The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

After paying the hospital fees, Darong had less than ten yuan left in her pocket. Zhong Yunxing was unable to go to work because he had stayed in the hospital with her.

After settling Uncle Seven and Aunt Seven, the two of them came out of the hospital together.

"How much money is left?" Zhong Yunxing knew that Darong's salary was not much to begin with, and she had paid a lot of hospital expenses this time, so there would probably not be much left.

"There's still more than eight dollars left."

Zhong Yunxing didn't say anything else and continued to ride his bike towards Erdaohezi with Darong.

Today is the sixth day of the Chinese New Year, and the family members who went to visit relatives in Dacheng have all returned. As soon as the two entered the yard, they saw the house was steaming hot and brightly lit.

"Mom and Dad, you're back." Darong greeted her parents-in-law cheerfully as she entered the door.

Father Zhong nodded, smiled and continued to sit by the stove and make a fire. Father Zhong has a very honest and dull personality, so most of the time he is an invisible person in the family.

Apart from going out to do his side job every day, he sits in an inconspicuous corner at home and rarely talks to his children.

In addition, Darong was the new daughter-in-law, so the old man felt even more restrained.

Mother Zhong was packing up the steamed buns in the grain jar. When she saw Darong and the others come back, she smiled and said a few words to them.

After Darong and Zhong Yunxing returned to their rooms and changed their clothes, they came out to help Zhong's mother prepare dinner.

"Brother, where is the tape recorder in your room?" Xiaoping asked as she pulled aside the curtain from the east room.

"I gave it to Sibei to listen to. He's been into some band lately and bought a lot of tapes."

Zhong Yunxing had just taken the firewood from Zhong's father's hand and answered Xiaoping casually.

"Hey, you're bringing this back..."

Before Xiaoping could finish her words, Mr. Zhong, who had just stood up, pressed her head and went back to the east room with her.

Darong also learned the good tradition of pretending to be deaf and dumb from Mother Zhong, and continued to be busy with the work in her hands as if she didn't hear anything.

In fact, Darong has thought a lot in the past few days. Instead of being sad because of someone else's words, it is better to make herself stronger.

After dinner, Darong was watching TV with Xiaoping in the east room. Zhong Yunxing suddenly mentioned the matter of Uncle Qi to Zhong's mother.

"Why are you still in the hospital?" asked Mother Zhong with a slight frown.

"The doctor said it was an acute stage of diabetes. I don't really understand what the problem is."

Zhong Yunxing simply described to his mother the words he heard from the doctor. In that era, "diabetes" was still a very new medical term.

"Let's buy some eggs tomorrow and go take a look." Mother Zhong said to Father Zhong who was curled up in the corner.

"Yeah." Mr. Zhong answered sullenly, then got up and rummaged through the cabinets in the outer room.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll bring some buns to Lao Jiu and the others."

Although these buns are not precious delicacies, they are the most simple expression of emotion from Mr. Zhong. He has never been good at speaking, but he has never forgotten his family affection.

"Da Rong, if there is a suitable opportunity, just go with the flow. Don't always fight in the factory. You are in your period and you can't be angry all the time."

After Zhong Yunxing sent Darong to the factory gate, he gave Darong some instructions with concern.

"Okay, I get it, go to work now."

Darong entered the factory, changed her clothes and went into the workshop, when she saw several people standing next to her car.

Darong didn't know what was going on, so she slowed down and walked towards the crowd at a leisurely pace.

"Oh, Darong, you're here. Come sit down and take a rest."

Darong had never been treated so attentively before, and for a moment she had no idea what they were up to.

"No need, big sister. I just entered the workshop and I'm not tired yet."

Although she smiled gently, she was very alert in her heart. Darong glanced at the people in front of her, waiting for them to speak first.

However, the few people surrounding her were talking about other things. They either asked about her family situation or the trivial matters related to her pregnancy. They just didn't say anything serious.

Darong simply decided to remain unchanged in the face of change and cooperated with the performance of the group of people to see what they were going to do.

The awkward situation lasted for about ten minutes, and Ding Meiru came out of Director Lu's office with her eyes swollen like walnuts.

"Sister Rongzi, I was wrong. I shouldn't have not clarified the facts with Director Lu... Wuwuwu... Sister, please forgive me."

After Ding Meiru walked to Darong, she suddenly squatted on the ground with her face covered. After saying a word, she refused to look up and kept sobbing and crying.

Darong was completely confused. She kept blinking her eyes as she looked at Ding Meiru, whose attitude suddenly changed, and a group of attentive and enthusiastic colleagues around her.

"Da Rong, we all know that Director Lu misunderstood you. Ding Meiru has already gone to Director Lu to admit her mistake and clarify the facts. Don't be angry with her. After all, she is not the only one in our class."

The person who spoke was the class monitor on duty. She had accompanied Ding Meiru all the way from Director Lu.

After listening to her, Darong finally understood the reason.

It turned out that after Darong left yesterday, the news of her being wronged spread quickly throughout the factory. Everyone in the factory now knows that Darong kindly helped Ding Meiru, but was bitten back by her.

When Ding Meiru saw that someone testified for Darong and found out that she was the one who replaced the unfinished yarn with Darong first, she could no longer hold back her guilt.

For a while, the rumors in the factory quickly changed, and the originally pitiful Ding Meiru became the target of people's criticism.

"Da Rong, Director Lu now knows the whole story, but she is the director after all. She is so old, she can't come here in person to apologize to you. I will apologize to you on behalf of the director. Can we just leave it at that?"

After the squad leader explained everything to Darong, he smiled happily again.

The farce ended so hastily. Ding Meiru was transferred to another shift and she almost never met Darong again since then.

Director Lu no longer bothered Darong, and Darong's work seemed to have returned to normal during that period.

As for the person who stepped forward to testify for Darong, no one actually knows whether she really saw what happened.

Because Darong clearly remembered that on the day when she and Ding Meiru changed their veils, the witness's sister was transferred to the back warehouse to help early in the morning.

Therefore, the stories in this world have always been so complicated and intriguing.

However, from then on, Darong became synonymous with the "thorny head" in the textile factory.