The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Yang Dalin continued, "Kindness my foot! You just want to drag everyone into this and take advantage of our family, don't you?"

When you asked, it seems like not many people besides your family agreed, right?

That's because everyone can understand our family's difficulties.

On the contrary, only your family agreed to let us host the dinner, which shows that your family is different from everyone else.

Your whole family are stingy bastards who are always looking to take advantage of others.

Just because someone insults you a couple of times, does that mean your son can take an iron shovel and chop people up?

Your family used an iron shovel to chop people up, and I'm not right to fight back in self-defense?

"You wanted to call the police, right? I'll go find them for you. You have a criminal record, let's see if the police will arrest you or me."

Yang Dalin deliberately interrupted everyone's agreement with Yan Bugui's words by offering cigarettes.

By flattering everyone and belittling the Yan family, one can tightly bind everyone to one's own side, which is beneficial to maintaining one's own reputation.

As soon as everyone heard that Yang Dalin was going to call the police, several people shouted, "Yes, call the police and arrest the entire Yan family!"

"Exactly! Yan Bugui has a criminal record. Now that he's been arrested, let's see if he can still take advantage of others!"

Seeing that everyone agreed that Yang Dalin should call the police, and that many people were criticizing Yan Bugui, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to step forward.

"Listen to me, everyone. Our compound has always tried to avoid calling the police as much as possible, and we resolve matters within the compound."

Last time, because Yan Bugui was detained, our courtyard was already in great danger. If we call the police again, we will really lose our title of outstanding courtyard and we won't be able to get the year-end bonus.

So please don't rush, everyone, listen to me.

"Dalinzi, don't be impulsive. Let me finish speaking. If we can't resolve this, then you can call the police, okay?"

Yang Dalin nodded, tacitly agreeing with Yi Zhonghai's words.

Because he knew that even if he called the police, they would just try to smooth things over.

It's possible that you'll end up paying out some medical expenses or something.

Besides, we're going out for dinner later tonight.

I also want to get things done as soon as possible.

Yi Zhonghai then asked Yan Bugui if he could agree to mediation, otherwise he would really abandon the matter and call the police, and your family would really not get any credit.

Yan Bugui nodded silently upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words and said, "We can not call the police, but the Qi family must pay compensation, including medical expenses, lost wages, and nutrition expenses, totaling three hundred yuan."

When Yi Zhonghai's neighbors heard this, they thought to themselves, "You really dare to ask for that."

So you want to get back the two hundred yuan your family lost last time and make another hundred yuan, right?

Some people speculated that Yan Bugui might have done it on purpose, deliberately provoking Yang Dalin so that Yang Dalin would beat up their family members, make them suffer some physical pain, get the money back, and extort even more money from them.

Upon hearing this, Yang Dalin thought it made sense; Yan Bugui probably didn't really think that way.

Those few Yan family boys that I beat up are all fine.

Old Man Yan is really out of his mind.

So Yang Dalin continued from what he had just said, "Yan Bugui, I knew it. So you did it on purpose. It seems you're still not satisfied with the compensation you received last time. You deliberately caused trouble today and forced me to take action. You not only want to get the compensation back, but your family also wants to make a fortune, right?"

Uncle Yi, you've seen it all. I'm not going to mediate anymore. I won't pay a single penny. Let him do whatever he wants. I'm ready to call the police anytime.

When the police arrive, I'll do whatever they decide.

Three hundred yuan? Yan Bugui must be out of his mind.

Everyone, stop watching the show. I'm too lazy to pay attention to them. Let them do whatever they want. Each household can send a child as a representative to come to me and get some candy.

A copy should also be sent to households where children are not at home or to elderly people living alone.

We're distributing hair per person, not per household, otherwise it would be a bit unfair.

My aunt and Uncle Qi arranged for me to buy these candies. Everyone got one. They're not expensive, but they're a token of our goodwill, so everyone can have a sweet treat.

When the neighbors heard that Yang Dalin had acted so generously, they praised him, saying, "Dalinzi, you've done a great job. Thank you to your aunt and Uncle Qi as well."

"Yes, thank you, Sister Qi and Brother Qi."

Yang Dalin instructed Qi Yanhua and the other two to distribute three pills each.

He bought about sixty fruit candies per pound.

Five jin is three hundred grains. There are about a hundred people in the yard, plus an extra jin from the old man. That's enough to make a fortune.

The rest was divided among the three girls.

Yan Bugui was furious when he saw that everyone was lining up to get candy and no one was paying attention to his matter.

Moreover, neither Yi Zhonghai nor Liu Haizhong stopped them.

He clearly knew that Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong didn't like him either.

Yan Bugui shouted, "Stop! Stop! Our family's affairs aren't resolved yet! You see, Yang Dalin doesn't respect you at all. He just broke up the whole meeting without warning, and then he went around handing out candy?"

Yan Bugui finally realized that if he wanted to win over allies, he should first sow discord among them.

Unfortunately, Yi Zhonghai, being cunning and shrewd, saw through Yan Bugui's intentions at a glance.

Yi Zhonghai pulled back Liu Haizhong, who was about to act impulsively again: "Old Yan, I'm not trying to criticize you, but what are we going to do with this outrageous demand?"

Yang Dalin and Yan Jiecheng and a few others got into a fight, and none of your three sons could beat one of them.

He didn't hit you directly, so what can I say?

The will of the people is what we can't change.

How are we supposed to help you after what you've done?

Everyone in the courtyard dislikes you. Didn't you see that everyone is on Yang Dalin's side, not yours?

You're a long-time resident, a teacher, and older than him. What kind of thing are you doing?

"We're powerless to help. If you're not afraid of offending the entire hospital and losing their awards, then go ahead and call the police. We're done with it."

Yi Zhonghai pulled Liu Haizhong along, intending to go home first.

Yi Zhonghai said this not only to Yan Bugui, but also to Liu Haizhong.

You're completely unreasonable. You asked for 300 yuan right off the bat, making someone whose monthly income is only 23 yuan pay you that much money. What were you thinking?

Who in the courtyard would pay you any attention?

Your son was beaten, but the injuries aren't serious. If you need ten or twenty yuan, we'll try to figure something out for you.

If you come up here demanding someone's life, and we dare to side with you like this, we'll lose face and completely lose all authority in this courtyard.

Liu Haizhong was pulled back to the Yi family by Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai's wife is lining up to get candy right now.

Therefore, there is no one else in the Yi family. Yi Zhonghai only has a brainless helper. If he is not restrained, he will be left to fend for himself.

So Yi Zhonghai spoke up: "Old Liu, do you understand why I pulled you along?"

Liu Haizhong took a puff of the cigarette that Sha Zhu had given him: "Hmm, I understand a bit now. What kind of thing did Yan Bugui do? He's completely lost face and doesn't act like a big shot anymore. No wonder Yang Dalin beat up his son. When I heard that, I wanted to beat up their family too."

Liu Haizhong is an official-obsessed man, and it's true that he's a bit foolish, but he's more generous than Yan Bugui and doesn't like to take advantage of others as much as Yan Bugui does.

Not to mention that Liu Haizhong will also sponsor his apprentice's college entrance exam in the future.

Liu Haizhong is very generous in teaching his apprentices. Although he sometimes hits and scolds them, he truly teaches them.

In this respect, he is more magnanimous than Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui.

It can only be said that no one is perfect; there are no purely bad people, nor are there purely good people.