Chapter 618: then translation of title, then ===GLOSSARY=== with list of named entities appearing in these lines

For the Jia family.

Qin Huairu could only cling to Shazhu.

She heard Shazhu was going on a blind date, so on the auspicious day of his meeting, she deliberately went to his house to help tidy up, waving his underwear around, saying things like "I mended the torn ones," "I prepared to wash his dirty underwear," acting more like the mistress of the house than the actual mistress, and literally drove away the matchmaker and the date.

It's not made-up nonsense.

This is something He Yushui personally experienced.

Now they think Shazhu is useless, a burden, so they kicked him out of the Jia family, leaving him to fend for himself, letting him die miserably under the overpass.

Do they really think Shazhu is the last of his line?

Is the old He family extinct?

He Daqing isn't dead yet!

Some things.

He Yushui finding it inconvenient doesn't mean He Daqing finds it inconvenient.

There are times when the Jia family members weep.

The Jia family.

I demand you pay blood debt with blood.

Also Yi Zhonghai, seeing Shazhu's miserable death before him, He Yushui felt a sudden surge of resentment; Shazhu being expelled from the Jia family and dying miserably was largely due to Yi Zhonghai's efforts—if not for Yi Zhonghai leveraging his good relationship with Shazhu to secretly urge him to support the widow, Shazhu wouldn't have earned the reputation of being improper with widows, wanting to marry yet unable to find a matchmaker, as anyone hearing Shazhu's name would say he was involved with Qin the widow and refuse to arrange a match for him.

It's the principle that a widow's gate attracts gossip.

Yi Zhonghai certainly wouldn't be unaware.

Knowing this yet arranging it thus shows how malicious his intentions are.

Shazhu is dead.

Yet Yi Zhonghai is fine.

And he's even staying in the hospital.

The ironic thing is whether the money for Yi Zhonghai's hospitalization came from him or from Shazhu.

He once paid out about half a month's expenses at once; the day after sending Yi Zhonghai back, Shazhu fell ill, became paralyzed on one side, and seven or eight days later was driven out by the Jia family and died.

That's fine too.

Given Shazhu's miserable death, does Yi Zhonghai really think he can fare better?

It fulfills that saying.

"Good people don't live long; misfortunes last a thousand years."

Jia Zhangshi is eighty-two and still alive, while Yi Zhonghai is over ninety and hasn't yet reported to the King of Hell.

He Yushui suddenly felt she ought to do something for Shazhu; she planned to look for Yi Zhonghai, to discuss properly the matter of Shazhu being expelled from the Jia family and dying miserably, and also let Yi Zhonghai know he would follow Shazhu's path to a death without a grave.

For Yi Zhonghai, the greatest revenge would be having no one dress in mourning and see him off.

After a lifetime of scheming, it's all for naught—like drawing water with a bamboo basket.

"Ah!"

A sigh.

It flew from He Yushui's mouth.

Liu Jianguo noticed He Yushui was in a bad mood, stepped over, patted her shoulder, wanting to say something comforting, but didn't know where to begin.

His feelings were full, yet he couldn't find the words to express them.

This must be fate.

When he first met He Yushui, he thought this girl was very strong, doing everything herself, to the point that Liu Jianguo believed she was an orphan without parents.

Only after they started dating did he learn the truth.

Yushui had a father; when she was six, he ran off with a widow, and it was sixteen-year-old Shazhu who raised her. They were originally brother and sister depending on each other. Yet no one expected Shazhu to awaken the He men's innate fondness for widows, falling for a widow two or three years older than him in the same courtyard, named Qin Huairu, throwing himself into supporting her—raising her children and mother—while neglecting his own sister He Yushui.

During the hardest years, He Yushui barely survived by currying favor with Qin Huairu.

Dad liked widows.

Brother liked widows.

Such a family was hardly different from an orphan's.

When they discussed partners, they also said they wouldn't listen to Shazhu after marriage, but they didn't expect Shazhu to stubbornly take the blame for a ten‑something‑year‑old kid stealing chickens, instantly giving He Yushui the reputation of being a chicken‑thieving sister.

Liu Jianguo's mother thought the He family's conduct was poor, suddenly turned against them, and refused to acknowledge He Yushui.

At that time.

The two had already reached the stage of discussing marriage.

In the end, it was He Yushui's incessant door‑to‑door work, stubbornly clinging to the Liu household, that secured this marriage.

After marriage.

Disappointed with Shazhu.

They cut off all contact, only exchanging seasonal greetings.

No gifts.

Yushui said bringing gifts just ends up filling the Jia family's stomachs; better not to give than to cheaply benefit them.

What truly made Liu Jianguo look at Shazhu anew and deem him hopeless was Lou Xiaoe returning with her biological son Hexiao to seek Shazhu; but because of the patriarch Yi Zhonghai's words in the courtyard, Shazhu, against his own feelings, ended up doing what he hated most—abandoning his own son to raise an unrelated outsider's child, while also busily arranging marriages for himself and others, securing the Jia family's prosperity, and ultimately bringing about his own demise.

He also resented Shazhu in his heart.

Yet these resentments, with Shazhu's death, have turned into empty pretense.

When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out.

What's the point of still calculating those things?

Now the only thing we can do for Shazhu is to capture those wicked people and bring them to justice.

He Yushui couldn't make sense of it, but Liu Jianguo spotted countless flaws at a glance—clearly someone had deliberately abandoned them, causing a death; he really thought his brother‑in‑law Shazhu was just for show.

Yushui, don't worry, none of those people will get away—I'll see that they are brought to justice.

He Yushui said nothing.

But she had formed a plan.

She was about to call He Daqing.

He Daqing, who is almost ninety, should also step in.

Qin Huairu's son caused the death of He Daqing's son; He Daqing couldn't then strike at Bangeng's son, completely cutting off Jia Zhangshi's lifeline, letting Jia Zhangshi also taste the pain of losing a relative.

This is tit for tat.

She couldn't say that to Liu Jianguo, so she politely thanked him.

What thanks? I'm your husband; no matter what Shazhu says, he's still my elder brother‑in‑law, reduced to this state—ah, let's not say anything, let's go back.

The two were just about to get in the car.

A taxi suddenly stopped not far from the scene.

A slightly stooped man got out and quickly ran toward Shazhu's corpse, but was stopped by the guards.

Seeing he couldn't get through, the man shouted Yushui's name and waved his arms.

"Yushui, Yushui."

Yushui turned her head.

She saw the person was Xu Daming.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Although she hadn't returned to the Siheyuan for over twenty years, those matters remained firmly etched in Yushui's memory.

Shazhu could be called Xu Daming's lifelong enemy.

Xu Daming was also Shazhu's lifelong rival.

From the time they could remember, they each disliked the other. One despised Shazhu for being schemed against yet enjoying it; the other despised Xu Daming for his many devious schemes. When they met, they did nothing but pinch each other. Shazhu thought Xu Daming didn't listen to Yi Zhonghai and wasn't a good person; Xu Daming thought Shazhu had been schemed by Yi Zhonghai and had a donkey‑kicked brain.

She had thought of many people.

But she never expected Xu Daming to come.

She turned her head and told Liu Jianguo a sentence identifying Xu Daming's identity.

Liu Jianguo waved his hand, and Xu Daming was let in.

He Yushui had thought Xu Daming would come to her, but instead he ran straight to Shazhu's corpse, and in the light recognized Shazhu's face.

She was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

She waved her hand and gave Shazhu two hard slaps, then punched and kicked his body in a violent beating.

Yushui was stunned.

Liu Jianguo was also dumbfounded.

So he wasn't here to mourn Shazhu; he came to vent his anger by beating him.

As the two tried to stop him, Xu Daming, who had just given Shazhu a brutal beating, suddenly felt all his strength drained, collapsed weakly to his knees before Shazhu's corpse, let out a hoarse shout, and burst into tears, wailing to heaven and earth.

"Damn Shazhu, I've told you over and over—widows' affairs, even Duo'ergong couldn't handle them, and you, a little cook, think you can? Qin Huairu isn't just any widow; she's a scheming woman! There's also Jia Zhangshi in the house, an old widow, and I told you plainly: you mustn't get involved with the Jia widows, but you didn't believe me, insisted on being like Duo'ergong, and ended up dying just like him, with no grave—Shazhu!"

Yushui was moved.

Liu Jianguo was much the same.

This was genuine feeling pouring out.

Never expected that the person who knew Shazhu best inside the Siheyuan wasn't Shazhu himself, but Xu Daming, who had fought him all his life.

He Yushui suddenly thought of an idiom.

Mutual love and mutual killing.

Perhaps that's what it refers to—Shazhu and Xu Daming.

"I say Qin Huairu means you no good, Shazhu, and you still say I'm jealous—I'm jealous of an eggplant, jealous of Qin Huairu getting close to you? You don't know what kind of woman Qin Huairu is; everyone at the Yagangchang knows. She's been rolling in the hay with who knows how many people, hiding it from you alone, and you're the only one who treasures her. In the Yagangchang, they say you're Qin Huairu's man—you think that's praise? It's mockery. I'm telling you the truth, you still hit me."

Xu Daming burst into tears, snot and tears streaming, for Shazhu.

He genuinely felt it was a waste for Shazhu.

Looking at Shazhu before him.

Thinking back on all those little moments.

It can be said this way.

The feud between Shazhu and Xu Daming hadn't reached the point of deadly strangling; it was Yi Zhonghai who stirred up this flame, merely wanting to use Shazhu's attack on Xu Daming to show off his dominance in the Siheyuan.

Both Shazhu and Xu Daming were pawns of Yi Zhonghai.

Only Xu Daming saw through it; Shazhu didn't, and was forced to be used.

"Back then I told you, said you couldn't find a woman in the city, so go to the countryside, find a wife, have a kid, and that's it for life. You said Qin Huairu wanted to introduce her cousin to you, making our families relatives from now on, Shazhu—don't you wonder why Qin Huairu brought Qin Jingru to me that day, just to wreck your marriage?"

"I didn't want you to get tangled with the Qin family, so I went along with it. Later, why did I get hot and heavy with Yu Haitang? To tell you, the Qin family must not be provoked. I thought you understood my meaning, but you're just a clueless vehicle."

"Look at what you've done—it's inhuman. Lou Xiaoe came back with her son to find you, and I couldn't face Lou Xiaoe; you also flaunted in front of me, saying you had a later wife. A normal person would have followed their own son, but you, Shazhu, after listening to Yi Zhonghai and the Jia widows, cut ties with your own son."

"You say you hate He Daqing for abandoning you and Yushui, but think—what's the difference between you cutting ties with He Xia and He Daqing abandoning you? You're not even as good as your father; he at least had sons and daughters before running off with a widow. You have no son or daughter, yet you're tangled with a widow— in that matter you outdo your father."

"Shazhu, in He Xia's heart you're also the type who ran off with a widow and ignored your own son—you've become the kind of person most disliked. Now He Xia isn't called He Xia anymore; people call him Lou Jun, and he takes the surname Lou because he's disappointed in you, seeing you as his father, which makes him unable to hold his head up."

"You spent your life helping the Jia family raise their kids, caring for Jia Zhangshi, keeping Qin Huairu alive, and ended up being kicked out of the house and dying miserably. Aren't you called the Siheyuan's war god? Weren't you unbeatable in the Siheyuan? Then why don't you stand up and fight me? Look at you—are you still the Siheyuan's invincible war god? You're just trash; I called you trash—what can you do to me, Xu Daming?"

"Shazhu, you're truly a good‑for‑nothing nice guy—people who care about you you ignore, while those who scheme against you you actually pay attention to. I've schemed against you all my life; I was ruined by You Fengxia's scheming, and I've been hiding from you, Xu Daming. But you, this good‑for‑nothing nice guy, voluntarily came over to teach me cooking—too bad I'm not cut out for it. You gave me a sum of money, I used it to start a business; though I never got rich, I at least had food and clothing. Now it's my turn to help you, Xu Daming—I'll give you money, but you can't spend it, so I can only burn paper money for you."

"I tell you, Bangeng is a white‑eyed wolf, Xiao Dang and Huaihua are also white‑eyed wolves, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu are beasts—keep an eye out, don't transfer the house to the Jia family's name, because if you have a house you have everything; if you don't, the Jia folks won't even glance at you, they'll distrust you, believe Qin Huairu, and eventually kick you out—are you satisfied with that, Shazhu?"

"I've fought you all my life, I admit I'm not your match. Your son doesn't acknowledge you, but you have a son. Besides, as my rival, I still have to collect your corpse, provide for your old age and burial, and even the matter of breaking a pot—I have to rely on Xu Daming for that; Bangeng certainly won't break a pot for you, and as for your son, whether he comes or not is another story—damn it, I, Xu Daming, have become your son—are you satisfied with that?"

"Shazhu, you're gone—what am I, Xu Daming, to do? I guess I'll be leaving soon too; then we can keep fighting down there, otherwise it'd be boring. Qin Huairu and the Jia family—rest assured, I'll vent your anger for you. Really, you thought I, Xu Daming, had wasted all these years for nothing? I'll make them lose everything and lose face. When you're dead, the Jia folks won't fare well either."

Xu Daming wiped his eyes with his hand, stared at Shazhu for a good while, then struggled up from the ground and walked step by step to stand before Yushui.