Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

Niu Dazhuang wanted to establish his authority over Chen Xueru's neighbors by beating up Liao Chengyu, to clearly tell them that although Chen Xueru was now a widow, she still had a husband. She wasn't someone anyone could bully.

Watching people with passion is a Chinese tradition; people were already following behind when Niu Dazhuang dragged Liao Chengyu out.

Now that Niu Dazhuang had made such a fuss, a crowd had gathered around him in less than five minutes.

Niu Dazhuang clasped his right hand in a fist salute and bowed to the crowd of onlookers before speaking: "You all should recognize this person, right? Liao Yucheng, the general manager of Chen's Silk Shop. He dared to threaten my cousin, Chen Xueru, just because of his position. She's so scared she doesn't dare come home. What do you all think we should do with someone like that?"

The helpers that Niu Dazhuang had found were now putting their skills to use. Niangen mingled in the crowd and led the shouts: "A good beating will teach them a lesson."

After saying that, he shuffled forward and then kicked Liao Yucheng in the waist. When the onlookers saw that someone had taken the lead and that Liao Yucheng, who was bent over on the ground, was powerless to fight back, they were happy to give him a good beating.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Niu Dazhuang and Niangen went back to patrol the streets.

By June, the chaos had become so severe that a complete crop failure in North China was a foregone conclusion, and the government had tried many methods.

In the countryside, people were encouraged to plant vegetables around their houses, and a second crop of wild vegetables grew. They were still hungry, but it was much better than during the spring famine.

In the city, Aunt Zhao got busy, going door to door to persuade those without city residency to return to their place of origin.

In that year alone, more than 100,000 people were persuaded to return.

By the following year, not only were people without Kyoto residency permits persuaded to return, but those with Kyoto residency permits were also encouraged to return to their hometowns to farm. By 62, hundreds of thousands of people had migrated out. (This is based on verifiable data.)

Niu Dazhuang was waiting, waiting for rumors to spread that the Le family's old house was haunted.

The Le family's old house is so big, it won't be easy to find their treasure cellar. We can only wait for Bai Jingye, that spendthrift son, to go to the cellar to steal his father's antiques.

To others, carrying a ladder around in the middle of the night would definitely arouse suspicion.

But for Niu Dazhuang, who has personal space, putting a few ladders in his space is incredibly easy, and putting them away is also convenient.

In the sixth month of the lunar calendar, Kyoto is incredibly hot; the blazing sun can melt you.

Ordinary factory workers wear short sleeves and shorts. And that's even more true for the chefs in the kitchen.

The male chefs in the kitchen all wore only shorts and no short sleeves; they just wore white aprons around their necks.

Women can't do that; they have to wear white aprons over their short-sleeved shirts and shorts that don't go past their knees.

Since all the women dressed like that, it didn't seem out of place.

Having learned from last year's experience, Qin Huairu wore a bellyband under her short-sleeved shirt.

The more she wore, the more she sweated, and the result was predictable. Not only her, but all the women were like this, but Qin Huairu just received more attention.

Others may not see this beautiful scenery, but it doesn't escape the notice of the male colleagues who also work in the kitchen.

When they finish their work each day, these men will gather together to discuss what beautiful sights they saw that day.

Through multiple rounds of discussion and voting, the results were determined as follows: who had the biggest nanny in the kitchen, who was the firmest, and who had the widest hips...

The company also took care of the female staff in the kitchen and specially approved a rest room for them.

In mid-June, after serving meals to the workers at the workplace, more than a dozen women took their lunchboxes to the break room.

Most of the female comrades, after entering the rest room, put their lunchboxes on the table and started taking off their clothes, knowing full well that they were overdressed.

"Sigh, it's better to be a man. At least you can go shirtless in the summer. Huai Ru, don't cover up. The more you wear, the more you sweat. Aren't you afraid of getting heatstroke?"

"Hehe, Sister Liu, why are you envious of men? If you went shirtless like a man, no one would laugh at you."

"I'm at work, but at home I'm just wearing shorts. In our compound, apart from unmarried young women, all the other women are shirtless like this."

"Everyone dresses like this in our courtyard. It's so hot! This is how we ordinary people used to dress in the summer. Only the rich people would wear full clothes and hats."

"They have ice to cool down in the summer. Let them try it in our tenement; they'll be just as hot as we are in less than two days!"

The lounge was full of women, and Qin Huairu was just like them; she even rinsed herself off with water after finishing her meal.

I washed the soaking wet undergarment and hung it to dry; it should be dry by the time I go to work in the afternoon.

"Huai Ru, you don't look like a woman who has had two children at all, tsk tsk... Your belly is flat, and your stretch marks aren't very noticeable..." Sister Liu looked at you with increasing envy and wanted to reach out and feel the texture.

Qin Huairu twisted her body to dodge: "You little wench, it's not like you don't have any yourself." As she spoke, Qin Huairu was about to retaliate...

"Hehe... Mine looks like a frostbitten eggplant—yours look like a pumpkin hanging from a vine, tsk tsk... How did you grow up like that? Not to mention men, even we women like you."

"Get lost, that's so inappropriate."

"The eyes of the masses are discerning. Look at the food window; it's always crowded compared to other windows. Isn't it because they want to get a second look at you? Hey, stop! I have something important to tell you."

"Is it about finding me a partner again?" Ever since news of Qin Huairu's divorce spread, the attempts to arrange a marriage for her have been relentless.

"Don't be so quick to dismiss him. Listen to the man's qualities first. He might not be one in a million, but he's definitely not an ordinary person."

Out of respect for Sister Liu, Qin Huairu listened as she continued, "You bring one daughter, and the groom's side has two daughters. Later, you two can have a few more children together, and then marry off both sets of daughters."

It won't have much impact on your future lives. The key is that the man has a good job; he works at a grain depot and is a mid-level manager.

In those famine years, we were eating chaff and wild vegetables, while the workers at the grain depot were treated much better than us.

"Sister Liu, thank you for your kindness, but you really don't need it!"

"Sister Liu, haven't you realized yet? Qin Huairu has someone upstairs tonight!"

"Hehe... I think so too. Could she maintain such a great figure without a man to keep her company?"

"Xiao Qin, tell me honestly, isn't that man upstairs from our unit?"

"Hey, Lao Zhao, you know what, it might actually be true. I even saw Huai Ru being brought to work on a bicycle the other day."

"Oh dear! How could you do this? I've told you so many times, Niu Dazhuang is my cousin's man!"

"Haha... So what if it's my cousin's man? We'll still use him when needed!"

"Old Zhao, you're so dirty-minded!"

"I'm a few years older than you, and I've seen this kind of thing a lot. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, pretty young widows like Huai Ru had long been taken advantage of."

Being able to be the younger brother-in-law, to be a concubine in the family, that's good fortune.

Those with bad luck have no choice but to partially open their doors just to survive.