I used rebirth to bury his captivating gaze.

Chapter 126 Yu Mei Builds a New House (Closed Art & Decoration Shop)

Every day, Yu Mei works for customers at the art shop. However, whenever there are continuous rainy days or heavy downpours, the three mud-brick houses with red tiles that Yu Mei lives in are located in a low-lying area. She didn't know the specific circumstances when she bought them, so every night when she comes home, the houses are full of rainwater, and the water level is almost up to the heated brick bed.

Then the two of them used a basin to scoop out the water, and it wasn't until midnight that they had scooped it all out. After that, they lay down on the heated kang to sleep, and their bodies felt damp all over.

Fortunately, her two daughters were being looked after by her second aunt.

That wouldn't work either. It was just the beginning of spring, so Yu Mei and Li Xin got together and decided to tear down the house and rebuild it.

Yu Mei's art and decoration shop had only been open for six months, and she hadn't saved much money. She asked Li Xin how much it would cost to build a house. She knew he used to work for the Second Municipal Construction Company, so he might know how much it would cost to build it to the same size as before.

He said it wouldn't cost much, maybe a thousand or two thousand, and he wouldn't need to hire a bricklayer, since Lixin's uncle and second son were excellent bricklayers in the village.

The uncle lived about ten meters away from the seventh market. After discussing it, the two went to the uncle's house the next day. When they arrived, the uncle was sitting in the yard weaving bamboo baskets. Lixin went up to him and explained their purpose.

My uncle put down what he was doing, smiled and said, "Alright, we're all family, I'll definitely help. But you'll have to prepare all the materials yourselves."

Yu Mei quickly replied, "Thank you, Uncle. We just wanted to ask about your arrangements first. We've roughly calculated the materials, but we're worried that things might not be complete."

After returning home, the two began preparing materials. Yu Mei postponed some non-urgent orders at the shop and devoted herself wholeheartedly to the house project.

They went to the mountains to cut suitable timber and to the town's brick factory to choose high-quality, affordable bricks. They encountered many difficulties along the way, such as the timber truck breaking down halfway, but fortunately, kind villagers helped them.

After a period of busy work, the materials were finally ready. My uncle and his second son arrived with the tools.

On the day the groundbreaking ceremony was held, the neighbors all came to help. The women were in charge of cooking and boiling water, while the men assisted their uncle.

Seeing everyone's enthusiastic work, Yu Mei and Li Xin were filled with gratitude, as if they could already see the wonderful life they would have after their new house was completed.

But as the construction progressed, the men and women who had been helping all ran away, because they each had their own gardens and it seemed that Yu Mei's meals were running out.

Then Yu Mei had to cook for herself, while Li Xin assisted his uncle and second cousin with manual labor. When the street was full of customers, they temporarily closed the shop, only finishing the work for the art customers at hand!

Yu Mei ran out of money to buy roof tiles, and she sighed in distress. The house was only half-built, but she didn't have enough money to buy tiles. What was she going to do? Li Xin comforted her, saying that there would always be a way.

Just then, Yu Mei suddenly remembered that an old customer had praised one of her landscape paintings highly and said that if she was willing to sell it, she could name her price.

Yu Mei gritted her teeth and decided to contact the customer. Fortunately, the customer was still interested in the painting and offered a high price to buy it. Yu Mei took the money and quickly went to buy the tile.

When everyone saw that Yu Mei had resumed work and that the food was getting better, the neighbors all came back to help. With everyone working together, the house was finally completed smoothly.

The house was completed, but the art and decoration shop on Yumei Street ran into problems.

Yu Mei closed for a month, causing many of its art and decoration customers to leave. They all went to "Xiao Yangzi's art shop near the Overseas Chinese Decoration Materials Store" and "Xiao Lizi's art shop across the street."

That's not all. The main problem is that after Yu Mei finished building the house, she didn't have a single penny left. Moreover, the landlord of the art and decoration shop she rented on the street was the sub-landlord of a restaurant right next door.

The male restaurant owner noticed that it was time to pay the room fees every three months. He saw that Yu Mei had many customers and was making a lot of money, so he told Yu Mei and Li Xin that he wanted to raise the room fees to twice the monthly rate.

Yu Mei and Li Xin were stunned by the landlord's words. They simply couldn't afford such a high rent. Li Xin clenched his fists in anger, wanting to argue, but Yu Mei stopped him.

Yu Mei, fighting back tears, said to the landlord, "Brother, we just finished building the house and we're really short on money. Could you postpone raising the rent?" The landlord, however, remained unmoved and simply said that this was the market rate.

Just when the two were at their wits' end, a few of the old customers who had been lost because Yu Mei had closed down quietly came to the shop. They told Yu Mei that although Xiao Yangzi and Xiao Lizi's shops were cheaper, their skills were indeed not as refined as Yu Mei's. They were willing to help Yu Mei promote the shop and bring back some customers.

Deeply moved, Yu Mei regained her confidence and meticulously produced a batch of exquisite promotional brochures, featuring her best works. She and Li Xin visited their old customers and potential clients one by one. Gradually, business began to improve.

Meanwhile, Yu Mei approached the landlord again to negotiate, presenting her business plan for the next few months and expressing her determination to work hard to earn money. She hoped the landlord would renew the lease at the original price for a while longer. Seeing Yu Mei's sincere attitude and proactive actions, the landlord finally agreed. Yu Mei and Li Xin smiled at each other, determined to run the shop well and start a new life.

But three months later, when it was time to collect rent again, he started causing trouble again. The middle-aged landlord of the restaurant, with his beady eyes, stared at the full house of Yu Mei Art Shop and doubled the price again.

This time, Ba Lixin could no longer hold back.

That morning, after delivering fruit to street vendors, he returned to the art shop and heard from Yu Mei that the rent for the long-term rental was doubled.

He immediately went out, pushed open the door of the restaurant next door, and without saying a word, swung his fist and punched the restaurant owner in the face. Blood immediately flowed down, and then the two started fighting.

A police car arrived shortly after, and Liu Cheng from the police station resolved the conflict between the two.

Liu Cheng knew that his childhood classmate and classmate from his time in the countryside, Chen Lixin, was a good-natured and honest man who never got into fights. Liu Cheng took Lixin and the restaurant owner to the police station for mediation.

Liu Cheng said sternly to the restaurant owner: "This kind of thing should be resolved through reasonable and legal channels." Yu Mei rushed to the police station, apologized to Liu Cheng repeatedly, and promised that such a thing would not happen again.

After leaving the police station, Yu Mei and Li Xin realized they had to come up with a solution to the rising rent as soon as possible.

Back at the shop, they found their old customers had returned, bringing some new friends. It turned out the customers had heard about their plight and wanted to help. One of the friends suggested he knew someone who owned a vacant shop that could be rented to Yu Mei at a low price.

Yu Mei shook her head, saying that she planned to change careers and sell her art and decoration shop.

The regular customers were surprised and urged Yu Mei to reconsider. Yu Mei smiled bitterly and said, "I have no choice. The competition in this industry is too fierce, and all sorts of problems keep arising. I really can't hold on any longer." Li Xin nodded helplessly as well.

Soon, Yu Mei found someone to take over the art and decoration shop. Although the money from the sale wasn't much, it at least eased their immediate financial pressure. Yu Mei and Li Xin began looking for new ways out.