Courtyard House: A Start with Black Gold Swallowing 100,000 Silver Dollars

one Year.

Ever since he yelled at Tian Tian downstairs, he hasn't stepped into that door for twelve whole months.

Now she finally couldn't hold back anymore.

We should have listened to the old man—we should have sent her to Hong Kong back then.

He paid for her plane ticket, covered her travel expenses, and even packed her suitcase.

Unfortunately, he was too soft-hearted at the time and said, "Give her another chance."

Now, the opportunity has become a knife, slicing his face piece by piece.

Back home, Zeng Minzhi sat on the sofa without saying a word, arms crossed, chin held high.

The eldest daughter was squatting on the carpet building blocks, and she didn't look at her at all, as if there was only air in the room.

The anger was burning hot, but what burned the most fiercely was not Tian Tian's audacity, but Li Guoxin's concealment—it turned out that he already had a wife and children, and a six-year-old son named Jiabing.

That wasn't a lover; it was another home.

What's even more heartbreaking is that the woman actually dared to come right up to us with her child, without even bothering to cover herself up.

Her chest ached with a tightness she had never felt before.

"Li Guoxin," she finally spoke, her voice low but sharp like a piece of iron scraping against a stone slab, "you hid it so well—the child's already in preschool, and I was still completely in the dark?"

"That woman was so beautiful, why didn't you just marry her back then? What was the point of marrying me?"

Li Guoxin stood in the entryway, still wearing his shoes, and said in a hoarse voice, "Minzhi, believe me, I've never loved her. I've always loved you, and it's always been you."

"I met her when I was a technician at the factory. After I started dating you, I made things clear to her. But she secretly got pregnant and only told me after four months... I had no choice but to send her away."

"Who knew she would follow me all the way to the county. I couldn't stop her, and I couldn't shake her off."

He looked down at the dusty tips of his shoes, as if he were looking at an old story that could never be wiped clean.

"But you have to believe me, the one person I cherish most has always been you."

Li Guoxin spoke plainly, without raising his voice or avoiding eye contact. There was a little sweat on his forehead, as if he had just returned from harvesting corn in the field. His shirt collar was slightly open, his sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, and there was a little dry mud on the back of his hands.

Zeng Minzhi lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes—the fabric had long been crumpled until it was soft. Hearing him say that, her breathing slowed down, and the tightness in her chest eased a little.

After all, the mother and child were already standing at the gate of the courtyard. The child was clutching the woman's clothes and looking up at them. If they covered themselves up, they would look silly.

"So how do you plan to handle this?"

Her question was soft, but it was like a dull knife, slowly pressing down.

She had previously given him a year's grace. During that year, he didn't set foot in Tian Tian's area again, not even under the pretext of borrowing grain or sending firewood. She knew what was going on, so she didn't confront him directly.

"I?"

Li Guoxin's Adam's apple bobbed, he gave a wry smile, unfolded the crumpled cigarette pack in his hand, then closed it again. "They've already blocked the door, what can I do to stop them?"

Zeng Minzhi raised an eyebrow: "You can't come up with a solution?"

"Tian Tian..." He paused, his voice lowering, "Last time I told her to break things off cleanly, she sat on the roof beam with the child in her arms, her shoes off, her toes dangling in mid-air—what could I do?"

He shook his head, without sighing, but just gripped the cigarette pack tighter, the paper edge digging into his palm.

This bitter fruit was sown by himself; though it is sour and bitter, he has to chew it up and swallow it down, bite by bite.

Zeng Minzhi's face darkened, and she remained silent.

She believed it. Last time, before she went into labor, her stomach tightened, and Tian Tian came to her door with a basket of wild dates, laughing as she plucked strands of her own hair and threw them into her teacup, one by one, black and hard. That kind of person really dares to use her life as a rope to strangle someone.

"Isn't it because you can't control yourself? Isn't it all your own fault for bringing this trouble upon yourself?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but each word was like a small pebble, striking the cement floor, crisp and cold.

Those methods were indeed despicable, but that's precisely what's most dangerous—if they're willing to risk their lives, how can you reason with them? How can you negotiate terms?

It's a headache for anyone who gets caught up in it; there's no escaping it, no way to get around it. It's like sand in your shoe, it'll hurt you wherever you go.

Li Guoxin didn't reply, but instead turned the cigarette pack over and scraped off the crooked "Harvest Brand" lettering with his fingernail. He admitted his mistakes and listened to the reprimands he deserved.

"well……"

He let out a long breath, as if he had unloaded two sacks of rice from his shoulders.

"Why don't you... meet her?" Zeng Minzhi suddenly said. "I want to talk to her in person."

She knew this couldn't be delayed. Men are soft-hearted and soft-spoken, and can't resist constant crying and pleading; but once a woman has made up her mind, she's like a thorn wrapped around your trouser leg—the more you pull, the deeper it goes, the tighter it gets.

"Tonight? Is that alright?" Li Guoxin's eyes lit up, as if he was afraid she would change her mind.

Zeng Minzhi glanced at him, but didn't answer; she just nodded slightly.

She could tell that he didn't sleep well at night, always keeping a half-full glass of cold water by his pillow, and squatting outside the pigsty smoking before dawn, piling up cigarette butts like a small mountain.

That evening, after entrusting the child to his younger brother Li Guoqing and his wife, the two left one after the other.

Tian Tian's courtyard is still the same as before: the earthen walls are low, the lintel is slanted, and the window paper is thickly pasted, so the lamplight flickers on it like a clump of fog that can't be cleared away.

"Guoxin—you've finally arrived!"

As soon as the door opened, Tian Tian rushed over, tears welling up in her eyes. Her voice trembled, and she sobbed twice before she could finish speaking. Her eyes were red and swollen. She hugged the child in her arms even tighter, burying the child's face in the crook of her neck, only revealing a pair of dark, bright eyes that timidly stared at Zeng Minzhi.

She didn't even glance at Zeng Minzhi, as if that person was just a withered tree stump standing at the gate of the courtyard.

Zeng Minzhi's heart sank.

This woman wasn't flustered; she had prepared a script beforehand.

Sure enough, what followed was a piercing blow:

"I don't care about money or a house. I even returned Guoxin's work point receipts untouched... I just hope he can come once a month, have a meal with the child, and teach him a couple of words—is that alright?"

She lowered her head, her shoulders trembled slightly, and her voice was as soft as willow catkins drifting in the wind, yet every word seemed stuck with glue, impossible to shake off or scrape off.

She had planned it all out in advance—if Li Guoxin came, she would cry; if Zeng Minzhi came, she would cry even more, crying more skillfully, more softly, and in a way that would make it harder for people to be ruthless.

Zeng Minzhi handed over a few grain coupons and a piece of polyester fabric, and mentioned the substitute teaching position at the town's primary school... Tian Tian shook her head, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingertips, only repeating one sentence: "I'll just beg him to come once, just once."

In the end, neither side gave in.

When we dispersed, it was already late at night, and the thin moonlight spread across the dirt road like a layer of salt.

Zeng Minzhi didn't say anything more, she just rolled up her sleeves more neatly, and turned to leave.

She knew in her heart that this battle had only just begun.

-

A few days later, the brigade drove an oxcart to the county town to deliver the grain to the state.

You Lixiang jumped off the cart shaft, and before his feet even touched the ground, he shouted, "The college entrance exam! The college entrance exam is back!"

Wet towels were drying in the youth quarters, and an iron kettle on the stove was hissing. Upon hearing this, everyone gathered around.

"Really?" Someone wiped their face, their hands still covered in pig feed crumbs.

"Why would I lie to you?" You Lixiang pulled a neatly folded piece of white paper from his inner pocket, muttering as he unfolded it, "I copied it three times, afraid of missing a single word!"

The ink was still wet on the paper, and the mimeographed notice was clearly visible: Enrollment targets—workers, farmers, [unspecified groups], returning educated youth, demobilized soldiers…

"Ouch!"

"My dad was a college graduate back in the day!"

"My junior high school textbooks are still tucked away at the bottom of a box!"

The young educated youth's eyes lit up, like seedlings suddenly sprouting in dry land.

The female educated youth who had gossiped about Li Guozhui and Ye Xiuli to Shen Shanshan suddenly ripped off her straw hat, raised her hands, and shouted: "I'll take the exam this year! If I pass, I'll quit—I'm never working on this muddy ground again!"

"Right! If I don't go to university, I'll have to toil here for ten more years!"

"Let's study together and quiz each other!"

"..."

The educated youth compound was filled with a buzzing sound, like a beehive at the end of spring.

Shen Shanshan pushed through the crowd and walked a few steps to Li Guozhui, her braid still damp with wheat awns: "Guozhui, let's register together and take the exam to go back to the capital, okay?"

Her voice was a little strained—she'd truly had enough of this place: the eaves leaked, the well water tasted bitter, she had to use a flashlight to find her way to the outhouse in the dark, and rats scurried across the beams at night. The initial cry of "Go to where the motherland needs you most" had now been reduced to nothing more than "Get me out of here quickly."

"Okay." Li Guozhui nodded with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, he subconsciously glanced at Ye Xiuli.

She was squatting by the pig trough scooping up swill, her profile bathed in the pale gold of the setting sun, but her brows were slightly furrowed, as if held by some thin thread.

Li Guozhui did not ask on the spot.

Some things should only be said when the wind has stopped, the crowd has thinned, and the grunts of pigs have drowned out your heartbeat.

The opportunity came quickly.

The next day at noon, the two went to feed the pigs together.

A foul stench mixed with the smell of grass assaulted his nostrils. Li Guo pinched his nose, stirring the feeding trough as he asked:

"Xiuli, have you been having something on your mind these past few days?"

"Guozhui, I've always fallen behind in school, and I don't even dare to think about the college entrance exam. If you get into university and leave, I'll be all alone here, unable to see you and with no end in sight... My heart feels like it's filled with ice, so cold and heavy."

Ye Xiuli stared longingly at Li Guozhui, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. Her voice was soft, yet every word seemed to pierce his ears. She hoped he would shake his head, hoped he would sigh, hoped he would blurt out, "I'm not taking the exam anymore."

"this……"

Li Guozhui's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't continue. How could he not understand? But Shen Shanshan's name weighed heavily on his heart, like a warm branding iron—the engagement was arranged by the elders of both families, and returning to the capital was a done deal. Even his suitcase was packed, and he was just waiting to set off after the results were announced.

"Guozhui, will you stay with me?"

As soon as she finished speaking, her eyes slowly welled up with tears. Her eyelashes trembled, and tears welled up. She didn't wail or throw a tantrum; she just quietly looked at him, her shoulders slightly hunched, like a little sparrow that had been caught in the rain.

"If you all leave, and I'm the only one left here... It's okay during the day, but at night, when I hear the wind whistling through the window paper, I'm afraid I won't make it back to the city."

She paused, her voice softening slightly: "If Shanshan really gets in, she'll have to study for four years. You know her personality; once she's in school, all she sees are printed words and formulas, she won't care about anything else. You can stay with me for two or three years, and then go back to get married after she graduates. It's not too late."

—While saying "wait for her to graduate," she had already planned in her heart: four years of daily life, sharing meals and living together day and night, if she still couldn't warm her heart, then writing Ye Xiuli's name backwards would be a waste of ink!

"But... I already promised Shanshan."

Before she could finish speaking, Ye Xiuli, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist and back, pressing her body against him so that she clung softly to him. Her earlobe brushed against his neck, her breathing slightly erratic, but her eyes quickly scanned the gap in the earthen wall and the path outside the courtyard, as if afraid of bumping into someone.