Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

I thought the whole courtyard was fast asleep, but as soon as I walked into the shadows in front of the Jia family's house, a fat figure suddenly darted out.

It was Jia Zhangshi.

Those triangular eyes glowed green in the night, making them look no different from a hungry wolf in the wild.

"Oh my god! You idiot Zhu, where did you go rolling around in a cesspool? It stinks!"

Jia Zhangshi exaggeratedly covered her nose, looking disgusted.

But his old eyes were fixed on the bulging bundle in He Yuzhu's arms, his greed evident, and he had no intention of hiding it.

He Yuzhu's tongue was tied from the cold: "Auntie... I... I got some good stuff for Sister Qin..."

Before she could finish speaking, Jia Zhangshi's old hands, which had been practicing snatching food for half her life, suddenly pulled her away.

"Wow! This portion size! Is it made with wheat flour? And it even tastes like meat!"

Madam Jia let out a low shriek and snatched the bundle away. The heavy weight of it made her wrinkled face break into a wide, wilted smile.

"Auntie, that's..." He Yuzhu hurriedly took a step forward.

"Alright, alright, at least you, you silly Zhu, have some conscience and know that my Bang Geng is at the age where he's growing."

Madam Jia rolled her eyes, nimbly darted into the room, and with a "bang," the door slammed shut, sending a gust of cold wind flying into He Yuzhu's face.

Immediately afterwards, a cold reprimand came from behind the door: "You stink! Go back inside and wash up! Don't stand there and spread bad luck to our dog! It's disgusting!"

He Yuzhu stood frozen in place.

Her bosom was empty, and her family heirloom jade pendant was gone.

He looked down at his filthy beggar clothes and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

"Achoo—!!"

A loud sneeze made the jujube tree in the yard tremble twice.

He stood alone in the icy water, looking at the faint light shining from the windows of the Jia family's house, listening to the cheers coming from inside, and a tragic and triumphant feeling rose in his heart.

"Sister Qin...we can finally eat meat tonight. It was worth it! All this suffering wasn't for nothing!"

Meanwhile, through the crack in the window of the west wing.

A fictional hamster is perched on the windowsill, making a remarkably human-like gagging motion.

Unbeknownst to He Yuzhu, the old man who had taken the jade pendant was polishing the mutton-fat jade under the moonlight.

The lustrous sheen flowed around it, and the old man clicked his tongue in amazement: "This is truly a genuine club."

He Yuzhu squatted by the sink, his hands trembling as he turned on the faucet.

"hiss--!"

He frantically rubbed the mud off his hair with his hands, which were covered in chilblains.

"It doesn't smell anymore... it won't smell after washing..."

He muttered nervously.

Suddenly, a strange fragrance drifted over the wall on the wind.

That's the smell of rendered lard.

In the sizzling iron pot, the fat sizzled, and the oil mixed with the aroma of meat burst forth.

He Yuzhu froze.

He took a deep breath, a twisted smile spreading across his face.

He felt that the oil in that pot wasn't being refined for the Jia family, but rather for the very core of his heart.

"It was worth it," he muttered to himself, wiping the cold water from his face and striding back into the icy room.

There was no fire in the house; the coal briquettes had long been given to the Jia family.

He Yuzhu crawled into the hard quilt, his stomach rumbling.

He pulled out two frozen, hard black cornbread buns from the corner of the table and took a big bite.

"Click!"

The cornbread was so hard that it cracked his gums.

A sip of cold water, half a steamed bun.

He Yuzhu chewed on ice shards, but pressed his ear against the wall.

On the other side is paradise.

"Grandma, these fried dough sticks are so crispy! I want to eat the biggest one!" Banggeng's cheerful voice came through the wall.

"Eat, eat quickly! My good grandson, this is good stuff!" Jia Zhangshi's hoarse voice was full of joy.

He Yuzhu smiled slightly, and even though blood was flowing from between his teeth, he felt that the cornbread tasted like meat.

He was waiting, waiting for a compliment from Qin Huairu.

Even a casual "You've worked hard, Zhuzi" is enough for him to get through the winter with that little bit of warmth.

However, the next second, Jia Zhangshi's tone suddenly rose:

"Pah! Qin Huairu, smell this meat! It reeks! Were you blind when you bought it? This is either diseased pork or something you fished out of a latrine!"

"It's just our bad luck to have such a brainless idiot. Look at the way that Sha Zhu was carrying the meat, like a latrine cleaner, his bundle was covered in black mud! If anyone gets sick from that meat, I'll make that childless guy pay with his life!"

The half-eaten cornbread in He Yuzhu's hand fell onto the quilt.

That was the meat he risked his life to save while lying in the cesspool.

"The old lady is picky... the meat has been kept in her bosom for a long time, so it does have a bit of a smell..." he muttered to himself, trying desperately to find a reason for her.

But reality slapped him in the face.

"Grandma, you're absolutely right!" Banggeng's disgusted voice rang out. "Shazhu was at the door just now, and he almost suffocated me with the stench. Don't let him in again, he's filthy! Don't let him infect me with his disease."

"Eat up, shut your mouth," Qin Huairu said.

Her voice remained gentle, but offered no explanation or pity.

"Eat more fatty foods to replenish your energy," Qin Huairu said calmly. "In this world, if someone is willing to serve us like a beast of burden, then accept it. Say less unnecessary words, lest you cut off your own escape route."

boom!

Is that his Sister Qin?

The woman who mended his socks and blushed as she called him "Pillar"?

It turns out that behind all that tenderness lies such coldness.

"So... I'm just a beast of burden?" He Yuzhu's eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

A strong sense of shame surged through his chest, and he wanted to rush over and throw the lard in the old hag's face!

He wanted to tell them: That's what I traded for with my ancestral jade pendant! I guarded it in a cesspool!

His hand had already touched the door latch when he heard Jia Zhangshi burping from next door.

"Huai Ru, I think Sha Zhu has been a bit distracted lately. Tomorrow, do the same old thing as always, go help him tidy up the house, and shed a couple of tears."

Jia Zhangshi sneered, "As long as we keep him hanging on, making him feel that we can't live without him, even if he dies, he'll die on the way to deliver grain to us."

"Mom, I know." Qin Huairu's voice was firm. "I know Zhuzi. He's very proud. As long as he thinks he's a hero and can protect us, he'll be happy even if he has to eat dirt."

He Yuzhu's hand slipped softly to the ground.

He sat there blankly.

But then, a morbid emotion began to grow wildly from the bottom of his heart.

"Did you hear that, He Yuzhu?" he muttered to himself in the darkness, "They're plotting against you... because they can't live without you."

"Of all the children in the ward, only you can keep them alive. Without you, they would starve to death. They can't live without you..."

"Sister Qin was tired. She felt guilty and was afraid I would become too arrogant. That's just how the old lady is; the closer someone is to you, the harsher she scolds them."

He picked up the blood-stained cornbread again and stuffed it into his mouth.

He actually laughed.

"Zhou Jianguo...so what if you eat white flour? Does anyone die without you?"

"I do. The lives of these five members of the Jia family rest on my shoulders. I am their savior!"

He chewed fiercely, swallowing it all, along with the blood and humiliation.

At that moment, he felt that he was not a useless person who crawled through a dog hole, but a saint.

A satisfied snore came from next door.

He Yuzhu curled up in the damp, cold bed, a sense of vanity rising in his heart.

"Sister Qin, get a good night's sleep."

In his dream, he saw Qin Huairu dressed in a red wedding gown, beckoning to him from a yard piled high with pork: "Zhuzi, come quick, how can we live without you..."

backyard.

[Ding! Detected a highly distorted mental state in He Yuzhu. The shackles of the "God of War" have been completely broken, transforming him into a "loyal and devoted father."]

[Reward: High-level hallucinogenic mold; recommended placement: Jia Family Cellar.]

Zhou Jianguo's eyelids drooped slightly.

"The acting was good, but a mental victory alone isn't enough. Tomorrow, it'll be time to let this morbid sentimentality grow some mold."

There's going to be something fun tomorrow.