Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

Chapter 17: The deaf old lady secretly observes and exclaims that this child is not to be trifled with.

"Bang bang bang!"

Jia Zhangshi angrily pounded on the wooden door of Sha Zhu's house, causing dust to fall from the door frame.

"Silly Zhu! Open the door! Are you hiding inside eating alone?!"

"You've injured the guy so badly, don't you have any conscience?"

Madam Jia was cursing and shouting in a hoarse voice outside the door.

inside the house.

Sha Zhu was lying face down on the table, covering his ears tightly, refusing to open the door no matter how much they knocked.

His mind is now filled with Qin Huairu's words, "You bloodsucking idiot."

There's also Zhang Huaimin's line, "Frozen to death under the bridge."

Right now, he has no idea what expression to wear when facing the Jia family.

After knocking for a long time, seeing no response from inside, Jia Zhangshi, feeling cold and hungry, could only spit angrily.

"What the hell! They really think they're something special!"

Madam Jia turned and went back into the house, cursing. Faced with Bang Geng rolling around and crying on the kang (a heated brick bed), she could only take out a few hard, cold cornbread buns.

On this night, enveloped in the irresistible aroma of noodles, countless people in the courtyard endured the night while swallowing their saliva.

The next morning.

The winter sun was unusually bright.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhang Huaimin strolled to the backyard to digest his food.

He had just walked to the base of a sunny wall.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The sound of a cane tapping on the bluestone slab came from the main house in the backyard.

Immediately afterwards, an elderly woman with a full head of white hair and a wrinkled face slowly walked out, supported by Yi Zhonghai's wife, an older woman.

It was the deaf old lady who was the most senior member of the family in the Hongxing Courtyard and was known as the "Ancestor".

The deaf old woman squinted her cloudy eyes and scanned the yard.

Finally, his gaze landed precisely on Zhang Huaimin, who was sunbathing.

Although the old lady usually pretended to be deaf and mute, she appeared to be old and indifferent to worldly affairs.

But in reality, she is the most insightful and cunning "old fox" in this courtyard.

She had no children, and her only hope in her later years was to raise Sha Zhu as her own grandson so that he could take care of her in her old age and see her off in death.

Therefore, she had been secretly trying to bring Sha Zhu and Lou Xiao'e together.

She strongly opposed Sha Zhu's entanglement with Qin Huairu, that bloodsucking widow from the Jia family.

But in the past two days, the deaf old lady keenly noticed that something was wrong with Sha Zhu.

Not only did Sha Zhu stop sending lunchboxes to the Jia family, but he also became completely absent-minded.

She sits in her room all day in a daze, and even this old lady doesn't go to see her anymore.

The deaf old lady inquired a little.

I knew that all these changes were because of the five-year-old baby in the front yard who had just lost both parents!

He recited national policies at the age of five, which made Yi Zhonghai so angry that he vomited blood.

A few words stirred up trouble between Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu.

They even made a bowl of plain noodles that drove everyone in the hospital crazy.

The deaf old lady sat in the armchair, looking at Zhang Huaimin not far away, her heart pounding.

This isn't a five-year-old child! This is practically a demon who has come to life!

However, for Sha Zhu's future, and also for his own absolute authority in the hospital, he decided to act.

The deaf old lady felt it necessary to personally step in and teach this arrogant young man a lesson.

Let him know that in this courtyard house, it is still the old lady who calls the shots.

"Oh dear, you should go back first. I'll just sit here and sunbathe for a while."

The deaf old lady sent the older woman away.

Then, she leaned on that shiny, smooth cane.

With a series of "thumps," he walked straight toward Zhang Huaimin.

Zhang Huaimin had heard the commotion long ago, but he didn't even lift an eyelid.

Still with her eyes closed, she enjoyed the warm winter sun.

"Ahem!"

The deaf old lady walked up to Zhang Huaimin and coughed heavily twice.

Seeing that Zhang Huaimin ignored her, the old lady frowned and gently tapped the small stool where Zhang Huaimin was sitting with her cane.

"Huaimin, whose baby is this? He's so handsome."

The deaf old woman began her signature feigned deafness, drawing out her voice with an air of authority that came from relying on her age.

Zhang Huaimin slowly opened his eyes and looked at the hypocritical old woman in front of him.

A cold laugh couldn't help but escape my lips.

Is this old woman finally unable to hold back and ready to make her move?

In the original story, this deaf old woman was always portrayed as the only good person in the courtyard.

But in reality, she is an extremely selfish egoist.

She protects Sha Zhu only because Sha Zhu can bring her benefits and provide for her in her old age.

She always watched coldly as others in the compound were bullied, and even helped Yi Zhonghai take sides at crucial moments.

"Grandma, is there something you need?"

Zhang Huaimin was neither afraid nor showed the respect that other children should have shown.

Instead, he asked in an extremely calm, even slightly scrutinizing tone.

The deaf old woman was taken aback; the child's eyes were too calm.

It was so calm that even this woman in her seventies or eighties felt a strange unease.

But she quickly adjusted her demeanor and continued to maintain that inscrutable appearance.

"Huaimin, Grandma's hearing isn't good, I can't hear what you're saying."

"Grandma just felt sorry for you being all alone and wanted to talk to you."

The deaf old woman moved closer, her cloudy eyes fixed on Zhang Huaimin.

"Grandma has lived to this age, what kind of storms hasn't she weathered?"

"There's a lot more to this compound than meets the eye."

"You're just a little kid, you'd better behave yourself."

"Don't meddle in other people's business, especially the affairs between adults."

"Like Zhu Zi, he's a good kid. Don't bother him every day and upset him."

"If you cause any trouble, you'll have no one to protect you since you have no parents."

The deaf old lady's words were a combination of gentle persuasion and firmness, employing both kindness and authority.

What appeared to be well-intentioned advice was actually a blatant warning to Zhang Huaimin.

Tell him to stop interfering in Sha Zhu and the Jia family's affairs and to behave himself as a nobody.

If it were an ordinary person, after being reprimanded like that by the "ancestor" of this compound, they would probably be terrified and cower in fear.

But who is Zhang Huaimin?

He looked at the deaf old woman's arrogant and condescending attitude.

Suddenly, he laughed.

That smile was innocent and pure, yet it carried a chilling undertone that sent shivers down one's spine.

Zhang Huaimin stood up from the bench.

He patted the dust off his clothes, then stood on tiptoe and leaned close to the deaf old lady's ear.

"Grandma, are you really deaf?"

Zhang Huaimin's voice was so low that only the two of them could hear it.

"Then I'll tell you a secret aloud."

Zhang Huaimin paused, his tone becoming incredibly cold and mocking.

"Grandma, those straw sandals you gave to the Red Army back then..."

"Did you really make that up yourself?"

Upon hearing this, the deaf old woman's originally cloudy eyes widened instantly to the size of copper bells!

Or perhaps...

Zhang Huaimin's voice continued to echo in the old lady's ears like a ghost.

"Did you steal that from the feet of the dead while you were fleeing the famine?"

"If Director Wang and the people from the neighborhood office knew that this 'deeply touching' story about straw sandals was actually a hoax..."

"Do you think you'll still be able to live peacefully in the main house in this backyard?"

"With your status as a recipient of the 'Five Guarantees' (a government-provided social welfare program for the elderly and disabled), is anyone still supporting you in your old age?"

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

The deaf old lady felt a "boom" in her brain, as if countless thunderclaps were exploding in her ears at the same time.

Her face instantly turned deathly pale, devoid of any color.

My whole body felt as if I had fallen into an ice cave.

How is that possible?!

She kept this secret for decades!

This is her biggest trump card that allows her to act arrogantly in the compound and enjoy the benefits of being a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government-provided social welfare program for the elderly, disabled, and orphans)!

Even the former director of the neighborhood office who issued her the certificate back then was unaware of this matter.

How did this five-and-a-half-year-old know that?!

Could it be... that he can really see through people's hearts? Or did his father, Zhang Dashan, discover something before he died?

Endless fear instantly coiled around the deaf old woman's heart like a venomous snake.

She looked at the five-year-old child smiling at her.

I just felt that it wasn't a child.

Instead, he is a devil who crawled out of hell!

"You...you..."

The deaf old woman trembled all over, pointed at Zhang Huaimin, her lips quivering for a long time, but she couldn't utter a single word.

She could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb.

At this moment, all she wanted was to escape this terrifying place and that devilish gaze.

The deaf old woman suddenly turned around, her cane striking the bluestone slab with a jumbled sound due to excessive force.

Without even saying goodbye, she stumbled and ran towards her main room as if fleeing for her life.

That speed is nothing like that of a seventy or eighty-year-old woman with mobility issues.

A loud "bang!"

The deaf old woman rushed into the house and slammed the wooden door shut behind her.

It seemed that only that thin door could bring her a sense of security.

Just then.

Sha Zhu walked over from the front yard carrying a teacup.

He originally intended to bring some hot water to the old lady.

Just as we passed through the moon gate, we saw the old lady rush back into the house and bolt the door as if she had seen a ghost.

Sha Zhu scratched his head blankly, looking at Zhang Huaimin standing in the sunlight.