Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

"At least five hundred." Li Huaide narrowed his eyes, "We have to find the right person."

Qin Huairu took a deep breath - this was equivalent to her salary for more than a year without food or drink. But thinking of the words in Banggeng's letter, she gritted her teeth and said, "I'll find a way."

Li Huaide's hand had already reached under her work clothes: "Pay a deposit first?"

Two hours later, when Qin Huairu walked out of the small western-style building, her legs were still shaking. It was not because of what happened just now, but because of Li Huaide's last words: "Prepare 800 yuan, there may be a batch of sick leave quotas next month."

Eight hundred yuan!

Before daybreak, Qin Huairu got up quietly. She put on her most respectable navy blue coat in the dark and dragged out the biscuit box covered with thick dust from under the bed. The iron box made a "creaking" sound when it was opened, which frightened her whole body. She quickly turned around to look at the bed - fortunately, Xiaodang and Huaihua were sleeping soundly.

The moonlight leaked in through the gap in the curtains, shining on the two gold bars in the box, which shone with a cold and dim light. She had taken these out of Li Huaide's small warehouse three years ago, and she had never dared to touch them. Qin Huairu swallowed her saliva, and as soon as her fingers touched the gold bars, she retracted them as if they were burned.

"Great..." She silently chanted her son's name in her heart, and then she mustered up the courage to take out the gold bar, wrapped it in an old handkerchief, and stuffed it into a special secret pocket in her underwear. Eight hundred yuan! Two years' salary for an ordinary worker. If it weren't for her son...

"Squeak—"

The sound of the door hinges in the main room was particularly harsh in the quiet early morning. Qin Huairu held her breath and tiptoed out, but was almost tripped by a dark shadow when she stepped over the threshold.

"Ouch!" Qin Huairu covered her mouth and cried out.

"Qin Huairu, you are really capable to steal someone so early in the morning!" Jia Zhang sat cross-legged on the futon in the middle of the main room, her pair of triangular eyes flashing faintly in the darkness.

Qin Huairu's heart was beating so fast that it seemed to burst out of her chest: "Mom...Mom, why are you here?"

"I'm waiting to see how my daughter-in-law will bring shame to the Jia family!" Jia Zhang stood up suddenly, the Buddhist beads in her hand clattering, "She went out dressed up like a seductress before dawn. If she's not trying to steal someone, what else could she be doing?"

Qin Huairu then noticed that her mother-in-law was wearing a cotton-padded jacket and her hair was neatly combed. It was obvious that she had been waiting here for a long time. The rooster in the yard had just crowed for the first time, and the sky in the east was just beginning to turn pale.

"You misunderstood. I was going to..." Qin Huairu thought quickly, "to queue up at the vegetable market to buy tofu."

Jia Zhang sneered and suddenly reached out to pull Qin Huairu's collar: "Let me see what shameful things you have hidden inside!"

Qin Huairu stepped back in a hurry, her back hitting the door frame. The gold bars in her secret pocket hurt her ribs, and she held her chest tightly, "Mom! What are you doing!"

The noise woke up Xiaodang in the west room. The girl came out rubbing her eyes and immediately woke up when she saw this situation: "Grandma! Don't hit my mom!"

"Go back to sleep!" Jia Zhang turned her head and yelled, then turned back and stared at Qin Huairu, "Since Banggeng went to the countryside, you have been running out every other day. You only came back in the middle of the night yesterday, and you're going out again before dawn today. Do you really think I'm blind?"

Several houses in the yard turned on their lights, waking up the neighbors. Qin Huairu stamped her feet anxiously - if she delayed any longer, the pigeon market would be over.

"Mom, I have something urgent to do..." She tried to squeeze past her mother-in-law.

Jia Zhang grabbed her hair and said, "If you don't make it clear today, don't even think about leaving this house! Even though the Jia family has lost its man, we can't let you ruin the family's reputation!"

Qin Huairu's scalp was torn so hard that tears came out. She suddenly became ruthless and pushed Jia Zhang away: "Bang Geng is almost beaten to death in the countryside! I'm going to get money to save him! Are you satisfied?"

Jia Zhang staggered a few steps after being pushed, her eyes widened in disbelief: "You... you dare to do that?"

Xiaodang was so scared that he started to cry. Huaihua was also woken up and ran out barefoot to hug her sister's legs. Several houses in the yard opened their doors and some people looked out.

Qin Huairu gasped, her chest rising and falling violently. The edges of the gold bars pierced her flesh through the cloth, but she didn't feel any pain. The scenes of enduring humiliation over the years flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern - the difficulties of her mother-in-law, the gossip in the factory, selling herself for a little money... Everything was for this family, but who appreciated it?

"I'll say this one last time," Qin Huairu said word by word, "I'm going to save your grandson. If you stop me again, if anything happens to Bang Geng, it will be your fault!"

Jia Zhang froze in place as if struck by lightning. Qin Huairu took the opportunity to rush out of the courtyard, and heard her mother-in-law's heartbreaking cry and curse behind her: "Unlucky star! Not only did you kill my son, you also want to harm my grandson! What evil has the old Jia family committed..."

Qin Huairu wiped her face and found that it was covered with tears. She ignored the neighbors who turned on the lights in the yard and trotted to the entrance of the alley. The first bus would not arrive for another half an hour, and she could not wait any longer, so she gritted her teeth and decided to walk to the pigeon market.

As the sky gradually brightened, more people came onto the street. Qin Huairu turned up her collar to cover half of her face, and from time to time she pressed the hidden pocket on her chest. The gold bars were still there, heavy, like a piece of red-hot charcoal.

Turning around the back wall of the textile factory and crossing two alleys, you will find the legendary pigeon market. This was originally an abandoned warehouse area. Since when, it has become a place where people secretly trade scarce materials. Qin Huairu only heard the female workers in the workshop whispering that they could buy food coupons, industrial coupons, and even...

"stop."

An old man wearing a red armband suddenly appeared from behind the wall and blocked Qin Huairu's way: "What are you doing?"

Qin Huairu's heart skipped a beat: "I...I'm looking for relatives..."

The old man looked her up and down: "First time here?"

Seeing Qin Huairu nod, the old man stretched out two fingers and rubbed them together: "Two cents for the guide fee."

Qin Huairu hurriedly took out the money, and her heart skipped a beat when her fingers touched the gold bars. The old man took the money, turned around and led her around, and finally stopped in front of a row of dilapidated bungalows: "Go into the third room on the left, and don't say it was me who brought you."

The light in the bungalow was dim, and more than a dozen men and women were standing scattered around. No one spoke, and transactions were all done with eye contact and gestures. As soon as Qin Huairu entered the door, someone came over and whispered, "What goods do you have?"

"I..." Qin Huairu was so nervous that her tongue was tied, "I want to ask..."

"New here?" A middle-aged woman in work clothes pulled her aside, "Come with me."

The woman took her to a corner and lifted up her clothes to reveal half of a Shanghai watch: "70% new, 120 yuan."

Qin Huairu shook her head, looked around, and finally mustered up the courage to whisper to an older man who was dressed more respectably: "I... I have pornographic goods..."

The old man's eyes lit up immediately and he motioned for her to follow him. Passing through two curtains, they came to the inner room. There was a kerosene lamp lit here, and a balance and a small scale were placed on the table.

"Take it out and let me see it." The old man closed the door.

Qin Huairu's hands were shaking like a sieve, and she finally took out a gold bar from her secret pocket. The old man took it, weighed it, bit it gently with his teeth, and finally took out a small bottle and dripped a little liquid on it.

"It's in good condition." The old man narrowed his eyes, "Where did you get it from?"

"Ancestor...hereditary..." Qin Huairu's voice was weak.

The old man gave her a meaningful look and didn't ask any more questions. "The situation is tense right now, so it's hard to sell this thing. I'll give you 380 yuan at most for one."

Qin Huairu's eyes widened - the two together were less than eight hundred, not even the amount Li Huaide said. This was her last fortune!

“Can...can you give me more?” she begged, “My son is waiting for help...”