Siheyuan: A master brewer starts with a jar of bone-strengthening wine!

But it's no use.

He Daqing didn't come back at all. Only his nine-year-old daughter, He Yushui, was huddled at the door, trembling with fear.

"Rain! Where's your father?" Old Jia roared fiercely.

The little girl shook her head, "I don't know... I really don't know..."

"Don't know? I think you're pretending!" Old Jia was furious and rushed over to slap him.

*Slap!* Before the slap could land, Liu Dong grabbed her wrist.

"Liu Dong, what's wrong with you?" Old Jia glared at him, his face turning red with anger.

Liu Dong remained calm: "Yushui is still a child, why are you taking your anger out on her?"

"It was He Daqing who was having an affair with Aunt Zhang, not her girl!"

"I...I...I'll fucking beat you to death!" Old Jia was about to explode.

How could you just throw out such a thing?

Everyone in the neighborhood knows about that mess, but you can just blurt it out like that?

"Uncle Jia, I understand your frustration, but you have to be reasonable!" Liu Dong's voice wasn't loud, but every word was piercing. "How heavy is the rain? Instead of confronting the person responsible, what kind of skill is it to bully a child? If you have the guts, go and fight He Daqing to the death!"

People in the courtyard couldn't sit still any longer and started shouting at each other.

"Exactly! What kind of hero hits women and children!"

"Dongxu's mother is wrong, but the child is innocent."

Old Jia gritted his teeth, remained silent, and nodded.

Seeing the situation, Liu Dong immediately stepped forward, changed his tone, and said in a serious manner: "Old Jia, let me tell you the truth—at your age, there's no need to get so angry."

"Who doesn't make mistakes in life? Nobody's perfect."

"And what about Aunt Zhang? She went astray when she was young, but she's been law-abiding for so many years now. Can't you just let her off the hook?"

"What a couple wants is stability. If you really consider yourself a man, you have to learn to forgive."

After saying this, he put on an expression that said, "I'm being reasonable," but in reality, he was trying to pin the blame on Lao Jia.

"Hmm..." Jia Zhangshi, whose face was swollen like a dough pancake, spoke weakly, "I think... Liu Dong is right..."

"You can ignore my ancestors!"

Snapped!

Old Jia raised his hand and slapped his wife again, this time landing a solid blow to her face.

"I'll teach you to be reasonable!"

"Dad! Stop hitting her!" Jia Dongxu finally couldn't hold back any longer and rushed out. "My mom has already admitted her mistake, what more do you want?"

His eyes were blazing with fury, and his fists were clenched so tightly they cracked.

But his face was burning with shame—his mother had done such a disgraceful thing, and he, as her son, had nowhere to hide his face.

To make matters worse, Liu Dong was fanning the flames: "Look, Dongxu is the most sensible one. The two most filial children in our compound are Dongxu and Zhuzi—oh my, isn't it a coincidence that they're quite alike!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the people around him immediately erupted in uproar.

"Tsk, now that you mention it... it's true!"

"How come I never noticed before? The more I look at them, the more they look like brothers!"

"Unlike cousins, they look exactly like they were born of the same father!"

"Holy crap! Could they really be brothers?"

Old Jia hadn't thought of it that way before, but as everyone started talking, the spark was ignited, and he suddenly turned and stared at Jia Dongxu.

broken!

The more I look at myself, the less I resemble myself; I'm practically a carbon copy of He Yuzhu!

No way?

That's impossible...

Dongxu... is he my biological son?

Or was He Daqing taken the blame?

"puff--"

A mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth and splattered all over the ground.

The next second, his tall body crashed to the ground, the impact shaking the earth. The night was cool and still.

The lights were still on in the house in the middle of the night.

Old Jia lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), slowly woke up, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had left his body.

"Dad..." Jia Dongxu squatted down beside the bed and asked softly, "Are you hungry? Get up and have some porridge?"

Old Jia shook his head, his teeth chattering: "It's cold...give me another blanket..."

Qin Huairu reached out and touched her father-in-law's forehead, exclaiming in surprise, "Oh dear! He has a fever! I'll go get a doctor!"

"No!" Old Jia suddenly sat up, his voice hoarse. "Don't invite anyone... I don't want to see anyone... I can't bear the shame..."

He paused, then said in a low voice, "You...go and call your mother."

"Okay, okay." Qin Huairu agreed and went out, leading Jia Zhangshi into the house.

Jia Zhangshi's face was still swollen on both sides, and she didn't dare to look up when she saw Old Jia, her eyes darting around.

"Dongxu, Huairu, both of you get out," Old Jia said in a low voice. "Close the door, and no one is allowed to come near."

The two obediently withdrew, leaving only the couple in the house.

Jia Zhangshi trembled, terrified, feeling as if another fist was about to fall at any moment.

Old Jia sighed, his tone surprisingly calm: "Don't be afraid... I won't hit you anymore."

After a moment of silence, he muttered, "Zhang Guilan, Zhang Guilan... I curse your ancestors for eight generations! You're really something! You've trampled the face of the Jia family into the mud, all the way to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean!"

"How can I go out in public now? How can I go to work in the factory? Who won't talk behind my back?"

Madam Jia stood with her head down, her face ashen, and she didn't say a word.

Old Jia took a deep breath and asked again, "Guilan, all I want to hear right now is the truth—is Dongxu... really my child?"

"Is he my son, or a sinful debt left behind by He Daqing?"

Madam Jia remained silent, her head bowed.

"Just say something!" Old Jia's voice trembled. "I don't blame you anymore, really. I just want to know the truth... Even if I die tomorrow, I want to die knowing why. Please, just tell me the truth, okay?"

Jia Zhangshi suddenly looked up, tears streaming down her face: "I don't know!"

"You don't know?" Old Jia was stunned.

"I really don't know!" she cried. "When I was pregnant with Dongxu... you and he... both had affairs with me... how could I possibly tell whose child it was?"

She paused, then added, "But... Lao Jia, think about it, we've been together for so many years, and we only have one child, Dongxu. Back then, you were practically childless, but then you suddenly got pregnant... Can't you tell?"

Old Jia's brows were furrowed tightly.

Yup!

You've had many sexual encounters over the years, so why did you only have one child?

Could it be... that the problem lies with me?

That Dongxu...

"I understand... I understand everything..." He coughed violently a few times, his chest heaving.

It turns out that when it comes to matters of a child's bloodline, it's none of anyone else's business.

It's his, it always has been his.

Three minutes later, Lao Jia called Jia Dongxu over and patted him on the shoulder with trembling hands:

"Dongxu... Dad just asked your mother... You are my son, my own flesh and blood! You are not someone else's child! You are not a bastard!"

"Waaah... Waaah..." Jia Dongxu knelt on the ground and wailed loudly.