Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

The front yard, the Yan family's house.

Yan Fugui returned to the house carrying an empty sack. The third aunt asked, puzzled, "Old Yan, didn't you go to buy cornmeal? Most people in the yard bought some, why didn't you?"

Yan Fugui put the sack down, sighed, and said, "Corn flour is 1.2 yuan a pound now. With our meager salary, how can we afford it?"

Hearing this, the third aunt said with some difficulty, "But...but we're completely out of cornmeal, and Yuhua doesn't eat sweet potatoes. What will she eat tonight?"

Yan Fugui's face was gloomy: "Let her eat sweet potatoes with us for a while. We'll switch to cornmeal when our rations come in next week."

"Old Yan, is this going to work? Will Yu Hua agree?" the third aunt asked.

Yan Fugui waved his hand, his tone firm: "You have to agree whether you like it or not. She's still my Yan family's daughter-in-law. Before, she ate cornbread while we ate sweet potatoes, and we didn't say anything. Now that we're out of cornmeal, we'll wait until next week when the rations are issued and then switch her back to cornmeal. She'll only eat sweet potatoes for a week at most. What can she do to cause trouble?"

"Well... okay."

The three women sighed and went to the kitchen to steam sweet potatoes.

She had already steamed the sweet potatoes, waiting for Yan Fugui to buy cornmeal to make cornbread for Liu Yuhua. Unexpectedly, Yan Fugui didn't buy cornmeal, so now she could only steam a few more sweet potatoes for Liu Yuhua. She wondered if Liu Yuhua would make a fuss when she saw sweet potatoes instead of cornbread.

The auntie steams sweet potatoes very quickly; with readily available boiling water, they're done in less than half an hour.

When the sweet potatoes were served, the three Yan brothers each took one, and a small dish of pickled vegetables was also placed on the table.

As usual, Yan Fugui gave each person two strands of pickled vegetable shreds.

When Liu Yuhua saw that there were only sweet potatoes on the table and no cornbread, she frowned and asked her third aunt, "Mom, why aren't there any cornbread?"

Before the three aunties could speak, Yan Fugui interrupted, "Um, Yuhua, it's like this, we're out of cornmeal. I was going to the pigeon market to buy some, but the price has gone up to 1.2 yuan per jin, so I couldn't bring myself to buy it. We'll replace your ration with cornbread next week when our quota comes in. Just make do for a few days and eat sweet potatoes with us."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuhua's face instantly darkened. She slammed her chopsticks on the table with a loud bang, causing all the bowls and chopsticks on the table to tremble.

"Dad, Mom, I give you twenty yuan a month for living expenses, and I don't even eat lunch at home, yet you make me eat sweet potatoes?"

"Even if the ration is reduced by 20%, with my ration included, twenty yuan a month should be enough for living expenses. Now you want me to eat sweet potatoes with you? You're really calculating!"

"It's your business whether you like to eat these sweet potatoes or not, but I don't like them. Starting tomorrow, we'll separate and each eat our own food."

After saying that, Liu Yuhua took two sweet potatoes and went back to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Seeing Liu Yuhua's attitude, Yan Fugui and the third aunt were so angry that their faces turned ashen. Yan Fugui was so angry that he was trembling all over. He stretched out his trembling hand, pointed at Liu Yuhua's room, and couldn't say a word.

"What a disaster! What a disaster! We've brought home a living ancestor!"

The three women sighed and said, "Old Yan, what are we going to do? Do we really have to separate from Yuhua?"

Yan Fugui's face was gloomy. He looked at Yan Jiecheng and said in a deep voice, "Jiecheng, what exactly is going on between you and Yuhua? Yuhua has been married into the family for so long, and I feel that Yuhua doesn't treat us like family at all. She treats us like outsiders."

Yan Jiecheng took a bite of sweet potato and gave a wry smile: "Dad, Yuhua rarely talks to me. Except when I sleep with her, we're practically strangers. She just treats our house like a hotel."

Upon hearing this, Yan Fugui's face darkened, and he looked at Yan Jiecheng with a look of disappointment, speaking in a deep voice:

"Jiecheng, how can you be so useless? You can't even handle a woman, what kind of behavior is that?"

Hearing his father's words, Yan Jiecheng instantly flew into a rage, gritting his teeth and saying, "Dad, I'm a useless person now. Tell me, how am I supposed to handle Liu Yuhua? With my mouth? Huh? Tell me!"

Yan Fugui sighed helplessly: "Jiecheng, go back to your room and have a good talk with Yuhua. If Yuhua really wants to separate, then let them separate."

Yan Fugui is now truly regretting it. If he had known Liu Yuhua was this kind of person, he would never have let Jie Cheng marry her.

Now look what's happened. He's married a little princess, and Jie Cheng has become a cripple. If he divorces Liu Yuhua, Jie Cheng will never be able to find a wife again, and his family will become the laughing stock in the neighborhood.

"All right."

Yan Jiecheng sighed, quickly finished the sweet potato, and returned to his room.

After bolting the door, Yan Jiecheng saw Liu Yuhua sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze. He sat down and said to Liu Yuhua:

"Yuhua, you're my wife. Can you please stop losing your temper so easily, especially in front of our parents or other people? It makes me lose face."

Liu Yuhua turned to look at Yan Jiecheng and sneered, "Yan Jiecheng, you good-for-nothing, what face do you still want? Since I married into your family, you've become a cripple. I'm not even 19 years old yet, and I'm already living like a widow. And your parents are so stingy. I give them twenty yuan a month for living expenses, and they still want to make money off me. They even want me to eat sweet potatoes like you. Tell me, is this something a human being would do?"

Upon hearing Liu Yuhua call him a good-for-nothing again, Yan Jiecheng was instantly enraged and roared:

"Liu Yuhua, no matter what, I'm still your man. Let me tell you, you were born a member of the Yan family, and you'll die a ghost of the Yan family. You'll never leave the Yan family. You actually dared to call your man a piece of trash! I'll beat you to death, you bitch!"

Blinded by rage, Yan Jiecheng raised his hand and slapped Liu Yuhua hard across the face.

"Smack."

Liu Yuhua received a solid slap from Yan Jiecheng, leaving a handprint on her face instantly.

She stared at Yan Jiecheng in disbelief. She truly hadn't expected that Yan Jiecheng would dare to hit her. She could have dodged it, but she thought Yan Jiecheng was just putting on an act to scare her.

She truly couldn't believe it. Had Yan Jiecheng gotten himself into a frenzy today? He actually dared to hit her!