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

Red Star Hospital.

Located in Dongzhimen, not far from the Third Steel Rolling Mill, Hongxing Hospital, ward number eight on the second floor.

With a bruised and swollen face, his old face was swollen, his nostrils were stuffed with gauze, and the outside of his nose was fixed with tape in a cross shape. The silly pillar leaned against the bed, cursing under his breath.

From the day Liu Hao moved into courtyard house number 95, Sha Zhu received his first slap, and the bruise on his old face never faded.

Last night was even worse. First, he was slapped by Liu Hao, then he was ganged up on and beaten by Liu's father and son, and then he was kicked by Ye Juan, which aggravated his injuries.

He suffered a broken nose, a mild concussion, two upper front teeth knocked out, one lower front tooth knocked out, three broken ribs, and his groin was kicked several times by Liu Guangfu. Xiao Shazhu's swollen groin was as thick as a thumb. When he woke up from his coma in the middle of the night and went to the toilet to relieve himself, he cried out in pain.

But Hongxing Hospital seemed to have a magical power. After the doctor cleaned, treated, and bandaged Sha Zhu's wounds, gave him an IV drip, and he lay there for half a day and a night, Sha Zhu's health, which had plummeted by more than half, quickly recovered. His spirits returned to normal at a visible speed, although he still had a lisp when he spoke.

"Liu Haizhong! Liu Guangqi! Liu Guangfu! Liu Guangtian!! Liu Hao! Ye Juan! You bastards, just you wait! If I don't avenge this, I, He Yuzhu, will have no descendants!"

Sha Zhu's face was contorted with rage, his eyes bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth as he swore an oath, his resentment even greater than that of Sadako.

What slightly broke Sha Zhu's spirits was that, despite being beaten so badly, he couldn't report it to the police, nor could he get a single penny in compensation.

That's fine, he can endure it, he'll take revenge himself later and wash away the shame.

But what truly broke his defenses, what he found intolerable, and what nearly drove him mad was that he was offered a large sum of hush money.

He verbally argued that the calculation should be based on the period after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but he knew very well that if someone reported his family's falsified class background, there would definitely be a problem.

"He Zongguo, He Daqing, you two old beasts... Waaah, I've seen people who betray their fathers and grandfathers, but I've never seen anyone betray their grandson and son!"

Sha Zhu grew angrier the more he thought about it, and started cursing his father and grandfather again, tears streaming down his face.

The elderly woman in the bed next to hers on the left was getting annoyed and said irritably, "What's wrong with you? You're so old, practically half-buried, why are you still crying and wailing like that? Don't you feel ashamed?"

Am I that old?

Sha Zhu's crying stopped abruptly. His heart ached as if it had been stabbed with needles, as if he had been hit with a critical strike. He turned his head sharply and glared at the old woman.

"Are you blind? I'm only twenty-nine!!! Twenty-nine years old!!!"

What?

Not only was the old lady stunned, but the patients and their families in the beds on the right and opposite sides also stared wide-eyed at Sha Zhu, observing him intently.

Sha Zhu only had bruises on both cheeks, but the wrinkles on his forehead and the corners of his eyes were still visible.

Because of years of working in the cafeteria, his face was covered with an unwashable sheen of oil, his sallow complexion tinged with a haggard bluish tinge, the wrinkles on his forehead were so deep they could trap fine ash, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were as dense as crumpled rough paper. Whether he smiled or not, his face drooped, exuding a sense of vicissitude that did not match his age. His hair was also messy, like a bird's nest.

Anyone who sees him would guess he's over forty.

An elderly man with gray hair snorted and said with some displeasure, "What are you pretending to be young for? My eldest son is forty-five this year, and he looks more energetic than you. Look at the wrinkles around your eyes, they're deeper than mine!"

Upon hearing this, a burst of suppressed laughter immediately filled the ward.

The elderly woman in the left-hand bed also came to her senses and added insult to injury with a smirk.

"Exactly! My son's in his early thirties, but he looks like a tender cucumber. You look like you're fifty, let alone twenty-nine! Who are you kidding!"

Sha Zhu was furious. He stiffened his neck and yelled at the old woman, "Fifty? Are you blind from the waist down? I bet you haven't seen a decent-looking person in your life. You're comparing your ugly son to me? Why don't you take a piss and look at your own wrinkled face!"

This old lady was clearly not someone to be trifled with; she pointed at Sha Zhu's nose and started cursing.

"Did you eat shit with your mouth, you bastard? I know, you got beaten up because of your foul mouth, didn't you?"

The old woman spat disdainfully and clapped vigorously.

"Pah, serves him right, well done!"

Haha, everyone laughed.

Sha Zhu broke down completely, his blood pressure soared, and he glared at the old woman with bloodshot eyes, wishing he could tear the old hag's mouth apart.

But his remaining rationality told him that he couldn't act impulsively, unless he wanted to go to jail!

Just then, Li Meihua helped the deaf old woman into the ward.

Upon seeing the deaf old woman, Sha Zhu immediately broke down in tears, crying like a baby over 300 months old.

"Grandma... Waaah..."

Li Meihua, the deaf old woman, was completely bewildered. What was going on?

They had never seen Sha Zhu cry so sadly, not even when He Daqing ran away with the widow.

The old woman sized up the deaf old woman and Li Meihua a few times, then asked, "Are you his mother? His grandmother?"

"I'm Grandma Zhuzi, what happened to my Zhuzi?"

"Is he twenty-nine years old this year?"

The deaf old woman was shrewd and immediately realized why Sha Zhu was crying so pitifully and sadly.

A hint of heartache appeared on her old face as she slowly said, "Alas, my Zhuzi, born in 1935, is a pig in the Chinese zodiac. He is an eighth-level chef and has been honest and kind since he was a child."

"The wrinkles on his forehead and the lines around his eyes are all from the smoke and fire and the worry. He works from dawn till dusk every day, and he's always the first to rush to help anyone in the neighborhood when something happens. He's worried sick about everyone, so how could he not look older than his peers? But he has a good heart, and he's the most reliable young man in our neighborhood!"

The crowd looked at each other, not believing a single word.

Sha Zhu woke up in the middle of the night last night and cursed for more than half an hour. He woke up this morning and continued cursing. His mouth smelled like it had been soaked in sewage.

The old lady on the left bed couldn't stand it anymore and said something to him, and he immediately started biting like a mad dog. How could you say he was honest and kind?

This old woman is lying through her teeth; she's probably not a good person either.

The old woman pursed her lips, turned away, and didn't say a word.

Seeing this, the deaf old woman felt uncomfortable, but she didn't dare to put on airs.

Once she leaves the courtyard house at number 95, she's just an ordinary old woman; who would pamper her?

The deaf old woman walked to the bedside, sat on the edge of the bed, reached out to stroke Sha Zhu's hair, and asked with a face full of heartache, "Zhu Zi, don't cry, does your body still hurt?"

Sha Zhu wiped away his tears and choked out, "It hurts, Grandma! These beasts beat me so badly I'm covered in sores! I must get my revenge!"

"Put revenge aside for now! Grandma came to the hospital today specifically to give you some advice."

The deaf old woman patted Sha Zhu's hand and said earnestly.

"You're just too honest and straightforward. You can't stand seeing others suffer, and you're always meddling in other people's business. From now on, you need to tone down your temper, mind your own business, and don't offend anyone for no reason, understand?"