Yi Zhonghai's Siheyuan

Without Sha Zhu's help in this life, Qin Huairu's life is particularly difficult. She has finally followed Deputy Director Li for several years, but now he doesn't even pay attention to her. The failure of her plot against Xu Wu caused Qin Huairu's reputation to plummet. Now Qin Huairu can't get anything in return just by getting things for free, and everyone knows that Qin Huairu can get anything in return by giving small gifts.

Jia Zhang was pasting paper boxes at home. She still had some money left by old Jia when he died. While Qin Huairu was at work, Jia Zhang occasionally went out to have a snack.

Xiaodang and Huaihua were not so lucky. Their grandmother would never take them out to eat. The family hadn't eaten meat or white flour buns for a long time. Sometimes Xiaodang could only take Huaihua to smell the aroma of fried meat coming from other people's homes.

Qin Huairu returned home from work today and saw that Jia Zhang had just made some matchboxes. She was so angry that she started scolding Jia Zhang. For a while, there was a noise in the Jia family again.

Now, Jia Zhang no longer dares to bully Qin Huairu, because she knows that this family will fall apart without Qin Huairu. She can only swallow her anger and wait for her grandson Banggeng to come out. Then she will drive Qin Huairu out and let Banggeng take over Jia Dongxu's position to support herself.

Qin Huairu looked at Jia Zhang with eyes wide open and said, "What's wrong with you? How many matchboxes did you make when I asked you to? I'm telling you, if you don't make me a matchbox worth 2 cents today, you can forget about sleeping."

Jia Zhang had no choice but to beg, "Huai Ru, I'm old now and my eyesight isn't that good anymore. Can you please let me go? I promise to be more diligent in the future."

Qin Huairu was too lazy to pay attention to Jia Zhang's begging for mercy. She opened the lunch box and found three white flour buns inside. These three white flour buns were bought for her by Lao Qian, who cleaned the toilet. Qin Huairu looked at Lao Qian's stench and gritted her teeth and let Lao Qian start to eat them. After Qin Huairu got the white flour buns, she couldn't bear to eat them herself and thought of taking them home for Xiaodang and Huaihua.

When Jia Zhang saw the white steamed buns, her greed came out again. She trotted to the table and said, "Huai Ru, Mom wants to eat one too. Is that okay?"

Qin Huairu: "I told you, if you don't make a 2-cent matchbox today, you'll go hungry. You have to make all the matchboxes before I go to sleep today."

When Jia Zhang heard this, she was also angry and said, "Qin Huairu, are you targeting me on purpose? I'm going to go to the neighborhood office and sue you for disrespecting the elderly and abusing your mother-in-law."

Qin Huairu also said loudly, "Go ahead. If you dare to go to the street office and report me today, I will go back to the countryside tomorrow. You can just starve here."

When Jia Zhang heard Qin Huairu using this trick to pressure her again, she had no choice but to give in. However, she was greedy, so she glared at Xiaodang and Huaihua.

Huaihua was still young and didn't understand what was going on, but Xiaodang did. She knew that her grandmother wanted her to give the steamed buns to eat. Xiaodang was not stupid either. After Qin Huairu went to work, only Jia Zhang was left at home, so Xiaodang tore the bun in half and gave it to Jia Zhang, saying, "Grandma, you eat it."

Qin Huairu didn't say anything when she saw her daughter like this. Jia Zhang started to take half of the white flour bun and ate it quickly like a ginseng fruit. While eating, Jia Zhang was complaining in her heart why Xiaodang didn't give her the whole thing. Xiaodang was so young that he and Huaihua could just eat half each.

Qin Huairu came to the place where the grain was stored and found that there was not much corn flour left. It was not enough for the four people in the family to eat tonight. Qin Huairu was thinking about how to get some food.

After thinking for a while, it really occurred to her that she would be able to borrow some money if she knocked on every door. After all, not everyone in this courtyard was as indifferent as Yi Zhonghai.

Qin Huairu, who had thought of a solution, took a bowl and began to borrow grain from every household in the yard. The Zhao, Wang, and Zhou families in the front yard all gave Qin Huairu some grain in varying degrees.

Qin Huairu came to the central courtyard again. After struggling for several times, she finally made up her mind and knocked on the door of Sha Zhu's house. Sha Zhu was eating in the house. When he heard the knock on the door, he went out and saw that it was Qin Huairu. Sha Zhu was so scared that he quickly closed the door.

Qin Huairu was knocking on the door outside and yelling, "Zhuzi, Zhuzi! Please open the door! My family really can't make ends meet anymore. Xiaodang and Huaihua have no food to eat."

Yang Yuhuan in the room also heard Qin Huairu's call at the door. She was very satisfied with Sha Zhu's performance, so she walked over, opened the door and said to Qin Huairu, "Qin Huairu, look, I have three children. I can barely support my own children with Zhu's salary. How can I lend you food?"

Qin Huairu looked at Yang Yuhuan and said, "Yuhuan, I know your family is in a difficult situation, but I can't do anything about it. Please help me."

Yang Yuhuan: "Qin Huairu, who is talking to your sister? You borrowed so much money from Zhuzi before and I haven't settled the account with you yet. Now you dare to come to my house to borrow food? I have to report this to the street office."

When Qin Huairu heard Yang Yuhuan bringing up old matters, she was not stupid. She knew that Yang Yuhuan was a person who could really do what she said, so Qin Huairu did not dare to disturb the He family for dinner and went to other people's homes to borrow money instead.

Only two families in the Central Courtyard were willing to lend to her. These two families had a good relationship with Old Jia in the past, but later because of Jia Zhang's family's reasons, the two families rarely interacted with each other.

Qin Huairu saw that the corn flour she had was not enough to eat, so she took a bowl and went to the backyard to borrow some food. When Qin Huairu arrived at Liu Haizhong's house, Liu Haizhong was beating his two children at home. Qin Huairu knocked on the door and said, "Second uncle, I came to borrow some food from you."

When Liu Haizhong's wife heard that Qin Huairu was coming, she hurried to tell Liu Haizhong not to borrow anything. Liu Haizhong ignored his wife's words. He felt very happy when he heard Qin Huairu call him "Second Uncle". Since he was no longer the Second Uncle, no one had called him that anymore.

Liu Haizhong pushed open the door and saw Qin Huairu's pitiful eyes and her rising and falling chest. He was dazzled for a moment, but soon calmed down and said, "Qin Huairu, I'm very happy that you can call me Second Uncle, but I don't like it if you just ask me to borrow something without any reason."

Liu Haizhong's wife next to him kept calling him to go home, but Liu Haizhong just wouldn't listen. His mind was full of Qin Huairu calling him "Second Uncle".

Qin Huairu could only say aggrievedly, "Second uncle, please, for Dongxu's sake, please lend us some corn flour."

Wow, as if Liu Haizhong, who was addicted to drugs, lost himself in the constant shouting of "Second Uncle". Liu Haizhong looked at Liu Guixiang behind him and said, "Wife, go to the room and get 20 kilograms of corn flour for Huairu."

Liu Guixiang wanted to say something, but when she saw the look in Liu Haizhong's eyes, she didn't dare to continue. She could only glare at Qin Huairu secretly, thinking that she was a shameless slut.

Liu Haizhong was still thinking about what to say to Qin Huairu. Qin Huairu also understood the look in Liu Haizhong's eyes, but she still wanted to keep Liu Haizhong hanging, so she pretended not to understand.

Liu Guixiang brought the cornmeal and gave it to Liu Haizhong. When Liu Haizhong gave it to Qin Huairu, he whispered in her ear, "See you in the cellar tonight."