Chapter 345

Looking at Qin Huairu's constipated face.

He also glanced at Jia Zhangshi beside him, whose face was flushed red.

Qin Jingru deliberately put on an act of sudden realization, she pointed fearfully at Qin Huairu with her hand, then gestured toward Jia Zhangshi, and shouted out both of their names.

"Could it be that all this has something to do with you yourselves? The person bullying my sister Huairu, torturing her into this state, is no one else but her mother-in-law. Sister Huairu, tell me this isn't true, that you haven't been bullied by your mother-in-law."

Her voice suddenly rose.

Especially sharp.

"Sister Huairu, I remember you saying your mother-in-law treated you like her own daughter, saying you were very happy—so why is she treating you like this? Why? What on earth is going on?"

This question.

Qin Huairu simply couldn't answer.

To be frank.

Saying I'm fooling around with other men outside, I have leverage in Jia Zhangshi's hands.

To survive, I had no choice but to obey Jia Zhangshi's orders, and in doing so I made myself into this wretched, neither-human-nor-ghost state.

"Jia Zhangshi, let me ask you: what fault has my sister Huairu committed that you treat her this way? If you hadn't summoned her to my presence and revealed her identity, I wouldn't even dare recognize her—are you bullying her because she has no natal family? Believe it or not, I'll go back to the village tomorrow and bring her natal family to the Siheyuan to stand up for her."

"Jingru, sister begs you, stop saying this—it's all fate."

Qin Huairu pleaded with Qin Jingru, her face wet with tears.

An embarrassing matter.

Even if Qin Jingru finds out, there is still a remedy: at worst, find a secluded corner, kneel before Qin Jingru, and beg her not to reveal the truth.

Thus.

Qin Huairu could still maintain a shred of dignity in front of her parents.

If we were to follow Qin Jingru's suggestion and summon Qin Huairu's parents to the Siheyuan, given her understanding of Jia Zhangshi, this wicked mother-in-law would very likely spill the truth, embellishing it in the process and heaping false accusations on Qin Huairu.

Unfaithful to wifely duties.

Carrying on with her husband's master and even bearing him a child.

Inside the Yagangchang, wandering among a bunch of bachelors, snatching this one's white steamed bun, helping himself to that one's non-vegetarian dishes.

Once it comes to this.

Then Qin Huairu would truly have nowhere to stand.

Driven to desperation.

Her parents could even resort to suicide.

Several lives.

This must be taken seriously.

Qin Huairu tried to make herself look as pitiful as possible, hoping this sorry scene would move Qin Jingru, and in her words she did not explain the actual situation, instead blaming everything on fate.

"It's just my bad luck; I bear no grudge against anyone, not my mother-in-law, not the matchmaker who brought us together. Jingru, considering our past sisterly bond, I beg you—let this matter rest."

"Sister Huairu, she's just bullying your kindness. We've seen the wicked mother-in-law in the village—when you're soft she's hard, when you're hard she's soft. Dealing with such a woman, you can't be soft-hearted; if she deserves a beating, give her one. Don't be afraid—if she dares to strike, we two sisters will strike together; if we can't beat her, there's my husband Xu Daming, let him beat your mother-in-law!"

As Qin Jingru shouted and gestured at Jia Zhangshi, about to throw a punch, Qin Huairu covered her face and struggled out of the crowd, running toward the An family's residence in Zhong Yuan.

Thus far.

The Jia Family's uproar that caused a sensation.

Finally drew the curtain on this temporary conclusion.

The neighbors each went their separate ways.

……

In a dark corner.

A strange figure appeared, bent over and trying to conceal his shape in the shadows as much as possible; he moved his steps cautiously. He turned his head left and right, seeing no one paying attention, he darted off toward the left-side wing room of Hou Yuan.

He slipped to that spot by the wall corner.

Suddenly he stopped.

Using a shuffling motion, he shifted his body toward the windowsill below Xu Daming's house not far away.

This must be done sneakily.

And must not make a sound.

He proceeded with caution, shuffling while vigilantly observing the surroundings for any movement.

He kept his body in a posture that would allow him to slip away quickly at the slightest mistake.

After great effort, when he finally shuffled to the windowsill, he realized he was still a step too late.

He had been beaten to it by some others.

At this very moment.

Right beneath the outer windowsill of Xu Daming's house.

There, several eerie black shadows were crouched, some with their ears pressed against the wall, others stretching their ears toward Xu Daming's house.

He must have recognized who they were.

The one who appeared later pointed his hand at those who had come earlier, his face full of exasperation.

Really, just bored out of his mind.

Squatting in a wall corner like this.

And yet he could still run into an acquaintance.

On the left side, that bald youngster turned out to be Liu Haizhong's son, Liu Guangtian.

This bastard had just finished fighting his father, lost face in front of the neighbors, and then ran over to eavesdrop on Xu Daming and Qin Jingru's private talk outside Xu Daming's house.

On the right side, this bespectacled gentleman—aside from Yan Fugui, the San Daye of the front courtyard, who else could it be?

Liu Guangtian was eavesdropping at Xu Daming's wall base because he was relatively young, his heart filled with strong curiosity, and under the drive of curiosity he did such a despicable thing.

You, the esteemed manager of the siheyuan, San Daye, who is also a teaching instructor, whose son has married and even has a grandson, yet you are doing something like squatting at a wall base.

You really shouldn't do that.

But he nevertheless went ahead and did it.

He also teamed up with Liu Guangtian as allies, forming a group to come squat at the wall base.

Later this person, disdainfully pointed at Liu Guangtian, then disdainfully pointed at Yan Fugui, and suddenly didn't know what to say.

After the initial panic, Liu Guangtian and Yan Fugui, upon seeing the newcomer's appearance, felt their unease and the panic of being caught doing wrong vanish completely.

The two must have planned this in advance, like Zhu Bajie turning the rake on himself, they low‑voicedly complained about Shazhu.

Right.

That eerie black shadow.

It was Shazhu.

Yu Li's husband.

The cafeteria director of Yagangchang.

Just a moment ago, Shazhu suddenly thought of something, shouted at Yu Li that he needed to go to the toilet, using the excuse of urinating to slip away, came to the rear courtyard, preparing to squat at Xu Daming's wall base.

I originally thought only I would have such an idea on a whim.

It turns out the siheyuan is full of talented people.

Liu Guangtian, Yan Fugui, and so on.

You don't know until you touch it.

One touch and you get a fright.

"Shazhu, what are you doing?" Liu Guangtian, who spoke first, used a voice only they could hear, lecturing Shazhu: "You almost scared us to death, do you know that?"

"Me scare you?" Shazhu likewise lowered his voice: "Liu Guangtian, San Daye, staying up late instead of sleeping, you're squatting at Xu Daming's wall base—aren't you ashamed?"

"We're ashamed, you're not? If you're not ashamed, what are you doing here? Don't tell us you couldn't sleep and came to the rear courtyard for a walk—we don't believe that."

"What am I doing here? I'm here to catch you." Shazhu had a brainwave, pointing at Liu Guangtian and Yan Fugui: "One of you is Xu Daming's neighbor, the other is his elder, hiding outside to eavesdrop on Xu Daming and his wife's private talk—this is going too far. As Xu Daming's good brother, I'm here to catch you; what wrong have I done?"

Liu Guangtian pointed his finger at Shazhu.

For the first time, I felt Shazhu was so shameless.

Yan Fugui, for the first time, felt Shazhu was so despicable.

Clearly the three of us were doing the same thing, yet Shazhu insisted on describing himself in such a high‑sounding, lofty manner.

And still trying to catch people.

You think we're the Security Section.

"Shazhu, I didn't come to eavesdrop on Xu Daming and his wife; I guessed someone would do something improper tonight, I was worried something might happen, so I called Liu Guangtian, and we two came here together to squat and catch a wrongdoer—since we didn't catch any wrongdoer, we ended up catching you, Shazhu."

Yan Fugui proudly lifted his chin at Shazhu.

This is using Shazhu's own reason against him, leaving him speechless.

You say you're here to catch people.

I say I'm here to squat on people.

We're all the same, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Nobody should look down on anyone else.

"San Daye, you really have something, that brain of yours is just smart—I'm convinced."

"Don't praise me, listen for any movement."

"Okay, okay, okay."

Yan Fugui, Shazhu, and Liu Guangtian three of them stood silently outside the windowsill, each cupping their ears, listening to the indoor sounds.

One second.

One minute.

Ten minutes.

Indoors it was actually silent as silk.

The three of us squatting anxiously at the wall corner all went numb.

What's wrong with Xu Daming?

Get moving!

Isn't there a saying about the four great joys in life?

"Brother Zhu, want to smoke a cigarette?"

"Guangtian, smoking would just get us discovered. Hold on, hold on—if after an hour there's still no movement, we'll each go home."

"Fine, we'll do as San Daye says. San Daye, how long have you been squatting?"

"I've been at it for one and a half hours."

"I've been at it for over two hours."

Shazhu turned his head to look at Liu Guangtian.

This kid.

Real talent.

He squatted silently for over two hours.

"Guangtian, is your father alright?"

"What could happen? He just feels embarrassed; with his IQ, wanting to be an official—maybe in his next life."

Liu Guangtian's complaint.

It reminded Shazhu of something.

In his previous life, Liu Haizhong was originally going to retire, but because during his conversation with Deputy Factory Director Li he inadvertently mentioned the names of some Siheyuan residents, taking the chance to give himself credit, he was used by Deputy Factory Director Li and ended up as some kind of group leader.

He indeed enjoyed a few days of glory.

A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow.

After Liu Haizhong became a leader, he nevertheless targeted the Siheyuan residents—specifically, he led people to ransack Lou Xiaoe's home and afterwards hid some gold and silver items.

Xu Daming used Liu Haizhong's hidden gold and silver items to report him, and Deputy Factory Director Li then completely disposed of Liu Haizhong, who had lost his usefulness.

Liu Haizhong was subjected to all kinds of sabotage and backstabbing, and even his two children were not particularly fond of him.

He himself had been reborn.

Some things have already changed the original course—for example, the Lou family, who in the previous life never left, had quietly departed several years earlier; moreover, the divorce from Xu Daming was not because Xu Daming was involved with Qin Jingru, but because Xu Daming's father saw the situation was wrong and forced them to divorce.

Thus.

Will Liu Haizhong still end up as the group leader as he did in his previous life?

It is very much worth looking forward to.

"Bright sky!"

"Shh!"

Shazhu nodded in understanding.

There was movement inside the house.

It was the sound of Xu Daming and Qin Jingru talking.

"Dameng, how do you think my performance tonight was?"

"Very good, wife. I still say that to live well in the Siheyuan, you must stay away from the Jia family, especially your cousin, who is like a dog-skin plaster—once you get stuck, you can't shake her off."

"What happened? Why would you rather suffer injustice than tell the truth?"

"What else could it be? Nothing more than feeling embarrassed. Your cousin, at the Yagangchang, in the Siheyuan, on the street, her reputation is notoriously bad. That Jia Zhangshi is even worse—she's not a good person. They rushed to acknowledge us as relatives, thinking our family could help theirs. For example, if Jia Zhangshi comes to borrow money, or Qin Huairu comes to borrow things, the answer is just two words: no. If you dare privately lend out our Xu family's belongings, I, Xu Daming, will divorce you without hesitation. I am a film projectionist; if I were looking for a partner, many female comrades would seek connections with me."

The three people outside the windowsill.

They felt Xu Daming was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Upon further thought,

They thought it was very necessary for Xu Daming to warn Qin Jingru like that.

Inside the Siheyuan, even without any relation, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu still want to curry favor and ask you for food and drink; damn, once you have a relatives connection, not even a whip could drag you away.

Rather than sit there helplessly later,

it would be better to now resolutely cut off all contact.

The Jia family's living conditions are actually not bad—cornmeal steamed buns and sorghum porridge can fill one's stomach—but because the Jia family have grown accustomed to the benefits of neighbors' help, and because I have the mindset of a widow, I always want to accumulate some property, so that the grown-up Bangeng can marry a wife and Xiao Dang can prepare a dowry.

That is why the Jia family leave the neighbors with a bad impression of being people who eat others and don't spit out the bones.

Xu Daming, in order to prevent this from happening, used his position as a film projectionist to keep Qin Jingru in check, which was a small warning.

"Head of the household, I know. I promise not to associate with Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi. You don't know, I've asked her many times to help me find a partner in the city; she verbally agreed nicely, but she never actually delivered—when I ask, she just says she's helping me arrange it."

"Just knowing is enough."

"Head of the household, what's wrong with Qin Huairu? Why is she so afraid of her mother-in-law, even after remarrying, she's still being ordered around by her former mother-in-law like a beast of burden."

"She's done something sorry to the Jia family."

Xu Daming picked out the important points about Qin Huairu's marriage into the Jia family and told Qin Jingru a few of them.

The green hat incident was the main point.

He naturally talked about it at length.

It was rumored that Qin Huairu was fooling around with Jia Dongxu's master, even bore him a child, and because of their affair, Jia Dongxu met a disastrous end.

Qin Jingru's face turned pale.

If this had happened in the countryside,

Qin Huairu would definitely have been drowned in a pig basket.

fooling around.

What a lot of nerve!

No wonder I just spoke up to speak for Qin Huairu, but she didn't dare agree—it turns out there's something she doesn't know going on here.

Shameless.

Pah!

The Qin family's reputation has been completely ruined by you, Qin Huairu.