Siheyuan (courtyard house): My father, Li Yunlong!

He was planning to keep this chicken to satisfy his cravings or give as a gift; it was quite plump!

Sure enough, when Jia Zhangshi saw Xu Damao looking over, she immediately started to wail again, her voice rising and falling in a dry, monotonous wail, while glaring at Xu Damao and the chicken.

"Dongxu... my poor son... you're gone, how are we, a widow and her children, supposed to survive... we won't even see a bite of meat... and you, as his brother, come to see him empty-handed..."

The meaning behind those words couldn't be clearer.

The surrounding neighbors also turned their gazes over, with various expressions of spectatorship, sympathy, and urging.

Xu Damao's face turned pale and then red, and he cursed Jia Zhangshi a thousand times in his heart.

That old bastard, even after his son died, he still couldn't resist trying to profit from the situation!

But if he really refused to donate a single penny in front of everyone, especially at a funeral, his reputation would be ruined.

He looked at the fat hen with great hesitation, then at Jia Zhangshi's "I'll cry myself to death if you don't give me the chicken" attitude, and then glanced at Qin Huairu's miserable appearance beside him. Finally, he gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, walked forward, took the old hen off the handlebars, and handed it over.

"Aunt Jia... Aunt Jia, please... please accept my condolences... This... this chicken, please take it back and make some soup for the children to help them recover..."

Xu Damao spoke as if his heart was bleeding, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth.

As soon as Jia Zhangshi saw the fat chicken in her hands, her howling instantly subsided by half. She snatched the hen and hugged it tightly to her chest, as if she had grasped a lifeline, while muttering something insincere.

"Oh... Da Mao... you're so sentimental... Dong Xu will remember your kindness even in the afterlife..."

Xu Damao felt a sharp pang of heartache seeing the fat chicken gone. Too lazy to stay any longer, he offered a few perfunctory "condolences" and pushed his empty bicycle back to the backyard in a dejected manner. All the way, he could feel the satisfied gaze of Jia Zhangshi behind him and the ambiguous stares of the other neighbors. He felt that today was truly an unlucky day, having to apologize and lose the chicken.

As night fell, the clamor and wailing in the courtyard gradually subsided, leaving only the flickering candlelight in the mourning tent and the occasional suppressed sobs.

The neighbors gradually left, leaving behind a mess in the yard and an inescapable sense of desolation.

After helping to clean up the mess and comforting Qin Huairu for a few moments, Sha Zhu dragged his tired body back to his home in the Central Courtyard.

Yi Zhonghai dragged his leaden legs and pushed open his own door.

An elderly woman was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), mending clothes by the dim light of a kerosene lamp. Her face was clouded with worry. When she heard a noise, she looked up, her eyes filled with anxiety and confusion.

"You're back?"

An older woman put down her work, her voice hoarse.

"Um."

Yi Zhonghai gave a muffled reply, took off his dusty coat, and sat heavily in the chair, as if all his strength had been drained away.

He covered his face with his hands, rubbed it vigorously, and let out a long, trembling sigh.

A suffocating silence fell over the room.

Jia Dongxu's death not only took away the apprentice that Yi Zhonghai had painstakingly trained, but it was also like a heavy hammer blow, shattering the retirement dream that he and the old lady had carefully built.

Without Jia Dongxu, the "elder" they chose, how will they proceed in the future?

An unprecedented panic gripped the elderly couple's hearts.

"Old Yi..."

The woman finally broke the silence, her voice trembling with tears.

"With Dongxu gone... what are we going to do? Who will we rely on from now on?"

Yi Zhonghai raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, staring blankly out the dark window.

"Who could have imagined...this would happen...he was perfectly fine this morning..."

His voice was hoarse and filled with helplessness.

"As for Jia Zhangshi..."

An older woman asked tentatively, her face filled with lingering fear.

"She just let it go like that? Didn't make a fuss anymore? Knowing her personality, Dongxu died at the factory, and he was your apprentice, wouldn't she hold you responsible?"

Yi Zhonghai's lips curled into an extremely bitter smile, tinged with self-mockery and helplessness.

"Forget it? Is Jia Zhangshi the type to suffer a loss?"

He paused, lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard.

"In the afternoon at the factory, after that scene, she privately grabbed me, her eyes wide like saucers, and said that Dongxu died because I, as his master, hadn't taught him well or taken good care of him... She said that if I didn't give her an explanation, she would cause trouble at the factory and in the neighborhood, ruining my reputation as an eighth-grade worker and an old man..."

The middle-aged woman was terrified and hurriedly asked.

"Then...what did you do?"

Yi Zhonghai sighed heavily, fumbled in his pocket for a while, pulled out an empty handkerchief, and shook it.

"What could I do? I guess I'd just have to pay to avoid further trouble... I gave her the three hundred yuan we'd saved up."

"Three hundred yuan?"

An older woman suddenly stood up, her voice trembling, and all the color drained from her face.

"Give it all away? That's our retirement savings!"

"What can we do if they don't give it to us?"

Yi Zhonghai closed his eyes in pain.

"When she gets really crazy, she's capable of anything! If things really escalate, will I still have my job? How are we supposed to stay in this compound? It won't be something that can be solved with just three hundred yuan!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, yet he was filled with a sense of powerlessness.

"Just consider it... buying some peace and quiet."

The old woman slumped back onto the kang (a heated brick bed), tears streaming silently down her face.

Three hundred yuan was a huge sum of money in those days.

Now it's all gone, and it even went to someone like Jia Zhangshi. Her heart aches like it's being stabbed.

"How are we going to live from now on...?"

An elderly woman sobbed, feeling desperate under the immense pressure of caring for her elderly parents.

Yi Zhonghai remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice low and confused.

"Let's take it one step at a time... After all, I still get a salary..."

"But what good is a salary alone?"

An older woman was wiping away her tears.

"When we get old and can't move around anymore, what good is money if there's no one to serve us tea and water? We used to rely on Dongxu, but now..."

She couldn't continue.

Silence fell in the room again, broken only by the occasional crackling of the kerosene lamp wick.

After a while, the woman seemed to suddenly remember something, raised her head, and a faint glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.

"Old Yi, how about... how about we adopt a child? Find one that's young, raise them from a young age, we'll surely develop some bond..."

Without even thinking, Yi Zhonghai shook his head and rejected the idea.

"Adopt? You're thinking too simply. They're all outsiders, not connected by blood. Even if you raise them, once they know their origins, will they be loyal to you? What if they grow up, become independent, and then just leave? Who will we turn to then? Not only will we have wasted our time, but we'll also end up with a lot of resentment. They're unreliable and won't tame us."

With this idea dashed, the middle-aged woman's eyes dimmed again.

She frowned and thought for a long time, her gaze inadvertently drifting towards the direction of Sha Zhu's house in the middle courtyard, when suddenly an idea struck her.

"Then... what about Shazhu?"

The older woman lowered her voice, sounding somewhat uncertain.

"I think that kid Shazhu... although he's a bit of a troublemaker, he's not a bad person at heart, he's honest. Look how much he cares about Qin Huairu's family? He's been running around taking care of things today. He doesn't have any parents, just a younger sister who's still in school, and he'll have to get married eventually. If... if we treat him better, treat him like a son, and if he and Qin Huairu really do get together, our two families live close by, so wouldn't we be able to help out a bit?"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai did not immediately refute, but instead fell into deep thought.

His fingers tapped the table unconsciously, the dim light casting flickering shadows on his face.

Sha Zhu... He Yuzhu... This kid, he watched him grow up.

He's stubborn, has a foul mouth, and is easily impulsive, but as the older woman said, he's not a bad person at heart. He values ​​relationships, especially his feelings for Qin Huairu, which are obvious to everyone in the neighborhood.

Today, as we handle Jia Dongxu's funeral arrangements, Sha Zhu is busy with everything, even more so than the Jia family. Why is that?

Wasn't it all for Qin Huairu?

If... if we could bring about the relationship between Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu, and then win Sha Zhu over...

Qin Huairu has three children, which is a heavy burden. Although Sha Zhu earns a high salary, it is not easy for him to support the whole family.

He and his wife had some savings, and he was also the manager of the compound. His status as an eighth-grade worker carried weight in the factory, and he could provide them with financial and personal support.

Will Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu still remember this favor?

When I get old, will they take care of me in some way?

Once this thought arose, it spread through Yi Zhonghai's mind like a vine.

Compared to the vague idea of ​​adoption, Shazhu is undoubtedly a more realistic and controllable option.

Although risks still exist, it's better than having no hope at all like this.

"Silly Pillar..."

Yi Zhonghai muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with a complex and unfathomable light.

"Let's take another look... let's take another look... this matter can't be rushed."

He didn't give a clear answer, but the older woman saw a glimmer of hope in his hesitant attitude.

She stopped speaking and just looked at her husband silently, a faint glimmer of hope rekindling in her heart.

It was well past midnight.

Inside the mourning hall of the courtyard house.

Qin Huairu looked at Banggeng, who was sleeping soundly in her arms, and felt a pang of heartache.

According to custom, the servant is to keep vigil in the mourning hall.

However, the weather was too cold, and Qin Huairu was worried that Bang Geng would catch a cold.

They immediately moved quietly back into the cold room.

Jia Zhangshi lay sprawled on the kang (a heated brick bed), snoring loudly.

In the corner, Xiao Dang and Huaihua huddled together, covered by the thin, translucent old cotton quilt, still shivering unconsciously in their sleep.

Seeing this scene before her, Qin Huairu felt as if she had been plunged into an ice cave, even colder than the winter night's chill.

She carefully placed the stick on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), tucked the blanket around him, and glanced at her mother-in-law and the three children. A huge sense of despair and sorrow almost overwhelmed her.

Inside the mourning hall, the pale lanterns swayed in the night wind, casting Qin Huairu's lonely figure in disarray.

The ashes of the paper money swirled, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

She took one last look at Jia Dongxu's blurry portrait. Her heart was filled not with the sadness of marital affection, but with more fear and despair for the future.

The wicked mother-in-law, Jia Zhangshi, clutched all the pension money, guarding against her like a thief.

The three children were young, and the eldest, Banggeng, was still too young to understand.

I'm a woman from the countryside, without a formal job, and I have to wait more than ten years to find a replacement...

The days that followed were utterly dark.

Her gaze involuntarily drifted once again to the tightly closed door in the backyard.

Li Zhenhua.

The young head of the security department—no, now he's the more powerful deputy head of the logistics department.

He has power and connections; a little bit of his wealth is enough for the mother and her children to survive.

More importantly, he had those kinds of feelings for himself.

The thirty pounds of precious cornmeal from before is proof of that.

That was something she had earned through humiliation and her body, but now, that humiliation had become the only straw she could grasp at.

"I have to find him again..."

A voice screamed in Qin Huairu's heart.

"This is our last chance!"

She clenched her teeth so hard that her lower lip almost bled.

I looked around warily again. The courtyard was deathly silent in the dead of night, with only the howling of the wind.

She took a deep breath of the cold air, pulled her thin mourning clothes tighter around her, and walked step by step toward Li Zhenhua's home on the cold ground.

Standing in front of that familiar door, Qin Huairu's heart pounded like a drum.

She raised her hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally tapped it three times very lightly with her knuckles.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

The sound was so soft it was almost drowned out by the wind.

Inside the room, Li Zhenhua had just finished checking today's "flash sale" items in the system space and was about to go to sleep when his keen hearing immediately picked up on this subtle sound.

He frowned. Who could it be so late?

He cautiously approached the door and asked in a low voice.

"Who?"

Qin Huairu's trembling voice, choked with sobs and deliberately lowered, came from outside the door.

"It's...it's me, Qin Huairu...Director Li, please open the door, I beg you..."

Li Zhenhua understood instantly.

Jia Dongxu had just died, and this woman came to his door late at night; her purpose was self-evident.

He hesitated for a moment, then gently pulled open the latch.

The door opened a crack, and Qin Huairu, like a startled rabbit, quickly squeezed in, then gently pushed the door shut behind her. Leaning against the door, her chest heaved violently, her face was deathly pale, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads.

Inside the room, only a dim kerosene lamp was lit, its light outlining Qin Huairu's silhouette dressed in white mourning clothes. The mourning attire accentuated her slender figure, and her tear-streaked appearance in the night exuded a unique and poignant charm.

"Director Li... I... I can't go on living..."

Before Qin Huairu could speak, tears streamed down her face, her voice breaking.

"Dongxu is gone...Grandma took all the money...not a single penny...Banggeng and the others are so young...how are they going to live from now on..."

She cried as she recounted her story, while observing Li Zhenhua's expression.

Li Zhenhua leaned against the table, watching her performance with a leisurely air, his tone indifferent.

"Sister Qin, please accept my condolences. The factory has already paid the compensation, and they've taken your family's difficulties into consideration. As for how you and your mother-in-law will divide it, that's your family matter, and I shouldn't interfere, right?"

"That's not a family matter!"

Qin Huairu took a small step forward excitedly, looked up at Li Zhenhua with tears streaming down her face.