Courtyard House: Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) Traded for an Aircraft Carrier, the Whole Count

Inside the Jia family's house, the air was so stuffy it was suffocating, as if even breathing carried a musty smell.

In the dim light, Jia Zhangshi sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a half-finished shoe sole in her hand. Her old face, full of fat, was filled with meanness and resentment.

"Cry! Cry! Cry! All you do is cry! You're a jinx!" Hearing Xiao Dang and Huaihua's faint sobs, Madam Jia slammed her shoe on the kang (heated brick bed) in frustration. Pointing at Qin Huairu's nose, she cursed, "Qin Huairu, you useless thing! I asked you to go to the canteen and you couldn't even get some leftovers. Do you want this old woman to starve to death? Do you want our Jia family line to end?"

Qin Huairu sat at the worn-out square table, her eyes red and swollen. She had taken a walk around the cafeteria today and found that ever since Jiang Chen reorganized it, all the kitchen helpers who used to be on good terms with Sha Zhu and were willing to save food for her were now avoiding her like the plague.

"Mom, the cafeteria is stricter now, Ma Hua and the others don't dare to give it to us anymore..." Qin Huairu explained, feeling wronged.

"Pah! Excuses! All excuses!" Jia Zhangshi glared with her triangular eyes, spitting as she spoke. "When Shazhu was alive, when did our family ever go hungry? Now that Shazhu's been locked up by that Jiang guy, we're supposed to starve? I don't care! Banggeng is growing, he can't go hungry! You better think of something!"

"What can I do..." Qin Huairu covered her face and cried out in despair. The family's savings had been completely depleted by Jia Zhangshi's previous illness and fines, and now they were truly at their wits' end.

Jia Zhangshi's cloudy little eyes darted around twice, then a sinister glint flashed in them. She lowered her voice, leaned closer to Qin Huairu, and her tone became eerie:

"Huai Ru, are you stupid? Why don't you go and grab a mountain of gold and silver that's already right in front of you, instead of hanging yourself on this one tree?"

Qin Huairu looked up, staring blankly at her mother-in-law: "Mom, what are you saying?"

"I'm talking about that Jiang guy!" Madam Jia gestured towards the window, towards the backyard, "Look how powerful he is now? A four-pocket cadre, his monthly salary is several times ours! And he's single, so there's probably no one keeping watch at home. He's making a fortune!"

"Mom! Jiang Chen is avoiding us like the plague right now, how could he possibly help us?" Qin Huairu said with a wry smile.

"Help? Who told you to ask for help?" Madam Jia sneered, her old face appearing particularly ferocious in the shadows. "Weren't you the best at seducing men? Sha Zhu was completely infatuated with you. Go use your skills tonight, go to the backyard, find a chance to sneak into his room..."

Qin Huairu's eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at her mother-in-law: "Mom! You want me to... to do that kind of thing? If people find out, how can I face them?"

"Be a human being? What's the point of being a human being when we're starving to death!" Jia Zhangshi interrupted her viciously. "If he touches you, even just his hand, we can pin it on him! We'll shout 'Catch the pervert!' He's a high-ranking official now, and he's most afraid of this kind of misconduct. Then, to keep his job, won't he have to obey us? We'll make him pay our family every month and get Bang Geng a job at the factory!"

This is a typical "honey trap" mentality—shameless, but it hits the nail on the head.

Qin Huairu was stunned. Her heart began to pound.

She turned her head and looked at the mirror in the corner, which had a crack. The woman in the mirror, though she had three children, still had a beautiful face and a voluptuous figure. Her peach blossom eyes, if they were even slightly filled with tears, would soften the heart of any man.

He glanced again at Banggeng, who was emaciated and pale from hunger, on the kang, and listened to Huaihua's intermittent sobs.

The pressure to survive, the fear of the future, and that little bit of greed to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy were like a venomous snake, slowly devouring her reason.

"As long as we can control him... our family's life will be much easier from now on..." Qin Huairu murmured to herself.

She gritted her teeth, stood up, and rummaged through the bottom of the trunk to find the red floral cotton-padded jacket she had worn at her wedding, which had been kept at the very bottom of the trunk.

……

Meanwhile, under the window of the Jia family's house.

A dark shadow was pressed against the wall, its ears perked up like antennas.

Xu Damao listened to the plot inside the house and was so excited he almost laughed out loud. He covered his mouth, tiptoed to the backyard, and then ran as fast as he could towards Jiang Chen's house.

"Knock knock knock!"

Jiang Chen had just finished washing his feet and was about to read when there was a knock on the door.

The door opened, and Xu Damao burst in, panting, his face beaming with pride: "Section Chief! Big news! Huge news! Those two widows from the Jia family are plotting against you! They're going to set you up!"

After listening to Xu Damao's vivid report, Jiang Chen did not show the slightest panic.

He walked to the window, looking at the dim yellow light shining from the window of the Jia family's house in the middle courtyard. A chilling smile curled at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes flashed with the cold light of a hunter seeing his prey walk into his trap.

"Want to try and set a trap? Sure."

Jiang Chen turned around and took out a miniature recording device that he had prepared in advance from the drawer—a spy-specific eavesdropping device from 2077, only the size of a button.

"Since they want to act, I'll build them a big stage so the whole theater and factory can see this great show."

He tossed the button to Xu Damao: "Go, stick this in the crack in the wall where they'll definitely pass by. Tonight, we won't sleep, we'll watch the show."