Chapter 2: Xu Damao, the Show-off Who Lost the Chicken

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Shazhu, busy?" Xu Damao, with a sleazy look on his face, sporting a handlebar mustache and squinting his small eyes, swaggered in.

He Yuzhu glanced at him sideways without a word. This grandson was a sleaze, a guy who couldn't accomplish anything but could always ruin things; given his own stature, he really couldn't be bothered to engage with such a person.

"What's the matter, Shazhu? Do you know why your buddy is here today?" Xu Damao, however, had no intention of letting He Yuzhu off, and he sleazily crowded closer.

He Yuzhu sighed. Seeing Xu Damao almost right in his face, he could only shrink back a little and shake his head.

"The Factory Director! It was the Factory Director who invited me here, invited me to drink, invited me to eat the food you made with your own hands. You tell me, isn't that infuriating?"

"Xu Damao, stop trying to curry favor with your hot face against someone else's cold butt. At most, he asked you if you could show a little movie for them tonight. You really think you're some kind of big shot? Get lost, get lost, get lost, don't annoy me here." Casually taking off his apron, He Yuzhu began to think about what to bring home today.

"Hey, what's wrong? Don't be envious. Your buddy here can get a drink, I can sit at the same table as the Factory Director. And you? Can you? You're just a lousy cook." Sure enough, as soon as He Yuzhu took the bait, Xu Damao immediately got energized.

"To hell with you! I'll slap you to death with a big mouth." He Yuzhu glared, making a move to strike, which immediately scared Xu Damao into covering his head and running out; the title of God of War of the Siheyuan wasn't earned for nothing.

"Pah, what a piece of work." He Yuzhu thought for a moment; he had chicken, duck, fish, and meat in his own space, and if he remembered correctly, his younger sister He Yushui would be back tonight.

It was truly magical when you thought about it; the moment he thought of He Yushui, he actually felt that kind of affection for a relative. He didn't know if it was Shazhu's soul lingering or the effect of the system, but it didn't matter. In his past life, he was lonely and helpless, so having an extra sister was even better.

He had everything else, just lacking a bit of staple food, so he picked up six steamed buns from the big pot and stuffed them into his lunchbox, then left the canteen humming a tune, feeling satisfied.

Recalling Qin Huairu, He Yuzhu walked back while singing "The Battle of Wits."

"Dang ge li ge dang, this, woman, is extraordinary~"

As soon as he exited the Factory courtyard, He Yuzhu indeed saw Bang Geng, Xiao Dang, and Huai Hua hiding behind the concrete pipes.

However, he didn't go up to them like in the TV show and praise Bang Geng for stealing well; that would be purely brain-damaged.

He Yuzhu just looked at the chicken bones buried in the dirt by the three of them, shook his head, and turned around, carrying his lunchbox home.

In his later life, he had eaten the food of a hundred families and worn the clothes of a hundred families. He had studied hard, learned knowledge desperately, was excellent in character and learning, and had been admitted to university all the way to become the student union president; he had never stolen anything from others.

As for Qin Huairu, according to his memories, it wasn't hard to discover the trace of admiration the original Shazhu had hidden deep in his heart for her.

Especially that first glance when Qin Huairu had just married into the Courtyard when she was in her teens.

This kind of admiration hidden in a young man's heart was actually constantly affecting his thinking.

Carefully recalling Qin Huairu's appearance, even he, who had seen the world, couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart.

It was just that everything that happened later according to the TV show filled him with disgust for this seemingly strong woman.

Time and again she ruined Shazhu's blind dates; if it weren't for Lou Xiaoe, Shazhu would have really ended up without an heir.

Shazhu wasn't even dead yet, and his three houses were occupied by the three children, while he was reduced to squeezing into a room with Qin Huairu's mother-in-law, and she hadn't even left Shazhu a single son or daughter.

Shazhu couldn't see through it, but he saw it clearly.

Wasn't this just finding a long-term meal ticket, finding a big sucker to raise children for her, a white-laboring plow ox?

A widow who keeps herself chaste, why would she wear an IUD?

If one said that initially, for the sake of survival and the children, she had to sell her looks, that could be justified; after all, people could really starve to death back then.

But later on, she became more and more disgusting, taking other people's money while acting like a good person herself.

Shazhu once said a sentence: "Before, she was popping them out one after another, how come there's been no movement since it got to me?"

What does that explain? Was the IUD really removed? Not necessarily.

The money Shazhu earned was all kept in Qin Huairu's hands, the houses were divided among her children, and she kept making Shazhu earn money to provide dowries for her children.

If Qin Huairu had really given birth to a child for Shazhu, would there be any room for these three children?

What left him even more speechless was after Lou Xiaoe returned with He Xiao.

Not a single person in the entire Courtyard was happy for Shazhu.

Instead, they were all calculating their own little schemes.

Calculating that if Shazhu left, their living conditions would decline, and so on.

Qin Huairu seemingly affectionately gave Shazhu up to Lou Xiaoe, but crying and wailing behind her back was because she knew Shazhu fell for that act.

In the end, the whole Courtyard sucked Shazhu dry, and then started sucking Lou Xiaoe; it was truly nauseating.

The First Elder had no children, so the idea of having Shazhu provide for his old age could barely be justified, but what about the Second Elder and Third Elder?

With so many children of their own, they still shamelessly sucked Shazhu dry.

Parents are not kind, children are not filial.

Those two old guys really had the nerve to keep that on their lips.

If it weren't for Lou Xiaoe, then Shazhu's life would have truly been lived in vain.

Counting everyone in the Courtyard, only Long Laotaitai and Lou Xiaoe were good to Shazhu.

Now that He Yuzhu understood everything, he felt nothing but disgust and nausea toward this bunch of animals in the Courtyard.

This is truly a Courtyard full of animals.

Humming "The Battle of Wits" all the way, He Yuzhu returned to the Courtyard.

Qin Huairu's eyes lit up when she saw He Yuzhu's lunchbox, and she reached out to take it: "What did you bring in the lunchbox?"

"Hey, just a few steamed buns." He Yuzhu smiled and dodged, avoiding Qin Huairu's hand.

"Steamed buns are fine too, Bang Geng isn't full anyway." Qin Huairu was not polite at all, giving He Yuzhu a charming, flirtatious look, refusing to let it go.

"That won't do, Yushui is coming back today. Alright, you go ahead and be busy, I'm going to cook for Yushui." Looking at Qin Huairu's beautiful face, the harsh words that were originally on his lips were swallowed back; he had to admit, this Qin Huairu really didn't look bad.

Most importantly, her willow-leaf eyebrows and cherry mouth really had a shadow of Xiao Qin.

He Yuzhu shook his head vigorously and sighed, his mood feeling a bit low for a moment.

He returned to his room under Qin Huairu's glare, not mentioning the matter of Bang Geng stealing the chicken.

"Check-in!"

"Check-in successful! Congratulations on obtaining a Down Suit x1!"

Back in his room, He Yuzhu lit the stove and stared blankly at the flickering fire.

It took a while for him to calm down and pat his head, finally remembering the system check-in.

"Heh, not bad at all."

Looking at the Down Jacket, Down Quilt, Down Gloves, Down Hat, Down Vest, and Down Pajamas that had appeared in the system, He Yuzhu could not help but marvel in wonder.

This system is truly magical, I wonder if it can grant me immortality or eternal youth...

Chuckling twice and wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, He Yuzhu took the Down Suit out from the space, placed it on the bed, and covered it with his own quilt.

Then, he took a large rooster and a large carp out from the space and began to process them with a crack-crack-crack.

Just as he was stewing them, Xu Damao suddenly burst in, giving He Yuzhu, who had been thinking about Qin Huairu's figure, a start.

"Hey, hey, hey, Xu Damao, don't let your drool drip in there, what are you looking at?"

Watching Xu Damao, who had been staring blankly at the pot the moment he entered, He Yuzhu glared at him irritably; what kind of person was this, interrupting his beautiful dream.

"This chicken is so beautiful, where did you get it? Did you steal it from my house?!" Xu Damao shouted, eyes wide.

"This chicken has been practicing for two and a half years... no, wait, do you even own chickens?"

"Don't play dumb with me, what practicing for two and a half years, why don't you say this chicken plays basketball? Xiao'e, Xiao'e, come quickly, come over here."