Courtyard House: A Veteran Returns Home and Becomes a Father

As soon as he stepped outside, the cold morning wind brushed against his face. Su Mo pulled his collar tighter and spotted a thin, hunched figure standing at the entrance of No. 95 South Tongluo Lane across the street, slowly smoking a pipe. He was stunned on the spot.

After taking another closer look at the faded red paint on the door number, Su Mo's mind went blank and he was completely stunned!

The man sitting on the threshold, his eyes darting around calculating, was none other than Yan Bugui, the notoriously stingy character from "Birds Fill the Courtyard"! He was the same old man who could stretch a penny to its limit, would even try to get close to a manure cart to taste its saltiness, only picked up cigarette butts thrown away by others, and drank only diluted old liquor!

"Holy crap! I actually transmigrated to this godforsaken place, the Qin Man Siheyuan?!" A thunderbolt struck Su Mo's mind, and his molars clenched tightly. In his previous life, after being discharged from the army, he was bored out of his mind and watched this drama countless times. The faces of those monsters and demons in the courtyard immediately popped into his mind like a movie, each one incredibly vivid!

Yi Zhonghai, a moral blackmail maniac, is an old man in the nursing home but has no respect for elders at all. All he can think about is how to fleece everyone in the nursing home so he can live in his old age. If anyone doesn’t go along with him, he stands on the moral high ground and curses them, always saying “I’m doing this for your own good”, forcing everyone in the nursing home to revolve around his retirement plan.

In the story of the filial son with a fringe, the second uncle puts on a bigger ego than anyone else, constantly shouting "Spare the rod and spoil the child." He beats and scolds his three sons, wanting them to bring him honor and take care of him in his old age. In the end, he ends up being an unkind father and unfilial sons, with his sons avoiding him like the plague. No one pays attention to him or cares about him.

Yan Bugui, who is stingy to the bone, is the guy in front of me. He believes in the saying "You won't get poor from eating or dressing, but you will get poor if you don't plan ahead". He has to divide the oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar in his house by the spoon. He even hesitates for a long time before buying a piece of candy for his child. He is a real miser who won't spend a penny.

Jia Dongxu, a blindly filial son who died young, was completely manipulated by Yi Zhonghai and obeyed his mother, Jia Zhangshi, without question. He was a typical mama's boy and died young, leaving behind Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu, who became a major problem in the courtyard.

The deaf old lady, a privileged relative of a martyr, relies on her status as a martyr's family member and some backing to act arrogantly in the courtyard. Everyone has to respect and give way to her. She often uses her status to intimidate people and shows extreme favoritism. She treats Sha Zhuzi better than her own grandson. To put it bluntly, she just wants to find a free laborer to serve her.

Lou Xiao'e is a rich and foolish young lady from a family that owns a factory. However, she falls for that simple-minded Zhu Zi and doesn't even realize she's being taken advantage of. She's a total sucker, and in the end, she even gives birth to a big, healthy boy for Zhu Zi despite the pressure.

Jia Zhangshi, Jia Dongxu's mother, is known for her tantrums. Crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide are commonplace for her. She is the best at throwing tantrums in the whole courtyard. She is lazy, loves to extort money, and will pester anyone who crosses her. She will sit in the courtyard and wail loudly at the drop of a hat, summoning her deceased husband to support her.

Qin Huairu, the bloodsucking white lotus and Jia Dongxu's wife, appears weak and pitiful on the surface, always whining and pretending to be wronged. In reality, she is a real bloodsucking maniac who takes advantage of Sha Zhuzi to the death. She lives a life of luxury at home, but turns around and complains about being poor to Sha Zhuzi, making her a typical modern-day green tea.

Xu Damao, a playboy and projectionist in the courtyard, is somewhat handsome, but his heart is rotten to the core. He has a penchant for sneaking into widows' beds, is a gossip, and is mortal enemies with Sha Zhuzi. In the original story, he took the virginity of two great beauties. He is definitely a scumbag!

This tiny courtyard house was filled with scheming, melodramatic, and petty squabbles. Just thinking about it gave Su Mo a headache. He shook his head and gave up trying to figure it out. Right now, the courtyard house was relatively peaceful. His family and the neighboring houses were completely unrelated, and they had barely exchanged a few words. It certainly wouldn't affect him. He just needed to go to the front lines and report for duty without any problems.

After all, it was 1950, and the situation was relatively stable. Old Jia, the pillar of the Jia family, was still alive, and Jia Zhangshi was well-behaved and dared not cause trouble or act recklessly.

He Daqing hadn't run away with the White Widow yet, and the silly Zhuzi He Yuzhu was only fifteen years old. He was still a clueless greenhorn who hadn't been targeted and brainwashed by Yi Zhonghai, and hadn't become that sucker who was constantly being taken advantage of by Qin Huairu.

Yi Zhonghai's retirement plan has not been officially launched yet. With Lao Jia and He Daqing, two people who can keep him in check, he doesn't dare to be too reckless.

Even Yan Bugui wasn't as stingy as he became later. Before the class division, his family was at least a small business owner with some savings, so he didn't have to worry about how much food they had to eat.

Su Mo carried heavy luggage on his back and held steaming, fragrant meat buns he had just bought from the street corner bun shop. He was still thinking about his newlywed wife. They had just finished their wedding ceremony yesterday, and now they had to part ways. He felt a tightness in his chest and just wanted to get to the train station as soon as possible so as not to miss the army's urgent notice.

But just as he was about to leave, Yan Bugui, who was across from him, had a very sharp nose and had already smelled the aroma of the steamed buns. His eyes instantly lit up like a hungry wolf's, staring intently at the buns in his hand. He immediately dropped his pipe and shouted in his hoarse voice, "Hey, Su family kid over there! I just attended your and your wife's wedding banquet yesterday. With all these bags and packages, are you going on a long trip?"

Su Mo felt instantly disgusted, as if he had swallowed a fly! He was already furious about being separated from his wife on their wedding night, and this old man was deliberately trying to make things difficult for him, even eyeing his steamed buns. His stingy nature was obvious, so Su Mo decided to be ruthless!

"Yes, the unit has issued an emergency notice to return to the unit and carry out the mission." Su Mo's tone was indifferent, but there was a hint of coldness in his eyes. He didn't intend to waste any more words with him.

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui not only didn't back away, but immediately moved closer, rubbing his hands together with a sly grin: "So you're going to the army, huh? You must be tired! Carrying so many buns must be heavy for you, and inconvenient for your journey. Leave a few for me to lighten your load, wouldn't that be kind of you!"

Hearing this, Su Mo sneered inwardly. So this guy wanted to get his steamed buns for free, and he did it in such a high-sounding way! A wicked smile crept onto his lips. The opportunity had come. He would just have to put this old guy's arrogance to rest and save him from bothering him again in the future.

Su Mo took two steps forward, deliberately lowering his voice, his tone revealing a hint of enthusiasm: "Teacher Yan, don't be so polite, it's all just what I should do! I have a few more warm ones in my arms, they smell even better than the ones in my hand, come and take them yourself."

Upon hearing that there were hot buns, Yan Bugui's eyes lit up even more. Without thinking twice, he immediately stood up, tiptoed, and reached into Su Mo's arms, muttering, "Thank you so much."

But the moment his hand touched the thing in Su Mo's arms, his expression changed instantly—it was icy cold and hard, and it was rough to the touch. This was not a steamed bun at all; it was clearly a lump of iron!

The next second, Yan Bugui's mind went blank for a second, and he instantly realized that this was a gun!

His face instantly turned as white as paper, cold sweat streamed down his forehead, soaking the back of his clothes. His legs began to tremble, and he could barely stand. He quickly withdrew his hand, stammering, "N-no need! I'm not hungry, really not hungry! You hurry on your way, be careful on the road!"

Seeing his cowardly appearance, Su Mo chuckled inwardly. She stopped pretending and took out the Browning from her arms. She weighed it in her hand and handed it to him with a half-smile: "Take it, Teacher Yan. It's heavy for me to carry anyway. Help me lighten my load so I won't get tired on the way. Don't be shy."

Upon seeing the real weapon, Yan Bugui was terrified. He didn't dare look at it again, forgetting even to take the stool he'd been sitting on for so long. He turned and rushed into the yard, scrambling and tumbling, repeatedly shouting, "No! No! I really don't want it! Take it away!"

Seeing his pathetic state made Su Mo feel a bit better. He chuckled and didn't bother to pay him any more attention. He thought to himself: These bastards in the courtyard are all no good. They better not mess with me, or they'll regret it!

He turned around, raised his hand, flagged down a rickshaw, threw his luggage on, and got in himself. He called out "Train station" to the driver, and the rickshaw immediately started moving slowly, heading straight for the train station.

On the other side, Yan Bugui scrambled back to his house, grabbing the arm of his third aunt, Yang Ruihua, and shouting urgently, "Old woman! Something's happened! That Su kid across the street has real weapons! Guns! We must never mess with him again, stay far away!"

The three women, who were mostly idle at home and loved to gossip with their neighbors, immediately perked up at this conversation and pressed, "What happened? How do you know he has a gun? Tell me quickly, don't keep me in suspense!"

"What else could it be!" Yan Bugui gasped for breath, patting his chest, and made up a story without batting an eye, completely absolving himself of any wrongdoing. "I saw him rushing out with his luggage, carrying heavy bags of steamed buns. I thought we were neighbors, so I kindly offered to help him out and save him the trouble of getting there. But that kid just pulled out a gun! It scared the crap out of me!"

"What? He pulled out a gun just for a few steamed buns? That's so stingy!" Auntie San exclaimed, quickly feeling around Yan Bugui's body, carefully checking him from head to toe, afraid that he might be injured—the whole family depended on him to earn a living, and if something happened to him, the whole family would starve.

"It's alright, it's alright! As soon as I saw him pull out his weapon, I ran away. I ran faster than a rabbit. How could he catch me?" Yan Bugui was quite proud, patting his chest to show off his cleverness.

The three women breathed a sigh of relief, their hearts finally settling down. Then they frowned, looking puzzled. "Wait a minute," one of them said, "he just got married to that doctor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital yesterday. Why is he leaving so soon? That's too rushed!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui immediately became alert. He got up, tiptoed to the door, peeked through the crack to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then quickly closed the door. He leaned close to the third aunt's ear and whispered mysteriously, "Judging by his appearance, he's definitely going to the battlefield! I just saw him; he still had tears in his eyes. He probably can't bear to leave his wife!"

"Oh dear! Going to the battlefield is so dangerous, with bullets flying everywhere. If something happens to her, she might not come back!" The third aunt was startled at first, then sighed, clicking her tongue with regret. "That young woman over there is a doctor at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, beautiful, from a good family, and so young. It would be such a pity if she became a widow!"

Yan Bugui's face darkened, and he quickly covered her mouth with his hand, sternly warning her, "You old hag! Don't go around saying things like that! How can you just gossip about military matters? If it gets out, someone will die! Our whole family will be implicated!"

"I know, I know, I won't talk nonsense!" The third aunt nodded quickly, agreeing readily, but she was already itching to share this exciting news with her old friends in the courtyard.

These days, women have nothing to do at home, so they love to get together and gossip. They spread all sorts of rumors, and the stories they tell are incredibly outrageous. If I say Li San cut his hand, it gets to you and becomes that Li San's finger is broken. After a few more people have heard it, it becomes that Li San is dead!

While rushing to catch his train, Su Mo sat in a rickshaw, the wind blowing against his cheeks. He was still thinking about his newlywed wife and didn't take his earlier conflict with Yan Bugui to heart at all. He just thought of it as teaching that stingy old man a lesson so that he wouldn't mess with him again.

He figured his family had no connection with the courtyard house, and since he was going to the front lines and his wife worked at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, it wouldn't affect them, and they wouldn't get into any trouble.

But Su Mo never expected that he had underestimated the fighting power of the group of beasts in the courtyard, as well as their gossipy and greedy nature. This seemingly insignificant conflict was just the beginning, and the entanglement between him and the courtyard had only just begun!