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

Several days later.

Hongxing Primary School.

Uncle Yan Bugui was a man who was very frugal and would split every penny in half.

My mind has become more active lately.

Although Liu Haizhong has fallen, Xu Damao and his gang are still making a ruckus.

Yan Bugui's little calculations started clicking away again.

He knew very well that he didn't have the brute strength of Liu Haizhong, but he was cultured!

"If only we could write a few big-character posters and expose a few typical examples..."

"Maybe I can even become the head of student affairs, dangdang?"

Yan Bugui sat in his office, pushed up his glasses, and a shrewd glint in his eyes.

His biggest dream in life, besides saving money, was to become an official.

So Yan Bugui stayed up all night, racking his brains to write a lengthy manuscript.

I plan to post it the next morning as a testament to my "progress".

......

The next morning.

On the playground.

Yan Bugui held a paste brush in his hand, preparing to paste his "masterpiece" on the bulletin board.

suddenly!

Several students wearing red armbands rushed over, snatched the manuscript from his hand, and tore it to shreds on the spot.

"Yan Bugui! You still dare to pretend to be enthusiastic?"

The student in the lead pointed at Yan Bugui and shouted, "We already investigated this thoroughly!"

"You regularly promote feudal remnants in the classroom!"

"They even say things like 'You won't go broke from eating or dressing, but you will go broke if you don't plan ahead.'"

"This is typical bourgeois egoism! A seed of revisionism!"

Yan Bugui was stunned. He dropped the bucket of paste in his hand, and white paste splattered all over his trousers.

"It's a misunderstanding! It's a misunderstanding!"

Yan Bugui, his face flushed with embarrassment, cried out, "I was just teaching my students to be thrifty and frugal!"

"It is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation!"

"Pah! Still trying to argue!"

The student ignored his explanation and waved his hand dismissively, "Arrest him!"

"This kind of stinking intellectual must undergo re-education by the poor and lower-middle peasants!"

Thus, Yan Bugui, who wanted to take a gamble, not only failed to become an official, but also ruined his own career.

He was paraded around the campus with a sign hanging over his head, completely humiliating himself.

Finally, the school's Revolutionary Committee issued a notice!

He was suspended from his post, his salary was stopped, and he was forced to clean the entire school.

......

Evening, in the courtyard.

Yan Bugui, like a defeated rooster, returned to the front yard dejectedly.

He not only lost face, but more importantly—his salary was stopped!

For the Yan family, who valued money above all else, this was like the sky falling.

As soon as they entered the house, before they even had a chance to drink some water, Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang, along with their sons, arrived.

Then there was his daughter-in-law, Yu Li, who surrounded them with a gloomy face.

"Dad, I heard you've been suspended from your job at the school?"

"Even your salary is gone?"

Yan Jiecheng was the first to attack, his tone devoid of any concern, filled only with accusations.

Yan Bugui felt a chill in his heart, but he still forced a smile and said, "That...that's only temporary!"

"Once I pull some strings and write a medical report, I can get it back!"

"Restore my ass!"

Yan Jiefang slammed a piece of paper with undried ink on the table. "Dad, people outside are saying you're a stinking intellectual."

"We'll even hang you up for public criticism!"

"I'm about to be officially hired, and if I fail the background check because of you, my life will be ruined!"

"Exactly!" Yu Li said coldly, "Dad, although we've separated a long time ago and each of us eats our own food..."

"But we still live under the same roof after all."

"Your ingredients have a problem right now, so don't drag us into this."

Looking at this group of children whom he usually taught to "calculate".

Now everyone is avoiding him like the plague god, and Yan Bugui's heart is breaking.

"Then... then what do you want?" Yan Bugui asked, his lips trembling.

Yan Jiecheng pointed to the door, his eyes icy: "Draw a clear line."

"In order not to be implicated by you, and also to show my support for the organization."

"We've discussed it, and we've decided that you and Mom can't stay in the main house anymore."

"You two should move to the back room by the entrance."

"We'll tell everyone that we've completely severed ties and that your matter has nothing to do with us."

"What?"

Yan Bugui and the three aunts exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

Reverse-facing room?

What kind of place is that?

That used to be where the gatekeeper lived; later it was filled with miscellaneous items.

It never sees sunlight, is dark and damp, and is as cold as an icebox in winter.

Is that a place where people live?

"I'm not moving! This house is mine!"

Yan Bugui roared, gripping the corner of the table tightly.

"Yours?"

Yan Jiefang sneered and immediately began rolling up his bedding. "These are extraordinary times!"

"If you stay here and cause trouble for your whole family, don't blame me for reporting you to the neighborhood committee!"

"They say you practice feudal patriarchy at home and are incorrigible!"

"You...you're trying to kill me!" The third woman sat on the ground and wailed.

But the crying did not awaken the children's conscience.

Faced with self-interest and fear, the already fragile kinship within the Yan family shattered completely.

The two brothers, Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang, simply threw the old couple's bedding rolls and a few tattered clothes into the yard.

"Move! Move now! We're moving there tonight!"

......

A cold wind was blowing.

Yan Bugui stared at the tightly closed main door of the house.

I felt icy cold all over, colder than the winter night wind.

Desperate, Yan Bugui thought of his last straw – Li Xuan.

Li Xuan has connections and ability!

If he could say a word for us, even just to lend us some money to get us through this difficult time, that would be great.

Late at night, in the backyard.

Yan Bugui, with his hunched back, knocked on Li Xuan's door.

"Li Xuan, I am your third uncle..."

"Please open the door and save this old man..."

Yan Bugui's voice was extremely mournful, filled with sobs, echoing in the night.

However, the vermilion door remained tightly shut, and there was not a sound from inside.

In fact, Li Xuan had already woken up and was sitting in the room drinking tea and reading.

"Brother, Yan Bugui is crying outside. It sounds really pitiful."

Li Xiaoyu felt a little reluctant and said softly.

Li Xuan turned a page of his book, his expression indifferent: "Tragic?"

"He schemed his whole life, even turning family ties into a business transaction."

"Teach your children to be selfish from a young age!"

"The way his children treat him now is simply the result of his own actions."

"That's like a boomerang; you only know the pain when it pricks you."

"Go to sleep. Some people aren't worth saving."

Outside the door, Yan Bugui knocked for a long time until his hands were swollen, but there was still no sound of death inside.

A cold wind blew by, and Yan Bugui turned around to look at the house in his front yard where the lights were on.

That was the family business he had worked hard to build up over his entire life, but now it had been forcibly taken over by his children.

Then he looked at the tattered bedding roll he was carrying and the dark, coffin-like room.

Two streams of tears flowed down Yan Bugui's wrinkled old face.

"Karma...this is all karma..."

That night.

The old man, who had spent his life scheming, and his wife huddled together in their drafty, outbuilding, shivering with cold...

......