The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

"Aunt, this is my former colleague." Darong blushed and replied with a smile.

Aunt Liu was an experienced person and could tell at a glance whether they were a good match or not. Looking at Da Rong’s slightly blushing face, she did not try to expose him.

"Oh, hello, colleague. Hello, colleague."

Aunt Liu walked into her kitchen while talking and laughing.

After hearing Darong's explanation, Pei Bin felt somewhat unhappy. He said goodbye to Darong and rode away from the Nanjian dormitory area.

Darong noticed Pei Bin's unhappiness, and was thinking about finding an opportunity to tell her family about it.

"Please go slowly. I will teach that little bastard a lesson when he comes back."

Darong had just arrived at the door of her house when she happened to see her mother seeing someone off. Darong looked up and saw that the person coming out of her house was an old man, leaning on a wooden stick in his hand.

"Mom, who is this?"

After seeing the old man off, Darong went into the house with her mother. She looked at her mother's face and guessed which of her younger brothers had caused trouble again.

"No one. I just came here to complain."

Darong's mother sighed. She was already busy enough plucking hair during the day and working at night. None of these children were worry-free.

"What's the trouble again?" Darong changed her clothes and sat down to help remove the hair.

Darong's mother sat on the kang and had no intention of picking the feathers. She just kept snorting.

"Don't be angry yet. It's almost noon. Come back and ask. You can't just listen to the old man."

Darong didn’t know what trouble Huazi had caused, but seeing her mother like this, she probably knew she would be beaten again.

Darong's mother didn't say anything else, but continued to sit back on the bench and pick the hair.

"Mom, we are back."

As soon as noon arrived, Sibei was the first to run home to eat. School had already started. Sibei's school was the closest to his home, so he was naturally the first to arrive home.

"Fourth generation, come and help me."

When he saw Sibeier coming in, Darong called him into the kitchen first.

"Well, here we come."

"Hua Zi, I don't know what trouble you got into today. An old man came to our house this morning. I think our mother is very angry. You go to the entrance of the alley to meet him and tell him not to argue with our mother."

After Darong called Sibei in, she whispered to him.

"Mom, my stomach hurts. Let me go to the bathroom first." Sibei made an excuse and went out.

Darong's mother cleaned up the side job in the house and ignored Sibei. How could a mother not see through his little trick?

Sibei had just reached the entrance of the alley when Huazi and Xiaoying walked past. He quickly walked forward to meet them.

"Brother? Why are you here?" Xiaoying saw Sibei and greeted him happily.

"Why did you two come back together? What did you do this morning? My sister said an old man came to visit our family."

The fourth brother looked at Xiaoying, then turned to the third brother and asked.

"Fuck, how does he know our family?" The third brother said with a frown when he heard it.

"Because of what?"

"I had diarrhea on my way to school this morning, so I went to the toilet. I knocked over the old man's walking stick. I didn't mean to do it, but he wouldn't give up. I got so anxious that I kicked it and broke it, and I threw it into the toilet."

Huazi smacked his lips and said with a look of disdain.

"Haha, if our mother asks you about this later, you must not have this attitude. Admit your mistake and be humble. Don't be stubborn."

The fourth brother thought it was not a big deal and instructed the third brother.

"That old man is so hypocritical. I knocked him down insincerely and apologized to him, but he kept complaining to me. Even if I was wrong, I can't catch a toad and make it pee!"

The instructions of four generations had no effect on the third son. As soon as Darong's mother asked a question, the third son started to talk.

"You son of a bitch, you think you're right, did you break someone's walking stick and throw it into the toilet?"

Darong's mother wasn't that angry to begin with, but the third brother's scolding only added fuel to the fire. While she was still talking, she walked to the door and picked up a broom.

Xiaoying was so scared that she stood in the corner and dared not say a word. Sibei hurried forward and grabbed the broom in Darong's mother's hand.

"Mom, mom, don't be angry, don't be angry..."

"Mom, don't be angry. Huazi is already in his teens. He has always been a reasonable person. The old man must be very hypocritical."

Darong also quickly stepped forward and grabbed her mother.

"Hua Zi, stop being stubborn and be humble to our mother. It's not right for you to get kicked by someone." Darong turned around and said to the third child.

"If he doesn't scold me, I won't kick his cane. Oh, it's okay for him to scold me? Just because he's old and he doesn't have a mother to beat him, he can be the king?"

The third brother became stubborn again and argued with his neck stiffened and his eyebrows glared.

"You bastard, why did I give birth to such a stubborn thing like you?"

As Darong's mother spoke, she raised her arm and swung the broom at the third child. It was unknown whether the third child was hit or not, but Darong took the blow pretty well.

No one got to eat lunch. Before leaving, Darong gave each of her younger brothers and sisters a steamed bun and sent them to school.

Darong's mother lay on the bed with her eyes closed to recuperate. After all, she was old, and it was really tiring to fight with these children.

"Mom, you should get up and eat something too."

Darong brought a bowl of porridge and placed it on the table. Although she did not approve of her mother's hot temper that would hit people when she was angry, she was her mother after all, and she still felt sorry for her from the bottom of her heart.

"Is my eldest sister home?"

Before Darong's mother could recover from the shock, a guest came outside.

"Hey, I'm at home, come in." Although I haven't seen who the person is yet, it's always right to respond first.

Darong's mother stood up and walked to the door of the house. She saw that the person standing in the yard was her neighbor Guifen from her natal side. When they were young, the two of them often talked together, but after Guifen married and moved to the city, they had few opportunities to meet.

"Oh, Guifen, I thought someone had come. How come you have time to come here? Come on, come in quickly."

"No, big sister. I'm just going back to my parents' home. This is something my aunt asked me to bring you. I won't sit down. Something happened at my parents' home. I came back to sit down. I have to hurry over."

Guifen did not enter the house, but just put down her things and left.

The aunt Guifen mentioned is Darong's mother's biological aunt. Because Darong's mother was adopted by her uncle, except for her parents, all other relatives are biological.

Darong's great aunt lived in the city. At that time, transportation between the city and the southern suburbs was not very convenient, but Darong's mother would take time to visit her aunt twice every year. She said that when she was a child, she was often beaten by her uncle and adoptive father, and it was her aunt who protected her the most.

"Oh, there's coffee!" Darong opened the cloth bag and took out a can of coffee from it with surprise.

My great aunt was really kind to Darong's family. The bag was full of fresh things that were not available in the southern suburbs. At that time, the urbanization process had just started, and the difference between the urban area and the suburbs was quite obvious.

Nowadays people have various interpretations of the word "experience", but at that time, the meaning of experience was very simple: children in the village could not eat the fruits in the town, and children in the town could not taste the coffee in the city.