But death wipes the debt; the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai were both dead. Even if He Yuzhu and his sister hated them both, they could only let it go.
Seeing his son and daughter sighing, He Daqing finally voiced the question that had been bothering him.
"Zhu Zi, what's wrong with you two? Why do you both look like that whenever Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady are mentioned?"
"Dad, you've definitely been fooled by Yi Zhonghai and that deaf old lady. So what if our family had a royal chef? That's all in the past. You used to be cooking for other people. At the end of the day, our family was just someone else's servant."
"It's not a big deal to have cooked for the Japanese. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who have worked for the Japanese. If you really want to investigate, the number of people in 49 cities would be less than half."
"I don't know why Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady wanted to get rid of you. But they must have their own plans for doing so."
Hearing his son's words, He Daqing seemed to realize something. If He Daqing still didn't understand at this point, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his head against it.
“Zhu Zi, now that you mention it, I think I understand. Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady are not good people, and I happen to know their background.”
"I never expected that they would scheme against me like this, even though I trusted them so much. Tomorrow I will go and settle accounts with them and have a proper discussion with them."
"Dad, you don't need to go looking for them anymore. They both died a few days ago. Death settles all debts. Just come back and live a good life. Don't say anything now, I'll have a couple of drinks with you."
Upon hearing that the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai had both died a few days ago, He Daqing stood there stunned for a moment before drinking with Sha Zhu.
Even if He Daqing hated them both, he couldn't possibly go down there to settle scores. The He family father and son hadn't seen each other for over ten years, so naturally they had a lot to talk about.
Once the man finished his drink, he started talking non-stop. The father and son chatted while drinking. Through his conversation with He Yuzhu, He Daqing quickly gained a general understanding of the courtyard house.
It's normal to drink a little during the Chinese New Year. The dishes on the table were getting cold, so Yu Li reheated them. Worried they wouldn't have enough snacks to go with their drinks, Yu Li also fried a small plate of peanuts.
Because they had acquired a lot of meat a few days ago, this year's New Year celebrations in the courtyard were the most lively ever. It wasn't just the He family father and son drinking; the Xu family in the backyard was also drinking.
Of all the families in the courtyard, the Yan family was in a worse situation. Like last year, each member of the Yan family had only a bowl of cornmeal and about ten pieces of pickled vegetables; nothing else.
Of the entire Yan family, only Yan Jiecheng lived a slightly better life. Not only was his porridge much thicker than others', but he also had more pickled vegetables.
The Yan family now depends on Yan Jiecheng. If it weren't for Yan Jiecheng, this handyman, keeping things going, the Yan family wouldn't be able to survive.
If any of the other children in the Yan family were capable, the Yan family wouldn't be in this state. Don't even mention Yan Bugui; with his condition, no matter how hard he tries, he won't earn any money. After all, both his legs are completely useless.
Yan Bugui is already grateful as long as he doesn't become a burden to others. As for the rest of the Yan family, it's a complicated matter. Let's not even talk about the two younger ones, after all, they're quite old.
The third aunt still gets headaches from time to time. Besides cooking for everyone at home, don't expect her to earn much money outside.
Yan Jiefang's situation, however, was complicated. A cripple is a cripple, and coupled with the Yan family's traditional personality traits, Yan Jiefang simply couldn't find work. No one was willing to take him on as a colleague.
No matter the job, Yan Jiefang could never wait more than two days. Within two days, he would definitely get into a fight with someone. Plus, being a cripple, he eventually couldn't find any work at all. Even if he went out to do odd jobs, no one would hire him.
Yan Jiefang has now become a full-time scavenger. Wei Hua doesn't even know if the term "scavenger" still exists.
Anyway, Yan Jiefang now goes out every morning carrying a burlap sack. After filling the sack, he carries the contents to the scrap metal recycling station.
Don't expect people to throw away much waste these days. Even cardboard and other items are usually kept by the residents. At least in the courtyard houses, no one would easily throw these things away.
They wouldn't even throw away cardboard boxes, let alone metalware and other things—these are treasures to children. Many children even hope to exchange these things for candy, so how could they be easily discarded?
To put it nicely, it's scavenging. To put it bluntly, it could be called stealing. When they can't find anything else, they have to resort to taking things off the street.
As long as no one sees it, it's considered found. It's all trash anyway, so there's no way it'll have a name on it. But stealing isn't that easy; opportunities don't always come along. Without absolute certainty, Yan Jiefang wouldn't dare steal anything.
Even if unwanted items are discovered, it won't be a big deal. But if you steal other things and get caught, you'll be imprisoned. So even if Yan Jiefang goes out to collect garbage, he won't earn much money. It's barely enough to support himself, let alone earn money to support a family—that's a complete joke.
Similar to Yan Jiefang, Qin Huairu also returned to the countryside. However, Qin Huairu's situation was far more serious than Yan Jiefang's.
When Yi Zhonghai set the fire last time, Qin Huairu's leg was broken. Her other leg, which wasn't broken, had also been broken in a fall when she went up the mountain to pick wild vegetables with Jia Zhangshi. This made both of Qin Huairu's legs somewhat inconvenient.
If Qin Huairu only had problems with her legs, it wouldn't be so bad, but her condition is far from simple. Whether it was the chemical burns or the high-temperature burns she suffered last time, neither was a minor injury.
Although she had recovered somewhat, Qin Huairu's skin had never been good. Life was already difficult enough in the city, let alone in the countryside.
Qin Huairu was not welcomed at all when she returned to her parents' home. On her very first day back, she was kicked out by her elder brother and sister-in-law.
It wasn't until the next day that Qin's parents allowed Qin Huairu to come in. In order to prevent Qin Huairu from frightening their grandchildren, Qin Huairu and her daughter were arranged to stay in a small outhouse on the mountain.
This is not something that Qin Huairu and her daughter can decide. If people see Qin Huairu looking like this, it could frighten the child. The people of Qin Family Village do not want Qin Huairu to come back to live.
Frightening the children was one thing, but damaging the reputation of Qin Family Village was another. Other things might not spread widely, but something like being struck by lightning was impossible for the people of Qin Family Village not to know about. This affected everyone in Qin Family Village, and people in the surrounding area had grievances against them.
To prevent Qin Huairu from tarnishing the village's reputation, the villagers of Qin Family Village only allowed her to live in a thatched hut on the mountain. However, the Qin brothers and their parents had their own ideas.
Even they disliked Qin Huairu, fearing she would bring bad luck to the Qin family. Less than three days after Qin Huairu returned to Qin Family Village, she was driven to a thatched hut on the mountain.
The thatched hut is only two or three kilometers from Qin Family Village, and it's where everyone usually rests when they go up the mountain to chop firewood. Besides providing shelter from the wind and rain, the thatched hut isn't in very good condition.
Qin Huairu had knelt down and begged everyone, but no one paid any attention to her pleas. Having a place to stay was better than having nowhere to stay. So Qin Huairu moved into the thatched hut with her belongings.
To avoid freezing, Qin Huairu could only take advantage of the autumn to gather more dry grass or make other things to reinforce the thatched hut. She also made two simple beds.
While renovating the house, Qin Huairu was also constantly improving her life. There was plenty of land on the mountain, so Qin Huairu went to the village to get some seeds and started planting on the mountain.
If she didn't have any farm tools, she would just go to her parents' house to get them. Let them say what they want; Qin Huairu was shameless enough anyway. After all, Qin Huairu was their daughter, and they could only pretend they didn't know about her using farm tools.
The Qin family was extremely protective of their food. They even had two locks on their small granary. Others might not know Qin Huairu's character, but how could her parents and brothers not know?
If Qin Huairu gets the chance, she will definitely bring disaster to the Qin family. Given how she was raised to be like this, one can't expect the Qin family to be any good people.
Desperate to support her two daughters, Qin Huairu had no choice but to sell them. She knew they would starve to death sooner or later if they stayed with her; it was better to let them find good homes.
After losing her two daughters, Qin Huairu's life became much easier. With the vegetables she grew and the 300-odd yuan she earned from selling her children, Qin Huairu was doing reasonably well for the time being.
Although there was no meat during the Lunar New Year, there was still a fish, and the staple food was steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and water. Although there were no relatives around, this was the happiest Lunar New Year Qin Huairu had experienced in recent years. Because this year she could finally achieve food freedom.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com