The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Since the birth of Little Ruyi, Xiaoying and Lao San would come to Darong's house whenever they had time. Zhong Yunsheng and Zhong Yunping also went to Darong's house every now and then.

"Sister-in-law..." Xiaoping shouted through the window before she even entered the house.

"Xiao Ping, come in quickly."

As soon as Xiaoping entered the door, she put down the things in her bags and sat down on the sofa, panting from exhaustion.

"But I am so tired. I walked here."

"Ah? You walked all the way from Erdaohezi carrying so many things?" Xiaoying asked in disbelief, looking at the things on the ground and Xiaoping who was breathing heavily on the sofa.

"That's right, I was almost exhausted to death!"

"Where's Yunsheng? Why didn't he come with you?"

After the college entrance examination results came out this year, both Zhong Yunping and Zhong Yunsheng failed. Zhong's mother was afraid that Zhong Yunsheng would not be able to accept it, so she asked him to come to Darong with Xiaoping every time.

Zhong Yunsheng only smiles when he holds little Ruyi in his arms.

"My third brother has gone to work. He said he won't take the exam anymore. He said he doesn't have the luck to do it. He accepted it."

After listening to Xiao Ping's words, Darong felt more at ease. The fact that Zhong Yunsheng could say such words at least showed that he had let it go. In fact, sometimes people really can't fight against fate.

Zhong Yunsheng and Zhong Yunping only have one bicycle, no wonder Xiaoping had to walk here.

"Since you don't have a car, just wait until your third brother is at home and then come over. How far is this trip? What time did you leave?" Darong took out a bottle of soda from the refrigerator for Xiaoping.

"No, I miss Ruyi. I want to come here as soon as I don't see her for a day... hehe..."

After Xiaoping took two sips of soda, she moved closer to the third brother.

"I just held Ruyi in my arms, don't snatch it from me!" The third brother turned his back to Xiaoping for fear that she would snatch Ruyi from him.

"You're so stingy. I'll let you hold me for a while longer..." Xiaoping rolled her eyes and kicked the third brother's foot.

Darong looked at her younger brothers and sisters with amusement as they were fighting to hold the baby.

In fact, Zhong Yunping and the third brother are of the same age, so they have more common language when they are together.

Since the birth of little Ruyi, the third child, Xiaoping and Xiaoying have been able to meet each other frequently at Darong's house. Especially Xiaoying and Xiaoping, they have become close sisters.

In the evening, Zhong Yunhong, who had just got off work, came to Darong's house carrying a big bag of baby supplies.

"You all have discussed this beforehand. Now that you're all here, let's eat in my room!" Darong happily took the things from Zhong Yunhong's hand.

"I'm here to pick up Xiaoping. I guessed she was here." Zhong Yunhong smiled and raised his eyebrows at Zhong Yunping.

"Come on, I asked you to wait for me in the morning and you didn't even wait. How can you be so kind?" Xiaoping rolled her eyes at Zhong Yunhong in dissatisfaction.

Darong didn't know what kind of grudge this brother and sister had, she just kept smiling with her lips pursed.

Zhong Yunxing was originally on the early shift today and should have gotten off work in the afternoon, but he told Darong yesterday that there would be training at the factory today and he would be back late.

Darong didn't care much about it. While a group of people helped to look after the children, she went to the small kitchen to cook.

It was not until dark at night that Zhong Yunxing finally arrived home.

Darong had just cleaned and wrapped up the child. It was already nearly Mid-Autumn Festival and the weather was starting to get cooler at night.

As soon as Zhong Yunxing entered the room, he picked up Xiao Ruyi from the bed.

"You just came in and didn't even mention that you were facing away from the wind... Have you been drinking?" Darong complained and moved closer to Zhong Yunxing, only to find that he reeked of alcohol.

"I had dinner with my colleagues in the evening and drank a little." Zhong Yunxing replied with a smile.

"Put the child down first. You reek of alcohol and it will stink the child..." Darong hit Zhong Yunxing on the back.

"Okay, okay, okay. The child is afraid of alcohol, but is the mother afraid?"

After Zhong Yunxing put Xiao Ruyi on the bed, he turned around and hugged Da Rong behind him.

"Hey, you're just not behaving properly!" Zhong Yunxing's hug was too strong and Darong felt a little pain, so he laughed and scolded.

"It's been several days since the full moon...Da Rong..."

Zhong Yunxing was slightly tipsy, with a faint aroma of alcohol, and he whispered in a low voice into Darong's ear. An ambiguous atmosphere suddenly filled the entire room.

Darong's heartbeat accelerated involuntarily, and the warm breath stirred the throbbing deep in her heart...

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Darong returned to Erdaohezi for the first time carrying Ruyi.

In fact, it’s quite nice to return to the Zhong family. With the whole family surrounding little Ruyi, Darong can finally have some rest.

"Yunsheng, how is work? Are you tired?"

When Darong saw Zhong Yunsheng, she asked him about him with concern. The two had not met since he started working. She only heard from Xiaoping that he worked in a private steel rolling mill.

In fact, Zhong Yunsheng’s luck is not as good as his name suggests. Because he took the college entrance examination for three consecutive years, he missed the last wave of recruitment in state-owned factories.

Although he had a rural household registration, if he had a high school diploma, he could have taken the state-owned factory recruitment exam. After all, many private teachers at that time only had a junior high school education.

"That's it...tiring..."

As soon as Zhong Yunsheng said the word "tired", his mother Zhong in the outer room could no longer hold back and secretly wiped away her tears.

The steel rolling mill is a private factory, and the word "tiring" here is not something that a white-collar worker with back pain can understand.

Every Mid-Autumn Festival, Mother Zhong would "offer sacrifices to the moon" in the yard. She would put a table in the yard and fill it with fruits and sugar cakes to express her awe of the deity.

Among the offerings and fruits that have been removed, the one placed on top is called "gong jian'er", which represents the most blessed reward from the immortals. The elders are willing to save the gong jian'er for their children at home to eat.

"Furong, hurry up and eat the Gongjian. After you're done, feed our Ruyi well. All the blessings in our family belong to our precious Ruyi."

As soon as Mother Zhong brought in the offerings, she quickly picked out all the offering tips and gave them to Darong.

"Mom, you are so biased. In the past, we were able to get a top-notch job. This time, we all got what we wanted."

Xiaoping pouted happily and looked at Mother Zhong in a pretentious manner.

"That's right, no one can compare to my great Ruyi." Mother Zhong smiled like a flower as she looked at little Ruyi.

Seeing how the whole family loved and cared about Ruyi, Darong felt relieved.

She was originally worried that her Ruyi was a girl and would not be liked in the rural area where boys are valued more than girls, but now it seems that she was worrying too much.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Darong's family lived in Erdaohezi. After all, Ruyi was still young, and Mother Zhong did not allow them to walk with the child at night.

"I heard my dad mention a can factory that's hiring. It's also private, but the factory manager is familiar to my dad, and the work there is definitely easier than at a steel mill. Do you think Yunsheng can go?"

On the way home, Darong sat on the back seat of the bicycle holding her child, her mind still filled with the sad look on Zhong Yunsheng's face when he said the word "tired".