skyscrapers.”

“Oh, that sounds great. I don’t like those tall buildings; they make me dizzy just looking at them.”

“Exactly.”

“Uncle Zhuang, why didn’t they build a high-rise? Everyone’s building tall buildings these days. It’s rare to see something like this.”

Zhuang Zhixi: "They're near the park, but the zoning regulations don’t allow taller buildings, so they can only build up to six floors, with two units per floor and private elevators for each unit. It’s really nice. It might not be the best for investment, but it’s great for living."

"What are we waiting for? Let’s go check it out."

"Yeah, we should go take a look too."

The group quickly got excited again.

Zhao Guihua: "Third Son, call your sister and let Dabao and Erbao know too."

Zhuang Zhixi: "Alright, I got it."

Although his sister still lived on the island, she also owned a place in this compound. Not only did he have a place, but even Dabao and Erbao did too. When the two boys came to Si Jiu City to attend military school, their household registration was transferred to the school. When they graduated and needed to transfer it out, Zhao Guihua gave each of them a house, allowing them to settle their household registration smoothly.

Zhao Guihua believed that while household registration might not seem important, it could be crucial at critical moments.

At the very least, the difference between studying in Si Jiu City and on the island was like night and day. Zhao Guihua didn’t buy properties far away; they were all nearby. This time, everything was within the area. With her sharp memory from her past life, she knew there were many places in Si Jiu City that could be demolished, but she chose this area to strengthen her position.

One or two houses might not mean much, but having more made a difference.

The old lady had always been fair. Dabao and Erbao had houses, and so did the eldest son’s and third son’s families. Each of the six children had a house, a gift from the old lady in advance.

A wealthy old lady was quite different from a poor one. A wealthy old lady was always more popular. Although Zhao Guihua believed her children were all filial—after all, even in her past life when they had no money, the kids were sensible—from her own perspective, she knew she’d prefer a wealthy old lady too.

Zhao Guihua: "Eldest daughter-in-law, call Hutou and let him know. Tell them to come back when the time comes."

Liang Meifen was so excited she nodded vigorously: "Got it!"

Who would’ve thought that a stroke of luck like this would finally land on Liang Meifen’s lap? Hehehe!

Sometimes, things were just hard to predict. Back then, their family had exchanged their house for an apartment, and it seemed like they got the short end of the stick. But now, twenty years later, even the kids had grown up, gotten married, and started their own families. She even had grandchildren now. The compound they lived in was being demolished, but no one had ever heard of the house they exchanged being torn down.

So, they had good fortune after all.

Thinking back, it was her brother-in-law who had helped broker the house exchange back then. Liang Meifen was filled with gratitude and said sincerely: "Third Son, it’s all thanks to you! I really don’t know how to thank you. You’re such a good person!!!"

Zhuang Zhixi: "..."

Was his sister-in-law going through menopause or something? What was going on now?

Suddenly acting like this—well, the words were nice, but they gave him goosebumps.

Liang Meifen: "Over the years, I haven’t treated you all that well. Please don’t hold it against this foolish person."

Zhuang Zhixi: "???"

He said sincerely: "Sister-in-law, just act normal. That’s the best thing you can do."