Siheyuan: I will never tolerate gambling and drugs!

After watching the three brothers leave

Xu Lin shook his head, sighed, and closed the door. After taking a quick shower in the bathroom, he went up to the attic.

Sitting on the carpet in the attic living room, leaning against the attic window, he flipped through the "Prescriptions for a Noble Lady" awarded by the system. Although the system's inheritance didn't require him to learn it again...

Every time Xu Lin flipped through the pages, a sudden realization would come to him. As he read, he would unconsciously doze off and fall asleep by the window.

Xu Lin didn't know how long he had slept when he heard footsteps outside the window. He squinted and vaguely saw Sha Zhu, Jia Dongxu, and Xu Damao sneaking out.

Xu Lin didn't take it seriously. He already knew about the three brothers' plan, so he wasn't surprised. He stretched and went back to bed to continue sleeping.

At this time of year, the nights in Beijing are still quite muggy, and since the master bedroom window faces their small courtyard, there's no breeze even when it's open. Therefore, Xu Lin usually sleeps in the side bedroom with the window facing the courtyard.

Just as Xu Lin was about to open the window wide to prepare for bed, he saw another figure dart out of the Jia family's house in the west wing of the central courtyard and head towards the backyard. Xu Lin was puzzled when, at that moment, another figure darted out of the Yi Zhonghai family's house in the east wing, also heading towards the backyard.

Xu Lin immediately thought of the vegetable cellar in the backyard. So, Jia Zhangshi and Yi Zhonghai really were having an affair. Xu Lin had no interest in going to check it out; he figured he'd just live his life behind closed doors and didn't care what others thought. He went straight to sleep.

Vegetable cellar

Yi Zhonghai worked tirelessly, and perhaps because the air in the cellar was not circulating, he was covered in sweat. It took him a while to stop, panting heavily.

Jia Zhangshi pouted and said with dissatisfaction, "I'm telling you, Lao Yi, this isn't working either. What kind of mess is this, stuck in the middle?"

Yi Zhonghai was also somewhat annoyed.

"What nonsense are you spouting? You're much better than Old Jia's little tricks. Hurry up, I have to go back quickly, Cuihua is a light sleeper."

Jia Zhangshi thought about the deceased Jia's strength and realized he was nothing special, indeed inferior to Yi Zhonghai. Otherwise, she wouldn't have ended up on his pirate ship back then. So she didn't say anything more, straightened her clothes, and then said to Yi Zhonghai...

"Zhonghai, I think we should find Jia Dongxu a wife. Otherwise, it's not good for him to work so hard outside all the time. If he catches some kind of dirty disease, then no one will take care of him in his old age."

Speaking of this, Yi Zhonghai became a little irritated. The east and west wing rooms in the central courtyard were two large rooms and three small rooms in total. If the kitchen was removed and the rooms were divided into two bedrooms, it would indeed be a bit cramped.

Therefore, Yi Zhonghai originally planned to have Jia Zhangshi secretly occupy one of the dilapidated rear houses in the front yard, move in, and then find a wife for Jia Dongxu to separate the family property.

In time, the Jia family could finally afford to renovate the outbuilding, and the neighborhood wouldn't bother an old widow over a dilapidated house. This way, Jia Zhangshi would get the house for free, Jia Dongxu could settle down, and things would be easier for him too.

Unexpectedly, this Jia Zhangshi was insatiable. She insisted on taking the west wing room with Yan Bugui. That room is registered with the street office; it's not like they can just take it whenever they want. Now, the entire main room has been allocated to that little bastard Xu Lin, who was given a good reputation during the pandemic.

Now that Jia Zhangshi has brought up Jia Dongxu's marriage again, Yi Zhonghai is furious with this greedy and foolish woman.

"You still have the nerve to mention finding a wife for Dongxu? They were originally arranging for someone to marry him, saying they could get the marriage certificate if he had a house, but because you wanted to take advantage of the west wing, you ruined the whole thing. Now you can't move out. What family would want a daughter-in-law in your house? They'll be watching your antics tonight."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Jia Zhangshi, with her fiery and domineering nature, wanted to lash out. However, remembering that she was in the wrong and would still need Yi Zhonghai's help in the future, she suppressed her anger.

"Don't be angry, I'm sorry. There's no man to make decisions in this house, we're only doing this because of you. Come on, let's continue, have a smoke and calm down, I'll take care of everything myself."

After speaking, she turned and bent down. Yi Zhonghai didn't refuse, and lit a cigarette for himself. Looking at Jia Zhangshi's elderly and overweight figure with disdain in his eyes, he simply put his hands on his hips, tilted his head back, and started smoking, no longer looking at her, letting her do as she pleased.

Another half hour passed.

Yi Zhonghai took a step back and straightened his clothes. After dressing, he took out 10 yuan from his pocket and tossed it to Jia Zhangshi.

"Let's find a matchmaker to find Jia Dongxu a wife in the countryside. She may not have a city residency permit or a job, but she can bear Dongxu's child and take care of you, her mother-in-law, which wouldn't be bad."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi immediately became displeased and stood up abruptly.

"Why bother finding some loser from the countryside? He'll just be a freeloader. Why don't you add some more money and find someone in the city with a job? I can always pay you back." He started to squat down.

Yi Zhonghai quickly took a large step back. "You idiot! I already told you. If a woman in the city has a house, do you think she's stupid enough to not be able to get married? Besides, aren't you from the countryside too? Old Jia married you and you're doing alright!"

Jia Zhangshi's plan failed. Hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, she knew further pleading was futile. She had no choice but to reluctantly agree, but still harbored some resentment towards having a rural daughter-in-law. She felt that a country girl couldn't earn money for her and would have to rely on her for food and drink; the thought alone pained her.

If Xu Lin knew, he would surely lament that this was even uglier than the humanity depicted in the original work, yet more realistic. Although the revolution succeeded during this period, class oppression and discrimination still existed.

Even though the Jia and Zhang families were originally an oppressed class, once they turned the tables, they would oppress the original class even more ruthlessly and cruelly, because they knew all too well how simple and honest the original class was, and they also knew better how to oppress and control the threshold! What's even more terrifying is that they seem to be only good at oppressing the original class!

Alas, there are bad people among the masses! When faced with the allure of wealth and power, the masses can turn into bad people, and bad people can also disguise themselves as the masses.

Economic development is merely a superficial phenomenon; the key lies in the struggle and balance between different classes. It is precisely because great leaders clearly defined the different classes and the enemies in the early stages that later economic and military prosperity was achieved.

The state should not compete with the people for profit, but it should divide the people into the landlord class, rich peasants, and poor peasants. It can avoid competing with rich peasants and poor peasants for profit, but it must compete with the landlord class for profit, because once they accumulate wealth and power, they will severely oppress and exploit rich peasants and poor peasants.

So every time I think of Professor Einstein's resounding words:

"Between the poor and the rich, I will always side with the poor, because there are many poor people, and I am one of them!"

Between the common people and those in power, I will always side with the common people, because there are many of them, and I am one of them!

Between China and foreign countries, I will always side with China, because I am a part of it!

It's that simple, that's what stance is!

Every time I see people in later generations lamenting the turbulent decade, or even denying the sun's actions and judgments, believing that without those ten years, China could have taken off decades earlier, I find it laughable and naive.

Why did the Qin Dynasty only last two generations? Why couldn't Emperor Gaozu of Han defeat the Xiongnu after unifying China? Why did the Soviet Union win the Battle of Stalingrad despite losing 115 million lives, yet lose World War II and disintegrate without firing a single shot? Was it due to excessive external pressure, or the influence of vested interests within certain classes?

Let's leave it to you, our dear readers, to evaluate and discuss!

Let's get back to the main topic.

Seeing Jia Zhangshi's reluctant expression, Yi Zhonghai simply ignored her. His eyes darted around, and a wicked idea popped into his head.

"If that doesn't work, go to the back street and get some herbal remedies for calming the mind and reducing desires from Old Yang. Make him drink them. That way, he won't go out every day, won't have to worry about catching diseases from messing around, and can focus on learning my skills properly. Next year he can pass the Level 2 exam and earn over 30 yuan a month. Then you can eat fine food a few more days each month!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi's eyes lit up!

"Good idea, it's all thanks to you. I'll take care of it tomorrow. That old bastard never gave me a discount when he sold me the contraceptive soup. If he doesn't give me a discount tomorrow, I'll teach him a lesson!"

Old Yi, Old Yi, don't go! It's still early, let me thank you one more time...

"Go to hell! There's a pile of radishes in the cellar, go clean it yourself. The pile near the door is mine, you're not allowed to touch it. The innermost pile belongs to Old Yan; they like pickled vegetables, you can use their pile."

After saying that, Yi Zhonghai secretly ran back home, leaving Jia Zhangshi hesitating in the cellar.

"Pah! What a load of crap. All useless stuff..."

Early morning, the Yan family's east wing in the front yard

"Old Yan, we haven't had much to eat these past few days. School's out, so don't bother with your few old plants. Go fishing at Houhai Lake and see if we can have some fish soup tonight." The third aunt, having finished cleaning the breakfast table and washing the dishes in the kitchen, turned her back to Yan Bugui and began discussing this.

"Fish aren't so easy to catch. We don't have any extra food for baiting, and even if we did, we wouldn't want to use it for fishing. If we catch something, that's fine, but if we don't, the food we used for baiting will break my heart. If we don't bait and just rely on earthworms we dug up, it'll probably take all day to catch fish..." Yan Bugui was also hesitant; he'd been craving fish for days.

"Just fish for a day if you want. You don't have anything else to do anyway. Everyone's off work today, and we bought all the groceries yesterday. You won't get anything by just sitting at the door today. You might as well go fishing. If you catch a big fish, we can pickle it and it'll last us half a month." The aunt saw through Yan Bugui's hesitation and directly enlightened him.

When Yan Bugui heard what the third aunt said, thinking about the chance to eat fish for half a month, he gritted his teeth.

"Okay, I'm going fishing. Get me a big cup of water and a radish from the cellar. I won't be back for lunch; there are fewer people fishing at midday. The chances of catching a fish are higher, and if I'm lucky, I can come back earlier."

"Okay! I'll go right away." Auntie San was happy to hear Yan Bugui agree and went to prepare what he had mentioned. Yan Bugui turned and went into the bedroom, took out the fishing gear from under the bed, and casually picked up a small stool...

The third aunt ran to the cellar, grabbed a clean-looking white radish from her pile of radishes, and left. Seeing Yan Bugui already waiting at the door, in her haste, she forgot to wash the radish at the tap and simply put it into the bundle containing the kettle, handing it to Yan Bugui.

"Drive carefully. The tea in the kettle is infused with licorice, it's sweet, drink as much as you like. I'll have my second brother bring you another pot this afternoon."

Yan Bugui didn't say much, just nodded and went out. At this time, Yan Bugui hadn't bought a second-hand bicycle yet, so he had to walk the rest of the way, luckily it wasn't too far.

Because it was Sunday, many fishing spots were already occupied. Yan Bugui quickly found a good spot, cast his line, and started fishing.

The sun had been up for past noon by the time Yan Bugui started fishing. Sure enough, he was still empty-handed! In August in Beijing, the midday sun was still very hot. Yan Bugui noticed his water bottle was empty, so he picked up a smooth, juicy radish that his aunt had picked from the cellar and started munching on it.

After taking a bite, Yan Bugui frowned.

"This radish... it seems a bit spoiled."

However, because of the hot weather, and because Yan Bugui, being a shrewd calculator, couldn't bear to throw away such a large radish, he endured the slightly pungent smell and used his teeth to peel off the entire radish before he began to eat it with relish.

"Hehehe, luckily it wasn't lost, but the skin has a bit of a smell. The inside is still fine."

In other words, Yi Zhonghai didn't know. If Yi Zhonghai had found out last night that Yan Bugui had drunk his dishwater, he would have been...