Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

"What's going on?" Yi Zhonghai's gaze swept over the two men, finally landing on Sha Zhu. "Zhu Zi, what day is tomorrow? What are you doing here causing trouble? Aren't you afraid of becoming a laughingstock?"

Mentioning the blind date tomorrow, Sha Zhu's momentum immediately weakened a bit, but he still stubbornly insisted, "Uncle, it was that bastard Xu Damao who started it! He said I..."

"What did I say? I was just telling the truth!" Xu Damao hid behind Yi Zhonghai, still stubborn.

"Alright!" Yi Zhonghai interrupted impatiently. "Shut up, all of you! Da Mao, you too, you can't watch your mouth! Zhu Zi is going on a blind date tomorrow, it's our department's business. You don't even want to help, and you're just meddling in everything! What kind of behavior is that!"

After scolding Xu Damao, he looked at Shazhu, his tone softening slightly but still reproachful: "Zhuzi, you too! How old are you? Still throwing punches all the time? What will the girl think when she sees your reckless behavior tomorrow? Hurry up and go back and prepare properly!"

Sha Zhu calmed down a bit after Yi Zhonghai's words. Thinking about the important matters tomorrow, he realized he shouldn't be entangled with Xu Damao at this crucial moment. He glared at Xu Damao and spat, "You little brat! I'll spare you today for my sake! If you dare to spout nonsense again, I'll beat you to death!" After saying that, he said to Yi Zhonghai, "Uncle, I'll go back now." He turned around and angrily went back to his room.

Xu Damao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sha Zhu leave, but he still wouldn't back down: "Uncle, look at him..."

"You go back too!" Yi Zhonghai waved his hand dismissively. "Isn't it chaotic enough already?"

Xu Damao awkwardly shut his mouth, picked up the canvas bag from the ground, and slipped back to his room.

Seeing that no fight had broken out and the main characters had dispersed, the neighbors who had come to watch the commotion went home chatting and laughing. The disturbance came quickly and went quickly.

Yan Bugui watched this scene from his own doorway, shook his head, and whispered to Wei Chen beside him, "See that? That idiot Zhu, what a temper! With that attitude, going on a blind date tomorrow? I doubt it!"

Wei Chen smiled but didn't reply. He just stared at Sha Zhu's tightly closed door, thinking to himself: Tomorrow, this courtyard will probably be even more lively. I wonder what that girl named Han Chunmei will think when she sees what happened tonight and then sees Sha Zhu's meticulously prepared but still shabby little house?

Xu Damao was chased and beaten by Sha Zhu. Although he was eventually stopped by Yi Zhonghai and didn't get punched, the fact that Sha Zhu pointed at his nose and cursed him as a "bad seed" and "unable to get married" in front of so many neighbors left him with a lump in his throat, preventing him from sleeping for half the night.

Lying on the cold bed, tossing and turning, his mind was filled with Sha Zhu's smug, silly face, as if he were going to be a groom tomorrow, and Wei Chen's seemingly calm but actually laughing-at-him eyes.

"Why?" Xu Damao gritted his teeth, his eyes wide in the darkness. "I, Xu Damao, have looks, I have a job (a projectionist is a respectable job), I have connections, I even almost married Lou Bancheng's daughter! Why am I still a bachelor? That idiot Sha Zhu, he has no education, no looks, a temper as foul as a rock in a latrine, his family is dirt poor, and he has a burdensome younger sister... Why can he go on blind dates? And with such an air of certainty?"

The more he thought about it, the angrier and more resentful he became. Especially when he thought about his marriage, which was a sure thing and a sure way to marry into a wealthy family, it fell through because of a problem during the medical examination (he still thought it was a coincidence or just bad luck), making him a laughing stock in and out of the hospital, Xu Damao felt a surge of anger rush to his head.

He couldn't accept that his arch-enemy, Sha Zhu, was stepping on his head, and he couldn't accept that Sha Zhu, this "fool," was getting married before him! Wouldn't that make him, Xu Damao, look even more like a failure?

"No! We absolutely can't let him succeed!" Xu Damao sat up abruptly, his eyes flashing with a cold light in the darkness. He absolutely couldn't let Shazhu get his way! Even if he couldn't find a wife for the time being, he'd drag Shazhu down with him and remain single! If everyone's single, no one can laugh at anyone else! Besides, if Shazhu really got married, with a woman at home to keep him in check, it wouldn't be so easy for him to take advantage of Shazhu, flirt with him, or laugh at him in the future.

A wicked thought, like a venomous snake, burrowed into his mind and quickly grew and spread—to ruin this blind date! He had to sabotage it no matter what!

The next morning, Xu Damao, unusually, didn't sleep in or rush to the factory. Instead, he carefully dressed up, put on the dark blue woolen Zhongshan suit that he usually couldn't bear to wear (which he had bought to pursue Lou Xiao'e), slicked his hair back, and wore his usual seemingly warm but actually hypocritical smile. With a pack of "Da Qianmen" cigarettes in his pocket, he sauntered out the door.

Instead of going directly to Sha Zhu or going to the middle courtyard, he casually strolled to the front yard and "bumped" into Uncle Yan Bugui, who was tending to his few half-dead plants at the front door.

"Hey! Uncle San, good morning! Taking care of the flowers? With your skills, these flowers are really... thriving!" Xu Damao approached and offered him a cigarette with a friendly smile.

Yan Bugui was worrying about the few pots of chrysanthemums drooping in the cold wind when he saw Xu Damao offering him a good cigarette. His face immediately lit up with a smile. He took the cigarette, lit it with the match Xu Damao handed him, and took a satisfying drag. "Damao, not at work today?"

"Rest, rest, I'm off today." Xu Damao lit a cigarette, glanced casually towards the central courtyard, and lowered his voice, "Third Uncle, you said yesterday that Sha Zhu had something good going on? A blind date?"

"That's right!" Yan Bugui perked up, pushed up his glasses, and his small eyes gleamed with gossip. "Matchmaker Liu introduced her to me. She's the daughter of a worker at the bearing factory on the outskirts of the city. Her surname is Han, and her name is Chunmei. I heard she's pretty and quite capable."

"The suburbs? The Han family?" Xu Damao feigned curiosity. "Which area exactly? What do they do? How old is the girl? Does she have a job?" He asked in detail, as if he were just curious, and even offered her a good cigarette.

Yan Bugui knew that Xu Damao and Shazhu liked to compete, and thought he was going to compete again, so he took the cigarette Xu Damao offered and spilled out the information he had gathered from Matchmaker Liu and other sources: "It's in the area of ​​the bearing factory's residential compound. Her father was an old worker at the bearing factory, and he was quite skilled. The girl is twenty-two. Her mother passed away early, and she has a younger brother. Because she was taking care of her brother, she didn't have a job and did odd jobs in the neighborhood's cardboard box making group. People say she's very honest, hardworking, and reliable."

"Twenty-two, unemployed, and has a younger brother..." Xu Damao quickly calculated in his mind, but his face showed an appreciative expression. "Sounds alright! For a bastard like Sha Zhu, these conditions are quite good! Matchmaker Liu is quite capable."

"Who says otherwise!" Yan Bugui exhaled a smoke ring. "If Shazhu can succeed this time, it will be a relief. It's just that his temper and that house... sigh, it all depends on whether the girl will be interested."

"Yes, when it comes to life, the key is character." Xu Damao followed up, but then subtly changed the subject. "Third Uncle, you see, this girl has never been to our courtyard before and doesn't know Brother Zhu. First impressions are the most important in a blind date. We can't let some... well, some rumors or misunderstandings ruin this good thing." His tone was sincere, as if he were genuinely concerned for Sha Zhu.

Yan Bugui glanced at Xu Damao, thinking to himself: When did Xu Damao become so concerned about Sha Zhu? Has the sun risen in the west? But on the surface, he still agreed: "That's true. But apart from being a bit short-tempered, Zhu is a very honest person."

"To be honest," Xu Damao sighed, looking around before moving closer and lowering his voice, "Third Uncle, it's not that I'm being nosy. You're one of the oldest people in the neighborhood, you know him best. Sha Zhu's temper... everyone around here knows it. If someone asks around a little, he'll expose himself!"

Yan Bugui frowned deeply. He was shrewd and calculating, but not entirely unreasonable. He discerned the underlying meaning in Xu Damao's words. This Xu Damao probably had ill intentions! Was he trying to sabotage Sha Zhu? However… what he said wasn't entirely nonsense.

"Well... Zhu Zi is a bit of a rascal, but he's not a bad person at heart," Yan Bugui mumbled, not wanting to get too involved. Whether Sha Zhu succeeds or not has no direct impact on Yan Bugui; at most, he'll have to spend some money when giving a wedding gift. Xu Damao is a very cunning person; it's better to stay away.

Seeing that Yan Bugui didn't seem to be taking the bait, Xu Damao wasn't in a hurry. After chatting for a few more minutes, he excused himself and strolled away.

For the rest of the time, Xu Damao wandered around the courtyard like a ghost. Whenever he encountered a neighbor, whether familiar or not, he would strike up a conversation, always "inadvertently" steer the topic to Sha Zhu's blind date, and then "worriedly" express his concerns: "I hope Zhu can change his temper this time and treat the girl well." "Don't scare her away again." "His sister, Yushui, is also pitiful, she's as thin as a bean sprout."... In short, his words implied that Sha Zhu had a bad temper, a complicated family, and was not good at taking care of people.

His performance was spot-on; his tone was sincere, his expression concerned, as if he were truly a kind-hearted person deeply concerned for his neighbors. Many unsuspecting neighbors, while finding Xu Damao's "enthusiasm" unusually strong today, upon reflection, thought what he said... made some sense. Sha Zhu's temper was indeed not good. He Yushui, that girl, was a bit thin. And the story of He Daqing running off with the widow was indeed ancient history...

These discussions, like a wisp of smoke, silently permeated the courtyard, casting an inexplicable shadow over the upcoming blind date.

Sha Zhu was completely unaware of this. He was immersed in immense excitement and anticipation, checking the room's furnishings over and over again, wiping the already clean tables and chairs (he had actually wiped them three times already), practicing smiling and greeting in front of the broken mirror, and fantasizing about the wonderful life after his wife moved in.