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

1979.

Although the spring breeze of reform and opening up has swept across the land of China.

But in the central courtyard of Hongxing Courtyard, the air seemed to linger in the dead of winter.

It had a lingering musty smell and a sense of decay.

"Da...da...da..."

A series of heavy, irregular footsteps.

The sound of a wooden stick striking the ground broke the afternoon tranquility of the alley.

A ragged man with a stubble-covered face limped into the courtyard house.

He was wearing a tattered military overcoat that was slicked back with oil, and his left leg was clearly useless.

When he walks, he leans to the left.

He was using a thick tree branch, which he had picked up from somewhere, as a walking stick.

The man looked to be in his forties, with dark skin and high cheekbones.

Even more horrifying is that he is blind in his left eye.

Its only remaining eye still gleamed with a ferocious light, like that of a wild wolf!

They look at everyone as if they want to take a bite!

Yan Bugui, who was tending to the flowers and plants in the front yard, heard the noise, looked up, and was so startled that he almost dropped the watering can.

"Is this...is this a beggar?"

"You've come to the wrong door, haven't you?"

Yan Bugui adjusted his reading glasses, just about to tell him to leave.

The cripple suddenly stopped, his one eye glaring fiercely at him.

"Old Man Yan, don't you recognize me?"

His voice was hoarse, as if he had a mouthful of sand in his throat.

Yan Bugui shuddered and stared at it intently for a long time.

Only then could one vaguely discern his appearance from that weathered, fierce face.

"My God, you are... a Korean idiom?"

Yan Bugui exclaimed in surprise, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

The boy from back then, who was a petty thief but still fairly clean-cut.

How did you become such a grotesque, inhuman creature?

It's only been a few years, but he looks older than when Sha Zhu died!

"snort."

Bang Geng snorted coldly, ignoring Yan Bugui's shock, and moved towards the central courtyard with his cane.

......

The Intermediate People's Court, the Jia family.

Qin Huairu was sitting on a small stool by the door, picking vegetables.

Those were rotten vegetable leaves she picked up from the market. After removing the rotten parts, they were still edible enough for a meal.

After suffering a series of setbacks, she aged faster and faster.

His back was hunched, his hair was completely white, and that face that once made Sha Zhu and Xu Damao infatuated.

It is now covered with wrinkles like a walnut shell.

"mom..."

A somber voice called out from above.

Qin Huairu stiffened and slowly raised her head.

When she saw the crippled man in front of her, who looked like a demon.

The vegetable bowl in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter," scattering rotten vegetable leaves all over the ground.

"A...a joke?"

Qin Huairu stood up tremblingly, wanting to touch her son's face.

But he was so frightened by the menacing aura emanating from him that he withdrew his hand.

"You...why did you suddenly come back?"

"Based on the timeline, you shouldn't be back this soon."

The letter from back then was written very clearly at the beginning.

Bang Geng's sentence increased by ten years!

They were transferred to more remote Gobi farms for forced labor reform!

Why did he suddenly come back when it wasn't time yet?

"What, you're not welcoming me?"

Bang Geng coldly uttered a sentence, pushed Qin Huairu aside, and went straight into the house.

The room was dimly lit and bare.

The eight-immortal table that used to be filled with delicious food is now missing a corner and covered with a layer of dust.

The bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) was tattered and damp.

Banggeng looked around, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, and anger began to rise in his eyes.

"Where's the milk?" Banggeng asked.

"Dead...dead."

Qin Huairu stood at the door, answering timidly, "It's been gone for several years."

"Where's Shazhu?"

Banggeng then asked, "Isn't that silly cook the one who listens to you the most?"

"Where is he? Tell him to get me some meat!"

"What a shabby place! There's not even hot water!"

Qin Huairu's tears welled up instantly.

"Shazhu... is dead too, frozen to death."

"What? They're all dead?"

Banggeng suddenly turned around, slamming his cane heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Where's the money? Where's Sha Zhu's money?"

"What happened to Grandma's retirement money?"

"The little money you send me every month isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap! What about the money at home?"

Banggeng approached Qin Huairu step by step.

That look didn't seem like he was looking at his mother; it was more like he was interrogating a criminal.

"I'm out of money... I'm really out of money..."

Qin Huairu retreated to the corner, sobbing, "Your grandma's medical expenses are all gone, and Sha Zhu didn't leave any money when he died..."

"All these years, Mom has been sweeping the streets to feed you while you were in prison, and I also have to support your two younger sisters. Where would I have any money left?"

"Useless! All of you are useless!"

Banggeng suddenly flew into a rage, raised his cane, and smashed it hard against the only rough porcelain bowl on the table.

"Snap!"

The bowl shattered on the floor.

"I endured hardship and even had my leg broken in the sands of Northwest China for the sake of this family!"

"I finally managed to get back into retirement due to the policy change, and you're telling me I don't have any money?"

Bang Geng pointed at Qin Huairu's nose and cursed loudly, spitting all over her face.

"You useless old fool!"

"Couldn't even appease a simpleton like Zhu, and let him die?"

"Aren't you the best at seducing men? Go seduce some more! Go make some money!"

"Bang! How could you say that about Mom..."

Qin Huairu's heart was breaking!

She never imagined that her son, whom she had been longing to see return, would utter such beastly words.

"I told you so!"

At this moment, Bang Geng was like a starving wolf, completely losing its humanity.

"I'm hungry! I want to eat meat! I want to drink alcohol!"

"Get this done right now! If you can't, I'm smashing this lousy house to pieces!"

As he spoke, he kicked over the washstand next to him.

"Splash!"

The basin rolled a long way, and the noise startled the entire courtyard.

The neighbors all peeked out, looking at the mess that had become a scene at the Jia family's home.

"Tsk tsk, is that Korean meme back?"

"This isn't a son coming home, it's a debt collector coming to our door!"

"Qin Huairu has really fallen into a sea of ​​misery."

"The wolf you raised is finally going to bite you."

Qin Huairu listened to the discussions outside and looked at her son with a ferocious expression, feeling a chill run through her body.

She remembered the time when Banggeng stole Xu Damao's chicken, and she protected him.

Banggeng stole Shazhu's money, and she protected him.

Banggeng wanted to cut in line, so she didn't hesitate to sell her body to beg Xu Damao.

The son she protected her whole life has finally grown into the very thing she feared most.

"Mom! Didn't you hear me?"

"I want money! Give me the money!"

Banggeng grabbed Qin Huairu by the collar, his face, now only one eye remaining, was filled with madness and greed.

Qin Huairu trembled as she pulled a handkerchief pouch from her bosom.

Inside was the two yuan and thirty cents she had saved up for a long time, intending to buy coal briquettes.

"That's...that's all?"

Banggeng snatched the money, spitting out a disgusted "Poor bastard!"

"That little bit of money is practically nothing!"

But he still stuffed the money into his pocket, leaned on his cane, and walked out cursing.

"I'm going to buy some wine!"

"If you come back tonight and there's still no meat, I'll skin you alive!"

Bang Geng pushed aside Qin Huairu, who was blocking his way, and swaggered out.

Qin Huairu collapsed to the ground, looking at the mess, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

That was a cry of despair.

She knew that her hellish life had only just begun.

......