Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

Qin Huairu stumbled into the darkness, her old cotton shoes crunching on the frozen mud.

Shameful? Of course it's shameful.

Do I hate him? I wish I could pounce on him and bite off a piece of his flesh!

A cold wind rushed in through the torn collar, making her shiver.

It was this sudden realization that made Qin Huairu quickly suppress her anger in the darkness of the night, her eyes reddened with humiliation.

Qin Huairu didn't rush to button her clothes.

Instead, she reached out and grabbed a handful of her wind-blown hair, then wiped it across her pale face, leaving a few wet, messy strands sticking to her forehead.

She turned to the side, facing the glass by the roadside, and adjusted her expression.

The nauseating shame and indignation were gone, replaced by a pitiful and helpless expression of someone who had been bullied terribly, and a fierce glint hidden deep in his eyes.

"Since you've thrown away all shame, you should at least get a good price for it."

Qin Huairu murmured softly.

She knew perfectly well that Sha Zhu, that stupid donkey, was now in dire straits himself. If he wanted to survive and take revenge, she had to grasp at the last straw: the old man who was lying in the hospital.

……

Inpatient Department of the Affiliated Hospital of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

Yi Zhonghai lay on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the yellowish ceiling.

The scene from the hospital-wide meeting during the day flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

It collapsed. It completely collapsed.

Decades of scheming, the prestige of an eighth-grade fitter, and the absolute authority in the compound—all were trampled into the mud by that young upstart.

"Old Yi, have some water."

An older woman lying by the bed woke up groggily, picked up an enamel mug, and handed it to him.

Yi Zhonghai didn't move, but his eyes darted around: "Old woman, tomorrow... we'll be discharged."

"Discharged from the hospital?" The middle-aged woman was taken aback. "The doctor said your blood pressure is still high and you need to be monitored."

"Observe my ass!" Yi Zhonghai suddenly glared, his chest heaving violently. "Am I supposed to just lie here and become a laughingstock? Go back...go back to the compound? No, going back is out of the question...where would I put my old face?"

The Yi Zhonghai who used to remain calm and collected no matter what happened is gone.

At that moment, all he wanted to do was find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Clang!"

The ward door was violently flung open, and the door panel slammed against the wall.

The middle-aged woman was so startled that her hand trembled, spilling water all over the blanket: "Who is it! This is a hospital, don't you know the rules...?"

Before he could finish speaking, the words got stuck in his throat.

There was a woman standing at the door.

Qin Huairu.

At this moment, Qin Huairu's face was ashen, and her hair was disheveled, covering half of her face.

The most shocking thing was that her cotton-padded coat looked like it had been ripped open by someone, with two buttons on the collar popped off, revealing her collarbone which was bluish-white in the cold air, and her whole body was trembling like a leaf.

"Huai...Huai Ru?" The middle-aged woman stood up in surprise. "Have you run into a thug?"

Qin Huairu ignored the older woman and stared at Yi Zhonghai across the hospital bed.

next second.

"Thump!"

Her knees buckled, and she knelt stiffly on the cement floor; the sound alone was painful.

"This old man... I don't want to live anymore!"

This cry was suppressed and piercing.

Yi Zhonghai struggled to sit up, and seeing the usually dignified young widow in such a disheveled state, his heart skipped a beat: "What happened? Who did this to you? Did that bastard Sha Zhu get out here?"

"If it weren't for Sha Zhu... if Sha Zhu were here, I wouldn't have to suffer like this!"

Qin Huairu crawled two steps on her knees, lay on the edge of the bed, and gripped the white sheets with both hands, her knuckles turning white from the force.

She looked up, tears streaming down her face and down her neck like broken beads: "We've run out of food at home, and the corn stalks are so sore I can't get any medicine. I thought we were all neighbors, and Zhou Jianguo is a big shot at the factory now, and he has so many supplies, so I went... went to ask him to lend me some cornmeal."

At this point, Qin Huairu trembled, as if recalling some terrifying scene.

She instinctively pulled her open collar tighter, her voice trembling: "But that beast... that beast!"

Yi Zhonghai's pupils constricted sharply: "Zhou Jianguo? What did he do?"

Qin Huairu bit her lip until it bled: "He said he'd lend me grain, but only if he... made him happy. He also said I'm a mother of three, my body is worthless, I'm only good enough to amuse him..."

"What?!" A middle-aged woman nearby gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "He...he really said that? He's only in his early twenties! How could he be so despicable!"

"He also said..." Qin Huairu glanced at Yi Zhonghai, steeled her resolve, and cried even harder, "I brought up your name, saying that the old man is still alive, you can't bully people like this. But... but Zhou Jianguo laughed."

Yi Zhonghai's hands, gripping the edge of the bed, bulged with veins: "What's he laughing at?"

"He laughed at you, saying you were... a toothless old dog," Qin Huairu sobbed. "He said he was the one who called the shots in the factory and the yard, and you were just a useless old man occupying a position without doing anything! He also said... he said don't expect anyone to take care of you in your old age, that once you're done for the day, he'd wrap you in a tattered mat and throw you into a cemetery to feed the stray dogs!"

boom--!

Yi Zhonghai felt a buzzing in his head, and a surge of hot blood rushed to the top of his head.

Under normal circumstances, Yi Zhonghai might not have fully believed such a clumsy lie.

Although Zhou Jianguo is ruthless, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who's so eager for sex.

But things are different now.

Yi Zhonghai has just experienced the biggest defeat of his life.

Qin Huairu's words struck at his two most sensitive points: his male dignity and his control over the compound!

"This is outrageous...this is outrageous!"

Yi Zhonghai's chest heaved violently. He slammed his fist on the bed, making the IV stand shake: "You little bastard! Does he really think no one in the world can handle him?!"

The older woman was so startled that she quickly patted his back: "Old Yi! Old Yi, calm down! The doctor said you can't get agitated!"

"Get out of the way!"

Yi Zhonghai shoved the old woman aside, her originally cloudy old eyes now filled with bloodshot veins.

He stared at Qin Huairu: "Huairu, tell me the truth, did he really make a move?"

Qin Huairu met Yi Zhonghai's gaze without flinching.

She gave a bitter laugh, pointing to her torn collar: "Old man, if I had a choice, would I throw this filth on myself? Tomorrow...tomorrow I'll go to the factory and report him for indecent assault! Even if it means fighting to the death, I won't let him treat me like this!"

This tactic of retreating to advance completely shattered Yi Zhonghai's last doubts.

In this era, a woman's reputation is of paramount importance.

Who would joke about something like this?

"You can't go!" Yi Zhonghai suddenly shouted to stop them.

Qin Huairu was stunned, tears clinging to her eyelashes: "Old man, you're still going to protect him? Just because I don't have a man, does that mean I deserve to be bullied?"

"Foolish!" Yi Zhonghai gasped for breath, his eyes turning incredibly sinister. "You're going to report him? Do you have any evidence? If that kid dared to do it, he must have hidden his tracks well! The security department is full of Wang Zhenggang's men now. Wang Zhenggang is in cahoots with you. If you go and report him, you might end up being accused of attempted seduction. Do you even want to live then?"

Qin Huairu froze, collapsing to the ground: "Then...then am I just supposed to wait to die? Sha Zhu's gone to shovel manure, so I'm doomed too...This courtyard will be Zhou Jianguo's domain from now on, and he'll play us to death..."

She raised her head, her gaze vacant as she looked at Yi Zhonghai, her voice low and strained: "Uncle, you shouldn't try to hold on anymore. Zhou Jianguo is right, you're getting old. When you can't move anymore, who will take care of you? Zhou Jianguo? He might really just throw you out then..."

This sentence became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

He remembered Zhou Jianguo's cold gaze and Sha Zhu's helplessness when he was arrested.

If we don't fight back, what Qin Huairu is talking about is the future.