Chapter 225: Yi Zhonghai, on his deathbed, gets a handle on the eldest madam

Yan Fugui's proposal to drive Qin Huairu out of the Siheyuan, even if all twenty-odd households agreed, still had no chance of being implemented.

The steel plant was a hurdle he couldn't get around.

Moreover, after the eldest madam saw Yi Zhonghai and returned to the Siheyuan, it attracted the neighbors' attention; they all wanted to know what Yi Zhonghai had told the eldest madam, what role Qin Huairu played in this, and how Huaihua was involved.

Therefore, this operation targeting the Jia Family.

He inexplicably soaked in the soup.

Using the faint light.

With Shazhu at the forefront, everyone in the Siheyuan immediately focused their gazes on the eldest madam.

At this moment, the eldest madam seemed off; her steps looked steady but lacked her usual vigor, her expression was calm yet revealed a hint of anxiety, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, she clenched her lower teeth against her upper lip, trying not to curse, her right hand clenched into a fist, her left hand half-closed, with her thumbnail pressing into the joint of her index finger.

"Old Yi's wife, are you alright?"

Liu Haizhong felt that he was the Siheyuan's sole manager.

He had to show some concern for the widow of the former head manager.

One could imagine the eldest madam was in a terrible mood, possibly due to Yi Zhonghai's deathbed threat; facing Liu Haizhong's concern, she gave him a straight two-zero.

She ignored Liu Haizhong and hurried into her own home.

Then came a "bada" sound.

The door was shut heavily.

Through it came a faint sobbing sound.

Liu Haizhong saw this.

He waved at the crowd.

The neighbors who understood his meaning dispersed.

Shazhu also went home following the crowd.

He didn't go straight to bed to sleep.

There were still important things to do.

Simmering crucian carp soup!

This was a task assigned by his mother-in-law, Old Taishan, to Shazhu: she said that since Yu Li had just finished her postpartum month, drinking crucian carp soup would increase her milk supply so she wouldn't starve her precious nephew He Weiguo.

The crucian carp was obtained by Shazhu through his personal connections that evening; otherwise he truly wouldn't have known how to get it.

He had originally planned to do it as soon as he got back.

But because of the Dayuan meeting and the matter of executing Yi Zhonghai's plans five days later, it was delayed until now.

Thus the saying came true.

The difficult will not work.

Those who know will find it easy.

Killing the fish, scraping off the scales, removing the innards—all done in one smooth motion.

Simmering the fish scales together with the broth can make fish-skin jelly; after cleaning the innards, wrapping them in barley flour to make fried fish, making full use of the fish as much as possible.

Not long after.

The aroma slipped through the window cracks and entered the nostrils of every household.

Those who weren't asleep instinctively sniffed in that direction, their mouths watering.

Those who were asleep, tempted by the scent, dreamed of eating fish.

All marveled at Shazhu's cooking skills, their words filled with intense envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Times are different now.

Shazhu became the head of the steel plant's cafeteria, seen by the neighbors as a successful person; even Liu Haizhong had to address him as Chief He.

Among the twenty-odd households and over a hundred people in the compound, the only one uninterested in the taste of Shazhu's crucian carp soup was the eldest madam living in the Yi household.

Shazhu's guess was correct.

The eldest madam had received Yi Zhonghai's deathbed threat.

The meeting was not pleasant.

Yi Zhonghai, using a look and expression only the two of them understood, told the eldest madam this answer: he knew who the killer of the deaf old lady was, but he didn't reveal the true culprit out of regard for their years of marital affection, hoping that after his death the eldest madam would not seek trouble from Qin Huairu or Huaihua, and would, if possible, help Huaihua when needed.

This was Yi Zhonghai's sole request to the eldest madam.

In exchange,

Everything belonging to the Yi family—money, documents—was entirely the eldest madam's.

To enable the eldest madam to handle the Jia Zhangshi, Yi Zhonghai also told her a secret only he knew that belonged to the Jia Zhangshi.

If Jia Zhangshi were to claim that Huaihua was Yi Zhonghai's child and demand compensation from the eldest madam, or bully Huaihua, that secret would be the only means to check Jia Zhangshi.

A typical cat-and-mouse game.

The eldest madam checks Jia Zhangshi, but the eldest madam herself is also checked by certain people.

Yi Zhonghai clearly told the eldest madam that if she couldn't do the few things he had said, the person who knew him inside would reveal the true killer of the deaf old lady.

Then the eldest madam would have to pay with her life for the deaf old lady!

This is also why the neighbors felt the eldest madam was off.

The eldest madam never imagined that, after using a knife to kill the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai, she would still be manipulated by certain people.

She hated Yi Zhonghai.

He gave her a contagious illness, making her unable to be a mother, while he and Qin Huairu staged a "bright road, dark warehouse" trick.

In the eldest madam's revenge plan,

First the deaf old lady, then Yi Zhonghai, and afterward Qin Huairu and Huaihua.

At the Dayuan meeting.

Proposing to raise Huaihua was precisely to take revenge on Yi Zhonghai.

Failing to get revenge, he ended up becoming the nanny for Qin Huairu and Huaihua.

The depression in his heart can be imagined.

The eldest aunt dared not gamble.

For now, this is the plan.

She could only take things step by step.

She wiped away the tears on her face with her hand, got up from the ground, walked over to the wooden cabinet, and began rummaging through it.

Five or six minutes.

A small package was taken out of the cabinet by the eldest aunt.

The package was opened, and inside lay a set of tiger-hat children's clothing.

This clothing.

It was something the eldest aunt had stitched by hand, one stitch at a time, when she was pregnant, intending it for her own child, but it ultimately came to nothing.

Her hand stroked the clothing.

As if she were stroking something extraordinarily precious.

Ah!

A sigh escaped her lips.

She turned and left the house, arriving at Shazhu's home.

She knocked on the door, and after hearing a 'please come in' from inside, the eldest aunt pushed the door open and entered.

Zhuzi.

Her tone carried a hint of excitement.

It left the dazed Shazhu slightly bewildered for a moment.

Looking at the tiger-hat clothing in the eldest aunt's hand, even if Shazhu was slow-witted, he understood her intention—she had done what Shazhu's birth mother would have done.

The custom of the old capital city.

The firstborn child.

The child's grandmother must personally make a set of tiger-hat clothing.

The matter of the Yi family.

Shazhu knows.

He didn't know what to say.

Given the relationship between the two families, if the eldest aunt held even a grudge, she would certainly not have brought this clothing over, and would have hastily mocked Shazhu instead.

"Eldest aunt, I thank you on behalf of the child."

The eldest aunt's heart.

It landed.

On the way here, she still worried that Shazhu might not accept her kindness.

Without any ulterior motive, simply seeing Yu Li give birth to a child, as an elder who had watched Shazhu grow up, she wanted to do something for Shazhu.

From beginning to end.

The eldest aunt harbored no ill will toward Shazhu and his siblings.

"Zhuzi, actually I should be thanking you. I thought this set of clothing had always been at the bottom of the cabinet, meant for you, but never mind, and there's also this."

A silver longevity lock.

The eldest aunt forcibly shoved it into Shazhu's hand.

"Eldest aunt, don't, this is too precious."

"Just take it; this is something from my natal family, unrelated to the Yi family. Besides, I'm giving it to the child, not to you, Zhuzi—just consider it fulfilling a wish of mine."

Just as Shazhu hesitated, wondering whether the eldest aunt wanted him to help support her in her old age,

The eldest aunt's words.

dispelled all of Shazhu's doubts.

"Once Old Yi's affairs are settled, I'll return to my hometown. Then, when Wei Guo asks about this longevity lock in the future, you can tell him it was given by Li Nainai, and I'll be content."

Having said that,

She turned and left Shazhu's home.

Watching the eldest aunt's retreating back.

Shazhu felt a faint sorrow.

……

Shazhu carried the prepared crucian carp soup to the hospital, to the ward where Yu Li was.

Before he even entered the door,

He Yushui's disparaging voice about the little nephew flew straight into Shazhu's ears.

A real blood-related aunt.

Those words.

Only He Yushui could say something like that.

"Sister-in-law, is this Wei Guo? He's so tiny and ugly—what girl would willingly marry him? He's definitely destined to remain a bachelor."

Yu Li saw Shazhu standing at the doorway.

She deliberately did not remind He Yushui.

"His little name is Shitou; that name is unpleasant—no matter what you call it, insisting on Shitou, in my opinion it would be better to call him Gou Dan, Xiao Gou Dan."

Shazhu furrowed his brow.

This girl.

Getting more and more outrageous.

If the kid were really called Dog Egg, wouldn't he become Dog Egg's dad?

Hold on, I think the name Dog Egg also doesn't sound good; my older brother is called Shazhu, his child would be Little Shazhu, yes yes yes, Little Shazhu, that name sounds nice.

He Yushui gently scratched Little Shazhu's nose with her hand.

While scratching.

While teasing.

Little Shazhu, I'm your aunt He Yushui; listen to your aunt's words, hurry up and tidy yourself up, otherwise with how ugly you are, you'll definitely end up a bachelor.

Who's a bachelor?

Obviously it's Little Shazhu.

Yushui replied.

Seeing Yu Li smiling.

He quickly glanced left with the corner of his eye.

Shazhu's ashen face instantly appeared before He Yushui's eyes.

Something bad happened.

Got caught by someone's father.

Need to fix it.

He turned his head.

He opened his mouth.

Made Shazhu realize what it means for Zhu Bajie to counterattack with a rake.

Brother, it's not me, your sister, saying this, but you're already twenty-seven or twenty-eight; why are you still so clumsy when doing things? You don't let me rest easy.

Shazhu's eyes widened.

What does that mean?

Turns out it's still my fault.

The problem is He Yushui didn't point out Shazhu's many faults.

"What are you looking at? You're wrong and still won't admit it?" Twenty-year-old young lady, she treated the newborn little brat as the target of her tattling; He Yushui pointed at Shazhu and started complaining to He Weiguo: "Weiguo, my little Shazhu, look at your father, open your eyes and see—your mother went through great trouble to give birth to you, yet he hasn't had a drop of water or a grain of rice; he said he'd go cook, and it's been hours before he finally finished the meal, causing my sister-in-law—that is, your mother—to go without food, and as a result our little Shazhu is also hungry. Come on, come on, auntie will give you a kiss."

"Yushui, you don't mind your nephew's ugliness?"

Spouting nonsense with eyes wide open.

Turning hostile and denying people.

"Who said my nephew is ugly? Even if he's ugly, we're not afraid; our He family's tradition is that ugly men marry beautiful wives."

Hands on hips.

Head raised.

An attitude of 'what can you do to me?'

"You think I don't want to come early?" Shazhu set down the crucian carp soup can on the table, then explained to Yu's mother and Yu Li who had just entered the courtyard: "Just entered the courtyard, and I was called to a meeting."

Yushui is also a longtime resident of the siheyuan.

Knows that the siheyuan has the custom of holding meetings.

Plus the fact that Shazhu became the cafeteria director.

This meeting surely has some ill-intentioned attendees.

"Isn't it again Yi Zhonghai favoring the Jia family, arranging assistance for them, or else it's Bangeng stealing from that family, with Yi Zhonghai muddying the waters again? Or maybe Yi Zhonghai appointed you as director just to scheme against you."

He Yushui lives at the school.

She returns to the siheyuan once a month.

She didn't know that the deaf old lady had been killed, nor that Yi Zhonghai would be executed five days later.

The deaf old lady is dead.

He Yushui froze.

Didn't think much of it.

She cursed.

That old lady should have died long ago, begging for meat all over the compound; dying so comfortably, she got off easy.

Killed by Yi Zhonghai.

He Yushui was scared stupid.

Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.

He Yushui understood the relationship between the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai: one regarded the other as her own mother to serve, the other regarded the other as her own son to protect.

He Yushui believed claims that the deaf old lady died at someone else's hands, or that Yi Zhonghai had slaughtered others, but she absolutely did not believe that Yi Zhonghai had killed the deaf old lady.

Don't believe?

He Yushui nodded.

That's sheer nonsense.

Really, the deaf old lady fell out with Yi Zhonghai and publicly exposed a series of his scandals.

Yu Li's words.

He Yushui believed it somewhat.

She stared dumbfounded at Shazhu and Yu Li, not understanding how, after not returning to the siheyuan for a few days, such a big thing could have happened there.

"What scandal?"

"You stand straight, Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu are messing around together, Huaihua is Yi Zhonghai's child, Qin Huairu bumped into a pillar, stayed in the hospital for one day, Jia Dongxu's death was not an accident, it was Yi Zhonghai who killed him, Jia Zhangshi and Bangeng were also taken away, just now when the meeting was held, comrades brought a message, saying Yi Zhonghai will be sent away in five days."

He Yushui was numb.

What the hell is all this?

Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu even have a child.

This isn't about to get stabbed in the back?

What makes He Yushui unable to accept even more is that Yi Zhonghai will be executed in five days.

In He Yushui's memory, Yi Zhonghai is an insurmountable bad mountain; when they siblings were young, even scheming against them siblings, in order to let Long Laotaitai eat Shazhu's food, in order to let Shazhu support Long Laotaitai, Yi Zhonghai and Long Laotaitai discussed sending He Yushui away.

This almost became a nightmare for young He Yushui.

She studied.

She was striving to improve herself.

She just wanted to one day stay away from Yi Zhonghai, stay away from that beast of the Yi clan, and help her brother fight Yi Zhonghai.

He died.

Yi Zhonghai died in five days.

He Yushui felt he suddenly had no motivation, his body leaning on Shazhu.

"Yushui, don't be scared, older brother is here."

Shazhu, like when he was a child, gently comforted He Yushui.

"As long as he's alive, we're not afraid; even more so now that he's dead, we're even less afraid."