Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

Early in the morning, the train stations in Beijing were packed with people.

Qin Jingru, carrying a dusty, grimy snakeskin bag, struggled to squeeze off the old-fashioned green train.

The cold wind felt like knives scraping against my face.

But inside, she felt like she was sitting in a furnace, burning hot.

She dressed up quite nicely today.

She was wearing a clean, floral-patterned cotton-padded jacket, and her two thick, black braids were tied tightly with red ribbons.

In his pocket, he kept close to his body, the marriage introduction letter issued by the brigade.

"Brother Da Mao said that as soon as I enter the city, he'll take me to buy a Dacron shirt and also take me to Quanjude to eat Peking duck!"

Qin Jingru touched the letter of introduction, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes were full of longing for the life of a wealthy lady.

She didn't even plan to go to her cousin Qin Huairu's place.

I asked for directions and jogged all the way to the entrance of the Hongxing Courtyard in Nanluoguxiang.

"Wow, this courtyard is really grand!"

Qin Jingru looked up at the two vermilion doors, her heart bubbling with joy.

"From now on, I will be the mistress of this big brick house in this courtyard."

She strode confidently across the threshold, as if she were returning to her own home.

In the front yard.

Yan Bugui was holding a broken washbasin, squatting by the pool washing his peeling gold-rimmed glasses.

He's been in a great mood these past two days.

All the troublemakers in the courtyard have fallen on hard times, but Old Yan, with just a box of tea, has managed to firmly hold onto the leg of that five-year-old prodigy.

Now, who in the courtyard doesn't give Teacher Yan some face?

"Sir, I have something to ask you."

Qin Jingru asked crisply, "Which house does Xu Damao, the projectionist, live in?"

When Yan Bugui heard the name "Xu Damao," his hand trembled, and he almost dropped his glasses into the pool.

He looked up and sized up the pretty, rustic country girl in front of him.

With a quick glance, he immediately understood.

"Hey, isn't this the country girl Xu Damao brought back the other day?"

Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses, a sneer of schadenfreude curling at the corner of his mouth.

"You're looking for Xu Damao? He's not a projectionist anymore."

Yan Bugui deliberately lowered his voice and pointed to the most secluded corner of the backyard.

"If you walk along this alley, the last dilapidated woodshed is his current 'mansion'."

"The woodshed?"

Qin Jingru was taken aback, her brows furrowing into a deep frown.

"Grandpa, you must be mistaken. Brother Da Mao said he lives in two large brick houses, complete with a set of three-wheeled instruments and a radio!"

Yan Bugui burst out laughing as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"A large brick house? That was Lou Xiao'e's dowry! It was taken back long ago!"

"He's now a convict who was fired for misconduct and is forced to clean toilets every day!"

"You'd better go check it out quickly, or you might not even be able to find a place to stay in the woodshed."

After Yan Bugui finished speaking, he picked up the washbasin, humming a Peking Opera tune, and went back into the house.

Qin Jingru stood there, her mind buzzing.

"Impossible... How could Brother Da Mao lie to me..."

Her face was deathly pale. Refusing to believe it, she carried the snakeskin bag and stumbled towards the backyard.

Just past the moon gate in the backyard.

A biting gust of wind swept through, making her shiver.

Following the direction Yan Bugui pointed.

She saw the low, dilapidated woodshed, where even a piece of the door was missing.

The wooden door to the woodshed was ajar, and not a ray of light could be seen coming from inside.

Qin Jingru's heart sank.

With trembling hands, she gently pushed open the broken door.

"Squeak—"

A strong smell of mold and urine hit me.

Qin Jingru used the faint light from the snow outside to see the scene inside the house.

There were no large brick houses, no radios, and certainly no sewing machines.

A few broken planks were placed on two stacks of blue bricks, which served as a makeshift bed.

The bed was covered with a dark, stale-smelling old cotton quilt.

And Xu Damao, who was dressed in a suit and tie and boasting about his status in the teahouse just yesterday.

He was wrapped in that tattered quilt at that moment.

Holding a hard, dark cornbread in his hand, he gnawed on it with relish, like a mouse, along with a dish of pickled vegetables.

His hair was a mess, his face was covered in grime, and his eyes were dull and numb.

"Big...Brother Da Mao?"

Qin Jingru's voice trembled, and the snakeskin bag in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

Hear this sound.

Xu Damao shuddered and abruptly raised his head.

When he saw Qin Jingru standing at the door, her face filled with shock and disbelief.

Xu Damao's pupils instantly contracted to the size of a pinhead.

The scene he feared most and least wanted to face still happened.

"Jingru...you...why are you here..."

Xu Damao hurriedly hid the half-eaten cornbread behind his back and tried to cover his disheveled lower body with the tattered quilt.

On his sallow, horse-like face, he forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Brother... I'm doing this because I'm responding to the factory's call to give up my big house and am here to experience life for a few days..."

Xu Damao was still making his last, and most feeble, struggle.

Qin Jingru is not stupid.

Looking at the man in front of me, who was as pathetic as a dog.

And look at this dilapidated woodshed, which is even worse than a pigsty.

She finally realized that she had been deceived.

I was completely and utterly deceived by this liar!

"You lied to me! You big liar!"

Qin Huairu's tears welled up instantly. She pointed at Xu Damao and accused him in a stern voice.

"You don't even have a big brick house! And you're not some kind of cadre!"

"You're just a penniless toilet cleaner!"

Just as Qin Jingru broke down and cried.

From the direction of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, the loudspeaker suddenly emitted a piercing electrical sound.

Followed by.

Xu Damao's tearful, desperate "megaphone self-confession".

It was like a heavy hammer that traveled several kilometers and smashed into this dilapidated woodshed.

"I am Xu Damao, the big turtle!"

"I harass women and steal chickens and dogs every day!"

"I was born childless! A eunuch who can't even have offspring!"

"I can't have children and I blame my wife? I'm the biggest beast in the Red Star Factory!"

The sound from the loudspeaker echoed in the quiet backyard, so clear it sent chills down your spine.

Qin Jingru stood frozen at the doorway.

She stopped crying, and even her breathing stopped.

She stared intently at Xu Damao.

If you were just angry because you were cheated out of your money...

Now, these words coming from the loudspeaker are practically tearing her soul apart!

Eunuch?!

No descendants?!

Qin Jingru was a well-known beautiful girl in the surrounding countryside.

He happily took the letter of introduction and went into the city.

The result? She was going to marry a eunuch who wasn't even considered a man?!

If this gets back to her hometown, she'll never be able to hold her head up again!

"ah--!"

Qin Jingru let out a desperate and terrified scream.

She looked at Xu Damao as if he were a perverted monster, desperately trying to shrink into the blankets.

"You damned eunuch! You'll die a horrible death!"

She broke down and started cursing.

Before she could finish her rant...

Suddenly, a series of chaotic footsteps and an authoritative shout came from the front yard.

"Don't let him get away!"

"Seal off the backyard!"

Director Zhou Jianguo arrived with several armed police officers and personnel from the factory's security department.

They rushed into the backyard like wolves and tigers.

They completely ignored Qin Jingru, who was standing trembling at the door.

Two police officers stepped forward and kicked open the already dilapidated door of the woodshed.

Like an eagle snatching a chick, they grabbed Xu Damao, who was wrapped in a tattered quilt.

They dragged it out of that moldy haystack.

"Xu Damao! You've gotten yourself into trouble!"

With a cold face, Zhou Jianguo took out an arrest warrant and waved it in front of the pale, horse-like face.

"Reselling state supplies, extortion, and all those other shady dealings you just confessed to on the radio!"

"Come with us!"

"Click!"

The cold handcuffs gripped Xu Damao's wrists tightly.

Xu Damao didn't even have the strength to beg for mercy.

He was dragged past Qin Jingru by two police officers, like a lump of mud.

His eyes were so empty, like those of a dead person.

Qin Huairu happened to be passing by the backyard while fetching water when she saw this scene, and the basin in her hand crashed to the ground.

She looked at Xu Damao being taken away, then at the snakeskin bag that belonged to Qin Jingru on the ground.

His face turned pale and then flushed, and he didn't dare to say a word.

"Devils...this whole yard is full of devils!"

Qin Jingru finally broke down.

Everything she experienced in that short half-day completely shattered all her illusions about city life.

There are no large brick houses or roast ducks here.

There's nothing but scheming, deception, eunuchs, and police who can arrest you at any moment!

She picked up the muddy snakeskin bag from the ground, as if fleeing from hell.

They scrambled and stumbled out of the moon gate in the backyard.

She cried and screamed as she ran frantically toward the alley entrance.

"I want to go back to the countryside! I'll never go to the city again in my life!"

That piercing voice drifted away in the cold wind, carrying a sense of utter despair.

forecourt.

The sun is shining brightly.

Zhang Huaimin moved a small stool and sat down at the door of the east wing.

The yard was clean and fresh after the snow had just been swept.

He watched Qin Jingru scramble away as she fled.

He picked up the still-steaming glass of milk and gulped down the last mouthful.