Chapter 613: Final Chapter, Everyone's Fate

Xiao Dang, who was preparing dinner in her hands, seized the opportunity when Jia Zhangshi was arguing with Qin Huairu, stood up, and gave Qin Huairu a meaningful blink, her eyes subtly scanning toward Jia Zhangshi.

This was a look whose meaning only Xiao Dang and Qin Huairu understood.

It was meant to remind Qin Huairu.

As long as Jia Zhangshi stayed in the Jia family for a day, Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang would never have a peaceful day; for their own sake and for the Jia family's, they had to make Jia Zhangshi leave.

The meaning was to have Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang join forces.

Having Xiao Dang alone handle selling off Jia Zhangshi would indeed be difficult.

Mainly because Xiao Dang wanted to have it both ways—enjoy the rich rewards of getting rid of Jia Zhangshi while also preserving her reputation as a filial daughter and granddaughter.

In the world.

Who can have both fish and bear's paw?

So this matter could only be left to Qin Huairu to handle.

Just as the Jia family widow once performed her role in the siheyuan—one playing the red face, the other the white face—Qin Huairu had always been the pitiful widow manipulated by Jia Zhangshi, while Jia Zhangshi remained the domineering mother-in-law oppressing Qin Huairu; without this act, they could never fool the neighbors.

As a member of the Jia family, raised since childhood amid such influences, Xiao Dang had learned some of the Jia family widow's tactics; in this matter of getting rid of Jia Zhangshi, she hoped Qin Huairu would step forward as the villain, using the opportunity to polish her own image.

Just moments ago, Xiao Dang had been thinking about how to persuade Qin Huairu to stand with her.

She never expected Jia Zhangshi to inadvertently help her.

Jia Zhangshi's rebuke of Qin Huairu was nothing short of a stroke of genius.

Xiao Dang guessed Qin Huairu was moved; she used her expressive eyes to seek Qin Huairu's opinion.

Join forces?

Speak honestly.

Qin Huairu wavered.

If it weren't for Jia Zhangshi's scolding, Qin Huairu might have spared her some face, but after being rebuked, she accepted Xiao Dang's words.

As long as Jia Zhangshi stays in the Jia family for a day, Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang will have no peaceful day; even if they had a good day, Jia Zhangshi would ruin it.

She replied sharply, without good grace.

"I may be worthless, but I've borne several children for the Jia family, raised them with hardship, and still support you, this mother-in-law—do I no longer even qualify to sigh in the Jia family? Should I have you sew my mouth shut with needle and thread?"

"I dare not let you sew my mouth shut with needle and thread, lest you go out saying this mother-in-law has failed you, her daughter-in-law."

"Grandma, say a few less words." Xiao Dang, having spoken to Jia Zhangshi, then turned to Qin Huairu: "Mom, say nothing—I know what's in your heart."

"I'm giving Xiao Dang face."

"I'm also giving Xiao Dang face."

The two widows of the Jia family each shot a harsh remark at the other, then turned their heads away; even during meals, they faced each other with sour expressions.

Mainly because Jia Zhangshi gave Qin Huairu a cold look.

Looking at the braised pork and white steamed buns on the table, Jia Zhangshi believed this was her achievement—her act of blocking Shazhu at Bai Xu had enabled Xiao Dang to obtain the opportunity to recommend someone to Bai Xu.

Otherwise, how could one explain the braised pork and white steamed buns before them?

Surely as the neighbors said.

The Jia family has had good fortune.

Eating greedily, fearing Qin Huairu would take advantage of the Jia family's bounty, Jia Zhangshi consumed most of the plate of braised pork and five or six white steamed buns.

Xiao Dang and Qin Huairu said nothing.

In their eyes, this was Jia Zhangshi's last meal in the Jia family.

After finishing dinner.

Jia Zhangshi went to the courtyard to digest.

Digesting was secondary; the most important thing was to seize the moment and spread the news of the Jia family's good fortune.

Pure petty-minded scheming.

Thinking of the many unemployed youths in the siheyuan, who idled about the streets all day and had become nuisances—street loafers disliked by people and dogs alike.

If it were her, Jia Zhangshi, and if Bangeng loafed about the streets all day, she'd worry he'd get into trouble and think about finding him a decent job so he wouldn't hang out with those rascally friends.

The Jia family's work.

Had become, in the neighbors' eyes, a tempting morsel.

Just one idea: spread the word that Xiao Dang had the opportunity to recommend someone to Bai Xu, and let the highest bidder win.

Jia Zhangshi hadn't forgotten how, the previous night, the siheyuan neighbors had mocked her, saying she'd eaten a bowl of plain rice worth over a thousand.

Angered, Qin Huairu publicly slapped Jia Zhangshi twice.

It was finally a loss of face for Jia Zhangshi.

She considered it a form of compensation.

Jia Zhangshi deliberately went from house to house, telling everyone Xiao Dang had been favored by Shazhu, had become a formal worker at Bai Xu, and even held a work quota.

Even Thus: Thus: Mahua and You Fengxia were not spared by Jia Zhangshi.

Thus: Thus: Mahua and You Fengxia didn't know what to think, didn't say Xiao Dang had been fired by Bai Xu, but instead gave insincere congratulations to Jia Zhangshi.

This caused Jia Zhangshi's vanity to undergo a qualitative surge.

Her emotions rose ever higher.

The siheyuan could no longer contain Jia Zhangshi; she strode out, legs swinging, to show off in the neighboring siheyuan.

Left in the Jia family, Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang exchanged a glance, their faces bearing strange smiles.

Qin Huairu whispered a few words to Xiao Dang's ear.

Xiao Dang took out paper and pen from the drawer and swiftly wrote a report against Jia Zhangshi.

The Jia family of three—since Jia Zhangshi was not a registered urban resident and lacked the relevant procedures to remain in the city.

With this report in hand.

Jia Zhangshi no longer had the possibility of staying in the city.

Taking advantage of the night.

She threw the report letter into the mailbox.

The next day.

Early in the morning, the siheyuan echoed with Jia Zhangshi's wailing.

Some neighbors still asleep or already awake rushed out of their houses, seeing several workers with red armbands dragging Jia Zhangshi out of the Jia family home on the grounds of illegal residence, pulling her out of the siheyuan.

Behind her were the crying Xiao Dang and the expressionless Qin Huairu.

The Jia family's drama.

To watch.

Those who enjoyed gossip, after making inquiries everywhere, quickly figured out the full story, learning that someone had reported Jia Zhangshi, and the street office would send her back to her registered hometown, Jia Family Village!

After that day, Jia Zhangshi never appeared again in the siheyuan.

A film projector who had once shown movies in Jia Family Village brought back gossip, saying Jia Zhangshi lived poorly in the countryside, washing her face with tears all day, either calling for Old Jia or Little Jia.

Because when Jia Zhangshi followed Old Jia into the city, she considered herself superior, looked down on her brothers and sisters, even thought their visits embarrassed her, refused to feed them, and directly scolded them away, cutting off all contact with her family.

Rural people.

Living off the land.

Self-reliant.

But Jia Zhangshi had grown accustomed to enjoying comforts in the city, having lived over twenty years with clothes brought to her and food brought to her mouth, with no one to help, everything requiring her own effort, which made her life unbearable; every night she cursed her family at home for not helping her, and also cursed Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang.

After some time passed.

Jia Zhangshi finally figured out the cause and effect.

She concluded that the report letter was either written by Qin Huairu or Xiao Dang, and directly declared that Qin Huairu and Xiao Dang would die without a burial place.

She repeatedly wanted to return to the city.

But because she couldn't obtain a recommendation letter, and due to her old age, unable to reach where the bus stops were, this matter could only be abandoned.

Then she waited day by day, hoping for stars and moon.

Bangeng sat for ten years.

Thinking that when Bangeng came out, he wouldn't see her in the siheyuan and would surely come to the countryside to find her.

She loved Bangeng so much, Bangeng must miss her as his grandmother.

She waited a full twelve or thirteen years.

Yet Bangeng never came.

Jia Zhangshi probably didn't know that Bangeng had long forgotten her completely; because of good behavior, in 1988 he was released early.

He returned to the siheyuan.

But because the Jia family's house had been transferred by Qin Huairu to Xiao Dang, Xiao Dang worried Bangeng would cling to her if he returned, so she sold the house and moved elsewhere to live.

Qin Huairu also sold her job at the Yagangchang, took the money, and returned to Qin Family Village.

Bangeng, having a criminal record, couldn't find work; to make a living, she could only do what she was capable of.

As a street rascal.

In another brawl.

She was accidentally killed.

Related reports were also published in the newspaper.

Waiting for Bangeng to come call her, Jia Zhangshi accidentally saw the newspaper, recognized the person as Bangeng, but being illiterate, could only beg the brigade leader to read it for her.

The brigade leader read it truthfully.

When hearing that Jia Bangeng, nicknamed Bangeng, had died on the spot.

Jia Zhangshi felt as if her soul had been instantly sucked out, she returned to her hut in a daze, speechless.

At night someone heard Jia Zhangshi frantically shouting for her good grandson Bangeng.

The next morning.

They found Jia Zhangshi dead and gone, her arms stretched out long, unknown what she was grasping or if she had already grasped something, her face showing a hint of unwillingness.

After confirming Jia Zhangshi's death, her relatives pushed each other, none wanting to handle her affairs; still, an elder of the Jia family, unable to bear it, ordered them in the name of Jia family patriarch to bury Jia Zhangshi.

Not even a coffin was prepared.

They dug a pit in the mass grave, laid a layer of corn stalks at the bottom, threw Jia Zhangshi's body in, and covered it with floating soil.

The siheyuan's generation of troublemaker, Jia Zhangshi.

Met her end in this way.

At the same time Jia Zhangshi was buried in the mass grave, Qin Huairu in Qin Family Village, Xiao Dang in the Capital City, and Huaihua in some southern hair salon all felt their hearts tighten, their eyes unconsciously turning toward Jia Family Village.

……

From 1978 to 1990.

A full twelve years.

Things are, people are not.

Yan Fugui's slaughterhouse grew larger and larger, becoming a famous wealthy figure in the Capital City.

He drove a small car, bought a building, yet unwilling to part with the siheyuan, bought it at a high price, turning it into Yan Fugui's three-courtyard siheyuan.

The greatest achiever.

None other than Shazhu.

Bai Xu Food Group became the largest catering enterprise in the country, owning brands such as Bai Xu Food, Bai Xu Fast Food, and Bai Xu Hot Pot.

Covering high, medium, and fast three levels.

Bai Xu cuisine is the top-tier name in domestic catering, emphasizing luxury, elegance, and depth, and is the primary choice for businessmen and successful people to dine.

It has opened branches in the Capital City, Magic City, and Yang City.

With the help of Lou Xiaoe, it went beyond the national border, and branches were established in regions and countries such as Hong Kong Island, Treasure Island, and England.

Bai Xu Hot Pot is a catering service mainly targeting the lower and middle classes, with branches in first-, second-, and third-tier cities domestically, following a strategy of winning through quantity.

Bai Xu Fast Food refers to fast-food restaurants like hamburgers and meat-filled buns, an idea that came to Shazhu after seeing his son eat a vegetable sandwich, which he thought would be a path to wealth.

Established in 1979, it took over ten years to occupy half of the domestic market, cutting off the path of foreign fast food; recently planning to go global and compete with foreigners.

It has contributed considerable profits to the Bai Xu Food Group.

The greatest profit comes from the land of these stores, all uniformly owned by the Bai Xu Food Group.

Shazhu also became a generation's business tycoon by turning a small store into a multinational enterprise with annual profits exceeding ten billion yuan within twelve or thirteen years.

In 1990, he served as a torchbearer and appeared as a guest at the sports meet.

After the sports meet ended.

Shazhu handed over Bai Xu to the new successor, was entrusted with a new task by the higher-ups, became the direct superior of the Bai Xu Food Group, and over ten enterprises like Bai Xu are under his sole authority.

Shazhu's several children have also achieved success in their careers, married off or married into families.

Also You Fengxia, in her previous life, followed Deputy Factory Director Li in debauchery, swindling Liu Haizhong and others out of all their wealth; in this life, because she met Shazhu, who reused her based on his past-life experience, she became a key figure in Bai Xu Fast Food, married Liu Jianguo's nephew, and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, living happily and harmoniously.

Yan Jiekuang, after the reform of Yagangchang, transformed from a member of the Security Section into a public security officer at the police station, nervously struggling on the front line of protecting ordinary people.

Having experienced Shazhu's rebirth.

The Siheyuan did not, as in the previous life, see the phenomenon of raising beasts for elderly care.

Truly achieved the outcome where good people are rewarded and bad people meet retribution.

Liu Haizhong also came out this year, just like Bangeng, and returned to the Siheyuan.

However, due to the Liu family's house being sold, he lived a life worse than that of a dog.

Went to Liu Guangfu's house; Liu Guangfu is a son-in-law, and the family gave Liu Haizhong no pleasant expression. Went to Liu Guangtian's house; Liu Guangtian directly told Liu Haizhong to go find Liu Guangqi. At Liu Guangqi's house, he was harshly criticized by Liu Guangqi's wife, who said their family had gained an old dog that eats rice.

Liu Haizhong, unable to swallow this anger, returned to the Siheyuan, saw Yan Fugui getting off a small car, felt ashamed, dared not show his face, and ultimately could only become a vagrant, until he was found frozen and starved to death under the overpass.

Upon hearing this, Shazhu truly did not expect that in this life, Liu Haizhong would follow in his previous life's footsteps; he specially went to see and found that the place where Liu Haizhong died was almost exactly the same as where Shazhu died in his previous life.

Later, some side stories will be written, the side story being about how, after Shazhu's death, Xu Daming and He Yushui helped him reclaim the family property, leaving Bangeng, Qin Huairu, and their family with nothing.