Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Xu Huizhen took a nap, and when it was about 1 a.m., when everyone was asleep after a long day's work, Xu Huizhen quietly left the house.

Stepping on the thick snow, she knew it was snowing heavily.

Before going out, she wrapped herself tightly, wearing men's clothes, a hat and a mask. Even people who were familiar with her would not recognize her when they met her.

She turned three or two and came to the alley where the Chen family lived. You know, although the Chen family lived in the backyard of Han Qingqiu's house, the moon gate between the two courtyards had been blocked, and the Chen family entered and exited from the back door, so they were not in the same alley as Han Qingqiu's house.

The Chen family lived in three rooms at the back, which were right next to the alley. Before, Xu Huizhen had come to the Chen family on purpose, and had a general understanding of the layout of the Chen family on the pretext of a neighborhood committee visit.

The house on the east side was divided into two small rooms. The old couple lived in the larger one, and the two daughters lived in the smaller one.

The room on the west side was also divided into two, the eldest couple lived in the larger room, and the second Chen lived in the smaller room.

The middle room was the kitchen, dining room and living room, so Xu Huizhen decided to start from the living room. Her goal was to drive the Chen family away, but she didn't want to cause any deaths.

If the bedroom collapsed, it would be terrible if the falling wood hurt someone.

It was a quiet and cold night. The alley was extremely quiet, with only the sound of snowflakes flying all over the sky and the roar of the cold wind. Xu Huizhen took out a ladder from the space and climbed up to the roof.

She first put the tiles on the roof into the space, and then broke the purlins and rafters. You know, Xu Huizhen was very strong because of the cleansing and marrow-removing pills rewarded by the system, so it was easy for her to break a few pieces of wood. But she didn't move the load-bearing beam. The beam was so thick, if it broke, it would be obvious that it was man-made.

Other wood is relatively thin, and since it is often not maintained, it is understandable if it breaks.

After the roof collapsed with a loud bang, two large holes were formed. Xu Huizhen released the tiles in the space, and the tiles fell into the house from the large holes, making an even louder noise.

Xu Huizhen didn't forget to poke a few times with a wooden stick on the roofs of the two bedrooms to make a small hole. I don't believe I can't scare you away! If you don't run away, I'll do it again another day.

Xu Huizhen quickly came down from the roof, put away the ladder, covered the footprints on the ground with a broom, then walked to the neighbor's door and hid in the space.

If she left now, the footprints left on the ground would be too obvious, and she was afraid that the Chen family would become suspicious and come out to check.

The Chen family was sleeping soundly and dreaming sweet dreams, but they were awakened by the loud noise, and then they felt the biting cold wind blowing into the bedroom. There was a door curtain hanging between the main room and the bedroom, and at this time the door curtain was blown up by the wind, and snowflakes squeezed into the bedroom.

While putting on his clothes, Old Chen called out to his eldest son, "Big Boss, hurry up and take a look. Is the roof leaking? Why is it so cold?"

Chen Laoda lifted the door curtain and was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a moment. He was stunned by the scene before him. The ceiling of the main hall had collapsed, and the ground was covered with broken tiles and walls, mixed with white snow.

After taking a breath of cold air, Chen Laoda shuddered involuntarily. He stammered, "Dad, Dad, it's bad. The house has collapsed. Please come out and take a look."

The family got up from their warm beds helplessly. Old Chen looked at the situation and said dejectedly, "Maybe the house has fallen into disrepair and collapsed under the snow. Let's put up the door curtain with furniture for one night and come back tomorrow morning. It's pitch dark now and we can't do anything."

The family endured the oppressive cold and spent the night in difficulty.

Xu Huizhen waited in the space for more than half an hour, but did not see the Chen family come out. The Chen family was in chaos for a while, but eventually returned to peace.

Xu Huizhen then came out of the space and trotted back home. As for the footprints left behind, they would soon be covered by the wind and snow. After dawn, there would be many more footprints covering them, so she didn't need to worry about it at all.

When she got home and was getting ready to go to bed, she heard He Yuzhu's voice: "Where have you been in the middle of the night?"

Xu Huizhen was startled by her husband's sudden voice. People should never do anything that would make them feel guilty. This saying is absolutely true.

She said perfunctorily: "I went to the bathroom."

He Yuzhu: "Are you kidding me? You've been in the bathroom for so long, isn't your butt frozen off?"

Xu Huizhen smiled and said, "To tell you the truth, I went to Old Chen's house and poked a hole in his roof."

He Yuzhu sat up and said, "You are too brave. You don't need to do this kind of thing. You have a man. What does a man do?"

Xu Huizhen said with a playful smile: "I know, there won't be a next time."

The Chen family got up as soon as it was daybreak. There was no other way. They had to find a way to repair the house today, otherwise how would they live in such a cold weather.

The Chen family members all worked together. First they had to clean up the main room. They moved all the construction waste into the yard and then went back to find a cart to pull it out.

The loss was quite heavy. All the pots and pans were broken, the rice and flour were soaked, and the furniture was smashed to pieces. The whole family was gloomy and sighed, cursing the damned heaven.

Seeing the current situation of the Chen family, the other families in the yard hurried up to their houses and cleared the snow off the roofs. Why was it snowing so heavily?

Mother Chen looked at her second son who was still leaning on a cane and said with a sad face, "It is said that good fortune never comes alone, but misfortune never comes alone. What has happened to our family recently? One upsetting thing after another. Second son, did you do something immoral outside, and someone is deliberately taking revenge on us?"

Old Chen listened to his wife's nagging, looked at the broken wood, and said thoughtfully: "Boss, let me come and see if such a thick wood can be broken. Could it be man-made?"

Boss Chen: "Dad, do you mean someone is targeting our family?"

Lao Chen: "Go out and have a look to see if there are any other houses that have collapsed in other yards."

Boss Chen went out for a walk and came back to tell his father: "There are indeed houses that collapsed like ours, but there are only two or three."

Old Chen was also puzzled just now and went to take a look behind the house. It had snowed all night and all traces were covered, so it was useless to look.

After Xu Huizhen went to work, she led the neighborhood committee staff to the jurisdiction to organize everyone to clear the snow on the roads and their roofs and to comfort the affected residents.

Xu Huizhen and Sister Zhang came all the way to the Chen family's area and pretended to ask about the Chen family's situation.

Xu Huizhen asked: "Old Chen, it looks like this house is no longer habitable. What are your plans? Do you have any relatives or friends who can stay with us to tide us over this difficult time?"

Old Chen said with a sad face: "There are seven or eight people in my family. Who has so many rooms to accommodate us?"

Xu Huizhen agreed, "That's true, but the weather is so cold that any cement will freeze into ice immediately. How can we repair the house? I think your house has collapsed quite seriously."

At this time, Chen Laoda, who was clearing snow on the roof, said, "Dad, this roof is also damaged. If it is not repaired, we really can't live here at night. What if it collapses and hits someone?"

Xu Huizhen said, "How about this, I'll go back to the neighborhood committee to see if there's any vacant house, and you guys can move in temporarily, after all, human life is at stake."

Old Chen smiled and said, "Thank you, Director Xu. I'm sorry for your trouble."

Xu Huizhen: "You too, I guess this house hasn't been repaired for a long time. If you had gotten up earlier and worked harder, you wouldn't have to suffer this. Oh, this damn weather is really tiring!"

Xu Huizhen left mumbling, but she was secretly laughing in her heart. She had already prepared the house. Some time ago, a family was transferred to another place, and two and a half rooms were vacated. She had kept them in her hands and had not moved. She was just waiting for the Chen family to fall into the trap.

Mr. and Mrs. Chen went to see the house Xu Huizhen had arranged for them, but they were not satisfied because it was not as big as the one they had lived in before.

Xu Huizhen looked at his expression, smiled and said, "It happened so suddenly. It's good to have a house like this. Otherwise, you can just make some simple repairs and continue to live there. I just don't know if the two houses can withstand another heavy snowfall."

She laughed secretly in her heart: "It's strange that I can hold on. I won't stop until you are driven away."

Old Chen nodded helplessly. This was the only way for now. The whole family had to squeeze in and make do.

He would never have imagined that someone would go to so much trouble to drive them away.

Old Chen followed Xu Huizhen to the neighborhood committee to complete the rental procedures and started moving.

Xu Huizhen went to report the results of the battle to Han Qingqiu.