Courtyard House: A Carefree Life Begins with a Lottery of Wish Power

Lin Zhuo looked at Jia Dongxu and his mother, who were gritting their teeth but were helpless against him, and couldn't help but laugh to himself.

Then look at that seemingly respectable old man who was taking sides; he had a stern face and a livid expression, but he felt quite pleased with himself.

Lin Zhuo said slowly:

"You broke my lock and left things in my house for so many days. You don't need to buy me a new lock. I wouldn't dare use the one you did buy."

"Move these junks away right now, and give me 20 yuan in compensation, and this matter will be settled."

As soon as Lin Zhuo finished speaking, Jia Zhangshi jumped up.

"Twenty yuan? Why don't you just rob me? Dongxu, we're not paying you a single penny. Let him go to the police station and sue us."

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu became somewhat exasperated.

His monthly salary is only 27.5 yuan, so this 20 yuan is a huge sum of money.

"Lin Zhuo, don't go too far. It's just that I left some things in your house for a few days. Renting a place isn't this expensive."

Seeing that the Jia mother and son were very agitated, and fearing that they might say something offensive that would escalate the conflict, the old man said in a deep voice:

"Stop arguing and listen to me."

As he spoke, the old man's gaze swept over everyone, then he looked at Lin Zhuo and said:

"We're all neighbors after all, we see each other all the time. 20 yuan is really too much, I think 10 yuan is fine."

Although Lin Zhuo asked for 20, he didn't really expect the Jia family to give him 20; he would be satisfied with getting 10.

So, taking advantage of the situation, he said:

"Alright, sir, whatever you say goes."

Yi Zhonghai cursed inwardly:

"You little brat, you're pretending to be a good guy again. Why didn't you do as I said earlier?"

Jia Dongxu said urgently:

"Master, 10 yuan is still too much."

Yi Zhonghai said irritably:

"What, you really want to get involved with the police and the security department? That's settled for today. Consider it a lesson learned."

"Go back and get the money right away, then move your things out."

Seeing the old man's tough attitude, and after thinking about Yi Zhonghai's words, Jia Dongxu realized that they were indeed reasonable, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and admit it.

"Everyone, you can all leave now."

Once the dust had settled, everyone dispersed.

When Yan Bugui saw that the matter was resolved and that his gains were not affected at all, he felt relieved.

He couldn't help but feel a bit more favorably toward Lin Zhuo.

After all, Lin Zhuo hadn't mentioned exchanging his firewood for furniture, using himself as a shield.

Jia Dongxu went home to get the money, and reluctantly handed 10 yuan to Lin Zhuo in front of Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui.

"Grandpa, what happened just now? It sounded like someone was arguing."

Lin Zhuo looked up and saw He Yuzhu walking over, yawning.

Yi Zhonghai, who was seething with anger, slapped He Yuzhu on the back of the head and said:

"Who said anyone was arguing? You've come at the perfect time. Help Dongxu move all this stuff out."

He Yuzhu had just come out to use the restroom and casually made a gossip remark, but to his surprise, an old man acted like he was on fire, slapped him, and even dragged him into the fight.

He Yuzhu clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain, and said:

"Sir, I need to go to the public restroom, I really can't hold it in anymore."

Yi Zhonghai stared wide-eyed and said:

"Come back here right after you finish using the restroom and move your things. If you dare to slip away, I'll teach you a lesson."

He Yuzhu said with a grin:

"Don't worry, I promise I'll be back to help soon."

He Yuzhu ran to the public restroom and returned quickly.

Together with Jia Dongxu, they quickly moved the items back to Jia's house in half an hour.

The already cramped Jia family home became even more difficult to pass through, which made Jia Zhangshi's blood pressure soar.

Qin Huairu, holding her child, watched as the things she had moved out a few days ago were all moved back. Only after He Yuzhu left did she finally ask:

"Dongxu, what happened outside just now? It was so noisy."

"Why were these things brought back again?"

Madam Jia Zhang was helping to pack when she heard this and couldn't help but scold:

"It's all because that little bastard Lin Zhuo is back."

"We just store some things in his dilapidated house, and his house is just sitting idle anyway."

"But he's still relentlessly pursuing this."

"Not only did they burn a lot of our things, they also made us pay them 10 yuan in compensation."

"Yi Zhonghai is no good either. He doesn't help his own apprentice, but only speaks for outsiders."

Qin Huairu was slightly taken aback when she heard Lin Zhuo's name.

I learned a while ago that Lin Zhuo's father had passed away, but I had just given birth not long ago, so I didn't go over or meet Lin Zhuo.

Come to think of it, Lin Zhuo and I almost became family.

A few years ago, the village matchmaker introduced me to the Lin family.

Although Qin Huairu is a few years older than Lin Zhuo, both families are quite satisfied with each other. However, since Lin Zhuo is still in high school, they are not in a hurry to settle things.

However, on one occasion when Qin Huairu came to the courtyard with Lin Zhuo, Jia Dongxu saw her.

Jia Dongxu took a liking to Qin Huairu at first sight and insisted that Jia Zhangshi find someone to act as a matchmaker.

Unable to dissuade her son, Madam Jia had no choice but to offer generous benefits and hire a skilled matchmaker to propose marriage to the Qin family.

To be fair, the Jia family's circumstances were indeed better than the Lin family's.

The Jia family consists of only the mother and son, while the Lin family consists of only the elder Lin, who works at a steel mill, and Lin Zhuo's sister and grandmother, who live in their rural hometown.

In the future, there will inevitably be many poor relatives in rural areas who will need assistance.

Furthermore, Jia Dongxu is a legitimate, full-time employee at a steel rolling mill, so if she marries him, she can move to the city to live.

Lin Zhuo is a rural resident, and if she marries him, she will definitely have to live with him in the countryside.

With this comparison, it's obvious which is better and which is worse.

Since they weren't engaged to Lin Zhuo anyway, the Qin family didn't feel much burdened by breaking the engagement. They simply informed Old Lin through the matchmaker and happily got engaged to the Jia family.

Although Qin Huairu didn't have a formal job after moving to the city, and her mother-in-law Jia Zhangshi was mean-spirited, Jia Dongxu's salary of 27.5 yuan as a first-class worker meant that the family lived a prosperous life.

Everyone in the village speaks of Qin Huairu with envy.

Marrying a worker in a large state-owned factory, moving to the city, and having access to government-subsidized grain rations—that was the lifelong dream of many farmers.

Qin Huairu was also surprised when she heard her mother-in-law's words. Ten yuan was enough to feed the Jia family for almost half a month.

"Lin Zhuo is being completely unreasonable. Fine, he won't pay us any money, but why should we give him 10 yuan?"

"Are the other gentlemen not here? If one of the elders were here, he certainly wouldn't let him run wild."

Jia Dongxu was also very frustrated and angrily said:

"Where is he? That coward Yan Bugui doesn't dare to utter a word, he just sits there trying to smooth things over."

"My master did speak up for us, but he couldn't control that kid at all."

Madam Jia snorted coldly and continued:

"If you ask me, Yi Zhonghai isn't any better. As soon as Lin Zhuo threatened to call the police, he immediately chickened out."

"He only cares about his status as an old man and his damn face."

"If it were up to me, let him call the police if he wants, let the police station arrest me, I won't pay a single penny."

"At worst, we'll be locked up for a few days; at least we'll save on food expenses."

Qin Huairu had heard the gist of what had happened and was secretly surprised. In her memory, Lin Zhuo was a fairly honest and upright person, but she didn't expect him to be so unforgiving.

Even her shrewish mother-in-law couldn't handle him, and even a respected old man couldn't control him.

Qin Huairu advised:

"Mom, calm down, don't lower yourself to his level."

Although Qin Huairu said this, she did not actually agree with Jia Zhangshi's words.

Jia Zhangshi is unemployed and old, so no one can do anything about her tantrums.

But Jia Dongxu is still young.

If it escalates to the point of involving the police station, my future will definitely be affected.

Jia Dongxu also hated Lin Zhuo so much that he gritted his teeth and said viciously:

"He just wait, I'll get my revenge sooner or later."

Banggeng and Xiaodang were confused and didn't quite understand what the adults were saying. They just remembered that Lin Zhuo was not a good person, which made their parents and grandmother angry and caused them to lose 10 yuan.

After Lin Zhuo and the others finished moving their things, they cleaned the house, and the house returned to its usual tidiness.

After all that commotion, the fire in the stove almost went out.

Lin Zhuo quickly added some firewood, and once the firewood was burning brightly, he added the coal that he had just mixed with clay.

The once quiet house has finally warmed up.

I was so busy arguing with a bunch of beasts outside that I didn't have time to look at the notification sounds carefully, even though I heard a lot of them.

At this moment, Lin Zhuo calmed down and began to carefully study the system prompts while warming himself by the stove.