The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

"Yesterday, Zhou Xiaomei came to my house. She said she would get married in the first month of the lunar calendar. The date is set for the eighth day of the second lunar month. Did you know that?"

Darong did not answer Pei Bin's question, but directly mentioned Zhou Xiaomei. Zhou Xiaomei's boyfriend worked at the paper mill and worked with Pei Bin's father.

"Yes, I know. His family even asked me to help with cooking." Pei Bin was a little confused by Darong's question.

“Let’s not develop too fast.”

Pei Bin immediately understood what Darong meant. Darong was just 18 years old, four years younger than himself, and there were still two years before the registration age.

Darong was a little timid because of Zhou Xiaomei's incident. Now Zhou Xiaomei's reputation is ruined. The happy event that was originally tacitly agreed by both parents has now become a topic of conversation after dinner. In that era when people's words were terrifying, both families were under tremendous mental pressure.

Pei Bin didn't know how to respond for a moment, and the two of them just walked forward.

When they were almost at the dormitory of the small hospital, a figure suddenly jumped out from Darong's side. Darong was frightened by the figure and subconsciously hid in Pei Bin's direction.

Pei Bin was actually also startled, but he put his arm around Darong and blocked her behind him.

When the two of them saw clearly, they found that the person who jumped out was a white-haired old lady wearing a blue cloth shirt with a double-breasted collar.

"She is a psychopath, let's go." Darong pulled Pei Bin's arm and wanted to leave the alley quickly.

Although this white-haired old lady didn't hit people, she always wore a blue cloth shirt with a front opening from old times, and with her pure white hair tied in a bun, she could scare people every time she appeared.

After hearing what Darong said, Pei Bin put his arm around Darong's shoulders and held her to his side, and the two of them walked forward quickly.

After walking a distance, Darong looked back. The white-haired old lady had her arms outstretched, her whole body pressed tightly against the wall in a cross shape, her eyes fixed on the direction they were leaving, which made Darong feel goosebumps on her back.

"This wife is so scary." Pei Bin said with a sigh of relief after turning out of the alley.

Darong was actually scared just now. Although she had always known that there was a white-haired old lady living there, she still couldn't control the fear in her heart when she saw her for the first time.

"She is actually a miserable person." Darong took a step aside and got out of Pei Bin's arms.

Pei Bin didn't realize it at first, and just subconsciously held Darong in his arms. Darong's struggle at this moment reminded Pei Bin to savor that soft and fragrant scent.

Pei Bin followed Darong with a suppressed smile, having absolutely no interest in listening to her story about the white-haired old lady.

"…After the man abandoned her, she went crazy."

Darong talked a lot, and Pei Bin only heard the last sentence.

"She's really pitiful." Pei Bin echoed, looking at Darong from time to time.

"Sister, the main road is just ahead. Is Brother Pei still coming with us?" The third brother asked with a sly smile as he sat on a big rock and watched Darong and Pei Bin turning out of the alley.

"Oh, no, I'll go first. You guys drive slowly on your way." Pei Bin looked at the third brother's slightly nervous answer.

Pei Bin couldn't understand why he didn't feel nervous when he hugged Darong just now, but now when facing this little kid, he felt his palms sweating.

"Okay, goodbye, Brother Pei." The third brother stood up, jumped off the big rock, and came to Darong.

After watching Pei Bin pedaling away, Darong reached out and poked the third brother on the head.

"Don't talk nonsense when we get home. Where is your brother?" Darong only saw the third brother but not the fourth brother.

"My brother has diarrhea and went to the toilet first. He asked me to wait for you to come and then go to see him together." The third brother took out a melon seed from his pocket, put it in his mouth and started to eat it.

When Darong and Lao San walked to the big toilet, Sibei was sitting on the curb waiting for them.

"You two are so slow. It took me a long time to finish my poop and you just came." After seeing Darong and Lao San, Sibeier quickly got up from the ground and complained.

"It's not me. I've also been sitting on that big rock for a long time, and my butt is sore." The third brother laughed and glanced at Darong.

"I wonder which hurts more, the bruise or the beating." Darong raised her hand and slapped the third child on the butt in annoyance. The three siblings talked and laughed, and soon they arrived at their grandmother's house in Zhouzhuang.

"Happy New Year, grandma." The fourth and third brothers shouted to grandma as soon as they entered the yard.

Although grandma came out to greet them cheerfully, the three children still sensed the subtlety of the atmosphere.

After Darong paid New Year's greetings to her grandmother, she took off her cotton coat and helped Darong's mother clean up and cook. After Darong's grandmother's forced smile faded, she sat dejectedly at the head of the bed in a daze.

Darong looked at the family's faces without saying anything. When the meal was almost ready, she secretly called Xiaoying over when her mother came into the room.

"What's wrong with grandma?" Darong asked Xiaoying in a low voice.

"My aunt had a fight with grandma. She didn't even come to this room during the New Year, which made grandma very angry." Xiaoying whispered mysteriously in Darong's ear.

"Why?"

Grandma Darong and her uncle lived next door to each other in the same yard, which was actually no different from living together.

"Because grandma forgot to buy eggs on the 30th, she took an egg from her room and only told my uncle, but my uncle didn't tell her. When she came back and counted the eggs, she found one was missing, so she had a fight with grandma."

"What about our uncle?"

"My uncle was at work at the time. When he came back, the fight was over."

"Didn't he tell my aunt that he knew that grandma took the eggs?"

"Grandma said that he didn't dare to speak after he came back. His wife insisted on divorcing him and pointed at her nose and called grandma a thief." Xiaoying pouted. Although she was young, she looked down on her uncle in her heart.

Because of the poor financial situation of Darong's grandmother's family, her uncle was 27 years old before he got married. At that time, it was considered a very difficult situation. After he married his wife, he treated her like an ancestor and no one dared to offend her in any way.

When my eldest uncle got married, my grandmother took my second aunt and third uncle to give up the main house for him to use for his wedding. Later, my second aunt got married, leaving only my third uncle and my grandmother.

"Then get divorced, as if she will be so glorious after the divorce." Darong said angrily.

Divorce was a very shameful thing in the 80s. If word spread that a couple was getting divorced, everyone in the village would talk about it behind their backs.

"Our uncle? He doesn't have that kind of backbone." Xiaoying pouted. He knew everything in his mind.

Darong had just finished cooking when my second aunt and uncle came home with their children.

My second aunt married far away, and there was no better means of transportation at that time, so my second uncle would ride his bike to bring my second aunt and little cousin here, and they would not arrive until noon every year.