The Cycle of Reincarnation in the Four-Courtyard House: A Journey Through the Heavens

Faced with Li Yunlong's fierce offensive, Yamamoto's special forces had long lost their former vigor and could only rely on the county town's garrison to prolong their lives.

The Japanese reinforcements sent from Taiyuan also triggered a siege and reinforcement operation involving various anti-Japanese forces, completely cutting off Yamamoto's external support.

At the last moment, Yamamoto took Xiuqin hostage and climbed the city wall in an attempt to negotiate and force Li Yunlong to withdraw his troops.

After the negotiations failed, Li Yunlong decisively ordered the Italian cannons to bombard the city tower. Yamamoto Ichiki and Yang Xiuqin were killed on the spot, and the remaining special agents under his command were also annihilated in the strong attack of the Eighth Route Army. Yamamoto's special agent team was thus completely wiped out.

Because of Li Xiao's appearance, Xiuqin was rescued safely, and Yamamoto Ichiki and his elite special forces were also killed by Li Xiao, which completely changed the original timeline of the plot.

On a whim, Li Xiao went to Black Cloud Village and wiped out the bandit stronghold in northwestern Shanxi, thus changing the fate of Wei Heshang, who died at the hands of these bandits.

These are all things that drastically alter the original timeline, which is why Li Xiao had that mysterious and unpredictable feeling.

According to Li Xiao's speculation, that mysterious feeling is probably the causal power of this world!

As the system said before it went into hibernation, the energy it needed to replenish was the causal power of this world, so it required itself to live in the courtyard at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang.

If that's the case, shouldn't I go see Qin Huairu beforehand?

She's the female lead in "Full House of Love". If we could get to know her beforehand, wouldn't we be able to gather the power of cause and effect more quickly?

Without hesitation, Li Xiao returned to Beijing and soon rode his bicycle alone to Changping.

According to the original novel, Qin Huairu was from Qin Family Village in Changping. It's a good opportunity to see what the real Qin Huairu looked like.

Actually, Li Xiao didn't have a particularly bad impression of Qin Huairu.

She embodies a complex mix of helplessness under the pressure of survival and calculating selfishness. She is neither a purely pitiful person nor an absolute villain, but rather a complex character forced out by life under a specific historical context. Different perspectives reveal drastically different traits.

Qin Huairu's situation was full of hardship from the very beginning.

She became a widow at a young age and had to support her elderly mother-in-law and raise three children, one son and two daughters, all by herself. The pension from the steel mill and her own meager salary were simply not enough to support her family.

She also has her own dignity and bottom line. She was once harassed by Xu Damao in exchange for food, but she would rather her family go hungry than compromise.

Later, with the help of Li Huaide, things took a turn for the better, but her mother-in-law noticed something was wrong and decisively cut off this path, refusing to cross the moral line for the sake of making a living.

Sha Zhu was the only "lifeline" she could grasp in the courtyard.

He Yuzhu, a cook with a high salary and a somewhat simple mind, couldn't bear to see children suffer, so he often took the initiative to help the Jia family.

Qin Huairu also gave back in small ways, such as helping Sha Zhu with his laundry and standing up for him when he was bullied by Xu Damao. At this time, she was more like a helpless mother who had nowhere else to turn and was exchanging her humble efforts for her family's survival.

As Qin Huairu's interactions with Sha Zhu deepened, her scheming was gradually exposed, which is the core reason why she was disliked by the audience.

On the one hand, she frantically thwarted Sha Zhu's marriage prospects. From Yu Haitang to Ran Qiuye to Lou Xiao'e, as long as Sha Zhu showed any signs of dating, she would use all sorts of means to sabotage it.

The reason she did this was essentially because she was afraid of losing Shazhu as a stable source of financial support.

On the other hand, she also has a strong desire to control Sha Zhu.

After their marriage, she tightly controlled Sha Zhu's salary, and she would firmly refuse whenever Sha Zhu tried to give some money to his biological son, He Xiao.

She even made Sha Zhu vacate rooms for Bang Geng and her own daughter, treating Sha Zhu's house and income as her own security.

What's even more heartbreaking is that when Sha Zhu lost his high-paying job, she divorced him on the grounds that she didn't want to burden the children. She didn't even offer a helping hand to Sha Zhu, who had always supported her, as he ended up on the streets.

While Qin Huairu's behavior was despicable, it was inseparable from the influence of the historical context.

In those days, it was already difficult for a widow to support her family on her own. Going out to find work would easily invite criticism. She didn't have many options for survival, and taking advantage of Sha Zhu was more like a survival skill she was forced to develop.

Her "evil" was not innate, but rather a result of repeatedly choosing "the survival of her family" over "upholding morality."

However, this cannot be the sole excuse for her actions. Many of her actions have long exceeded the scope of what is necessary for survival. For example, she prevented Sha Zhu from starting a business, simply because she was worried that Sha Zhu would get out of her control if the business succeeded. This practice of putting her own interests above the happiness of others is essentially selfish.

In Li Xiao's opinion, Qin Huairu's actions may have wronged many people, but she was the only one who was worthy of the Jia family and her children.

If such a woman were to live in later generations, she would definitely be considered a rare and exceptional wife.

Li Xiao rode his bicycle and arrived near Qinjiacun Village in Changping County, north of Beijing, in less than two hours.

The Ming Tombs are located here, so what he sees now is a continuous mountain range, with a vast plain in front of him.

The terrain here is surrounded by mountains on three sides and plains on one side. The Changling Mausoleum, where Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) of the Ming Dynasty is located, is at the foot of Tianshou Mountain in the Yanshan Mountains.

Qin Family Village was very quiet at the moment, as most of the able-bodied men in the village had already gone to work in the fields.

Li Xiao saw several children under a large locust tree at the entrance of the village, so he went up to ask about the location of Qin Huairu's house.

A ragged little boy led him to a courtyard wall made of rammed earth and pointed inside, saying, "This is Qin Huairu's house!"

Li Xiao turned his head and saw two mud houses behind the adobe walls, with thick thatched roofs. A stone mill was placed in one corner of the yard, and two strings of dried red peppers hung under the eaves, exuding the simple and rustic atmosphere unique to the northern countryside.

Li Xiao smiled and took out a few candies from his pocket, stuffing them into the little boy's hand.

"Thank you so much, here, have these candies!"

The little boy looked at the candy in his hand with surprise, his face full of joy.

"Thank you, big brother!"

After saying that, he turned around and ran back to the village entrance to look for his friends.

Li Xiao knocked on the courtyard gate, and soon a woman who looked to be around thirty years old opened the door.

Who are you looking for?

"Hello, my name is Li Xiao, and I live in Luogu Lane in southern Beijing. Is this Qin Huairu's house?"

"Are you looking for my Huairu?"

Seeing that Li Xiao was well-dressed and handsome, and that he was carrying a large cloth bag, the woman stepped aside to let him into the courtyard.