Qin Huairu covered her face and ran back to her room, sobbing uncontrollably. Qin Jingru was still basking in the joy of the moment when she suddenly noticed her sister, Qin Huairu, running in crying. She was somewhat bewildered.
"What happened to my sister?"
Qin Jingru quickly ran over to comfort her.
Qin Huairu just kept crying without saying a word. Looking at her younger sister Qin Jingru, she wanted to tell her about her relationship with Wang Qiang to prevent her sister from falling into a trap. But seeing the expectation on her sister's face, she couldn't bear to shatter her dream.
After crying for a while, Qin Huairu wiped away her tears and forced a smile.
"Sister is alright..."
Seeing that her sister was unwilling to talk about it, Qin Jingru didn't press the matter further.
"Sis, what do you think of Brother Wang Qiang? I think he's a really good person, warm and proactive, and good-looking too!"
Qin Jingru became engrossed in her own fantasy, completely oblivious to Qin Huairu's disgusted expression. She continued talking incessantly, as if she were already married to Wang Qiang.
Wang Qiang slapped Qin Huairu, but Qin Huairu didn't care after running away. Just as he was sitting in the room drinking tea, she heard Sha Zhu's voice coming from outside.
Then Sha Zhu, carrying a takeout meal from the factory canteen, arrived at Qin Huairu's door and called out:
"Everyone's home? This food looks great today! Come and try it."
As soon as Sha Zhu entered the door, he saw the Qin sisters, Qin Jingru and Qin Huairu, chatting. Qin Jingru was beaming with joy, while Qin Huairu looked worried and had a handprint on her face.
"What's going on? Who bullied you? Tell me, and I'll go teach them a lesson!"
Sha Zhu placed the food on the table and then sat down next to Qin Huairu.
"It's nothing, we were just chatting. Why did you buy so much food again? How much did this cost?"
Qin Huairu forced a smile and changed the subject.
"Don't lie to me, your eyes are all red, are you missing Lao Jia?"
Sha Zhu thought that Qin Huairu was thinking of her deceased husband because she saw that he and Qin Jingru were about to get together. Little did he know that Qin Jingru had already been defiled by Wang Qiang.
"Go away, stop being so irresponsible!"
Qin Huairu rolled her eyes at Sha Zhu, while Qin Jingru said from the side, "Brother Zhu, you're a good person, but I don't think we're a good match. I think you and my sister are a better match."
"Hey, what are you saying? I, He Yuzhu, am a young and unmarried man."
Sha Zhu was getting anxious. Everything was fine at noon, so why did things change so drastically in the evening?
He pointed at Qin Huairu: "Qin Huairu, you can't do this to me! You're using the excuse of introducing me to a guy to scam me out of food and drinks?"
"And you, are you and your sister working together to scam people?" Then Sha Zhu turned his attention to Qin Jingru.
"How can you talk like that? What's wrong with me having a meal with you? Aren't you just asking for it? We're not a good match at all."
Qin Jingru retorted to Sha Zhu without holding back. She already looked down on Sha Zhu, and now that he had a relationship with Wang Qiang, she despised him even more.
"Okay, I'll eat it myself!"
Sha Zhu picked up the food from the table, turned around, and left.
"Serves you right for being single, what a terrible temper!"
Qin Jingru didn't forget to add fuel to the fire.
Wang Qiang witnessed everything. From the moment Sha Zhu entered Qin Huairu's house to the moment he came out, only a few minutes had passed. He went in all smiles, but came out looking like he had a lot of trouble.
Instead of returning to his own room, Sha Zhu carried the food to the front yard to find an old man named Yi Zhonghai, asking him to help him find a partner. Sha Zhu suppressed his anger and, shouting, went to the old man's house.
"Grandpa, are you home?"
Sha Zhu's shout almost made Yi Zhonghai drop the cornbread in his hand.
"Silly Zhu, come in!"
Yi Zhonghai saw Sha Zhu carrying something from inside the house and immediately invited him in.
"Hey, eating? Perfect timing, I got some food from the factory, shall we have a drink?"
Sha Zhu didn't stand on ceremony. He put his food on the table, opened it, and there was half a roast chicken, four stir-fried dishes, and more than a dozen large steamed buns.
Yi Zhonghai almost couldn't stop drooling, and the older woman quickly added another pair of chopsticks.
“Zhu Zi, you’re the only one with a conscience in this yard. I happen to have a bottle of good wine here, let’s have a couple of drinks.” Yi Zhonghai took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet and made two wine cups.
"Try it, this is good wine, there's not much of it, I've been storing it for two years, I can't bear to drink it."
Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai drank and chatted by the sea, and in the end Sha Zhu steered the conversation toward introducing himself to a potential partner.
"Uncle, look at me, I'm not young anymore, and I'm still not married. As the saying goes, of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no offspring."
While Yi Zhonghai was eating a chicken leg, Sha Zhu offered his own idea.
"That's true. Well then, if I know any suitable girls, I'll introduce you to one." Yi Zhonghai was quite good to Sha Zhu because he had no children and wanted Sha Zhu to take care of him in his old age.
"Uncle, I actually have my eye on a girl, but no one has introduced us."
Sha Zhu poured Yi Zhonghai a glass of wine and then leaned forward.
"Why are you being so mysterious? Whose daughter is she?"
"It was Teacher Ran, the teacher of Banggeng. I saw her visiting Qin Huairu's home that day."
As Sha Zhu spoke, he recalled the events of that day. Teacher Ran was beautiful and cultured, and people liked her at first sight. If Qin Huairu hadn't offered to introduce him to someone, he would have already asked someone to match him with Teacher Ran.
"Teacher Ran, you should talk to Yan Bugui. Old Yan and she are teachers at the same school."
Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai immediately offered a solution.
"Uncle, you know my relationship with Uncle San..."
Sha Zhu didn't finish his sentence. Yi Zhonghai understood that among all the people in the courtyard, Yan Bugui was the most cunning. Sha Zhu looked down on him, and the two didn't have a good relationship.
"Okay, I'll talk to him about it. You can prepare some food and invite him for a drink. I think this deal will probably go through."
“That’s great. As long as you step in, I’m sure Uncle San won’t refuse you.”
Sha Zhu was very happy. The drinking session didn't end until after 10 p.m., and there was still a lot of food left. He gave it all to Yi Zhonghai, and Sha Zhu happily went back to his room to sleep.
So, when Sha Zhu left Qin Huairu's house in the afternoon, he took all the food he had brought with him. Qin Huairu was in trouble, as her family was already starving and they had no idea what dinner would be served that night.
She only earns a little over thirty yuan a month, which is barely enough to support her family, let alone with the addition of Qin Jingru.
Seeing Qin Huairu's worried look, Qin Jingru knew that Qin Huairu's family was not well-off after she had been there for a few days. At noon, she had eaten a good meal thanks to Sha Zhu, but now that Sha Zhu had turned his back on her, she didn't know what to eat for dinner.
"Should I go find Brother Wang Qiang?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
