Sitting on the ground, Yi Zhonghai finally understood everything. He had fallen into the Jia family's trap. Even if there was only a 1% chance that Jia Dongxu was his, he wouldn't let the opportunity slip by. It was because Zhang Xiaohua had exploited this weakness that he had obediently fallen into the trap.
Thinking about the foolish things he had done for Jia Dongxu, Yi Zhonghai sat on the ground and slapped himself hard several times. Even though it hurt terribly, Yi Zhonghai still felt it wasn't enough.
Yi Zhonghai felt like a fool, completely manipulated by Zhang Xiaohua. Even knowing the truth, he could only continue living with the Jia family. He had no way out. He didn't even have the right to blame Zhang Xiaohua, because Zhang Xiaohua had never acknowledged Jia Dongxu as her child.
Now that she's practically a cripple, even knowing she's infertile, she can't have children anymore. The only option now is to continue the charade and treat Jia Dongxu as her own son. Only in this way can she have someone to care for her in her old age.
No matter how unwilling he was, Yi Zhonghai could only slowly walk back to the Jia family, because he didn't even have the right to negotiate.
Madam Jia had already considered everything that could be foreseen, so she naturally didn't care about Yi Zhonghai's return. If Yi Zhonghai genuinely wanted to stay with her, then she would let him remain in the Jia family. If he didn't want to, as a temporary worker, Yi Zhonghai wouldn't have much of an impact on the Jia family.
Jia Zhangshi even looked down on Yi Zhonghai. After all, Yi Zhonghai was far too indebted. Besides the 300 yuan from his cousin and the 500 yuan from Huang Xiaojuan, he also had a deaf old woman behind him.
Because of these burdens, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to return to the Jia family. Once home, he dared not vent his frustrations to anyone, behaving even more obediently than before.
As for Yi Zhonghai's true thoughts, only Yi Zhonghai himself knows. Seeing Yi Zhonghai's expression, Wei Hua laughed more heartily than anyone else at home.
People like Yi Zhonghai deserve this kind of retribution. Let's see if he dares to scheme against others again. When he schemes against others, he should also know the consequences of being schemed against.
This is the best outcome for Yi Zhonghai: letting these scheming people come together as a family. Letting them scheme and plot against each other in their home is more entertaining than anything else.
Wei Hua wasn't the only one laughing at Yi Zhonghai. Everyone in the courtyard had overheard Yi Zhonghai's words at Ma Wen's doorstep. Now everyone knew why Yi Zhonghai was siding with the Jia family. The thought of Yi Zhonghai being so manipulated by the Jia family made everyone secretly laugh at him.
Everyone thought Yi Zhonghai deserved to be schemed against by the Jia family. He had a perfectly good life, yet he spent his days playing tricks in the courtyard. If it weren't for the Jia family, Yi Zhonghai might still be the old master of the courtyard.
He certainly wouldn't turn himself into a temporary worker by engaging in feudal superstition. The thought of Yi Zhonghai's baffling actions has already made many people secretly delighted.
Before people could even laugh at Yi Zhonghai for a few days, they were distracted by what happened next. As the disaster worsened in other places, those with foresight knew that grain production would soon decline. To prepare for what was to come, everyone began stockpiling food.
Everyone had just started taking action when their rations were slightly reduced. Although the reduction wasn't significant, everyone's attention was focused on this matter. This hadn't happened in many years. Some far-sighted individuals even began stockpiling food in advance.
Only those who have experienced a disaster truly know how terrifying it can be. Yan Bugui was the first to replace all the refined grains in his family with coarse grains.
He had even started buying grain coupons on the black market to continue hoarding grain. Only after arriving at the black market did he realize he wasn't the only clever one. Grain coupons on the black market had already started to increase in price, but even so, Yan Bugui could only grit his teeth and buy over a hundred jin of grain coupons.
If there is no disaster, I will lose at most a dozen or so dollars, but once a disaster occurs, it will be the only thing my family has to live on.
Liu Haizhong and Sha Zhu made the same choice as Yan Bugui. Among them, Wei Hua and Huang Xiaojuan went the furthest.
Huang Xiaojuan had experienced something similar before, so she knew the seriousness of the situation, especially since she was pregnant. She didn't mind suffering herself, but she just didn't want her child to suffer.
Wei Hua knew what would happen next, so it was normal for him to buy more things now so that he could live a better life in the future.
The only family that didn't react was the Jia family, because they were currently broke.
The Jia family placed all their hopes on fate. But fate was not on their side; for the next two weeks, not a single drop of rain fell, and the weather grew hotter and hotter.
Unfortunately, other international changes occurred at this time, further worsening the country's situation. (As for what exactly happened during those years, I'm sure everyone knows. Due to policy reasons, some things cannot be written down, so please use your imagination!)
To cope with this situation, the government had no choice but to continue reducing rations. People like Wei Hua used to receive 42 jin (approximately 21 catties) of grain per month. But since June, that has been reduced to 36 jin (approximately 18 catties). By the time of the actual autumn harvest, they only had 24 jin (approximately 12 catties) left.
This was the ration for adults; the rations for the elderly and children were even less. Those who had prepared food in advance were very grateful for their preparations, but the Jia family, who had made no preparations, looked worried.
There was another person in the courtyard who wasn't particularly happy either; this person was Sha Zhu. Although Sha Zhu had prepared some food in advance, his wife was pregnant.
Although Sha Zhu prepared dozens more kilograms of grain after learning that Yu Li was pregnant, the price of this grain was two or three times higher than before. This cost Sha Zhu tens of yuan more, so it's no wonder he couldn't be happy.
Sha Zhu, who was about to become a father, naturally wouldn't do anything foolish. Every father would want to leave his children as much as possible.
Even before the child is born, Sha Zhu will make plans for his child.
Only Wei Hua in the entire courtyard knew that this matter would last for three whole years. Wei Hua had considered changing things, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was take care of himself.
To improve his life, Wei Hua specifically obtained a Level 4 fitter's license before the incident. With a higher level, it was natural for his family to have a better life; after all, each level up meant a corresponding increase in pay.
To repay Liu Guangtian's favor, Wei Hua even went to Liu Haizhong and sold his father's job to Liu Guangtian for 350 yuan.
Liu Haizhong didn't say anything about the price and immediately took out the money. Although Liu Haizhong liked to beat his son, he wouldn't abandon him.
The price of 350 yuan is already too low. Given Wei Hua's father's job, selling it for over 400 yuan wouldn't be a problem at all. Liu Haizhong certainly wouldn't miss out on such a good deal.
At the age of sixteen or seventeen, Liu Guangtian suddenly became an employee of the steel rolling mill. He entered the mill as a substitute worker, without any apprenticeship period; he was a full-time employee from the start.
Since both parents work, this incident didn't have a significant impact on the Liu family. Moreover, Liu Haizhong had already stockpiled some food beforehand.
In the entire courtyard, only Xu Damao wasn't worried about his future. Even though the ration was reduced by nearly half, Xu Damao's family was still eating steamed buns made from two kinds of flour, just to keep everyone else from complaining.
Long before everyone's rations were reduced, the Lou family had already secretly prepared several hundred kilograms of fine grains for Xu Damao and his family in other places.
Just because ordinary people can't get their hands on food doesn't mean these capitalists can't. Anyone with a little bit of connections can smuggle food back through overseas purchasing agents.
Of all the families in the courtyard, only the Jia family was truly affected. When the rations were reduced by half, people like Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi could only eat two meals a day, and both meals were thin porridge.
Even Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu didn't get breakfast in the morning and had to go to work at the steel rolling mill on empty stomachs. Apart from having a proper meal at the steel rolling mill at noon, they could only drink thin porridge like everyone else when they got home in the evening.
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