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

Qin Huairu is right; Yang Dalin is the only one who could borrow money from Yan Bugui's family.

No one else should even think about it.

This remark drew laughter from some people.

Qin Huairu then continued, "So, I thought he called the wrong name."

As soon as he stepped outside, Teacher Yan started yelling that my family's dog, Bang Geng, had cheated his family out of a dollar.

I thought to myself, Teacher Yan wouldn't slander our family over a single yuan. Fearing there might be a misunderstanding, I quickly went back inside to ask my son.

When asked what happened, the answer was...

Yan Bugui was getting a little anxious: "Alright, Qin Huairu, I guess I'm just unlucky. I'll accept it. I won't let your family pay back that one yuan."

Let's just let this go.

Qin Huairu was not one to stay put.

If we don't make Yan Bugui lose face and bleed a little today, and if we don't take this opportunity to escalate the situation, who knows how many people will dare to bully their family?

I originally thought I'd use Yang Dalin to set an example, but I ended up kicking a hornet's nest.

This time, there's a free target for establishing authority.

She wouldn't give up so easily.

Qin Huairu refused to accept the offer, saying, "No, please don't, Teacher Yan, what do you mean by admitting it? You should just let it go."

You said forget it, so be it.

You come here to cause trouble, and then you just leave it at that?

If you don't explain the whole story clearly, what will people say about our family tomorrow?

Don't we care about our reputation?

Do you think we widows are easy to bully?

I still need to uphold this principle today.

We must make this clear and let everyone judge for themselves.

To avoid people spreading bad rumors about our family.

Yan Bugui was in an awkward position.

As the ancients aptly put it, "Women and petty men are the most difficult to deal with."

What's the point of reasoning with a woman? Even if I were right, I couldn't get anywhere with her.

He stopped wasting his breath on Qin Huairu.

He went directly to Yi Zhonghai and said, "He's an old man, let's just leave it at that."

"We don't want that one yuan; consider it a donation for poverty alleviation. We're going back now."

Damn, Yi Zhonghai was also dissatisfied after hearing this.

What do you mean by "using your family's assets to help the poor"?

If you're in the wrong, talk it out properly and apologize.

My older brother will still give you some face out of consideration for your past.

Didn't you see Qin Huairu's face turn red with anger when she heard that?

If I let you go today, won't Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi hate me?

I don't want to have anything to do with their family anymore.

Yi Zhonghai stepped directly to block Yan Bugui's path: "Teacher Yan, please don't. You should wait for Qin Huairu to explain things clearly."

Besides, what do you mean by poverty alleviation? It's not a big deal for you to give just one yuan.

Is it proper for a teacher to talk like that?

Whom do you look down on?

Yi Zhonghai glanced at Qin Huairu, and when he said this, he did notice that Qin Huairu's complexion had improved a bit.

Okay, it works.

Today, we must handle this matter fairly and justly.

He also wanted to show his adopted children how he behaved.

You can't compromise, or your family will have no good days.

Then he continued, "Alright, no one from your family can leave first. Old Liu, move a chair over to the main hall. If you're blocking them, we'll have a big meeting today."

At home, someone is cooking and sitting in a pot. They go home, turn off the stove door briefly, and then come back immediately. Three minutes later, they start a hospital-wide meeting.

Xiumei called the old lady from the backyard over as well.

Please invite her to attend as well.

To avoid accusations that Lao Liu and I are biased towards others.

Yan Bugui could tell that Yi Zhonghai was determined not to give him any face at all.

He was about to lean over and whisper a plea for Yi Zhonghai's life.

Unfortunately, Yi Zhonghai didn't give him a chance at all.

She stood directly in the same spot as Liu Haizhong.

They blocked his way home.

Others went home and closed the stove door, or took the pots off the stove.

It's a big commotion, a big event. It's okay to eat a little later.

Watching the excitement is more appealing.

Three minutes passed quickly.

Qin Huairu also called out "banggeng".

Then a standoff ensued.

The matter was quickly clarified.

Yan Bugui wanted to ask Banggeng about the story Yang Dalin had told him yesterday at school.

As a result, the story that Banggeng wrote for him was not satisfactory.

Because it's incomplete, it's riddled with typos, and much of it is in pinyin.

Then Yan Bugui felt bad about losing that one yuan, so after returning home, he angrily went to the Jia family, wanting Bang Geng to return the money.

Bang Geng doesn't think his writing is bad at all; he just thinks I wrote a story.

Since I've already received the money, I shouldn't return it.

Qin Huairu recounted what had happened.

Yang Dalin never expected that he would get caught up in the gossip himself.

Yi Zhonghai had just heard Yang Dalin mention this matter yesterday.

I really didn't expect that shameless Yan Bugui would actually do such a thing.

Apart from Yi Zhonghai and Yang Dalin's family, no one else knew what Yan Bugui wanted to do with this story.

We don't know Yan Bugui's true intentions.

Who would spend a dollar to find a child to listen to a story? That would be foolish.

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand: "Dalinzi, this matter involves you. Please explain the cause and effect of this matter so that everyone knows the reason."

Yang Dalin stepped forward and said, "Okay, I'll explain the situation. I won't comment on how to handle it; that's a matter between the two of you."

I will only explain why Yan Bugui did this.

This all started yesterday when I was telling stories to the children in the yard.

Yesterday, I guess everyone heard my story, but many people probably didn't hear the whole thing, only half of it.

Or an ending.

Everyone thinks the story is pretty good, right?

The children listened with great interest, right?

"Yes," was the response from the adults when Shazhu and the others didn't hear the complete story.

"Yes, it sounds nice," was the answer from Li Guorui's children.

Yang Dalin continued, "Then, after I finished speaking, I was about to go home to get some wine and go have a drink with Brother Da Mao, right?"

That's when Yan Bugui came to me.

He wanted me to repeat it.

Then, he wrote it down with a pen.

Submit it to newspapers or publications.

As everyone knows, once an article is accepted for publication, you will receive a fee, and it can be quite substantial.

Yan Bugui offered me a 20/80 split, meaning he'd take 80% and I'd take 20%. As soon as I heard that, I refused without even thinking.

This story is based on some true events I heard while traveling for work, which I then embellished and made up.

Although this is not entirely my original work, why should he, who only copied it once, take 80% of it?

Isn't that too greedy?

Who does that?

Right?

Furthermore, they plan not to mention their name and will only write their own.

Yan Bugui was now ready to defend himself.

"How could that be, Dalinzi? How could I not write your name? Didn't we discuss the issue of signatures yesterday?"

Didn't I later agree to split the royalties 50/50, half for each of us?

This story needs revision, wording, and will waste time, paper, and pens. It's not as simple as you think.

The government has already acknowledged that mental labor is also labor, right?