Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

The cold wind swirled with coal dust from the alley, stinging my face.

The limping, obese figure finally made it to the gate of the Hongxing Courtyard.

This is Jia Zhangshi, who was criminally detained for half a month on the first day of the Lunar New Year for assaulting police officers and causing a disturbance at the police station!

The two weeks she spent in detention nearly killed her.

Every day they ate cornbread that was as hard as a rock and drank clear soup with a few vegetable leaves floating in it.

They slept in a large dormitory and were bullied by the tigresses in their cell.

Her finger, which had been ruined by a mousetrap, was barely bandaged at the facility, but due to the harsh environment, it had begun to fester and smell.

"Those heartless, rotten lackeys! When I get back to the hospital, I'm going to have Old Yi take the neighbors to sue them!"

Jia Zhangshi muttered through gritted teeth.

She had only one thought in her mind: to settle accounts with that wretched Zhang Huaimin! To get her precious grandson Banggeng back!

Stepping across the threshold, the front yard was quiet.

Only under the jujube tree was there a pile of melon seed shells.

Madam Jia pursed her lips and dragged her feet toward the central courtyard.

As soon as I stepped through the moon gate of the Central Courtyard.

Jia Zhangshi suddenly stopped in her tracks, her triangular eyes widening instantly.

A bone-chilling cold instantly shot from the soles of my feet to the back of my head.

To my surprise, two glaring white banners were hanging on either side of my old, dilapidated wooden door!

There were also white paper couplets with black characters pasted on the door frame.

The wind howled through the air, creating a chilling and desolate atmosphere.

"What... what's going on?"

Jia Zhangshi's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition coiled around her heart like a venomous snake.

Ignoring the pain in her feet, she stumbled towards the door and pushed it open.

"Bang!"

Under the dim light of a kerosene lamp inside the room.

Qin Huairu, dressed in coarse mourning clothes and wearing a white flower in her hair, was kneeling in front of a brazier.

She burned paper money while suppressing her sobs.

On the table in front of her was a black and white framed photo.

The person in the photo is none other than her son, Jia Dongxu, the pillar of the Jia family!

"Dongxu!!!"

Jia Zhangshi let out a heart-wrenching, extremely tragic scream.

Her plump body seemed to have been drained of all its strength. She knelt straight down in front of the brazier, hugged the portrait, and burst into tears.

"My son! What happened to you! How could you be gone after only half a month in prison!"

"God, you're blind! Why don't you take this old body of mine instead of my manhood?!"

Jia Zhangshi cried uncontrollably, frantically pounding the ground with her bandaged severed hand.

When Qin Huairu saw her mother-in-law return, she couldn't stop her tears from falling.

"Mom... Dongxu... he was working the night shift in the workshop and got caught in the rolling mill."

"She was in the hospital for several days in intensive care, but she didn't make it... Waaaaah..."

Upon hearing this devastating news, Jia Zhangshi felt as if struck by lightning, and her vision went black.

My son is gone!

The Jia family's only source of income has dried up!

Who will be responsible for her retirement?

"Where's Bang Geng? Where's my dear grandson Bang Geng?!"

Suddenly, Jia Zhangshi remembered her most beloved eldest grandson, grabbed Qin Huairu by the collar, and shook her like a madwoman.

"Did those lackeys at the police station lock him up? Why don't you go find that old man or Zhu Zi and get him out!"

Mentioning the "sticky" joke made Qin Huairu cry even more desperately.

"Mom... please stop him... he was arrested for stealing belongings from a martyr's family, a serious offense..."

"He was formally sentenced by the district court and sent to the First Juvenile Detention Center...for three years of labor reform!"

boom!

This final, devastating blow completely shattered Jia Zhangshi's psychological defenses.

Three years in juvenile detention!

By the time the boy comes out, he'll be eleven years old. After spending three years in a place like that, how can he possibly be a good person?

The son died, and the grandson went to jail.

The Jia family's world has completely collapsed!

"Ah—! I don't want to live anymore! I don't want to live anymore!"

Jia Zhangshi let out a scream as horrible as a vengeful ghost.

She was rolling around frantically on the cold, muddy ground, as if she had an epileptic seizure.

It rolled around and banged its head against the table leg repeatedly.

"It was Zhang Huaimin's nemesis! He killed our whole family!"

"I'm going to fight him! I'm going to kill him!"

With bloodshot eyes, Jia Zhangshi struggled to get up and go to the front yard to fight Zhang Huaimin.

"Mom! Please don't go!"

Qin Huairu clung tightly to Jia Zhangshi's leg, crying and pleading.

"Zhang Huaimin is now a special consultant for the factory, and even the military leaders are protecting him!"

"An old man was dismissed from his post for embezzling He Yushui's money, and Xu Damao was forced to clean toilets."

"Nobody in this compound dares to mess with him now!"

Hearing these explosive news.

Jia Zhangshi's struggles gradually ceased.

She slumped to the ground, her eyes glazed over, as if she had aged ten years in an instant.

Has Yi Zhonghai fallen from power? Has Xu Damao been ousted?

This courtyard house has truly undergone a dramatic transformation!

The intense hunger and the pain of the severed finger struck mercilessly at that moment.

Jia Zhangshi's stomach made a thunderous "gurgling" sound.

"Huai Ru... is there any food at home? Mom is hungry..."

Qin Huairu wiped away her tears and shook her head bitterly.

"Mom, the compensation process at Dongxu's factory is still in progress. We don't even have a single grain of cornmeal left at home."

"Xiao Dang and Huaihua have already gone without food for two meals."

When Jia Zhangshi heard that there was no food, her eyes started darting around again.

She remembered that in the past, whenever her family was struggling to make ends meet, that big idiot Sha Zhu would always happily bring them a lunchbox.

"Let's go! Let's go find Sha Zhu next door!"

As if grasping at a straw, Jia Zhangshi struggled to get up.

"Isn't he usually the one who likes you the most? Go cry a little and make him get us some meat!"

Qin Huairu looked troubled; she knew how cold Sha Zhu was to her now.

But urged on by Jia Zhangshi and driven by hunger, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and help her mother-in-law to the door of Sha Zhu's room in the middle courtyard.

"Pillar! Pillar!"

Jia Zhangshi, abandoning her previous arrogance, adopted a pitiful, tearful tone and pounded on the door.

"The old lady has been released from prison; she was almost starving to death."

"Please, have some kindness and get this old lady a hot meal. She'll remember your kindness for the rest of her life!"

after awhile.

With a creak.

The door opened.

Sha Zhu was wearing a clean sweater and holding a teacup in his hand.

He coldly stared at the Jia family mother-in-law and daughter-in-law standing at the door, reeking of sourness and looking like beggars.

There was not a trace of sympathy in his eyes, only deep disgust.

"Aunt Jia, you're out."

Sha Zhu's tone was flat and without any inflection.

"Zhu Zi, my family really has no food left, you..." Qin Huairu was about to start playing the victim.

"stop!"

Sha Zhu interrupted her without any mercy.

He looked at Jia Zhangshi, a mocking sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Aunt Jia, what use is it for you to come to me if you have no food to eat?"

"You all know that the living expenses my biological father, He Daqing, sent us were all embezzled by that old bastard Yi Zhonghai, right?"

"I've been a sucker for the past few years. Not only have I been schemed against by Yi Zhonghai, but I've also been called a big idiot by your family every day."

Sha Zhu took a deep breath, his eyes becoming extremely sharp.

"I'm also heavily in debt right now."

"I, Sha Zhu, am just a cook who flips woks, not a charitable organization!"

"From now on, whether your family lives or dies has absolutely nothing to do with me, He Yuzhu!"

"Don't get involved!"

Done.

"Bang!"

Sha Zhu didn't even want to look at them anymore, and slammed the door shut.

The cold wind blowing from the wooden door, mixed with the lingering aroma of food from inside the house, blew against the faces of Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

It shattered their last illusions.

He was abandoned by everyone.

The once arrogant tyrant of the compound has finally tasted the despair of reaping what he sowed and being abandoned by everyone.

Jia Zhangshi slumped onto the cold floor.

Looking at the tightly closed door, all he could do was unleash bursts of vicious curses fueled by impotent rage.

At this time.

Inside the heavily guarded secret laboratory at the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

The fire in the stove was burning brightly.

Zhang Huaimin stood in front of the large worktable.

He was holding a specially made micron-level welding torch that he had just redeemed from the system.

In front of him was a whole box of rusty scrap special steel plates that had been dragged out of the scrap yard.