I, Yan Jiefang, will live to 2025 in this courtyard house.

"Da Mao, you're back!"

The temperature in Beijing in December was already below zero, but Yan Bugui still couldn't let go of any opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Every few days, I still wander around the gate of the yard a few times, hoping to run into a generous neighbor and maybe even get some trivial things.

See, this opportunity has come.

"Oh, it's Uncle San?"

As Xu Damao was pushing his bicycle, he looked up and saw Yan Bugui standing at the gate.

Although he hasn't been an old man for many years, they are still old neighbors, and the way he calls Xu Damao hasn't changed.

Hearing this unfamiliar yet familiar address, Yan Bugui felt happy.

He longed to go back to the past, but everything had changed.

"You've been quite busy lately."

Yan Bugui spoke with a smile, but his eyes were fixed on the sacks on the back of the bicycle.

Those eyes of his were like a scanner.

"Sigh, I'm constantly going to the countryside to show movies to people, how can I not be busy?"

Xu Damao sighed, looking helpless.

"Going to the countryside is great; you can learn something every day!"

Yan Bugui's eyes lit up as he glanced a few more times at the sack on the back of the bicycle.

Who is Xu Damao?

How could they not understand the people in the courtyard? They saw through Yan Bugui's tricks at a glance:

"What are you saying?"

He pulled a bunch of dried mushrooms out of the sack and handed them to him.

"These are just some local mountain produce, please don't find them too cheap."

Yan Bugui immediately grinned so hard his small eyes disappeared, and he quickly bowed and reached out to take it:

"It still has to be Da Mao. You're the most generous one in the whole courtyard. You know how to maintain appearances and understand the old ways of Beijing."

These wild mushrooms are quite chewy.

"Alright, Uncle, you go ahead with your work, I'll go in first."

Xu Damao pushed his bicycle into the yard.

"Take your time, I'll give you a squeeze."

As he crossed the threshold, Yan Bugui helped him lift the back seat of the car.

"Thank you."

Xu Damao thanked him and went into the courtyard.

Back in the backyard, Moth was chatting and eating sunflower seeds with the old deaf man. When she saw Xu Damao return, she just glanced at him and ignored him.

Previously, when she was organizing her dowry, she discovered that the small yellow croakers were missing.

Five are missing!

Needless to say, Xu Damao definitely took it and spent it.

Five gold bars may seem like a lot, but Lou Xiao'e wasn't short of them, nor was she stingy.

The key point is that you, Xu Damao, took so much gold, you should at least have told me, right?

But you just won't!

You have to take it secretly!

Xu Damao parked his bicycle in front of his house and called out to Lou Xiao'e:

"Moth, can't you see I'm busy? There's so much stuff, come and help! You have absolutely no sense of propriety!"

Lou Xiao'e thought that with so many people watching in the courtyard, it wouldn't be good to remain indifferent.

Although somewhat reluctant, I still went over to help move the items.

Apart from a large sack, the rest were three pieces each, and the two of them quickly finished moving them.

Inside the room, Xu Damao sat at the table resting, thinking about what to make for a bite to eat later.

Chicken stew with mushrooms is pretty good.

"Snap!"

Lou Xiao'e slammed an envelope onto the table.

The commotion was quite loud, and Xu Damao was so startled he almost jumped up.

He turned his head and glared at Lou Xiao'e:

"Lou Xiao'e, what's wrong with you?"

The person on the other end tapped the table:

"See for yourself!"

Xu Damao looked down and saw that this was the letter he had sent to that pretty girl in Jiangcheng. How did it end up here?

He immediately picked up the envelope, crumpled it into a small ball, and threw it directly into the stove.

Then just pretend you're stupid:

"What are you looking at? I didn't see anything. Moth, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Xu Damao's shameless behavior almost drove Lou Xiao'e crazy.

She pointed at the other person:

"Alright, let's put that aside for now. Let's talk about something else. Why are five small yellow croakers missing from my dowry that I kept under the cabinet?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao was startled: Oh no, how did Lou Xiao'e find out about this?

But when he took those gold bars, he had already thought of a way to deal with them: to simply pretend he knew nothing about them.

"What? You want to eat yellow croaker? Where can I buy it? I'll go buy a few when I have time and fry them for you, how about that?"

Hearing such shameless words, Lou Xiao'e truly understood Xu Damao today.

"Keep pretending! Keep pretending!"

She pointed at the other person, pulled several sheets of paper from her pocket, and shouted:

"Burning the envelope won't help! Look at this! The letter inside is still in my hands."

"Give it to me!"

Xu Damao never expected that the seemingly silly moth would have this trick up its sleeve. He stood up and immediately stepped forward to snatch it.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Lou Xiao'e dodged to the side and ran towards the door, hoping to get help.

"Grandma, everyone please help! Xu Damao is going to hit someone!"

But Xu Damao not only has a long face, he is also one of the tallest people in the courtyard.

His arms are naturally quite long as well.

He pulled the petite Lou Xiao'e back in an instant and easily snatched the letter away.

No matter how Lou Xiao'e resisted, it was to no avail.

Xu Damao glanced at it and realized that it was indeed a letter he had written.

Immediately knead it into a ball and throw it into the stove to burn to ashes.

With all the evidence destroyed, Xu Damao breathed a sigh of relief.

Now all we need to do is get Lou Xiao'e sorted out.

But before he could take any further action, Lou Xiao'e's earlier cries for help still attracted quite a few people.

Liu Haizhong rushed into the house first and grabbed Xu Damao's arm:

"What are you doing, Xu Damao? You dare to hit someone in broad daylight?"

The others followed suit and pulled the two apart.

"Xu Damao, tell me what happened?"

His expression was unusually serious, though he still looked quite composed.

After all, he had rehearsed this moment countless times in his mind.

Xu Damao, looking helpless, spread his hands:

"Second Uncle, you're all too worried. My wife and I had a little disagreement, it's nothing serious."

Upon hearing the long-lost title of "Second Uncle," Liu Haixin felt as sweet as if he had eaten honey.

His opinion of Xu Damao rose sharply. He patted Xu Damao on the shoulder and his words were clearly biased towards Xu Damao.

"In that case, everyone, let's all disperse."

Then he looked at Ezi, whose face was full of anger.

"Lou Xiao'e, I'm not criticizing you on purpose, but you've made such a big deal out of such a small matter that the whole courtyard knows about it. You're really making a mountain out of a molehill. Be more careful next time."

After saying that, he ignored Lou Xiao'e's expression, took his men and left, and even closed the door for them.

Lou Xiao'e was so angry she couldn't speak.

Xu Damao, standing to the side, looked smug:

"Lou Xiao'e, did you see that? From now on, you'd better behave in this yard and stop thinking about all sorts of nonsense!"

After saying this, he ignored Lou Xiao'e's objections and directly pushed her down to begin his act.

Lou Xiao'e was no match for Xu Damao and was quickly overwhelmed and exhausted.

They even forgot to ask about those gold bars.