Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

The front yard, the Yan family's house.

Liu Yuhua grabbed Yan Jiecheng by the ear, went back to the room, found a washboard and a bowl, filled the bowl with water, and slammed the door shut.

Liu Yuhua pointed to the washboard on the ground and said coldly, "Yan Jiecheng, you kneel on the washboard right now and put a bowl on your head. If you dare to spill the water, see how I deal with you. You can only get up when I tell you to."

Yan Jiecheng covered his swollen face and said with a pained expression, "Yuhua, can you not kneel? We're husband and wife, after all. If others find out, how can I face them in the future?"

Liu Yuhua sneered: "Sure, you can slap me once, or I can slap you a hundred times, and you won't have to kneel. Kneel or be slapped, it's your choice."

Upon hearing this, Yan Jiecheng immediately fell silent. He had no doubt about Liu Yuhua's words; this fierce woman was capable of slapping him a hundred times if she said so.

He had just been slapped dozens of times, and he felt like the skin on his face was about to be ripped off. His face was still burning with pain.

Seeing Liu Yuhua's cold gaze, Yan Jiecheng obediently knelt on the washboard, picked up the bowl, and placed it on his head, kneeling steadily as if afraid of spilling the water in the bowl.

When Liu Yuhua saw Yan Jiecheng kneeling obediently on the washboard, she took off her coat, covered herself with the quilt, and lay down on the bed.

But she wasn't asleep; her eyes were fixed on Yan Jiecheng.

Yan Jiecheng had only been kneeling down for a short time when he felt excruciating pain in his knees and could no longer bear it. The bowl on his head also began to shake.

Although his knees hurt a lot, Liu Yuhua kept a close eye on him, so he didn't dare to slack off and could only grit his teeth and persevere.

Half an hour later, Liu Yuhua got really sleepy and started snoring softly, which made Yan Jiecheng overjoyed.

He didn't stand up immediately, but waited until he was sure Liu Yuhua was completely asleep before slowly getting up.

"hiss."

Yan Jiecheng had just taken the bowl off his head, braced himself with his hands on the ground, and was about to get up when he felt a numbness in his knees. It felt as if his knees no longer belonged to him and had lost all feeling, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

He rolled up his trouser leg and saw that his knee was terribly swollen and even had broken skin. He rubbed his knee for a while before it felt much better.

Looking at Liu Yuhua, who was fast asleep, Yan Jiecheng felt extremely aggrieved.

He was a grown man, yet he was bullied like this by a woman and forced to kneel on a washboard. This made him resent Liu Yuhua.

He sat quietly on the bed, rubbing his knees for several minutes until they were no longer so numb. Then he carefully lifted the covers and lay down on the bed. He moved very gently, afraid of waking up Liu Yuhua, that tigress, otherwise he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

......

The next day, early in the morning.

When Liu Yuhua opened her eyes, she saw that Yan Jiecheng was already lying on the bed. She was furious and kicked Yan Jiecheng off the bed.

"Ouch."

Yan Jiecheng suddenly woke up and saw Liu Yuhua's expression that looked like she wanted to devour him. He immediately felt his scalp tingle and his whole body trembled.

"Well... Yuhua, I knelt until midnight last night, and I really couldn't take it anymore. I just got into bed, and I didn't wake you because I was afraid of waking you up," Yan Jiecheng said with a bitter face.

Liu Yuhua sat up, staring coldly at Yan Jiecheng without saying a word, just staring at him like that.

After a long while, Liu Yuhua finally spoke: "Roll up your trouser legs so I can see. I want to see your knees. If you dare to lie to me, you know what will happen."

Yan Jiecheng nodded with a wry smile, and could only do as he was told.

Liu Yuhua rolled up her trousers and saw Yan Jiecheng's swollen knees, with two places where the skin was even broken. Her mood improved considerably, and she stopped making things difficult for Yan Jiecheng.

"Yan Jiecheng, I'll let it go this time, but if you dare to hit me again next time, I'll go back to my parents' home and find my three older brothers. My three older brothers usually dote on me the most, but they're not as easy to talk to as I am. If you get stabbed by a butcher's knife when you go out one day, don't blame me for not warning you."

Upon hearing this, Yan Jiecheng shuddered. He thought of Liu Yuhua's three older brothers, each of whom was much more burly than Shazhu and were all pig butchers. The thought made him feel a chill run down his spine.

"Yuhua, I won't do it again, I'll never do it again."

Yan Jiecheng quickly assured her, afraid that if he spoke too slowly, he would be slapped by Liu Yuhua again.

Looking at Yan Jiecheng's weak appearance, Liu Yuhua sneered disdainfully and began to put on her clothes.

After Liu Yuhua left the room to wash up, Yan Jiecheng limped out of the room.

Yan Fugui was sitting in the living room waiting for breakfast when he quickly noticed that Yan Jiecheng was acting strangely and hurriedly went over to ask him:

"Jiecheng, what's wrong with you? Why are you walking with a limp?"

Yan Jiecheng gave a wry smile: "What else can I do? Kneel on the washboard, that's all."

Yan Fugui patted Yan Jiecheng on the shoulder, sighed, and said in a deep voice, "Jiecheng, Yuhua has a rather volatile temper. In the future, you should try to go along with her. Don't be so impulsive like this time."

Yan Jiecheng nodded emphatically and said with a wry smile, "Dad, how could I dare to provoke her again? Yuhua said that she would let it go this time, but if I dare to hit her again next time, she will go back to her parents' home and ask her three older brothers to come over."

Yan Fugui's face was gloomy. He waved his hand and said, "Go wash up and get ready for breakfast. Don't be late for work."

"Eh."

Yan Jiecheng agreed, picked up his toiletries, and limped toward the pool in the central courtyard.

For breakfast, the Yan family ate sweet potatoes again. Liu Yuhua ate two sweet potatoes, then frowned and said to the third aunt:

"Mom, starting today, you don't need to cook for me anymore. I'll cook for myself when I get home from get off work. From now on, we'll each eat our own meals."

The three women were at a loss. They looked at Yan Fugui, who sighed and said:

"Hey Yuhua, if you really want to live separately from us, I won't object. But you'll be cooking for yourself every day, and you'll still need to burn coal, right? Your younger siblings are still small, so how about you contribute five yuan a month for their living expenses, just to help them out? What do you think?"

Liu Yuhua scoffed, "Dad, you've really got a good plan. I'm not even eating with you anymore, and you want me to pay 5 yuan for living expenses? Fine, you want coal, right? I'll buy the coal myself then. Is that alright?"

Liu Yuhua didn't want to say anything more to the Yan family. She went back to her room, grabbed her bag and lunchbox, and went to work.

"this……."

"Why."

After Liu Yuhua left, Yan Fugui, the three aunts, and Yan Jiecheng all looked very unhappy, but they really couldn't do anything about Liu Yuhua, so they could only sigh in the end.