Siheyuan: Struggle in the Red Era

The Gregorian New Year passed quickly.

In January, the Chinese New Year was approaching and the students were all on vacation. Chen Guangzong now carried a few dried sweet potatoes in his pocket every day. When he went out, there were always a few kids from the next yard following him and having fun together.

Chen Zhaodi adds meals to the space every day.

Since she bought a small stone mill, she grinds beans every day to make soy milk. Later, she also experimented with using vinegar to make tofu. After several attempts, she finally made the tofu.

With the advent of tofu, the recipe expanded.

In addition to eating tofu pudding every day, she also eats braised tofu, tofu stewed eggs, cold bean curd skin, and all kinds of other things. In less than a month, she saw that her face was gaining weight, her hair was not so dull, and she looked much healthier.

The last time Hu Meihua came home, she saw her and questioned her for a long time. She also reweighed all the food in the house and asked the father and son what and how much they ate every day.

When he heard that the food and the portion were the same, he put aside his suspicious look. However, he became even more cautious towards Chen Zhaodi.

Her actions made Chen Zhaodi both hateful and anxious.

After a while, when she gains weight and grows taller, how can she hide the changes?

Anyway, it’s impossible not to eat.

There hasn't been any trouble in the Intermediate Court during this period.

Maybe Xiao Li realized how powerful the dog's nose was in this era, so he learned to take precautions and deal with the consequences. Since then, Qin Huairu never said again that she smelled eating meat at Xiao Li's house.

The three uncles, Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui, have been very quiet during this period. Apart from holding a meeting to read out the latest instructions from the street office, they have not taken any other actions.

He Yushui has been meeting her quite often recently. Whenever they meet, they would say a few words and chat.

Perhaps because he saw her busy every day, either washing vegetables and dishes or washing clothes and bed sheets and quilt covers, one day he actually brought out a large basin of clothes and bedding from the main room and started washing them as well.

After washing, she cleaned the main room from top to bottom, moved out the quilts and mattresses to dry in the sun, and wiped the windows until they were shiny.

While she was cleaning, an old lady stood at the door of the east wing and watched. Later, Yi Zhonghai came out to take a look and went back without asking the old lady to come up and help.

After reading it, Chen Zhaodi recalled what the deaf old lady had said to persuade Yi Zhonghai. Combined with the dirty and messy appearance of He Yuzhu's house in the TV series, she couldn't help but think deeply.

Could it be that because He Yushui had no one to teach him since childhood and He Yuzhu was also careless, the two siblings never thought of letting He Yushui clean the house for He Yuzhu, and then let the uncle Qin Huairu take advantage of the opportunity?

It's none of her business anyway.

After Laba Festival, the New Year will soon arrive.

Hu Meihua brought back a few pieces of cloth and about ten kilograms of cotton, saying that they were defective cloth from the factory, and were going to make cotton-padded clothes for Chen Datou and Chen Guangzong. Chen Zhaodi pretended to be bold and asked, "Mom, my cotton-padded clothes are too small, and the outer cloth is rotten. I dare not wash them when they are dirty, for fear that they will rot away if I wash them. Can you make one for me too?"

Hu Meihua scolded, "What new clothes do you want, little girl? I, your mother, don't even have the money to make new clothes. Can't you just modify your brother's old cotton-padded jacket and wear it? You still want new clothes? What are you dreaming about?"

Chen Guangzong made faces at Chen Zhaodi: "Yeah yeah yeah, I have new clothes, you should pick up my old clothes to wear."

Chen Zhaodi was too lazy to get angry.

During this period, Chen Guangzong had some friends outside and started to behave himself again. When he came back, he no longer called her sister, but asked her to do his homework for him every day.

Sometimes when he couldn't finish his steamed buns, he would slowly tear them up and throw them everywhere, and he would not let her have a taste.

His behavior made Chen Zhaodi's little conscience disappear again.

On the 23rd, when the Chinese New Year was coming, Chen Zhaodi finally had a happy event. A batch of chicks and ducklings in the space hatched.

This means that the day when chickens and ducks can live freely is not far away.

When I thought of the delicious chicken and duck, tears couldn't help but flow from the corners of my mouth.

Tofu is good and can supplement protein, but it is not meat. Chicken and duck are white meat, but they are meat.

It's another day when I want to eat meat.

On the 30th, starting from the morning, all kinds of fragrance filled the air above the yard.

At this time, every household would buy some meat, chickens, and fish. After a busy year, they would buy some delicious food to feed the old and young at home. What's more, the living standards of most families in this courtyard were not really poor compared to the old city.

At noon, Chen Datou came back, and Hu Meihua followed shortly after, carrying a lot of things.

When Hu Meihua got home, she put down the things in her hands and stayed in the bedroom with Chen Datou for a long time. Then she came out and ordered Chen Zhaodi: "Hurry up and boil some water, kill the chicken, pluck the feathers and wash it. Kill the fish and wash it. Your father and I are going out for a while. Don't move the things when you have prepared them. Wait for me to come back and boil them. Got it?"

Chen Zhaodi nodded respectfully, lowered her eyes, and looked at the small package that Hu Meihua brought out from the bedroom. She did not reveal what she was thinking, but just responded obediently and went to busy herself in the kitchen.

She could confirm that she had searched the bedroom no less than ten times, but had never seen the small package.

So where exactly is this stuff hidden?

After killing the chicken, collecting the blood, scalding it with boiling water, plucking the chicken feathers, putting the chicken and fish in a basin, and taking a knife, I prepared to go to the central courtyard to kill the fish and chicken.

There were only two spaces for the pool in the middle courtyard. One was occupied by an anxious-looking young man, while the other was occupied by Qin Huairu, who had just moved aside with a basin in her hand.

"Zhao Di, your family has a pretty sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner this year." Qin Huairu glanced at Chen Zhaodi's basin with a smile on her face and joked.

Chen Zhaodi also glanced at her basin and saw that there was only a pound of fish meat in it. She pursed her lips, smiled at her, and without saying a word, put the basin beside the pool and squatted down to kill the fish.

Qin Huairu was not angry either. She called out to He Yuzhu and said, "Silly Zhu, take your time washing. I'm going back to cook first."

"Hey, Sister Jia, you are busy." The young man, He Yuzhu, replied.

Chen Zhaodi looked up at Sha Zhu curiously and saw that he was busy washing with his head down. He was not like what was written in the fan fiction, where he acted like a dog in heat when he saw Qin Huairu. He also called Qin Huairu "Sister Jia", and no one knew how it later became Sister Qin.

At this time, a long-faced young man with a bag came in from the hallway. He had a few sparse mustaches on both sides of his upper lip. He looked like a catfish, which made people want to laugh.

"Hahaha, where did this catfish come from? It's so funny! I'm dying of laughter!"

When Sha Zhu saw the young man, he immediately dropped the food in his hand, waved his hands and laughed.

Chen Zhaodi was stunned. They were indeed destined to be enemies. They would inevitably fight when they met. There was no need for Yi Zhonghai to instigate them, as the two of them would just start fighting on their own.