Sha Zhu's Rebirth in the Courtyard: Starting with Hitting Someone in the Head

Chapter 1 The Tragic Death of Sha Zhu

[I hereby solemnly declare: This story is purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is purely coincidental and I am not responsible for any such resemblance. Especially in the later parts!]

{Liu Dehua, Wu Yanzu's brain storage place!}

{Guan Zilin, the brain repository for Dilraba and Gulnazar!}

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Winter, Beijing, under a bridge.

An old man huddled in a corner, wrapped in a tattered cotton quilt, the cotton fibers sticking out, dark and smelly. His face was full of wrinkles, his lips were purple from the cold, and his eyes were half-open and half-closed.

This old man's name is He Yuzhu, and everyone in the courtyard calls him Shazhu (Silly Zhu).

He was cold. Cold to the bone. The wind poured in from both ends of the bridge arch, cutting his face like knives. He tried to turn over, but his whole body was stiff as a stone. He tried to move his fingers, but they wouldn't obey him.

Sha Zhu lay curled up on his side, his eyes fixed on the icicles hanging from the bridge arch. He thought about his whole life, how he had supported Qin Huairu's family and the entire courtyard, only to be kicked out in the end and left with nowhere to live.

He wanted to cry, but couldn't. His eyes were dry, as dry as the winter air.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard a rustling sound.

It's a stray dog.

Three stray dogs, so thin their ribs bulged out, their eyes glowing green in the darkness. They circled Sha Zhu twice, and one of them came closer and sniffed his face.

Sha Zhu tried to raise his hand to shoo it away, but he couldn't lift his hand.

The dog opened its mouth.

The first bite landed on his arm, sending a shiver down his spine. The second bite landed on his leg, and he could barely feel anything anymore. The third dog came up and grabbed his finger, tugging and tugging.

The last thing Sha Zhu saw was a pair of green eyes and snow falling outside the bridge arch.

Then I couldn't see anything anymore.

His soul floated out of his body, and when he looked down, he saw that his body had been torn apart by wild dogs, his intestines were spilling out, and half of his face had been eaten away.

He stared at the pile of rotting flesh, feeling neither fear nor sorrow. Only a fire burned within him, making his very soul tremble.

He was howling, but no one could hear him.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to kill.

He wanted to strangle everyone in that courtyard, one by one.

His soul began to drift away, passing under bridges, through alleyways, until it reached a hazy, gray place. There was no sky, no earth, only fog everywhere. From within the fog came all sorts of sounds: crying, laughing, cursing, and howling.

Sha Zhu didn't know how far he had drifted, nor how long he had been drifting. He didn't think about anything, he just swallowed. Those wandering souls drifted in front of him, and he opened his mouth and swallowed them, one, two, three, he didn't even know how many he swallowed.

He didn't care; he was already dead anyway, so what could happen?

Time has no meaning in this place.

No one knows how many years have passed—maybe ten, maybe twenty, maybe fifty. Until one day, an old man in official robes emerged from the fog, saw Sha Zhu, and paused for a moment.

This old man is a judge in the underworld.

He stared at Sha Zhu for a long time, frowned, reached out and grabbed Sha Zhu, taking him away.

Inside the judge's hall, the judge sat behind his desk, opening a book to investigate.

As he investigated, his expression changed.

He suddenly stood up, causing his chair to tip backward and nearly fall to the ground.

"Descendants of He Xiangu?" The judge's voice changed. "How come the He family is gone?"

He flipped through a few more pages, his expression growing increasingly grim.

"He Yuzhu's biological son, He Xiao, changed his name to Lou Hui and no longer bears the surname He. The He family bloodline has ended."

The judge plopped back into his chair, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

He remembered. More than 1,300 years ago, before He Xiangu ascended to heaven, she came to the underworld to find him and asked him to take good care of the He family's bloodline in the mortal world. He readily agreed at the time, but more than a thousand years had passed, and he had forgotten about it.

The He family is gone now.

The judge took a deep breath, stood up, and walked to Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu's soul was in a daze, his eyes were empty, and a cloud of black energy clung to his body. The judge raised his hand and placed it on the top of his head, circulating his energy. The black energy slowly dissipated, and Sha Zhu's eyes gradually cleared.

The judge didn't waste any words with him and directly unfolded a picture in front of him.

Sha Zhu saw his entire life, from beginning to end, scene by scene.

He saw Yi Zhonghai and the White Widow set a trap to lure He Daqing to Baoding.

He saw the threatening letter that Yi Zhonghai sent to He Daqing, which stated that He Daqing had hosted banquets for the Japanese.

He saw Yi Zhonghai sitting in the house, discussing with the deaf old woman how to manage the courtyard house and how to provide for her elderly parents.

He saw that Yi Zhonghai knew he couldn't have children, but he blamed Tan Xiulan for it all.

He saw that after the deaf old woman died, all the gold went into Yi Zhonghai's pocket.

He saw Qin Huairu secretly go to the hospital to get an IUD after Jia Dongxu's death.

He saw Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong sitting together, saying, "How could someone as shrewd as He Daqing have a son like Shazhu?" They already knew quite a lot.

He saw himself working hard to earn money to support the people in that courtyard.

He saw himself borrowing two thousand dollars from Ma Hua, while Qin Huairu held onto the assets left by Yi Zhonghai, not giving away a single penny.

He saw Lou Xiao'e return with her son, and He Xiao stood in front of him, her eyebrows and eyes exactly the same as his when he was a child.

He saw the people in the courtyard surrounding him, each one trying to persuade him not to divorce Qin Huairu, saying that Qin Huairu had had a hard life and that he should have a conscience.

He saw that he believed.

He realized he had cheated Lou Xiao'e, bought the courtyard house, and started that damned Happy Home.

He was eventually kicked out of the house by the gangsters, died under a bridge, and was dismembered by wild dogs.

He saw that his mortal enemy, Xu Damao, was actually collecting his body and was even crying bitterly.

Sha Zhu trembled all over after seeing this. The black mist reappeared, thicker and heavier than before. His eyes were bloodshot.

"I am the biggest idiot in the world." His voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed out of his throat.

The judge looked at him and sighed.

"He Yuzhu, I'm giving you a chance. I'll let you be reborn. I'll also give you a magic treasure called the Mustard Seed Space. You've swallowed so many souls, your soul is strong enough to use this. I don't care how you deal with those people. I only have one request: that the He family prosper and have more sons. Your ancestor, He Xiangu, entrusted me to take care of the He family's descendants, I failed to do so, this is my compensation to you."

The judge raised his hand, and a ball of light slammed into Sha Zhu's soul.

Sha Zhu was momentarily dazed, and something new entered his mind.

He understood how to use the space.

Thirty meters. He can sense everything within thirty meters of him. Whether it's inside a house or underground, no matter how heavy it is, as long as it's within this circle, he can take it all in with a single thought.

A living person can only be captured by touching them. Once captured, time stops within the space; the person won't die, but will be frozen in place, unable to move. The person can also enter on their own; the space is useless to them, and they can move as they please.

Sha Zhu opened his eyes, which were filled with murderous intent.

The judge's heart skipped a beat when he saw that look. This wasn't a chance to be reborn; it was a chance to risk his life. He had gone to great lengths to open a back door and send the person back, but if they died again within days, all his efforts would have been in vain.

"Wake up," the judge said quickly. "You've swallowed so many souls, I've erased all their messy memories, but I've kept their abilities for you. Look through your own memories, you'll find everything. Don't be as naive as before, learn to use cunning."

Sha Zhu was stunned for a moment.

He tried to rummage through his own mind, and sure enough, he found a whole host of skills and abilities.

Sha Zhu remained silent for a long while.

He was thinking, figuring out how to use these things.

The judge breathed a sigh of relief when he saw him deep in thought.

"In which year do you want to be reborn?"

"1943. That year, my mother became pregnant with Yushui, and I wanted to save her."

The judge nodded and raised his hand to cast a spell.

Just then, a little imp rushed in, shouting, "My lord, the king is here!"

The judge's hand trembled.

Sha Zhu's soul is gone.

The judge stood there, stunned, his face turning pale. He did some quick calculations and realized, "Oh no, we sent it to the wrong year. It's from 1951."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself, "A few years later is fine, as long as it doesn't affect the He family's continued growth."