Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

Chapter 291 Mixed joys and sorrows

When Sha Zhu was sulking about current events, the Jia family was feeling mixed emotions. A year ago, Qin Huairu received a letter from Bang Geng saying that he got married in the Northeast, and Jia Zhangshi kept complaining that Bang Geng should not be sent to the countryside, and she would quarrel with Qin Huairu whenever she thought of it. Today, another letter from Bang Geng was received.

Qin Huairu's hands were shaking slightly as she held the letter. The crooked handwriting on the letter was very interesting - he had a daughter in the Northeast and named her "Liu Xu".

"Mom, Banggeng has become a father..." Her voice trembled, feeling both happy and sad.

"What?!" Jia Zhang suddenly sat up from the kang, snatched the letter with her skinny fingers, and stared at the words with cloudy eyes, "Not only did you marry a country woman with pockmarked face, but you also gave birth to a money-losing child?!"

Qin Huairu's face turned pale: "Mom! How can you say that..."

"What can I say?!" Jia Zhang crumpled up the letter and threw it on the ground, her voice piercingly sharp, "If you hadn't been incapable of stopping him, would my grandson have ended up like this?! Now that he has given birth to a child in such a remote place, he can never return to the city in his lifetime!"

The old locust tree outside the window rustled in the wind, as if it was sighing. Qin Huairu bent down to pick up the letter and carefully smoothed out the wrinkles. She stared at the three words "little catkins", vaguely remembering that many years ago when she gave birth to Sophora japonica, Banggeng also said in disdain, "Another useless one."

"Please keep your voice down..." Qin Huairu lowered her voice, "It would be embarrassing if the neighbors heard us."

"Pah!" Jia Zhang picked up the kang broom and slapped the floor. "The only child of my Jia family was destroyed in your hands, and I'm afraid of being heard?!"

Xu Damao from next door happened to pass by and leaned against the wall to listen with great interest. Qin Jingru pulled his sleeve and said, "Stop listening and go home!"

"What's the hurry?" Xu Damao grinned. "The more fiercely Mrs. Jia scolds, the worse Banggeng is doing in the Northeast!"

Inside the Jia family's house, Jia Zhang was already beating her chest and stamping her feet, crying and wailing, "My poor grandson! He's been dragged down by an ugly freak for his whole life!" She suddenly grabbed Qin Huairu's collar and said, "Go! Go to the Northeast and bring Banggeng back! Tell him that I'm dying!"

"Mom!" Qin Huairu broke free, her eyes red, "The policy doesn't allow it! Besides... isn't Banggeng living well in his letter?"

"Bullshit!" Jia Zhang spat, "Look at this letter paper, it's so rough that it scratches your hands! My grandson used snow-white rice paper when he was in the capital!"

Qin Huairu lowered her head and stroked the letter paper - it was indeed rough and yellowed, with a few oil stains, as if it was written hastily while eating. She suddenly noticed a line of small words at the end of the letter: "Mom, can you send some milk powder coupons for the baby? I can't buy it here."

A tear fell on the letter. Qin Huairu wiped it with her sleeve, fearing that her mother-in-law would see her and make a scene again. But Jia Zhang was sharp-eyed and snatched the letter. After seeing the words, she was furious: "Look! You are so poor that you can't even afford milk powder! You still want to drink milk powder?! It's fine if you starve to death, but you have to pay money to raise the child."

Jia Zhang suddenly saw Qin Huairu take out a cloth bag wrapped in a handkerchief from under the bed. After opening it, a wad of money appeared. Jia Zhang's cloudy eyes sparkled, and he quickly snatched the money away. "So much money, what are you going to do?"

Qin Huairu held her mother-in-law's hand and said, "Mom, this money is..."

"Get out of here!" Jia Zhang kicked her away. Qin Huairu staggered a few steps and hit her lower back on the edge of the kang. She gasped in pain. "You always say you have no money. We haven't had any meat in the house for a long time. It turns out you took it all away. You little whore, you hid your private money and thought I was dead..."

The neighbors who were enjoying the cool in the courtyard heard Jia Zhang cursing in the house. The third uncle Yan Bugui pushed his glasses and said, "This old hag is making trouble again."

Jia Zhang spat at Qin Huairu, and took the opportunity to grab the banknotes in the bag and scattered them out - there were more than ten ten-yuan big unity notes, and she held the money tightly in her hand. At the same time, she turned and walked out of the door, her sharp voice piercing through the air and reaching the ears of the neighbors, "Neighbors, come and see! Our Jia family's grandparents and grandchildren eat steamed bread every day, but Qin Huairu secretly hides her private money!"

The neighbors who were enjoying the cool in the courtyard suddenly became agitated. Xu Damao strolled to the door of the Jia family while eating melon seeds and deliberately shouted: "Hey, Qin Huairu still has this trick?"

"Aunt Jia," said the third uncle Yan Bugui, who pushed the door open to mediate, "if you have something to say, please talk it over..."

"What are you talking about!" Jia Zhang sat on the ground, slapping her thigh and crying, "I am an old woman who lives frugally and can't even afford to buy painkillers, but she is so good!" Suddenly she grabbed a broom and hit Qin Huairu, "Tell me! Are you going to use this money to support a wild man?"

Qin Huairu dodged with her head protected, tears falling down her cheeks: "This money is for Banggeng! He wrote to me and said...he wanted to buy a bicycle..."

"Bullshit!" Jia Zhang picked up the teacup on the table and threw it at her. "Why would my grandson need a bicycle to farm in the Northeast?" The teacup flew past Qin Huairu's forehead and made a dent on the wall.

Yu Shui's husband Zhou Qisheng had just entered the middle courtyard when he saw this and stood in the middle: "Grandma Jia! You are going to kill someone!"

"Get out of the way!" Jia Zhang rushed over with her teeth bared, "I'm going to beat this prodigal to death today!"

Zhou Qisheng didn't move. Jia Zhang glared at him. He didn't dare to hit Zhou Qisheng, but he had no pressure to speak: "I'm educating my daughter-in-law, why should you, an outsider, take it? Are you her lover and a wild man, and you want to stand up for her?"

Zhou Qisheng was so angry at this blatant slander that his face turned pale, and his eyes behind his glasses widened: "Grandma Jia! You, you are slandering me! I just thought you were going to kill someone..."

"Bah!" Jia Zhang spat fiercely on the ground, "Why are you pretending to be a gentleman? Everyone knows that you scholars are the best at hooking up with widows!"

The neighbors in the courtyard were immediately in an uproar. Xu Damao started to make a sarcastic noise from behind the crowd: "Hey, Zhou Qisheng, I didn't expect you to like this?"

Qin Huairu turned pale and staggered to her feet: "Mom! What nonsense are you talking about! Comrade Zhou is Yu Shui's husband!"

"I don't care who he is!" Jia Zhang picked up the kang-sweeping broom and rushed towards Zhou Qisheng, "Get out of our Jia family!"

Before the broom fell, a strong arm suddenly grabbed Jia Zhang from behind. Sha Zhu stood at the door with a gloomy face: "Jia Zhang, you want to hit my brother-in-law?"

Jia Zhang's momentum suddenly dropped by half, but she was still not forgiving: "Shazhu! You came at the right time. Your family..."

"What happened to our family?" Sha Zhu grabbed the broom and snapped it in two. "Is it wrong for my brother-in-law to be brave and do good?" He turned to Zhou Qisheng and said, "You go back first, I'll take care of this."

Zhou Qisheng adjusted his glasses and glanced at Qin Huairu whose face was covered in tears. Then he remembered what Yu Shui had said to him before. He shook his head, quickly walked into Sha Zhu's house, and left this place of trouble.

When Jia Zhang saw Zhou Qisheng leave, she regained her spirits and pointed at Qin Huairu's nose and scolded, "Look! Your mistress ran away and you're already acting pitiful!"

"That's enough!" Sha Zhu shouted, shaking the dust off the beams. "Jia Zhang, I don't care if you scold your daughter-in-law, but if you continue to slander my He family, I will go to the director Wang of the street office to seek justice!"