Chapter 357: with translation of chapter title

Guo Da Piezi's wife mocking Jia Zhangshi's words made the neighbors unable to contain themselves, all burst into loud laughter, and some even covered their stomachs laughing hysterically.

They had no thought of sparing the Jia Family's face.

Laughter.

It emboldened Guo Da Piezi's wife's arrogance.

The accusation against Jia Zhangshi.

Became even more unscrupulous.

She pointed at Jia Zhangshi's nose and scolded her mercilessly.

"You really think I don't know anything? Shameless bastard, a rare wicked mother-in-law, look at your age—this year you're barely fifty, a fifty-year-old who does nothing all day, either nitpicking the east or finding fault in the west, making a pair of cloth shoes last a month, no wonder you're so white and plump—this fat is all from laziness."

Jia Zhangshi, hiding behind Liu Haizhong, apparently felt embarrassed, and a faint blush of shame appeared on her usually white, plump cheeks.

Seeing this, the neighbors' mocking laughter turned, in an instant, into the sound of shocked gasps.

They were all frightened.

Some even rubbed their eyes, thinking they were seeing things, for in the Siheyuan, Jia Zhangshi, who always unreasonably caused a fuss, had a cheek as thick as the walls of a city gate tower.

For the sake of a tiny profit the size of a needle tip.

They would do anything.

You try to reason with her.

She talks to you about the thickness of her skin.

Such a person, whose skin is thick to the bone, actually blushed from embarrassment.

Truly a strange thing.

The neighbors unconsciously glanced at the sky.

The sun did not rise from the west.

It is guessed that the reason Jia Zhangshi meekly took the scolding was most likely because she was frightened by Guo Da Piezi's wife's ugly face.

Her appearance rivals that of the underground transport station's Team Captain Jia.

The men all looked flustered.

Women have such cheeks.

One can imagine.

The neighbors also learned for the first time that an ugly person could frighten Jia Zhangshi.

"Your bulk of fat is probably raised this way, you wicked mother-in-law, you don't want to exert even a bit of strength, you just keep letting Qin Huairu support you and still demand good food—do you have any shame? If I were you, I'd find a piece of tofu and kill myself."

Jia Zhangshi's face changed dramatically.

This hat.

Cannot be worn.

Boldly.

She replied in one sentence.

"I'm not truly fat; I'm falsely fat, fat from illness."

"Hey, you still know how to talk back; if you didn't speak, I'd have thought you were mute, but you can speak after all. And you claim illness—do you yourself believe that? Sitting all day, even the healthy become ill. Jia Granny, I ask you: the white flour buns and meat dishes your daughter-in-law brought back for you—do they taste good or not? Have you ever thought that these meals are what your son exchanged for by wearing a green hat? Your son is dead, yet he still has to wear a green hat—what a bitter fate; I reckon even the coffin lid couldn't weigh it down."

On Jia Zhangshi's ashamed cheeks.

A faint sense of helplessness welled up.

The surrounding neighbors.

They did not, out of sympathy for Jia Zhangshi's helplessness, suddenly become saintly and take her side.

Everything about the Jia Family, including the embarrassing matter of Jia Dongxu being made to wear a green hat after his death, upon careful consideration, largely stems from Jia Zhangshi's gluttonous and lazy behavior.

There's no blaming anyone else.

In the courtyard there are women about Jia Zhangshi's age, as well as older women ten or twenty years her senior.

As long as one can move.

they will think of ways to go to the street to find work—making matchboxes, tying brooms, picking up scrap, and other such odd jobs they can manage, doing as much as possible.

Earn a little.

Subsidize the household a little.

Only Jia Zhangshi is an exception; after Jia Dongxu's accident, she turned completely into a manure-producing machine, left only to ruin the grain.

The cloth shoes in her hand.

That is the excuse she found for her own laziness.

The kind of person the neighbors genuinely cannot sympathize with.

Guo Da Piezi's wife, saying these words to the neighbors' faces that completely tore apart the Jia Family's facade, the onlookers secretly exclaimed "good" in their hearts.

Guo Da Piezi's wife, seeing this,

felt even more confident.

Looking at the neighbors' expressions, one knows that the Jia Family's relations in the courtyard are the sort that people dislike and dogs annoy; otherwise they wouldn't be standing by as spectators. If it were their own big courtyard (Dayuan), the neighbors would surely have to help out.

She came today.

She came with the intention of making the situation as big as possible.

Otherwise she wouldn't make a fuss.

The couple essentially work for Qin Huairu, and all the money they painstakingly earn goes straight into her pocket.

"Jia Zhangshi, I heard your daughter-in-law Qin Huairu has remarried; everyone has remarried, yet you still put on the airs of a wicked mother-in-law—who are you putting on this show for? Is Qin Huairu's husband around or not? If he is, speak up; let's see how to handle this. If it can be settled within the courtyard, we'll discuss it there; if not, I'll go to the Yagangchang steel mill; if the steel mill can't settle it, we still have the street and the police station—who is Qin Huairu's husband?"

"It's me."

An Jiahe's voice rang in the neighbors' ears.

Don't know what they went out to do.

Just came back from outside.

The neighbors' mood inexplicably rose.

The Jia family's drama.

Getting more and more interesting.

Qin Huairu and Guo Da Piezi were messing around, and someone's wife came to the door; as Qin Huairu's man, An Jiahe, faced with this, how should he resolve it?

Being cuckolded by his own wife.

Even a man with the best temper cannot bear such utter humiliation.

There are so many people around.

Definitely the effect of two plus one.

"Are you Qin Huairu's man?"

While asking, Guo Da Piezi's wife also immediately turned her gaze to An Jiahe, who had pushed through the crowd to stand before her, scrutinizing him with a judging look.

Fair and clean.

Looking like a cultured person.

In her life, she most admires cultured people.

In her heart, an instinctive sympathy for An Jiahe welled up.

What a fine intellectual, yet he married such a woman who neglects her wifely duties, and ended up with such a mother-in-law who does nothing proper.

In her eyes, the image of Qin Huairu and An Jiahe is like a flower stuck in cow dung: Qin Huairu is the dung, An Jiahe is the flower.

How to look at it.

Everyone felt they were mismatched.

Uncertain, he repeated the previous question.

"You really are Qin Huairu's man?"

"My name is An Jiahe; my wife is Qin Huairu. If you have anything, you can tell me."

An Jiahe extended his right hand.

Guo Da Piezi's wife knew the other person wanted to shake hands; she instinctively reached out, but then, not knowing what she thought, hastily pulled her hand back, rubbed it vigorously on her pants a few times, made sure her hand was clean, then extended it and shook An Jiahe's clean hand.

"An comrade, this is how it is—I didn't come to cause trouble, I came to."

After all, he still couldn't get a full sentence out.

He was hesitant and stammering.

His tone was stammering.

It left the onlookers astonished again.

What's the situation?

Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi were scolded bloody by Guo Da Piezi's wife, and then Guo Da Piezi's wife was subdued by Qin Huairu's man, An Jiahe.

So this is basically a big circle.

He went around in a circle.

He returned to the starting point.

"Comrade, speak slowly, don't rush."

"Hehehe!"

Guo Da Piezi's wife laughed a few times.

She raised her head and looked at An Jiahe.

She tried to calm her emotions as much as possible.

After a long sigh, she detailed the whole story to An Jiahe, sounding indignant on his behalf.

"Your wife always says there are too many people at home, not enough to eat, and she's looking for help all over the steel plant. I know our guy—he's the type who won't do good unless forced, like waiting for the sun to rise in the west. I'm embarrassed to say some things, but from now on, you just…."

The meaning behind the words.

Qin Huairu marrying An Jiahe was utterly wasting him; her purpose in coming to the Siheyuan shifted from seeking an explanation from Qin Huairu to venting for An Jiahe.

Shazhu was plainly visible.

After An Jiahe learned the full story, although his expression remained calm, a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes.

…

Inside a small courtyard not too far, nor too near, from the Siheyuan.

Scattered about were over twenty people.

The leader.

He was a vigorous seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth.

He was not an outsider.

He was indeed Liu Haizhong's third son, Liu Guangfu.

At this moment.

They gathered in this somewhat dilapidated courtyard because Liu Guangfu, as the leader, wanted to do something that, for him, was a monumental undertaking.

Bringing them to give Liu Haizhong a heavy lesson.

Despite years of strict discipline from Liu Haizhong, and adding his father's biased way of handling a bowl of water, Liu Guangfu felt toward his own father.

Not only did he feel no gratitude at all,

On the contrary,

there was only endless resentment.

Why does the eldest's mistake mean he has to follow the second eldest and get beaten together?

Why should the second and third have to bear the eldest's mistake?

As Liu Haizhong's son, why can the eldest eat street‑fried eggs while the second and third can only drool and silently nibble on steamed corn buns?

Why?

Before.

There was no way.

Could only grit his teeth and bear it.

Now.

Finally, the opportunity arrived.

Standing before his companions, Liu Guangfu felt a surge of unprecedented joy welling up from within; he had waited for this day far too long.

It's time to unleash a thunderous roar at Liu Haizhong!

From now on.

Liu Haizhong had better not even think of striking Liu Guangfu—Liu Guangfu also has his own backing.

He made a few rallying words.

Liu Guangfu led them, a dark, dense crowd, walking toward the Siheyuan; inside, Liu Haizhong, who had just finished dealing with the Jia Family's melodramatic affair, felt a chill in his back, but didn't think much of it, mistakenly attributing it to the cool weather and his not wearing an outer garment, and he cheerfully greeted Liu Jianguo.