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

Chapter 116 Widow Qin's Methods

Jia Zhangshi closed the door, turned around, and slapped Qin Huairu across the face. Qin Huairu was knocked to the side by the slap, almost dropping Huaihua, but she quickly hugged the child tightly.

"You shameless slut! Dongxu treated you so well, and you still did such a dirty thing! Why don't you just die! You piece of trash..."

Jia Zhangshi grabbed Qin Huairu's hair and used her other hand to hit her face.

Qin Huairu protected Huaihua with one hand and braced herself against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) with the other, gritting her teeth and remaining silent. Banggeng rushed over and hugged Jia Zhangshi's leg: "Grandma! Don't hit my mother! Grandma!"

"Get out of my way!" Madam Jia shoved him away. "You're not a member of the Jia family! You're that bastard son of some wild man! Just like your shameless mother!"

Banggeng was thrown against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), leaving a red mark on his forehead. Tears streamed down his face as he looked at his unfamiliar grandmother, unsure of what to do. Xiaodang burst into tears, and Banggeng, regaining his senses, pulled his younger sister aside.

Upon hearing this, Qin Huairu abruptly raised her head, placed the locust blossoms on the kang (a heated brick bed), stood up to block Jia Zhangshi, and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth: "Mom, I accept your scolding. I don't accept your scolding of the child."

"You don't admit it? You still have the nerve to deny it! You dare to do it but don't dare to admit it? None of the three children are Dongxu's, and you still have the nerve to argue with me!" Madam Jia raised her hand to slap him again.

Qin Huairu grabbed her wrist and shoved her forcefully. Jia Zhangshi lost her balance, staggered back two steps, and bumped into the door frame, her eyes wide: "You dare to fight back!"

Qin Huairu picked up Huaihua and handed her to Banggeng, telling him to take Xiaodang into the inner room and close the door tightly. Banggeng and Xiaodang's cries came through the crack in the door. She turned around and looked at Jia Zhangshi.

Her eyes were red and swollen. "Mom, if you've hit me enough, just listen to me."

Madam Jia's lips trembled as she said, "What else do you have to say!"

"I can give birth."

Jia Zhangshi was stunned.

"I can have children." Qin Huairu stared at her, emphasizing each word, "It's Dongxu who can't."

"You're talking nonsense! You're spouting rubbish! How can Dongxu not have children! He's perfectly healthy!" Jia Zhangshi's face turned pale instantly, and her voice was as sharp as a razor blade scraping glass.

"He's perfectly healthy? Why can't he get me pregnant?"

Qin Huairu's tears fell in grievance. Her heart ached, and she let the tears stream down her face. "You scolded me every day for not being able to lay eggs, forced me to go back to my parents' home, forced me to have a son. I had no choice, so I went back to my parents' home and found someone. I'm sorry to Dongxu, but you're partly to blame too!"

Jia Zhangshi slumped against the wall, her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't utter a single word.

"Dongxu gave all the chicken legs to me and the children before he died? He thought these children were all his! He thought Banggeng, Xiaodang, and Huaihua were Jia family members until his death!" Qin Huairu squatted down, her face close to Jia Zhangshi's. "He traded his life for our survival, and I'm sorry to him. But if you don't acknowledge Banggeng, the Jia family line will end."

Jia Zhangshi's face twitched several times, her eyes darted around, and finally she stood up straight and kicked Qin Huairu hard in the stomach.

"You worthless slut, you expect me to acknowledge this bastard? Bah! I'd rather the Jia family line die out."

"Mom, if you hit me again, I'll go to the factory, to the neighborhood committee, and expose everything about why Dongxu died on the job. Then you'll lose your job and your compensation. We'll break up and go back to the countryside together."

Qin Huairu stood up, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and revealed her fangs.

"If you let me and my three children stay in the courtyard house and have food to eat, I'll keep quiet. When we're old, Banggeng and I will take care of you and see you off in your old age. If you hit me again, I'll go to the factory and tell everyone."

"You dare!"

"You'll see if I dare."

Looking at Qin Huairu's resolute gaze, Jia Zhangshi's own expression shifted between uncertainty and unease. This job was earned by Dongxu with his life; she couldn't go to the countryside. This daughter-in-law was no longer the one she could manipulate at will; she now held the knife she feared most in her hand.

Finally, Jia Zhangshi gritted her teeth and said, "Fine. I won't hit you anymore. You stay in the Jia family, and I'll work to support you and your four children. You'll take care of me in my old age."

"Words are not enough. Please have the neighborhood committee mediate and draw up a written agreement."

The next day, Jia Zhangshi went to see Xiao Wang from the neighborhood office. When Xiao Wang led Director Zhang into the west wing, the people in the courtyard saw it and all gathered around to watch the commotion.

Yang Ruihua stopped by the sink, holding the laundry basin, and glanced towards the west wing on tiptoe: "What's wrong now? Didn't they say yesterday that Jia Zhangshi was taking over and Qin Huairu was leaving? Why are people from the neighborhood committee here today?"

Tian Xinghua, holding her child, glanced towards the west wing: "I heard they asked the neighborhood committee to mediate. What the two women, mother and daughter-in-law, talked about in the room is anyone's guess."

"What's there to talk about? She did that kind of thing, and she still has the nerve to stay in the yard." Yang Ruihua snorted. "Director Li personally led people to announce that this child isn't Jia Dongxu's. What else does she want?"

Banggeng squatted on the threshold, listening to the women's gossip in the courtyard, his face buried in his knees. Someone reached out and patted him, saying, "Poor child." He shook off the hand and ran into the house.

Director Zhang and Xiao Wang sat down at the table. Director Zhang cleared his throat and said, "Let's make this clear first: the street mediation is based on the principle of mutual consent. Once an agreement is reached, it must be followed, and there can be no going back on it."

With a stern face and gritting her teeth, Madam Jia said, "She will stay in the Jia family, and I will work to support her and her four children. She will take care of me in my old age and see me off when I die."

"I live here with my three children, and I cook, do laundry, and take care of the children for my mother. My mother works to support the family. When my mother gets old, I will take care of her and see her off in her old age." Qin Huairu's voice was very calm, as if she were reading a contract.

After Xiao Wang finished writing the agreement, he handed it to the two people to sign and affix their fingerprints. Jia Zhangshi pressed her fingerprint, stood up, slammed the door, and left. Qin Huairu folded the agreement, put it in her bosom, stood up, and bowed: "Thank you, Director Zhang, thank you, Officer Wang."

Director Zhang waved his hand, picked up his notebook, and left.

In the evening, Xiao Wang came to the courtyard to hold a meeting and solemnly announced: "The factory has dealt with Comrade Qin Huairu's matter, and the neighborhood committee has also mediated. Now the Jia family has reached an agreement: Comrade Qin Huairu will stay in the courtyard with her child, and Comrade Jia Zhangshi will go to work to support the family. They will support each other in the future. This matter ends here. Everyone should stop discussing it and, more importantly, no one is allowed to discriminate against Comrade Qin Huairu."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yang Ruihua lowered her head and whispered to Wang Caifeng beside her, "Qin Huairu is really resourceful. She can still stay in the hospital after doing something like this, and the neighborhood committee is even speaking up for her."

Wang Caifeng sighed: "Those three poor children, they have no father, they don't even know whose children they are."

Holding her child, Tian Xinghua glanced at the west wing and said softly, "These days, no one has it easy. Let's leave them a way to survive."

Madam Jia sat at the doorway, her face long and drawn. Banggeng stood beside her, pulling Xiaodang along, heads bowed and silent. Qin Huairu stood at the doorway, holding acacia flowers, watching the people in the courtyard gradually disperse, then turned and went back inside.

He Yuzhu leaned against the door of the main room, finished smoking a cigarette, and threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out.

Qin Huairu is indeed resourceful. In her past life, she was very successful in the brothel, having him completely under her control; it wasn't just luck.