The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Zhong Yunxing worked absent-mindedly in the factory until the end of his shift, then rode his bike straight to Darong's house.

"Brother-in-law, you're back." As soon as Zhong Yunxing arrived at the entrance of the alley, he met Sibeier who was carrying a tape recorder.

"Hey, you're back. Why are you carrying a tape recorder?"

"Return it to Xiao Ling's family. I wanted to borrow it to listen to, but my mother wouldn't let me." Sibei smiled awkwardly.

"Hey, if you want to listen to it, just go get the one at my house. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

When Zhong Yunxing married Darong, he bought her a tape recorder as part of her dowry. Seeing that Sibei wanted to listen, he just continued the conversation.

"Hehehe, thank you brother-in-law, go back quickly, I'll send her back quickly and will be back soon."

"Okay, go slow on your way."

After Zhong Yunxing exchanged a few words with Sibei, he continued walking towards his mother-in-law's house.

"Xiao Zhong, which day will your parents be back?" Darong's father asked Zhong Yunxing casually during dinner.

"Before leaving, he said he would come back on the sixth day of the Chinese New Year. In previous years, he would come back on the sixth day of the Chinese New Year."

After hearing this, Darong's father nodded and continued to eat.

That day, Darong's father, Darong's mother and Zhong Yunxing all had something on their minds. Except for the sound coming from the TV, the meal was almost silent.

In fact, Darong had already felt the subtle atmosphere while eating. She even felt a little regretful that she shouldn't have cried and complained in front of her mother's house. She looked at Zhong Yunxing beside her and suddenly felt a little distressed.

Today, only Darong and Zhong Yunxing are at home, and the two of them can finally have a few days alone.

After returning to Erdaohezi, the room was extremely cold. After Zhong Yunxing opened the door, he quickly lit the stove with wood, while Darong went straight back to the small west room and covered herself with a quilt.

After Zhong Yunxing lit the stove, he poured some warm water from the thermos for Darong. Only then did he have time to sit on the sofa in the west room and rest.

"Is it still hot?"

When Zhong Yunxing saw Darong drink a sip of water, he hurriedly asked.

Darong shook her head. The water had been there for a day and actually had no temperature anymore, it was just not cold.

"Then don't drink it. The stove is already lit and will be heated soon. Make something hot before drinking."

Zhong Yunxing stood up and took the teacup from Darong's hand and placed it directly on the stove cover.

"I didn't mean to complain yesterday. I just couldn't hold back my emotions. I'm sorry..."

Darong didn't know why she was crying again. Maybe pregnant women are more emotional. Before she could finish a sentence, tears were already streaming down her face.

When Zhong Yunxing saw Darong crying, he felt extremely nervous. In fact, he always wanted to give her the best. He liked the fearless Darong more.

"Don't cry, Darong, let's move out!" Zhong Yunxing walked to the bed and hugged Darong in his arms.

"How can we afford to rent a house? Besides, will our mother agree?" Darong lay in Zhong Yunxing's arms and sobbed softly.

Zhong Yunxing helped Darong up, then squatted down and looked at Darong face to face.

"If...if we go back to Nanjian, will you...will you despise me for being a coward?"

Zhong Yunxing pursed his lips tightly, and when he said this, he felt a burning pain on his face.

"What do you mean?" Darong blinked and looked at Zhong Yunxing.

"Actually, my mom came to see me this morning. She said that a family in the front yard had moved out, and there was a vacant dormitory room. She asked if we could move in."

Darong's eyes lit up, then she frowned again. She knew that if they moved back, regardless of whether Zhong's mother was willing or not, even the family members in the Nanjian dormitory might not be able to get around Zhong Yunxing.

"If I move back, I'm afraid people will gossip about me. Can you bear it?"

Of course, Darong really wanted to move out. For her, living anywhere was better than living in the Zhong family.

"I'm a man after all, I'm not that petty. I'm just worried that you'll lose face in front of your neighbors."

Zhong Yunxing smiled generously. In fact, he was not a timid person. Compared with those rumors, he was more worried about the relationship between Darong and Zhong's mother.

If he continued to live like this, he was afraid that sooner or later they would really fall out, and at that time, he would really be in a dilemma.

"But if we move away, will our parents agree? Will our mother think too much?"

Darong always thinks about her own business last after taking care of one family. How much she wants to move away, how could Zhong Yunxing not know?

"Dad never cares about these things. I'll say to Mom, as long as you don't mind others praising or criticizing me in the future, then we'll move."

Zhong Yunxing never said any love vows to Darong, but he always interpreted the true meaning of love in his own way.

On the way to work the next day, Darong pedaled briskly all the way. She and Zhong Yunxing had already agreed to move after the first month of the lunar year, and the three of them would live their own lives from then on.

"What's wrong, Xiaoru?"

Darong had just returned from receiving the materials when she saw Ding Meiru in the back seat of the car wiping tears while working.

"Sister Rongzi, my salary for this month will be deducted again. There are too many unfinished yarns distributed this time, and I can't produce enough."

Darong’s daily job is spinning yarn, but the raw yarn they use sometimes gets bumped during transportation, resulting in defective yarn, which is called bad yarn.

This kind of unfinished yarn often breaks during the weaving process. In order to ensure fair production, it will be distributed equally to each person when the material is received. As for how much is distributed, it depends on the total amount of unfinished yarn in that month.

Xiaoru has been working in the factory for quite some time, but everyone who has worked in a factory knows that some people just can't work quickly no matter how hard they try.

Xiaoru is one of them. You might say she doesn't work hard, but she works all day long without sleep. You might say she works hard, but she can only barely complete the production every month.

"It's okay. Just give me half of the unfinished yarn. I won't reduce the production. Just take your time."

After listening to Xiaoru's crying, Darong immediately exchanged her good thread for half of Xiaoru's unfinished yarn.

In fact, Darong’s idea is very simple. Her pregnancy will not be counted in terms of production, and her bonus will not be deducted. She will share some of the unfinished yarn, and at most the production will be lower.

At that time, the factory had a very unfair measurement standard called negative output deduction, which meant that when workers failed to complete the monthly quota of output, the unfinished output would be deducted from the completed output.

For example, if the monthly production quota is 50 kilograms, and the worker has completed 45 kilograms, leaving 5 kilograms short of the target, then the production wage is not calculated based on the 45 kilograms completed, but rather based on the 45 kilograms minus 5 kilograms to obtain the 40 kilograms that fell short of the target.

That's why Ding Meiru felt so aggrieved that she cried when she found out she couldn't meet the production target.