Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

"Brother Zhou Feng..."

Qin Jingru pursed her lips and looked at Zhou Feng, who casually ruffled her hair: "It's alright, it's alright. We're in this courtyard. We can associate with whoever we want, and if we don't want to associate with anyone, we can just tell them to go away!"

Zhou Feng naturally understood her thoughts; she simply felt that Jia Geng's behavior had embarrassed her.

However, Zhou Feng didn't care about any of that. Qin Jingru's surname was Qin, and she married into the Zhou family. Bang Geng's surname was Jia, so what did the two of them have to do with each other?

When Banggeng entered his house, Xiaodang and Huaihua had already gone back inside before him.

The two little girls were hiding in the corner of the room, clutching a few golden Ferrero Rocher chocolates in their hands, looking at them over and over, neither of them willing to open them.

If these gold-colored wrappers were candy wrappers, they would carefully peel them off; they would be an absolute rarity among all the children in the alley!

Seeing their actions, Bang Geng's expression froze, and the anger that Zhou Feng had just vented surged up again.

But Zhou Feng and Qin Jingru had just warned him, so he didn't dare to be too reckless. He could only sit down on the threshold, kick off one of his cloth shoes, and start howling at the top of his lungs.

"Waaah—Grandma! Grandma—!"

Madam Jia, who had been dozing on the kang (heated brick bed) in the inner room, was jolted awake by his shout and sat up abruptly. She quickly peeked out and cried out, "What are you howling about! What are you howling about! Your grandma is alright, she's not dead yet!"

Banggeng wiped away the tears that hadn't yet fallen from his face, but his eyes were already red from rubbing them: "Grandma! Zhou Feng and Qin Jingru bullied me. They were grilling meat in the yard, and they gave some to Xiaodang and Huaihua, but they wouldn't give me any! They also said a bunch of nasty things to me!"

It was clear he was really angry; he stopped calling her "Auntie" and addressed Qin Jingru by her first name.

Just as Jia Zhangshi was bracing herself against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) in preparation to get down, the words "Zhou Feng" from Bang Geng's mouth stopped her in her tracks!

Her expression shifted several times. She glanced at Huaihua and Xiaodang squatting in the corner, then at Banggeng wailing on the doorstep. Her dry lips moved a few times before she managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Their...their barbecue is theirs. If they don't want you to eat it, they don't want you to eat it! Why are you wailing like that?"

"belch…"

Bang Geng, who was about to add fuel to the fire, was stunned by Jia Zhangshi's words. He swallowed back the scream he was about to let out and let it turn into a burp.

"No, Grandma! Why? Why can they eat but I can't? Auntie used to eat so many meals at our house! Now that there's meat, she won't even give me a bite!"

Jia Zhangshi's head was throbbing from his howling, but she would never dare to go and reason with Zhou Feng.

Who in this courtyard doesn't know who Zhou Feng is?

That silly Zhu was arrested without warning. Liu Haizhong was also taken away for talking nonsense and spreading rumors about Zhou Feng.

She's just a widowed old woman, yet she goes up to people and tries to say things like that. Isn't she just asking for trouble?

"Alright, alright!"

Madam Jia got off the kang (a heated brick bed), shuffled over to Banggeng in her slippers, bent down and patted him on the back: "What's so good about that meat? It's just a few pieces of burnt meat! Didn't we cook meat for you at home before? Have you forgotten? That time your aunt brought back some pork belly, stewed a pot of it, and you ate several pieces, didn't you?"

"That was so long ago! And that meat never tasted as good as theirs!"

Seeing that he was throwing a tantrum on the ground, Jia Zhangshi showed no sign of backing down. Bang Geng's eyes darted around and suddenly turned his gaze to Xiao Dang and Huaihua in the corner.

"Grandma! They still have some delicious treats Qin Jingru gave them! They're all wrapped in gold paper, they're definitely more precious than meat!"

Following the direction of Banggeng's finger, Jia Zhangshi saw that Xiao Dang was holding several things that flashed with golden light in his hand.

She narrowed her eyes, curled her lips, and beckoned to Xiao Dang: "Xiao Dang, bring what you're holding to Grandma."

Xiao Dang took half a step back, put her hands behind her back, and pursed her lips without saying a word.

Huaihua shrank even further behind her sister.

Madam Jia's face instantly darkened: "Hey! What do you two mean by this? I, as your grandmother, can't even look at you?"

Xiao Dang looked up, staring blankly at her face: "Auntie said this is for us to eat. If anyone tries to take it, I should go to Uncle. Uncle will stand up for us."

Well, is Qin Jingru out of her mind?!

Why drag Zhou Feng into this whole mess when we're giving the kids snacks?

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Jia Zhangshi forced herself to reconcile, managing a smile: "Don't worry, Grandma is just curious, Grandma doesn't want it."

Turning her head, Jia Zhangshi immediately spotted Qin Huairu, who had just returned from outside and was squatting by the stove washing her hands.

"Look at you, what kind of mother are you? Your son is craving meat so much outside, and you don't even think to get him some. You let him come home hungry and wail. How can you live with yourself like that?"

what?

Qin Huairu was stunned by her barrage of insults. After she came to her senses, she could only purse her lips and made no attempt to retaliate.

She wiped the water off her hands, stood up, glanced at Banggeng who was still wiping away tears in the room, then looked at Jia Zhangshi's wrinkled old face, and sighed.

"Mom, you know we can't afford to mess with Zhou Feng. Banggeng went over there asking for food himself, it's normal that they wouldn't give him any!"

"It's his business if he doesn't give it to me, but my grandson wants to eat meat today, can't you think of a way to help him?"

"Exactly!" Banggeng peeked half his face out from behind the door, twitching as he chimed in, "I want to eat meat! I want to eat meat! I want to eat it today!"

As he shouted, he actually rolled out of the doorway, tumbling twice on the ground, yelling, "I won't get up unless I eat meat! I want meat!"

Qin Huairu looked at her son rolling on the ground, feeling both angry and heartbroken, wishing she could drag him over and beat him up!

But with Jia Zhangshi right there, even if she, as the mother, wanted to intervene, the other party wouldn't agree.

She was silent for a while before speaking, "Alright, alright, stop crying. Mom will try to get you some meat."

Banggeng rolled over and looked up at her: "Really?"

"Really." Qin Huairu gritted her teeth. "Get up first, don't roll around on the ground."

Bang Geng jumped up in a flash, not even bothering to wipe the "tears" off his face, and stared longingly at Qin Huairu.

Only then did Madam Jia give a satisfied hum and turn back into the house.

Qin Huairu stood by the stove, her fingers unconsciously twisting the edge of her apron.

Sha Zhu has been arrested, and we don't know where he's being held.

Yi Zhonghai certainly has meat tickets, but he usually eats a simple diet, so going there would be pointless.

She knew the circumstances of the other families in the courtyard, and even if there was meat, they wouldn't share it with her.

After all the calculations, the only person left in the entire courtyard who I could talk to and who also had some connections was the one in the backyard.

But their previous relationship...

After hesitating for a few seconds, Qin Huairu still knocked on Xu Damao's door.

Xu Damao, who opened the door, seemed quite surprised: "Oh, Sister Qin, what brings you here today?"

Qin Huairu stood at the door, forcing a smile: "Da Mao... I have a favor to ask you..."

"Sister Qin, it's not that I don't want to help you, but this meat is very precious to me. You can't just try to take it from me with a few words!"

"So what do you want?"

"Tomorrow, I'll come find you at the factory!"

Xu Damao raised an eyebrow, but it had been a while since he had tasted meat!