The entire courtyard is full of villains

So, where did Zhang Erhe and his family go?

At this moment, he was at his father-in-law's house. During the Spring Festival, he had been thinking about finding a proper job for his brother-in-law, who was turning nineteen. Given their family's social class, relying on the neighborhood committee for a job was out of the question. Fortunately, through Li Huaide's connections, he learned that an elderly purchasing agent at a machinery factory in the suburbs of the city was preparing to return to his hometown, leaving the position vacant. Zhang Erhe then found a way to take over the purchasing agent position.

The family finished their dinner in a lively atmosphere, and the mother-in-law was about to clear the table.

"Mom, wait a moment." Zhang Erhe wiped his mouth, took out a letter of introduction from his bag, and looked at his brother-in-law Guan Linpeng. "Linpeng, come here and take this."

"Brother-in-law, what's this?" Guan Linpeng took it, completely bewildered.

"Open it and take a look."

Guan Linpeng's hands trembled slightly as he opened the letter. When he saw the contents, his eyes widened instantly: "Brother-in-law... this... this is for me?"

“Yes.” Zhang Erhe nodded.

The father-in-law, Old Man Guan, who was standing next to him, had already figured it out. His voice trembled with excitement as he asked, "Erhe...you...you got him a job?"

"Yes. But it's a bit far, in the suburbs. It's not convenient for you to come back often, so you can stay at the factory. In a year or two, I'll try to transfer you back to the steel rolling mill. How about that?"

"Brother-in-law! Thank you! Thank you!" Guan Linpeng said, his voice choked, and he quickly wiped his face. This young man was at an age where he was proud and concerned about his reputation, and he always felt bad about relying on his sister and brother-in-law for support. But he had been physically weak since childhood and couldn't handle carrying heavy loads or doing heavy labor, so this job was undoubtedly a godsend.

The father-in-law was also quite excited. He wasn't an unreasonable person; he knew how rare it was for his son-in-law to have secured such a stable job for his son. "Old woman! Hurry up! Get out that bottle of good wine I've been saving. I'm going to have a good drink with my son-in-law today!"

"Alright, father-in-law. Is your injury... all healed?" Zhang Erhe asked with a smile.

Old Guan smiled somewhat awkwardly: "It's all better now, it's all better now!"

"That's fine then." Zhang Erhe turned to Guan Xue and said, "Guan Xue, give your brother some money and tell him to go out and buy some cooked food. We can't be like the people from Gansu, just sitting there drinking without even having any snacks to go with our drinks."

Guan Xue was incredibly excited. She hadn't expected her husband to give her family such a big surprise without saying a word. Right now, she wouldn't hesitate to buy some cooked food, or even just pick a couple of stars from the sky to enjoy with her drinks.

After a few rounds of drinks, the father-in-law was already quite drunk and his eyes were blurry.

Zhang Erhe spoke again: "Father-in-law, I have another favor to ask of you."

"Good son-in-law, just say it! As long as Dad can do it!" Old Guan patted his chest.

"Here's the thing. As you know, I don't have any elders in my family. Guan Xue is over seven months pregnant now, and I'm at work during the day. I'm always worried about her being alone. How about... my mother-in-law comes to stay with me for a while, and comes back after Guan Xue finishes her postpartum confinement?"

Upon hearing this, Old Guan waved his hand and said, "What do you mean? I agree! Anyway, once our son goes to work, it'll just be the two of us old folks at home."

Guan Bai asked with some concern, "Then... what will you do?"

"What's the big deal? My legs are perfectly fine! I'll have lunch at my son-in-law's, and then I'll just grab something simple to eat when I get back tonight." Old Guan said, looking at Zhang Erhe, "Good son-in-law, you don't mind that your dad comes to your house for a meal, do you?"

"I don't mind!" Zhang Erhe put his arm around his father-in-law's shoulder. "From now on, whenever you come to my house, you can eat whatever I eat!"

"That's great!" Old Guan laughed heartily. "I've heard Jiao Jiao say that you guys are good at eating thieves!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Erhe pretended to be angry and flicked Zhang Jiao's forehead: "You little traitor, you tell everyone in the family!"

Zhang Jiao retorted, "Dad! You already said we can't tell outsiders! But Grandma and Grandpa are family!"

"Yes, yes, yes! They're on our side!" Old Guan said proudly.

After finishing two bottles of wine, Zhang Erhe was a little tipsy and clamored to open a third. Guan Xue quickly stopped him: "Erhe, let's not drink today. Let's wait until we get back tonight... and drink again in a couple of days when we've calmed down, okay?"

Remembering that he had to take his brother-in-law to the factory to report for duty tomorrow, Zhang Erhe readily agreed, then turned to Guan Linpeng and instructed, "Find a place to fix your hair tonight. Do you have any decent clothes at home?"

Guan Linpeng seemed hesitant, wanting to speak but holding back.

"Alright, I'll come over tomorrow morning. We're about the same size, I'm just a bit stronger than you, but you should be able to fit into the clothes. Have your sister find one of my Zhongshan suits from home tonight, you can wear it for now."

"Sister...brother-in-law..." Guan Linpeng's voice choked up again.

"You're a grown man now, stop holding back that horse pee! What kind of talk is that!" Zhang Erhe patted him hard on the shoulder. "Work hard when you go there, or you'll make me lose face!"

Guan Linpeng sniffed hard, wiped away his tears, and straightened his chest: "Brother-in-law, don't worry! I definitely won't let you down!"

Night had fallen, and Zhang Jiao was already fast asleep at her maternal grandfather's house. Zhang Erhe and Guan Xue couldn't bear to wake their daughter, so Zhang Erhe pushed the bicycle while Guan Xue accompanied her, the couple enjoying this rare moment of quiet time together.

As she approached the courtyard gate, Guan Xue suddenly stopped, turned around, and her eyes gleamed: "Erhe, I..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Erhe interrupted her with a laugh: "Want to thank me? How do you plan to thank me? By offering yourself to me?"

Guan Xue's cheeks flushed, and she spat lightly, "Pah! Haven't I been part of your Zhang family for a long time?"

Zhang Erhe licked his slightly dry lips, lowered his voice, and pulled his wife into his arms, breathing warm air into her ear: "We've been abstaining for so long... When we get home later, I'll teach you something new..."

"Zhang Erhe—!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a piercing scream tore through the night! A woman, seemingly insane, burst out of the door and lunged at him, baring her teeth and claws!

"I'm going to fight you to the death today! I'm going to kill you!!"

In a flash, Zhang Erhe's eyes sharpened, and his reaction was astonishingly fast! He instantly shielded Guan Xue in his arms behind his back, and at the same time, he twisted his waist and delivered a fierce side kick to the black shadow that pounced on him!

"Bang—!"

The figure came quickly and went even faster! Like a kite with a broken string, she flew backward, her back slamming heavily against the screen wall of the courtyard gate with a dull thud. This caused her to freeze on the wall for a moment before slowly sliding to the ground like a lump of mud.

If a martial arts expert were present, they would be astonished—this move, "striking someone like hanging a painting," with power penetrating the body and controlled at will, clearly demonstrates that the skill has reached a state of perfection!

Chapter 113 A Second Hua Tuo

A figure suddenly rushed out of the courtyard. He glanced at Yang Ruihua lying on the ground, then pointed at Zhang Erhe, trembling with anger and unable to speak coherently.

"You, you, you... I'll fight you to the death today! I'll trade my old sheepskin for your lambskin!"

But just as he rushed towards Zhang Erhe, the other man lifted his foot, and Yan Bugui immediately stopped, turned around and rushed towards Yang Ruihua, crying out:

"Old Yang! This is outrageous! Zhang Erhe, that bully, hit you, and now he wants to hit me too!"

"Hey, you four-eyed thief, you better explain yourself! I just hit a murderer!"

Yan Bugui glared at him hatefully, then turned to his son and shouted, "Jiecheng! Go to the police station right now! Tell them Zhang Erhe is trying to kill your mother!"

Yan Jiecheng glared fiercely at Zhang Erhe, then turned and ran towards the police station.

"Erhe, are you alright?" Guan Xue hugged his waist from behind, her voice tight.

"It's nothing," Zhang Erhe said in a low voice. "I just held back. It looked fierce, but I'm actually fine."

Sure enough, Yang Ruihua had recovered by now. Although her whole body ached terribly, the shortness of breath she had felt earlier was gone. She groaned twice, "Ouch..."

"Old Yang! Old Yang!" Yan Bugui rushed over.

"Old Yan..." Yang Ruihua replied softly, "I think... I'm not in so much pain anymore."

"Idiot!" Yan Bugui lowered his voice, "Now you have to pretend to be seriously injured! It would be even better if you could spit out some blood!"

Yang Ruihua tried several times but couldn't spit out any blood. So, she gritted her teeth and bit her tongue, pretending to spit out a mouthful of blood with a "poof".

"Ah! He's vomiting blood!" Yan Bugui screamed in agony. "Old Yang, you have to hold on! There are still several children at home, you can't just leave like this!"

Their commotion was so loud that the neighbors who had been waiting for a fuss all rushed out. They saw Yan Bugui kneeling on the ground, holding Yang Ruihua, who was occasionally "spitting blood." The crowd's expressions varied, and their gazes all turned to Zhang Erhe across the way—had he really used excessive force?

"Officers, hurry! My mom's being beaten to death!"

Yan Jiecheng's shouts came from the alley entrance. He was really going all out, running as fast as he could from the police station to the courtyard. As soon as he entered the compound, he saw his mother "spitting blood" in his father's arms.

"Zhang Erhe! I'll fight you to the death!"

Yan Jiecheng was a man after all. If he didn't stand up now, he wouldn't be able to face anyone in the courtyard anymore. But just as he lunged forward, Zhang Erhe kicked him back—Zhang's Double Kick, fast in and fast in.

"Zhang Erhe! What are you doing!" the police officer in charge shouted sternly.

When the others got closer, Zhang Erhe recognized Zhang Guowei.

"Old Zhang, you're here."

Zhang Guowei glared at him: "What's going on?"

“I don’t know either,” Zhang Erhe shrugged. “When I came back from drinking at my father-in-law’s house that night, I saw Yang Ruihua rushing at me, yelling that she was going to kill me. What could I do? I could only kick her back.”

"Then why is he still spitting blood?"

"Who knows?" Zhang Erhe scoffed. "They might just like to spit out blood for fun. After all, it's not normal for a woman not to bleed a little each month. Maybe Yang Ruihua is too old for that, so she has to bleed from above."

"Pfft—" Many people in the courtyard were amused by this remark.

"What are you laughing at!" Zhang Guowei glanced around, and everyone immediately fell silent.

Yan Bugui gently put Yang Ruihua on the ground and rushed over: "Sir Zhang, you have to stand up for us! Zhang Erhe, that bully, beat my wife seriously. You have to arrest him!"

"Alright, Yan Bugui, get up and tell me what happened." Zhang Guowei frowned. He had sensed this man was no pushover when he questioned him at the hospital last time.

"Yes, yes, it's like this..." Yan Bugui sniffed, "I was reassigned at school today. It was all because of that bastard Zhang Erhe who reported me and made me do cleaning! My wife was furious and wanted to confront him. But Zhang Erhe kicked her without saying a word, seriously injuring her! I had no choice but to send my son to call the police. You see, my son came back from calling the police, and he kicked him too, seriously injuring him!"

As he spoke, Yan Bugui secretly glared at Yan Jiecheng—this idiot, why doesn't he learn from his mother? If you also spit out some blood, our family can ask Zhang Erhe for two sets of compensation!

But Yan Jiecheng just kept rubbing his chest and showed no sign of vomiting blood.

"Hey! You four-eyed thief, don't spread rumors!" Zhang Erhe shouted. "When did I report you?"

"You're the one who reported me!" Yan Bugui shouted. "Otherwise, how would the school know I left work early?"

Hahaha!

Yan Bugui was met with an even louder burst of laughter from Zhang Erhe.

"Zhang Erhe!" Zhang Guowei scolded helplessly.

"Alright, Lao Zhang, stop laughing, stop laughing," Zhang Erhe pretended to rub his stomach. "If I keep laughing, my stomach will hurt."

He turned to Yan Bugui, his eyes full of mockery: "Four-eyed thief, you used to rely on being the head of the courtyard, always sneaking back early every day, waiting at the gate to either steal a handful of scallions or a few green vegetables. With your reputation for skipping work early and taking advantage of others, not to mention our courtyard, how many people in this whole alley know about it? Hmm? Now you're trying to pin it on me?"

Zhang Erhe took a step closer, "Let me tell you straight, Yan Bugui, if I really wanted to mess with you, you wouldn't even get to clean the toilets, let alone do chores!"

Yan Bugui's eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat: Could it be... that he really didn't do it? Then who could it be?

But he immediately shook his head vigorously, stubbornly arguing, "Then... then even if you didn't report it! But when my wife came to question you, couldn't you have spoken to her properly? What right did you have to kick her!"

"Oh my!" Zhang Erhe exclaimed exaggeratedly, "Now you know to 'talk nicely'? I had just seen a figure of your wife when she pounced on me, baring her teeth and claws, yelling that she was going to kill me! She said she was going to kill me to scare me, so if I kick her, isn't that also scarening her?"

"You scared her so much she bled!"

"Who knows how that blood came out? And where did it come from?" Zhang Erhe drawled, glancing at Yang Ruihua on the ground. "It could be... sigh, who knows? Maybe that blood was supposed to come from her buttocks. But your Yang Ruihua is always cursing, using her mouth more often than her buttocks. Perhaps the blood mistook her mouth for her buttocks?"

"Pfft-"

"uh-huh!"

The neighbors in the courtyard, who had been trying to hold back their laughter, were amused by Zhang Erhe's rude words and quickly suppressed their laughter, making strange noises.

"I...I don't care! I won't listen!" Yan Bugui started to argue unreasonably. "Anyway, my old Yang is vomiting blood now, and it's because of you! You have to pay compensation! If you don't pay compensation, then we'll have Director Zhang arrest you!"