Siheyuan's Silly Pillar has been replaced by someone else

Yan Bugui panicked when he realized that he had offended two people with a single sentence.

Their biggest tactic against the people in the courtyard was to isolate them.

They used to use this trick to deal with most people.

Now the tables have turned, and they are the ones being isolated by others.

There weren't many people left in the entire courtyard who were willing to talk to them.

Even Yan Jiecheng, his own son, didn't want to talk to him.

Now, all Yan Bugui can do is chat with Yi Zhonghai.

If he offends Yi Zhonghai again, he will truly become all alone.

Becoming a lone wolf is nothing in itself; in his family, money is number one, and heaven is number two.

He'd sell anything for money.

The problem is that Yi Zhonghai often talks to him about retirement.

Especially on New Year's Eve, I gave him another in-depth analysis.

Yan Bugui's worries about old age are becoming increasingly serious.

He hasn't won his son back yet, so he can't afford to offend Yi Zhonghai.

Otherwise, if something really happens at home, there will be no one to help.

Yan Bugui quickly tried to explain: "I wasn't talking about Jingru, I was talking about Xu Damao."

That guy is no good; he takes advantage of his money to seduce young girls everywhere.

That time, while drinking at Lao Liu's house, Guang Tian told me that Xu Damao went to Sha Zhu Restaurant and kept staring at the waiters.

He was even caught by Zhang Yan and Xu Zhenbao once.

In order to exonerate himself, he directly fabricated a crime against Xu Damao.

These words, however, were very much to Yi Zhonghai's liking. In his mind, it was normal for Xu Damao to do this.

If he didn't do it this way, it wouldn't fit his definition of Xu Damao.

"A leopard can't change its spots. From the very first day he came to our house, the old lady was convinced he was no good."

When the Xu family moved into the courtyard house, Xu Damao was only a few years old.

However, in order to make his argument more convincing, Yi Zhonghai completely disregarded reason. He brought up the deaf old woman to smear Xu Damao.

Yan Bugui didn't take it seriously and followed Yi Zhonghai's words, saying, "Xu Damao is single now and has money."

Qin Huairu, let me remind you, you should really talk to your cousin and prevent her from being deceived by Xu Damao.

To say that Xu Damao is a bad guy is politically correct in Yi Zhonghai's eyes.

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, Yi Zhonghai agreed, saying, "Your reminder is correct. Huairu, when Jingru comes back, you must persuade her properly."

The thought that if Xu Damao seduced Qin Jingru, he would become Xu Damao's brother-in-law was unbearable for Yi Zhonghai.

Therefore, he added a reminder: "Xu Damao doesn't follow the right path, so don't let him bring disaster to your Qin family."

Qin Huairu agreed verbally, but didn't really take it seriously. If Xu Damao hadn't looked down on her, she would have wanted to seduce him herself.

No matter how bad Xu Damao is, he has one particularly good advantage: he can make money.

Of all the people in the courtyard house, Xu Damao is currently the richest. With so much money, he can feed himself and his whole family.

If she could win over Xu Damao, all that money would be hers.

It's all that old man Yi Zhonghai's fault for hogging the toilet...

Nonsence.

She's not a latrine.

It should be changed to "occupying the flowers without providing nutrition".

Yan Bugui seized the opportunity to stir things up a few more times, successfully securing his place to stay and drink with Yi Zhonghai.

While they were eating cabbage, Xu Damao, the "bad seed" they were talking about, was eating mutton rolls.

"Here, don't be shy, ask for more if you need more."

Qin Jingru smiled broadly. She hadn't eaten hot pot in over ten years.

The little money my family earns is simply not enough to buy mutton.

Actually, you can't buy them anyway.

They simply couldn't get mutton coupons.

"Brother Da Mao, how did you make so much money? Can you help me?"

Xu Damao's eyes darted around, and he figured it wouldn't hurt to bring Qin Jingru along. He needed to hire people anyway, so it didn't matter who he hired.

But then he thought again, and he wasn't sure if Qin Jing would actually go.

His job involves going to construction sites, which is a very tiring job.

"It's not that I don't want to help you. I work in construction now, and I have to go to construction sites every day. Can you handle it?"

Qin Jingru said, "There's nothing I can't do. If it's really about making money, I'm willing to do any job."

It's just going to a construction site, isn't it?
Do you need more people? If so, I can find you plenty.

My husband works in a bearing factory. Many people at their factory want to work there.

Xu Damao was short-handed, so he agreed as soon as he heard the offer.

"If you could find someone to come, that would be great."

I'm telling you, construction is about to begin at the site outside Dongzhimen.

I'm short-handed.

If you can find someone, I'll definitely pay you a high salary.

Qin Jingru quickly replied, "Then it's settled. I'll contact someone tomorrow, and I'll bring my husband to see you the day after tomorrow."

Xu Damao promised, "No problem. Can you cook? The work on the construction site is too tiring, so I plan to have you take charge of cooking for the workers."

Qin Jingru said with some concern, "But I've never cooked that many dishes before."

Xu Damao said, "It's alright, as long as it's cooked thoroughly."

The portion sizes are generous, that's better than anything else. We're not some big boss, we don't need to eat so well.

Qin Jingru agreed. They weren't asking for good food now, just enough to eat.

After the meal, the two parted ways.

Qin Jingru didn't go back to the courtyard house; she went straight home.

Xu Damao bought some meat to save for dinner.

He carried the meat into the central courtyard and was immediately spotted by Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu.

"Xu Damao, I'm asking you, where is Jingru?"

After discussing it privately, they have concluded that Qin Jingru was abducted by Xu Damao.

If they had spoken politely, Xu Damao might have told the truth.

But they treated him like a criminal, which displeased Xu Damao.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? I've already said, when relatives come to visit, don't be so stingy."

You don't listen to me.

If you make that dish, people will think you're not happy to entertain them.

Maybe, in a fit of anger, he'll just go home.

"You're talking nonsense." Yi Zhonghai already disliked Xu Damao, and when he saw that Xu Damao dared to slander him, he was immediately furious.

"How am I talking nonsense? Do I need to tell you what you're having for lunch?"
"You yourselves own a braised meat shop. If relatives come and there's not a single piece of meat, what will people think?"

The people in the courtyard, as always, loved watching the excitement and nodded in agreement.

Yi Zhonghai couldn't find a reason to defend himself. He was too embarrassed to plead poverty, so he could only glare angrily at Xu Damao.

Liu Haizhong, heavily pregnant, came out and said, "What's going on? Why are you arguing again?"

After learning the situation, Liu Haizhong also felt that Yi Zhonghai was too stingy.

When relatives come to visit, you don't even prepare anything nice to eat.

However, he wasn't stupid and didn't side with Xu Damao.

"I thought it was something serious. It's their own business to entertain relatives. What does it have to do with you?"

"Xu Damao, what have you been doing these past few days? I haven't seen anyone from your family."

Xu Damao didn't want to argue about it, so he stopped bringing it up.

"I'm not really running around, just looking for work. After the New Year, everything will be back to work, so I need to get a head start."

By the way, Uncle Liu, don't sell those rebar quotas you have to anyone else; keep them for me.

In a couple of days, I'll bring some people to haul the goods.

Upon hearing about making money, Liu Haizhong forgot about Yi Zhonghai and pulled Xu Damao aside to ask what kind of work they were doing.

Xu Damao smiled, picked up his things, and went home. Liu Haizhong followed Xu Damao all the way to the backyard. (End of Chapter)