All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Obviously, this self-deceptive approach was ineffective, because it was already too late when they got home, and Ran Qiuye was already cooking. When she saw He Yuzhu enter the house, she had a long face and was expressionless.

He Yuzhu chuckled and quickly took over the work from her, getting busy while deliberately asking He Zhen about her experiences at school.

He Zhen looks just like his mother, with a long face that resembles the famous actor Fei Xiang. He just started high school in the second half of the year and is already close to 1.75 meters tall, making him a handsome young man with a lively personality.

He Hua is a girl who looks a lot like He Yuzhu, with a round face. If it weren't for her figure being like her mother's, this girl would be ruined. Fortunately, she has always had a cheerful personality. The two siblings surrounded He Yuzhu, laughing and asking him all sorts of questions.

Seeing how enthusiastic the two kids were today, He Yuzhu asked them a question, somewhat puzzled.

"What are you all doing? All of you today?"

He Zhen glanced at He Hua and gave her a wink. He Hua understood and stepped forward, hugging He Yuzhu's arm and saying in a coquettish tone.

"Dad, when is our big brother from the port city coming?"

He Yuzhu paused for a moment, looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression, and asked in a somewhat strange manner.

"What are you doing?"

He Yuzhu said with a chuckle.

"We only met for half an hour last time, and the older brother was very nice. He gave us a lot of gifts. We made a promise that he would bring us two Sony tape recorders next time he came. But it's been several months now, and we still don't have his contact information. Why don't we ask you?"

He Yuzhu snorted. No wonder these two kids were so enthusiastic today; they were after He Xiao. But seeing how well the three kids got along after just one meeting, He Yuzhu was quite pleased.

He was relieved, but he felt a chill down his spine. He turned around and saw Ran Qiuye's cold face looking at the three of them.

Chapter 105: Home with Children

Upon seeing Ran Qiuye's cold face, He Yuzhu immediately remembered that there was this person, and quickly straightened his expression, scolding the two brats.

"Can't you ask your mom for anything you want? Stop always relying on your older brother!"

As He Yuzhu spoke, he raised his eyebrows at the two kids. He Hua immediately understood and went over to Ran Qiuye with a grin.

Only He Zhen remained dumbfounded as she spoke.

"The domestic radio my mom bought us is terrible. It gets stuck on tapes, it's not working well at all, the sound quality is awful, and it can only record for thirty seconds. It's so limited in its functions!"

As soon as He Zhen said this, He Yuzhu knew things were going to go wrong. Sure enough, Ran Qiuye's soft voice came from behind.

"He Zhen, don't even think about getting your living expenses next week. Just bring some pickled vegetables to school to make do!"

He Zhen immediately put on a mournful face and took a liking to Ran Qiuye!

He Yuzhu was also powerless to help, as everyone knew that Ran Qiuye was in charge of the family finances.

He immediately quickened his pace to finish cooking, knowing that it would be his turn to cook that evening.

The next morning, He Yuzhu got up, supporting his aching back. He saw Ran Qiuye looking energetic and busy preparing breakfast. He couldn't help but sigh, "Women are truly amazing creatures."

Last night, I comforted her for half an hour before she finally went to bed, and sure enough, it happened again – five more times in a row.

The fifth time was too much for He Yuzhu, so he begged for mercy. But that heartless woman, Ran Qiuye, used every trick in the book to finally get him to stop. He Yuzhu bit the bed sheet, tears of regret streaming down his face.

Afterwards, Ran Qiuye said, "I don't object to you finding Lou Xiao'e, but I won't leave her a single bit of my 'essence'. She has the ability to make you go back to being eighteen!"

While He Yuzhu was washing up, Ran Qiuye was busy making breakfast. He Zhen had taken a basketball early in the morning and gone outside the compound to play ball with her classmates. He Hua, that lazy girl, hadn't gotten up yet.

He Yuzhu gulped down a mouthful of water, about to spit it out, when he suddenly saw a maid carrying breakfast walking towards the inner courtyard at the gate of the compound.

He Yuzhu quickly spat out the mouthwash and called out to the girl.

"Xiao Nuan, good morning, are you buying breakfast?"

Xu Xiaonuan raised her head, glanced at He Yuzhu, gave him a shy smile, and called out to him.

"Good morning, Uncle Zhu! Yeah, I have the day off today, so I'm buying some breakfast for my mom!"

He Yuzhu nodded. Looking at Xu Xiaonuan's increasingly slender figure, He Yuzhu felt a pang of pity. This daughter was the most pitiful of all his children.

I wanted to go up and ask, but seeing Ran Qiuye next to me, I couldn't go into details, so I pretended to be indifferent.

"Then you should go back first! Um, Xiao Nuan, if you have any difficulties, remember to tell Uncle Zhu. I watched you grow up, and I consider you like a daughter!"

Xu Xiaonuan nodded shyly and quickened her pace into the inner courtyard. He Yuzhu was relieved to see that Ran Qiuye showed no unusual expression and began to wash his face.

Ran Qiuye was busy making steamed buns. She wiped her sweat, looked up at Xu Xiaonuan's back, and said with some regret.

"This child was chubby when he was little, but he's gotten thinner now that he's grown up. Sigh, it's really pitiful for a child without a father. Zhu Zi, I remember Xu Damao should be out soon, right?"

He Yuzhu wiped his face. When Ran Qiuye asked him this, he immediately thought back. Xu Damao went in in 1976, and now it's the second half of 1983, which is eight years. Logically speaking, he should be out soon, right?

However, I heard Qin Jingru say that he behaved quite well inside and had his sentence reduced, so he should have been released by now, right?

Why isn't there any movement?

He Yuzhu immediately replied.

"They should be out around the appointed time. Aren't you off today? Why don't you ask Qin Jingru when you have time?"

Ran Qiuye rolled her eyes at him and snorted.

"Can I ask about this? You know this already; it's a sore spot for Jingru. What would it mean if I suddenly brought it up?"

He Yuzhu nodded. That's true. Because Xu Damao's matter is related to Qin Huairu, no one in the compound has mentioned it to Qin Jingru. It's just unknown whether Xu Damao will come back to settle accounts with Qin Huairu.

Hopefully, after seven or eight years of tempering in the crucible, Xu Damao can turn over a new leaf!

However, according to He Yuzhu's guess, his personality clearly made it difficult for him to turn to the right path. He wondered if the bad boy had evolved or been transformed into an honest and simple person after seven or eight years of education.

Anything is possible, let's wait and see!

After He Yuzhu washed his face, he woke He Hua up and asked her to call her brother back for breakfast. Ran Qiuye took a steamed bun and a bowl of porridge to deliver to the old man. The family ate breakfast quietly, and then Ran Qiuye went out with a vegetable basket.

As soon as Ran Qiuye left, He Zhen sneakily pulled He Hua and walked up to He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu touched his prickly beard, wondering whether to shave it himself or go to Wang Mazi's barbershop at the street corner. When he saw the two men sneaking around him, he scolded them.

"What are you doing here? Your mom just left and you're already looking for me? It can't be anything good. Tell me quickly, I need to go get a haircut!"

He Zhen gave He Hua a mischievous nudge. Every time this happened, He Hua was the one who took the lead, because Dad loved his little sister the most.

He Hua, who also considered herself pampered, rolled her eyes at He Zhen and stepped forward to hug He Yuzhu's hand and shake it.

"Dad, we're planning to go to the Badaling Great Wall with our classmates today. Could you help us with some of the expenses?"

He Yuzhu was shaken so badly he lost his temper. He took out a wallet from his pocket, opened it, and saw that he only had ten yuan left. He Yuzhu coughed awkwardly and reluctantly took out the ten yuan.

"Is ten yuan enough? You know your mother controls the family finances!"

When He Zhen saw that there was only ten yuan, her little face immediately fell, but she still snatched it away anyway.

However, He Hua understood her father well. Seeing He Yuzhu's appearance, she knew there was still hope, so she continued to shake him while muttering something.

"Dad, should I tell Mom that I saw Aunt Lou hugging you in Wangfujing yesterday...?"

He Yuzhu quickly covered her mouth, glanced anxiously at the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ran Qiuye hadn't returned yet.

Although Ran Qiuye knew more about her affair with Lou Xiao'e than anyone else, if this brat brought it up and Ran Qiuye acted impulsively, He Yuzhu would be in trouble again tonight. God, have mercy on me!

Thinking of Ran Qiuye's eighteen martial arts skills, He Yuzhu felt his legs tremble.

"Alright, alright, you brat, I've spoiled you for nothing. Remember, children shouldn't speculate about adult matters. My relationship with your Aunt Lou is purely platonic!"

He Hua hummed and mumbled without saying a word, her small eyes fixed on He Yuzhu, waiting for his response.

He Yuzhu looked around helplessly, glanced at the photo frames on the wall, picked up one of the frames, pulled out a stack of ten-yuan notes from the back, took out two notes and handed them over.

He Hua happily accepted it and ran off in a flash, leaving He Zhen watching him longingly.

He Yuzhu asked in confusion.

"Aren't you all together? Why are you staring at me?"

"Dad, how can I go with her? She's going to Badaling with her classmates, and I'm going to see a movie with my classmates! It's a new American movie, super exciting!"

"You two little devils, trying to trick your dad, huh? Fine, remember, watching movies is fine, but don't start dating early!"

After saying that, He Yuzhu handed over a ten-yuan note. He Zhen took it and still stared at him expectantly. He Yuzhu angrily shouted.

"Movie tickets are 50 cents each, how long do you want to watch for 10 yuan?"

He Zhen pitifully stuffed the ten yuan into his pocket, turned around and left, complaining pitifully.

"Preferring girls to boys!"

He Yuzhu snorted, stuffed the remaining ten-yuan notes into his wallet, and suddenly saw that his wallet was empty. He remembered something and hurriedly shouted at that brat He Zhen.

"He Zhen, I had ten yuan in front of me just now."

Upon hearing that he had been discovered, He Zhen kicked his legs and ran away like a rabbit.

Chapter 106: Life is Like a Little Mischief

Watching the brats' retreating figures, He Yuzhu sighed, humming a little tune, and took out his razor. He decided to take care of it himself. It wasn't easy raising two brats to this age by saving every penny!

Ran Qiuye really does control the finances in He Yuzhu's family. He Yuzhu doesn't dare to talk about his restaurant's profit sharing, mainly because he's worried that Ran Qiuye will be scared if she finds out that he receives over a million yuan in profit sharing every year.

He Yuzhu only mentioned that he still has some shares in the restaurant and receives a monthly guidance fee of 5,000 yuan.

Ran Qiuye still felt that five thousand yuan might be too much, but He Yuzhu could only say that the restaurant was doing well and this amount of money was what he should take, so Ran Qiuye didn't ask any further questions.

However, the five thousand yuan naturally went into Ran Qiuye's pocket every month, and he was not given any living expenses. Although Ran Qiuye did not care about money, he knew that He Yuzhu must have some secret savings, so he did not even give him living expenses.

As for the two children, Ran Qiuye provided them with living expenses strictly according to the living standards of most urban families in Yanjing, which allowed the two rascals to come to He Yuzhu from time to time to ask for a free meal.

However, He Yuzhu would give money, but not too much at once, only ten or twenty yuan. Although this amount was a lot of money for children in this era, it was not much for a high school or junior high school student in Beijing.

Moreover, because the two children had been under Teacher Ran's care since they were young, their academic performance had always been good, which was also the reason why He Yuzhu doted on them.

However, when He Yuzhu thought of another child, he sighed repeatedly. Xu Xiaonuan had been neglected since childhood, but her academic performance was better than He Zhen and He Hua. She should have been in high school this year, but Xu Xiaonuan chose to go to a vocational school.

Although these days, it's harder for vocational school students to get into university than for high school students, He Yuzhu knew what the future held. After high school, students could continue to take the university entrance exam, while vocational school students were directly assigned jobs after graduation.

Xu Xiaonuan only attended vocational school because she was interested in getting a job. When He Yuzhu found out, he had a big argument with Qin Jingru. He made it clear that he was willing to cover all of Xu Xiaonuan's living expenses, including her future university fees and even her future dowry.

While He Yuzhu was furious, Qin Jingru remained calm and composed, finally saying only one sentence in a cold voice.

"He Yuzhu, I will take care of my daughter's affairs myself. As for our family's life, I hope you, an outsider, will stop interfering."

I have a job now, and I can support Xiaonuan, you know? Every time you give me money, I feel guilty, as if I'm betraying Damao again. I feel terrible and depressed right now. I hope you can let my daughter and me go, please!

He Yuzhu was speechless. It turned out that all the help he had given over the years seemed to Qin Jingru to be nothing more than wishful thinking.