The Courtyard House: Xu Damao's Aunt is the Queen of Women

"Alright, let's continue talking about you, Lou Xiao'e!"

Ye Juan had a stern face, looking like she was lecturing a younger person.

"After all I've said, do you still think Sha Zhu is a good person?"

Lou Xiao'e shook her head.

Was that deaf old woman a good person?

Lou Xiao'e frowned, feeling conflicted.

"The deaf old lady hasn't done anything wrong, so she can't be considered a bad person, right?"

"..."

Ye Juan remained silent, wanting to pry open Lou Xiao'e's skull to see what was inside.

It's not brains, it's tofu dregs.

Seeing the little queen's expression, Liu Hao knew she was suffering from a mental illness, and he felt a bit like it too.

Lou Xiao'e's performance in the drama was simply stupid. To paraphrase Xie Ruolin's words about Yu Zecheng, she was the last remaining fool.

However, if we think about the story of Lou Xiao'e a little, from the perspective of the masses and Xu Damao, the old deaf man is Wang Po, Lou Xiao'e is Pan Jinlian, and the silly pig is Ximen Qing.

You say Xu Damao's accusation against the Lou family is utterly immoral, despicable, and shameless?

Haha, if your wife is with your arch-enemy, and someone who's been beating you up since childhood, and you still choose to forgive her, then you're truly amazing! Even a green-haired turtle wouldn't be as good at hiding like you.

This is not to say that Xu Damao is a good person!

He was two-faced; he seduced Qin Jingru before even getting a divorce, slept with Qin Jingru, and then went on to seduce Yu Haitang, intending to kick Qin Jingru to the curb.

If Xu Damao weren't Ye Juan's nephew, Liu Hao really wouldn't want to associate with him, because a person without principles might betray you at any time!

To summarize the courtyard house, the first line is: "The temple here is small, but the evil wind is strong." The second line is: "The pond here is shallow, but there are many turtles." The horizontal inscription is: "Birds fill the courtyard house."

"Let's eat, let's not talk about those unhappy things. I need to clean the house after we finish eating!"

……

Yi Zhonghai's home.

Several beasts sat around the stove, while an old woman named Li Meihua stood guard at the door, giving the impression of a secret rendezvous.

The deaf old woman sat upright in her chair and said slowly, "This Liu Hao is a tough nut to crack. If the three of you can't unite and drive him away, you can forget about having any peace in the courtyard."

Liu Haizhong was the first to express his opinion.

"Grandma, what's your idea? We'll listen to you!"

"Yes, whatever you say goes."

Yan Fugui immediately agreed, but his eyes kept glancing at the two steamed buns made from two different kinds of dough in the bowl on the table next to him.

Yi Zhonghai flicked his cigarette ash, recalling Liu Hao's challenge to his authority at the college-wide meeting just now. His eyes were filled with ruthlessness as he said in a deep voice, "I think we should just send this kid in."

So ruthless?

Liu Haizhong and Yan Fugui exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves that Yi Zhonghai was truly ruthless and that they should be wary of him in the future.

"How should I deliver it?"

"We can let Huai Ru..."

……

West Courtyard.

Liu Hao followed Ye Juan through the passageway next to Xu Damao's house, opened the small door and entered the west courtyard. Ye Juan took out her key to open the door and turned on the living room light.

Under the light, Liu Hao was finally able to see the appearance of the west courtyard.

It has a fairly large area, about 30 meters long and 15 meters wide. The house is a single-story blue brick house with a distinct Suzhou style.

It is divided into three rooms, with a double-sloped gable roof covered with bluish-gray terracotta tiles. The eaves are slightly outward-pointing, and a row of white iron sheets are nailed below for dripping.

The three rooms are arranged in a row, with a square layout. The living room is in the middle, and the doors and windows are all framed in dark wood. The outside of the window frames is also fitted with steel security bars.

The door was a solid wooden door covered with sheet metal, and it was very sturdy.

It's likely that Ye Juan's adoptive father was worried about his daughter living alone, so he reinforced the doors and windows for safety reasons.

The yard in front of the house has been leveled, and a small toilet should have been built next to the yard wall.

Upon entering the living room, you'll find a cement floor, whitewashed walls, a suspended ceiling, and very simple yet clean furniture, all arranged in a cozy atmosphere.

"Here you go, buy me a new one!"

Ye Juan took a new kettle from the cabinet by the wall and handed it to Liu Hao.

Liu Hao forgot to buy a kettle, and Ye Juan said she had two and could lend one to Liu Hao.

Reaching out to take the kettle, Liu Hao instinctively asked, "Aren't you going to light a fire tonight?"

Ye Juan doubted whether Liu Hao was actually from the North, wondering why he would ask such an absurd question.

"Of course we need to! If we don't light a fire, won't we freeze to death?"

"I don't see a stove in the living room. Do you have a stove in your room?"

"..."

Ye Juan rolled her eyes, suspecting that Liu Hao's head wasn't just injured from the fall and losing his memory, but rather completely smashed into a pulp.

"I have a kang (heated brick bed) in my room. I light a fire on the stove in the kitchen, and the heat goes through the pipes to heat the kang. Hurry up and leave, don't disturb my rest."

So that's what sleeping on a kang (heated brick bed) is like! I'm so envious.

In sub-zero temperatures, without central heating, sleeping on a heated brick bed is the most comfortable option.

"Lend me some more coal briquettes!"

"You're such a nuisance. You'd better take the day off tomorrow to get your household registration, food ration book, and coal ration book sorted out, and buy back everything else you haven't gotten yet."

Ye Juan couldn't help but give Liu Hao a few more instructions, then led him outside to a small brick warehouse next to the wall of No. 95 courtyard. She directed Liu Hao to pick up 10 coal briquettes with a bamboo basket.

We don't need kindling; we can just go to Xu Damao's house and get some firewood to throw into the stove.

Beside the small door, Liu Hao held a kettle in his left hand and a bamboo basket in his right, grinning to reveal a set of big white teeth.

"Thank you, kind and beautiful Comrade Ye Juan!"

"Stop dawdling and hurry back to clean up your doghouse."

After Ye Juan finished speaking, she closed the door. Liu Hao smiled, hummed a song, went back into the house, took off his down jacket, hung it up on the wooden hanger that came with the wardrobe, and began to dismantle the door.

With incredible force, Liu Hao ripped the dilapidated wooden door and frame off with his bare hands.

Aunt Chen Xiucui, who went out to get water, was dumbfounded. How much strength did that take!

Liu Hao casually tossed the old door in front of him, picked up the new door, which weighed about fifty or sixty pounds, with one hand, and compared it to the new door. It was just the right size.

He took out a hammer and a finger-thick nail, hammered them into the wall, and tugged hard. It was very secure, and Liu Hao nodded in satisfaction.

We can't throw away the old door; firewood is a very precious commodity these days.

He picked up a sledgehammer and smashed the old door into ten-centimeter-long pieces of firewood, gathered them up and piled them next to the door, and began to repair the windows.

Liu Hao is very hands-on. During his summer and winter vacations, he would often help with chores when visiting his maternal grandfather in the countryside. He could easily handle tasks that didn't require much skill.

After repairing the window, he installed the stove, took the kettle to Xu Damao's house, asked for a kettle of cold water, and exchanged a coal briquette.

The fire is burning, so sprinkle some water on the ground and pick up a broom to clean it up.

It's 9:30 PM!

The dim light flickered on and off, the coal briquettes glowed a dark red on the stove walls, and steam rose from the kettle. The room had been transformed.

The rat hole in the corner was blocked, the square brick floor was swept clean, the dust and cobwebs on the walls were cleaned, and a charcoal gray four-piece bedding set was laid out on the solid wood bed.

Liu Hao hung up the curtains, washed his hands in the basin, sat down in the chair by the stove, picked up the enamel teacup on the table, and took a sip of tea.

The system store is very user-friendly, offering two delivery options: external delivery and internal delivery, which you can choose yourself.

External delivery involves arranging for a real person to deliver it, while internal delivery simply appears in the storage space.

For example, this enamel teacup costs 2 palm coins!

Unfortunately, speculation is illegal. Otherwise, if he beat Sha Zhu up with a stick every day, tied him up and slapped him hard, he could earn enough money to buy at least 1000 enamel teacups, which he could then resell and make a fortune.

Liu Hao put down his teacup, took out the only 37.5 yuan he had on him and placed it on the table, pondering how to make some money!

If you don't have money in your pocket, you won't have confidence!

No, I remember seeing a news report before that when Prince Gong's Mansion was being renovated in 2008, Heshen's underground treasure room was discovered, which was said to contain a large amount of gold and silver treasures.

Upon remembering this, Liu Hao immediately made up his mind to make time to go and take a look as soon as possible!

He couldn't bring himself to steal; his upbringing forbade him from becoming a thief.

But he had no psychological burden!

I took off my clothes, crawled into bed, took out my Mate 80 RS (which still had 78% battery left) from the storage space, and snuggled in bed to look through my photo album.

The phone was a brand new model given to him by his junior schoolmate Chen Yanqiu, and most of the photos in the album were of him and Chen Yanqiu together.

Chen Yanqiu is an only child from a wealthy family that owns a chain of hot pot restaurants. The two dated for three months, and Chen Yanqiu paid for all their food, drink, and other expenses.

Computers, mobile phones, watches, clothes, shoes, underwear—all designer brands.

Actually, he wasn't short of money. In the disaster of 2020, his parents and grandparents passed away one after another, leaving behind two houses, a shop, and insurance payouts of more than 200 million yuan, but Chen Yanqiu just wouldn't spend his money.

Sigh, I'm gone. I hope the bank will give the house and savings to Yanqiu!

But he knew that without a will and a bequest and support agreement, the money would be taken back by the state.

Now that it has been returned to the state, it is perfectly reasonable for me to go and retrieve the gold and purple robes from Prince Gong's Mansion!