Courtyard House: Starting by inheriting the tradition and suppressing the barbarians.

Winter Solstice, 1978.

This winter seemed to be longer than usual.

The north wind was like a boning knife, scraping so hard it hurt people's faces.

Front yard, rear house.

This small, dark room was originally used to store miscellaneous items and never received sunlight.

Now it has become Yi Zhonghai's final resting place.

There was no fire in the house because he didn't have money to buy coal briquettes.

Even the holes in the windows were covered up with layers of old newspapers.

But it still couldn't stop the biting cold.

Yi Zhonghai huddled in the blackened and hardened quilt.

He was wearing an old cotton-padded jacket from over a decade ago, the cuffs of which were worn through, revealing the yellowed cotton wadding inside.

"It's so cold...it's so cold..."

Yi Zhonghai trembled all over, and his breath condensed into frost in the air.

He hasn't eaten for three days.

Ever since He Yushui reported him and he lost all his savings.

His pension was reduced to just a little bit for living expenses, and even having enough to eat became a luxury.

In addition, his reputation was ruined, and his neighbors avoided him like the plague. Who would help him?

"Cough cough...cough cough..."

A violent cough made him feel like his lungs were about to come out.

Hunger felt like a giant hand, twisting his stomach frantically.

Yi Zhonghai reached out his hand shakily and groped around the pillow.

There was half a moldy cornbread there; it was his last ration.

But his hand touched nothing.

"Rat...damn rat..."

Yi Zhonghai closed his eyes in despair.

Even the rats bullied him, stealing his last bite of food.

In a daze, he began to hallucinate.

He seemed to be seeing the Intermediate People's Court from more than ten years ago.

Back then, he was a respected elder, sitting at the octagonal table, holding meetings for the entire courtyard with great authority.

Sha Zhu served him tea and water, calling him "Grandpa" affectionately.

Qin Huairu was completely obedient to him and even hinted that she would take care of him in his old age...

"Zhu Zi... Huai Ru..."

Yi Zhonghai stretched out his withered, branch-like hand, trying to grasp those images.

"I have money... I have lots and lots of money..."

"I'll give you everything... will you take care of me in my old age...?"

He muttered to himself, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

But then the scene changed.

Sha Zhu froze to death in the snow, his unseeing eyes staring intently at him.

He Yushui took the remittance slip and slapped him hard across the face.

Qin Huairu turned away indifferently, not even glancing at him.

"No! It's not my fault! I was doing it for your own good!"

Yi Zhonghai roared in the darkness, but his voice was as weak as a mosquito's buzz.

"I just wanted someone to be there for me when I die... What did I do wrong?"

No one answered him.

Only the cold wind rustled the old, worn-out window paper, making a "whoosh, whoosh" sound.

It was as if they were mocking this old man who had been selfish his whole life.

The body heat is gradually being lost.

Yi Zhonghai felt his hands and feet were numb and his consciousness was beginning to blur.

Before he died, he took one last look at the dilapidated little house.

There are no children or grandchildren around, no hot meals, only endless darkness and loneliness.

He schemed his whole life.

He schemed against Sha Zhu, he schemed against Qin Huairu, and he schemed against his neighbor.

He thought he was the smartest chess player, able to hold everyone's fate in his hands, just to pave a safe retirement path for himself!

But the result?

He was abandoned by everyone, even his wife ran away.

"Heh...hehe..."

Yi Zhonghai let out a strange chuckle.

The agency was too smart to calculate, and it wasted Qingqing's life.

His head tilted heavily to one side, and his eyes, once filled with calculation and resentment, finally lost their last glimmer of light.

......

three days later.

Yan Bugui was in the yard, tending to his rotten flowers and plants, when he suddenly smelled a strange odor.

"What's that smell? It stinks!"

The three older women came out of the house, covering their noses: "Is someone's dead rat rotting in the corner?"

Yan Bugui wrinkled his nose and sniffed around, searching for the source of the stench.

Finally, their gaze settled on the tightly closed, dilapidated door of the rear room.

"broken!"

Yan Bugui's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly ran over and peeked through the crack in the door.

Yi Zhonghai was lying stiffly on the bed, motionless.

It even... seemed like there were a few rats crawling on its body.

"Oh my god! Someone's dead!"

Yan Bugui was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud and scrambled out, yelling, "Help! Someone come quick!"

"An old man... no, Yi Zhonghai is dead!"

Soon, people from the neighborhood committee arrived.

Several clerks covered their noses as they entered the room, and upon seeing the gruesome death, they couldn't help but shake their heads.

"He was freezing and starving, and had been dead for several days."

The staff made a registration, then asked the neighbors gathered at the door, "Does this old man have any relatives?"

"Who will handle the funeral arrangements?"

The entire hospital was deathly silent.

Everyone looked at each other, and no one said a word.

His wife had run away long ago and gone back to her hometown; he couldn't contact her at all.

Sha Zhu is dead, and He Yushui has long since cut off all contact with him.

Qin Huairu's family was too busy taking care of themselves to even hate him.

As for the others?

Who would want to be associated with this bad luck?

"Um... comrade."

Finally, Yan Bugui stepped forward, rubbing his hands together, and said, "He is an elderly man living alone, and he doesn't have any relatives."

"The neighborhood committee should handle the funeral arrangements."

"We're all neighbors, and we don't have any money either."

The staff member sighed and waved his hand: "Alright, then we'll treat it as an elderly person living alone and take them away for cremation."

"Just bury my ashes in any cemetery."

There was no mourning tent, no funeral music, and not even a single person to wail.

A broken-down cart took away Yi Zhonghai's body.

Throughout his life, what he valued most was his reputation, and what he wanted most was to leave this world in glory.

But in the end, he left more tragically and more shabbily than anyone else.

The cart crunched through the snow at the alley entrance, making a "crunch crunch" sound, and gradually disappeared into the distance.

Li Xuan stood on the steps in the backyard, watching this scene from afar.

"A lifetime of scheming, all for naught."

Li Xuan shook his head and turned back to the warm house.

Inside the house, her daughter Yueyue was riding a small wooden horse, her laughter ringing out like silver bells.

"Daddy! Come play with me!"

"They're here!"

Li Xuan picked up his daughter, his face full of a happy smile.

This is what they call, good and evil will eventually be rewarded!

......