Chapter 619: He Daqing, you ought to avenge Shazhu

Xu Daming, who had been cursing and crying for a long while, wiped his tears and walked over to Yushui, his bloodshot eyes proving his love-hatred feud with Shazhu.

All of this, with Shazhu's death and disappearance, turned into falseness.

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

One can't possibly quibble with the dead, can one?

Xu Daming made a request to Yushui that surprised her greatly yet she could not refuse.

"Yushui, I've fought with your brother for so many years, this bastard, even before he died he played a trick on me, your brother lived his life in a muddle, only caring about widows, and ended up like this—I want Shazhu to depart this world pure and clean."

Xu Daming's request.

It greatly surprised Yushui.

I never expected Xu Daming actually wanted to personally purify Shazhu.

Not to enter the palace as a eunuch, but to wash Shazhu's body. Xu Daming wanted Shazhu to leave this world clean, not carrying the world's filth.

Living a muddled life.

Death.

One must be clear about it, after all.

He Yushui said nothing, turned her head to look at Liu Jianguo beside her.

Liu Jianguo spoke up, agreeing to Xu Daming's request to wash Shazhu's body, arranged a car for Xu Daming, and let him go back with them.

Xu Daming, however, chose to ride the corpse cart, saying he wanted to talk more with Shazhu.

Liu Jianguo did not insist, let Xu Daming sit in the cart pulling Shazhu's corpse, and followed Shazhu to the department together.

In the autopsy room, Xu Daming used scissors to cut off the dirty clothes on Shazhu's body.

During the time Shazhu was ill, no one had helped clean his bodily waste, the smell was terrible, and in the freezing weather, the clothes soaked with waste froze into hard armor, almost sticking to his skin.

Having no choice, Xu Daming could only use tools, carefully cutting off Shazhu's clothes, and during this process he tried his best to be careful, lest he injure Shazhu's skin.

Killed by the widow's family, tragic enough, he should not suffer further harm.

After a long while, Xu Daming finally removed Shazhu's waste-soaked clothes from his body.

Looking at the emaciated Shazhu, then at the waste stains on his body, a heavy sigh came from Xu Daming's mouth.

"Ah!"

A sigh.

It included everything.

Xu Daming meticulously began cleaning the filth from Shazhu's body.

Tears.

Once again welled up from Xu Daming's eye sockets.

The dead war god, truly not even as good as a dog.

Xu Daming lifted Shazhu up with just one hand.

Indicating Shazhu had not eaten properly during this time.

That makes sense.

As the most shameless white-eyed wolf Bangeng and the most shameless white-eyed wolf Xiao Dang and Huaihua, who don't even care for their own mother and grandmother, let alone Shazhu, an outsider.

Purely self-inflicted.

After cleaning Shazhu's bodily filth, Xu Daming wiped his body dry with a towel, then placed a white cloth over Shazhu's corpse.

After doing all this.

He bowed toward Shazhu's corpse.

As he was about to leave, he seemed to think of something, turned his head and instructed Shazhu.

"Shazhu, go in peace, your affairs, I Xu Daming will not neglect, your sister and brother-in-law will not neglect either, the Jia family who abandoned you will get their retribution, I tell you this—you lived so miserably in this life, don't come back in the next."

……

Liu Family.

Yushui grabbed the phone in front of her.

She hesitated for a moment.

Then she resolutely dialed a few numbers.

After a few beeping sounds.

A slightly aged tone sounded from the other end of the phone.

With a hint of familiarity.

Tears immediately welled up in Yushui's eye sockets, she recognized it— the person responding on the other end was her own father, He Daqing.

Resentment surfaced in He Yushui's mind.

If He Daqing had not run off with the widow back then, or had brought the widow back to the He family, or even taken Shazhu and them to live in Baocheng,

then none of those later melodramatic events would have occurred.

Even if they had left Shazhu and his sister in the Siheyuan, he could have come back every few days to check on them, see how the two children were doing.

Attitude good or bad.

It doesn't matter.

At the very least, if He Daqing had appeared in the Siheyuan, he could have deterred those who harbored ill intentions toward Shazhu and Yushui, like Yi Zhonghai, like Qin Huairu.

Truly, one horse rides off and never looks back.

No news at all.

If Liu Jianguo were not the deputy head of the district, we couldn't have gotten He Daqing's phone number.

We siblings are just this unwelcome in your eyes, He Daqing?

……

On the other side.

He Daqing, who had picked up the phone, asked after a moment.

Seeing that there was no movement from the other end, alive or dead, he mistakenly thought it was a wrong number, muttered a complaint under his breath, and was about to hang up.

Just as he was about to hang up the phone.

He Yushui's voice came from the other end.

"Are you He Daqing?"

Hearing the unfamiliar voice on the other end.

He Daqing was stunned.

Looking for himself.

Who is it?

"If you are He Daqing, then I am your niece. My name is He Yushui, and I live at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, in the siheyuan, the most sunny room in the central courtyard."

He Daqing froze.

An embarrassed expression appeared on his face.

Over these years, without letters or meetings, He Daqing felt he had no face to see his two children, blaming himself for the disgraceful thing he had done back then.

It could be described as beastly conduct.

And it was not an exaggeration.

Having thought of all sorts of possibilities, he never imagined he would receive a call from He Yushui in such a situation, and instinctively admitted it aloud.

"Yushui, I am your father."

The word "father" was spoken.

He Daqing burst into tears.

After helping the widow with her chores, raising the children, and marrying a wife, when the widow died, her children severed all ties with He Daqing, claiming no blood relation, and refused to have anything to do with him.

He Daqing also felt too ashamed to return to the capital city to look for Shazhu and Yushui.

So he settled down in Baocheng.

Relying on his decent skills, his life was passable, having installed a phone at home proved He Daqing's financial standing, and he was never short of money.

He was just a little lonely.

Coming and going, he was always alone.

In the deep of night, when all was quiet, he also thought of Shazhu and Yushui, wondering how big Shazhu's children had grown, whether they were married, and guessing how strong Yushui's children were, whether they had started working.

"My father died long ago; I called you just to inform you of something, hoping you can bear it."

Yushui's attitude.

Was within He Daqing's expectations.

Having given birth but not raised her, he followed the widow away that year when Yushui was only six, and she bore him a grudge, which was understandable; He Daqing did not blame He Yushui.

He only felt a flicker of embarrassed unease in his heart.

From Yushui's tone, he sensed the matter she spoke of was serious.

He let out a long breath.

"You say, my health is still good."

"Since your health is not bad, I can speak boldly to you about it; it concerns my brother."

"What happened to your brother?"

"How could my brother be otherwise? He is just like you, having awakened the What Daqing men inherently like— the gene for liking widows."

"What?" He Daqing exclaimed, "Did your sister-in-law die?"

"Did your sister-in-law die? You asking that makes you feel a bit guilty; my sister-in-law is perfectly fine, nothing happened to her. Forget it, let me tell you this: the Jia family in our central courtyard— you should have an impression of them, right?"

"What happened to the Jia family?"

"Jia Dongxu died in 1960; at that time, my brother had not yet married."

Upon hearing this.

He Daqing could not even sit still.

Shazhu was born in 1935; in 1960, he was twenty-five or twenty-six, an age when children are already running around on the ground, yet Shazhu still had not married.

"Jia Dongxu had a wife, named Qin Huairu, who was not bad-looking; she took over Jia Dongxu's position at the Yagangchang and earned the nickname 'charming widow.' Yi Zhonghai told my brother, saying that it was not easy for the Jia family, being orphans and widows, and asked my brother to help the Jia family more."

He Daqing felt as if he had been struck by a club.

Yi Zhonghai had the unmarried Shazhu go help the widow.

It was sheer nonsense.

Doesn't Yi Zhonghai know the principle that a widow's gate attracts gossip?

His expression changed.

He Daqing seemed to have realized something, and his tone when questioning He Yushui changed.

"Did your brother agree?"

"My brother agreed; every day's lunchbox, without fail, was delivered to the widow, and even his wages were collected by her on his behalf. Even I, his own sister, was ignored and neglected by him. To survive, I had to fawn over the widow, using her mouth to retrieve my own rations. And yet, Yi Zhonghai still criticized me, saying I was cold-hearted, not caring for my brother, and still asked me to help the Jia family more."

"Yushui, Father sorry to you."

"You are right to blame me; if you hadn't run away, my brother wouldn't have ended up like this. Every time he went on a blind date, Qin Huairu would come to cause trouble— either bringing him his underpants or taking off the ones he had just removed, all the while insisting he treated the Jia family well. Bangeng and the other children never saw Shazhu as an outsider; sometimes Xiao Dang and Huaihua, in front of his matchmaking partners, would shout 'Father!' at my brother."

He Daqing wanted to say something.

But he did not know how to begin.

This is all his fault.

Yi Zhonghai also arranged a wife for my brother, but the girls he arranged were all looked down upon by my brother, and he gave them unpleasant nicknames...

He Yushui on the other end of the phone, from Shazhu giving Liu Yufen the nickname Zhu Bajie's second aunt, kept talking about how Qin Huairu, Jia Zhangshi, and Yi Zhonghai conspired against Shazhu, saying Shazhu was dragged into his forties, eyeing that he couldn't get a wife, so he could only partner with Qin Huairu to live together, but because of Bangeng's disagreement, Qin Huairu delayed Shazhu for eight years on some pretext.

After Bangeng returned from the countryside, unable to find work or a wife, Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi discussed and said Shazhu could solve the Jia family's problem.

They worked on Shazhu's mindset.

Shazhu solved Bangeng's work problem, arranged a wife for Bangeng, provided dowry for Xiao Dang and Huaihua, and only then did Qin Huairu sleep with him.

Giving Jia Zhangshi three yuan monthly as pension money, calling Jia Zhangshi mother.

He Daqing's body was trembling all over.

The widow's affairs, he was clear on them; Qin Huairu married Shazhu when she was already in her forties, at this age, how could she bear children for Shazhu?

Moreover, widows who observe mourning usually get an IUD.

The reason for getting an IUD.

He Daqing knew that before he was schemed against by the white widow, he had been involved with many IUD-using widows in an unclear way.

Even by thinking with his buttocks, he knew Shazhu treated a scoundrel as a precious gem.

The He family line ended.

The incense was cut off.

He Daqing's blood pressure spiked for a moment.

He shouted at He Yushui on the other end of the phone, repeatedly saying things like "How could Shazhu do such a thing?"

If Shazhu were present, He Daqing would surely have slapped him hard several times.

Brainless thing, your father's involvement with the widow is because your father had a son and a daughter.

You bastard, still a bachelor, dare to play with widows—utterly reckless; this isn't playing with widows, it's the widow asking you, He Yuzhu.

He Yushui on the other end of the phone hesitated slightly, wanting to give He Daqing time to digest these messages, otherwise she couldn't continue her revenge plan.

About five or six minutes passed.

He Daqing asked He Yushui on the other end of the phone about the follow-up.

"Did your brother meet with misfortune?"

It's no wonder He Daqing would think this way.

Normal people would think this way; if it weren't for Shazhu's mishap, He Yushui wouldn't have called He Daqing.

He Daqing now just wants to know if Shazhu is still alive, and whether he, like him, was kicked out by the children of the widow who raised him.

"My brother is dead."

"I guessed as much; let me think—was it the widow's children who felt your brother had no value, discarded him, your brother couldn't take it and ended himself? Truly a cowardly softie, not fearing death—when did this happen?"

"Just tonight's events, but not as you said—he didn't kill himself; a few days ago he fell ill, paralyzed on one side, needing help with eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, and sleeping; Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, and Bangeng despised my brother, dragged him to the suburbs, and he died a miserable death from freezing and starvation."

"Pa-da" sound.

He Daqing's phone in his hand.

Fell to the ground.

In his eye sockets.

Tears welled up.

His son died, his Shazhu died.

No wonder just now while sleeping, he dreamed of Shazhu bidding him farewell.

"My son."

He Yushui on the other end of the phone.

Listening to He Daqing's ghostly wailing and wolf-like howling.

Said nothing.

Some things need no words.

She hung up the phone.

……

"Xu Daming, where have you been fooling around so late? Believe it or not, I'll tell Shazhu's brother-in-law, and let him beat you."

The "Shazhu's brother-in-law" in Qin Jingru's words refers to Shazhu.

Lou Xiaoe brought He Hui back.

After Qin Jingru learned Xu Daming had problems, she staged the grand performance of "Singing the Song of the Turned-Over Serfs," and because of some matters, the two divorced.

After the divorce.

Xu Daming started a small business, grew it step by step, until he met You Fengxia, fell for her scheme, and was swindled out of all his possessions.

Shazhu brought the down-and-out Xu Daming, going door to door to make neighbors kowtow and apologize, and also wanted to teach Xu Daming cooking skills.

Xu Daming didn't learn cooking skills, but remarried Qin Jingru, took the money Shazhu lent him, did some small businesses, and had some spare change in his pocket.

Qin Jingru knows Xu Daming is full of bad intentions.

Men, after all.

Only when hung on the wall can one be thoroughly honest.

Mistakenly thinking Xu Daming went out to find women, using Shazhu to warn Xu Daming.