All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Looking at the crowd running around in all directions, He Yuzhu felt a little guilty. The Tangshan earthquake in 76 was a part of history, and it was mentioned in the original novel, but he had long forgotten about it. He had been living in this world for more than ten years, and he had lost his sense of foresight and vigilance regarding many things.

Fortunately, Ran Qiuye and the two children were alright, otherwise he would have been guilty of a terrible crime. Putting aside his distracting thoughts, He Yuzhu began to busy himself with various tasks.

When Qin Huairu arrived at her door, she saw Banggeng helping the squinty-eyed old woman out of the gate. Xiao Dang and Xiao Kuihua, who were behind her, saw Qin Huairu and immediately shouted with surprise.

"Mom, Mom, where did they all go? We're so worried!"

Qin Huairu suppressed her panic and responded with a cold face.

"Are you alright? Quickly help your grandma to an open area!"

After saying that, Qin Huairu also started to get busy, pretending that she had just gone to the toilet, but the shadow in her heart could not be eliminated no matter what she did, and the scene of meeting the old man and his wife just appeared in her mind.

Despite all the careful planning, it all fell apart at the last minute. I don't know whether to feel fortunate or sad.

Qin Huairu suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten something. Suddenly, Xu Damao's face flashed through her mind, and her heart tightened. At this moment, several thoughts came to her mind. For example, if Xu Damao was killed, then no one would know her secret.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Qin Huairu quickly shook her head to banish it. The faces of the old man and woman reappeared in her mind. Her affair was no longer a secret. Now, she needed to think about how to get the two elderly people to keep it a secret for her.

Despite her anxiety, Qin Huairu remained calm. Over the years, she had weathered countless storms, and this was not yet the most difficult moment.

The moment Qin Huairu encountered the elderly couple, she had already considered at least three possible solutions. In just a few minutes since they arrived at the inner courtyard, she had already found the best solution.

The kindness of the elderly couple was the best solution for her. She believed that the elderly man would keep it a secret for the time being, and at least not tell anyone else before the earthquake was resolved.

If Qin Huairu had run into her second uncle's family, she would have been in real trouble.

"Things have come to this, we have no choice but to face them," Qin Huairu said, taking a deep breath and speaking to Banggeng with a stern face.

"Banggeng, go to your aunt's husband's house and see if he needs any help!"

Banggeng responded and turned to run faster toward the inner courtyard.

Chapter 88: The Glory Has Faded

Xu Damao was utterly despondent. At this moment, he was only wearing a pair of underwear that had been pulled down halfway, and he was completely naked, lying on the bed unable to move.

The room was shaking violently, the windowpanes were shattered, and the bed frame collapsed on top of him, making him feel like he was really going to die.

The more he tried to move, the more nervous he became. He eventually lost control of his bladder and regained some feeling in his hands. He scrambled to the ground, grabbing at the ground with his hands, completely disoriented. He was utterly pathetic at that moment!

Finally, the door was kicked open, and Banggeng rushed into the room. He immediately saw Xu Damao crawling on the floor and exclaimed in surprise.

"Uncle, how are you?"

Upon hearing the sound of the skewer, Xu Damao felt as if he had heard a duck cry for help.

"Help me...help me!...help me!"

Banggeng rushed forward, helped Xu Damao up, underwear and all, and ran outside.

Although it was a bit strange that her uncle was naked at home alone, Bang Geng didn't think too much about it at the moment. He helped Xu Damao out of the room and all the way to the courtyard before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When Xu Damao arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, most of the people had already come out. Most of them were wearing only a shirt and trousers, and some were wearing underwear, but most of them had covered themselves with their coats.

However, it is rare to see someone like Xu Damao, who is wearing underwear but has a wet crotch, a pale face, and needs to be supported by others.

As a result, most people's eyes were on Xu Damao. An old man and his wife also stared intently at Xu Damao, but their eyes quickly turned to Qin Huairu's family, until they saw Qin Huairu's sullen face in the crowd.

Qin Huairu was clearly preoccupied and did not notice the gazes of the old man and his wife.

However, another aftershock soon struck. The old man couldn't care less about the two people's little squabble anymore. He quickly called on everyone to go inside and find wood and nails after the aftershock to start building an earthquake shelter.

That night, countless people woke up from their sleep, crying and calling out for their relatives. Fortunately, in the courtyard, an old man was there to guide them, and everyone had a pillar of support.

The group began building an earthquake shelter, and after a busy night, everyone was exhausted.

Each household built simple beds using wooden planks and bed boards for everyone to rest, and He Yuzhu only stopped to rest when dawn broke.

He set up two beds so that the elderly couple could rest with their child, while he and Ran Qiuye began moving the household items out of the house.

It wasn't until dawn that He Yuzhu sat wearily on the bed to rest for a while. Suddenly, he looked towards the inner courtyard, and something popped into his mind. He quickly stood up and ran towards the inner courtyard.

Upon arriving at the inner courtyard, they saw a simple wooden bed set up in front of Xu Damao's house. There wasn't even a shed, and other things were scattered everywhere, making it look messy and chaotic.

Xu Damao had already put on his clothes, but he still looked like he hadn't recovered. He lay on the wooden board, groaning and looking listless.

He Yuzhu glanced into his room and, seeing that no one seemed to be there, became anxious and shouted at Xu Damao.

"Where are Xu Damao, Jingru, and Xiaonuan?"

Xu Damao turned around in a daze and saw that it was He Yuzhu. His expression immediately turned sour, and he snorted.

"What's it to you if it's my family's business!"

He Yuzhu was furious and almost exploded in anger, but fortunately, his second uncle was passing by carrying a piece of wood. Seeing this, he quickly pulled He Yuzhu back and said something.

"He must have gone back to Xu Damao's parents' house. We haven't seen him all day yesterday!"

After the second uncle finished speaking, he asked He Yuzhu with some doubt.

"Silly Zhu, why are you concerned about someone else's wife and children?"

Startled by these words, He Yuzhu immediately came to his senses, secretly feeling bitter. He had almost given himself away, and quickly offered an explanation.

"Second Uncle, look at Xu Damao's appearance. I thought something had happened to his wife and children. We're all neighbors, how could I not be worried? Two lives lost!"

Second Uncle glanced at Xu Damao on the wooden bed and nodded in agreement. Indeed, Xu Damao looked as if his wife and children had died.

The second uncle didn't ask any more questions, and left with the piece of wood in his arms.

Seeing Xu Damao's appearance, He Yuzhu was still worried about whether Xu Xiaonuan and her child would be alright. However, he was, after all, Xu Damao's mortal enemy. It was really inappropriate for him to suddenly and rashly care about someone else's wife and child. He could only snort and leave first.

The sudden earthquake has indeed plunged many people and families into hardship. Just after dawn, heavy rain came. Except for the people in the Intermediate People's Court, who were taking shelter from the rain in a tent, everyone was able to stay out of the rain.

The other courtyards, including the streets outside the compound, were filled with people soaked to the bone. After the rain, the compound was filled with a stuffy heat, and everyone felt particularly depressed and irritable.

At this point, even the slightest conflict would lead to a fight, and one troublesome incident after another would inevitably occur in this compound.

Apart from the eldest uncle who had no children, the other two uncles in the compound, along with their children, were all eccentric. The third uncle's children first got into a fight over a few pieces of wood to build an earthquake shelter, which eventually escalated into a physical brawl, and the farce officially began.

He Yuzhu didn't want to deal with these trivial matters at all. He started setting up a temporary stove, discussed with an old man, and agreed to take charge of the cooking. Everyone brought out their own rice, flour, oil, and salt to get through the difficulties together.

In the afternoon, Xu Damao probably really remembered his wife and children, and hurriedly went to his parents' house to pick up the children.

He Yuzhu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the mother and daughter were unharmed. Both were his children, and he sighed as he looked at the chubby Xu Xiaonuan.

As a result of the earthquake's aftermath, people slept on open-air beds for half a month before gradually moving back into their own homes. The only fortunate thing was that no one in the entire compound suffered serious injuries as a result of the earthquake.

Life seemed to return to calm once again, and the outside world seemed to undergo a dramatic transformation following the earthquake. The big-character posters on the street seemed to disappear overnight.

This terrifying experience completely calmed Xu Damao down. He couldn't stay still; the extreme highs and lows of this experience had completely robbed him of his manhood.

At first, he thought it was because he was in a bad mood lately and therefore didn't have that kind of impulse. But as time slowly passed, it wasn't until half a month later that he realized something was vaguely wrong.

For example, there used to be an 18-year-old female ticket seller at the movie theater. Every time he chatted with her, she would respond. But recently, he tried countless times, and not only could he not chat, but even when he used his imagination, there was no response at all.

He simply couldn't believe it was real. After experimenting on Qin Jingru for several nights, exhausting her to the point of yawning, but her manhood still didn't react at all, Xu Damao completely broke down. He was truly impotent!

Xu Damao felt that his life was bleak. He couldn't imagine becoming a man who couldn't perform his virility. If that thing was useless, how could he still be called a man?

Upon learning this fact, Xu Damao was completely devastated. His narrow-mindedness immediately led him to blame Qin Huairu. If it weren't for Qin Huairu, how could he have ended up like this?

It's all that stinky slut's fault!

Hatred burned within Xu Damao's heart!

Chapter 89: Have you had enough?

Qin Jingru wasn't as panicked as Xu Damao when he suddenly passed away. Although she felt a little regretful, she also felt a sense of relief.

Now that she has Xu Xiaonuan, she has done right by the Xu family. Now that Xu Damao is no longer able to have children, he will no longer nag her about her inability to conceive.

As relaxed Qin Jingru was, Xu Damao was furious. His manhood was gone, and any man knows the pain of that kind of anger.

So Bang Geng started to have bad luck. Although he was able to project movies independently, he was still just a temporary worker.

Previously, Bang Geng had saved his life, but Xu Damao selectively forgot about it. Compared to a man's dignity, the matter of being saved was insignificant. For Xu Damao, repaying kindness with enmity was his principle of life!

Not long after, Banggeng's dream of becoming a projectionist was shattered, and he was reassigned to work as a cleaner on Qianmen Street, where he had to get up at five o'clock every day and clean ten streets before he could go home.

Bang Geng was bewildered and started causing trouble at home again. Qin Huairu was also taken aback. In less than half a month, why had Xu Damao's attitude towards Bang Geng suddenly changed so drastically?

He had just been planning to take advantage of the next couple of days to resolve the matter of the elderly couple bumping into him, but unexpectedly, Xu Damao suddenly pulled this stunt.

Qin Huairu initially thought it was Xu Damao trying to pressure her again, so she didn't take it to heart. She believed that she had everything under control when it came to men's little schemes.

However, Xu Damao was still not satisfied with making Banggeng work as a cleaner, so he started to use his scheming tricks again. One afternoon, Banggeng encountered a few hooligans who wanted to cause trouble on the road. In the end, Banggeng returned home with injuries all over his body.

The squinty-eyed old woman was so frightened that she rushed forward to check on him. Qin Huairu also hurriedly asked what had happened. Bang Geng, with a cold face, said that he had been beaten by some hooligans.

Qin Huairu realized that things couldn't go on like this; the child was wasting his days outside, and she had to quickly get Banggeng a job.

So she found another time and "coincidentally" bumped into Xu Damao at a secluded street corner.

Before she could even speak, Xu Damao stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face, leaving Qin Huairu stunned for a long time.

After Xu Damao finished hitting her, he pointed fiercely at Qin Huairu and threatened her.

"Qin Huairu, you bitch, you just wait, I'll get you sooner or later. Bang Geng better get the hell out of here, or I'll kill him too!"

Qin Huairu was stunned. How could she not be stunned?

Xu Damao had been kept hanging by her for almost a year, and finally decided to complete the transaction because he couldn't take it anymore. However, the transaction was unexpectedly interrupted. According to her guess, it wouldn't be long before Xu Damao would naturally come back to her.

She also felt that the stick incident was just Xu Damao showing off to her, so she didn't take it to heart.

But to everyone's surprise, Xu Damao did not play by the rules and slapped her right away!

Watching Xu Damao's departing figure, Qin Huairu remained expressionless. There must be something she didn't know about this.

Thanks to Xu Damao's interference, Banggeng's dream of becoming a projectionist was completely shattered. Being proud and arrogant, he naturally wouldn't do any cleaning and ran away after a few days.

So he became unemployed again, causing trouble at home every day. When the squinty-eyed old woman saw her precious grandson like this, she also started making trouble, forcing Qin Huairu to find a way to resolve the matter.

Bang Geng would come home covered in bruises every few days. This fearful life was tormenting Qin Huairu. Xu Damao's sudden hatred left her still confused about the reason.

Qin Huairu observed Xu Damao's house carefully for several days but did not notice anything amiss, though Xu Damao's vicious warning remained vivid in her mind.

Although Xu Damao no longer holds the power he once had, Qin Huairu knows him perfectly well. If Xu Damao is given a chance, he will definitely rise again. Who knows if future policies will change?

Moreover, Xu Damao made no attempt to hide his hatred for her that day. She had only ever seen Xu Damao use that kind of hatred on Lou Xiao'e. Most importantly, she still didn't understand why Xu Damao hated her.

Although the two of them didn't end up together that day, he had already made his attitude very clear. The failure was entirely due to unforeseen circumstances. Logically speaking, Xu Damao shouldn't hate him so much for this, unless there was something he didn't know about it.