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

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Li Weidong waved his hand, "If I can't finish it, it's mine. Why should I offer it to her? Who is she to me? You expect me to offer her something just because you ask?"

He said in a nonchalant tone, "Master Yi, morality is for self-discipline, not for controlling others. As long as I don't break the law, I can do whatever I want."

Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth: "Then I'll buy it, okay?"

"no."

Li Weidong shook his head, "I don't want to be labeled as a speculator."

As he spoke, he cut off two strips of fatty meat, each about the thickness of a thumb, rolled them up in a pancake, and handed them to Xiaoxi: "Take these to your two older sisters."

"Okay!"

Xiao Xi put the half-eaten pig snout on the table, grabbed the rolled pancake, and skipped into the main room.

Yi Zhonghai's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and he turned and left.

He returned to the deaf old woman and shook his head.

"That little beast!"

The deaf old woman muttered a curse under her breath, picked up her stool, and went back into the house.

Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui followed them inside.

"We can't let him stay in the yard."

The deaf old woman gritted her teeth, "If he hadn't come back, Zhu Zi's wife would have been—"

"Forget it, old lady, you can't get rid of him. He's a martyr's family member."

Liu Haizhong interrupted her.

Before he could finish speaking, Yan Bugui chimed in, "He's just an ordinary person; you can't scare him. What can you do with him?"

"Stop talking."

Yi Zhonghai's face darkened. "He'll report to the factory tomorrow. I'll talk to them and arrange for him to work under me and learn a trade. How I deal with him then is entirely up to me."

Just then, the three saw Jia Zhangshi, carrying a stick, rush into the backyard like two wild boars, heading straight for Li Weidong.

"That Jia Zhangshi, she loses her mind when she sees something delicious."

Yan Bugui shook his head. "Would Li Weidong give her meat?"

"Do you really think everyone's as easy to fool as Sha Zhu?"

Just as Li Weidong pulled Xiaoxi into his arms, he saw two chubby little guys, one big and one small, rushing over.

The leader was a seven or eight-year-old boy with a watermelon-shaped haircut, a face full of fat, and eyes with more white than black in them, making you want to slap him.

"Give me meat!"

The boy rushed up and yelled.

"Fill it up!"

The little boy held out a large bowl, so big that it could hold three pounds of meat.

"Who are you? Why should I give you meat?"

Li Weidong frowned.

"I'm a pheasant! You took my bicycle and sewing machine, so you owe me meat!"

Banggeng tilted his head back, speaking in a very arrogant tone.

A crowd of onlookers stood in the distance.

Xu Damao was standing at the entrance of the west wing, while Liu Haizhong's three sons were standing in the east wing.

"Get lost!"

Li Weidong's eyes widened.

He really wanted to slap him.

"You have to hand over all the meat!"

Only then did Jia Zhangshi come closer, saying, "You've taken all my sewing machines, so what's wrong with taking some of your meat? These two good-for-nothings are eating happily here, while my Banggeng is growing and needs nutrition, don't you understand?"

"Yes! I need nutrition to grow, give me some meat right now!"

Banggeng followed suit.

Jia Zhangshi stared at the half-eaten pig's head, her saliva practically drooling: "Give it to me now! You swallowed my sewing machine..."

The aroma emanating from the fatty meat made her eyes glaze over.

"You little bastard who killed your parents, give me the meat!"

The stick reached out and grabbed it.

"**!"

Li Weidong slapped him across the face.

The stick was hit so hard it spun around twice before falling to the ground with a thud.

"Ouch—it hurts so much!"

Banggeng howled at the top of his lungs.

Jia Zhangshi was so frightened that she withdrew her hand. After slapping him, Li Weidong casually grabbed a kitchen knife. The meaning was clear—if anyone dared to reach out again, he would chop off their hand.

The three old men in the deaf old woman's house all ran out, and onlookers from afar also gathered around.

"Grandpa, come quick! This bastard slapped my grandson!"

Jia Zhangshi plopped down on the ground, slapping her thighs with both hands and crying loudly and melodiously.

But in the end, she didn't dare to call the "little bastard" a child.

The three words were spoken.

"Li Weidong, even if you're in the right, you can't hit people!"

Yi Zhonghai rushed forward, brandishing a moralistic cudgel, "No, it's that you can't hit children! Don't you understand respecting the elderly and caring for the young?"

"Yes! You have to pay me back! Give me fifty dollars, and all the meat!"

Jia Zhangshi shouted at the top of her lungs, her eyes fixed on the pig's head meat. Foul-smelling saliva dripped down the corners of her mouth.

"Get out of here, all of you! Or I'll report you to the authorities."

Li Weidong was too lazy to waste words with them.

One sentence stunned Jia Zhangshi. She knew in her heart that she was in the wrong and was just trying to gain an advantage by throwing a tantrum.

Right now, Jia Dongxu hasn't gotten into trouble yet, and Jia Zhangshi is still only a half-finished product. There are some things we still need to be careful about, so that Jia Dongxu can't hold his head up when he goes out.

"Weidong, I've watched you grow up."

Liu Haizhong walked over with his hands behind his back and his pregnant belly protruding. "You weren't like this before. It's probably because you suffered some trauma after your father passed away, and your mental state hasn't been quite right..."

Liu Haizhong strode closer, his eyes fixed on Li Weidong like nails to a pig's head, impossible to remove. He spoke, his voice dripping with venom, immediately labeling Li Weidong as mentally unstable. If such rumors were to circulate too often, even falsehoods could become accepted as truth, making it much easier to manipulate Li Weidong in the future.

Xiao Xi hugged a rough porcelain bowl bigger than her head, her whole face almost buried in it. She slurped down a mouthful of hot millet porridge, then lifted her mouth and took a big bite of the pig's head meat in the bowl. Her cheeks were covered in oil, making her look like a cat with a dirty face.

"**Did you stuff dog poop in your mouth with your bangs?**"

Li Weidong jumped up immediately, "You start spewing filth the moment you open your mouth? Saying I'm mentally unstable? Fine, I'll go call the police right now to settle this—"

Yi Zhonghai was so angry his teeth itched, but he still had to smooth things over for his incompetent teammate. "Alright, alright, Uncle Er just speaks too quickly, he didn't mean it that way."

He frowned and said, "We're talking about your 'stick-hitting' joke right now..."

"Pay up! Five hundred yuan, not a penny less! And this pig's head meat, it's all mine!"

Jia Zhangshi started howling at the top of her lungs, making a noise no different from slaughtering a pig.

"Get out of here, all of you! If anyone tries anything underhanded or disruptive, I'll call the police."

Li Weidong gritted his teeth and cursed, "You guys have skin as thick as a city wall, you think you can take advantage of me?"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned ashen, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Sister-in-law Jia, hurry up and take the corn stalks home!"

"Uncle, I'm still growing, I need to nourish my body..."

As soon as Banggeng stopped crying, he rolled his eyes and continued speaking.

These words must have been taught by Jia Zhangshi!

Bang Geng's eyes are somewhat similar to Yi Zhonghai's, mostly white with little black, and when he makes that expression, he looks like a dead fish.

"Alright, alright, Banggeng, be good and go back now. Grandpa will buy a whole pig's head tomorrow."

Yi Zhonghai said, "I'm not that kind of stingy person!"

Jia Zhangshi wanted to speak again, but Yi Zhonghai glared at her, so she could only obediently stand up, grab the stick, and leave. No matter how shrewish Jia Zhangshi was, she knew that her son worked in the factory and needed Yi Zhonghai's help, so she couldn't afford to offend this guy.

Yan Bugui had been watching the commotion from the sidelines, but now Liu Zhonghai's face was flushed red as Yi Zhonghai dragged him into the deaf old lady's room.

"Xiao Xi, you can't keep chewing."

Li Weidong pinched Xiaoxi's cheek, "Hurry up and have your sister wash your face."

Lin Yurou and He Yushui were also stuffed. The two of them were busy in the kitchen, using large spoons to skim the oil off the braised noodles.

"Yu Rou, give me some of the braising liquid."

Yan Bugui brought over an enamel mug bigger than a human head and said, "This stuff is incredibly fragrant when used for stewing or mixing with noodles."

Seeing Lin Yurou look up at him, Yan Bugui secretly felt smug: this vat of braising liquid contained a lot of spices, and more importantly, it could produce a lot of oil. He was eyeing the layer of oil on top of the braising liquid.

Before Lin Yurou could speak, Li Weidong came over carrying a wooden basin.

"Xiaorou, pour the braising liquid into a wooden basin, soak the meat in it, and it won't spoil even if you leave it until tomorrow night."

Li Weidong said, "Get lost, you irrelevant people."

Yan Bugui slunk away, but he still managed to take the two bones from the pig's chin with him.

Xiao Xi, with her sharp eyes, shouted at the top of her lungs, "Brother, brother! Third Grandpa took those two bones!"

Upon hearing the commotion, Yan Bugui quickened his pace, almost running out of the yard.

"Alright, they're just two bones anyway, might as well throw them away."

Li Weidong waved his hand, "Xiaorou, take Xiaoxi to take a bath. I'll cool off outside."

Inside the deaf old woman's house, Yi Zhonghai sighed: "Li Weidong has been too wild outside. Once he gets into the factory, I'll have to teach him a lesson."

Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth and chimed in, "Exactly! Once he gets into the factory, it'll be a piece of cake for the two of us to deal with him!"

"Old Liu, you're not right. What do you mean by 'discipline'? We're all from the same compound; I was just disciplining him."

Yi Zhonghai said with a righteous expression, "He needs to understand what unity means, what respecting the elderly and caring for the young means, and what it means for everyone to look out for themselves."

"snort."

Liu Haizhong snorted dismissively, turned around and walked away with his big belly sticking out.

Once only Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman were left in the house, the old woman's face revealed a sinister look: "Zhonghai, that little brat can't stay in the yard any longer. If he keeps causing trouble like this, who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into."

"I understand. The question is, how do we get rid of him?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned. "Those old scare tactics don't work on him anymore. He knows too much."

"If this were before, I would have shot him dead!"

The deaf old woman said through gritted teeth.

"Grandma, you can't say things like that carelessly, don't even think about it."

Yi Zhonghai quickly lowered his voice, "If I let it slip in my sleep, that would be troublesome. Don't worry, as long as he gets into the factory, I have plenty of ways to deal with him. It's not uncommon for someone to get injured or die in a factory."

The deaf old woman revealed a sinister smile: "Yes, that's how it should be. Once that brat is down, those two girls will be easy to deal with. The older one can become Zhuzi's wife, and you can adopt the younger one, who will take care of you in your old age and see you off in your final days. It would also be suitable for her to become Banggeng's wife."

Yi Zhonghai nodded: "No problem, I'll give him a hard time tomorrow. His father is a fitter, so that little brat will definitely have to go to the fitter's workshop too. I'll go and give him a heads-up tomorrow morning, and have him learn from me."

Yan Bugui, clutching his two bones, was secretly overjoyed. Hadn't he gotten the better deal after all?

Crack open the two bones, and the marrow inside is rich and fragrant. Throw a few pieces of bone into the pot, add some water and a few cabbage leaves, and you have a delicious soup. It's so satisfying to eat cornbread with this soup.