Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

After dropping my fourth senior brother off at home, I returned to the courtyard house before eight o'clock.

Upon entering the front yard, I saw Lu Sanlu and seven or eight other men talking, along with Yan Bugui.

He put He Yushui down and pushed the cart into the yard.

"What are you all talking about? Why are you all so happy?"

"Zhu Zi and Yu Shui have finished get off work and brought back two lunchboxes of food. It's good to work at the restaurant."

We're talking about Yi Zhonghai and Tan Guilan here. This morning, Tan Guilan sued Yi Zhonghai, and people from the Women's Federation and the Military Control Commission from our neighborhood came to the courtyard.

I heard that Tan Guilan accused Yi Zhonghai of blaming her for his inability to have children, a claim that had been going on for twenty years.

Two weeks ago, she learned that men can also be infertile, and she went to three hospitals for examinations...

For half a month, Yi Zhonghai was asked to go for a check-up again, but he refused to go for various reasons. Tan Guilan got anxious and complained to the Women's Federation and the Military Control Commission about Yi Zhonghai.

I'm asking Yi Zhonghai to go to the hospital for a medical check-up tomorrow.

"Pillar, is it possible for a man to have children if he doesn't?"

"The food I brought back was from a wedding banquet today. They booked our restaurant for 24 tables. They're really rich. There was a lot of leftover food, but the host didn't want it."

As for whether men bear any responsibility in childbirth, I've heard about it, but I'm not entirely sure of the specifics. However, the people from the Women's Federation and the Military Control Commission would know that it's probably true.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to the courtyard house. He Yuzhu said he didn't know if the man was also responsible for not having children.

"Zhu Zi, you're right. The Women's Federation wants Yi Zhonghai to go for a medical check-up tomorrow. If he doesn't go, they'll divorce him according to Tan Guilan's plan."

"Yi Zhonghai has gotten into big trouble again. I wonder what the steel mill workers will say about him now that it's true? Will the military control commission arrest him?" Gou Dongxi gloated.

"Deceiving someone for twenty years might get you arrested, but that has nothing to do with us. I'm too tired from work today, everyone, I'll head back now. See you later." He Yuzhu knew about this matter but didn't want to say more to the people in the compound.

Is being a cook tiring?

"Zhu Zi is a junior apprentice, of course he's tired. No matter what he does, apprentices always do the hardest work, it's similar to us doing odd jobs."

"That's true. It's nice to be able to bring back food."

"Someone booked the whole banquet today. In the year since he started his apprenticeship, Zhu Zi has only brought back leftovers twice."

"We haven't done it even once."

"Rich people are really something else. Twenty-four tables, nearly two hundred people attending the wedding banquet—how much did that cost? We can't even imagine."

"In Yanjing, there are still quite a few wealthy people. As long as their crimes aren't serious and public outrage isn't too great, it seems they aren't arrested, and their assets aren't confiscated."

"Those above can distinguish right from wrong; there are no major villains or evildoers, and they live normal lives just like us."

"They're too far away from us to talk about. I just want to know if Yi Zhonghai will be sentenced in a few days, and what he'll be like at the steel rolling mill?"

"I heard he's become very subservient at the steel rolling mill, and things aren't going well for him. I hope he gets a few years in prison; he's still acting all high and mighty in the courtyard house. It's so annoying!"

"This guy talks with a smile, and everything he says is flattering, always calling us old folks and neighbors, as if we young people owe them money."

"How do you all think Tan Guilan knew to sue Yi Zhonghai? He lied to her for almost twenty years, making her bear the blame for being unable to have children. Could it be Zhu Zi? He really dislikes Yi Zhonghai."

"It shouldn't be. Zhu Zi is just a cook. He doesn't have much education and doesn't have much contact with doctors. He wouldn't know that having a child is related to both men and women."

Even if it were him, it wouldn't be now that he's suing Yi Zhonghai, but rather a few months ago, when Jia Zhangshi had just been sentenced.

"Indeed, the timeline and the cultural significance of the pillars don't match up, so who else could it be?"

"It should be the Xu family father and son. Xu Damao once said that Yi Zhonghai had been saying for the past two years that his father got into the steel rolling mill through connections, not real ability."

"Did you say that? Whose relationship was it?"

"Lou Bancheng. Xu Damao's father used to work for Lou Bancheng, and his mother is still working as a nanny for the Lou family."

"Damn, in our courtyard, Xu Fugui's family should be the richest. I've heard that Lou Bancheng is very generous to people, and Xu Damao's parents must be rich."

"The key is that Xu Fugui knows a lot of things, and he likes to play dirty tricks, unlike Zhu Zi who is straightforward. It's very likely him."

"It must be Xu Fugui. This guy rarely speaks in the courtyard and seems harmless, but he's like a venomous snake, always looking for an opportunity to bite."

"In comparison, Zhu Zi is still young and impetuous."

"normal."

He Yuzhu isn't here, but if I were here, I'd definitely give these people a thumbs up. With just a few words, they cleared themselves out and found the real informant. Awesome!

However, his youthful arrogance was a deliberate act, a pretense to give them the illusion that he only knew how to use his fists to deal with people directly and not how to scheme behind their backs, so that they would lower their guard against him.

What you see is what I want you to see.

Like Jia Dongxu and Yi Zhonghai, he did not cause trouble himself. Jia Dongxu was a reserve cadre ten years later.

He didn't deliberately cause trouble for Jia Dongxu, nor was he a good-for-nothing who only hid behind his mother's back.

More than a decade later, Yi Zhonghai became a highly respected eighth-level fitter at the steel rolling mill and the true head of the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang.

Now it's just that their scandals have surfaced more than a decade early, stripping away their disguise and revealing their true colors.

What kind of soul lies hidden beneath those glamorous clothes? Others don't know.

Some people are wronged, like Jia Dongxu, and it may not be that serious, but so what?

We must treat our enemies like autumn leaves are swept away by the wind!

.......

Less than ten minutes after He Yuzhu and his sister returned home, Tan Guilan knocked on the door and came to He Yuzhu's house.

"Zhu Zi, I've come to ask you for a favor. I've broken up with Yi Zhonghai, and there's only one big bed in the house. I don't want to sleep with him anymore; just looking at him makes me sick."

May I sleep in the rainwater bed for the night?

"Sure. Go sleep in the rainwater room, you can stay for a few days. Yi Zhonghai has really done you a disservice. I just got back and heard about it in the front yard."

"Have you decided to separate from Yi Zhonghai? Are you determined to get a divorce?" He Yuzhu asked.

"I must get a divorce. These days, I was going to give him a chance. If he didn't know there was a problem before, after going to the hospital for a checkup, whoever is sick should go to the doctor. I don't care."

No one had ever said that men also have this problem, so he really didn't know, and you can't entirely blame him.

But... but Yi Zhonghai knew he didn't dare go to the hospital for a checkup. The first time I told him, he avoided my gaze; he was very flustered.

If he has nothing to hide, what is there for him to panic about? At most, he might think that men don't cause problems; he might be angry, but he won't panic.

In half a month, I brought it up five times. The first two times, he panicked and got flustered. The last three times, he got angry with me before saying that having children is a woman's business and has nothing to do with men.

Why won't he go for a checkup? This morning, I went to the Women's Federation to report Yi Zhonghai. The Women's Federation people thought they could force a checkup and notified the Military Control Commission.

Today is Sunday, only staff are on duty at the hospital. I'll go to the hospital tomorrow morning. Yi Zhonghai isn't going; he's been deceiving me for almost twenty years.

Tan Guilan recounted what had happened, observing very carefully; the old woman had put her heart into it.