Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

Back at the courtyard house, He Yuzhu's family ate nothing more than a bowl of cabbage.

As for meat, we can't eat that at home. If you want meat, go to the courtyard.

Lin Jinghan took her child there for lunch.

As for the courtyard houses, you can only eat things like roasted chicken and braised meat.

Even more difficult than his situation is that of Yi Zhonghai.

He Yuzhu was initially worried that he and Qin Huairu had joined forces. After observing for a period of time, he discovered that Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu seemed to have really fallen out.

After Qin Huairu became the leader, she did not try to win over Yi Zhonghai; in fact, she even seemed to be breaking ties with him.

Yi Zhonghai was not happy because Qin Huairu became a leader; on the contrary, he always had a bitter face.

Nobody knows what exactly happened between the two of them.

He Yushui walked in from outside and complained, "Your factory's female workers are so rich, how come they come to give Qin Huairu gifts every day?"

Another one just left.

He Yuzhu said, "Who has money and is willing to give it away? She's just using someone's weakness to threaten them."

He Yushui said, "What she did was really immoral. She's not even as good as Liu Haizhong."

When Liu Haizhong was a leader, at most he would have others flatter him; this time, she genuinely wanted the money.

What kind of immorality is this?

If He Yuzhu hadn't come over, Qin Huai would be doing something even more despicable right now.

He Yushui also became Qin Huairu's accomplice.

"Alright. Stop complaining. What she wants to do is her business. You've been dating your partner for quite a while now."

They didn't say when they would get married.

He Yushui said, "I'm not in a hurry, why are you? Our department has a mission, we don't have time."

"Hasn't this strained relations with the Soviet Union? Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is busy dealing with this."

He Yuzhu was taken aback, then remembered.

Lin Jinghan asked, "Won't they start fighting?"

He Yushui shook her head: "Who knows? I don't think a war will break out. After all, we're in the same camp as the Soviet Union."

Upon hearing He Yushui's words, He Yuzhu quickly said, "Your idea is wrong. I think that given the Soviets' character, a conflict between the two sides is inevitable."

"Will there be a war?" He Yuqing asked worriedly.

He Yushui said, "Brother, don't talk nonsense."

He Yuzhu said, "I'm not making this up. You're also involved in diplomacy, so you should know what they've been doing all these years."

I bet a large-scale conflict will break out between the two sides within the next two years.

As for whether war will break out, that's hard to say.

He Yushui seemed to be deep in thought, and kept He Yuzhu's words in mind.

Over the years, everything He Yuzhu said has come true.

He Yushui followed He Yuzhu since childhood and experienced many things firsthand.

This time, she believed that He Yuzhu wouldn't talk nonsense.

He Yuzhu was relieved to see that He Yushui had taken his advice to heart. He planned to mention it to Lin Jingyuan when he saw him during the New Year.

Xu Damao walked in while they were cooking at home.

"Brother Zhu, I need your help urgently."

"What's wrong?" He Yuzhu asked.

Xu Damao said, "My daughter hasn't been eating enough these past few days. My mom asked me to find a way to get some formula."

I can get meat, but milk powder is a different story.

You have many options; help me think of a way.

The Xu family had finally found this son, and Xu's mother cherished him dearly, afraid he might fly away or melt away.

He spends all his time trying to find ways to feed his granddaughter.

If Xu Damao hadn't become the captain of the workers' picket team, he wouldn't have felt he couldn't afford to support them.

He Yuzhu glanced at her a few days ago and saw that Xu Damao's daughter had become as fat as a ball.

"Tell Aunt Xu that you can't eat like this."

Xu Damao said irritably, "I'd have to have that guts too."

If I say anything bad about my daughter, she slaps me. I didn't even realize she liked girls so much.

"It's fortunate it's a daughter; if it were a son, I would have no status at all in the family."

This is true.

Despite how good Xu's mother is to her granddaughter, she still secretly favors boys over girls.

Just look at Xu Xiaoling. If she weren't a good student, she wouldn't have received so much attention from her family.

He Yuzhu said, "If you want to complain, go complain somewhere else. Don't complain in my house."

Aunt Xu from the province heard this and scolded me again.

I'll try to find a way to get you some milk powder.

"By the way, let me ask you, how exactly did Qin Huairu manage to get so many people bringing her gifts every day?"

Xu Damao said dismissively, "What else can we do? We just find dirt on other people."

You know how women are—they love to talk badly about people behind their backs…

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a chill on his body.

He turned around and saw Lin Jinghan and the others staring at him with displeasure.

Xu Damao gave an awkward smile: "I wasn't talking about you guys. I was talking about the female workers in our factory."

Qin Huai, with that reputation, became the captain of the female workers' disciplinary team. No one was convinced of his worth.

Doesn't that mean more people will gossip about her behind her back?

Also, among the people he recruited, there were four widows.

"Wait a minute." He Yuzhu stopped Xu Damao.

He remembered that Liu Lan had told him that among the people Qin Huairu recruited, there were two widows.

When did it become four?

"Aren't there two?"

Xu Damao said, "Originally there were two. Weren't those two people Yu Haitang hired? They couldn't stand Qin Huairu's behavior, so they argued with Qin Huairu and were fired by her."

In a fit of anger, Yu Haitang also withdrew from the female workers' disciplinary team.

Qin Huairu then hired three more people, two of whom were widows.

Those four widows, along with Qin Huairu, all had bad reputations.

The remaining four, though not widows, didn't have much of a reputation either.

Anyway, people say that they have ambiguous relationships with men.

Those female workers who didn't get along with them jokingly called Qin Huairu's female worker picket team the "widow picket team".

This gave Qin Huairu a handle to use against him.

Anyone caught by Qin Huairu will be punished. If you don't want to be punished, you have no choice but to bring her gifts.

He Yushui said, "What is the purpose of your factory's song committee? Why doesn't it take care of this matter?"

Xu Damao said, "Rainy Girl, you don't understand. How can you manage something like this?"

Those people, without any evidence, are trying to ruin the reputation of the female workers' picket team behind their backs.

The factory can't very well punish the female workers' disciplinary team, can it?

He Yushui said, "Then we should at least do something about her accepting gifts."

Xu Damao shook his head: "There's no way to manage it. If those who get caught don't want to give gifts, Qin Huairu will punish them even more severely."

Qin Huairu is ruthless; she always applies the same penalty. If she can fine someone ten yuan, she'll never fine them nine.

If you're giving a gift, you only need to give two or three yuan, and no more than five yuan.

What would you choose if you were in that situation?

He Yushui was so shocked that she couldn't speak.

He Yuqing said, "Isn't she afraid of offending people by doing this? Hasn't anyone in your factory reported her?"

Xu Damao scoffed, "What good will reporting her do? The factory leaders don't care, so what can anyone do to her?"

He Yushui turned to look at He Yuzhu: "Brother, aren't you on good terms with Director Li? Why don't you talk to him about it?"

She's always watching our house; I can't sleep peacefully at night.

What can He Yuzhu say?
Li Huaide's relationship with Qin Huairu was never exactly clean. Although they had broken off their relationship, Li Huaide was afraid that if he pushed her too far, Qin Huairu would make a scene.

The two most powerful people in the factory both protected and indulged her; who could control her? (End of Chapter)