The entire courtyard is full of villains

Hu Tiehua quickly described the appearance of Yi Zhonghai's parents to her, as Yi Laonian had told her before.

“That looks like… what my parents look like.” Yi Zhonghai was stunned.

"I don't know either," Hu Tiehua said, feigning ignorance. Then she whispered, "But they told me that I'm sure I can give the Yi family a big, healthy son."

"Good, good!" Yi Zhonghai was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly.

As he stepped outside, several women in the courtyard gathered together and approached him when they saw him come out:

"Hey, Master Yi, congratulations!"

Yi Zhonghai forced a smile and nodded in response, but his heart was aching terribly—all the good wine and meat from yesterday had been fed to these "beasts," and he hadn't even had a taste himself. How could he have been so greedy for just two cups of wine!

Zhang Erhe didn't go to work today either, in the east wing of the front yard.

He was about to leave in the morning when Guan Xue suddenly said she wasn't feeling well. Without saying a word, Zhang Erhe first went to the factory to get Li Huaide's car, then went around to Old Guan's house to pick him up.

"Jiaojiao, you stay home with Grandpa. Daddy will take Mommy to the hospital."

Zhang Jiao was very sensible. She tiptoed and kissed Zhang Erhe, saying, "Dad, you go ahead. I'll take good care of Grandpa."

"Hey," Old Guan chuckled, "Are you worried about me, or am I worried about you?"

"Of course I'm the one who worries about you. Grandma said you've always been a troublemaker."

Guan Xue leaned against the bed, her brows slightly furrowed: "Erhe, is it really necessary to go to the hospital so early..."

"Go there early to put your mind at ease. I've already brought the car."

"That's fine."

Zhang Erhe carefully helped Guan Xue out the door, while Guan Baishi followed behind carrying a pre-prepared bundle. Several women in the courtyard watched, their eyes filled with envy.

"Look at Guan Xue! When she gave birth to her first child, the Zhang family hired a cart to take her to the hospital. This time, Zhang Erhe drove her there himself—she's so lucky!"

"Exactly, unlike us, we can only stay at home when we give birth. The midwives have such strong hands, it hurts like hell..."

Zhang Erhe drove Guan Xue steadily to the hospital. Not long after they settled in, Guan Xue began to experience abdominal pain. Fortunately, it wasn't her first pregnancy, and she managed to stay calm. Less than half an hour after the doctor took her to the delivery room, a loud cry of a newborn baby rang out.

Are Guan Xue's family members here?

A moment later, the nurse came out carrying the swaddled baby. Zhang Erhe rushed forward, only to find his hands were stiff. Guan Baishi, on the other hand, reacted quickly and took the baby from him.

The nurse found it somewhat amusing—she had never seen a father as helpless as Zhang Erhe before.

Guan Bai excitedly and gently lifted the blanket, glanced down, and a smile immediately bloomed on her face:

"Erhe is a small teapot... Your Zhang family's lineage can finally be continued."

When Guan Xue was wheeled out of the delivery room, he quickly went to help the nurses take her back to her ward.

Guan Xue's face paled slightly, but she still asked anxiously, "Erhe, is it a son?"

"Yes."

"That's good..." She breathed a long sigh of relief, a relieved smile appearing on her lips.

P.S.: The book has been reported these past two days. It would be great if you readers could keep up with the updates. Of course, it would be even better if you could support the book with love and give it a five-star review. I'll give you a thumbs up!

Chapter 164 Moving?

After Zhang Erhe settled Guan Xue and her son, Guan Xue urged him to go back quickly, tell Old Guan and Zhang Jiao the news, and also tell them at the graves of his parents-in-law in the village. Zhang Erhe couldn't refuse, so he left the hospital.

What he didn't know was that the news of his having a son had already spread throughout the courtyard.

It turned out that today was also Yan Bugui's discharge day. While Yang Ruihua was busy handling the paperwork that morning, she unexpectedly bumped into Guan Baishi at the hospital. A thought struck her, and she secretly followed her to the obstetrics and gynecology department, where she indeed learned that Guan Xue had given birth to a son.

"How could she give birth to a son? The Zhang family line... should have ended." Yang Ruihua said worriedly.

On the way back, Yan Jiefang carried her father on her back and held the hand of the dazed Yan Jiecheng. In the end, she couldn't help but whisper to the dejected Yan Bugui, "Old Yan, Zhang Erhe... has a son."

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui's dazed eyes suddenly sharpened: "That bastard Zhang Erhe... how could he have a son? This kind of despicable person deserves to have no descendants! God... you really have no eyes!"

He kept cursing and swearing, but his spirits seemed higher than before. Yang Ruihua looked at him like this, unsure whether to be happy or worried.

Back in the courtyard, several women who had been idly gossiping saw him and pretended to help him up. Upon learning that Yan Bugui was completely paralyzed, they all expressed regret, but their eyes betrayed their disdain—the pillar of the Yan family had collapsed, the eldest son was mentally impaired, and even if Yang Ruihua took over as a street sweeper, how could a sanitation worker compare to a teacher?

"Hey, Ruihua, did you see Zhang Erhe at the hospital?" Liu Haizhong's wife suddenly came over and asked.

Yang Ruihua glared at her: "So what if I saw her? So what if I didn't?"

"Hey, look at you! I just heard Guan Xue is giving birth today, but I wonder what it will be like. Zhang Erhe is a leader now; if it's another girl, that would be hilarious!"

Seeing the other person's gloating expression, Yang Ruihua suddenly felt nauseous—how could she have associated with such a person before? She spoke coldly:

"Unfortunately, you'll be disappointed. She had a son."

"What?!" Liu Haizhong's wife's smile froze. "She...she really gave birth to a son?!"

"if not?"

Seeing the other person's shocked and resentful expression, Yang Ruihua felt inexplicably relieved.

The women in the courtyard house were known for their loose tongues. Before long, even Zhang Jiao, who had just returned from outside, had heard about it.

"Grandpa, they said Mom had a baby boy... Will Dad not love me anymore?"

"Of course not! Ask your mom, after I gave birth to your uncle, did I still love her the most? Your dad definitely loves you the most too!"

Just then, Zhang Erhe pushed the door open and came in: "Jiaojiao, who dotes on you?"

"Dad!" Zhang Jiao jumped and threw herself into his arms, making Zhang Erhe stumble. "Did Mom really give birth to a little brother? I heard people in the yard saying that."

"Yes, we had a little brother. Now let's go to Grandpa and Grandma's graves with Dad and tell them, okay?"

"it is good!"

After settling Lao Guantou in, Zhang Erhe took Zhang Jiao to the village.

They had barely left when an official from the neighborhood committee arrived at the Yan family's door and knocked:

"Is this Yan Bugui's house? Is Yan Bugui home?"

Yang Ruihua was tidying up inside when she heard the noise and quickly opened the door.

"Hello, I'm Li, and I'm in charge of housing rentals at the neighborhood office."

"Hello, Officer Li..." Yang Ruihua wiped his hands.

"Are you Comrade Yan Bugui's wife? Here's the thing: Mr. Yan used to rent these two rooms, and the rent was deducted from his salary each month, with the school transferring the money to the neighborhood committee. But now, given Mr. Yan's situation... I wonder how you plan to arrange the rent in the future?"

Yang Ruihua then suddenly remembered that the house had always been rented.

After hesitating for a while, Yang Ruihua frowned and asked, "Officer Li, may I ask... how much is our rent per month?"

"Please wait a moment, let me see." Officer Li took out the register from his bag, searched for a moment, "Yan Bugui, No. 95 courtyard house... Your family rented two rooms in the west wing, right?"

“Yes.” Yang Ruihua nodded.

"The rent for the two west wing rooms is three yuan and thirty cents a month."

"Three yuan and thirty cents?! That much?!" Yang Ruihua covered her mouth in surprise—her current salary was only twenty-two yuan, and if three yuan and thirty cents were deducted from her monthly rent...

“Officer Li,” she said with a mournful face, “you know that my husband, Lao Yan, is paralyzed now, and we’re having a really tough time… Could you please ask the neighborhood committee to show some compassion and reduce the rent a bit?”

“Sister Yang,” Officer Li said, having worked in the subdistrict office for many years and seen all kinds of people, “if you think the rent is too high, you can move to a smaller place and the whole family can squeeze in. The rent is set by the state, and the subdistrict office has no authority to reduce it. Please understand.”

"I see... Well, I'll discuss it with the head of the household later."

"Okay. The school will pay your rent until the end of this month. If you want to change rooms or renew your lease, it's best to contact me before the end of the month to complete the formalities."

"well……"

Yang Ruihua saw Officer Li to the door and returned to the room to find that Yan Bugui had already woken up.

Who just came by?

"From the neighborhood office."

What are you here for?

Yang Ruihua glanced at him and licked her lips: "Speaking of our house... the school only pays rent until the end of this month, after that we'll have to pay it ourselves."

“Then let’s move.” Yan Bugui replied quickly.

"Moving? Where to?"

“I had already figured it out while I was in the hospital—those two rooms by the door only cost 1.3 yuan a month. If I moved there, I could save 2 yuan a month in rent.”

"A room with a reverse-facing roof... can anyone live in that?" Yang Ruihua asked hesitantly.

"Yang Ruihua!" Yan Bugui, lying on the hospital bed, suddenly roared, "Don't you understand yet? Our family's problem isn't 'whether we can live here,' it's 'whether we can survive!' Twenty-two yuan a month, after deducting three yuan and three jiao for rent, isn't even enough to buy food! We have six mouths to feed!"

"Six mouths... a salary of twenty-two..." Yan Bugui suddenly stopped speaking, blinking hard.

"Old Yan?" Yang Ruihua sensed something was wrong and quickly rushed to the bedside.

"Wait... I'm doing the accounting." After a while, Yan Bugui finally spoke. "Old Yang, you go to the subdistrict office tomorrow—no, you go right now! Find the officer in charge of our area and tell him that our family's income is below average. Ask if we can apply for poverty alleviation status. If it's approved, Jiefang and Jiekuang's tuition fees will be waived, and they might even get a discount on rent."

"Will this... will this work?"

"Why not?!" Yan Bugui's face flushed red. "Whether it works or not, we have to try! If we can't even get approved for poverty alleviation... then our family will really have to move out of the house." He took a breath and lowered his voice, "Go and explain our family's situation to the official. If all else fails... then kneel down and beg him."

Yang Ruihua thought about her family's situation, gritted her teeth, put on her coat and wrapped a headscarf, and hurriedly ran towards the neighborhood office.

P.S.: Thank you to all the readers.

Chapter 165 A Complete Breakdown

In the steel rolling mill director's office, Yang Liming looked at the uninvited Old Lady Long and rubbed his temples with a headache. Recently, in order to make things difficult for Li Huaide, he had made a special trip to inspect the branch factories, but unexpectedly, Li Huaide was really lucky—Zhang Erhe actually helped him smooth things over.

Had they known Zhang Erhe was capable, they would never have agreed to let Old Lady Long make things difficult for him. Now, not only has Zhang Erhe escaped punishment, but he's also allied himself with Li Huaide, while they've lost two important territories: the new workshop and the maintenance department. And Old Lady Long still has the nerve to come knocking on his door.

Since she was already there, it wouldn't be good to show her a bad attitude. Yang Liming instructed his secretary to pour some tea and said, "Grandma, the weather has been changing a lot lately. Why haven't you been resting at home more?"

Old Mrs. Long was shrewd and understood the meaning behind her words immediately. She picked up her teacup and softened her tone: "Director Yang, I'm really sorry. It's just that this matter concerning Zhuzi... happened at the steel rolling mill, so I had to tell you first, didn't I?"

The way the words were phrased was tactful, and Yang Liming felt a little better after hearing it. "Zhuzi? Silly Zhu, right? What happened?" He took two steps closer. "I just came back from the branch factory last night, and I just entered the factory this morning, so I really don't know."

"It's just... Sha Zhu got into a conflict with a colleague in the cafeteria and accidentally injured someone," Grandma Long mumbled.

"Is that all?" Yang Liming was a little skeptical. In these kinds of disputes between workers, the security department usually just gave them a few words of reprimand and let them go; they wouldn't detain someone indefinitely. He thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed the security department.

A short while later, Yang Liming put down the microphone, his face darkening.