The Courtyard House: He Yuzhu Returns with Boundless Hatred for Revenge

Just moments before the deaf old woman's wailing began, Zhang Guifen had already slammed the half-finished shoe sole onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Yi Zhonghai! Are you dead?! Didn't you hear what that old hag outside was cursing? That old shrew, she's already rebelled and still won't stop, daring to cause trouble at our doorstep! What did you promise me before? You said you'd cut ties with that old hag. Now she's blocking the door and yelling, and you're hiding inside like a coward! Are you even a man? You childless castrated bastard! What sins did I commit in my past life to marry such a spineless coward!"

Yi Zhonghai, his back hunched, said, "Guifen, keep your voice down. So many people outside are listening. After all, she used to..."

"What a load of rubbish, Yi Zhonghai! I, Zhang Guifen, am not childless now! You, Yi Zhonghai, are the spineless old castrated rooster! If I divorce you and find someone willing to live with me, maybe I can give birth to a big, healthy son right away. Then you can go live with your good godmother! Let's see if she can take care of you in your old age and see you off in your final days."

Zhang Guifen grew increasingly angry as she spoke, "Get out of here right now and kick that old hag out of here! If she wants to die, let her die somewhere else, don't dirty my doorstep! If you dare to have any more dealings with her, we'll go to the neighborhood committee for a divorce first thing tomorrow morning! I mean what I say!"

Her words were extremely vicious, striking straight to Yi Zhonghai's heart. In the future, the old man, now without descendants, would have already erupted in violence, but he didn't dare utter a single word. From the day he knelt and begged for mercy, the entire family had been turned upside down. Zhang Guifen seemed determined to reclaim all the grievances she had suffered over the past decades, with interest.

She made all the decisions, big and small, at home. Yi Zhonghai had to hand over every penny of his money, except for a few cents for cigarettes. At night, if Zhang Guifen was in a bad mood, he had to sleep on the floor with his bedding. This once domineering and authoritative old man now lived with less dignity than a guard dog, both inside and outside the home.

But what could he do? Divorced, he'd truly be a lost soul. Half the house was gone, his money was gone, and with this divorce, living alone, he'd be bullied to death by his neighbor, He Yuzhu; he might even be wiped out of his family fortune someday. He could only endure it, swallowing his pride and suffering.

Standing outside the door, Yi Zhonghai's face twitched slightly. He forced a smile and tried to keep his tone calm. "Grandma, please don't be like this. My family is having a hard time too. Look at this hat I'm selling; the factory downgraded it, and now I only get a pittance a month. It's barely enough to support Guifen and me. I really can't help you with this."

"Pah!" The deaf old woman spat a mouthful of phlegm onto Yi Zhonghai's foot. "Yi Zhonghai! I know exactly what kind of person you are! Are you pretending to be poor with me? Even if you've been demoted to a third-grade worker, how much do you make a month? Do you think I'm a three-year-old who can't do basic math? All these years, you've been earning a high salary of several tens of yuan, yet you live even more miserly than Old Man Yan! Where is all the money you've saved? Did the dogs steal it all? You just want to kick your godmother to the curb now that I'm down on my luck and useless, and not care whether I live or die!"

He grew increasingly agitated, pounding his cane on the ground with a loud thud. "I'm telling you, Yi Zhonghai! If you don't help me today, this old woman will die right here at the door! I'll haunt you even as a ghost! Let everyone in the courtyard see how you drove your godmother to her death! Unfilial! Unfilial! Old Master, come up here quickly! Ancestors of Wild Boar Skin, please show yourselves and take these two unfilial dogs away with you..."

As she spoke, she swayed and sat down on the ground, clapping her hands and wailing at the top of her lungs. Her mannerisms were even more blatantly similar to those of Jia Zhangshi, suggesting they were of the same ilk and from the same school.

The onlookers quickly stepped back. This old woman had gone mad; wearing a hat, she dared to sing those lyrics so openly. But then they thought better of it. The old woman didn't care anymore; the authorities just wanted her to rot in this courtyard. As long as she didn't go too far, singing a few lines now and then wasn't a big deal.

Yi Zhonghai's scalp tingled, and he was at a loss for what to do. This old hag was clearly determined to cling to him today. To lay a hand on her? In front of everyone, for a man wearing a hat to dare lay a hand on his elderly godmother was simply asking for trouble. To reason with her? What reason could one possibly have with a completely shameless old shrew?

Just as he was caught in a dilemma, sweating profusely, a voice he least wanted to hear slowly rang out.

"Hey, what's going on here, Yi Zhonghai? This is really not right of you."

In the eyes of the old widow, he was a troublemaker among troublemakers, a villain among villains. He Yuzhu, having somehow slipped to the front of the crowd, a cigarette dangling from his lips, scanned back and forth between Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman on the ground, his expression full of mockery.

"Isn't this your godmother, Yi Zhonghai? You used to treat her like an ancestor, always spouting off about respecting the elderly and caring for the young, saying that if you didn't respect the deaf old lady, you didn't deserve to be a human being, you didn't deserve to live in a courtyard house... You, Yi Zhonghai, said these things yourself, and everyone in the courtyard heard them, didn't they?"

"What? Now that your godmother is in trouble and has been labeled a counter-revolutionary, you want to distance yourself from her? Even if she is a counter-revolutionary, she is still your godmother, whom you, Yi Zhonghai, kowtowed to and served tea to! You yourself acknowledged this relationship in front of the whole hospital! What, now that you see she's no longer exploitable and has become a burden, you want to kick her aside?"

"Let me tell you, Yi Zhonghai, I, He Yuzhu, am the first to object to this! You're a typical example of someone who treats things like treasures when they're useful and trash when they're not—cold-hearted, ungrateful, and two-faced! How is your behavior any different from those scoundrels who oppressed the people in the old society, those who were disloyal and unfilial?"

Yi Zhonghai's face flushed red and then turned pale from the scolding, but he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal. He Yuzhu's words were exactly what he used to say to the people in the brothel, especially to Sha Zhu. There was no way he could deny it now! So many people had heard it; denying it would be a slap in his own face. Although the old scoundrel had no face left, he still had a little bit of... well... it meant a prostitute wearing a red string around her ankle... Oh right, it's called... modesty...

He Yuzhu wasn't going to let it go after just a few words. Looking towards the Yi family's house, she raised her voice, "Old woman Yi! Stop pretending to be dead in there! Come out here! What, you've just become a victim of domestic violence, and now you want to be like your husband, a disrespectful, heartless ingrate? You two are a perfect match! One a hypocrite, the other a treacherous opportunist! If you dare to just ignore your godmother's life or death today, I'll report you to the Women's Federation tomorrow morning..."