The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Darong took Sibei'er's clothes and found needle and thread to help him mend them. If Darong's mother came back and saw this, she would either be scolded or beaten.

While picking wool, Qiaozhen continued to chat about gossip about the neighbors. With Qiaozhen around, the afternoon passed quickly.

It was not until dark that Qiaozhen saw Darong was about to get up to cook, so she said goodbye and went home.

"She's really good at talking. She hasn't shut up since she came back from fighting me this afternoon." Sibei said as he collected the wool.

"It's not the first day you've known Sister Qiaozhen. She alone can take on an entire folk art troupe. I really don't understand how our sister could become friends with her and have such a good relationship with her."

The third brother lifted the curtain and walked out of the inner room. He disliked Qiaozhen for talking too much, so after cleaning up the dishes at noon, he went into the inner room with Xiaoying and lay down.

I don't know when I fell asleep, and I didn't wake up until Sibei came back. But because Qiaozhen was there, he just lay there and didn't come out.

The third brother helped the fourth brother to pack the picked wool together and wait for the work to be done tomorrow.

"Who did you fight with today? Why are your clothes torn like that?"

Today is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. Darong took a basin and poured the sticky dough she bought after get off work into the basin to prepare for steaming rice cakes.

"Fight with Dajiang." Sibei said in a muffled voice.

Dajiang and Darong were classmates. Their families lived in neighboring houses. Darong slept next door to Dajiang's house. The two families had a good relationship since childhood.

"With Brother Dajiang? Why?" The third brother seemed to be more surprised than Darong.

Darong knew Dajiang too well. They had been attending the same primary school and junior high school since childhood. Later, when taking the high school entrance exam, Darong failed to get into a key high school by a few points, so she dropped out of school. Dajiang, on the other hand, was admitted to a technical secondary police school.

"Don't mention it. He was so mean to send chicken feathers in." Sibei sat on the bench angrily with his head hung.

Ji Mao is a good friend of Sibeier and the son of a worker in the Nanjian dormitory. They were also classmates in elementary school and had always played together.

In fact, Darong didn't have a very good impression of Ji Mao. The kid always liked to look at people with the side of his eyes, his parents were not very nice, and he had a very bad reputation in the dormitory.

"Jimao was showing off to us today about the candies he got from the grocery store, and Dajiang happened to find out. He was really mean, and after getting all the information out of Jimao, he went to his house to see his 'trophies' and then tied him up and sent him to the police station."

"It's your fault. Jimao did it himself. Mom has long told you not to play with him."

Darong understood the whole story as soon as she heard it. Ji Mao's father was a famous "thief" in Nanjian. He had stolen things from everyone's house, and he never cared about other people's comments about his family.

How could such a family raise a good child? This Ji Mao has been a stealer since he was young. That is the silly boy Sibei, who treated Ji Mao as his brother just because Ji Mao helped him fight twice. Now he is even paying attention to standing up for the weak and being loyal to each other.

"That can't be done. This is betrayal. If Ji Mao didn't trust him, how could he show him so many things in his home?"

Sibei'er still couldn't calm down. When he was complaining to his sister, he heard crying, shouting and cursing from the backyard.

Ji Mao's parents had just returned from the police station, and they started cursing in the backyard, facing the small back window of Dajiang's house.

"Sister, listen, it seems like he's really going to be sent to a juvenile detention center." The third sister listened for a while with her ear tilted, then turned her head and said with wide eyes.

Darong also understood what he heard. It seemed that the stolen things were not as simple as Sibei said. It was enough to be sentenced. It was estimated that the amount was not small.

"Fourth brother, you are not allowed to mention this matter again or participate in it. Your brotherhood can never be greater than the law. He has committed a crime. Dajiang is from the police academy. How can you protect him?"

Darong stopped what she was doing and looked at Sibei very seriously and gave instructions.

Darong always protects her younger brothers and sisters. No matter who gets into trouble, Darong will take on the responsibility herself. Therefore, her younger brothers and sisters respect their sister very much and listen to her.

"We have to distinguish right from wrong when it comes to righteousness. I think our sister is right. He did it himself. Don't blame Brother Dajiang." The third brother has always been reasonable, so this time he also felt that his brother was wrong.

Sibei listened to what his sister and brother said, hummed sullenly, and continued to sit under the window listening to the swearing in the backyard.

Because it was just time to get off work, the people working in the front and back yards had not yet returned home, and there should be only the children at Dajiang's house, so the scolding of Jimao's parents became more and more unpleasant.

Dajiang is the oldest child in the family. He held his younger brothers and sisters, locked the door and did not go out, leaving his Jimao parents cursing at the back window of his house.

After cursing for a while, people who were getting off work started to come back one after another. Before everyone even reached the entrance of the alley, they could hear the crying, shouting and cursing.

Because no one knew the reason, the first reaction was to listen to see if the scolding was directed at their own family.

After making sure that the person was not scolding their family, they went home to open the door, either walking or pushing a cart. Unexpectedly, no one came forward to persuade them, which shows how bad the popularity of this family is in Nanjian.

It was not until Darong's parents entered the alley that Darong's mother went forward and tried to persuade Jimao's mother, who was still crying.

Darong's father is the team leader, so he knows the reason why Jimao's father asked for leave.

When the police found the team, they first looked for the team leader. Darong's father called Jimao's father and Dajiang's father over, and the police explained the whole story to the two of them in person.

After the police left, Ji Mao's father ran around for the whole afternoon but couldn't find any way to help Ji Mao. The final result was that the amount of money Ji Mao stole constituted a crime and he might have to be sent to a juvenile detention center for reeducation through labor.

After the panic, Ji Mao's parents were left with only powerless grief and anger. They returned to the dormitory and vented all their anger on Dajiang.

"Sister-in-law, the law is there. Our child has made a mistake after all. He needs to reform himself in the future and he will still be a good child when he comes back."

Darong’s mother isn’t really good at persuading people, and with something like this happening it’s even harder to persuade them.

"It turns out that this is not your child. You are grinding your teeth without any pain, but you sound so relaxed." Ji Mao's mother cried and snotted but still didn't forget to scold him.

Seeing her ungrateful look, Darong's mother's anger was rising, but thinking that she was worried about her child, she suppressed it and stopped trying to persuade her.

At this time, Dajiang's father had already picked up Dajiang's mother who had returned to her parents' home. Along the way, Dajiang's father had told her the whole story.

Dajiang's mother is not someone who will swallow her anger. Jimao's parents are worried about their child, but what Dajiang did was right.

She had already made up her mind along the way that if Jimao's parents dared to provoke her family, she would never tolerate them.