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

Chapter 28 Qin Huairu is pregnant

After the housewarming party, everyone in the courtyard knew it belonged to the He family, and various rumors started circulating.

Following Yi Zhonghai's instructions, Tan Xiulan began to instigate among the women. She took the laundry basin to the sink, scrubbed it a couple of times, and started chatting with Yang Ruihua next to her.

"You mean Zhu Zi's lunchbox business has only been around for a few months?" Tan Xiulan rubbed her collar, her voice neither too loud nor too soft. "Twelve rooms, gray bricks and tiles, running water, electric lights. How much would that cost?"

Yang Ruihua chimed in, "That's right. We could never earn that much in a lifetime."

Tan Xiulan leaned closer: "You think selling boxed lunches at a street stall can be this profitable?" She glanced at Yang Ruihua, "Is there something fishy going on?"

Yang Ruihua chimed in, "Who knows? Anyway, Zhu Zi is doing well now. Even Old Li from the back house has someone trying to arrange a marriage for him."

That evening, Yang Ruihua went home and whispered something to Yan Bugui, who was repairing shoes. Yan Bugui stopped hammering and said, "Don't get involved with the Yi family. Didn't you see Yi Zhonghai's face?"

Tan Xiulan even tried to chat with Wang Caifeng, saying a few words, but Wang Caifeng didn't respond and got up to go inside. Guangqi had been missing for half a year, neither alive nor dead, so she had no interest in listening to any of this.

Everyone in the courtyard was talking about it. Jia Zhangshi, who had the loudest voice, was sitting at the door of the west wing sewing shoe soles when she said to Yang Ruihua, who was washing bed sheets by the sink, "I knew it! How much money can you make selling boxed lunches? Who knows how he got that side courtyard?"

Yang Ruihua said, "Don't talk nonsense."

Madam Jia snorted, "Nonsense? Everyone says so, how could it be false?"

There was talk of it, but no one dared to report it.

Jia Zhangshi dared not. She had been sitting at the door cursing the pillar for months, and if she were actually asked to go to the police station, her legs would go weak. She remembered how the old deaf man had been brought back by the military control commission to read his self-criticism last time.

The others in the courtyard dared not do it either. Yi Zhonghai was beaten twice by Zhu Zi and was forced to say thank you in the end. The deaf old lady was slapped twice, taken away for "education," and made to publicly apologize upon her return. Now she stays at home and rarely goes out.

Wang, the clerk, was scolded by Zhu Zi and had to apologize. Now she's just a regular clerk, and people in the compound have seen her following behind other clerks handling matters.

In the evening, Yan Bugui returned home from get off work. For the past two days, he had been inquiring about Zhu Zi's boxed lunch business, mentally calculating the profits. Three cents a box, four hundred boxes a day, one hundred and twenty a day. Three thousand six hundred a month.

He had asked the cook at Hongxin Elementary School about the cost of this lunchbox; it was at most 23 cents. After deducting the cost, he could make a profit of 7 cents per box. His daily income was equivalent to a month's salary.

He didn't participate in the gossip in the courtyard, but he wanted to get involved in Zhu Zi's business. His colleague and brother-in-law worked at the meat processing plant and could supply meat at a price lower than the market price. Zhu Zi didn't have that connection, but he did. Old Li could do the work, but his wife could do it even better.

Yi Zhonghai sat at home, his face turned to the window. Tan Xiulan came back and said that the news had spread, but no one had done anything. He had waited for several days, but nothing happened; the people in the yard must be scared.

He stroked his crooked chin, his fingers tracing the bony ridge. No one dared to go. He considered the options: Jia Zhangshi was too cowardly, Liu Haizhong was uninterested, and that stingy old man Yan Bugui would definitely try to steal his money.

Sha Zhu almost went to jail last time because of that "reactionary" label he was accused of.

He didn't dare to confront them directly, so he thought of reporting them behind their backs.

Sha Zhu beat him up like this, and everyone's laughing at him. He can't swallow this insult.

He took out an old account book, its pages yellowed. He tore off a page, picked up a pencil, and wrote with his left hand, making sure no one knew it was him.

Tan Xiulan glanced at him: "What are you writing?"

"Letter of complaint."

June.

Qin Huairu came out of the kitchen carrying a basin and squatted by the door to pick vegetables. As she picked, a wave of acid churned up in her stomach. She covered her mouth, ran to the wall, and retched twice, but nothing came out.

Madam Jia, sitting at the doorway, saw this and her eyes lit up. "Huai Ru, are you pregnant?"

Qin Huairu squatted there, leaning against the wall, her face pale. She thought for a moment, then her lips twitched slightly: "It seems...so."

Madam Jia stood up, walked to her side, and looked her up and down. "I'll go find a doctor to take a look."

In the afternoon, Jia Zhangshi brought back a doctor from Qianmen Street. The old doctor carried a medicine box, had a goatee, and placed his fingers on Qin Huairu's wrist with his eyes closed. After a while, he opened his eyes: "Pregnant. More than a month."

Madam Jia smiled broadly, then quickly composed herself. "Take good care of yourself for the next two months and stabilize your condition. If it's a girl, I'll give you a piece of my mind."

Qin Huairu sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her smile freezing on her lips.

When Jia Dongxu came home from get off work that evening, he was overjoyed to hear that his wife was pregnant.

The next day, I bought an old hen, brought it home, and tied it to the table leg. The hen flapped and clucked in the room, leaving chicken droppings all over the floor.

Standing to the side, Jia Zhangshi said, "Huai Ru, go and kill the chicken. Dongxu bought it to nourish you."

Qin Huairu didn't know how to kill a chicken. She held the chicken by the wings, the knife in her hand, and hesitated for a long time before daring to do it.

Madam Jia stood aside and watched. "You can't even kill a chicken? Are you destined to be a young mistress?"

Qin Huairu slashed down with the knife, and the chicken thrashed about, blood splattering all over her. The chicken broke free from her grasp and ran wildly around the kitchen, blood splashing everywhere.

Madam Jia immediately scolded, "What can you do! I have to do everything myself."

Finally, Jia Zhangshi caught the chicken, and Qin Huairu finished it off with a knife. The chicken was stewed in an earthenware pot on the coal stove, bubbling and steaming. The aroma wafted from the kitchen and into the courtyard.

He Yuzhu returned from packing up his stall, pushed his cart into the courtyard, and smelled it. The smell of chicken soup. It was coming from the kitchen in the west wing. He paused, then parked his tricycle.

From the Jia family kitchen came Jia Zhangshi's voice. "Drink more soup. Don't just eat meat. The one in your belly is a Jia family child."

Qin Huairu didn't say anything, but ladled out a bowl of soup and drank it.

He Yuzhu stood at the door of his house and lit a cigarette.

Qin Huairu is carrying Banggeng in her belly. She can still drink a bowl of chicken soup now, but in years of famine, she'll deal with you all properly and send you down to join Jia Dongxu in a reunion.

He Yuzhu threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out, then turned around, locked the gate to the middle courtyard, and strolled back to the outer courtyard.

at night.

He Yuzhu sat at his desk. The window was open, and a breeze was blowing in, making it quite cool. It was definitely quieter and cooler here than in the central courtyard.

He took the wooden stick out of his spatial storage and tapped it repeatedly on his left palm.

Why haven't these beasts reported him yet? They might as well write a few slips of paper and draw lots. If they draw Jia Zhangshi and the old deaf man, they can't kill them yet. They can knock them unconscious and break one of their legs.

I drew Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong, knocked them unconscious and put them in my space, and gave them a good beating.

If you draw Yan Bugui, it seems like you've never offended him in this life, but he has too many family members and too much burden. Why don't you help him lighten his burden?

The wooden stick twirled in my hand before disappearing back into my spatial storage.

Hehehe, hehehe.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was eerie.

At that moment, there was a knock on the moon gate across the courtyard.

He Yuzhu's spatial perception revealed it to be Yan Laokou. Was he here to scheme against him?

I'm just killing time with you. Let's see what you say; I can convict you.