Courtyard house: Just the right amount of pressure, leaving you bewildered but not brain-damaged.

Not afraid of god-like opponents, but afraid of pig-like teammates.

Yi Zhonghai's gaze darted back and forth between Jia Zhangshi and Yan Bugui, his brows furrowed and his expression shifting between light and shadow.

"Hey old man, say something! Why are you staring at us like that?"

Yan Bugui noticed that Yi Zhonghai's expression was off, so he shrank back and didn't dare to disturb him. Jia Zhangshi didn't care about any of that; she only knew that she had been bullied and that it was only natural for her to seek Yi Zhonghai's support.

Moreover, Yi Zhonghai's current actions are indeed somewhat inappropriate. How could he keep glancing at her face in front of everyone? He should at least do it in private.

"You...sigh."

"Let's go to my house and talk about what happened. Lao Liu, you come too. We need to hold a hospital-wide meeting so the three of us can decide together."

Yi Zhonghai lowered his eyelids, called out to Liu Haizhong, and walked towards the central courtyard first, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

What a terrible thing to do.

What was wrong with him? How did he end up getting involved with Jia Zhangshi?

Yi Zhonghai was filled with remorse.

If he had gone to the hospital for a checkup earlier, and had known in advance that he couldn't have children, he wouldn't have had the idea of ​​"surrogacy".

Feudal ideology is deadly!

His coworkers at the factory all told him that if a woman couldn't have children, there must be something wrong with her, and he should quickly divorce her and remarry.

However, Yi Zhonghai was afraid of damaging his reputation, and he was used to being served comfortably by Wu Guizhen every day. After much hesitation, he still couldn't make up his mind.

Unfortunately, Lao Jia made a mistake, got injured, and developed a hidden ailment.

We're good brothers and good buddies. Old Jia's health has suffered, and he can't do many chores at home. Of course, Yi Zhonghai has to step up and lend a hand every now and then.

Although Jia Zhangshi was already in her thirties and her son Jia Dongxu was in elementary school at that time, she was fair-skinned and clean-cut, which had the effect of covering up a hundred flaws.

Her figure is no longer as bloated as it is now; she is now in a plump but not greasy stage.

Yi Zhonghai often visited his sister-in-law, who was six years older than him and always seemed depressed, to help her out.

He had given it a lot of thought at the time.

Helping out is his top priority, and he also wants to help his brother with his troubles. A good couple shouldn't only have one son, and he hopes that the Jia family's life will get better.

He had already planned it all out: if the Jia family prospered, he could also forge an unbreakable bond with them.

Unfortunately, he helped the Jia family for almost two years, but apart from Jia Zhangshi's complexion improving a bit, the Jia family's life didn't improve much. It was a complete waste of effort.

It was only then that Yi Zhonghai finally realized that Wu Guizhen might be a barren land, but Jia Zhangshi was definitely fertile soil, as evidenced by Jia Dongxu.

She quickly slipped away to the hospital for a checkup, and it was eventually confirmed that she was the "incompetent husband."

From then on, he stopped doing voluntary labor, which caused Jia Zhangshi to always have a resentful expression on her face whenever she saw him.

Until Old Jia's elder brother died in a work accident, Jia Zhangshi lost her support and became completely clingy, like a leech, impossible to shake off.

Fortunately, Jia Zhangshi was still somewhat rational. She knew that without evidence, she couldn't play the "fight to the death" card. In the end, she reached an agreement with Jia Dongxu taking over the job and Yi Zhonghai taking on the responsibility of caring for his brother's widow.

Taking advantage of her status as a vulnerable widow and orphan, and with Yi Zhonghai's backing, Jia Zhangshi has become increasingly outrageous in recent years. Not only has she been unreasonable and taken advantage of her neighbors, but she has even changed the locks on the public housing provided by the neighborhood committee. She is truly lawless.

Having a sister-in-law with whom he had worked together in the fields was already enough of a headache for Yi Zhonghai, but his godmother, the deaf old lady in the backyard, just couldn't resist watching the drama unfold.

They went to great lengths to pull strings and get the small business owner, Yan Bugui, into the neighborhood management team, and even asked him to take care of this carefully selected "target boat."

Yi Zhonghai was stunned. He even wondered if his godmother had gotten her head stuck in a door when she left home that morning.

What's wrong? Nightmare difficulty isn't enough, so you have to artificially raise it to Hell difficulty?

Who is Yan Bugui?

Without the resident management's skin, maybe one could still keep a low profile and act like a boss? You're kidding.

Not to mention his stingy nature, he'd try to squeeze every last drop of oil out of a handful of dirt, which would inevitably cause him trouble.

Things unfolded exactly as Yi Zhonghai had predicted. Over the past few years, he had done more than enough cleaning up Yan Bugui's messes.

Before Sun Youtian moved in, only Yan Bugui lived in the front yard. He not only had to open and close the gate in the morning and evening, but he also collected the water and electricity fees of all the residents in the yard and handed them over to the military control committee.

Yan Bugui managed to make the most of such a tiny bit of power.

During the war on the Korean Peninsula, the steel rolling mill often worked overtime to fill the gap in civilian industrial products, and inevitably returned late at times.

But Yan Bugui didn't care about any of that and closed the courtyard gates promptly at nine o'clock.

Want to sleep in the courtyard? No problem, it's charged per person, one thousand yuan per person. Just slip in through the door first.

Even Yi Zhonghai was charged money several times.

He Daqing and Xu Fugui, who disliked each other, were forced to form a united front and took the lead in launching a vigorous anti-Yan movement.

In the end, it took Yi Zhonghai a lot of persuasion, going door to door to explain the situation, and getting Yan Bugui to apologize in public and promise not to charge fees again before the anger was barely appeased.

That's right. Yan Bugui only promised not to continue charging, but didn't mention a refund. Money that's already in his pocket isn't so easy to get back.

Even so, he was still unwilling, saying that having to get up and open the door late at night after getting into bed was extra work outside his job duties, and that it was reasonable to receive compensation.

Yi Zhonghai thought that after this lesson, Yan Bugui would be more obedient and wouldn't cause any more trouble.

But he forgot the old saying, "A leopard can't change its spots."

After the door opening fee business failed, Yan Bugui turned his attention to water and electricity fees.

Because it's not possible to install electricity meters in every household, the city of Beijing generally implements a system where electricity is charged based on the number and wattage of light bulbs.

A 10-watt light bulb costs 1,000 yuan per month in electricity, a 15-watt bulb costs 1,500 yuan, and so on.

Water bills are about the same. Ever since the water pipes were connected to the Intermediate People's Court, everyone has stopped going to the public water station to fetch water. The billing method has also changed from charging per bucket to charging per person.

It costs 200 yuan per person per month, regardless of how much water is used.

Yan Bugui, on the other hand, took advantage of being the only scholar in the academy and having the convenience of communication between superiors and subordinates, and dared to increase the price on his own.

The document stated 1,000 yuan, but he said 1,100 yuan, and the water fee also became 220 yuan per person.

Because the amount was small—for a family of four living in two rooms, the total cost of water and electricity was less than three thousand yuan—no one paid much attention to the ten percent error.

It wasn't until the handover between the military control commission and the street office that Xu Damao went to the street office to join in the fun and saw the posted fee schedule, which completely exposed the matter.

It was He Daqing and Xu Fugui who took the lead, clamoring to report Yan Bugui to the street office for extortion and bribery, and everyone in the courtyard responded.

Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to use both soft and hard tactics, appeasing everyone on one hand while sternly warning Yan Bugui, ordering him to return all the overcharged fees, or else he would be going to jail.

It's only because he had enough cards to play. He not only had leverage over Xu Fugui's past shady dealings while he was working for Boss Lou, but he was also the go-between and witness to He Daqing and Widow Bai's affair. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to protect Yan Bugui, that stupid fool who never learns from his mistakes.

Yi Zhonghai grew angrier the more he thought about it. He was a grown man, and all these years he had been busy cleaning up the messes of Jia Zhangshi and Yan Bugui. They had turned what was originally a great situation into a complete mess.

Today was even worse. The new residents had just moved in and, like Sun Youtian, were driven to the opposite side by these two oddballs.

Can't you be more patient? First, show some small favors to build a good relationship, and then slowly boil the frog in lukewarm water. Don't you know what it means to be impatient and not eat hot tofu?