Comfortable life in Siheyuan

After leaving the deaf old lady's house, Sha Zhu returned to the middle courtyard with a happy smile on his face, humming a little tune all the way. However, when his eyes met Jia Zhang's, they both snorted coldly at the same time, and then quickly turned their heads away, as if the other did not exist.

Jia Zhang looked at the empty bowl in Sha Zhu's hand, her eyes becoming increasingly gloomy.

After returning to the house, she complained to Qin Huairu, "That Shazhu is such a fool. What's the point of giving such good fish soup to that useless old lady? Why can't it be used to supplement the nutrition of our pork loin? I saw that bowl of soup, it was so fresh." As she spoke, Jia Zhang swallowed her saliva unconsciously.

"Mom, what is our relationship with them now? Don't offend people anymore. If you continue like this, you won't be able to stay in this hospital." Qin Huairu said with a frown.

"I just want to nourish the children's bodies! Look how thin the child is, don't you feel sorry for him?" Jia Zhang stiffened her neck and defended herself.

"That's right, mom. In the past, when Shazhu had something delicious, I could go and get it by myself, but now he won't even let me into the house." Banggeng said angrily.

"What can we do? Now Shazhu is no longer stupid and has married and started a family. What can we do? Mom can only make sure you don't go hungry. If you want to eat well, your grandma has to do some work, so that our family can improve every month." Qin Huairu stared at the two of them with sharp eyes and said slowly.

"Grandma, can you also..." Before Bang Geng could finish his words, Jia Zhang interrupted him: "Don't think about it. I'm so old and my body is not in good condition. I can't do any work!" The old woman cried out in grievance, but her voice was very loud, and she didn't sound like she was unable to work at all.

"Mom, why don't you do any work? You always instigate your precious grandson to do those sneaky things. Don't you know that this will harm him for the rest of his life? What should I do when I am old? If you continue to educate your children like this, don't blame me for giving up in the future. By then, this home, this job, and the children of your Jia family will be left to you to take care of alone!" Qin Huairu advised kindly.

"How dare you say such things! If you dare to leave this family, I will make sure that the children will no longer recognize you as their mother!" Jia Zhang replied anxiously.

"Mom, look at what you've done to your child. Why should I ask him to recognize me? I can't afford to lose face. I've done my best to take care of you. Who can I rely on when I'm old? Am I going to rely on this petty thief to support me?" Qin Huairu sighed dejectedly, her face full of worry.

Qin Huairu originally thought that stealing some cabbage was not a big deal. But later, she learned to steal chickens, and then she started to take other people's things at school. Now when neighbors mention Banggeng, they always say that this child is useless. She has to be afraid.

"Huai Ru, I was wrong. I didn't think about these things. I won't take the children to do such extraordinary things in the future." Jia Zhang said with some fear.

"It's good that you know. Although the food we eat now is a little worse, it is enough to support the whole family. If you want to give your eldest grandson better food, you can take some work in the street. Let Banggeng also remember your kindness." Qin Huairu said calmly, as if she had seen through her mother-in-law's thoughts.

In the evening, the He family had just finished their meal and cleaned up when the third uncle Yan Bugui came over and knocked on the door.

"Is Zhuzi in the room? The third uncle wants to talk to you about something!" Yan Bugui shouted in a low voice.

"Why aren't you done yet? I'm ready to go to bed!" Sha Zhu muttered. "Go open the door. Don't ask me for anything!" Tian Xiuyun persuaded with a smile.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Sha Zhu replied to the third uncle weakly. It was probably not a good thing for the third uncle to come.

With a creaky sound, Sha Zhu opened the door helplessly. "Uncle, is there anything else to do at this time of night? I'm almost asleep." Sha Zhu looked at Uncle with a depressed look on his face.

"Zhu Zi, Third Uncle wants to ask you, where did you catch these fish and how come you caught so many?" Third Uncle smiled flatteringly.

"Uncle, let me be frank with you. Qingshan and I caught a lot of fish when we went fishing because we invested a lot of money. We didn't look for any special places. We just looked for places with few people." Sha Zhu explained helplessly.

"What do you mean? What do you mean by investing money?" asked the third uncle with a puzzled look on his face.

"Make a bait. If you want to catch a lot of fish, you have to make a bait, right?" Sha Zhu asked with a smile.

"You are able to catch so many fish thanks to this. Is the effect so good?" The third uncle seemed a little unconvinced.

"Of course not. There were two times when we didn't catch any fish for a long time, and all the nests we dug were wasted. What a pity." Sha Zhu observed the expression of the old man and spoke vividly.

"Zhu Zi, Third Uncle has one more question for you. What do you use to make the nests?" Third Uncle asked with curiosity and expectation on his face.

"What else can there be? Just a few pounds of corn flour, and then soak it in wine. Sometimes, I will also bring back some miscellaneous and odd things from the canteen. Those are things that people can't eat, so I just chop them up and mix them in." Sha Zhu answered nonchalantly.

"Oh my! So many materials are needed. What if we fail to catch any fish? Wouldn't it be a huge loss? I will be so heartbroken!" The third uncle frowned, looked embarrassed, and muttered in a very troubled manner.

At this moment, Sha Zhu stood silently by the side, thinking to himself: "It's right to feel sorry for him. If you don't feel sorry for him, then we brothers will be in trouble."

"Right, Zhuzi?" Seeing that Sha Zhu didn't respond for a long time, the third uncle couldn't help but ask again.

"Yeah, who said it wasn't! Last time when we didn't catch any fish, we almost wanted to jump into the water and catch a few." Sha Zhu finally came to his senses and quickly responded to the third uncle's words.

"Haha, okay! Next time you go fishing, remember to call me, the Third Uncle. I won't fish, I'll just watch from the side and learn from you and gain experience." The Third Uncle said with satisfaction and turned to leave.

"Hey! You have a really good plan!" Sha Zhu shook his head helplessly and turned back to the house.

When they walked into the room, Tian Xiuyun, who was already sitting on the bed, asked with a look of suspicion on her face: "Zhu Zi, what exactly does the third uncle want to see you about?" Sha Zhu squeezed the towel in his hand and replied unhappily: "First he asked us where we caught the fish, and then he asked to go with us. Humph, he just wants to take advantage of us!" Sha Zhu curled his lips with disdain.

Hearing this, Tian Xiuyun couldn't help but frowned and asked: "Then how did you respond to him at that time?" Sha Zhu scratched his head and said: "Before I had the chance to reply, he turned around and left without saying a word." After saying that, Sha Zhu casually put the towel on his shoulder.

"That's fine. This is the best way and it won't cause any trouble." Tian Xiuyun said happily.

"Yes."