Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 657 The Liu Family's Poor Relatives
"Hello, excuse me, does Liu Haizhong live here?"

A disheveled young man, looking like he had fled famine, asked Yan Bugui, who was watering flowers.

Upon hearing Liu Haizhong's name, Yan Bugui sized up the man.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm his relative, a relative from the countryside," the man quickly explained.

"A relative of Liu Haizhong? I've never heard of him."

Yan Bugui didn't think much about it; he was just worried about not having any excitement today, and now people have arrived.

"You're looking for Lao Liu, right? Come with me, I'll take you inside."

With that, Yan Bugui led the men inside. "Hey, Third Uncle, who is this person?"

"Oh, this is Uncle Er's relative, they've come to visit Uncle Er."

People asked him questions along the way, and Yan Bugui answered them warmly.

As the saying goes, there are always many busybodies. Seeing how enthusiastic Yan Bugui was, everyone knew what kind of temper he had, and immediately followed behind to watch the excitement.

It was only a short walk from the back house to the backyard, but it took Yan Bugui four or five minutes to get there.

"Second Uncle, your relatives are looking for you!" Yan Bugui shouted deliberately.

"What relatives do I have? Old Yan, don't talk nonsense." Liu Haizhong replied unhappily from inside the house, and then quickly walked out.

Yan Bugui immediately pointed at the man: "Look, this man says he's your relative and has come to see you. See if he's really your relative."

Liu Haizhong looked the disheveled man up and down, left and right, but still couldn't tell who he was.
"Do you recognize it?" Not understanding, Liu Haizhong looked at his second aunt.

The second aunt looked him up and down, then touched her head and said, "He looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen him before."

"Who are you?" Liu Haizhong asked.

Seeing that Liu Haizhong didn't recognize him, the man's eyes immediately welled up with tears: "Uncle, I'm your own nephew, have you forgotten?"

"A nephew? Young man, don't talk nonsense. Where would I get a nephew?" Liu Haizhong said as if facing a formidable enemy.

The second aunt, standing to the side, stared intently at Liu Haizhong, waiting for an explanation. Could this be a child that Liu Haizhong had slept with outside?
No wonder he looks familiar; this child bears a resemblance to Liu Hai.

“Uncle, it’s me. I’m your brother’s son. My father and you are half-brothers.” the nephew explained.

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong finally understood the man's background and quickly tried to distance himself from the situation.

"Pah! What nephew? He's a cousin, no, not even a cousin, just an outsider. I don't acknowledge my half-brothers."

"Don't talk nonsense, kid! Don't try to climb the social ladder."

Looking at her nephew, the second aunt suddenly realized what her father-in-law had said.

After his mother-in-law passed away, his father-in-law remarried a few years later. His stepmother treated Liu Haizhong badly, so Liu Haizhong left in a fit of anger.

Later, her father-in-law and stepmother had a child, who is Liu Haizhong's younger brother.

Unfortunately, Liu Haizhong did not acknowledge this younger brother, even though they were related by blood. He and his stepmother were not invited to his wedding.

"Oh, oh, oh~ I didn't expect Second Uncle to have this kind of story."

Everyone in the courtyard was shocked by this juicy gossip; they had never heard of it before.

They quickly found a place to sit down, eat melon seeds, and watch the excitement.

"This is getting interesting."

Seeing her nephew's predicament, the second aunt kindly asked, "Um, nephew, what brings you here?"

Hearing his aunt speak, the nephew felt a warmth in his heart and quickly said, "Aunt, we have no food to eat and no money to buy more. Now, we are facing difficulties in the fields and we can't get any more food."

"My father couldn't borrow any grain, so he asked me to come up here to find my uncle and beg him to lend us some grain to get through this difficult time."

After saying that, the nephew knelt down before Liu Haizhong.

"What? Borrow grain!" Liu Haizhong suddenly raised his voice: "I didn't even think about it. My family has no grain. Your village is close to the land and has so much grain. Why would you ask me for it?"

The nephew explained in a panic, "Uncle, the grain harvest from those fields has to be handed over to the grain station and the village. There isn't enough grain left for us to eat, so we sometimes go hungry and sometimes have a full meal."

“My family is truly desperate, which is why we asked you to come here and beg you, please have mercy and save our family.”

After saying this, the nephew knelt down and begged.

"I won't save him! What's it to me!" Liu Haizhong said resolutely, muttering to himself, "Whether he lives or dies is none of my business."

I never really had any connection with that cousin; he was an outsider to me.

Seeing Liu Haizhong's resolute attitude, the nephew remembered what his father had said to him when he came up, and immediately said...

"Uncle, have you forgotten what Grandpa said before he passed away?"

Liu Haizhong replied without hesitation, "Nonsense, of course I remember. Isn't it about loving each other and living in harmony?"

After saying that, he immediately covered his mouth with his hand, looking regretful, realizing he had been fooled by the kid.

Seeing this, the nephew smiled slightly: "Uncle, are you going to rebel against Grandpa?"

"No, this..." Liu Haizhong seemed to be choked and speechless, no matter what he said, it was wrong.

Even though his father is gone, he still has to listen to him. After all, he is his father, and one cannot disobey his father's words.

Seeing this, the second aunt stepped forward and said, "How much grain do you want? We don't have any more."

The nephew immediately made an outrageous demand: "Aunt, you know we live in the countryside and life isn't easy, but don't worry, you don't need much."

"Just get through these two months, that's all we need."

As he spoke, he raised one index finger.

"10 jin, right? Okay."

“My aunt doesn’t weigh 10 jin, she weighs 100 jin.”

Liu Haizhong was furious: "100 jin? Are you kidding me! My family's ration doesn't even have that much grain, and you want 100 jin? Get out!"

"Just like your father, you're a greedy and insatiable man. Get out of here!"

As he spoke, Liu Haizhong was so angry that he kicked him, disgusted by this poor relative.

"Ah!" the nephew cried out in feigned pain.

"You dare to kick me? When I get back, I'll tell Grandpa that you're enjoying yourself in the city and don't care about your younger brother in the countryside at all."

"You live a good life in the city while your grandfather lives a hard life. You don't support your elderly father at all. Just you wait!"

"You're talking nonsense! Don't spout nonsense!" Liu Haizhong was so angry that he gasped for breath, almost unable to catch his breath.

Looking at the gossipy eyes of the onlookers, if he were accused of failing to support his elderly parents, he would lose his position as the head of his second uncle's household.

"You son of a bitch, I used to send money back home, don't talk nonsense."

"No!" the nephew said with absolute certainty.

"I have it! I sent it several months ago."

"No, I just didn't see it!"

"Bullshit, even if I had it, your greedy father might have kept it for himself."

"I remember it clearly. My father passed away early, and I didn't send him many times. I'm not senile yet!"

"No, I just didn't see it!"

The two argued back and forth, neither willing to back down. Liu Haizhong's father didn't enjoy his retirement for many years before passing away early. At that time, Liu Haizhong would send money every two or three months, which wasn't many times in total, but he remembered it clearly.

“I know about this. I saw Lao Liu sending money back home, always 10 or 8 yuan at a time. It’s impossible that he didn’t send any,” Aunt Er chimed in.

“Your grandfather also wrote back then. Oh, I remember now. I was wondering why the reply was written in your father's handwriting. It turns out he had kept it from us.”

"What?!" The nephew was shocked, never expecting such a thing to happen.

My mind raced; I couldn't talk about this any longer, or I wouldn't get the food.

"Hmph! Money is money, and you think you're so great just because you're paid? Ever since you came to the city, you haven't come back to see your grandfather. This... this is what a son should do!"

After saying that, the nephew looked smug, he didn't believe that Liu Haizhong alone could handle it.

This is related to filial piety, and Liu Haizhong, this uncle, is just waiting to be manipulated by him.

Thinking of this, the nephew couldn't help but feel secretly pleased.

"You, you, you!" Liu Haizhong angrily pointed at his nephew, truly unable to think of a reply. Apart from the time his father passed away, he had never returned to the countryside to visit him.

The second aunt stepped forward and said, "Isn't this all your father's doing? Go back and ask him about all the stupid things he's done."

“If you weren’t your grandfather’s biological son, your whole family would have been kicked out long ago and would probably be dead somewhere.”

"Huh?!" Everyone was taken aback. Could there be some other explanation behind this?

Instantly, everyone looked at Aunt Er expectantly, eagerly awaiting her explanation.

Suddenly, everyone stopped eating sunflower seeds.

At this moment, Liu Haizhong no longer wanted to waste words with him: "Get out, get out! Get out of here now! I never want to see your whole family again, what kind of trash are you!"

After saying that, Liu Haizhong no longer held back and kicked him hard.

As expected, the nephew was kicked to the ground and remained motionless.

"Alright, stop pretending. What are you trying to prove to me with!" Liu Haizhong shouted.

There was no movement for a while.

"Oh no! Someone's dead!"

"Second Uncle has killed someone!"

"Pah! What are you saying!" Liu Haizhong shouted.

Xu Damao mustered his courage and cautiously walked over to check his breath; he could still hear a slight pulse.

"Don't make a sound, he's still alive, he's not dead!"

After explaining, he looked the man up and down again: "He must have fainted from hunger. What should we do about this, Second Uncle?"

"What can we do? Let's just let him freeze to death here!" Liu Haizhong said defiantly.

Having said that, he decisively withdrew his hand and turned back, clearly intending to kill him there.

After he left, everyone looked at each other, none of them wanting to touch this hot potato. What if they were extorted?
But they can't just sit idly by. If someone really dies here, no one in the whole compound will escape the charge of failing to help someone in distress.

Although the law does not punish the masses, they did not even think about the benefits offered by the neighborhood committee. They thought that once or twice was not enough, but once or twice was not enough. If they were punished again, their No. 95 courtyard would not receive any welfare benefits for three consecutive years.

In the end, it was Yi Zhonghai who stepped forward: "Everyone is here, and we can all testify for each other. We won't be afraid if they ask us questions later."

"Alright, hurry up and get a few people to help take him to the hospital. If he really dies, it's not our fault."

Yi Zhonghai dispelled everyone's doubts with just a few words.

"Solve it, lend a hand."

"Silly Zhu, you go too."

Xu Damao looked at his nephew and suddenly had a wicked idea. He also helped by taking him to the hospital for a checkup.

Liu Haizhong watched as everyone took his nephew to the hospital: "Hmph, it would be best if he died in the hospital. Like father, like son."

He originally needed twenty or thirty catties of grain, but because of his deceased father, he managed to scrape together some.

He insists on 100 jin (50 catties), and even if he had the money, he would never help such a greedy family.

Auntie Er looked at Liu Haizhong, who was full of resentment, and said nothing. She just went inside to get the money.

Although I really don't want to get involved in my nephew's affairs, it would be troublesome if he really died.

He patted Liu Haizhong's back and said, "Old Liu, calm down. Why bother arguing with a junior like him?"

Then he glared at Liu Guangtian and his brother: "What are you two standing there for? Why don't you come over and persuade your father?"

The two brothers huddled in a corner, looking at each other in bewilderment. They went over to comfort him, thinking, "What a joke! What if he doesn't calm me down and then takes his anger out on us?"

You know what kind of temper Liu Haizhong has.

The two remained unmoved and just stood there.

"Look at you! You two deserve a beating! Just looking at you makes me angry!"

Sure enough, Liu Haizhong was furious at the sight of the two cowards and picked up his weapon to beat them up!

"Run!" The two of them took off running.

"Old Liu, Old Liu!" Aunt Er stopped trying to dissuade him: "It's fine to hit him, at least he can vent his anger."

Thinking of this, the second aunt stopped caring and went straight to the hospital.

"Doctor, how is he?" Xu Damao and the others stared intently at the doctor, fearing that their nephew had died.

The doctor retorted, "He's fine, he just fainted from hunger. He should be alright after the glucose injection."

"You're the patient's family members, right? The person is starving and you don't even feed them, and you even beat them. What were you thinking?"

Yan Jiecheng waved his hands repeatedly: "Doctor, you've mistaken him. We don't know him. He collapsed at the entrance of our hospital, and we kindly brought him to the hospital for treatment."

“Yes, yes, we don’t know him at all, we don’t even know his name,” Xu Damao quickly chimed in.

Seeing the three men terrifiedly trying to distance themselves from the situation, the doctor had nothing to say.

"I see. Please do this good deed to the end and prepare some food for this young man. Otherwise, he will faint again if he wakes up hungry."

"Okay, don't worry, we'll go back and prepare in a bit," Xu Damao said quickly.

As long as the person isn't dead, it's just a meal; it's not like we can't afford to treat them.

"Thank you for your help, young people are so kind-hearted." The doctor said kindly and then turned to leave.

Unexpectedly, Auntie Er arrived late.

"How is it? How is it?"

Yan Jiecheng explained, "The second aunt is fine, she just fainted from hunger. The doctor said that she would recover after the IV drip was finished and she was given food."

"Oh, that's great!" Auntie Er patted her chest with relief. "As long as he's not dead, that's all that matters."

"Okay, thank you for your help."

"You're too kind. We're all from the same courtyard. If there's nothing else, we'll be going now."

After saying that, the three of them left before the second aunt could speak, also afraid of being extorted.

After everyone had left, the second aunt looked at her nephew, who was a stranger, and said in a bad mood, "Why don't you just die? You're a family of troublemakers."

Seeing that the man was still alive, the second aunt paid the money and went back to cook for her nephew, lest he really starve to death.

(End of this chapter)