The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Since Darong started following Master Mao, the two have been getting along very well. Master Mao also likes Darong's personality. Although she has a bit of a temper, she is open-minded and not a pretentious child.

"Great! Congratulations, Master. You can collect your pension and have a good rest at home in the future." Although Darong was reluctant to part with Master Mao, retirement was something to be happy about for a front-line manual worker.

"It's true that I can get a pension, but I can't take it as a rest. I still have grandchildren to take care of at home. I'm afraid I'll be even busier."

Master Mao has five children in his family, the two older ones are daughters. After getting married and having children in the southern suburbs, most of them are taken care of by their grandmothers, so Master Mao’s work is not affected much.

However, after her eldest son got married and had a child, Master Mao's life became extremely busy. Except for working hours, she had to stay at home to take care of the child. Fortunately, because of her old age, the factory did not consider her as a main force.

Master Mao’s eldest daughter-in-law is actually a very good girl. At that time, she did not make things difficult for her mother-in-law. She even adjusted her shifts with the factory and cooperated with Master Mao so that one of them could always take care of the children.

However, since the second daughter-in-law became pregnant, the eldest daughter-in-law's attitude has subtly changed.

Master Mao tried his best to be considerate, but it was difficult for one person to please two people. Although they were still a harmonious family on the surface, behind the scenes, the two daughters-in-law and one mother were all complaining.

Darong often heard some helpless complaints from Master Mao, but she was just an unmarried girl after all, and could not comfort her master. Most of the time she was just an obedient listener.

Now that Master Mao has retired, he has to take care of his two grandsons himself.

"Master, I have survived the days of working and taking care of two children at the same time. Now that I am retired, it will be better than before."

Darong tried to comfort Master Mao, but her words were only bland statements because she did not understand that the difficulty of getting along between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was actually far more exhausting than raising children.

"Yeah, the children are all grown up and are getting easier to take care of." Master Mao also knew that Darong was just a little girl, and he responded happily to comfort himself.

"Rong, after I retire, try to have less contact with Director Lu and just work hard. I think her attention is not on you now, so don't provoke her."

"Well, don't worry, Master. I don't want to cause any trouble."

Ever since Director Lu hit the wall with Master Mao, he no longer dared to target Darong easily. Darong herself has the temper of a person who will do whatever it takes to keep her company, so she has had a stable job in the factory for such a long time.

But Master Mao was an experienced person and she knew Director Lu too well, so before retiring, she gave Darong another reminder in person.

The night shift is very torturous, especially for young girls and boys who are at the age when they like to sleep in. It takes two days of recovery to work a night shift.

Darong dragged her sleepy body home from get off work. As soon as she entered the yard, she saw Sibei with a bruise on his forehead preparing to go out.

"What's wrong with you? Did you fight with Xiao Ling again yesterday?"

"How dare she! Our dad hit me, I didn't dodge, and the kang broom was thrown on my head." After saying this, Sibeier chuckled twice.

"Why did our dad hit you again? What happened to you?"

"I drank too much... Oh... It's okay. Dad didn't expect that I didn't dodge. When has he ever hit me so hard? It was an accident, an accident."

The fourth generation hesitated and was not willing to explain the reason.

Darong parked the car in front of the door and leaned against the door frame, as if saying, "Don't even think about leaving if you don't tell me."

"Oh, sister, why are you so boring?"

"Yes, it's just such a boring thing, what happened?"

Seeing that Darong was not giving in, Sibeier stepped onto the courtyard wall and jumped out with one leg.

The wall of Darong's house was not very high to begin with, and Sibei'er was a young man in his prime. He was agile and quick in turning around, and it had to be said that he did look quite handsome.

Before Darong could react, Sibei had already trotted out of the alley.

“Hey! Hey…” Darong made two “eh” sounds, and when she saw that Sibei had long disappeared, she didn’t say anything else.

Darong simply tidied herself up, lay on the bed to rest for a while, and then got up to prepare food.

Lao San and Xiao Ying would come back for lunch at noon, so she usually prepared the food in advance, put it in the pot, and then go to sleep peacefully.

"Sister, let me do it. You can go into the room and go to sleep."

Darong was busy in the kitchen when Xiao Ling's voice suddenly rang out from behind her. Darong was so frightened that she jumped on the spot.

"Oh my god, you scared me... huh? What are you doing?"

When Darong turned around and saw Xiao Ling, she was so surprised that she swallowed back the second half of her sentence.

"Four generations ago, I was beaten..."

One side of Xiao Ling's cheek was swollen and there was a bruise at the corner of her mouth. She looked very embarrassed.

"This...this..."

After all, Sibei was Darong's younger brother, and Darong couldn't find any suitable words to scold him after trying for a long time.

"Sister, he just drank too much yesterday, and he blamed me for being a nagging person... Uncle already beat him yesterday, I'm fine."

Xiao Ling tried to force a smile, but it seemed that the scar at the corner of her mouth was pulled, and she hissed in pain.

So the four generations deserved to be beaten. After all, Xiao Ling was a girl. She hadn't even gotten married yet, but she was beaten like this. How would she live in the future if this really happened?

On the other hand, it is rare for Xiao Ling to be beaten before getting married. She even went to plead for mercy to her four generations who beat her. If Darong had not seen it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that there is such a person with such a personality.

"Uh... I'm glad you're okay. He deserves to be beaten." Darong really couldn't say anything else, so she could only force out these words as a consolation.

In fact, Xiao Ling was quite capable at work. She could do the housework, washing, cooking and sewing very well. However, it was her stingy character and bad mouth that planted the seeds of misfortune for her future life.

Sibeier worked the night shift today. After he left for work in the evening, Darong's mother began to complain about Darong's father.

"Do you ever hit a child like that? You hit him on the forehead with a broom. What if he got hit in the eye and went blind? What if he got hit on the temple?"

After Darong's father beat her child four times yesterday, Darong's mother has been enduring it. In fact, mothers are strange. Although they also beat their children, they will explode if they are beaten by others, even the child's father is no exception.

But Darong's father was right in disciplining her, so Darong's mother endured it until her fourth brother was not at home before she got angry.

"I just can't explain it. He looks just like his grandfather when he was young after drinking. It makes me angry when I see him."

No wonder Darong's father tried his best to get Zhong Yunxing drunk when he came home for the first time. He himself grew up under the shadow of his drunken and violent father, and he was most afraid that his daughter would encounter such an unhappy marriage.