1959Siheyuan, a Turnaround

On the second day after Qin Huairu gave birth, Jia Zhang hurriedly found Liu Haizhong and asked him to apply for maternity leave for Qin Huairu.

When the news reached the workshop, the workshop director's originally furrowed brows instantly relaxed, and his face was filled with irrepressible joy.

In the past few months, Qin Huairu has been like a drag in the workshop. She always looks exhausted with her big belly, often makes mistakes at work, and progresses as slowly as a snail.

The key point is that even so, he, as the workshop director, cannot say anything to her.

Because of Qin Huairu, the workshop has been isolated from the honor of advanced workshop for a long time.

Now that she is on maternity leave, the workshop director seems to see a ray of hope. He secretly thinks in his heart: "Finally, I can make a good rectification. This time I must put up the sign of the advanced workshop again."

After Qin Huairu returned home after giving birth, neighbors in the courtyard came to visit her.

Aunt Zhou walked into the house with small steps, holding tightly in her hand half a pound of brown sugar wrapped in straw paper. The sweet fragrance of the brown sugar seemed to emanate through the paper package.

She walked to Qin Huairu's bed, gently put down the brown sugar, and said with a smile: "Huairu, you must eat this brown sugar well to replenish your body."

Aunt Wang also came over tremblingly, and she took out a handful of dates from her worn cloth bag.

She said: "These dates are grown on my own tree. They are sweet and good for your health."

The second aunt in the backyard took three eggs and handed them to Jia Zhang.

Her eyes were full of concern: "Huai Ru just gave birth to a child. This egg will nourish her body. Take good care of her."

Qin Huairu looked at these things, tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice choked: "Thank you everyone, thank you so much." But Jia Zhang on the side did not appreciate it so much.

She sat on a stool nearby, her eyes fixed on the gifts like searchlights, silently counting which family had given one and which had not.

When she found that there was no movement from the He family, the Yang family and the Xu Damao family, her face instantly turned gloomy.

Jia Zhang kept complaining in her heart: "The He family and our family don't get along well, so if they don't want to send it, then don't send it. But what about the Yang family?

Yang Dongsheng is an engineer and earns a lot of money every month, so why is he so stingy?

And Xu Damao's family, Lou Xiao'e lives such a comfortable life every day, but she is reluctant to send even a small gift, this is too bullying."

Thinking of this, she could no longer sit still. She stood up suddenly and walked to the door of her house angrily.

She put her hands on her hips and started to curse at the top of her voice: "Humph, some people are really ignorant of etiquette and have no manners at all. They usually look decent and live in this courtyard, but they don't even understand the most basic social etiquette. ..."

The sound was sharp and loud, echoing in the sky above the courtyard, as if it was going to blow the roof off.

Su Jiao, who was in the opposite room, was preparing to cook in the kitchen. When she heard the scolding, she felt as if her heart was pricked by a needle.

The knife in her hand that was cutting vegetables stopped in mid-air, and her face was full of anger.

She just didn't want to associate with the Jia family, so what? Was she wrong?

However, Jia Zhang's scolding was like flies buzzing in her ears, making her upset. Finally, she was so angry that she threw away the kitchen knife, stopped cooking, turned back to the bedroom, and lay on the bed sulking.

Yang Dongsheng came home from get off work and opened the door happily as usual, but found the house deserted. Where was his lover Su Jiao?

He was confused and hurried into the bedroom, where he saw Su Jiao lying on the bed with an ugly look on her face.

He hurried forward, sat beside the bed, gently stroked Su Jiao's forehead, and asked anxiously: "Jiao Jiao, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"

Su Jiao turned her head, looked at him aggrievedly, and told him everything about Jia Zhang's swearing.

When Yang Dongsheng heard this, his face suddenly turned pale.

He stood up, walked to the window, looked in the direction of Jia's house, and said through gritted teeth: "It's really a bad apple that spoils the whole barrel. How could such a troublemaker live in a nice courtyard?"

His eyes were filled with disgust and anger.

Yang Dongsheng paced back and forth in the room, his mind constantly emerging with all the things that Jia Zhang had done in the yard after she came back.

Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, stopped, and after thinking for a moment, he looked at Su Jiao and said, "Jiaojiao, let's invite the three masters in the courtyard and the He family father and son to have a meal tomorrow night."

Su Jiao's originally listless eyes suddenly lit up. She seemed to have guessed Yang Dongsheng's intention and said excitedly: "Do you want to..."

Yang Dongsheng nodded slightly, with a determined look on his face.

On the Jia family's side, Jia Zhang was still sitting on the stool angrily, the anger in her heart was like a raging flame that could not be quelled.

She opened her eyes wide and stared in the direction of the Yang family opposite, her wrinkled face full of resentment and anger.

In her expectation, she had already cursed so bluntly and explicitly, the Yang family should at least show some appreciation, even if it was just some worthless gifts, it would be considered giving face to Jia Zhang.

But now, there was no movement from the Yang family, which made her feel like she was slapped hard in the face, and it hurt so much.

Thinking back to the past, if she had encountered such a situation, she would have gone to the Yang family's house without hesitation, blocking the door like a shrew and cursing, throwing out all the nasty words.

At that time, with Yi Zhonghai backing her up, she could act recklessly in the courtyard, and no one dared to provoke her easily.

But now, time has passed, Yi Zhonghai is no longer alive, she has lost that powerful umbrella of protection, and has to be cautious in her actions.

She knew in her heart that if she continued to behave recklessly as she had done in the past, she would probably be boycotted by everyone, and she would really not be able to stay in this courtyard.

So, even though the resentment in her heart surged like the tide, she could only endure it and sit in her room sulking.

At this time, a depressing atmosphere was spreading in the yard of the Li family next door.

The family sat around the slightly shabby dining table. It should have been a warm dinner time, but it was clouded with worry because of Qin Huairu's affairs.

After the meal, Li Dajiang cleared his throat and told the details of how Qin Huairu owed the money with a serious expression.

As he spoke, he placed the ten-dollar IOU written by Qin Huairu heavily on the table, his face full of bitterness and hatred, as if the IOU was a bomb that could explode at any time.

"This is the IOU Qin Huairu wrote. She said she would pay it back in two days. I think the money might be wasted." There was a hint of helplessness and anger in Li Dajiang's voice.

When Second Aunt Wang Dahua heard this, she was the first to jump up like a lit firecracker, put her hands on her hips, and shouted, "That won't do! Why should the Jia family get ten yuan for free? No, we have to go and get it back!"

Her face turned red and her eyes flashed with anger, and she looked as if she was about to rush to the Jia family to collect the debt.

Wang Guifang was also full of anger. She frowned and said, "Dajiang told us the whole story after he came back. I said before that Qin Huairu was different from Jia Zhangshi. I didn't expect that the Jia family was a nest of snakes and rats. None of them were good people."

Her tone was full of disappointment and disgust. She originally had a slight affection for Qin Huairu, but now this slight affection had completely disappeared because of what the Jia family had done.

Li Xinchuang sighed helplessly, shook his head and said, "I never thought Qin Huairu would be such a person. If we hadn't felt sorry for her, we wouldn't have helped her! It was Dahu who paid for the cart that day."

There was a hint of regret in his eyes. He regretted that he shouldn't have meddled in other people's business, which resulted in him being schemed against.