Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 57 Sha Zhu Pretends to Be Foolish
This matter presented Yi Zhonghai with a sense of urgency and crisis.

Even if it's just a sign, it's not good news for Yi Zhonghai.

Although Shazhu wasn't his first choice for retirement, he was still a backup plan that couldn't be missed.

Over the course of more than a year, Yi Zhonghai put a lot of effort into getting rid of Sha Zhu.

He was unwilling to let Li Hongbing ruin things like this.

Losing his old man status is one thing, but if he loses his sense of self-worth, he'll lose his retirement security, which is something Yi Zhonghai cannot accept.

Yi Zhonghai is 41 years old this year. In an era where the average life expectancy is not long, although he is no longer considered young, he is not incapable of having children.

Yan Bugui, who lives in the front yard, is only two years younger than Yi Zhonghai, but he already has four children, the youngest of whom, Yan Jiedi, was just born this year.

He had been married to Wang Guihua for over twenty years but had no children, which naturally raised questions.

Only Yi Zhonghai himself knows the answer to this question.

Yi Zhonghai had tried many things over the years in order to have children, but it wasn't until a few years ago that he learned he was infertile due to his physical condition and would probably never have his own bloodline to continue.

This was undoubtedly a huge blow to Yi Zhonghai, who had always wanted a descendant.

For a man, this is something even more difficult to talk about.

If word got out, he would lose his dignity as a man and have to endure gossip and societal judgment, which was clearly unacceptable to Yi Zhonghai.

Simultaneously.

He was also afraid that if Wang Guihua found out about this, she would leave him.

So, not long after learning the truth, Yi Zhonghai secretly bribed an old Chinese medicine doctor to lie to Wang Guihua, saying that she had a health problem, which was why the two of them had never had children. In this way, he could save face as a man and completely tie Wang Guihua down.

With this constraint, coupled with her lack of independent economic means, Wang Guihua had no choice but to rely on him and follow him even more devotedly.

To the outside world, they claimed that Wang Guihua was in poor health and therefore needed to take medication for a long time.

In reality, Wang Guihua's health is not seriously compromised. It was Yi Zhonghai who tricked her into taking traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for fertility in order to further bind and manipulate her.

Because of this, Wang Guihua always thought it was her problem and never had any doubts.

Meanwhile, people were secretly speculating and gossiping that the Chinese medicine Wang Guihua was taking was the same medicine she and Yi Zhonghai used to have a child, and the focus of public opinion quietly shifted to her.

Yi Zhonghai, the instigator, remained calm and collected, keeping a low profile.

To this day, Wang Guihua remains completely unaware of the truth.

later.

Yi Zhonghai and Wang Guihua, a married couple, decided to take care of Jia Dongxu, an orphan and widow, in their old age.

Later, He Daqing's escape gave Yi Zhonghai a double insurance plan.

As for why they don't adopt a child and raise them from a young age, it's naturally because the time and financial costs of raising a child to adulthood are too high.

When Yi Zhonghai discovered he was infertile, he was already forty years old.

By the time you raise your child to adulthood and they are truly ready to be of use, you'll be at least in your fifties, or even close to sixty.

By then, neither of them knew how many more years they had to live or how long they could enjoy their happiness.

If Yi Zhonghai had discovered the problem earlier, he wouldn't have had to place his hopes for retirement on "big kids" like Jia Dongxu and Sha Zhu.

Compared to her retirement plans, the previous conflicts with Li Hongbing were nothing.

They couldn't wait until the next day.

Not long after, Yi Zhonghai approached Sha Zhu.

"Shazhu, the old lady was discharged from the hospital today, but you don't seem to care much about her?"

Using the old lady's name, Yi Zhonghai began to probe Sha Zhu.

"Uncle Yi, are you trying to talk about why I didn't bring meat to the old lady today?"

As soon as Yi Zhonghai spoke, Sha Zhu thought of what happened that morning and felt wronged. He immediately protested, "Uncle Yi, it's not that I don't care about my wife, it's just that she ignores me. I told her this morning that I would buy meat next time and cook it for her, but she was unhappy."

I bought this braised pork especially for Yushui today. I promised it, and I couldn't go back on my word as her older brother, could I?

Yi Zhonghai was not satisfied with Sha Zhu's explanation and continued to probe, "I'm afraid this meat isn't just for Yu Shui alone, is it?"

Obvious.

Sha Zhu didn't tell him the whole truth.

Before he returned, his wife had already told him about Yushui bringing meat to Li Hongmei.

"Uncle Yi, I knew I couldn't hide this from you."

When Yi Zhonghai exposed him, Sha Zhu scratched his head awkwardly and said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's not that I deliberately wanted to hide it from you, but you know about your relationship with Hong Bing now... it's not easy for me to be caught in the middle."

Sister Hongmei has always taken good care of Yushui, and she always thinks of her when there's something good to eat, but I've never reciprocated. If Yushui hadn't reminded me, I would have been considered an ungrateful person..."

Hearing Sha Zhu's confession, Yi Zhonghai felt relieved.

Although Sha Zhu always spoke highly of Li Hongmei and her brother, which made Yi Zhonghai somewhat uncomfortable, as long as they didn't become estranged from him, things hadn't reached the worst point.

“Shazhu, you don’t need to concern yourself with what happened between me and Hongbing. There’s a misunderstanding here. Hongbing has misunderstood and is prejudiced against me. Of course, I also made some mistakes. It’s hard to explain in a few words, anyway…”

Yi Zhonghai knew that speaking ill of Li Hongmei and Li Hongbing now would only have the opposite effect.

His first priority was to stabilize his image in Sha Zhu's eyes.

Even if it's not as glorious as before, we must make Sha Zhu accept it and feel that he has been misunderstood and has his own reasons.

As for the relationship between Sha Zhu and the Li siblings, he would figure it out slowly; there was no need to rush it.

“Uncle Yi, I knew you had a broad perspective. This Hongbing is young and inevitably a bit impetuous. Please be understanding and don’t hold grudges against him. With time, the misunderstanding will gradually be resolved.”

Yi Zhonghai's statement made Sha Zhu very happy.

Both sides had been kind to him, and what Sha Zhu really wanted to see was for Yi Zhonghai and Li Hongbing to each take a step back and shake hands in reconciliation.

He had tried to persuade Li Hongbing before, but Li Hongbing wouldn't listen.

If Yi Zhonghai is willing to make concessions, things might take a turn for the better.

Hearing Sha Zhu speak up for Li Hongbing and even urge him to give in, Yi Zhonghai smiled, but almost couldn't hold back his anger.

Hasn't he suffered enough losses at Li Hongbing's hands?
Now they want him to withdraw?

"I'm fine with it, but I don't know about Li Hongbing's side..."

Yi Zhonghai was unhappy, but knowing Li Hongbing's personality, he knew he wouldn't back down, so he used a tactic of retreating to advance.

"That works!"

Sha Zhu was overjoyed and grinned, showing off his big white teeth, saying, "Uncle Yi, I'll find some time later to go with you to find Li Hongbing, and we can talk things out face to face."

If I step in, and you say a few kind words and lower your head, I think Hongbing will be understanding because of your sincerity.

By then, all your past grievances with Li Hongbing will be wiped clean, and everyone will be happy!

Should I apologize to him?

Upon hearing what Sha Zhu meant, Yi Zhonghai was stunned.

He had just said he would make concessions, but it was mostly just talk. He didn't expect Sha Zhu to push his luck so much that he had to back down to this point.

This is no different from surrendering directly and submitting to Li Hongbing.

I'm in such a miserable state now, all thanks to Li Hongbing.

I haven't even had a chance to settle accounts with him yet, and now I have to humiliate him like this?
At this moment.

Yi Zhonghai had a string of "mmp"s in his mind, and wanted to give a friendly greeting to Sha Zhu.

(End of this chapter)