All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

However, now it has been distributed to the poor. This courtyard is divided into a front courtyard, a middle courtyard, and an inner courtyard. Each courtyard has an elder in charge, and they are divided into the eldest elder, the second eldest elder, and the third eldest elder according to seniority and power.

The three courtyards house more than 20 households, totaling over 100 people, most of whom work in nearby factories, with the steel mill accounting for the majority.

According to later accounts, this should be more like a family compound. Most of the residents were working class, with urban household registration, which meant they were considered upper-middle class in that era.

Uncle Yi Zhonghai was an eighth-level fitter at the steel mill, a very powerful man who earned 99.5 yuan a month. He had no sons and was an heirless family. So it was no wonder that Qin Huairu had her eye on him. She got a lot of charity from him by crying and playing the victim.

Uncle Liu Haizhong, the second eldest, was a level seven fitter at the steel mill. He had three sons. The eldest son had already moved out after getting married, while the second and third sons still lived with him. However, Uncle Liu Haizhong had a bad temper and was obsessed with officialdom. He was uneducated but loved to talk about policies. At home, he used beatings and slaps to discipline his family. Naturally, Widow Qin looked down on such a person.

Uncle Yan Shuzhai, the third uncle, was a teacher at a nearby primary school. He was somewhat educated, but extremely stingy and cunning. He not only liked to scheme against others, but also against his own family. He even charged rent to his own children who lived in his house. He had three sons and one daughter, and the children followed suit, becoming cunning as well. When they grew up, they also started scheming against their parents.

Besides these three uncles, He Yuzhu also had a mortal enemy, or you could say a mortal nemesis!

This man is named Xu Damao. He is a film projectionist at the steel mill, a lucrative job. Xu Damao and He Yuzhu grew up together. The two love to compete, and He Yuzhu, being good at fighting, often bullies Xu Damao. Therefore, the person Xu Damao hates the most in his life is He Yuzhu. He has ruined the relationships He Yuzhu had his eye on several times.

Xu Damao is a two-faced person. He is obsequious in public but blackmails and schemes in private. Once he gains power, he will do anything to destroy his family. After gaining power, he even almost ruined his ex-wife's family. He showed no mercy. This kind of person can be called a cunning old man.

As for the deaf old lady whom He Yuzhu brought leftovers to, she was the matriarch of this courtyard. She was an old lady in her eighties, straightforward and outspoken, and would scold whoever she wanted. However, she was particularly fond of and protective of He Yuzhu, her adopted grandson. She was also the treasure of this courtyard. Whenever a woman acted unruly or threw a tantrum, the old lady's intervention was more effective than anyone else's.

As for the other people in the courtyard, they are still just passersby for now. Although they have some screen time, it's not much. Besides, He Yuzhu won't be living with the same personality as the male lead anymore.

Although it's unknown how long this dream will last, judging from how realistic it is, it probably won't be short; it might even last He Yuzhu's entire life.

He would never be like the woman in the original story, completely manipulated by that widow Qin Huairu. With such good conditions, why would he choose a used woman instead of a virgin? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?

However, he quite agreed with the male protagonist's way of doing things: living a carefree life, not caring about politics or struggles, and living his own life in a down-to-earth manner. In the 60s, although life was tough, He Yuzhu, a chef with a skill, lived a more carefree life than most people.

Moreover, his family background was impeccable, with three generations of poor farmers; this shining identity was his best camouflage.

Humming a little tune, He Yuzhu walked home by memory. Halfway there, he ran into a few ingrates hiding in the culvert, stealing chickens from Xu Damao's house.

This time, He Yuzhu ignored the few ingrates and hummed a little tune as he walked towards the courtyard.

He Yuzhu lives in the middle courtyard. His family has two rooms, one for him and one for his sister. The rooms are quite large, which is much better than the other households in the courtyard.

Once He Yushui marries out of the city, he will be a landlord with two rooms, owning a house and money, and even having a city household registration. With these conditions, it's only a fool that he hasn't found a wife by the time he's almost thirty.

As soon as He Yuzhu entered the courtyard, he saw Widow Qin washing clothes.

In these courtyards, toilets and laundry facilities are basically shared, so no one has any secrets.

Upon seeing Widow Qin, He Yuzhu glanced at her a few more times. Although this woman was a mother of three, her femininity was undeniable, even with her floral dress. Her curves were all the right places, making He Yuzhu, a lifelong bachelor, feel a surge of desire.

He Yuzhu's lingering was quickly noticed by Qin Huairu, who was doing laundry. She fiddled with her hair, saw the lunchbox in He Yuzhu's hand, and immediately smiled.

"Silly Zhu, what's in the lunchbox? Let me see!"

He stepped forward, intending to steal something.

This woman has gotten into a habit. For the past few years, He Yuzhu has always brought back lunchboxes like this, but today she clearly miscalculated.

He Yuzhu quickly stepped back and replied repeatedly.

"Sister Qin, there's no food for you today. The deaf old lady has been nagging me for days, saying I didn't cook for her. I specially brought something light for her today!"

Qin Huairu tossed her hair in disappointment, her eyes instantly filled with grievance. She looked at He Yuzhu with red eyes, exuding the pitiful charm of a manipulative green tea bitch.

In the past, He Yuzhu would have wanted to give her heart and soul to feed this ungrateful brat when she saw her like this, but today's He Yuzhu is not the same He Yuzhu as before.

He pretended not to see it and shook the lunchbox in his hand.

"It's getting late, I'll head over now! Sister Qin, take your time washing up!"

Qin Huairu wanted to say something more, but then she saw He Yuzhu run away in a flash.

Qin Huairu felt that He Yuzhu was a little different today, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Helpless, she could only go back to washing clothes, but she moved a little slower, clearly preoccupied with something on her mind.

He Yuzhu didn't give the widow Qin a second glance. After all, they would see each other all the time in the future, and they would live together in the same compound for decades. There was no need to go too far at once.

From Qin Huairu's perspective, her meager monthly salary was barely enough to feed her family of five, and that was only the most basic coarse grains. Her children were growing up, their appetites were increasing, and they also had to go to school. Sooner or later, she would not be able to make ends meet.

But life has to go on, and she doesn't want to sell her body. But with her circumstances and a family to support, finding a better man isn't easy. So she can only rely on ambiguity and pitifulness to gain men's sympathy, which is perfectly understandable.

Of course, Qin Huairu had no intention of letting go of He Yuzhu, this golden bachelor. With such good conditions and such a silly fool, how could she not catch such a big sheep?

However, starting a family with He Yuzhu is not so easy. First of all, it is difficult to get past the mother-in-law. There are also three children. If you marry him, will you still have children in the future? If the two of you have more children, will He Yuzhu still care about his three children?

Qin Huairu was caught in a web of thoughts, unable to find a solution, so she could only rely on ambiguity to drag things out with He Yuzhu.

It's already dragged on for so many years, so dragging it on for another ten or twenty years shouldn't be too difficult, right?

After she goes through menopause, she will marry He Yuzhu. By then, her three children will be considered He Yuzhu's own children, which would be a good deal for him!

Chapter 3: He Yuzhu, do you want to fly to the sky?

It wasn't that He Yuzhu was being petty; it was that Qin Huairu, the widow, actually did just that in the original storyline.

She kept He Yuzhu hanging on like this. Whenever someone introduced a potential partner to He Yuzhu, she would act like the lady of the house and cause trouble behind his back, as if she and He Yuzhu had already had a... you know... relationship. What girl would dare to marry He Yuzhu like that?

She didn't give He Yuzhu a promise, nor did she sleep with him. She kept making excuses, the most common being that her mother-in-law and children disagreed, so she had no choice.

But I'll still get my salary, you'll still support the kids, and I'll still live in the house.

But whenever He Yuzhu wanted to escape her grasp and genuinely wanted to find a woman to take charge of the household, she would burst into tears in front of everyone, using crying and moral maneuvering to force this fool He Yuzhu to give up the idea of ​​finding other girls.

Moreover, Widow Qin was not the kind of innocent young girl. She never hesitated to show affection to He Yuzhu and deliberately acted like an old married couple in front of outsiders, so that He Yuzhu's reputation would be completely tied to her as a widow.

In addition to these, she also imposed a financial blockade on He Yuzhu, not only refusing to make any promises to him, but also collecting his salary on his behalf, making it seem legitimate for everyone to believe that they were a couple.

But what was the reality? When she turned forty, this old woman Qin still wouldn't sleep with He Yuzhu. It wasn't until her hair turned white and all three of her children had found jobs that she pretended to be shy and slept in He Yuzhu's bed.

But at this point, what's there to be ashamed of, you're a menopausal old woman!

He Yuzhu's life was completely ruined. If it weren't for some accident that gave He Yuzhu a biological son, Widow Qin's original intention was to make He Yuzhu childless and keep him by her side for life until he died, leaving the house to her child.

This is the true original plot. Back then, Zhang Peng almost smashed the TV several times when he watched this show!

To sum up Qin Huairu in a modern way:

"This old woman doesn't seem like a good person!"

Of course, from Qin Huairu's perspective, she was a responsible and dutiful mother, a good daughter-in-law, and even a good neighbor in the courtyard. However, she gained a good reputation but sacrificed He Yuzhu's lifelong happiness.

This kind of sacrifice, to quote He Yuzhu once said.

"I've always put others first in my life, but who has ever put me first?"

Ah! Let bygones be bygones. Besides, in this world, everything has started anew. He Yuzhu is no longer the silly Zhu whose eyes would light up at the sight of a woman.

Humming a little tune, He Yuzhu knocked on the door of the deaf old lady's room. The old lady was over eighty years old, with only a few teeth left. She was hard of hearing, but she was still in good spirits.

When the old lady saw He Yuzhu, her face beamed with joy, and she kept calling him "my dear grandson."

This old lady is truly good to He Yuzhu. In this compound, she is the only person who cares about He Yuzhu. Although she is old, she is not young at heart. She understands Qin Widow's behavior very well!

"Grandma, I brought you some scrambled eggs, let me heat them up for you!"

"Does it taste like meat? I want to eat meat!"

"Yes, yes, we have stir-fried twice-cooked pork and scrambled eggs, we've saved them all for you!"

"Alright, my good grandson!"

He Yuzhu shook his head helplessly. This old lady treated him like her own grandson, and actually just wanted him to take care of her in her old age.

This old lady is all alone, and her judgment of people is exceptional. Of the more than one hundred people in this courtyard, only He Yuzhu, this silly Zhu, is truly kind to her and genuinely cares about her!

In the original novel, after the old lady passed away, this room was also left to He Yuzhu. In addition, his younger sister had already gotten married, so He Yuzhu now had three rooms. This was a courtyard house in Yanjing with three rooms, which would make many people envious.

But all the benefits went to Qin Huairu's family, including those three ungrateful children. Even after they grew up, in order to save a room for Qin Huairu's son Banggeng'er, they wanted to kick He Yuzhu to the house where the old lady was now living. In the end, they even wanted He Yuzhu to sleep in the same room as Qin Huairu's widow mother-in-law. It was simply outrageous.

The problem was that by then, Widow Qin hadn't given He Yuzhu a promise, and the two hadn't even officially slept together yet. He Yuzhu's old man was practically withered.

After having dinner with the old lady, He Yuzhu returned to his room. Unlike usual, he no longer worried about Widow Qin and began to leisurely plan his life.

He Yuzhu didn't care, but Qin Huairu did. He Yuzhu's unusual behavior today made Qin Huairu uneasy, and she didn't want He Yuzhu to get out of her control.

As she was washing clothes, lost in thought, someone suddenly patted her on the back, startling her!

"Sister Qin, what are you thinking about? Are you thinking about my brother?"

The person who came was He Yuzhu's younger sister, He Yushui. Upon seeing He Yushui, Qin Huairu's heart stirred, and the grievance in her eyes instantly appeared on her cheeks, and tears came without warning!

"Sister Qin, what's wrong? Don't cry, don't cry. Did my brother bully you?"

"Rain, don't blame your brother. I don't know what I did wrong. He ignored me today and had a long face!"

"What happened? Sister Qin, don't cry, let me wipe it off. My brother is just a bit slow, he didn't mean it. Don't worry, I'll find it for you when we get back!"

He Yushui, that silly girl, was quickly led astray by Qin Huairu and began to criticize her own brother.

Qin Huairu, that scheming bitch, kept protecting He Yuzhu, but the more she protected him, the more wronged she seemed to be, and tears rolled down her cheeks like beans.

After having dinner with the old lady, He Yuzhu hummed a little tune as he returned to his room.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw He Yushui sitting at the table, looking very angry.

"Who did you offend?"

"You know perfectly well why I'm asking this!"

"Oh dear, so it turns out I'm the one who offended you! Tell me, how did I offend you?"

"Brother, I'm just asking you, why did you give Sister Qin such a hard time?"

"What are you talking about? Who did I give a dirty look to?"

Although He Yuzhu was still a little confused, he quickly realized that something was wrong.

All I did was not bring lunchboxes for those three ungrateful wretches today.

Why are you interrogating me as soon as the rain comes back?

That widow Qin used her own sister as a PR tool.

Thinking about that scheming woman's past, I guess I'm pretty sure I'm right. In the original story, that scheming woman played the victim a lot in front of He Yushui, successfully pulling He Yushui into her support group.

He Yuzhu was too lazy to waste words with this silly girl. Anyway, she was going to get married soon, so let her think whatever she wanted!

He Yuzhu hummed a little tune, walked past He Yushui, returned to his own bed, took off his smelly shoes, didn't even wash his feet, covered himself with the quilt, and that was it!

But as soon as I covered myself with the blanket, the rain ripped it off.

"What are you doing? Can't a person get some sleep? I have to get up early to work tomorrow!"

He Yushui angrily threw the blanket off and onto the ground, pointing at He Yuzhu and grumbling.