Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

"We can live with the old deaf woman. She's getting old, and in a few years she'll need someone to take care of her too. We can wait."

Is it really that hard to find someone to beat up the Sha Zhu siblings? You need to know people, pay them, or wait for an opportunity to see what Yi Zhonghai does.

Who exposed Yi Zhonghai? It was Sha Zhu. He'll definitely retaliate. Yi Zhonghai is petty and self-righteous. "Jia Zhangshi is now unwilling to spend any money."

"It wasn't Sha Zhu who wrote the letter exposing my master, it was Xu Fugui. He had some kind of grudge against my master."

"What grudge could there be? It's just that Yi Zhonghai is jealous because he thinks Xu Fugui earns more than him at the steel mill. Yi Zhonghai is no good person." Jia Zhangshi never approved of Yi Zhonghai.

"Let's discuss it slowly. I'll go cook first."

........

When He Yuzhu returned to the courtyard after get off work, he heard people in the front yard talking about Jia Zhangshi's release from prison.

Back in the courtyard house, she was still arrogant and domineering, looking down on everyone. She really needed to be taught a lesson.

Given Jia Zhangshi's character, she won't forget that you sent her to smash the stones, and she will definitely take revenge on you.

Looking at the faces of the people in the front yard, He Yuzhu suddenly felt disgusted. A group of grown men, plus two street thugs, and they didn't even dare to discipline Jia Zhangshi.

No wonder they're all hopeless bastards, lacking any sense of responsibility, afraid to take action themselves, and treating others like fools. How can they ever get ahead?

"No matter how arrogant Jia Zhangshi is, it has nothing to do with me. I won't bother with her unless she causes trouble for me."

I'm clear about my grudges and debts. She's in jail, so all past grievances are settled. If anything happens again, we'll settle it then. See you all. "Trying to use me as a pawn? No way!"

He Yuzhu left with He Yushui, leaving the group in the front yard stunned. They thought they were being clever by using someone else to do their dirty work, but the other person didn't want to be the scapegoat or their henchman.

"Zhu Zi doesn't seem to care about Jia Zhangshi. He doesn't bother her unless she causes him trouble. We still need to figure out how to deal with Jia Zhangshi."

"Zhu Zi has been very busy these past two months, not even taking Mondays off. He works and doesn't get back to the courtyard until after eight o'clock, so he doesn't have much time to interact with Jia Zhangshi."

"They don't have much interaction. Since Jia Zhangshi isn't causing trouble, he's less inclined to punish her. You can't count on him, unless Jia Zhangshi is truly brainless."

"Let's take it one step at a time. I don't believe Jia Zhangshi is completely brainless. With that good-for-nothing Jia Dongxu behind her, she won't easily cause trouble for Zhuzi and his sister, nor would she dare."

"Even if Jia Zhangshi lives in the courtyard house, she'll still have conflicts with us women at home. You'll have to resolve them yourselves."

Yan Bugui didn't speak. He stood to the side, his small eyes behind his glasses gleaming again, as if he was thinking about something.

Back home, He Yushui changed into her old clothes and started a fire. In Yanjing City, the weather was getting cold at the end of October, and those families with a little money who weren't stingy had been using stoves for heating at night for half a month.

He Yuzhu was no exception; because no coupons were required, he bought 500 kilograms of coal at the beginning of the month.

Starting in early August, He Yuzhu began working in the kitchen to earn money. Everyone in the courtyard knew this and understood that the He siblings had started to have money.

The head chef at the restaurant earns a high salary and can also take on extra jobs to make more money. His monthly income is even higher than that of Yi Zhonghai.

Buying coal and making winter cotton-padded clothes for He Yushui were not considered wrong by the people in the courtyard. They just thought that He Yuzhu was not good at saving money and was a bit wasteful.

He Yushui is the younger sister, that's good enough. She'll belong to someone else's family in the future, she's not the biological younger brother.

By August, He Yushui had learned how to start a fire, and He Yuzhu had become a 'veteran' at cooking within two months.

First, light a newspaper on fire. Once it's lit, add two more sheets of paper to increase the fire. Then add three or four small pieces of firewood. Don't extinguish the fire on the paper, or smoke will appear and be irritating!

After the firewood is lit, when it has burned to 1/4 or 1/3 of its length, add a few more large pieces of firewood to start the fire, open the air intake door, and add a few small pieces of coal from the stove to ignite it.

The small coal pieces turn bright red. You can put in five or six larger pieces, but you still can't compact them enough to ignite them. Thick smoke will billow out.

After the large coal block is ignited, pour in the required coal in sequence. Do not wait for all the coal to ignite; seal the fire directly by closing the air intake valve first.

Mix coal ash, loess, and water together to form mud, cover the stove lid, and spread the mud evenly along the seams of the lid.

Everything is ready. It can burn until tomorrow morning and won't get cold at night.

He Yushui clapped her hands, satisfied with her masterpiece, and went home to study for a while before resting!

While He Yushui was starting the fire, Tan Guilan entered the house.

"Zhu Zi, Jia Zhangshi is back at the courtyard house today. Be careful; she'll take revenge on you and your siblings sooner or later. That old shrew only remembers grudges, not kindness."

"Don't worry, Aunt Tan. Jia Zhangshi can't do anything to me in a short time. She wouldn't dare to pay someone to deal with me, and she's too reluctant to spend the money."

But you need to be careful. That woman is greedy and only cares about money. Do you have that much money? She'll definitely target you. Be careful, you don't have anyone to help you.

Yi Zhonghai will also fuel the flames. He doesn't want you to have a good life. In the courtyard house, I leave early and get off work late, so you need to be careful of them.

"Indeed, Jia Zhangshi is a scoundrel. I have money, so it's normal for her to target me. Zhuzi, what should I do?"

"Her only option is to be unreasonable and take advantage of the fact that you're home alone. If that's the case, and you're in the right, you should shout for help."

Make them understand what happened. Be their witness so you can report it to the authorities, or carry a kitchen knife and use it to treat the mother and child's illness...

"I understand. Whether it's reporting to the authorities or risking my life, I'll stand up for what's right and make them, mother and son, fear me. I'll be more frightening than a shrew, not just them, but everyone else, including that old bastard Yi Zhonghai."

"Be careful. Go to the bank and tell the staff that if you're not withdrawing the money yourself, they'll arrest you. Be careful they don't hire someone to rob you."

"Thank you, Zhu Zi, I'll take care of it." Tan Guilan said before leaving.

"Brother, is Jia Zhangshi back at the courtyard house, ready to cause trouble again? I'll go and beat her to death, okay?" He Yushui overheard some of the conversation.

"No, very bad. Even if you beat Jia Zhangshi to death, you'll go to jail too. It's not worth it. If she dares to bully you again, yell and shout, and let more people know what Jia Zhangshi has done."

After you've proven yourself right, then hit her, but don't kill her, just beat her half to death. Your brother is here, so you won't be needed for now.

"I wanted to beat her to death because I thought she was so wicked."

"We don't care if they mess with us, but if they bully others and they don't fight back, why should we stand up for them? Your task right now is to study hard and have fun."

"Okay, I'll go read some medical books. First-grade homework is very simple; I've already learned it at home. I just need to listen in class occasionally."

"Let me see how many points you got on your final exam. Don't take your studies so lightly."

"I know."