The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Zhang Meiyun pulled Qi Yulan, who was about to get up, and whispered an explanation: "Auntie, it's not that serious. She just had an upset stomach for two days. I cooked some hot porridge for her, but it didn't help much. I'm really sorry. I was thinking of borrowing some brown sugar from you to make her some brown sugar water."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Qi asked her again, "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital to get it checked out?"

Zhang Meiyun lowered her head, her face flushed, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Really, there's no need, Auntie. I... I guess it might be because the child ate too much meat a couple of days ago."

After saying this, Zhang Meiyun seemed to remember something and suddenly raised her head to explain, "It's not that I blame Dalinzi for the piece of meat, Auntie, please don't misunderstand. It's just that the child hasn't had any oil or fat in a long time, and his stomach probably couldn't handle that piece of meat, which is why he got an upset stomach."

Upon hearing this, Yang Dalin realized that it was still his fault.

He touched his nose a little embarrassedly.

Aunt Qi was quite helpless when she heard that it was because Yang Dalin had given her the meat.

Qi Yulan rolled her eyes at Yang Dalin, stood up and said, "It's all Dalin's fault. He didn't know what was going on and made Dacheng have diarrhea."

Zhang Meiyun quickly said, "It's not Dalinzi's fault. He's a kind-hearted man, and I should thank him. But we're really short of money at home, so I had to borrow some brown sugar from my aunt. If she doesn't have any, then forget it. I'll think of something else."

Qi Yulan patted her hand tenderly and said, "There's brown sugar at home, I'll go and wrap some for you, wait a moment."

Qi Yulan went to the south room and saw the brown sugar that Yang Dalin had brought today. She gritted her teeth and packed half a jin for her.

When it was taken out and handed to Zhang Meiyun, Zhang Meiyun took it and probably felt it was too much, and quickly said, "Auntie, this is too much. Just a little bit is enough. I can't afford more."

Yang Dalin chimed in at this point, "Sister-in-law, you should take it back first. It's alright, it's a reward I received. We can talk about it when we have more money. There's no rush to return it."

Yang Dalin felt genuinely sad when she said this. Judging from how Aunt Qi treated her, the two seemed to have a decent relationship, which explained why she treated Zhang Meiyun much better. This was also partly due to her guilt for having done something wrong despite her good intentions.

Yang Dalin also took out a handful of milk candies from his pocket and handed them to Aunt Qi first, asking her to pass them to him: "Sister-in-law, here's another handful of candies. Consider it a gift for my child. If the child's stomach is still upset tonight, come find my aunt, and I'll accompany him to the hospital."

After bowing repeatedly to express her gratitude, Zhang Meiyun hurried home.

After Yang Dalin left, Aunt Qi told him about Zhang Meiyun while packing her things.

She was also a pitiful person. She reformed her ways, got married, and spent several years recuperating before she could have two children.

As a result, the man got sick and died. The neighborhood found Zhang Meiyun a job in a small factory on the street, doing needlework, earning only eighteen yuan a month.

No wonder Yang Dalin noticed that she walked a little differently than others.

She rarely interacted with other families in the courtyard, afraid that people would look down on her.

Before Yang Dalin came, she and Aunt Qi had a fairly good relationship. The two families were somewhat in the same boat, both raising two children on their own. They would occasionally borrow things from each other and would return them quickly.

She was an ambitious person, but she was unlucky. She found a good man, but he died of illness.

Her husband used to do odd jobs, leaving her all alone at home. He hadn't been able to get married until he finally married Zhang Meiyun, a woman who had reformed her ways. But they didn't have many good years together. She got sick, spent a lot of money on treatment, but it didn't help, and she passed away.

Life was even harder than that of Qi Jia.

Yang Dalin felt uneasy listening to this. He took out ten yuan and handed it to Aunt Qi, saying, "Auntie, why don't you take some money and go to her house to check on her later? Those two children seem more sensible than Bang Geng. I guess they were just greedy that day. The children are too young, so it's best to take them to the hospital to get checked out."

"After all, it was caused by me giving them meat."

When Aunt Qi heard this, she knew that Yang Dalin meant well. She had been willing but unable to help before, but now that Yang Dalin was there for her, she felt more confident.

Aunt Qi refused the money Yang Dalin offered, saying, "I have money here. I'd better go and take a look now. Yanhua, you cook first. I'll take four of the steamed buns you brought, Dalin. I'm really worried."

Meiyun wouldn't have come if she wasn't really in a difficult situation. I'm going to check on the two children.

I won't be back for a while, so you guys eat first, don't wait for me.

Aunt Qi wrapped the four steamed buns that Yang Dalin had brought from the train station in a towel, and then hurried to Zhang Meiyun's house.

Yang Dalin couldn't help but feel a little worried when he saw that his aunt had also left.

She was worried that her good intentions might have backfired, and she was also worried that Zhang Meiyun's silence might have made things worse for the child, which she couldn't bear to do.

Qi Yulan returned a while later; dinner was already prepared at home.

As soon as Aunt Qi came back, she said, "It's alright, the child is fine, just a bit weak from diarrhea. He drank some brown sugar water and his complexion is much better."

Yang Dalin was finally relieved.

I need to be more careful in the future. Families like Zhang Meiyun's probably haven't eaten meat in months, let alone once a month. If they suddenly eat a very fatty piece of pork head, even just one piece, it will give the child diarrhea.

Sigh, life is really tough.

Without the system and the magic pills, I'd probably be starving right now.

Yang Dalin sighed deeply and read a novel for a while before falling asleep that night.

I checked in as soon as I woke up the next day.

"Congratulations on signing in! You have received a box of high-quality antidiarrheal medicine and a box of pills to improve your physical condition."

Yang Dalin took a look and realized that the system had recently started to work exactly as he wished.

It's very thoughtful. Although it's not invincible, it can give you whatever you want, which is great.

Yang Dalin took out two boxes of medicine and looked at them.

The packaging is simple and conforms to current standards for injectable packaging.

There was also a simple instruction sheet inside. I opened it and saw that each box contained twelve pills that looked like hawthorn pills.

Antidiarrheal pills can stop diarrhea quickly, but pills that improve physical condition are not as magical as they seem. They can slowly improve the body's malnutrition level to a normal healthy level.

That's good. It's not that magical that you can give it to your family or other people to use, but you don't need it yourself.

After washing up, Yang Dalin rode his bike out for a spin before returning with two boxes of pills. He tore off the instruction manual.

He returned and handed the medicine to Aunt Qi, telling her that Wang Cheng could take one pill from the first box.

This is a highly effective medicine for stopping diarrhea. There's another box of medicine to improve physical health. Give one to each of my aunt and the Qi sisters.

Yang Dalin told Aunt Qi that this was a prescription given by a very skilled traditional Chinese medicine doctor he met while working outside.

Aunt Qi asked, "Is this medicine really that effective? Is it expensive?"

Yang Dalin told Aunt Qi, "It's not expensive, but don't give those pills that improve physical condition to others indiscriminately. They gradually improve a person's physical condition."

Aunt Qi asked if she could give Zhang Meiyun a pill. Yang Dalin remembered how thin Sister-in-law Meiyun was yesterday, almost skin and bones, and nodded: "Yes, Auntie. Don't give any to anyone else for now."

Each of you should eat one and see the effect.