Siheyuan: Sizhu starts blindly and takes a new path

When the old man saw Sha Zhu sending the old lady back to her house, he hurried to the old lady to inquire about the situation.

Hearing the old lady say that Sha Zhu disagreed, he hurriedly asked: "What do you mean by disagree? Do you disagree to take the lunch box, or do you disagree to help Qin Huairu?"

"No one agrees. Zhuzi is disappointed. The Jia family went too far in the past." The old lady advised the eldest uncle, "They should solve their own problems. Don't interfere. It will make Zhuzi annoyed with you again."

"But Zhuzi doesn't get food in the cafeteria, so the two of them can't get in touch. He comes home late recently and doesn't pay attention to Qin Huairu. The gap will only get deeper and deeper."

"We are not a family, so it doesn't matter if it's deep or deep." The old lady nodded at the old man.

"I feel that the Jia family is in trouble, and Zhuzi has the ability to help, so I can repay Dongxu's kindness."

"When a person dies, his debts are cleared. There are many capable people. If Zhuzi doesn't want to do it, you can still force him to do it." The old lady was a little angry, "You are an uncle, not his biological father."

The old man finally felt the old lady's anger and quickly begged for mercy, "I was wrong, old lady, I thought it was simple. You take a rest, I'm going back."

The weekend that he had been looking forward to for six days has arrived again. Sha Zhu came to the moat outside Anding Gate early, waiting for the girl he liked.

Yu Li arrived before nine o'clock, but she didn't look very happy.

Sha Zhu asked with concern: "Comrade Yu Li, what's wrong? Did something unpleasant happen on the way here?"

"No." Yu Li said seriously: "Comrade He Yuzhu, I have a few questions that I need you to answer seriously and honestly."

Sha Zhu looked at Yu Li and replied seriously: "Okay, I will answer honestly."

"Are you having an affair with the widow in your yard? Are you deducting the workers' food and taking it for yourself? Are you punished to work in the workshop because of embezzlement?"

"These things are actually one thing, and they are easy to explain. There was a widow in our yard. Her husband was called Jia Dongxu. He had a good relationship with me before. When my father left, my sister and I were still young. Jia Dongxu was older than me and had already started working. He often helped me at that time. He died in an accident at the factory last August, leaving behind an old mother, two children and a pregnant widow. Do you think I could just ignore it? In addition, the uncle in our yard also asked me to help more. He suggested that I bring more food back from the canteen. If I wanted to bring more, I could only give less to the workers. I didn't think too much about it at the time. When the canteen director found out, he punished me and sent me off to the workshop."

Sha Zhu paused, then continued, "Later, I hit my head and was blind for several months. A lot of things happened during those months. The people I helped and the people who asked me to help abandoned me when I was worthless. Now I can see these people clearly. So I definitely didn't have an affair with the widow. I thought a lot during that time. I was wrong. I shouldn't have used public resources for personal gain and shouldn't have helped people with bad hearts. I will never be a pushover again. After I recovered from my illness, I returned to the cafeteria and never brought lunch boxes to their family again."

Yu Li didn't feel anything when she heard what he said before, but when she heard that Sha Zhu was blind, punished for helping others and then abandoned, she felt sorry for him and forgave him. Because of their last contact and interaction, she could feel Sha Zhu's kindness, and Yu Li was no longer angry.

Seeing Yu Li was silent, Sha Zhu wanted to know why she brought this up, and whether someone was deliberately trying to harm him: "Where did you know these things? Did someone tell you about them?"

"My dad's colleagues asked someone they knew at your steel mill and found out. My dad was very angry and thought you were a bad person. He didn't even plan to let me come over today. I thought there must be a reason, so I came to ask you. If you were hesitant when explaining, you were lying. But you didn't pause at all and you still have some resentment. And you were hurt by them, so you must have a clear conscience."

Sha Zhu suddenly felt the power of language. He recalled that in his dream, Xu Damao used sweet words to create an image of himself as gentle and affectionate in the hearts of women, and then used vicious words to belittle him, Sha Zhu, making him a stupid, ignorant, and reckless bastard in the hearts of women.

And every time, Xu Damao is able to plant the seeds of Sha Zhu's bad image in others before Sha Zhu. Although time will tell, some people may only have one or two chances to meet in their lifetime. If you miss it, you miss it.

Yu's father's investigation report also let Sha Zhu know that his reputation in the steel mill was not good. If it was before, his eyes and thoughts were limited to the courtyard, he would not care, anyway, he had food and drink. But after the fake blindness incident, what he wanted most was to escape from the courtyard, especially to avoid the entanglement with the widow Qin. He could not let such rumors continue to spread, and he could not let his reputation go bad. He had to change.

Sha Zhu remained silent, while Yu Li was a little anxious. She was worried that her father's investigation and questioning just now had hurt Sha Zhu.

At this moment, a voice interrupted Sha Zhu's thoughts, "Zhu Zi, why are you here? Are you here to play chess with us?" Grandpa Ren patted Sha Zhu on the shoulder, and seeing Yu Li next to Sha Zhu, he joked, "You should bring your little friend to show your treasures."

"Hello, Uncle Ren." Sha Zhu greeted them and introduced the two parties. "This is my blind date, her name is Yu Li. Yu Li, this is Uncle Ren, my chess friend."

"Shazhu, you are so lucky. This girl is so pretty. It's a pity that she is not a good match for you. You should treat her well and stop bullying her."

"How could that be possible? I'm definitely in love with my partner." Sha Zhu's words made Yu Li happy and embarrassed.

"Not yet. You just ignored the girl silently. You are just throwing a tantrum. When you are in love, you need to talk and open your heart to understand each other. Only then can you do that." Uncle Ren blinked, "You know."

Sha Zhu laughed foolishly after hearing this.

"Girl, Zhuzi is a good cook with a good heart and a good tongue." Grandpa Ren was talking to Yu Li when he suddenly remembered something and turned to Sha Zhu and said, "By the way, my old comrade-in-arms sent me a few wild rabbits. Yesterday, my daughter and son-in-law came home and cooked one themselves. It tasted smelly and woody. Can you cook rabbit? Do you have any tips to tell me so that I can let my husband and his family try to cook it."

"Please don't let my aunt bother you. I'll go over and cook the rabbit for you this afternoon. I promise it won't smell fishy or woody."

Uncle Ren was waiting for Sha Zhu to say this, "Okay, I'll wait for you at home this afternoon." Uncle Ren waved his hand, "I'm going to play chess, good luck, little comrade."

Sha Zhu and Yu Li walked and chatted along the river. Under the guidance of Uncle Ren, the two of them gave a brief account of their past from childhood to adulthood.

Yu Li's upbringing was quite ordinary. Although she was born in troubled times, she had both parents and did not suffer much under their protection. After liberation, she went to school until high school. Yu's father always thought that his family could raise a college student, but unfortunately, his grave did not smoke. Yu Li studied very hard, but she was not talented enough. Because her family had no background, she could only look for a job slowly, or take over her father's job in the future.

Shazhu is different. He grew up in troubled times and lost his mother at a young age. He helped take care of his sister since he was a child. Later, his father evaded his responsibilities and ran away with someone. He had to live on his own at the age of 15 or 6. In order to prevent himself and his sister from being bullied, he could only put on a posture and get angry at every turn, making himself unruly, making others afraid or unwilling to pay attention to him, so as to protect himself and his sister. Over time, this protective color backfired. When he was disliked by many people and most people did not speak well of him, his mistakes would be highlighted and brought out for people to preach, but few people were willing to pay attention to his good points. In this way, if someone treated him well, he would repay them with all his heart. This was the case with the eldest uncle and the Jia family.

After hearing about Sha Zhu’s past, Yu Li felt a little distressed. How could a person’s growth have so much suffering?

When Yu Li was still immersed in Sha Zhu's suffering, Sha Zhu suggested taking Yu Li to Xianyukou Bianyifang to eat braised oven roast duck. He was just about to introduce it to Yu Li.

Yu Li refused and said, "Don't go. It's not easy for you to earn money. There's no need to spend it like this. It's not good for others to know. Besides, I had that meal last Sunday and my stomach has been uncomfortable for several days."

"Feeling uncomfortable? Oh, I see." Sha Zhu understood in his heart that after not having oily food for a long time, his stomach couldn't take it as he suddenly started to eat well.

"Then what shall we eat?" Sha Zhu asked Yu Li.

Yu Li pointed to the small restaurant across the street and said, "Let's have the noodle soup here. It's economical and affordable."

"She is such a good daughter-in-law who is thrifty and manages the household well. She is also smart, has vision and courage. I can't let her go, or I will regret it for the rest of my life." Sha Zhu secretly made up his mind, "I will take Yu Li to meet Master and his wife, and then let Master propose marriage as soon as possible."

In the afternoon, Sha Zhu sent Yu Li home and went to Grandpa Ren's house. He arrived at Grandpa Ren's house at around 4 o'clock. Grandpa Ren was surprised why he came so early. Sha Zhu did not explain.

Sha Zhu took the cleaned rabbit body, cut the meat into fingernail-sized cubes, washed it twice with clean water, and then soaked the rabbit meat in water with a little salt.

Uncle Ren was waiting for Sha Zhu's next move, but Sha Zhu asked Uncle Ren to set up the chessboard and start playing chess. Now Uncle Ren understood that this guy was here to play chess.

While playing chess, Sha Zhu thought of the Yu family's investigation and the factory's evaluation of him. He felt that he should make some changes, but he didn't know how to do it, so he asked Uncle Ren for his advice.

Mr. Ren said: "If you want to change yourself, there are two ways. One is to learn directly from capable people, and the other is to read more, learn more, and think more."

"Then who should I learn from, or what books should I read?" Sha Zhu asked the question again.

"The main thing is that I don't know what you want to change? Do you want to change your attitude and way of dealing with people, or do you want to improve your abilities in all aspects? Also, can you calm down and study now?"

"It means changing how we deal with others and improving ourselves."

"You are quite greedy and simple in your dealings with others. In fact, you can look at who is more popular in the unit, ask your colleagues what they think of him and what he has done, and then think about whether you can do the same or similar things as him. You can also read reports about advanced people in the newspaper. As for improving yourself, you can only turn to books. You can find novels like "Song of Youth", "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" and "Red Flag". They can increase your enthusiasm for life and love for the motherland, but they are a little slow in improving your own abilities. In fact, the teacher's "Selected Works of Mao Zedong" is a very good choice. The text is easy to understand, but each article is profound. The philosophy it contains is not limited to politics and military affairs, but also has great practical value to life. If you want to improve, you should read it carefully and understand it deeply."

Sha Zhu looked at the reserved, deep, wise look behind Mr. Ren's glasses and nodded vigorously, "I'll go to the bookstore tomorrow."