In the central courtyard of the siheyuan (traditional courtyard house), three stewards sat in front of a dilapidated eight-immortal table.
The three men sat in a triangular formation, with Yi Zhonghai in the middle, Liu Haizhong on the left, and Yan Bugui on the right. Each of them had an enamel cup in front of them, and a small plate of melon seeds in the middle.
Sun Zhengguo chuckled to himself. What a familiar scene! If this scene could be put into a TV series, it would probably be a famous moment, right? He even had a name in mind: "Xu He Battle - Famous Scene".
Regardless of Sun Zhengguo's thoughts, Liu Haizhong spoke first.
"Quiet down. Today, we are holding this meeting because of the fight between the He family and the Xu family. As everyone knows, our courtyard is a civilized courtyard. These two families not only fought, but also had a group fight. Is this a matter of mobilizing the whole family?"
In short, this incident has seriously damaged the civility rating of our courtyard house. It is extremely egregious and represents a very serious internal conflict among the people. Since it is an internal conflict, then we, the elders in charge, are here to mediate. Alright, now let a respected elder say a few words.”
Liu Haizhong rambled on for a while, took a sip of tea, and immediately felt refreshed, so he handed the stage over to Yi Zhonghai.
Yi Zhonghai was dumbfounded. "You've already rambled on and on, why don't you just give me the result? Why are you leaving me with this nonsense?"
“This is indeed a bad situation. All of you involved should come forward.”
After Yi Zhonghai finished speaking, he looked at the people fighting, and the others had no choice but to reluctantly stand over there.
After seeing that the group had lined up, Yi Zhonghai continued.
"Second Uncle's summary was quite good. Everyone knows what happened, so I won't go into details. Based on the principle of learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the disease to save the patient, the three of us discussed it. Both families suffered damage, but the extent of the damage was different. The incident was also caused by Sha Zhu. Therefore, we decided that the He family would compensate the Xu family 100,000 yuan, Sha Zhu would apologize to Xu Damao, and the other two families would each clean their courtyards for a month."
To be fair, Yi Zhonghai hasn't chosen Sha Zhu as his caretaker yet, so his stance hasn't become skewed, and he's handling things fairly reasonably.
"If you two have any other disagreements, please speak up."
After Yi Zhonghai finished speaking, everyone looked at the He and Xu families.
He Daqing had just had his fill of the hammering and had gotten the better deal. Since his own people were in the wrong first, he didn't say much and nodded in agreement.
Xu Fugui didn't want to agree to the plan, but then he thought that it was already good enough that He Daqing had to bow his head and pay compensation. He figured that if he continued to make a fuss, he wouldn't be able to get anything out of it. This matter needed to be considered in the long run, and he could deal with the old man slowly later. So he nodded in agreement.
Next, Sha Zhu apologized, He Daqing paid compensation, and after everything was settled, Yan Bugui delivered the closing remarks, emphasizing lessons learned and warnings to be kept in mind. He also gave a long speech. Finally, Yi Zhonghai announced the adjournment of the meeting.
And so, this unique courtyard gathering came to an end.
After Sun Zhengguo returned home, his parents also returned home. When they heard their son tell them what had happened in the yard, they were filled with emotion. It was quite bizarre that their purchase of a bicycle had led to a fight between the two families.
The day after the fight, another piece of news spread throughout the compound: Jia Dongxu, after three years of apprenticeship, had finally been promoted to a full-time employee, with his salary rising to 275,000 yuan—a rare stroke of good fortune.
As soon as Jia Dongxu was officially promoted, Jia Zhangshi started looking for matchmakers to find him a wife. Since it was difficult to find someone in the city, they decided to look for someone from the countryside.
That same day, the matchmaker sent word that the girl was from Qin Family Village near Beijing, named Qin Huairu, 18 years old, and a beautiful young woman known throughout the surrounding area. She was to come over the next morning, and the Jia family was to prepare.
The next morning, Jia Dongxu asked Yi Zhonghai to help him get a day off. He even dressed up specially and asked his mother to buy some vegetables and meat. At noon, not only would his blind date come to eat, but his master, Yi Zhonghai, would also come to his house for lunch, supposedly to broaden his apprentice's horizons. What actually happened, however, remains to be seen.
Around 10 a.m., Matchmaker Wang led a girl wearing a floral top, dark blue trousers, and black cloth shoes into the courtyard. Although they were at the factory today, there were quite a few people watching the spectacle, including Sun Zhengguo, who came out to see what this woman, who would stir up trouble in the courtyard in the future, looked like.
When Sun Zhengguo first saw Qin Huairu, he had to admit that she was indeed beautiful. She had an oval face, wore pigtails, and especially those lively eyes that could steal one's soul. Her breasts were heaving and her buttocks were round and plump. No wonder she had controlled Sha Zhu for a lifetime, and no wonder Jia Dongxu died so young. Who could resist her? He silently recited "Amitabha, good, good" in his heart.
When Jia Zhangshi saw that Wang the matchmaker had brought the woman, and then looked at Qin Huairu beside her, who was clearly fertile and beautiful, she was very satisfied and quickly welcomed her into the house.
"Dongxu! A young lady has come, don't just stand there like an idiot, quickly pour her some tea."
When Jia Zhangshi saw her son's foolish expression, she was furious. She already had a plan in mind: "Wait until we get married, then I'll see how I handle you."
To be honest, Jia Dongxu was captivated the moment he saw Qin Huairu. She was so beautiful, he was determined to marry her.
Qin Huairu was quite satisfied with Jia Dongxu's appearance; he was handsome and dashing. Seeing how infatuated he was with her made her even more satisfied. Moreover, he was a full-time employee, so she was sure she would have a good life after marrying him. Marrying him didn't seem like a bad idea.
Seeing the two of them, who seemed to be mutually attracted, the matchmaker knew the deal was done.
When Yi Zhonghai finished get off work at noon and went to the Jia family for lunch, Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu were already chatting happily together. The two had already hit it off. Qin Huairu was good at dealing with people and had a sweet tongue. She kept calling him "Master" and "Master" and soon made Yi Zhonghai very happy. Qin Huairu was really going all out to marry into the city.
When Qin Huairu left in the afternoon, everything was settled. She went home to discuss it with her parents and find an auspicious day to inform Jia Dongxu to propose marriage. Jia Zhangshi, fearing that someone might sabotage the process, instructed Jia Dongxu to escort her all the way to the station, ostensibly to cultivate their relationship.
Sun Zhengguo knew that Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu were bound to get together, so he stopped thinking about it and decided to stay away from the Jia family in the future. After all, whether the courtyard was chaotic or not was up to the Jia family.
That night, Sun Zhengguo dreamed of Qin Huairu. Her every smile and the shape of her breasts were deeply etched in his mind.
When he woke up in the morning and saw the stain on his pants, Sun Zhengguo couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. He never expected that Qin Huairu would become his first mentor.
"This damn youth."
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