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

With a heavy heart, Yi Zhonghai led Jia Zhangshi and Yan Bugui into the Intermediate Court.

"Hello, sir." Qin Huairu stood at the door and greeted him respectfully.

"Um."

Normally, Yi Zhonghai would at least praise his apprentice's wife a couple of times, just look at her attitude towards her elders, she is a model of virtue.

He wasn't in the mood for that today. He snorted and walked straight home without stopping.

"Huai Ru, I'm back. Is Bang Geng still asleep?"

When Jia Dongxu, who was walking behind, saw his wife, all his fatigue vanished, and his eyes gleamed with a green light. He took three steps at a time, grabbed Qin Huairu's hand, and was about to lead her into the house.

Despite being married for three years and having a two-year-old son, Jia Dongxu is still stuck in the very early stages of his addiction.

The family's circumstances didn't allow it; all four of them had to sleep on one kang (a heated brick bed), which greatly affected the harmony between husband and wife.

Besides, his wife Qin Huairu is so beautiful and attractive, with a curvaceous figure, she doesn't look like a mother of a two-year-old at all.

Even compared to when she first got married, she has become even more beautiful, losing three parts of girlish innocence but gaining seven parts of mature woman charm.

Now that my mother has gone to her master's house, she can at least complain for ten minutes, and that's when the opportunity will come.

"Dongxu, don't pull me. Shazhu came back with you guys, right? You go home and wait. I'll grab my lunchbox and come inside."

Jia Dongxu was in high spirits, but Qin Huairu had no particular thoughts.

A fight that lasts two and a half minutes is less than the time spent undressing and dressing, and there's absolutely no enjoyment involved. Nobody would be happy about that.

"Yes, yes, the lunchbox is important. I'll wash my face first. Honey, hurry up!"

Jia Dongxu chuckled, his pretty-boy face instantly transforming into a lewd man, rubbing his hands excitedly.

"Sigh." Qin Huairu sighed softly, her gaze fixed on the hanging flower gate in the central courtyard, waiting for He Yuzhu to walk into the trap.

When she married into the Jia family, she was still an innocent girl, full of expectations for the future.

The solemnity of Beijing, the longed-for urban life, and the glorious identity of a worker's wife—all of these deeply attracted this rural girl.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Everyone says that workers are pillars of society, but her husband was an exception.

At the factory, she relied entirely on her mentor, Yi Zhonghai, for support. At home, she was completely subservient to her mother-in-law. Apart from daring to say a few harsh words, she had no opinions of her own.

In the early days of her marriage, Qin Huairu was unjustly criticized and bullied by her mother-in-law. She even privately complained to Jia Dongxu, hoping that her husband would speak up for her.

Now she just accepts whatever comes her way and has long since resigned herself to her fate.

What mother-in-law would let her young and beautiful daughter-in-law ask a bachelor for a lunchbox and even bring a bowl to his door to collect food? What's the difference between this and a little white rabbit actively seeking out a big bad wolf?

But Jia Zhangshi and her son Jia Dongxu dared to make such an arrangement.

Qin Huairu resisted and complained, but the result was that she had no food to eat and was so hungry that her stomach was sticking to her back.

Having such a husband, what can I do but blame myself for being blind?

Qin Huairu paced back and forth at the door, longingly awaiting her lunchbox for the day.

What she didn't know was that He Yuzhu, who was about to walk towards the central courtyard, suddenly stopped, twitched his nose a few times, hesitated for a while, and slowly walked towards the east hall.

He Yuzhu didn't knock on the door. He pressed his face against the window and looked inside, and by sheer coincidence, his eyes met Gao Xiaosheng's.

"What is it? Come in and talk."

Gao Xiaosheng pretended not to know He Yuzhu and opened the door.

"No, it's nothing. I just wanted to remind you that the cucumber slices were added too early. The pork was already cooked, but the cucumber slices were overcooked and became soft and mushy, which wasn't very tasty."

He Yuzhu waved his hands repeatedly and stammered an explanation.

Everyone calls him Silly Zhu, but he's actually incredibly smart.

To come up with a plausible excuse in such a short time is something that Xu Damao or Jia Dongxu definitely couldn't do.

He Yuzhu came over by the sound of stir-frying and the smell of cooking. He felt that her cooking method was exactly the same as her sister Yushui's, even down to the slightest flaw.

Being too impatient, I added cucumber slices to the pan before stir-frying the pork for even a couple of seconds. In the end, either the pork wasn't cooked through, or the cucumber slices were mushy.

"You can still go back to the kitchen and pick out the melon slices now. Put the pork back in only after it has completely changed color."

Seeing Gao Xiaosheng pursing his lips and looking at him without saying a word, He Yuzhu offered a remedial measure.

"Huh? That's not right. You're at the door, so why is there a stir-frying sound coming from the kitchen? Didn't Uncle say you moved in alone?"

Five seconds later, He Yuzhu finally discovered the blind spot.

Gao Xiaosheng had to admit that there were no wrong nicknames, only wrong names.

If there's no one else around, does he know the Shadow Clone Technique? His main body is staring at Shakyamuni at the door, while his clone is cooking in the kitchen?

"Rain, is that you?"

He Yuzhu clung to the door frame, peered into the kitchen, and saw a familiar, thin figure. He called out loudly.

"Brother, you're back! Wait for me, I'll go home with you after I finish cooking."

He Yushui didn't even have time to turn her head; with a serious expression on her face, she was stirring the pot with a spatula.

"Oh dear, my dear sister, why did you go to someone else's house to cook? Did you have to make a fool of yourself?"

He Yuzhu couldn't wait any longer and rushed to the kitchen, hoping it was still possible to salvage the situation.

"Little darling, stop flipping it over, hurry up and take the melon slices out!"

"Make way, make way, I'll handle this."

He Yuzhu wriggled his way up and took over the chef's position from Yushui. He picked up chopsticks and busied himself with cooking, while also scolding his sister.

"Look at you, can't you just stay home and read a book? What's the point of running around in someone else's house?"

"You've even started cooking? You've only been learning for a few days, how can you possibly know how to cook properly?"

He Yushui was so angry that she stomped her feet.

She knew, of course, that she had put the cucumber slices in too early, and was thinking of making a slight adjustment, putting the meat slices at the bottom of the pot and stacking the cucumber on top, which might, perhaps, save the situation.

As a result, the silly older brother started babbling nonstop as soon as he came in, and now there's no way to fix it, because Brother Sheng heard everything.

"Hehe, you must be He Yuzhu, Yushui's brother."

Seeing He Yushui's sullen face, her pouting lips, and tears welling up in her eyes, Gao Xiaosheng quickly spoke up to smooth things over.

No one can bully his beloved younger sister, not even her own brother.

"Her cooking skills are quite good, much better than mine. She's probably just rusty today, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

While trying to defend Yu Shui, Gao Xiaosheng walked over to her and patted her head.

"You're Gao Xiaosheng? You moved in today? You beat up Jia Zhangshi and Third Uncle?"

He Yuzhu kept working, tilting his head and glancing sideways at Gao Xiaosheng.

"Yes, it's me."

He Yuzhu snorted lightly, "Alright, the food is ready. Hurry up and eat. There will definitely be a hospital-wide meeting later. Remember to prepare plenty of money, or you won't have enough."

"Rainwater, take the coal nuggets out and leave them to dry in the corner, then come home with me."

"Oh," He Yushui said, fiddling with the long fire tongs for a while, then reluctantly looked up at Gao Xiaosheng.

"Brother Sheng, I'm leaving now. I'll go buy coal briquettes with you tomorrow afternoon."

"Wait," Gao Xiaosheng raised his hand to stop He Yuzhu and his sister.

"Let the rainwater drink from me; at least it'll fill my stomach, better than going hungry."

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu's eyes widened, and he retorted with a stiff neck, "How dare you talk like that? I'm a cafeteria cook, would I let my sister go hungry?"

"See that? Two lunchboxes, with meat, vegetables, and steamed buns—enough to eat as much as you want!"

To prove that he hadn't abused his sister, He Yuzhu took a lunchbox out of the bag, opened the lid, and presented it to Gao Xiaosheng.

"Yeah, Yushui can definitely eat her fill with just one lunchbox."

Gao Xiaosheng nodded and continued, "But can you guarantee you'll bring both lunchboxes home? Won't one get stolen along the way?"

"I……"

He Yuzhu turned and glared at Yushui. No wonder the deaf old lady in the backyard always said that girls are outgoing and forget their roots after getting married.

The little girl is only ten years old, but she's already starting to side with outsiders, telling them everything.

"What's the big deal..."

He Yuzhu was about to pat his chest and make a guarantee when he suddenly saw a window in the house facing the courtyard. He quickly ran over and took a look.

"Well, it's not that I can't guarantee it, it's just that Rain seems to like eating with you."

"How about this, the coal nugget hasn't died down yet. Let's heat up these two lunchboxes, eat, and then go back."

He Yuzhu turned and walked towards the kitchen, silently apologizing to Qin Huairu in his heart.

Compared to Sister Qin's sweet words of thanks, he still felt that saving face was more important.

I can't lose face in front of the new residents, and I certainly can't admit that my sister often goes hungry.