Eight-Aunt was fed up with the noise, so she opened the window and yelled: "What's all the fuss about? I locked the water tap. When it comes to paying rent, you guys aren't so eager!"
Fu Ge immediately retorted: "Eight-Aunt, it's only a couple of days late. Do you need to be so harsh?"
The others chimed in agreement!
"Yeah! Once you pay your rent, you can use the water. The key is here!" Eight-Aunt said, withdrawing the key she had been holding and slamming the window shut.
The people downstairs were in an uproar. Aunt Lan loudly said: "There's no one like her. She locks the water tap to force us to pay rent! She's so unreasonable!" A chorus of voices echoed her sentiments.
Then a bunch of people started yelling: "Unlock it! Unlock it!"
Eight-Aunt was exasperated! She went downstairs, yelling as she descended: "What's all the noise about? You bunch of poor slobs want to revolt?"
Fu Ge pointed at the locked tap: "I don't know which bastard locked this tap, but we need water!"
"I locked it. So what?" Eight-Aunt retorted, hands on her hips.
Li Yu, standing nearby, chuckled: "Eight-Aunt, so the bastard who locked the tap was you all along!"
Everyone erupted in laughter. Eight-Aunt stood there, completely bewildered.
After a moment, she snapped out of it: "You bunch of bastards! If you don't pay your rent today, I'm not unlocking it!"
At this, Uncle Rui spoke up: "Eight-Aunt, you know we wash your clothes and never charge you. We're only a couple of days late on rent, so you cut off our water? We need water to wash clothes so we can earn money to pay rent!"
Doctor Jin added: "Eight-Aunt, we see each other every day. Just be a little flexible. I'm out making house calls, and I'll pay the rent as soon as I get back!"
Li Yu said: "Eight-Aunt! Everyone needs to work to earn money. If you open the tap, we can all go work and earn enough to pay rent!"
The tenants all agreed: "Yes, yes!"
"I...I don't care about you! If you don't pay rent, you don't get water!" With that, Eight-Aunt turned and headed back upstairs.
The tenants began to argue again. Then, the sound of a police whistle pierced the air. 369 burst into the courtyard: "What's all this commotion? I could hear it from two streets away!"
Eight-Aunt turned and, emboldened by 369's presence, declared: "369, you came at the right time! This bunch of poor slobs is ganging up on me!"
369 immediately responded: "You bunch of scumbags are causing trouble on my turf! Do you want me to lock you all up?"
"369, we're not causing trouble!" Li Yu explained the situation.
369 pulled Eight-Aunt aside and said: "Eight-Aunt, why did you lock the tap? No wonder they're making a fuss!"
"They all owe rent! Why should they get water?" Eight-Aunt immediately yelled.
369 turned to the tenants: "Well, if you don't pay rent, you don't get water!"
Fu Ge, seeing 369's stance, said: "Making money is hard these days! Can't we be a little late on rent?"
Fat-仔 added: "That's right! She's always been a grumpy old bat, but now she locks the water so no one can use it! She just doesn't want us to earn money to pay rent!"
The tenants all started complaining about Eight-Aunt.
Eight-Aunt, witnessing this, said: "If you don't pay rent, you don't get water, period!"
Li Yu, slightly annoyed, retorted: "Eight-Aunt, that's not right. Some people haven't paid rent, but others have, like me! I've already paid!"
"Yes, Eight-Aunt, I paid rent yesterday! Do I not get water?" Han Shi-nai slowly descended from the second floor.
369 was mesmerized, and Li Yu was equally captivated, though he quickly recovered. Han Shi-nai was quite attractive!
Eight-Aunt looked at 369, who immediately understood: "Everyone listen up! If you paid rent, you can use the water. If you haven't, you don't get water!" With that, 369 whispered something to Eight-Aunt and left, unwilling to get involved in this mess.
Seeing 369 leave, Eight-Aunt went to unlock the tap. Standing nearby, she said: "Those who paid, come get water!"
Suddenly, Eight-Aunt's stomach cramped. "I don't know what I ate," she muttered, clutching her belly as she hurried to the toilet.
Seeing this, Li Yu poured his water into Doctor Jin's basin: "Doctor Jin, you need to make house calls, so use this water!"
Han Shi-nai also said: "Aunt Lan, take the water first. You need it urgently!"
Just as Aunt Lan was filling her bucket, Eight-Aunt came out of the toilet and saw this. She immediately yelled: "You haven't paid rent, and you want water? She immediately went to lock the tap again!"
"I haven't even filled my bucket yet!" Eight-Aunt, hearing this, looked at Li Yu: "Since you're new here, you can take that bucket."
Standing there, Eight-Aunt watched Li Yu fill the bucket, and then she immediately locked the tap!
Han Shi-nai protested: "I haven't even gotten any water!"
"Well, you shouldn't be so generous and let others fill their buckets first!" With that, Eight-Aunt went back upstairs.
The rest of the tenants started complaining again.
Li Yu looked at Han Shi-nai: "I don't need this much water, so here, take some!" He poured half the water from his bucket into hers.
"Thank you!" Han Shi-nai expressed her gratitude.
"No problem!" Li Yu said, then headed back to his room. He had urgent business to attend to: exchanging the large yellowfish for money.
After tidying up, Li Yu left his room. He saw the tenants still arguing and ignored them, walking out of the courtyard to find a pawnshop.
Li Yu found Xi Guan Da Ya, the largest pawnshop in Xi Guan, and exchanged the fish for 830 silver dollars, the equivalent of 8.3 million yuan in modern currency!
Li Yu put the silver dollars in his system space, went to Da San Yuan for tea and a leisurely break, then headed back to the courtyard.
As he returned, he saw Crown Prince Bing standing by the tap, locking a metal box. "See how you fight me!" He then went upstairs. The tenants stood by, pointing and gossiping.
Just then, A-xiang came back carrying some wood. She spotted Li Yu: "Brother Yu, you just got back too?"
"Yeah, I just took care of some business," Li Yu said, looking at A-xiang.
He saw the wood in her hands and took it: "Let me carry that for you!"
A-xiang blushed. As they walked side-by-side into the courtyard, they heard Fu Ge say: "This isn't a solution! If this happens every day, how will we do business?"
Li Yu, hearing this, looked at the wood in his hands, walked to Fu Ge, and said: "I have an idea." He held the wood next to his phone and whispered his plan in Fu Ge's ear.
Fu Ge slapped his thigh and shouted: "Good!" He then discussed the plan with the neighbors for that night, and everyone dispersed.
That night, smoke began to billow from Eight-Aunt's house. Fu Ge, standing downstairs, saw the smoke and yelled: "Fire! Eight-Aunt's house is on fire!"
Crown Prince Bing, lying in bed, was awakened by the shouts. He angrily flung open his window and yelled: "Who the hell is making that noise?"
Li Yu, seeing Crown Prince Bing, shouted: "Landlord, your house is on fire! Run!"
Hearing this, Crown Prince Bing rushed to the door, flung it open, saw a faint wisp of smoke in the hallway, and hurriedly woke Eight-Aunt: "A-Ba, A-Ba, wake up! There's a fire!"
Eight-Aunt, half-asleep, was jolted awake by the cry of fire. She immediately became alert, grabbed the jewelry box she kept hidden in her closet, and rushed downstairs with Crown Prince Bing.
As Crown Prince Bing reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw the tenants standing around watching. He became furious: "What are you all standing around for? Go help put out the fire!"
Fu Ge, seeing Crown Prince Bing's agitated state, said with a grin: "There's no water to put out the fire, so what else can we do?"
"A-Ba, hurry and get the key to unlock the tap!"
Eight-Aunt quickly opened the jewelry box and grabbed the key. Crown Prince Bing took it, unlocked the tap, and said: "Hurry, grab buckets to get water!"
Fat-仔, holding a broken bucket, said: "Eight-Aunt kicked all our buckets! There aren't any to get water!"
"Get whatever buckets you can find, even if they're broken!" Crown Prince Bing said, exasperated.
The tenants started filling buckets. Li Yu shouted: "Stop! The smoke is getting thick! Looks like we can't save it!"
Seeing the tenants stop, Crown Prince Bing said: "A-Ba, look at what you've done for a little water fee. Now you've lost the whole orchard for a few sesame seeds! Everyone, help us put out the fire!"
Fu Ge, seeing Crown Prince Bing's plea, mocked: "We can help, but you'll just lock the tap again. What will we do then?"
Eight-Aunt, hearing this, said: "I swear, I'll never lock the tap again! If I do, I'll..."
The tenants, hearing Eight-Aunt's words, all began to move again.
Seeing the tenants helping again, Crown Prince Bing anxiously looked at his window. He noticed the smoke seemed to be lessening: "A-Ba, is the smoke less?"
Just then, A-xiang walked up to the window: "Eight-Aunt, the cheap wood you told me to buy is too wet. It's not burning properly, so there's a lot of smoke!"
Crown Prince Bing and Eight-Aunt both breathed a sigh of relief. Eight-Aunt suddenly rushed to lock the tap.
Li Yu saw her and said: "Eight-Aunt! You made a vow! Are you not afraid?"
Eight-Aunt, hearing Li Yu's words, stopped, unsure what to do.
Seeing this, Crown Prince Bing pulled Eight-Aunt: "A-Ba, forget it! We got lucky this time. Next time, it'll be a real disaster!"
The two of them then went upstairs, dejected.
The tenants in the courtyard immediately started celebrating. Fu Ge even started singing!
After the excitement died down, everyone went back to their rooms.
Li Yu returned to his room, tidied up, and went to bed. He was looking forward to the next day's check-in!
(New author. Please feel free to comment and point out any shortcomings. I will improve accordingly.)