Courtyard House: My Hidden Wheat Seeds Caused a National Sensation

She prefers to make a living with her own hands.

Instead of relying on others.

So she mustered up her courage and called out to him.

"What is it?"

Li Jianye was somewhat surprised.

He had very little interaction with He Yushui.

He didn't understand why the little girl had called out to him.

"I need your help."

He Yushui spoke seriously.

Qin Jingru has been staying at my house and won't leave.

They eat my grain and use my goods.

I really can't take it anymore.

I would like to ask you... to help me get her to leave.

The surroundings fell silent instantly.

No one expected that He Yuzhu's younger sister...

She actually sought help from her brother's enemy.

Li Jianye's eyebrows twitched slightly.

His gaze shifted to Qin Jingru, who was standing not far away with her head down.

He actually understood He Yushui's feelings—

If it were him, he wouldn't want to let a complete stranger...

They occupy the roof of their own house for a long time and take away the already scarce food rations.

But this is, after all, a private matter for the He family.

His relationship with Ho Yu-chu was already strained.

Getting involved will not benefit you.

Why get involved in all this trivial stuff?

However, his glance startled Qin Jingru.

She knew Li Jianye's methods.

They absolutely refused to be sent back to the countryside.

In desperation, she cried out in a tearful voice:

"Brother Jianye! Please don't send me away!"

My whole family went to the Northwest.

You know the state of the village now...

I'll starve to death if I go back!

I know... I know my sister wronged you back then.

She broke off her engagement and married a man in the city, which broke your heart.

But that has nothing to do with me!

Please don't take your anger out on me... I don't want to starve to death...

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire courtyard was astonished.

The neighbors exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes flashing with a mixture of surprise and excitement.

Did Qin Huairu actually have a past relationship with Li Jianye?

Or did she break off the engagement and marry someone else?

This news was like a stone thrown into a deep pool.

It stirred up layers of undercurrents.

As soon as Qin Jingru finished speaking, she froze on the spot.

In that instant, she suddenly realized that what she had just blurted out was a secret that should never be known to others.

Overwhelmed by embarrassment, she was at a loss and could only turn to her cousin Qin Huairu for help.

Qin Huairu, however, fell into confusion even earlier than her.

The old story, hidden for so long, was suddenly and unexpectedly brought to light.

"broken……"

Her heart sank.

A damaged reputation can be salvaged, but what if Jia Dongxu finds out—

Thinking of her husband's suspicious and violent nature, Qin Huairu's face grew even paler.

Once this gets to his ears, he'll probably never have a peaceful day again.

"This Jingru... she's clearly here to cause me trouble."

Yi Zhonghai was also stunned.

He never expected that Qin Jingru would be so loose-lipped, daring to casually spill out such important information.

This matter may not affect Li Jianye, but his narrow-minded apprentice Jia Dongxu is likely to cause a huge uproar.

"Luckily, Dongxu isn't here right now..."

Yi Zhonghai secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The neighbors were already whispering among themselves.

"I never would have guessed that Qin Huairu and Li Jianye had a past relationship."

"Now he must be regretting it terribly, right? How can Jia Dongxu compare to Li Jianye even a fraction of him?"

"Yes, once it's missed, it's missed."

"I wonder what the one in Li Jianye's house is thinking now..."

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, but Li Jianye and Dilisilin remained calm throughout.

He had already told his wife about this, so there was no reaction in Delilah's eyes.

He Yushui, who was standing to the side, was stunned. She had never imagined that Jianye and Qin Huairu had such a past.

If he really takes care of Qin Jingru because of this past relationship, what should I do?

"rainwater,"

Li Jianye's gaze swept over Qin Jingru, but did not linger.

"This is a family matter for the He family, and outsiders should not interfere."

If you really want your brother to send Qin Jingru away, you should go directly to him—he is the one who makes the decisions for your He family now.

With just one word from him, Qin Jingru could not be allowed to stay.

With that, he smiled gently, took Delilah's hand, and walked towards the backyard.

It's not that he can't handle this, he's just too lazy to bother.

He didn't want to get involved with He Yuzhu at all.

Besides, he wasn't the kind of neighborhood clerk who spent all his time mediating trivial neighborhood squabbles.

He has important things to attend to, and it would be a loss if he let these trivial matters interfere with his important days.

Li Jianye led Dilisilin through the crowd and headed straight for the backyard.

After the two figures disappeared behind the moon gate, the people in the courtyard became lively as if they had been freed from a spell.

Yan Bugui pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and spoke first: "Old Yi, you need to make things clear."

I'm keeping track of the mess between the Jia and He families.

Besides, my family is struggling financially, so I won't participate in this donation."

He paused, and seeing that Yi Zhonghai was about to speak, he immediately pointed at him: "Don't try to intimidate me with your title of Third Uncle."

Are the Jia family really poor? When Old Jia was injured at work, the compensation he received from the factory was no small amount.

The gold bracelet on Jia Zhangshi's wrist was of such high quality that it couldn't be hidden from anyone.

"And then there's Jia Dongxu. He's been a level four worker for five or six years, earning 52.8 yuan a month. How could he not have saved up over the years? Not to mention, Sha Zhu brings him lunch every few days, saving him a lot on oil and fat."

He spoke more and more fluently, his eyes behind his glasses gleaming: "The He family goes without saying."

If Sha Zhu reports the money he lost to the police station, it shouldn't be too difficult to recover some of it.

As for He Daqing before he left…”

He deliberately dragged out the last syllable, and only after noticing Yi Zhonghai's suddenly tense face did he slowly stop talking, "Do I really have to bring up some old grievances in public?"

Yi Zhonghai's Adam's apple bobbed, half a sentence stuck in his throat.

He had long known that Yan Bugui had a complete financial account of the entire hospital, but he never expected that this man would tear off his mask and reveal everything today.

What alarmed him even more was that after Yan Bugui finished speaking, he put his hands behind his back, with bloodstains still clinging to his philtrum, yet his posture somehow exuded an aura of desperate determination.

There was a moment of silence, then a sudden burst of noise erupted.

"Uncle San is right!"

"The Jia family's sewing machine is still sitting in the house. Are they really that short of money that they can't sell it?"

"I saw Jia Zhangshi rubbing a gold nugget in her hand yesterday..."

"Exactly! Our family has been saving up for three years to buy a sewing machine, but we still haven't saved enough!"

The discussions grew louder and louder.

Standing in the center of the crowd, Yi Zhonghai felt as if those words were hammering at his temples, making his head spin.

He clenched his fists, his throat dry—why was it so difficult to just take the lead in doing a good deed?

Just as he was feeling confused, Liu Haizhong's deep voice interrupted: "Since both of you gentlemen feel it's inappropriate, let's not hold this meeting."

He smiled so broadly his eyes narrowed into slits, and waved his hand as if to disperse the cooking smoke, "Alright, everyone go back inside and rest!"

"Alright!"

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, the figures dispersed in twos and threes, leaving only Yi Zhonghai standing in the courtyard, as dusk slowly crept over his shoulders.

The crowd turned and dispersed one after another.

Seeing this scene, Yi Zhonghai felt dizzy and almost couldn't stand up.

He understood that after this incident, his prestige in the courtyard had been completely destroyed.

It would take at least a year and a half to pick it up again.

"Sigh... why did Li Jianye have to move into our courtyard of all places?"

……

Li Jianye was completely unaware of Yi Zhonghai's melancholy.

He fell into a deep sleep and slept soundly through the night.

The following morning, as newspapers scattered like snowflakes through the streets and alleys, a piece of news suddenly shook the entire nation.

"The city's food rations will be reduced and used to support the countryside! Although we'll be a little hungry, it's worth it to save so many lives!"

"The decision made by the higher-ups was timely."

We workers are the foundation of national construction, but we can't just stand by and watch our brothers who farm the land starve.

"I heard that in many villages outside the city, people have already started eating tree bark and grass roots... Life is too hard."

"What's so bad about this? Back in my hometown, they've even dug up all the tree bark and grass roots, so all we can eat is clay."

Even so, the elderly couldn't bear to move, and insisted on going hungry to save the money for the younger generation...

"My grandfather hasn't eaten a single grain of rice for days... I just hope this batch of grain can be delivered to him in time..."

"Finally, they've stopped exaggerating those unrealistic yield figures! A while back, they were always saying yields of 10,000 jin per mu. But those of us who come from the fields, who doesn't know how much crops can actually yield?"

"Let's all grit our teeth and hold on until next summer's harvest! Once the new grain comes in, things will get better!"

……

As soon as the newspaper was published, literate people began to discuss it; illiterate people gathered at the street corner to listen to the explanation.

Within half a day, the entire city of Beijing was talking about it.

At this time, the small tavern next to Daqianmen also removed its door panels.

Business was still early, so half the staff were tidying up inside, while the other half were chatting with neighbors by the door.

"Oh, the banner's already up?"

Accountant Zhao Yali glanced at the long red cloth fluttering under the eaves across the street and couldn't help but sigh.

A line of large characters was prominently displayed on the cloth: "Grit your teeth and get through this difficult six-month period together; workers and peasants unite to face tomorrow!"

**

"This policy is a real lifesaver..."

Xu Huizhen stood aside and quietly replied, "How many people can be saved?"

"I've heard that many elderly people in the village have started a hunger strike... Sigh, life in the countryside is too difficult."

"If it weren't for this batch of grain, there would likely be widespread famine this year."

"More than that!"

A man with a thin neck who often squats on the street waiting for work.

He interjected with a laugh, "My hometown is in the countryside, so I know the situation."

Now farmers have no grain left to store – they boasted so much before and levied taxes so harshly, but now they can only dig up grass roots and peel tree bark.

After we've eaten all the grass roots and tree bark, without this emergency food supply, the number of people who would have starved to death across the country this year would likely be in the tens of millions.

"God……"

Xu Huizhen covered her mouth and gasped, "So many?"

"Isn't that right?"

Wobo'er was still smiling, but his expression was somewhat heavy. "But with this batch of grain, the number of deaths will be much smaller, maybe... only tens of thousands."

"That would be an immense act of merit."

Xu Huizhen murmured.

"etc,"

Fan Jinyou suddenly stepped out of the door, frowning. "Don't you care at all that your food rations are decreasing?"

Fan Jinyou's face fell, and he said in a low voice, "With this reduction in rations, how are we supposed to survive? Now we only have sixteen catties of grain left each month, and it's mixed with a lot of sweet potatoes—sixteen catties!"

He slammed his hand on the table.

Zhao Yali glanced at him sideways: "It was only twenty-two catties before, six catties less. If we save a little bit at each meal, we can get through it. An ordinary person can only eat a catty of grain a day at most. Now we can make it half a catty. We can manage by tightening our belts."

"Fan Jinyou, stop complaining all you want."

Xu Huizhen frowned as well, "The food in your bowl was all grown by the sweat of the people in the fields."

"Fine, fine, I can't argue with you guys!"

Fan Jinyou shook his head and got up, muttering as he walked towards the inner room, "Is it alright if I just sit still? Moving less might help me stay full."

……

Starting yesterday afternoon, instructions were transmitted in all directions via telegram and telephone.

As dawn broke, people everywhere had already begun to take action.

Officials went from street to street, telling the news to everyone in detail.

The topic quickly became the talk of the town, and although there were some complaints, most people in the city were in agreement.

At the same time, waves of joy suddenly rose up across the vast fields.

"The organization is thinking of us!"

"Now Dad's saved...we have food..."

"This grain didn't come easily; it was saved by our workers from the bare minimum. Not a single grain can be wasted!"

"Make sure those who did the hard work are well-fed. Next summer, we'll send more grain to the city! We can't forget this kindness!"

"To build a beautiful land—let's cultivate the land well!"

……

On the high platform of the threshing ground, the brigade leader looked at the crowd of people below, and fine lines appeared at the corners of his eyes as he smiled.

"Everyone, please be quiet!"

He announced loudly, "The country has sent us the best fertilizer. From today onwards, I will guide everyone to learn how to use it."