Chapter 390: Shazhu, the Three Elders Apologize to You

The good and bad outcomes of the Zhang Zehua family.

To Shazhu, it was just a trivial little matter.

He couldn't muster any interest.

Good or not, it's fine.

Bad or not, it's fine.

Last night, the outcome was already decided.

Shazhu's face remained calm and unruffled from start to finish.

A mud Buddha crossing the river can barely save itself.

How could one still have the leisure to worry about others' life or death?

Moreover, in the eyes of the Zhang Zehua family, their resentment toward Shazhu likely outweighs their resentment toward Liu Haizhong.

He was asking for death.

Does it have anything to do with Shazhu?

No.

This is also Shazhu's justification for being at ease.

Seeing Shazhu's unconcerned demeanor, Yan Fugui silently thought, 'Shazhu seems to have become even more cold-blooded than before,' and he also knew this matter couldn't be blamed on Shazhu.

You're already taking someone's life.

And you won't even let them fight back with their lives.

Even a cornered rabbit will bite.

Shazhu is, after all, a living person, and the war god of the Siheyuan; a desperate counterattack is understandable, though I never expected his means of retaliation to be this vicious.

Yan Fugui felt a strong sense of worry, he blocked Shazhu's departure, not to seek justice for the Zhang Zehua family, but to try as much as possible to ease the relations between the Yan family and Shazhu's family.

After all, the culprit who prevented Shazhu from becoming the canteen chief was Yan Fugui's eldest son, Yan Jiecheng.

Grievances should be resolved, not perpetuated.

Last night, Shazhu's ruthless act left a deep impression on Yan Fugui's eyes.

He was frightened.

From the reasons for refuting Zhang Zehua, to the books and circular plaques that, with a single strike, left Zhang Zehua completely without chance of victory.

One link after another.

Meticulous and without omission.

Yan Fugui guessed these things weren't prepared for Zhang Zehua; they were likely Shazhu's preparations to deal with Liu Haizhong, but then, by mistake, they ended up pointing at Zhang Zehua's gun.

These past few days.

Rumors spread within the compound that Liu Haizhong was going to deal with Shazhu.

Things that Yan Fugui could know, Shazhu couldn't possibly be unaware of; moreover, Liu Haizhong, in order to show off his supposed title as captain of the Elderly Assault Team, deliberately spread the related rumors.

Yan Fugui is different from Liu Haizhong; the latter at least has the cover of being the captain of the Elderly Assault Team at the Yagangchang factory.

What does the Yan family have?

Nothing at all.

If Shazhu truly bore a grudge against the Yan family and retaliated, the Yan family would probably be like the second household of the Zhang Zehua family in the Siheyuan, running all over the place.

This is certainly not the outcome Yan Fugui wants to see.

Yan Fugui, as an insider, knows his own family's affairs.

At the workplace.

Due to various factors, Yan Fugui's work progress is not smooth, and his superiors even give him petty trouble.

Within the compound.

If Shazhu holds a grudge against the Yan family.

The Yan family would be adding insult to injury.

Difficult!

Ah!

A sigh.

It flew from Yan Fugui's mouth, then his face flushed like that of constipation, with a darting glance, he looked pointedly at Shazhu.

Such an embarrassed appearance.

The issue has already been explained.

Ah!

A sigh filled with various emotions welled up in Shazhu's heart; as someone who has been there, he could understand Yan Fugui's awkward predicament.

Originally, Yan Fugui's occupation wasn't popular in this day and age, nor was he well liked; plus, his eldest daughter-in-law Ran Qiuye quietly left, leading him to estimate that his current situation is many times harder than in his previous life.

Having said that.

Does it have anything to do with Shazhu?

It's not that Yan Jiecheng brought this upon himself.

If Yan Jiecheng hadn't struck at Shazhu, Shazhu might still have been able to connect with those superiors at Yan Fugui's workplace, and, out of old affection, speak up for Yan Fugui.

But because of Yan Jiecheng's two accusation letters.

Shazhu went from being the canteen chief to a warehouse keeper, someone anyone could step on.

When the truth of the accusation letters came to light, Yan Jiecheng said some things that Ran Qiuye didn't like, which upset her.

In short, one sentence.

Serves him right!

San Daye, there's nothing, I'm going to work first.

Shazhu stepped forward, about to leave.

Yan Fugui finally managed to block him at the door, said nothing, expressed no apologetic understanding, and just let Shazhu leave like that.

But that won't do.

He hurriedly called out to stop Shazhu.

"Shazhu, wait a moment, San Daye has something to discuss with you; it won't take more than a few minutes of your time."

Worried that Shazhu wouldn't give him face.

Yan Fugui also reached out and grabbed Shazhu's arm.

"San Daye, what is it? You speak." The Shazhu who couldn't get away urged Yan Fugui, saying, "I still have to go to work soon; if I'm late, I'll get scolded."

"Shazhu, San Daye is embarrassed to say."

Yan Fugui lowered his head in shame.

He paused for several seconds.

Probably feeling he couldn't stay silent, he quickly raised his head, looked at Shazhu, and expressed his apology.

"This matter is San Daye's fault; San Daye didn't educate our eldest properly, causing him to write two complaint letters, which ruined your good position as cafeteria chief and made you a warehouse keeper. All the mistakes are our Yan Family's fault; we accept this debt. Here, I want to represent our Yan Family and say sorry to you, Shazhu."

"San Daye, although we differ in age by about sixteen or seventeen years, our relationship has always been good; I truly regard you as a friend. But regarding Yan Jiecheng's matter, I don't know what to say. If you were in my position, even if you apologized a hundred times, would it help?"

The words are rough but the reasoning is sound.

Shazhu's words.

They left Yan Fugui standing there stunned.

"Shazhu, sorry, really sorry. San Daye doesn't mean to ask for your forgiveness, nor does he intend to make you look pitiful; he just wants to say that regarding this reporting matter, San Daye truly didn't know. If he had known that Yan Jiecheng wrote a complaint letter against you, he would have given him a few hard slaps."

"San Daye, what I'm angry about isn't that your eldest reported me; I'm angry that he keeps clinging to my wife. Go tell your eldest that when he saw Yu Li that day, she was already engaged to me. He can't just glance at her, think she's nice, and decide she's his wife. I'll say something that might hurt your feelings: from beginning to end, my wife Yu Li never knew who Yan Jiecheng was, nor who he is—he's just your son, a barber's assistant, head over heels in unrequited love. Do you understand what I mean?"

Shazhu didn't know whether to cry.

Or whether to laugh.

His wife Yu Li inexplicably gained a devoted sycophant named Yan Jiecheng, even more so than Shazhu's previous life fawning over Qin Huairu.

"Shazhu, San Daye understands your meaning; San Daye also spoke to our eldest. You know our eldest is a stubborn mule, unable to change his mind, insisting that I'm stingy with money, which caused him to lose a good marriage prospect for nothing."

Yan Fugui wore a look of helplessness.

Shazhu knew what he said was also true.

"San Daye, if you understand my point, that's enough. Now it's not just a matter of saying sorry with a lip service. This is something the Yagangchang people aren't pursuing; if they dug deeper, I don't even know if I could keep my warehouse keeper job. Looking at Zhang Zehua's family's fate, it would be the same as mine—tied to life and death. Could this be a small matter?"

Yan Fugui knew Shazhu wasn't threatening him.

Regarding Shazhu's words.

Yan Fugui had a deep understanding.

The facts Shazhu described are actually a true portrait of Yan Fugui at his workplace; describing it with the idiom "worse than death" is not an exaggeration.

Another sigh escaped his lips.

A faint, wry smile appeared on his face.

He released his grip on Shazhu's arm and plopped down on the steps.

Shazhu didn't take the chance to slip away; he saw that Yan Fugui had something on his mind, and it was quite heavy.

Just thinking about the present.

He also felt numb.

"San Daye, you!"

The words that followed.

Shazhu didn't know how to comfort him; after saying "you," he couldn't utter another word, perhaps because he thought of something.

A hint of sympathy for Yan Fugui rose in his heart.

This old man.

Not bad.

In his previous life.

Shazhu was poisoned by Qin Huairu and Yi Zhonghai, set up the so-called Love Nursing Home to care for a bunch of beasts, and when he ran out of money he went to Lou Xiaoe for help.

It was Yan Fugui who first noticed Shazhu's predicament; he set aside his retired teacher identity, dropped his so-called dignity, and silently did what he could to compensate Shazhu as much as possible.

On the contrary, Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong not only failed to understand Yan Fugui's behavior, they openly said his trash‑picking conduct caused Shazhu to lose face. Perhaps in their minds, Shazhu's life or death is irrelevant to them; as long as it doesn't affect their food and drink, they're fine.

This is also due to his rebirth.

The reason Shazhu proactively got close to Yan Fugui.

Yan Fugui is stingy, plain and simple.

Yet he has a bottom line of being human.

Not like Yi Zhonghai, who schemes people just to support his elderly care.

Nor like Liu Haizhong, who will do anything to become an official.

He would rather see Yan Fugui doing well, so as not to repeat the tragedies of his previous life.

"Actually, even if you don't say it, I know—haven't things been not going well lately?"

"Same as you."

Yan Fugui immediately changed his tone; he can't compare to Shazhu now—don't look at Shazhu being a warehouse keeper, he's still a skinny camel bigger than a horse.

The matter from last night.

If it were Yan Fugui.

He could only obediently lower his head and admit his mistake.

San Daye misspoke; he can't compare to you, sometimes San Daye even envies you, one person hiding in the warehouse, no one remembers, no one cares, how nice.

Yan Fugui took out a pack of filtered cigarettes from his pocket.

He tore it open directly.

He smoked one himself, and gave another to Shazhu.

He looked at the cigarette in front of him.

Shazhu was dumbfounded.

He clearly remembered.

Yan Fugui never smoked.

Now he was forced to the point of borrowing a smoke to ease his depression, showing Yan Fugui hasn't been doing well lately.

"San Daye, I remember you don't smoke."

"Then and now, a few months ago I was the respected San Daye within the institute, a few months later I'm a street rat, shouted at by everyone."

Yan Fugui held the cigarette in his mouth, lit it with a match, took a few strong drags, and exhaled smoke rings as if venting his inner fire.

His gaze fixed straight ahead.

He remained silent for a long time.

"San Daye, everything will pass, everything will get better."

"Shazhu, San Daye fears he won't live to see that day." Yan Fugui moved the cigarette from his mouth to between his fingers, looked at Shazhu, and said, "Our unit notified me, saying I'm not clean."

Shazhu's heart skipped a beat.

At that moment.

Being unclean is the biggest flaw.

Nothing else to say.

Just speaking of Liu Haizhong, using the false pretext of uncleanness, he's dealt with how many people?

No wonder Yan Fugui is so depressed.

"I've worked honestly for decades, suddenly they say I'm not clean; staying on would be tantamount to tarnishing the unit, I feel despondent, I'm unclean, unclean."

Yan Fugui's self-mocking tone flew into Shazhu's ears.

"You're right, this is Yan Fugui bringing it on himself; originally there was nothing, if they don't let me do this, could I do sanitation work? But now they don't even want to give me sanitation work, what am I? Shazhu, tell me, what is San Daye like? Nothing at all."

"San Daye, cheer up, look at me, I'm fine, aren't I?"

"Shazhu, San Daye is different from you; if it weren't for the Qiuye matter, it probably wouldn't have gotten this serious; Yan Jiecheng committed a great wrong, two letters, harming you and also harming our Yan Family. A month ago, our eldest divorced Ran Qiuye."

Shazhu sucked in a breath of cold air.

Divorced.

This matter.

He really didn't know.

"Don't disbelieve me, it's true; everyone in our compound knows, they laugh behind my back, saying Yan Fugui schemed his whole life and ultimately schemed his daughter-in-law away; from start to finish, San Daye never even saw Ran Qiuye's face before divorcing her, do you think this is the worst misfortune?"

"Anything else?"

"Yes!" Yan Fugui's tone grew deep, "You also know that the Qiuye family returned from outside; after Ran Qiuye divorced our eldest, her parents took her out to relax; recently I don't know what's happening, nor where the rumor came from, saying the Qiuye family ran off outside; because our family is formerly related by marriage to the Qiuye family, they say our Yan Family is also implicated."

"It's not just a divorce; according to the divorce, your Yan Family are also victims."

"Who says no? In principle that's true, but they say the divorce is a scheme we cooked up as a hurting-the-self ploy, saying they're not Cao Cao, they won't fall for Zhou Yu's hurting-the-self ploy; the San Daye family is now like Zhu Bajie looking in a mirror, neither inside nor outside human, explaining doesn't help, not explaining doesn't help."

Shazhu silently sighed.

This seems like the only thing he can do for Yan Fugui.

"Shazhu, San Daye likely will take his family elsewhere, with no other intention, wanting while San Daye is still here to make up for the wrong our eldest did to you, sincerely saying sorry."

"San Daye, you!"

"Shazhu, in a few years, if San Daye hasn't gone underground, if we two can still meet, San Daye will surely treat you to the most authentic baijiu, the best braised meat, and the most delicious donkey offal soup."

"Then I'll await that meal from San Daye."

"Shazhu, it's late, hurry up and go to work."

"San Daye, I'm leaving first."