Siheyuan: Return to the Era of Prosperity

Chapter 9 Scandal
Rumors never stop at wise people, especially news with scandals, which spread very quickly.

By the afternoon, the scandal about Yi Zhonghai had spread throughout the alley.

When the three aunts came back from picking up rotten vegetable leaves in the market, they happened to hear a few children singing nursery rhymes and were stunned with shock.

She knew that something interesting was about to happen, so she hurried home, put the vegetables away, and stepped into the middle courtyard. At that moment, Jia Zhang was arranging a plot for Shen Zhiyu.

The third aunt did not dare to tell Jia Zhang, for she was afraid that Jia Zhang would start the Old Jia summoning technique again.

After all, paper can't hold the fire.

Before the afternoon, people of all ages in the alleys and courtyards were discussing the truth of the matter.

This is the evil nature of human beings. No matter whether Yi Zhonghai is a eunuch or not, everyone hopes that he is.

Many people are jealous of Yi Zhonghai's situation. Now that there is such an opportunity, everyone will put the blame on Yi Zhonghai.

After Shen Zhiyu finished composing the nursery rhyme, he no longer paid attention to it. He is now concentrating on learning the technology, hoping to master it through learning, which may save many people.

When Shen Zhiyu came back from the library in the evening, he had heard several versions of the story, and there was a new development in his ballad, with the content becoming more bizarre and contrary to human ethics.

Shen Zhiyu smiled, opened the door and cooked for his brothers and sisters. As for how Yi Zhonghai's affairs developed, it had nothing to do with him.

How to clarify is Yi Zhonghai’s business. The only thing he is curious about now is how Yi Zhonghai will do it!

When Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu walked in from the alley after work, they found that many people were looking at them from afar, pointing and talking, which made him feel a little flustered for no reason.

Jia Dongxu also felt the people around him pointing fingers at them, and asked Yi Zhonghai hurriedly, "Master, there's nothing wrong with me! I feel like everyone is looking at me."

Yi Zhonghai thought to himself, it would be strange if I knew that, I want to know it too!
He shook his head and said to Jia Dongxu: "I don't know either."

The two of them went straight back to the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang with doubts.

As usual, the third uncle Yan Bugui was guarding the gate, waiting for his neighbors to come home from get off work.

Whenever the Third Uncle saw someone carrying something, he would stop them and chat about random things. Everyone would give him something more or less out of frustration.

Unlike usual, the third uncle Yan Bugui did not greet Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu today, but just looked at them with a strange look.

"Uncle, why are you looking at me?" Jia Dongxu asked the question in his mind.

"It's okay. I have something to do at home, so I'll go back first."

The third uncle Yan Bugui didn't bother to wait for his neighbors at the door. After taking a look at the two of them, he returned to his house.

His actions confused Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu. They thought that if the Third Uncle's manure truck passed by, he would have tasted something, but why was he willing to go home today? Something was wrong.

The two of them walked into the courtyard with doubts, and Banggeng happened to be singing the nursery rhyme that Shen Zhiyu had arranged today with his sister.

"In Courtyard No. 95, lives a great man. He is a born hypocrite, destined to be extinct! Born a eunuch, his wife took the blame. He didn't believe in evil, and gave birth to a son through surrogacy. His disciple's wife was just right, but unfortunately the seed was bad, so the family was doomed to be extinct."

Jia Dongxu suddenly felt like he was wearing a green hat on his head.

When Yi Zhonghai heard Banggeng's nursery rhyme, his face changed instantly, like a chameleon.

Jia Dongxu stopped Bang Geng and cursed in a low voice: "Little beast, who told you to sing like that?"

Banggeng shrank back in fear and whispered, "It was Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiekuang and the others in the front yard who sang it. I learned it from them." Jia Dongxu picked up a shovel at the place where the coal briquettes were kept at home and walked towards the front yard.

Yi Zhonghai saw Jia Dongxu's behavior and knew that he was going to find Yan Bugui to reason with him, so he stopped him and said, "Dongxu, go home and eat first. We will have a meeting of the whole academy later. I think our master and disciple have been plotted against."

Yi Zhonghai knew that the person who spread the rumor must be from his own hospital. His purpose was not yet known, but it needed to be clarified in time.

If Shen Zhiyu knew what Yi Zhonghai was thinking at the moment, he would definitely happily drink two liang of wine to celebrate. The best way to deal with this kind of thing is to ignore it and keep things the same as before.

The more you clarify, the more unclear it becomes. Clarification instead gives other people more topics and gossip. Coupled with the fact that there are people in the hospital processing the rumor, the rumor can spread for at least half a month.

In the front yard of Shen Zhiyu's house, after the brothers and sisters had finished their meal, San Xiaogang set up the table and prepared to start studying when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Shen Zhiyu, I'm here to inform you that the Intermediate Court will hold a meeting soon, and each family must send one person." Liu Guangtian shouted outside the house.

"I understand." Shen Zhiyu replied.

"Brother, what's happening in the yard?" asked the eldest sister Shen Zhifang curiously.

Shen Zhiyu knew that it was probably about the nursery rhyme he made up that morning, but he had to keep it to himself and not even tell his brothers and sisters.

"I'm not sure, we'll know soon. The three of you should study hard and don't go." Shen Zhiyu instructed the three.

Shen Zhiyu lingered at home for more than ten minutes before he walked towards the central courtyard with the stool.

Entering the central courtyard, three managers were sitting at two tables side by side, and below them sat more than 20 residents of the courtyard.

Shen Zhiyu didn't want to have much contact with those beasts, so he sat in the corner at the back row. Next to him was Zeng Guiquan who worked in a woodworking factory. Not long after he sat down, Xu Damao came in from the middle courtyard pushing a bicycle.

"Oh, this is a meeting of the whole school, so I have to attend it." Xu Damao shouted.

"Xu Damao, why did you come just now? We have been waiting for you for a long time, but you didn't even mention coming back earlier. You don't have any sense of collectivism." Liu Haizhong started to act like an old man.

"Okay, Second Uncle, I didn't mean to not come. The leader wanted to see me for something. How about this, next time the leader wants to see me, I will tell him that it was your Second Uncle Liu Haizhong who didn't let him come to me for help. What do you think?" Xu Damao was not a pushover and retorted.

Liu Haizhong was choked by Xu Damao and couldn't speak, his face turned red with embarrassment.

The third uncle glanced at Liu Haizhong, then took over Xu Damao's words and said, "Da Mao, your second uncle is joking with you? How come you don't know how to take a joke!"

Xu Damao also knew that he couldn't offend all three managers at once. He was in a bad mood today, otherwise he wouldn't have directly provoke the second master.

"Okay, I didn't understand what you said. I'll put down my bike and come." Xu Damao put down his bike, took a stool and sat in front of Shen Zhiyu.

After Shen Zhiyu traveled through time, he didn't interact with the characters in the play. Now looking at Xu Damao, his face is really long, but he is dressed like a decent person.

"Zhiyu, eat some melon seeds." Xu Damao handed Shen Zhiyu a handful of melon seeds.

Shen Zhiyu had been here for more than ten days, and felt that the melon seeds had become a rare commodity. He took them and said, "Thank you."

Xu Damao said proudly: "Why thank me? It's just a handful of melon seeds. Your brother Damao doesn't need this stuff."

After saying this, he handed a handful of melon seeds to Zeng Guiquan next to him, and whispered to the two of them, "What was the meeting about today?"

(End of this chapter)