Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

Seeing Qin Huairu kneeling directly in front of him, as if she wouldn't get up unless he agreed, he was shocked.

Jia Zhangshi sat beside her, cursing and swearing, calling her a "worthless good-for-nothing." Kuihua realized that if she didn't agree today, things wouldn't end well.

After struggling for a while, she decided to compromise for the time being: "Fine, I'll marry you..."

Upon hearing the answer she wanted, Qin Huairu burst into tears of joy, replying excitedly, "I knew you wouldn't bear to see Bang Geng sentenced to prison..."

"Once Mom rescues Banggeng, I'll work hard and pay you back the 800 yuan dowry as soon as possible..."

"Don't go anywhere tonight, just stay home and get some sleep. Tomorrow, go to the Civil Affairs Bureau in style to get your marriage certificate."

"Mom will sleep with you tonight..."

"This might be the last night Mom can spend with you."

Kuihua felt a wave of despair wash over her.

Don't be fooled by Qin Huai's grandiloquent words, such as "spending the last night with you."

Bullshit...

These are all excuses.

The reason she wanted to sleep with him was clearly because she was worried that if he ran away tonight, she wouldn't be able to find anyone to register their marriage tomorrow morning and wouldn't be able to get the 800 yuan dowry.

Although she knew very well Qin Huairu's true purpose in doing this, Kuihua didn't say much.

Before Qin Huairu could finish speaking, she stood up from her chair and headed straight for her room.

Although she had just agreed to Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi's request to get their marriage certificate tomorrow, Kuihua did not actually agree in her heart.

As long as there is a glimmer of hope, she would never allow herself to marry a cripple and sacrifice her happiness for the rest of her life to save Bang Geng.

Although Qin Huairu had just promised repeatedly that once Banggeng was rescued tomorrow, she would definitely treat her younger sister well in the future.

But Kuihua knows Banggeng too well: he is not only selfish, but also particularly insidious and vicious. If she expects such a person to take care of her in the future, she might as well rely on herself.

Therefore, he must hurry up and come up with a solution to get out of this money-grubbing marriage.

As for whether Bang Geng can be rescued by Qin Huairu after he runs away from the wedding, that has nothing to do with him.

Qin Huairu was willing to sell herself for the sake of the gangster, and she was also willing to disregard the gangster for the sake of her own life.

After confirming that Kuihua had returned to her room and was lying in bed, Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi both breathed a sigh of relief.

But the worried expression on Jia Zhangshi's face did not completely relax.

Even if he gets all the dowry money his girlfriend promised tomorrow, he'll still be short 1,500 yuan from the fine for Bang Geng, and the only way to get that 1,500 yuan is to take it from Yi Zhonghai's house.

Compared to Kuihua, the cunning and calculating Yi Zhonghai is clearly more difficult to deal with.

Immediately, he said to Qin Huairu, "Huairu..."

"Go and discuss mortgaging the house to borrow money with Yi Zhonghai. I'll stay home and watch over Kuaihua..."

"I promise you that Kuihua can't live without our family until you come back."

In order to save Banggeng, Qin Huairu and Jia Zhangshi, these two long-time enemies, finally stood on the same side.

In order to save her son Banggeng, Qin Huairu didn't stand on ceremony with Jia Zhangshi and stood up to walk towards Yi Zhonghai's house across the street.

…………

Yi Zhonghai was also in a bad mood these past two days, not much better than Qin Huairu.

He hadn't saved much for retirement to begin with, and with the few hundred yuan he got from selling his house to Wang Dong, he only managed to scrape together a little over two thousand yuan. After lending five hundred yuan to Bang Geng and secretly investing fifteen hundred yuan in Xu Damao, he only had five or six hundred yuan left for retirement.

He thought that the 1,500 yuan he invested in Xu Damao would make him a lot of money and give him more money for retirement in the future.

Unexpectedly, Xu Damao and Banggeng got into trouble outside.

Not only did the 500 yuan he lent to Bang Geng go down the drain, but the 1,500 yuan he invested in Xu Damao also disappeared.

As a result, my retirement savings have plummeted from over two thousand yuan a few months ago to five or six hundred yuan now.

Given the current prices in Beijing, this amount of money might only last him three years. After that, he would be penniless.

Given Qin Huairu's selfish and money-grubbing nature, once he loses all his money and becomes penniless, he certainly won't support himself in his old age.

So for the past two days, Yi Zhonghai has been locking himself in his room, thinking about how to make up for the losses and increase his retirement savings.

In order to prevent the Jia family from finding out about my private investment in Xu Damao, I definitely can't ask Xu Damao's parents for the 1,500 yuan.

Otherwise, even if they can't get all the money back, they can still get a hundred or two hundred yuan by selling Xu Damao's house in the courtyard.

As she was thinking, Qin Huairu suddenly pushed open the door and entered, her expression very solemn, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Yi Zhonghai knew that she had been trying to raise funds for Bang Geng's fine these past two days so that she could get Bang Geng out of the detention center.

My first instinct was that Qin Huairu was planning to borrow money from me, so before she could even speak, I said directly, "Huairu..."

"If you come to me asking to borrow money..."

"I'd better not open my mouth, I'm out of money."

"If we had money, we certainly wouldn't just stand by and watch Bang Geng suffer in the detention center..."

"I'll definitely find a way to rescue him, after all, I'm his stepfather..."

“I didn’t have much money saved for retirement to begin with, and I’ve already spent several hundred yuan over the years. I also lent Banggeng five hundred yuan before the Lunar New Year, so I really have no money left.”

"I was hoping that after Banggeng and Xu Damao made a lot of money outside, I could continue to invest that five hundred yuan in Banggeng and get more interest in the future..."

"I never expected that the two of them would get into trouble outside, and the five hundred yuan I lent him was also seized by the police..."

"To put it bluntly, I can't even come up with a hundred yuan right now..."

"The police will only release Banggeng if I pay a fine of three thousand yuan. Even if I give you all the money I have left, it won't help..."

Qin Huairu only believed about 50-60% of what Yi Zhonghai said.

Although she didn't know exactly how much retirement money Yi Zhonghai had left, she was certain he had a few hundred yuan.

However, given Yi Zhonghai's shrewd and calculating nature, it's clearly impossible for him to part with his retirement savings for the sake of a baseball game.

In this situation, if Qin Huai wanted to rescue Bang Geng, he could only resort to second best and try to take advantage of the Yi family's house.

Shaking his head as he met Yi Zhonghai's gaze, he said, "Old Yi..."

"I didn't come to you to borrow money."

"Even if you agree to lend me the little bit of your retirement money... it won't be enough to pay the fine for Bang Geng..."

"I have an idea to help Bang Geng raise all the fines, but I need your help."

"I hope you can help me with this because you're the stepfather of the Korean thief?"

In Yi Zhonghai's eyes, as long as Qin Huairu wasn't there to borrow money, he was willing to help with anything, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. (End of Chapter)