Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

This person was none other than Xu Damao, the number one scoundrel in the courtyard. To put it bluntly, you couldn't find another person as rotten as him in the entire courtyard.

There are quite a few people with health problems in the courtyard, and several of them have serious health issues.

But when Gao Jianguo thought about it, he realized that other families had problems, but Xu Damao was simply rotten to the core, and hadn't changed at all over the years.

An older woman was leading a girl out when Xu Damao, with his sharp eyes, spotted them. His eyes darted around, and his mouth started moving.

"Hey ma'am, where are you going? Oh, you're carrying something, aren't you? Shall I help you carry it?"

When it comes to verbal skills, Xu Damao is indeed more adept than Shazhu when he's not being cunning; his words are always pleasant to hear.

The older woman knew what kind of person this was, but didn't reveal anything: "My niece is here for a visit, I'm showing her around."

Xu Damao glanced at the girl next to the older woman, his mind racing, and then he understood: "You're arranging a marriage for Sha Zhu, aren't you? I just passed by Sha Zhu's door, and he was tidying himself up inside. Well, to put it bluntly, with his appearance, no matter how much he tries to dress up, it's like a monkey wearing a dragon robe—it's not presentable."

The older woman's face immediately fell when she heard him making fun of Sha Zhu: "Xu Damao, stop talking nonsense."

He grabbed his niece and tried to pull her into the yard: "Come on, let's not listen to his nonsense."

If the older woman hadn't added the second half of her sentence, the matter might have been dropped. But her emphasis made the girl slow down: "Who is Sha Zhu?"

Seeing this, Xu Damao knew he had a chance.

"Sha Zhu's real name is He Yuzhu. He's always been a bit dim-witted, and that's been the nickname in the alley for over ten years. Everyone in the neighborhood knows him. Girl, let me tell you, you haven't heard about Sha Zhu's dad, have you?"

Seeing things were getting out of hand, the older woman grabbed the girl and urged her to leave, saying, "Who said they hadn't heard of it? I told her everything."

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao's suspicions were completely confirmed. This girl was definitely here for a blind date with Sha Zhu. With the intention of making things difficult for her even if he couldn't break it up, he subtly took a half step to the side, blocking the girl's path.

"Girl, to be honest with you, you might know that his father didn't live with him, but I reckon you don't know why. It's just that I'm soft-hearted and can't bear to see you fall into this mess, so even if it offends people, I have to explain it to you."

Xu Damao raised his chin towards the Intermediate People's Court and raised his voice even louder: "Shazhu's dad has been recruiting people, even to other provinces. Who knows, he might not be able to make it there one day and come back to cause trouble. As long as he's around, Shazhu's family will never have a peaceful day."

Seeing that the girl's heels had already moved backward, Xu Damao continued unloading the goods, getting more and more excited as he spoke: "Shazhu also has a younger sister, you know? Let me tell you, that girl is not to be trifled with. If you really marry her, you won't even have time to learn how to be a wife before you become a mother."

Xu Damao rambled on for a full three minutes, summarizing it all into one point—that Sha Zhu's house was no good place—leaving the old lady completely bewildered and unable to respond.

This is where Xu Damao's cunning lies. He exaggerates the truth, speaks vaguely about falsehoods, embellishes what is plausible, and alludes to what is baseless. This mix of truth and falsehood makes the young woman uneasy. This family sounds like a real mess; if she marries into it, there will be trouble every day, and she will never have a peaceful day.

However, people grow up gradually. The current Xu Damao has not yet cultivated himself to be as shrewd and ruthless as he was at the beginning of the TV series six or seven years later, daring to open fire directly in front of an old lady.

To use a war analogy: the artillery fire is fierce, but the gun positions are all exposed, without any concealment.

"Auntie, um... I have some things to do at home, I'll come see you another day." The girl didn't even step into the courtyard gate before turning around and leaving.

The older woman chased after her for a couple of steps, but couldn't catch her at all. The girl walked away briskly, and the older woman had no choice but to turn around and go into the yard.

Seeing that his scheme had succeeded, Xu Damao said goodbye to the old lady and went out of the hospital to attend to his own business.

Sha Zhu looked in the mirror and adjusted his hair, craning his neck and waiting, when he saw an old woman step into the courtyard alone.

Sha Zhu quickly ran out to greet her: "Auntie, you've finally arrived!"

He craned his neck to look behind the older woman, but after a long while, he didn't see anyone else. He wondered to himself, "Auntie, why are you all alone?"

The older woman was also embarrassed: "Oh! Don't even mention it. I brought my daughter here, and before we even stepped into the front yard, we ran into Xu Damao. That bastard Xu Damao is a complete idiot. He made up some ridiculous story about your family in front of my daughter and scared her away."

Sha Zhu froze, his smile vanishing instantly, replaced by a furious rage: "Xu Damao!!! I'll fuck your grandma!!!"

He was cursing as he rushed towards the backyard. An older woman quickly grabbed him, saying, "Calm down, calm down! Xu Damao finished gossiping about your family and has already left."

Sha Zhu wasn't finished. He turned and looked around, then grabbed a stool and sat down behind a pillar by the door between the front and middle yards: "I don't believe he won't come back today. If he does, I'll fuck him to death!"

The wait lasted until almost three in the afternoon. Xu Damao finished his business and, having also ruined Shazhu's good time at noon, happily hummed a little tune as he strolled home.

Xu Damao had barely taken a few steps into the Intermediate People's Court when a loud roar exploded in his ears: "Xu Damao!! I'll fuck your grandpa!!! I'll kill you today!!!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Xu Damao felt a tightness in his upper body, as if his arms had been grabbed. The person exerted a sudden force, and Xu Damao felt as if the sky and the earth had turned upside down, his whole body spinning around before being slammed to the ground.

Xu Damao was still in a daze when he looked up and saw Sha Zhu's face right in front of him.

Sha Zhu tackled the man to the ground with a shove and pounced on him, grabbing him by the collar.

Sha Zhu's eyes were wide open, bloodshot, his face flushed a deep purplish-red with excitement, and the veins on his hands, gripping his collar, bulged. He couldn't help but spit all over Xu Damao's face: "You son of a bitch! What did you say about me to that girl today? You can't stand seeing a man do anything good, can you? I'll beat the shit out of you today, you'll be lucky you pooped properly at noon!!"

For every curse, there's a slap on the head.

Xu Damao knew he couldn't win, but luckily he wasn't good at fighting. However, he had honed his dodging skills through years of fighting with Sha Zhu. He endured the pain and ignored the slaps hitting his head. He grabbed Sha Zhu's arms that were grabbing his collar and pushed them away, breaking free.

Xu Damao, having escaped, darted off into the front yard, and Sha Zhu grabbed a stool from the ground and chased after him.

The chaotic noise that Gao Jianguo heard while reading was caused by this chase and shouting match.

Hearing the commotion, Gao Jianguo pushed open the door and came out, just in time to see Sha Zhu chasing a long-faced man with a small beard while holding a stool. The two of them were running and chasing each other, cursing at each other as they ran, which was quite a lively scene.

Gao Jianguo didn't need to see his face to guess that, apart from the storyteller Xu Damao, there was no other person in this courtyard who had gotten into such a fight with Sha Zhu.

An older woman had just returned home and told an older man named Yi Zhonghai about it. Yi Zhonghai had been on edge the whole time, and when he heard the commotion outside, he quickly came out of the house.

Other neighbors who had nothing to do at home also came out to watch the commotion, grinning as they watched: "Hey, those two are at it again. I wonder who started it this time."

These days there's not much entertainment, so it's quite rare for the two of them to cause such a scene, which has certainly added a lot of fun to the lives of the neighbors.

Gao Jianguo watched with amusement. Regardless of who was right or wrong, no matter what happened between him and Shazhu, he always sided with Shazhu. However, seeing that the two were only fighting with their strength and not their brains, Gao Jianguo was certain that Shazhu wouldn't suffer a loss, and he found the spectacle quite satisfying.

As he watched, Gao Jianguo's eyes suddenly changed. He strode into the arena, shouting at the top of his lungs as he rushed in:

"stop!!!!!!"