Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

"This is outrageous. Have they forgotten the traditional virtues of respecting teachers, valuing elders, and caring for the young?"

That was all Yan Bugui could say.

The people in the courtyard no longer take the so-called three old men seriously.

But no one really broke off relations; when they met, they still tried to save face.

Aside from He Yuzhu and a few others, Zhang Jiantao was the first to officially break off relations.

Yan Bugui shouted loudly, hoping to resonate with the people in the courtyard.

However, all he got was the snickers of others; he gained nothing else.

There's a saying: "A thousand-mile-long dike can be breached by an ant hole."

The meaning is self-evident.

Yi Zhonghai and his group wanted to turn the courtyard house into an independent kingdom.

This is inherently a difficult task.

If it were Sha Zhu's life, Yi Zhonghai would have had a smooth and successful career, achieving success very easily.

In this lifetime, I gained another disobedient person, He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu is like an anthill on the long dike of the courtyard house.

His disobedience directly caused a breach in Yi Zhonghai's dike.

With this gap in the dike, Yi Zhonghai will never be able to build a perfect one again.

Logically speaking, the traditional courtyard house should have collapsed long ago.

However, these opportunists in the courtyard were really useless; no one followed He Yuzhu in his rebellion.

Only now, after Zhang Jiantao has finalized the details of his clothing store, does he dare to step forward.

The others still didn't have the guts, but they also wouldn't support the three old men anymore.

Yan Bugui called out for a while, but when no one answered, he had no choice but to go home.

When the three women saw him come back, they scolded him: "Can you please stop doing this?"

Things are different now than before.

You've offended everyone in the compound. Who's going to help us if we need anything in the future?

Yan Bugui said with dissatisfaction, "What do you know? Don't you know what kind of people are in this courtyard?"

Expecting them to offer help is wishful thinking.

To get them to obey, we three old men must establish our authority.

The three women pursed their lips and ignored Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui is now hanging around with Yi Zhonghai and doesn't know the real situation in the hospital.

The three aunties are different; they often chat in the courtyard, and it's clear that nobody in the courtyard cares about the old man in charge.

Unlike Yan Bugui, who was angry, Xu Damao was in a particularly good mood.

He went home specifically to get a bottle of wine and went to the Zhang family's house.

Zhang Yuping quickly stood up to greet him: "Da Mao, you've come all this way, why did you bring wine with you?"

Xu Damao said, "How can you come to someone's house for a meal empty-handed? Brother Zhang, try this bottle of wine."

"Let me tell you, this was given to He Yuzhu by someone else, and I just took it."

Zhang Yuping fawned over Xu Damao, just like he had done to the three old men back then.

Xu Damao also had his own little thoughts, so he started talking about lighthearted topics.

"Jiantao, your idea is actually very good. Let me tell you, there are quite a few people in Beijing who make money by selling clothes."

Among my friends, there are those who, a few years ago, took the train to Shenzhen to buy clothes and digital watches, and then sold them back in Beijing.

People are driving cars now.

Zhang Jiantao smiled ingratiatingly: "Uncle Xu, you're right. But we ordinary folks don't have that kind of guts."

I wouldn't dare take that risk unless I was pushed to the limit.

Xu Damao said with a smile, "If you want to make money, you can't be timid. I've already talked to He Yuzhu about it."

As long as you work honestly, you'll get rich sooner or later.

When we have money in the future, we'll buy an apartment and bring your parents over.

"The feng shui of this courtyard is bad; it's not good for people to live here."

Zhang Yuping suddenly sighed: "Actually, our family has wanted to move away for a long time."

If we had known this courtyard would be like this, we wouldn't have moved in.

Xu Damao curled his lip: "What does this have to do with the courtyard? If you ask me, it's just that you people are cowards."

If it weren't for your indulgence, what right would those three have to act as bosses? Especially Yi Zhonghai.

The other families without heirs all behaved themselves and dared not offend anyone.

"The ones in our compound who have no descendants are doing quite well; they've all become local tyrants."

Xu Damao spent his entire life opposing Yi Zhonghai and his associates. He had little fear of Yi Zhonghai and his group.

After hearing Xu Damao's words, Zhang Yuping was at a loss for words.

He didn't want to live a miserable life either.

But he had no choice.

Xu Damao is capable and not afraid of Yi Zhonghai's retaliation.

These people are no good.

Back then, if anyone dared to disobey Yi Zhonghai's wishes, their work and residence would have been affected.

Even ordinary people have their own sorrows.

This kind of sorrow was beyond Xu Damao's imagination.

“It’s not that we didn’t dare, but back then, besides He Yuzhu, who dared to mess with the deaf old lady and the old man?”

Young people like Zhang Jiantao had long harbored resentment towards Yi Zhonghai.

Because Yi Zhonghai instructed the people in the courtyard to be filial to the deaf old lady and help the Jia family, these children didn't get to eat anything good at all.

We finally managed to buy some food, but before we could even eat it, we were forced to share most of it.

"Dad, in the end, it's because you guys are cowards. How dare Uncle He and Uncle Xu defy them back then?"

In the parlance of the time, you were not firm in your revolutionary stance.

Look at what people are saying about our institute now.

They all say our compound is full of cowards, scared out of their wits by the thought of having no heir.

Xu Damao had never heard of this before and asked curiously, "Who said this?"

Since Zhang Jiantao had already brought it up, he didn't intend to hide anything: "People around my age are all talking about this."

Uncle Xu, you have no idea how much we suffer.

Our friends would tease us about this whenever they met.

Who could stand this?

As soon as we found jobs, we all moved out.

It's not that we're unfilial, it's just that our compound has a bad reputation; living in our compound makes it impossible to find a partner.

Xu Damao had something to say about this.

"What's so difficult about your situation? We had a real problem finding a partner back then."

No one in the compound dares to bring their partners into the compound.

Ask your parents how difficult it was for Wu Tiezhu to find a partner back then.

Qin Huairu was keeping Qin Jingru, who was only about ten years old, on hold, preventing him from finding a girlfriend.

Zhang Jiantao asked curiously, "Is it Qin Jingru, the one who gave you a gift during the New Year?"

"Yes, it's her. She's about the same age as my sister. Qin Huairu has been trying to matchmake the two of them so that Wu Tiezhu won't get married."

Wasn't she making it obvious that she didn't want Wu Tiezhu to get married?

"Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui were both involved in this matter. Only Liu Haizhong wasn't smart enough to participate," Xu Damao said resentfully.

Zhang Jiantao was too young to remember these things, but he became curious about them.

"Uncle Xu, tell me about the past again."

"Why don't you ask your parents?" Xu Damao asked, puzzled.

Zhang Jiantao glanced at his parents sitting beside him and shook his head: "You've seen where we live."

Caught between the deaf old lady and the second uncle.

They didn't dare meddle in other people's business at the time.

Xu Damao nodded and slowly began to recount what happened back then.

This time, Zhang Yuping and his wife didn't stop him, and even told him some things that Xu Damao didn't know.

Their house was right next to the deaf old lady's house, and they had heard Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady arguing many times.

Most of the time, the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai spoke very softly.

But there are times when I can't control myself and the sound gets louder.

The Zhang couple overheard this, but never dared to tell anyone. (End of Chapter)