Uncle Shazhu, a simple-minded man in a courtyard house, persuades people with reason.

Upon entering, He Ping'an went straight to his sister-in-law's portrait. He carefully wiped the frame, lit three sticks of incense, and then rambled on about the day's events to the person in the photo—a habit he had developed over the past month.

After he finished doing all that, He Daqing, who was standing in front of the stove, started calling He Yuzhu to serve the dishes. This was the daily routine of the three members of the He family.

Today was indeed quite lively, with the Yi family women's wails and pleas for mercy coming from the west wing. He Ping'an listened for a while and suddenly lost his appetite, putting down his chopsticks and getting up.

Although they were reborn seventeen years ago and have witnessed the bleakness of the world, the young people who grew up in the new century are still out of step with this world.

"Ping An, forget it... If you stop her this time, Yi Zhonghai will beat her even harder and more secretly next time, and Li Guifen might even hate you then. The only one who can help her in this kind of situation is herself!"

He Ping'an sighed, straightened up, and slowly sat down. His older brother was right.

After a while, the wailing from the west wing stopped. He Ping'an, who was eating, heard hurried footsteps passing by the He family's door. Looking up in confusion, he saw Li Guifen heading towards the backyard.

The backyard? Impossible with the Xu family; Liu Haizhong? Even more impossible, that guy beats his wife too. Only… the deaf old lady!

He Ping'an didn't have any particular opinion about the deaf old woman in the drama who doted on He Yuzhu to the point of favoritism; he neither felt close to her nor distant from her. She was just an old woman with bound feet who had some connections; not worth his time.

He had read a lot of fan fiction while watching the show, some stories about powerful figures and others about an ordinary old lady. He felt none of them were quite right.

Ordinary? Impossible... She's an old woman living alone, how could she possibly keep the house? Besides, there were no "Five Guarantees" households in the Republic of China era. How would she survive?

To say she had a powerful background isn't entirely true... In 66, when Liu Haizhong became the team leader and dealt with Sha Zhu, this old lady could only knock on people's windows and ultimately had to use her retirement as an incentive to recruit people from Yi Zhonghai.

At the age of 50, she had grown up in the early years of the Republic of China. During festivals, she had no social interactions with her husband's family or her own family. She had a house, money, and food, and she could still hold on to her life.

She was probably a mistress kept by a wealthy family, and most likely she wasn't childless; she might even have had a son, who was simply raised by the main wife. Otherwise, why would they have kept her all this time, even taking care of her from birth to death?

Wealthy families are indeed rich, but they are also unscrupulous.

Of course, these were all just He Ping'an's guesses, and he didn't care whether they were true or false. Once 49 arrived and all the old grievances were swept away, they would treat each other as ordinary neighbors!

Li Guifen, on the other hand, is an ordinary woman with such a mindset, decisiveness, and good timing, which is admirable.

Looking at his beaming, silly nephew, He Ping'an didn't know whether to say it was the naivety of youth, not understanding life and death, or that this guy was just a heartless fool.

"Silly Zhu, if you don't want to eat, then get out! All this wriggling around is annoying!"

He Ping'an ignored his nephew's pleading look; it was only natural for a father to discipline his son. Not eating properly certainly deserved discipline, and it wasn't because he was heartless.

Of course, some things still needed to be said: "Brother, Zhu Zi isn't stupid, he's just honest. Don't keep calling him 'Silly Zhu,' 'Silly Zhu.' If word gets out, it won't look good for him!"

Speaking of which, whether it's due to plot inertia or something else, the silly nephew still managed to exchange steamed buns for a bunch of counterfeit money when he was nine years old, and was still called a fool by He Daqing.

However, this time the nickname "Silly Pillar" didn't spread. After He Ping'an's aggressive and ruthless actions, the name "Silly Pillar" wasn't interpreted as "kind," "friendly," or "joking." Anyone who called him that was malicious; it was a direct attack.

So far, the only person who still calls He Yuzhu "Silly Zhu" is Sha Mao from the backyard, who is just as famous as Silly Zhu.

The nickname "Silly Mao" was also given to He Yuzhu at He Ping'an's urging. The phrase "If he calls you Silly Zhu, you can't call him Silly Mao" caused the two to fight every time they met, and their relationship deteriorated further.

He Daqing put down his chopsticks and sighed deeply:

"Ping An, do you think I, as his father, don't know whether Zhu Zi is stupid or not? But Ping An, life is not easy in this world. Not to mention anything else, just look at your sister-in-law..."

At this point, He Daqing pointed to He Yuzhu, who was honest and hardworking, and said meaningfully:

"Since Zhu Zi can't be as clever as you, let him be a fool! After all, no one's going to waste time arguing with a fool, right?"

Indeed, calm seas don't produce excellent sailors. Those who struggle to survive in chaotic times all have their own unique set of survival rules. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his sister-in-law, who seemed to be smiling at him the whole time. He smiled back.

"Since you know I'm smart, what's there to worry about? After all, I promised my sister-in-law I'd take good care of Zhuzi and Yushui!"

He Daqing was taken aback, then nodded. "Okay, then I won't call you that anymore."

Since the topic has come to this, He Ping'an decided to explain his plans for the rain as well—

Of the three members of the He family, He Yuzhu was ruled out first, as that guy couldn't even take care of himself. Next was He Daqing, as he was busy with work and the kitchen wasn't convenient for him. Therefore, he decided to take care of Xiaoyushui himself.

"Ping An, this won't do. What if it interferes with your studies? If it really doesn't work..."

Seeing that He Daqing disagreed, He Ping'an could only continue to explain:

"Brother, with my current level of professional knowledge, I could easily apply for early graduation. I'm only going to school now because I want to learn as much as I can while I'm still young. In fact, I'm the one who teaches most of the major courses in my class!"

He Ping'an wasn't making this up. With the space's blessing, all knowledge that doesn't rely on talent is child's play for him.

Of course he didn't want to graduate early, not because he was particularly studious. It was simply that at this point in time, being a university student was the best cover for his impending doom, bar none.

Upon hearing that He Ping'an was already capable of teaching university students, He Daqing naturally stopped objecting to his suggestion. However, after the meal, he secretly approached He Ping'an again.

It wasn't about taking care of He Yushui. In He Daqing's own words, it was because... since he could teach college students, he could find a job anytime. He was an adult and should understand the dangers of society.

He went on and on, including the details of each family in the courtyard, such as the untold story of Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi; that the courtyard was the property of the old lady in the backyard, and that the He family bought their house from her; and even the ins and outs of his relationship with the Tan family.

Although He Ping'an didn't care about this, he listened with great interest, treating it as after-dinner gossip. Only the last thing made his teeth ache.

"Ping An, the two girls who came over the day your sister-in-law passed away, the one who was very close to you, wasn't her name Lou Xiaohui? That girl liked you, right? As someone who's been through this, let me give you some advice: you two aren't a good match!"