Siheyuan, Me and the Yu Sisters

Yi Zhonghai sighed and said

"Go find Qin Huairu and ask her first."

"If she doesn't agree, there's no point in saying anything."

"As for the future, he probably won't care about us little people anymore."

"Over the past few years, we have finally gotten rid of the anger we deserved. You can't force us to die."

Yi Zhonghai looked at the bucket of rice on the cupboard and no longer had any intention of going against Zhang Renkang.

Look up and see this big compound, from the front yard to the back yard, is there any family that has any problem with Zhang Renkang?

Not to mention that Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong's families both depended on Zhang Renkang for their livelihood, even Song Jie, Wang Dafu and other residents in the steel mill all owed Zhang Renkang a favor.

Not to mention the benefits of rice and flour distributed from time to time in the courtyard and half a pound of meat every few months. In the courtyard, you can curse your own father, but you can't say a bad word about Zhang Renkang, otherwise every household in the courtyard will not agree.

Sha Zhu said hesitantly

"Then I'll go directly to Sister Qin tomorrow?"

"By the way, hasn't Jia Zhang come out yet?"

"The crime she committed was no less serious than mine, so she should have been released earlier than me."

Yi Zhonghai's wife shook her head and said

"Don't mention it, he's dead"

Sha Zhu stood up in disbelief and stared at Yi Zhonghai blankly, not knowing what to say.

Yi Zhonghai said helplessly

"You know what the conditions are. Your Aunt Jia is old, and she got addicted after the labor reform. She didn't make it and died."

"It was Qin Huairu and I who went to claim the body last spring. After cremation, it was buried in a cemetery in the northern suburbs."

Yi Zhonghai actually didn't tell Sha Zhu the truth. The reason why he didn't visit Qin Huairu much during this period was that Jia Zhang's death had stimulated him.

Although Jia Zhang was beaten several times for her foul mouth when she first entered, and was often targeted for not having enough to eat and doing more work, at least her life was not in danger.

Jia Zhang died of drug addiction and had to be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. Qin Huairu didn't know why she didn't pay the meal fee in full as required. In addition, Jia Zhang was old and weak, and her labor intensity was not enough to meet the standard of three meals a day.

He couldn't handle the drug addiction after being hungry for so long, and died on the way to the hospital.

When Yi Zhonghai knew the truth, he didn't know what to feel when he looked at Qin Huairu on the side.

Questioned

"Huai Ru, why don't you pay your mother-in-law?"

"Don't you know that your mother-in-law is always hungry?"

"If you pay her even a little, will she die?"

Qin Huairu also felt wronged, squatting on the side and crying

"Pay the money. Where is the money at home?"

"I make 22 yuan a month. The medicine for Banggeng alone costs more than 7 yuan a month, and the family spends 12 yuan on food."

“I still have to pay the rent”

"The family's previous savings have long been spent, uncle, you said to pay the money"

“Where do I get the money to pay?”

Qin Huairu's life has become even more difficult since Banggeng was brought back. Banggeng's injured leg did not receive proper treatment in the juvenile detention center. It started to hurt after 3pm, and the pain lasted until the middle of the night.

Seven yuan a month just for Banggeng's dressing and painkillers is an underestimation. If it weren't for the Red Star Hospital's preferential treatment for factory employees, charging only 30% off, Banggeng alone would have bankrupted Qin Huairu's family.

According to the doctor's advice, the best way is to amputate directly.

But Bang Geng was not willing to have his leg amputated, not to mention that Qin Huairu could not afford the money for surgery and hospitalization. She could only keep Bang Geng's leg from getting worse.

Yi Zhonghai looked at Qin Huairu squatting on the ground crying and had nothing to say until the staff in the labor camp asked them impatiently whether they wanted to take Jia Zhang away or cremate her directly.

Yi Zhonghai asked hesitantly

"Qin Huairu, your mother-in-law, tell me what to do"

Qin Huairu wiped her tears and said softly

"Pull it away, how can we pull it back?"

Then he asked the staff at the labor camp

"Comrade, how do we cremate this?"

The staff member said impatiently

"The travel fee to the crematorium plus the cremation fee is two yuan."

"You can either take it back and cremate it yourself, but if you use the cart here, it will cost five dollars."

Yi Zhonghai shouted in surprise

"Five dollars, you might as well rob it."

The staff looked at Yi Zhonghai with dissatisfaction and said

“You don’t have to”

"It's only seven or eight miles from here to Sijiucheng. It would be very tiring for our people to run back and forth."

"You think it's expensive, but we think it's tiring"

"Hurry up and make the decision. You've already left it for one more day. If you delay any longer, I'll just find a place to bury it."

Jia Zhangshi could never have imagined that she would end up like this. Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu came back by bus, so there was no time to find a cart. Qin Huairu could only pinch her nose and say

"Then please help me arrange the cremation."

The supervisor of the labor camp softened his attitude a little after hearing this.

"Well, please sign it."

"Then go over there and pay the two dollars for the transportation to the cremation site."

"If you want to buy a wooden box, it will cost you three dollars each."

After that, he tore off a piece of the form, wrote a string of numbers and a mark of consent for cremation on it, and handed it to Qin Huairu for her to put her fingerprints on.

Then he pointed to another labor camp supervisor nearby and sent Qin Huai to Yi Zhonghai, thinking happily that he had earned another dollar today and could have an extra meal at night.

Yi Zhonghai dragged his legs and dared not ask any more questions. He finally understood that these people were determined to take another bite of Jia Zhang's surplus value. If you don't feed them, they will want to ask Jia Zhang to go back.

Forget it

After Jia Zhang was buried next to Old Jia, Yi Zhonghai, who was offering incense to Old Jia and Jia Zhang, almost cried. This trip cost him 18 yuan. Yes, Qin Huairu didn't bring any money at all. Yi Zhonghai paid for it all.

Yi Zhonghai, who wanted to cry but had no tears, said silently to Lao Jia

"Old Jia, I, Old Yi, have done my best for you."

“I have trained your son.”

"I had to pay to bury your wife."

"Back then, you fought for me and asked me to take care of your wife and children. Today, I have repaid your kindness."

"You and your sister-in-law are over there."

"Oh, by the way, there is also Dongxu"

"The family is doing well."

Then he looked at Qin Huairu who was crying and sighed and said

"Huai Ru, this person cannot be resurrected after death"

"Just take it easy"

Is the person Qin Huairu is crying for Jia Zhang?

She was crying for her own unfortunate life.

She had tried her best to marry into the city and enjoy a better life. She finally followed the matchmaker into the city after much effort. She saw that Jia Dongxu had a house in the city and was a worker with a formal job and income. More importantly, Jia Zhangshi was the only old lady in the family, so there was no burden. That's why she was moved and married her.

Who would have thought that after less than ten years of good life, when I was pregnant with Huaihua, I heard the factory announce that Jia Dongxu had passed away.

It was not easy to hold on, so I managed to maintain my family. Although it was hard to take care of a stupid and evil mother-in-law and three children, at least I had a house to shelter from the wind and rain, and I inherited Jia Dongxu's job and had some income.

Although those years were hard, they were also enjoyable. After all, Yi Zhonghai was in charge of the hospital, and everyone in the factory knew that she was Jia Dongxu's widow, so they turned a blind eye to my laziness.

But the heavens played a joke on him again. When he went back to his mother's home, Jia Zhang colluded with Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu to provoke Zhang Renkang, an even more bastard. As a result, he did not have a peaceful day in the following years.

My son's leg was broken, I almost lost my job, and I couldn't even live in the compound.

What sin have I committed? Why is God punishing me like this?

The more Qin Huairu thought about it, the more she felt wronged. She ignored Yi Zhonghai's consolation and cried even harder.