Siheyuan: Reborn Silly Pillar, Taking Control of the Entire Courtyard

Yi Zhonghai gripped the dagger hidden inside his cotton robe, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the force. The cold metallic touch against his skin couldn't suppress the hatred that had been churning in his chest for over a decade.

He had planned this a million times: first, bring two pounds of flour and a piece of cured meat to their door to get closer to them, and pretend to be humble and submissive.

He thought he could wait until the other party lowered their guard before ending this blood feud with a single blow—he believed he could endure it, suppress the bone-deep hatred in his heart for the time being, and put on a docile act.

But when that hunched figure appeared inside the courtyard gate, leaning on a gleaming brass pipe with his withered hand, and his cloudy eyes swept over, all of Yi Zhonghai's pretense crumbled instantly.

This is the man, the old man in front of me. Back then, one stab ruined his life.

He became a eunuch, and would never have his own children in this life. He lost his right to be a man forever. Even at night, touching his empty lower body, he was consumed by endless humiliation and hatred, making it impossible for him to sleep.

Those strange looks from others, the whispers behind their backs, the despair of never being able to lift their heads again—all of it was thanks to Wei Yidao standing before them.

The resentment that had accumulated for more than a decade instantly broke through the shackles of reason. Yi Zhonghai's eyes turned bloodshot, and the muscles on his face twisted into a ferocious appearance. He no longer cared about pretense and roared as he pounced forward. The dagger hidden in his cotton robe was drawn in response, its cold light aimed straight at the old man's heart.

"You old bastard, today I'm returning the favor! Prepare to die!"

"I don't believe you can handle it."

He mustered all his strength, and this lunge was filled with a ruthless determination to take everyone down with him.

He only wanted to stab the person in front of him through to vent his anger. But he ultimately underestimated Wei Yidao.

The old man in front of me, who looked frail and hunched over, moved as fast as a blur.

He simply sidestepped lightly, his movements so agile that he didn't seem like an old man at all.

Yi Zhonghai's all-out attack felt like hitting empty air; he instantly lost his balance and staggered forward.

Before he could regain his balance, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his lower back, and an immense force far beyond his imagination exploded from the soles of his feet, kicking him hard in the back.

Yi Zhonghai felt as if all the bones in his body had fallen apart. His vision went black, and he was thrown forward uncontrollably.

With a loud thud, the dagger slammed heavily onto the cold, muddy ground, sending dust flying high. The dagger slipped from his hand with a clang and rolled into the grass in the corner.

"Cough cough..."

Yi Zhonghai choked and coughed up a few mouthfuls of saliva, his throat filled with the taste of rust.

He braced himself against the ground, his fingers digging into the soil, desperately trying to get up, but his whole body was so sore and weak that he couldn't muster any strength.

The next second, a dark figure stood silently in front of him.

The moment Yi Zhonghai looked up, he saw a withered but incredibly strong hand reach out. It was as fast as lightning. Before he could react, he heard two crisp cracking sounds, and his arms instantly went numb. He felt excruciating pain in his shoulders. His arms had been forcibly dislocated!

"ah--!"

"Ahhhhh, ahhhhhh, ahhhhhh."

A piercing scream burst from Yi Zhonghai's throat, causing him to convulse in pain, his cotton robe instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Immediately afterwards, a calloused, hard-soled cloth shoe stomped hard on the back of his head, pressing his face firmly into the rough mud. His cheeks burned from the sand and gravel, and his skin felt like it was about to be rubbed raw.

Wei Yidao, hunched over, looked down at him, his throat emitting a piercing, eerie laugh like that of a night owl. It started with a sinister "hehehehe" laugh, then turned into a maniacal "hahahaha" laugh. The laughter echoed in the empty courtyard, sending chills down one's spine.

"You little monkey, with your pathetic skills, you dare to come looking for revenge against me?"

"I think you're really overthinking it."

"With your mediocre skills, you still have the nerve to come here and cause trouble."

"You'd better go somewhere cool and stay there."

Wei Yidao stopped laughing, his voice as cold as ice shards in the dead of winter. With a slight push of his foot, Yi Zhonghai's face was pressed even deeper, and dirt got into his nostrils and mouth, choking him so much that he almost suffocated.

Yi Zhonghai trembled all over in pain. The excruciating pain in his arms left him with no strength to struggle. The shadow of death coiled around his neck like a venomous snake, instantly snapping him out of his vengeful frenzy and leaving him only with boundless fear.

He saw Wei Yidao bend down and pick up the dagger from the ground. The cold blade pressed against his neck, then slowly moved down, gesturing back and forth on his side.

The movement was like picking out a piece of pork, figuring out where to cut it to satisfy one's anger.

Yi Zhonghai was terrified and cried out incoherently, his voice trembling with sobs and pleading.

"Master...Master, spare me! I was wrong, I was really wrong! I shouldn't have come to cause you trouble, please spare my life..."

"I will never dare to do it again from now on."

"Spare you?"

Wei Yidao chuckled and gently pressed the tip of his dagger against Wei Yidao's carotid artery.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

"I'll spare you, but what if you come back with a bunch of people to seek revenge? Heh, do you think I'm stupid?"

As he spoke, he increased the pressure on his foot, and Yi Zhonghai felt as if his head was about to be crushed into the mud, and his cervical spine made a sound of unbearable strain.

"I wouldn't dare! I'll never dare again! Sir, I'm just a dog, please spare my life! I'll be your slave, I'll do anything for you!"

Yi Zhonghai shook his head desperately, his face covered in snot, tears, and dirt. All traces of his earlier vengeful ferocity remained, replaced by a cowardly fear of death.

"Being treated like a beast of burden? I don't care."

Wei Yidao slowly withdrew his foot, the dagger still pressed against his neck, his tone playful.

"Do you really want to live?"

"Are you joking with me?"

"I want to! I want to live!"

Yi Zhonghai felt as if he had been granted a pardon. He nodded frantically, his throat bobbing as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva mixed with dirt, his voice extremely hoarse.

Wei Yidao slowly released his foot from Yi Zhonghai's head, but Yi Zhonghai dared not be negligent in the slightest. He scrambled to his knees and straightened up, his hands crippled, but he banged his head hard on the ground.

The sound of kowtows echoed in the courtyard, and blood quickly appeared on foreheads, staining the soil beneath their feet.

"Thank you for sparing my life, sir! Thank you for sparing my life, sir!" he cried out again and again, humbled to the point of being insignificant.

Wei Yidao leaned on his pipe, coldly watching him kowtow. Only after he had kowtowed more than a dozen times did he slowly speak.

"In the old dynasty, crushing a brat like you would have been no different than crushing an ant. But times have changed. I'm too lazy to cause trouble. You can live, but I have a condition."

"Tell me! Say whatever you want! I'll do whatever you ask, no matter the conditions! As long as you don't kill me, I'll do anything you ask!"

Yi Zhonghai immediately stopped kowtowing, looking up at his face covered in blood and mud, his eyes filled with a desire to survive.

Wei Yidao chuckled sinisterly, tapping his leg with his pipe, and said, "My godson from back then either died at the hands of mutinous soldiers or ran off with my things. I'm in dire need of someone to serve me tea and water and run errands. Would you be willing to recognize me as your godfather?"

These words struck Yi Zhonghai like a bolt from the blue.

He froze on the spot, overwhelmed by an indescribable sorrow and humiliation.

Back then, Wei Yidao's knife turned him into a eunuch who was neither male nor female. Over the years, he has desperately tried to hide it, never admitting that he was a eunuch, and desperately trying to maintain his pitiful face, putting on a respectable appearance in front of others.

But now, you want him to recognize a eunuch as his godfather?

If this matter were to get out, Yi Zhonghai would completely lose face for the rest of his life, and he would never be able to hold his head up in Beijing again. He would be ridiculed and talked about behind his back. For someone like him who values ​​his reputation more than his life, this would be worse than death!

But he dared not refuse.

The man before him, Wei Yidao, was ruthless. If he uttered a single word of no, the dagger would slit his throat the next second.

Circumstances are beyond our control; refusing to accept them means certain death.

Between death and humiliation, Yi Zhonghai had no choice.

He gritted his teeth, his body trembling slightly from humiliation and pain, but finally lowered his proud head and respectfully kowtowed three times to Wei Yidao, his voice hoarse like a broken gong: "Godfather above, accept this bow from your son, Yi Zhonghai!"

"Yi Zhonghai, that's a good name."

"Not bad, your name sounds nice."

Wei Yidao glanced at him indifferently, his tone completely flat, "Alright, get up and come inside with me."

"From now on, you are my son."

Yi Zhonghai, supporting his weak legs, struggled to his feet. His arms, having been dislocated, hung limply at his sides, devoid of feeling. He could only hunch over, bowing his head and stooping, like a stray dog, following Wei Yidao step by step into the dark and cramped room.

The room was simply furnished, with only a worn-out square table, two chairs, and some miscellaneous items piled up in the corner. The air was filled with a mixture of tobacco and musty smells.

Wei Yidao walked straight to the head seat and sat down. He picked up the brass pipe on the table, slowly filled it with tobacco, lit it, took a puff, and exhaled a ring of murky smoke.

He raised his eyes, looked at Yi Zhonghai standing opposite him, head bowed, barely daring to breathe, and slowly spoke.

"Since you've acknowledged me as your godfather, you should know my name. I won't mention my past name, but remember it well: your father's name is Wei Yidao."

"From now on, Wei Yidao is your father."

"Yes, Godfather."

Yi Zhonghai responded in a low voice, his head bowed even lower.

"Don't look so dejected, like you've lost your parents." Wei Yidao glanced at him sideways, a disdainful smirk playing on his lips.

"But don't worry, you won't lose out at all by becoming my godson. Just wait and see."

After saying that, Wei Yidao got up, leaned on his pipe, and slowly walked into the inner room.

Yi Zhonghai stood there, his body stiff, the excruciating pain in his arms still vivid, his heart churning with hatred, yet he dared not show it in the slightest.

He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms, and secretly vowed that if he had the chance, he would make Wei Yidao pay for his crimes in blood.

Not long after, Wei Yidao came out of the inner room with a silver dollar tied with a red rope and two pieces of yellowed coarse hemp paper in his hand.

He slammed the silver dollar onto the square table, then pulled a box of bright red inkpad from his pocket and slapped it down in front of Yi Zhonghai, his tone icy: "Come here and put your fingerprint on it."

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition instantly welled up in his mind.

He knew that Wei Yidao would never let him acknowledge his relatives for nothing, so he definitely couldn't press that handprint.

He reached out with trembling hands, picked up the two pieces of paper, and glanced at them briefly in the dim light of the room.

With just one glance, his heart sank into an ice cellar, and his blood seemed to freeze.

The handwriting on the paper was clear. One was a kinship agreement, stating that Yi Zhonghai voluntarily recognized Wei Yidao as his godfather, would serve him for life, and would not betray him; while the other was a castration contract in which he voluntarily sold himself into the palace!

The contract stated that his biological father voluntarily sold him into the palace to be castrated, and the date was even filled in at the time of President Yuan's ascension to the throne. Regardless of his age at the time, once this contract took effect, the government would officially register him as a eunuch from the palace.

Yi Zhonghai was inwardly wailing. What sins had he committed to run into such a ruthless old man?

The current government has never been friendly to the eunuchs left over from the previous dynasty, treating them as easy prey. In particular, the police officers in black leather uniforms will extort money from them to the death. At best, they will plunder all their money; at worst, they will arrest them and torture them to the point of wishing they were dead.

Once this indenture is handed over to the government, Yi Zhonghai's life will be truly ruined. Not only will his reputation be tarnished, but he will also be relentlessly pursued by those shady police officers, never to have a moment's peace again.

He stared at the box of bright red inkpad on the table. The glaring red was just like the blood splattered on the white sheets when Wei Yidao had ripped him clean more than a decade ago. It was hot, scarlet, and filled with endless humiliation and despair.

The painful memories from more than a decade ago flooded back, and Yi Zhonghai trembled all over, his face turning ashen.

Wei Yidao tapped the table lightly with his brass pipe, the crisp sound breaking the deathly silence in the room. His tone was threatening: "What? You regret it now that you've just recognized him as your godfather?"

Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger. Did he regret it?

He felt more than just regret; he wished he could devour Wei Yidao's flesh and drink his blood!

But now, he doesn't even have the right to resist.

"I'll press it!"

He forced out two words through gritted teeth, his voice cold and desperate.

Wei Yidao snorted coldly, stepped forward, and grabbed the two arms hanging by his sides. With two crisp "crack" sounds, he easily put the arms that had just been dislocated back on.

His arm regained feeling, though it was still sore, but he could move it. Yi Zhonghai looked ashen-faced, resignedly walked to the table, extended his right thumb, dipped it hard in the bright red ink, and pressed a clear fingerprint onto the kinship agreement.

He still harbored a sliver of hope, thinking that he would destroy the fingerprint on the thumb later, so that even if Wei Yidao produced the contract, he could deny it to the death.

But Wei Yidao had already seen through his little scheme.

"Not enough," Wei Yidao said coldly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Put all ten fingers on."

"I'm a little afraid you'll regret it."

Yi Zhonghai's body stiffened abruptly, and the last shred of hope in his heart was crushed, leaving only a bone-chilling cold.

Looking into Wei Yidao's cold eyes, he knew he had no room for negotiation.

"good!"

He gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse, and dipped each of his ten fingers in the inkpad, pressing them densely onto the kinship agreement. With each press, his hatred and humiliation deepened.

"Please press this one too."

Wei Yidao pushed the contract of selling himself into servitude and leaving him with nothing in front of him.

Yi Zhonghai looked down and saw that, apart from the blank name space, the contract was already covered with unfamiliar fingerprints. Clearly, this old man had prepared it long ago and had probably used it to cheat countless people.

He closed his eyes, no longer hesitating, and with trembling fingers, pressed all his fingerprints into the blank space of the contract.

Only when both contracts were covered with Yi Zhonghai's fingerprints did Wei Yidao nod in satisfaction. He carefully folded the contracts, tucked them into his bosom, and hid them close to his body, as if they were treasures more important than his life.

After doing all this, he pointed to the rough porcelain teacup on the table and said to Yi Zhonghai, "Serve tea."

This is the final step in the family recognition process, and also the ceremony that definitively cements his position as the godson.

Yi Zhonghai picked up the teapot, poured a cup of slightly cool tea, knelt down, held the teacup high with both hands, and spoke in an extremely humble tone.

"Godfather, please have some tea."

"Okay, good son."

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Wei Yidao happily accepted the teacup, took a sip of tea, and finally a genuine smile appeared on his face.

Setting down his teacup, Wei Yidao gently pushed the banknote bound with red string on the table towards Yi Zhonghai, saying generously, "Take this. It's a gift from your godfather. Don't think it's too little. As long as you treat me well, you'll be rewarded in the future."

Looking at the heavy ocean letter, Yi Zhonghai felt a little better.

He reached out and picked up the silver dollar, weighed it in his hand, and secretly wondered: This old man is so generous, he must have a lot of wealth hidden away, and this courtyard might also be a valuable treasure.

As long as those two contracts are not leaked, he will eventually have the opportunity to squeeze every last drop of wealth out of that old man and collect all his debts with interest!

"Alright, go wash your face by the well in the yard. Look at you now, you look like a mud monkey."

Wei Yidao waved his hand impatiently and urged.

"Yes, Godfather."

Yi Zhonghai quickly agreed, pocketed the silver dollars, turned around and walked out of the house to the well in the courtyard.

He filled a bucket with cold water and scrubbed the dirt and blood off his face. The icy well water made him a little more awake.

Looking at his disheveled reflection in the well water, a sinister glint flashed in his eyes, which he quickly concealed.

A gentleman takes his revenge, even after ten years.

Now, he can only endure it.

After washing his face, Yi Zhonghai returned to the house. As soon as he entered, he smelled a rich aroma of meat.

Two plates were already laid out on the table: one with fried peanuts, and the other with neatly sliced ​​braised beef, glistening with oil and emitting a fragrant aroma. Next to it was a jar of aged liquor from Kaifeng, its aroma filling the air.

In those chaotic times of war, even wheat flour was a rare commodity, let alone a hearty dish like braised beef.

When Yi Zhonghai drinks outside, the best snack he has is a dish of pickles and a piece of tofu. If he can occasionally find some minced meat, that's already considered a huge improvement.

Yi Zhonghai's eyes widened as he looked at the braised beef on the table, and his throat bobbed involuntarily.

"Can you drink? Have a couple of drinks with your godfather."

Wei Yidao sat at the table, picked up a peanut, popped it into his mouth, and asked slowly.

"Yes! I can drink! If my godfather tells me to drink, I'll drink!" Yi Zhonghai nodded hurriedly, a fawning smile on his face, and quickly walked to the table and stood there.

"Have a seat," Wei Yidao said, raising his chin.

Yi Zhonghai carefully sat down, picked up the wine pot, poured a full cup for Wei Yidao, then poured one for himself. He raised his cup and respectfully toasted Wei Yidao three times: "Godfather, I toast you, wishing you boundless happiness and longevity!"

After a few rounds of drinks, Yi Zhonghai could no longer resist and picked up his chopsticks, repeatedly attacking the plate of braised beef.

He had been starving for too long and had just experienced a brush with death. He was now wolfing down his food, his mouth dripping with oil. In no time, he had devoured the entire plate of braised beef, even using a steamed bun to wipe away the oil droplets at the bottom of the plate.

Wei Yidao didn't touch a single piece of beef from beginning to end. He just ate peanuts one by one, squinting his eyes and smiling as he watched Yi Zhonghai wolf down his food. His deep gaze made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

After Yi Zhonghai let out a satisfied burp and patted his belly, Wei Yidao slowly spoke: "Now, do you know the benefits of following your godfather?"

"I know! I know!"

Yi Zhonghai nodded hurriedly, let out a satisfied burp, and said obsequiously, "Godfather, you are truly all-powerful! In these days, to still be able to eat braised beef like this, I am truly fortunate to be with you!"

"Looks like a spineless coward." Wei Yidao sneered, but his tone carried a hint of smugness.

"From now on, you'll be a good son to me. What's a little beef? In this day and age, we can't afford a Manchu Han Imperial Feast, but you can choose any restaurant in Beijing. Just ask, and your godfather will guarantee you a feast every day!"

"Yes, yes, yes! You are truly amazing, Godfather, with your extensive network and great abilities! I will definitely serve you well in the future, attending to your every need and never daring to be negligent in the slightest!"

Yi Zhonghai hurriedly patted his chest to assure him, his fawning expression growing even stronger, but inwardly he was sneering.

Just wait, you old fool. What you're giving me now, I'll take back sooner or later, with interest. Your life, your money, your yard—they'll all be mine!

Wei Yidao seemed to see through his thoughts, but he didn't point it out. He simply picked up his wine glass, took a sip of the old wine, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips.

The aroma of wine mingled with the scent of meat in the room, filling the air. It seemed harmonious, but it concealed two opposing forces of hatred and scheming.

Yi Zhonghai lowered his head, a flash of resentment crossing his eyes, while Wei Yidao leisurely ate peanuts, taking in everything.