I am Jia Dongjin in the Siheyuan (Courtyard House)

Chapter 5 Scrap

"Dongjin, what brings you here!"

When Jia Dongjin turned around, he saw that the attacker was his childhood friend Song Tao. The two had grown up together. Song Tao got a formal job last year, and their relationship gradually became distant, but they were still very affectionate when they met.

"Taozi, you're something else! You actually rode a tricycle!"

"I work at a scrap metal recycling station. This is the station's vehicle; I can't afford to buy one. Long time no see! Come visit me; I'll treat you to lunch at the cafeteria." Song Tao was thin, but he was in good spirits.

These days, apart from the mansions, you can hardly see any fat people on the streets of Beijing. Jia Dongjin's biological mother, Jia Zhangshi, gains weight even from drinking water, making her an exception.

The scrap yard smelled bad, and the various items were arranged haphazardly, but Jia Dongjin found it fascinating.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he pointed to a large pile of bicycle wreckage, asking, "Is this also scrap?"

"Hey, we just collected them. We haven't had time to send them to the processing plant yet. Do you have any use for them?" Song Tao frowned. He had a somewhat pointed face, and when he frowned, he looked even more like a monkey.

Having been in charge for over a year, Song Tao had long lost interest. He spent his days surrounded by junk, and had an indescribable strange smell about him. He had long since developed a deep aversion to waste.

"Do you want a bicycle?" Jia Dongjin liked to tinker in his previous life, and bicycle repair was a piece of cake for him. He had just taken a quick look and figured that if he took apart this pile of wreckage, he could at least piece together one bicycle, and if he was lucky, he could make two.

"You have that ability?" Song Tao's eyes gleamed. A bicycle is a big item among the "three turns and one sound" (referring to a bicycle, a car, a radio, and a watch), costing 180 yuan. Ordinary people can only dream of owning one. His monthly salary is only 22.5 yuan, so he would have to save up for a long time to buy a bicycle, not to mention he would need a bicycle ticket.

"I definitely have the skills, but I need the right tools. I need to find a bicycle repair shop and borrow some equipment." Jia Dongjin was also very excited. He never expected that his skills, which no one had paid attention to in his previous life, would be so useful in this era. He now felt the excitement of a high-tech talent.

Good deeds are rewarded. Jia Dongjin felt that coming to his adoptive parents' home was the right thing to do; otherwise, such a good thing would not have happened.

"The repair shop is no problem. I know this area well. There's one not far away, and Brother Liang inside is my best friend." Childhood friend and best friend are old Beijing slang terms. A best friend is someone you make as an adult. Song Tao has always been a lively person. Interpersonal skills are his forte. He knows everyone everywhere, and he even got his girlfriend early on—the daughter of his boss.

"Let's do it right away?!" Jia Dongjin narrowed his eyes. This was a habit he had developed in his previous life; he liked to squint when he was happy or unhappy.

"Just do it!" Like Jia Dongjin, Song Tao was also a man of action.

The two quickly got on their tricycle, went to the repair shop to borrow wrenches, hammers and other tools from Brother Liang, and returned to the scrap yard to begin disassembly and assembly.

After a lot of clanging and banging, Jia Dongjin was exhausted and covered in sweat. He even ate a cornbread with water for lunch, and only then did he manage to disassemble enough parts for about two bicycles.

"Taozi, don't rush. We have to pay for these parts. You can't just take them without permission. If something happens, you'll be a thief, lose your job, and be jailed." Jia Dongjin wasn't a man of principle, but times had changed. Back then, if you dared to steal public property, you might get punished if you were unlucky.

"No problem, I've already thought it through. The station manager is my father-in-law, so a little money and a stamp will do. The stamp is in my office. However, the amount can't be different. The two copies of the form can't be different by even a single word, otherwise it'll be a big deal if they find out, and no one can save you. Let's fill it out here and write five yuan, no, ten yuan. Ten yuan isn't a bad deal to buy these parts, is it?"

Song Tao grinned. Assembling a bicycle didn't require much technical skill. He had been busy for half a day and had a general understanding of it. Compared to the high value of the bicycle, he didn't care about the 10 yuan. He also wanted to learn about the crime of embezzlement.

At this moment, Song Tao was already imagining the wonderful idea of ​​taking his partner cycling.

"Not bad. This person isn't greedy, which is the key to a long-term relationship." Jia Dongjin nodded to himself. Last night, he was determined to live a good life and not do anything like squatting by the fence.

Pushing the tricycle, the two took the selected bicycle parts to the repair shop. The repair tools they had just borrowed were incomplete, and the usable parts that had been disassembled were not all there. They needed to buy some new parts, at least inner tubes and a basket, and the bicycle rims also needed to be adjusted to be rounder.

The two of them worked together, with Brother Liang helping out as well. Some of the old parts needed simple repairs, and the workload was actually quite large. Jia Dongjin spent a lot of effort before finally assembling two bicycles.

"It's really ugly, I'm embarrassed to ride it out." Song Tao said smugly, and started talking about Versailles.

"As long as it's rideable, that's fine. Just clean the bike, then send it to get it spray-painted. Once it's dry, it'll look beautiful. Just wait and see." Jia Dongjin borrowed soap from the repair shop, vigorously scrubbing the grease off his hands, and looked at his day's haul with satisfaction.

"Brother Liang, let me go buy some steamed buns to tide me over. You can calculate how much the repair shop should charge."

The three of them ate steamed buns while calculating the bill. In the end, they added the cost of the newly bought bicycle baskets and inner tubes, and the two bicycles cost a total of fifty yuan. After calculation, each bicycle cost thirty yuan. Of course, the cost of Jia Dongjin and Song Tao's labor was not included.

"It's not easy, it's hard work." Song Tao continued, Versailles.

The two finally agreed that, given Jia Dongjin's initiative and the greatest contribution, Jia Dongjin owed Song Tao ten yuan and received a bicycle in return. In other words, he only spent ten yuan to buy a 28-inch bicycle.

"A triumphant start!" The two little foxes clapped their hands triumphantly, having completed their first bicycle assembly task.

"Taozi, keep the receipt safe. You need to go to the police station to register the vehicle with the receipt, otherwise it will be considered stolen goods. Don't be lazy about this."

After reminding him about getting the license plate, Brother Liang from the repair shop took out a cigarette. "Don't rush off, let's discuss this among the three of us... what do you think?"

"Sure, why not?"

Song Tao nodded in agreement, but Jia Dongjin shook his head and said, "Brother Liang, this is a small business, and we dare not do it too big, otherwise we'll be stuck in jail. We're just small fry; we'll just save up a few cars for our relatives."

"That makes sense, let's do it that way then." Brother Liang looked at Jia Dongjin with surprise, pondered for a while, and then nodded.

Safety first, making money second, Brother Liang knew this in his heart. Besides, there weren't many bicycle wrecks in Beijing. The entire scrap yard only managed to collect two bikes today, and that was only because of good luck. This money was much harder to earn than he had imagined.

"Taozi, that's settled then. Pack your things and wait for me to come over so we can work together. I'll borrow this bag for now; I'm going to buy some things on my bike and then go see Uncle Li."

Jia Dongjin didn't have much money in his pocket, so the three of them agreed to save up ten yuan for the bicycle, which he would use to pay off the ten yuan he owed Song Tao.

Before leaving, Song Tao stopped Jia Dongjin and told him some shocking news: "Erzi got arrested for flirting with women. I heard that the ringleader, Jin Dana, stabbed one of the compound's kids to death. Jin Dana is definitely going to be punished, and Erzi will be sent to the Northwest, where he'll get at least ten years in prison. It's a good thing your mother took you back; otherwise, you would have inevitably suffered the consequences along with Erzi."

"Pao pozi" means to flirt with young girls. As a former street thug, Jia Dongjin had always followed Erzi around, but he never expected this to happen.

Jia Dongjin gasped. He finally understood why there was no Jia Dongjin in the TV series. It turned out that after being sent to the Northwest, Jia Zhangshi had no one to rely on and could only turn to the dark side and exploit others.

After breaking out in a cold sweat, Jia Dongjin rode his bicycle into the Xidan vegetable market. He had no money or receipts, so he could only buy two jin of meat bones. Although they were called meat bones, they were cleaned up very thoroughly, and the bones were as white as jade, with hardly a single strand of meat visible.

For the first time, Jia Dongjin hated the butcher's knife skills. But then again, bones were at least a type of meat, and they were good for making bone broth.

Back at his familiar adoptive parents' home, Jia Dongjin didn't waste any words. He first helped his adoptive parents sit down, then kowtowed three times to the two elderly people before he began to speak.