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

11

Fang Chengxuan's eyes were filled with sarcasm.

"Who can you hide your affair with Qin Huairu from? You're only protecting her because of your own shady dealings. I didn't listen to you, I refused to support her family, and that becomes my fault? You just want to kick me out?"

"Just because I didn't take you seriously and embarrassed you, the other people in the courtyard followed suit, and now nobody listens to you, so you're unhappy."

"How many times did you and Qin Huairu secretly instigate He Yuzhu to come to my house and cause trouble?"

"Sir, please tell me the truth with your hand on your heart."

"Oh, right."

"Your conscience is long gone. When you were using the guise of helping others to grope widows in the middle of the night, doing those things behind the old ladies' backs, your conscience was already fed to the dogs."

"What you say means nothing."

"Yi Zhonghai, you're just a hypocrite, a filthy old bastard. You live in the same courtyard, and you even call Jia Dongxu's father 'brother,' yet you're having an affair with his daughter-in-law. Aren't you afraid the Jia family will come after you at night?"

Fang Chengxuan pointed at Yi Zhonghai and spoke one sentence after another without stopping.

With each sentence he heard, Yi Zhonghai's face paled, and by the time he heard the last sentence, his face was deathly pale, and he staggered back two steps.

The neighbors gathered around in twos and threes, whispering among themselves.

"In that case, although Fang Chengxuan messed around for the first three months after entering the hospital, he didn't provoke anyone. Later, when he turned over a new leaf and accused Bang Geng of stealing chickens, it was only after the Third Uncle and the others first pinned the blame on him that he was able to prove his innocence."

"On the day of the hospital-wide meeting, the old man's words were indeed directed at Fang Chengxuan, which is why Fang Chengxuan turned hostile."

"Later, an old man protected Qin Huairu and told Xu Damao not to pursue the matter, and Xu Damao also turned hostile."

Everyone chimed in, and by the end, they all nodded in agreement.

"Thinking about it carefully, Fang Chengxuan really doesn't pay much attention to the people and things in the hospital."

"It was all those guys—Uncle Yi, He Yuzhu, Qin Huairu, and the others—who came to us on their own initiative. If Fang Chengxuan hadn't been so capable, he'd probably be the one in jail right now."

The spittle flying around in the courtyard nearly drowned Yi Zhonghai.

"That old bastard is a real scoundrel. He calls Jia's father 'brother,' but then he turns around and sleeps with his daughter-in-law!"

Yi Zhonghai's face tightened, and his ears burned.

"Why are you all making a fuss? Jia Dongxu entrusted me to take care of the Jia family. My affair with Qin Huairu was all a setup!"

He gritted his teeth, repeatedly emphasizing that he had been "tricked."

Three words.

It seems that if I repeat myself a few times, I can really absolve myself of all responsibility.

Looking up, I met Fang Chengxuan's eyes—clear and piercing, like knives, drilling straight into the bones, tearing away any fig leaf.

Yi Zhonghai turned his face away, not daring to look again.

"You guys don't know anything!"

After saying that, he picked up the bag of grain, pushed through the crowd, and walked out.

When I reached the gate of the courtyard, I glanced back.

The people in the courtyard were still whispering and looking at him with disgust, as if he were looking at rotten mud in a ditch.

"What do you know?"

"If I don't do that, I'll be a fucking childless! I just want a child with my own blood, what's wrong with that?"

"Qin Huairu herself didn't say she was unwilling!"

Muttering to himself, Yi Zhonghai gripped the grain sack tightly and walked silently toward the labor camp. His steps were heavy, and his heart felt even more heavy.

Inside the labor camp.

Yi Zhonghai went to find He Yuzhu first.

He put the grain on the ground and said, "Shazhu, I know you're upset, but I have my own difficulties too."

"If you hate him, hate Fang Chengxuan. If it weren't for him, would so much trouble have happened in our compound? Wouldn't everyone be living their lives peacefully?"

He Yuzhu stared at him with wide eyes, without saying a word.

Yi Zhonghai sighed, "Alright, there's no point in me saying anything more. You'll understand when you get out of here. In the whole compound, I only treat you like my own son. Otherwise, why would I care about everyone else but you?"

After comforting He Yuzhu, Yi Zhonghai carried another bag of grain to visit Qin Huairu.

When the two met, one remained silent, while the other covered his mouth and cried.

"Uncle, I just can't swallow this insult. I wanted to catch that brat Fang Chengxuan, but who knew he was so cunning and called the enforcement team directly!"

"I'm sorry, I've made you lose face in this compound. Why don't you take this time to find a good family's daughter and marry someone else? If you still want me, I'm too ashamed to stay here..."

As she spoke, Qin Huairu covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat, and a dark glint flashed in his eyes.

A thought popped into my head: "Yeah, I earn ninety-nine yuan a month and I'm a level eight fitter in the factory. With those qualifications, why not just find any woman who can bear children? Why does he have to marry Qin Huairu? And then drag in Jia Zhangshi and those three burdens from the Jia family?"

After being released from the labor camp, Yi Zhonghai did not go straight back to the courtyard.

After turning a corner, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought a pound of pastries and a pound of melon seeds. Then I carried them to Grandma Li's house.

The old lady was famous in the area for matchmaking.

When Yi Zhonghai entered, he had a smile on his face and walked very briskly.

Grandma Li's words were like knives, stabbing people painfully.

"Yi Zhonghai, you earn a good salary, but your reputation is utterly ruined. Given your age, finding a young, fertile woman will be difficult. Finding someone to settle down with, though, is more of a possibility."

Her eyes revealed her utter disdain.

An elderly man named Yi Zhonghai was trembling all over.

Feeling frustrated, humiliated, and furious.

Walking towards the courtyard with my head down, I had just turned the corner when I saw Qin Ying sitting under the lamp knitting. She looked quite pleasing to the eye in the dim light.

Besides, ever since Qin Ying moved in with Fang Chengxuan, the Fang family has been so clean that there's no other family like them in the whole courtyard.

A thought struck him.

Seeing that no one was in the yard, he leaned closer to Qin Ying and asked in a low voice, "Qin Ying, do you want to find a man and settle down?"

Qin Ying frowned, her eyes wary, and coldly retorted, "Find a man?"

"Look at me, I just got divorced. I was a level eight fitter at the factory, making ninety-nine yuan a month. If you're willing to live with me, I'll give you all my wages from now on!"

An elderly man stood upright, sizing up Qin Ying. Upon closer inspection, he realized that aside from her age, the woman was quite attractive and even looked young.

Qin Ying's face darkened instantly.

He grabbed a broom and shooed them outside, yelling, "Get lost! So that's why you suddenly contacted me, saying you'd introduce me to a man. Turns out you've come here to disgust me."

"You're a slut who steals widows, and I'd marry you? Bah! Look at yourself in the mirror! How dare you say such a thing!"

She was spitting everywhere.

"Who do you think you are? Sleeping with a widow behind your wife's back, and you still have the nerve to show your face here!"

"Are you planning to marry me so you can control me and make me join you in smearing Fang Chengxuan?"

"Keep dreaming!"

"I, Qin Ying, am a person of conscience; I would never do such a despicable thing!"

An elderly man named Yi Zhonghai felt a tightness in his chest from being scolded.

The neighbors in the courtyard peeked in, their eyes full of gossip. He wanted to argue, but didn't know where to begin, so he waved his sleeve and said, "Like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, just as ungrateful as Fang Chengxuan!"

"Is this old man trying to set up a marriage for Qin Ying? Does he not want to marry Qin Huairu anymore?"

Someone whispered to the person next to them.

The man next to him curled his lip and glanced at the old man's retreating figure: "Qin Huairu gave him such a huge cuckold's horns, and with Jia Zhangshi causing trouble every day, no wonder he wouldn't dare marry her!"

"Who would have thought he'd actually set his sights on Qin Ying! Unbelievable!"

"Of course! Qin Ying is from Fang Chengxuan's family. Even if he weren't, how could someone who's having an affair with a widow think she'd be interested in him?"

"Don't be so absolute. Even an old man like you earns at least ninety-nine yuan a month!"

The murmurs were deafening, and they made no attempt to hide it from others.

An elderly man named Yi Zhonghai rushed into the house, his face so gloomy it could drip water. His chest heaved violently, and his breathing was rough and heavy.

Yi Zhonghai had long planned that by marrying Qin Ying and controlling her, he could use her as a weapon against Fang Chengxuan. This woman spent all her time in the Fang family home, hovering around the stove and kitchen; how could she not know about the Fang family's scandalous affairs?

But he never expected that Qin Ying, a woman who had nowhere to go, had been kicked out, and relied on cooking for Fang Lianyun to earn a living, would also look down on him.

This feeling is stuck in my throat, I can't swallow it.

"I refuse to believe it, I have to marry someone young and beautiful."

Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth and struggled against himself.

With a thought, Xu Damao knew how many of the rural girls he showed movies to every few days.

Thinking about it, he picked up his things and headed towards Xu Damao's house.

As soon as he stepped outside, he bumped into Fang Chengxuan, who was returning home.

The two exchanged a glance. One had a knife hidden in his eyes, as if he wanted to chop the other up, while the other's eyes were as cold as ice shards on a river in the twelfth lunar month, enough to freeze you with just one look.

"Acceptance!"

Upon meeting Fang Chengxuan, Qin Ying quickly recounted everything that had happened.

Fang Chengxuan turned his head and stared at Yi Zhonghai again, a smirk playing on his lips: "This old man has quite the scheme, but I wonder if Qin Huairu knows about all this?"

"none of your business!"

Yi Zhonghai snorted coldly and turned his head away.

The neighbors who had been peeking out of the courtyard thought they were going to see a good show, but they dispersed just like that. Someone clicked their tongue and said, "Fang Chengxuan said that the eldest uncle has something on his mind, and the eldest uncle didn't even say anything back. Tsk, it seems that he really wants to marry Qin Ying to deal with that kid from the Fang family."

"Who would have thought this old man was hiding something so well? I used to think he was a good person, but who knew..."

"Who can argue with that?"

These words struck Yi Zhonghai so hard that he stopped abruptly, turned around, and stared intently at Fang Chengxuan, his eyes practically spitting fire.

"You've set me up again?"

"What trap did I set? This wasn't your own idea, old man. You're only getting anxious now that I've called you out on it?"

Fang Chengxuan had a cold smile on his lips.

Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth, staring intently at Fang Chengxuan, but a chill ran through him.

Such subtleties can be hidden in a single sentence.

Can he really handle Ping Chengxuan?

At this moment, Xu Damao limped in from outside, pushing his bicycle, inhaling the cold air as he walked, his body shivering.

"Xu Damao!"

Upon hearing the commotion, Yi Zhonghai rushed over, grabbed his arm, and dragged him toward the Xu family's house, saying, "I have something to discuss with you."

"Ouch—it hurts!"

Xu Damao screamed in pain, his hand slipped, and the bicycle crashed to the ground. He was tripped by Yi Zhonghai and fell flat on his face, the bicycle flipping over and landing on top of him.

Yi Zhonghai was startled and quickly let go, hurriedly pulling the bicycle away to help the person.

"Xu Damao, what's wrong with you?"

Xu Damao lay on the ground, taking a while to recover. He looked up and glared at Yi Zhonghai, annoyed. "What did I do? You almost sent me to my death!"