The Courtyard House: He Yuzhu Returns with Boundless Hatred for Revenge

As night fell, the entire courtyard was shrouded in darkness. In those days, there were hardly any streetlights or courtyard lights, and even if there were, they were rarely turned on at night. Most families, to save electricity, would turn off their lights and go to bed early. Only in Uncle Liu Haizhong's house was light still shining and the sound of conversation could be heard.

There was a plate of peanuts and two side dishes on the table; it seemed they had almost finished eating.

"Bang!" Liu Haizhong slammed his wine cup on the table, his fat face flushed red with resentment. "What a disgrace! I, Liu Haizhong, am a leader, and when have I ever suffered such humiliation in the factory or the factory?! To be slapped in public by that little bastard Sha Zhu! I swear I will not rest until I avenge this!"

Yan Bugui finally got a new pair of glasses. There was no way to fix it; the old ones had been crushed to pieces by Sha Zhu, beyond repair even by a miracle. He spent three yuan to get a new pair, which broke Old Pick-Nose's heart and made him hate He Yuzhu even more.

"Old Liu, calm down. What's the use of getting angry? We're...sigh, we're at a disadvantage. A direct confrontation is definitely not going to work right now."

Yi Zhonghai's face was gloomy and his voice was hoarse. "Old Yan is right. We really can't do anything to him with brute force alone. This kid is ruthless now, and he's vicious. If we go head-to-head with him, we'll only suffer."

"What can we do? Are we just going to let this beating go to waste?" Liu Haizhong growled in frustration. The thought of the He family's main house, which he had prepared for his eldest son's wedding, being lost just like that, pained him deeply.

"Of course we can't just let it go like this! If we can't do it openly, we'll do it secretly. I specifically went to the deaf old lady for advice."

Subsequently, Yi Zhonghai recounted the deaf old woman's plan, along with his own interpretation, in detail.

"Let's mobilize everyone in the courtyard to spread the word outside, to the neighbors, to the steel mill! Spread it as far as you can! Tell them how He Yuzhu disrespects the elderly and children, how he beats his elders, how he bullies his neighbors, how he's a tyrant, how he preys on men and women in the courtyard! The worse the better! We need to portray him as an utterly wicked tyrant and a menace to the courtyard!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh. "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! This old man's shrewdness is no exaggeration; the old lady really saw things from afar! This is a killer move without a knife! Once his reputation is completely ruined in this area, and he becomes a rat crossing the street, let's see how arrogant he can still be! At that time, the neighborhood committee and factory leaders will naturally deal with him; they might even fire him and send him straight to the streets for labor reform!"

Liu Haizhong pondered for a long time before understanding the intricacies of the matter, and then shouted, "Good! That's the plan! Let's see how long that idiot Zhu can keep jumping around! Once he's been disciplined as a problem element, the three of us can legitimately keep an eye on him. Let's see if he still dares to bare his teeth at us then! At that time, I'll make him kneel down and kowtow to us in front of the entire hospital!"

The three old beasts grew increasingly agitated as they spoke, as if they could already see He Yuzhu utterly disgraced and begging for mercy on his knees. Their previous dejection vanished, replaced by an excited anticipation of their impending conspiracy succeeding. They meticulously discussed how to mobilize their respective neighbors in the compound, coordinate their stories, and spread the rumors as widely and maliciously as possible.

The wine bottle was quickly emptied, and the food was completely gone. Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui got up to say goodbye, and Liu Haizhong saw them to the door. Watching the two disappear into the night, he closed the door, but his smug smile instantly vanished. After all that fuss, the little wine and two vegetarian dishes he'd eaten weren't enough to satisfy him; in fact, he was even hungrier.

He turned and went back into the house, opened the cupboard, and his eyes fell on a bowl containing two eggs that his second aunt had fried. He had deliberately hidden them when he heard the two old bastards were coming. These were his daily energy supplements, and he dared not take them out. If Old Yi came alone, it would be fine, but with that stingy yellow wolf Yan around, he would be lucky if he could even get a bite of an egg.

Looking closely into the bowl, Liu Haizhong was startled. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, then a surge of anger welled up inside him. He abruptly turned to his second son, Liu Guangtian, who was tiptoeing back into the inner room, and shouted sternly, "Stop! Did you steal the eggs from the bowl?"

Liu Guangtian trembled with fright and stammered, "Father, I, I only tasted one bite..."

"Bullshit! You think I'm as easy to fool as the old idiot Zhu? You debt collector! You don't learn anything good, all you do is steal!"

The pent-up frustration that Liu Haizhong had been building up over the past few days finally found a suitable outlet. He suddenly untied the Seven Wolves sword from his waist and swung it around in the air with a whooshing sound.

"I'll teach you to steal food! I'll teach you to be so useless! I suffer outside, and now I have to suffer from you brats when I get home!" The belt lashed at Liu Guangtian like a venomous snake, making a dull cracking sound.

"Dad, I was wrong! I was wrong! Please stop hitting me! Awooo..."

Liu Guangtian was beaten so badly he rolled on the ground, begging for mercy. Liu Haizhong continued to beat him while cursing and venting all his anger on his son who had run into the line of fire. The Liu family was thrown into chaos, and the traditional evening drama of this courtyard house was unfolding.

Meanwhile, in the room of his eldest son, Liu Guangqi, which was just a wall away, he listened to his younger brother's screams and his father's roars outside, his face expressionless, only his eyes filled with even more disgust.

He was beaten by He Yuzhu that day, but he was actually taking his anger out on Liu Haizhong. He didn't have the ability, so why did he act like a big shot? He even dragged Liu Haizhong into the beating.

A clueless younger brother, a muddle-headed father, a timid and submissive mother, and a suffocating self.

He clenched his fists, with only one thought in his mind: once he graduated from vocational school and got a job, he must leave this suffocating home as soon as possible, the farther the better.

. . . .

In the Intermediate People's Court, He Yuzhu leisurely walked back, carrying half a roast duck he had just bought from outside. He had been busy with a hospitality event at the factory that day, and only left work after finishing. He had food at home, but worried that the rain might make him wait to eat together, and that they might be starving by now, so he had gone out to buy some ready-made food.

As soon as he stepped into the central courtyard, he immediately sensed several cold, resentful gazes, like those of venomous snakes, fixed on him from the direction of the west wing. Without even looking, he knew it was those beasts from the Jia family.

He Yuzhu sneered inwardly and walked straight to his own door. At the same time, a thought flashed through his mind: this Jia Dongxu... According to the timeline of his previous life, it seemed that in 1961, he was injured at work and hung on the wall, then Qin Huairu took his place, and subsequently, Qin Huairu's household registration and her children were automatically transferred to the city. The Jia family's life actually improved as a result, and they survived the most difficult year.