Courtyard House: In this life, I have a new home!

5

"Look at Yang Yuande, that street urchin from the compound. Now he works at the steel mill and even married Qin Jingru, Qin Huairu's sister."

He Yuzhu gritted his teeth, his cheeks taut: "I just can't swallow this."

"Grandma, Fang Chengxuan is a very cunning man. How dare you say he didn't use any tricks to get Qin Huairu and that old man into bed together?"

"Qin Huairu is such a good woman. After Jia Dongxu died, she single-handedly supported the family. Any other woman would have remarried long ago."

"These people are so heartless, taking advantage of a widow who has no one to stand up for her!"

He Yuzhu became increasingly angry as he spoke, his mind filled with images of people in the labor camp bullying Qin Huairu. He never expected that even after returning to the courtyard house, these people would continue to bully her.

"I really want to kill them, to show them I'm not someone to be trifled with!"

He Yuzhu's eyes hardened, and his face was fierce.

The deaf old woman froze for a moment, then quickly grabbed his arm. "Silly Zhuzi, don't do anything foolish! If you really lay a hand on me, you'll get shot!"

He Yuzhu remained silent.

The deaf old woman was frantic. "Silly Zhu, silly Zhu, why are you so stubborn? Qin Huairu really isn't worth all this trouble!"

"Alright, now that you're back and things have turned out this way, stop overthinking it and hurry back to the labor camp."

The old lady stared at He Yuzhu with a worried expression, afraid that if the boy got stubborn, he would rush to the other side to find Fang Chengxuan.

He Yuzhu pushed the old lady's hand away, "Grandma, don't worry about my affairs, I'm leaving today."

Done.

He got up, climbed out the window, and slipped away through the backyard.

Fang Chengxuan opened the back window a crack, glanced at the back of the figure, and smirked, "Interesting."

That night.

Someone knocked on the window of Jia Zhangshi's house. Qin Huairu, who was already thinking about He Yuzhu, immediately sat up.

She glanced at Jia Zhangshi and her three children sleeping on the same kang (heated brick bed), then quietly got off the kang and pushed open the door to go out.

"Silly Zhu, is that really you? How did you escape from the labor camp? This is no good for you; it might even get you a longer sentence."

Upon seeing He Yuzhu, Qin Huairu anxiously approached him.

He Yuzhu stared at her, his heart tightening at the sight of her red, swollen eyes from crying. "I heard about what happened in the courtyard, you and that old man..."

"Silly Zhu, you don't trust me? Do you think I'm that kind of promiscuous woman? Instead of standing up for me, you're doubting me?"

Qin Huairu pretended to be angry, pushed He Yuzhu, and raised her hand to wipe away her tears.

"I don't know how to go on living. I've thought about ending it all many times, but then I think about what will happen to my three children if I'm gone?"

"Shazhu, the way people in the yard are looking at me is making me feel awful. What should I do?"

"Why are they all bullying a widow like me?"

Qin Huairu covered her face and cried bitterly.

Seeing her like this, He Yuzhu panicked and became flustered, his mind going blank. "Don't cry, I believe you, you're not that kind of person. Otherwise, you would have remarried long ago, why would you stay here? You're a good mother, a good woman."

Qin Huairu looked up at He Yuzhu with teary eyes, "Silly Zhu, you're still the best. Nobody in the courtyard believes me now."

I believe you.

He Yuzhu quickly said, nervously and awkwardly pulling the person into his arms.

Qin Huairu sobbed, "Shazhu, what am I supposed to do now? My mother-in-law beats me every day. Look at all the injuries on my body. Am I going to die?"

"There used to be an old man who spoke up for me, but after Fang Chengxuan's scheme, he couldn't say anything more. Tell me, why is my life so miserable?"

Qin Huairu rolled up her sleeves, revealing the bruises from being hit by Jia Zhangshi.

He Yuzhu felt a lump in his throat and gritted his teeth, cursing, "That old hag is a real piece of work. She eats, drinks, and lives in your house for free, and you have to serve her? And she dares to lay a hand on you?"

"I'm going to settle the score with her, and I'll put a sack over her head!"

He was muttering incoherent words, and he didn't even know what he was saying.

He Yuzhu had just heard from Zhang Yangde that an old man and Qin Huairu had gotten together, and the two of them were caught naked in a room. He Yuzhu immediately felt a tightness in his chest.

In a moment of impulsiveness, I turned and ran out.

Looking at Qin Huairu now, his mind was in turmoil. He had thought about getting married before, but he had never considered her.

But after this incident, he suddenly realized that he might actually have some feelings for Qin Huairu.

"Qin Huairu, how about... you come live with me?"

He Yuzhu suddenly blurted out this sentence.

Qin Huairu was stunned: "Live with you?"

She paused for a moment, then gently shook her head: "No, I can't remarry. Sha Zhu, Bang Geng will hate me."

in the corner.

When the window was smashed, Jia Zhangshi hadn't actually fallen asleep. She secretly followed Qin Huairu out the door, and now she was staring intently at the two of them with a gloomy face.

"You, Qin Huairu."

"While I was asleep in the middle of the night, how many men did you sneak out and meet?"

"Do you still dare to instigate idiot Zhu to hit me?"

Enraged, Jia Zhangshi rushed forward and grabbed Qin Huairu's face.

"You shameless bastard! Meeting a man in the middle of the night and then instigating him to beat me up? You're utterly shameless!"

She grabbed Qin Huairu by the hair and started hitting her repeatedly.

Caught off guard, Qin Huairu was struck on the face first, the stinging pain piercing her skin. She pleaded, her face contorted in discomfort, "Grandma, please keep your voice down, Banggeng is still sleeping."

"You still have the nerve to bring up the stick joke?"

"If you really cared about Bang Geng, you wouldn't have betrayed his father and hooked up with other men. You shameless bastard!"

Seeing Qin Huairu beaten like this, He Yuzhu stepped forward, grabbed Jia Zhangshi, and threw her aside, saying, "Jia Zhangshi, that's enough! Others are wronging her, and you, as her mother-in-law, are just joining in the commotion?"

Jia Zhangshi fell to the ground, and seeing He Yuzhu's fierce expression, she pounded the ground and howled, "Injustice?"

"Qin Huairu is a shameless vixen, flirting with men in the factory and seducing them in the compound! She's shameless!"

"My Jia family must have had the worst luck in eight generations to have such a daughter-in-law."

"Help! Everyone come quick! Look at this! Sha Zhu's been acting like a pervert!"

After Jia Zhangshi's outburst, Qin Huairu's face turned very ugly. She never expected that going out to see He Yuzhu in the middle of the night would turn out like this.

At the entrance of the Jia family's residence.

Banggeng, Xiaodang, and Huaihua stood there, looking in this direction.

"Mom, why do you always go out to see men in the middle of the night? Are you that desperate for a man?"

Banggeng's face was filled with hatred, and his words were full of barbs.

Qin Huairu panicked and hurriedly shook her head: "Bang Geng, Mom didn't. Others don't believe me, and you don't believe me either?"

"Mom was murdered."

Banggeng turned and rushed into the house, his footsteps thumping loudly.

"You were set up to see Sha Zhu tonight too? You want him to be my father? No way!"

"If you dare to remarry, I will disown you as my mother."

Qin Huairu quickly caught up and grabbed Banggeng's arm: "Banggeng, Mom doesn't have that intention. Mom went to see your silly uncle because he's someone in our neighborhood who helped our family. Don't overthink it."

He Yuzhu stood there alone, his expression frozen stiff.

Jia Zhangshi pointed her finger at He Yuzhu and yelled at the neighbors who had just run out, "Look, everyone! He Yuzhu is knocking on my window in the middle of the night, saying he's going to put a sack over my head! I can't live like this!"

She wiped away her tears, then raised her voice even louder: "Who have we, a widow and her children, offended? I'm reporting this to the police! Reporting this to the police!"

Her eyes were fixed on He Yuzhu, her teeth itching with hatred.

Hearing the commotion, an old man named Yi Zhonghai rushed out from the backyard. Upon seeing He Yuzhu, he was stunned: "Silly Zhu, it really is you?"

He Yuzhu turned to look at him, his expression shifting several times: "Uncle, what are you doing..."

"Shazhu, I know you came back because someone set me up with Qin Huairu. But you can't just barge back like this. Go back first."

Yi Zhonghai looked incredibly embarrassed.

He couldn't understand how his little affair with Qin Huairu had become so widely known.

Fang Chengxuan stood to one side, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Yi Zhonghai and He Yuzhu.

The two appeared calm, but the underlying awkwardness did not escape his notice.

He Yuzhu probably hadn't understood his feelings for Qin Huairu before, but this time, after being provoked, he ran back from the labor camp, and he should have figured it out now.

But Qin Huairu and the old man had already been caught in the act, and he still dared to marry Qin Huairu despite the spittle from everyone in the courtyard?

And there's also an old man named Yi Zhonghai...

The enforcement team arrived shortly afterward.

Before the two officers could even arrest He Yuzhu, He Yuzhu pointed at Fang Chengxuan and said, "Officers, I want to report this! This man set a trap to harm people, bullied a widow, and engaged in illicit sexual relations!"

The courtyard suddenly became eerily quiet.

You could hear a pin drop.

Fang Chengxuan's lips twitched as he watched He Yuzhu suddenly pull this stunt. This silly Zhu really is a fool.

The law enforcement officer looked at Fang Chengxuan in the direction He Yuzhu had spoken. When he saw it was him, he showed a somewhat ambiguous expression, as if to say: It's you again?

Fang Chengxuan understood the look in his eyes, raised his hand to touch his nose, and gave an embarrassed smile.

"Officers, the situation is actually like this..."

Before he could finish speaking, He Yuzhu interrupted him, his face flushed red: "Comrade law enforcement officer, don't listen to his nonsense!"

Fang Chengxuan rolled his eyes: "I haven't even started saying that yet."

"You're just making things up!"

He Yuzhu gritted his teeth and said, word by word, "This is what happened—Fang Chengxuan used dirty tricks, knocked out an old man and Qin Huairu, stripped them naked, threw them on my bed, locked the door, and set a fire, deliberately luring everyone to catch them in the act!"

The people in the compound were staring at this side, their eyes full of frustration.

"In the dead of night, who doesn't lock their door? How could someone outside drag someone out of their house?"

Someone picked up on He Yuzhu's words, their tone sarcastic.

"Besides, even if someone could knock out Grandpa and Qin Huairu, would they still be able to pull off that kind of thing?"

Another voice chimed in with a sarcastic tone.

Anyone who's been married knows that that kind of scene can't be faked.

Fang Chengxuan stood to the side, watching this farce, and thought to himself: This has suddenly created an unexpected situation. How will it end?

He Yuzhu's move effectively knocked down two people with one blow.

Several uniformed men looked at He Yuzhu, then glanced around. "Looks like something's really wrong. You guys come back to the station with us and we'll talk."

That evening, a group of people were taken to the law enforcement office and questioned one by one.

The people in the compound were bored, so they all went over to watch the excitement.