Siheyuan: Struggle in the Red Era

Courtyard house

It was already past six o'clock, and the heads of each household had returned from work. Among the three courtyards, the front, back and middle courtyards, a crowd of people gathered in the middle courtyard, standing in groups of three or four, whispering to each other. What they were talking about was basically what happened at noon when the three aunts beat Chen Zhaodi into the hospital.

Speaking of this incident, Jia Zhang was the most excited. She slapped her thigh and said with saliva flying: "Oh, Zhaodi was such a poor girl at that time. She first knelt down and begged Yang Ruihua to return the wild vegetables she had stolen to her. Yang Ruihua not only denied it, but also falsely accused Zhaodi of lying and wanted to sue Chen Datou. The girl was so scared!"

Several people around nodded with lingering fear: "Yes, that girl must be scared to death. If Yang Ruihua really provoked her with that mouth, Chen Datou would beat her to death!"

"Yes, remember? Last month, Zhaodi accidentally got a thread missing from her brother Guangzong's clothes while washing them. Chen Datou beat her so hard that she had to stay in bed for three days."

"That's right. If Chen Datou really knew about this, Zhaodi would have to stay in bed for another week."

"Hey, Yang Ruihua is really over the top!"

Jia Zhang's eyebrows almost flew up as she spoke: "That's right, I couldn't stand it at the time, and I advised Yang Ruihua not to be so conscienceless, but I didn't know that Yan Bugui, the old man, was even more cruel than Yang Ruihua. He directly said that Zhaodi was a liar and forced Zhaodi to promise on the spot that in the future, she would never fail to send wild vegetables to Yan Bugui like she did yesterday. She would definitely send wild vegetables to his family as soon as she dug them up. Hey, why did Zhaodi not send wild vegetables to my family, but to his family instead!"

Liu Sanya couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Third Aunt said yesterday that Zhaodi dug a big basket of wild vegetables, which were very tender."

Everyone else suddenly realized what was going on, and ignored Jia Zhang's last words about sending it to her family: "No wonder there was such a scene today. I didn't get any advantage yesterday, so I'm trying to make up for it today."

Liu Gen's mother interrupted and said, "So how is that girl Zhao Di doing now?" She didn't come back at noon today and didn't know about this incident. After listening for a long time, she got a general idea of ​​it. Seeing that no one had said the result, she asked.

Liu Sanya, Jia Zhangshi and others who watched the excitement at noon but did not go to the hospital remained silent. Aunt Jin, who had been running the whole time, spoke up: "Ah, if you ask me, Yang Ruihua is too cruel. She beat such a young girl, and now she has become a vegetable."

"Vegetative state? What is a vegetative state?"

When everyone heard this new word, they became curious.

Aunt Jin raised her head and said, "It's just a person, just like grass and trees, alive but temporarily unable to move, meaning she won't wake up even if you call her."

Everyone seemed to understand: "Isn't that the living dead?"

Aunt Jin was very sorry: "That's right, we sent the girl to the hospital, and she was examined for a lot of things, such as severe malnutrition and edema. It was so pitiful. Chen Datou really didn't treat Zhaodi as a human being. His Guangzong was so strong that I heard he even fought with a third-grade student at school last week and won."

As the topic changed, others also said, "That's right, Chen Guangzong is only eight years old, and his head is taller than Sanya's eldest child. How much food does he need to eat on a daily basis?"

"Hey, Zhaodi is already ten years old this year. Don't you think Chen Datou really doesn't know how to calculate? If he just raises her for a few more years, Zhaodi will get married and he can add a dowry to the family, right? Why save so much food now? Besides, Hu Meihua has to go to work, and she lives so far away. There will be someone to take care of the family. If Zhaodi is really beaten to death and starved to death, what will Chen Datou's family do?"

"Hey, why does Chen Datou dislike Zhaodi so much? Why doesn't Hu Meihua protect her? It's not like the family can't survive."

I don't know who asked this question, and everyone around was silent for a while.

Aunt Jin rolled her eyes and changed the subject: "Hey, do you still want to hear about the hospital?"

Everyone asked again: "Yes, yes, what happened later? Yan Bugui must have had a heavy bleeding this time."

Aunt Jin curled her lips in disdain and said, "That's right. The doctors in the hospital have tried everything to treat Zhaodi, but in the end, they couldn't find out why she fainted for so long, and they don't know how long she will continue to faint. They said it might be a brain injury or something. Anyway, she has to be hospitalized and wait. I don't understand."

"Later, someone went to inform Chen Datou and Hu Meihua. After Chen Datou came, he and Yan Bugui hid from us. I don't know what they discussed and came up with. Anyway, Yan Bugui and Yang Ruihua were so upset. I don't know how many months they will be heartbroken."

"Haha, they deserve it! They are greedy. It's fine if they ask for benefits from our master, but they even don't let go of a little girl like Zhaodi. They deserve to bleed a lot!"

"Hey, they've suffered a big loss this time, they won't try to get it back from us later, right?"

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent again, their eyes changed, and they nodded. Yes, no, we will have to get it back from them in the future, right?

Compared to women, men talk about much more serious things.

When Yi Zhonghai heard the news, he thought that Yan Bugui was finished this time. From now on, he would have no prestige in the courtyard. The only one left was Liu Haizhong. He could manipulate Liu Haizhong's brain at will. In other words, from now on, except Xu Fugui, no one else in this courtyard could compete with him.

When Liu Haizhong got home and learned about this, he happily allowed his two younger sons to each pick up a piece of scrambled eggs with chopsticks. The second aunt was also happy: "Yang Ruihua has fallen into a big trouble today. It's her bad luck. Who would have thought that she would knock Chen Zhaodi unconscious with just a few hits?"

Liu Haizhong nodded majestically, his belly sticking out. "That's right. This guy doesn't pay enough attention to uniting the people. How can he beat the people to death? It's also Old Yan who didn't educate his family well. We should hold a meeting to criticize him!"

The Xu family across from his house is concerned about something different from others.

After Xu Fugui heard Aunt Xu's detailed account of what happened at noon and in the afternoon, his first reaction was: "You said that Yan Bugui and Chen Datou hid and discussed for a long time."

Aunt Xu was one of the neighbors who ran to the hospital to watch the funeral. She watched the two families bicker after Chen Datou arrived. "Yes, they couldn't reach an agreement in the middle, so they found a doctor and talked and argued with the doctor in the office for a long time. Later, Yang Ruihua went home with tears in his eyes. I think he went back to get money. When he came back, he was holding a package. The package was not small. It must have contained hundreds of dollars."

"hiss"

Xu Fugui rubbed his teeth and said affirmatively, "Hu Meihua didn't go."

Aunt Xu nodded affirmatively: "The one who called Hu Meihua came back and said that the National Cotton No. 1 will officially start production soon. It is very busy now. She can't take leave, so let Chen Datou handle it."

Xu Fugui snorted with disdain. His daughter was about to be beaten to death and he couldn't even take a leave.

Aunt Xu also rolled her eyes and whispered, "Tell me, is it true that what we heard about Zhaodi back then was not Chen Datou's?"

Xu Fugui half-closed his left eye and said, "Look at Zhaodi. She's a little older now. How does she look like a member of the Chen family?"

Aunt Xu also nodded: "I told you so. They both have the same small nose and small eyes. How could they give birth to a girl with a high nose and big eyes like Zhaodi? It's really impossible. No wonder Chen Datou always wants to kill Zhaodi."

The people in the yard were chatting until Yan Bugui and his wife came back and closed the door without going out. No one really went to his house to cause trouble. They waited until after eight o'clock, when it was dark. Chen Datou came back with Chen Guangzong, reeking of alcohol. There was no sign of Hu Meihua either, and the yard slowly became quiet.