Chapter 4: Jia Zhangshi's Wisdom

Yang Qing explained to her.

"This is a sandwich brick; after making it, I dried it in the sun for half a month in summer."

"Then I smoked and fire-roasted it, making the brick hard and black, and built it into a wall."

This way won't attract attention.

"Go ahead and eat, eat your fill; at least we can last a year."

"This doesn't even count the twenty-plus catties of coarse cornmeal I can get each month."

She was so delighted, Chen Hong also looked at Yang Qing with shining eyes.

He's practically a treasure trove of a boy; in such circumstances, he can still manage to get so much.

Afterwards, he again asked doubtfully.

"Since you're not lacking food, why are you so thin?"

Yang Qing gave a bitter smile.

"Because not being thin is also a crime."

"Just like that, they all think I'm hoarding grain."

"These past few years, everyone's gone mad with hunger, they'd love to dig out rats to eat. How could they possibly let me off? If I'm not thin, they'd dare to overturn our house completely."

"I have no human rights."

Who let his parents follow the Nationalists and run away?

This is the crime.

Chen Hong pityingly stroked his head and promised: "From now on, big sister will protect you."

As she spoke, a surge of power rose within Chen Hong.

Yang Qing was unaccustomed to having his head touched, even by his own wife, and felt very embarrassed.

He hurriedly broke free from her grasp.

"I'll make you porridge."

Saying that, he bent over to go cook, the ingredients being that piece of sweet potato brick and the compressed cake.

As the water boiled, a sweet fragrance wafted out of the house.

If it weren't snowing, with every household tightly closing doors and windows, and if it weren't for the desolate Houzhaofang, this would surely attract many demons and monsters.

Yang Qing also didn't dare continue; he hurriedly extinguished the fire and then covered the pot tightly.

He shouted at Chen Hong, who was slowly cleaning.

"Wife, it's time to eat."

Chen Hong, hearing the voice, also came to the stove, warming herself by the low fire while taking the bowl Yang Qing handed over.

The couple, thus, sat face-to-face, squatting while holding their bowls, slurping noisily.

The porridge was delicious, because the sweet potato is sweet, and the honey in the compressed cake is also sweet.

While eating, Chen Hong also discovered something splendid.

"Hey, uh, where did you find this honey?"

"Just call me Yang Qing."

"This honey is what I dug out from the outskirts."

"I smuggled it back in several batches."

"In our courtyard there's a San Da Ye, with a fierce gaze and a keen nose, who stands guard at the gate every day, pondering over others' belongings; if it weren't for my disheveled appearance and tight hiding, I'd probably be searched out by him."

The two drank porridge, their bodies warmed up, and with food in their stomachs, their spirits lifted.

The conversation grew more intimate.

"Ah, there are still people like this; the courtyard really has many oddballs."

"The more people, the more oddballs."

"Like our courtyard."

"I'm just a punching bag, anyone can bully me. San Da Ye is an old miser, a tightwad. Jia Family represents shrewish scoundrels. Er Da Ye is all pomp, a pretentious show-off, an official-obsessed nut. The eldest master appears upright but is actually the most sinister, a hypocrite. There's also a foolish cook, being played around, clueless, lecherous yet pretending to be proper. And there's Xu Damao, who calls himself smart but is merely petty, a pure villain."

He paused there.

"Although he's a villain, he's also the only person in this courtyard who has ever helped me."

"Sometimes a villain is more like a good person than a good person is."

"Although he might just be doing it to show off his generosity, giving me alms."

As he said these things, Yang Qing's heart was also very complicated; human nature is far murkier than we think.

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong roughly understood the situation in the compound.

"It's pretty much like our village."

Idiots, lunatics, shrews, pretenders, punching bags, hypocrites, old misers... every village has them.

Yang Qing also let out a sigh.

"This might just be the makeup of society."

Chen Hong also let out a sigh.

"Forget it, we just need to live our own lives well."

The next day.

When Yang Qing took Chen Hong to the Jiedao office to get matchboxes, someone saw them.

Through the window, Jia Zhangshi glared with eyes and spoke in a weird, sarcastic tone.

"This little bastard, where did you abduct that bamboo pole from? It's so ugly, only he would want it."

Qin Huairu was eyeing the Yang Family's house; she was the most sensitive about that.

Mom, Yang Qing won't get married, will he? If he gets married, can we still take back that house?

Jia Zhangshi heard and cursed.

"It's all Old Lady Wang's fault, meddling in other people's affairs; that brat is just a good-for-nothing, what right does he have to occupy such a big house?"

"We originally planned to wait until the weather warmed up a bit, then drive him out to the shack next door."

"I think once Dong Xu returns, we won't even need to wait for warmer weather; let Yi Da Ye coax Sha Zhu, bring Dong Xu, and kick him out of that nice house."

"Mom, how will we explain this to Director Wang? If Yang Qing disagrees, Yi Da Ye might not be able to stop Madam Wang."

Jia Zhangshi rolled her eyes.

"You don't know shit; the Yang family are just traitors, whoever gets involved with them suffers misfortune."

"If that Wang person doesn't know what's good for them, I'll go report her, and that will get her stripped of her official post."

"And do you think Yi Da Ye is made of clay?"

"He's an eighth-level worker with strong connections; it's not up to the Wangs to do as they please."

"Can't you see? In this compound, Yi Zhonghai is an eighth-level worker, Yi Da Ye, Liu Hai Zhong is a seventh-level worker, Er Da Ye, Yan Fu Gui is a cultured person, San Da Ye."

"They're all ranked by seniority, because the people in this compound can't be offended; their words carry weight."

"If you don't listen to him, Yi Da Ye, Er Da Ye, you won't be able to get by in the factory; San Da Ye will make your child suffer at school."

"In the past, these people were clan elders, gentry gentlemen."

"No matter how the times change, we can't do without them."

Jia Zhangshi has her own unique vision; otherwise she couldn't run rampant in this compound.

Nor would she send Jia Dongxu into Yi Zhonghai's hands; in this society, a master and half a son both carry responsibility.

Look, it's because of this move of hers that the Jia Family has become an untouchable presence in this compound; in life, Yi Zhonghai, Yang Qing, and Sha Zhu give three-way support, and from time to time they can even donate a bit.

Living more comfortably than anyone.

This is also why Qin Huairu remains loyal to Jia Zhangshi—damn it, she's admirable; what woman could achieve this?

"Mom, you're right; if this brat really gets married, will we still get his family's rations?"

Jia Zhangshi snorted.

"If he dares, I can tell at a glance that woman is a refugee, rootless and baseless; just those two good-for-nothings, I'll run them into the ground."

No one cares about the life or death of this couple, and no one even treats them as human.

In their eyes, this couple is just a lump of clay for them to shape as they please.

Yang Qing has been tormented by them into this state, yet he still hasn't complained.

For the families of traitors, the authorities don't care about them either; many have fled, and those who couldn't flee have joined the ranks of street loafers, banding together to resist the world's hostility.

Yang Qing might be the only one struggling to survive.