Siheyuan: The rise and fall of the He family is our responsibility

Is blood relationship really that important?

If it were He Yuzhu fifty years ago, he would have scoffed at this question, believing that as long as one is sincere, the lack of blood relationship will not affect the relationship between family members.

"Bullshit, there's a difference between biological children and those who were raised halfway." The eighty-year-old He Yuzhu was curled up under the overpass, cursing non-stop.

A cold wind blew, and crystal snowflakes danced in the air. The originally harmless white snow now became the god of death for He Yuzhu, taking away the life of the poor old man bit by bit.

In order to retain the last bit of warmth, He Yuzhu wrapped himself tightly in his patched, worn-out coat, and his brain began to feel dizzy.

"I can't sleep. If I fall asleep now, it will be the end of me." In order to stay awake, He Yuzhu began to simply recall his life.

He Yuzhu had a relatively difficult start in life. His father, He Daqing, eloped with a widow named Bai when he was young, leaving behind only himself, who was twelve years old, and his sister, who were five or six years old.

Originally, "orphans" like them would not survive the winter, but fortunately, the deaf old lady whom he always regarded as his grandmother lent a helping hand and helped him get through the most difficult days.

In the days that followed, in order to support himself and his sister, he set up stalls, picked up waste, and worked as a helper in a restaurant.

When I finally grew up, I successfully mastered the cooking skills by using the skills I learned while working as an assistant in a restaurant and the recipes passed down from my family.

Later, with the help of the deaf old lady, he was appreciated by the leaders of the steel mill and officially became a chef in the steel mill. In the days that followed, he conquered the stomachs of everyone in the steel mill with his cooking skills and successfully became the head chef at the age of 25.

If nothing goes wrong, I should find a good woman to marry, have a few children, and give my sister a generous dowry when she gets married.

After that, I will raise the children to adulthood and pass on my skills and job to them. I will then live out my days at home with my spouse, help take care of my grandchildren and enjoy family happiness.

He Yuzhu will never forget that day. He had just returned from the steel mill and heard his neighbor Jia Dongxu say that he was getting married and even brought his bride back with him.

To be honest, He Yuzhu and Jia Dongxu did not have a good relationship, especially since his mother was the well-known Jia Zhang, which made him stay away from this family.

Just when he was about to say a few perfunctory words, a woman in rustic clothes walked out of Jia Dongxu's house. It was this woman who led He Yuzhu to take another path.

He Yuzhu didn't know what happened to him at that time. He only knew that he was deeply fascinated by the woman at the first sight.

What caught his eye was a standard oval face, with a pair of charming peach blossom eyes beneath the beautiful eyebrows, and the curve of the plump red lips was like a sickle, taking away He Yuzhu's soul.

From then on, those slightly charming peach blossom eyes were deeply imprinted in He Yuzhu's heart and could not be forgotten for a long time.

From her mouth He Yuzhu also learned her name, Qin Huairu.

In the days that followed, He Yuzhu could only watch Qin Huairu marry into the Jia family and give birth to three children for Jia Dongxu.

Gradually, He Yuzhu gave up, started paying attention to other girls, and then got married and had children.

But God played a joke on him. Just when he was about to forget Qin Huairu, news came from the factory that Jia Dongxu had died.

Looking at Qin Huairu's tearful face, He Yuzhu somehow stepped forward, took out ten yuan, handed it to Qin Huairu and said:

"Sister Qin, don't cry. Take this money. If you have any difficulties in the future, just come to me."

Seeing Qin Huairu's dazed expression, He Yuzhu only felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart, but what he didn't know was that his nightmare had just begun.

"I took the blame for Banggeng stealing Xu Damao's chicken. Whenever he got into trouble, I paid him to settle it."

"I wanted to marry you, but you disagreed, saying that the child didn't want a stepfather. Fine, I respect you, but you insisted on disrupting my blind date, causing the whole city to know that I had an affair with the widow, and no one was willing to marry me anymore."

"Honestly, I don't blame you. I thought you did this because you cared about me, so I was willing to wait until the day you agreed. But I never expected that I would have to wait for eight years."

"We finally got the marriage certificate. I was 40 years old at that time and wanted to have a child of my own, but you told me that you were in menopause and couldn't have children."

"Okay, if we can't have children, then we won't. Anyway, we have Banggeng and Huaihua. We can just treat them as our own children."

"I helped Banggeng find a job, I paid for the house he bought when he got married, and I also gave Huaihua and Xiaodang their dowries. I can say that I have fulfilled my duties as a father, but what about you?"

"You see I'm too old to move, so you kick me out. The compound you live in now was bought for me by Lou Xiao'e, and my son He Xiao wants to take me out to live in my old age. If it weren't for you, I would have gone out to enjoy my life long ago. How could I end up like this?"

He Yuzhu curled up under the bridge, muttering something constantly, as if he was venting to a non-existent person about the grievances he had suffered over the years.

Gradually, the complaining voice became quieter, and in the end He Yuzhu no longer had the strength to continue speaking, and kept gasping for breath.

He knew that he would not survive the night as his body had become tattered because of his efforts to help Bang Geng Ping when he was young.

After he was paralyzed in bed, they fed him porridge for another ten years. He couldn't even have steamed bread. It was a miracle that he could still hold on until now.

He Yuzhu closed his eyes and the scene that had just happened not long ago emerged in his mind.

I was lying on the bed, enduring the hunger I was accustomed to. Today is New Year's Eve. According to past experience, I would not have to drink porridge tonight and could eat some leftovers.

If she's lucky, Qin Huairu can even find someone to wipe her body for her after a long time.

But what they got in the end was not leftovers, but Banggeng and Huaihua who had grown up.

"Why is this old guy still here? Isn't the house in our name? Why do we still keep him here?"

"Well, mom is afraid that others will say she is ungrateful, so she has no choice but to keep him. But this old guy is also very lucky. He has been fed porridge for ten years and he has not died."

"Then why are we coming in? It stinks in here."

"Mom said that the third aunt had died, and the last person who knew about these things was gone, so she asked us to get rid of him, as he was an eyesore to her eldest grandson."

Afterwards, Banggeng tied his eyes with cloth, stuffed a rag in his mouth, carried him to the car and abandoned him in this remote place.

By now, He Yuzhu had reached his limit, and the biting cold wind kept taking away his body temperature through the holes in his clothes.

Darkness gradually began to engulf his vision. At the moment when he was about to fall into eternal darkness, He Yuzhu thought, if only it could happen again.

But can it really happen again?