Siheyuan: I just want to live

Qin Huairu looked at the empty bowl in front of her, feeling sad, and dragged her heavy feet slowly back to the Jia family. As soon as she stepped into the house, she heard Jia Zhang's sharp and piercing voice:

"Look at you. You can't even handle such a small thing. You are really useless! You are just a useless piece of shit!"

Jia Dongxu lowered his head, his face terribly gloomy, and he said nothing. Qin Huairu didn't dare to respond, but just silently put the bowl back in the kitchen, then sat quietly on the kang, lowering her head and not daring to look directly at Jia Zhang's twisted and hideous old face.

Seeing that Qin Huairu didn't answer her, Jia Zhang was furious. She hugged the stick tightly and stretched out her other hand to pinch Qin Huairu's arm fiercely. Qin Huairu gasped in pain, but she didn't dare to fight back and could only keep retreating towards Jia Dongxu.

However, Jia Zhang became even more angry when she saw this. She glared at him and cursed:

"Okay, you little bitch, you dare to dodge now? Let me show you how I'm going to deal with you!" After saying that, she pretended to stand up from the kang and pounce on Qin Huairu.

Qin Huairu was terrified, trembling all over, with tears welling up in her eyes. She knew that if Jia Zhang really hit her, she would have no power to resist...

Bang Geng's crying, Jia Zhang's scolding and hitting, and Qin Huairu's dodging, all these things at home made Jia Xudong feel depressed.

Suddenly he pushed Qin Huairu away, snatched the stick from Jia Zhang's arms, pressed it on his legs, and whipped the stick's butt.

While beating him, he yelled, "It's all your fault, you little bastard! I told you to eat meat! I told you to eat meat! Don't cry anymore! If you cry again, I'll beat you to death! Go back to sleep!"

Jia Dongxu was a little angry, because Chen Feng didn't give him any face. He was ashamed that his salary couldn't provide a better life for his family, and his skills were improving slowly, so there was no way he could get a raise.

After beating Banggeng violently, Jia Dongxu finally raised his head and said to Jia Zhangshi in a slightly softer tone, "Mom! Please stop making a fuss! Tomorrow, Shazhu will bring meat to our house! Come on, it's too late today, let's all go to bed!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jia Dongxu quickly took off his clothes, dived into the quilt that was tightly pressed against the wall, turned sideways facing the wall, closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep.

At this time, Jia Zhang was a little afraid of the angry Jia Dongxu in front of her, so she just replied softly, "I know." Then she got into bed and prepared to go to sleep.

Seeing this, Qin Huairu also turned off the lights, took off her heavy cotton coat, and gently hugged the crying Banggeng in her arms, and gently stroked Banggeng's back with her hand, gently comforting him: "Good boy, don't cry, your silly uncle will bring the meat tomorrow, go to bed obediently!"

However, Banggeng, hiding in the quilt, was still sobbing silently, tears silently falling from the corners of his eyes. He really couldn't understand why he not only didn't get to eat the meat he had been longing for today after making such a fuss, but was also beaten up! Didn't he always get to eat meat before? This was too complicated for him, and his little head couldn't figure it out.

The Jia family fell into silence for a while. After listening for a long time and hearing that no sound was heard, the people in the yard no longer paid attention to this place, and each family began to whisper and talk.

"The terrier is asking for meat again!"

"Silly Zhu is about to bleed profusely again!"

"Hey! It would be great if the meat of Shazhu could be given to me."

However, Chen Feng did not participate in all this, as he had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Gradually, the discussion stopped and the courtyard fell into the silence of the night.

第二天，1958年12月28日，农历11月18日

Chen Feng looked at the calendar and fell into deep thought. It was already the end of December, and New Year's Day would be in four days. Should I make more delicious food for New Year's Day? If I made a lot of delicious food, would other people in the hospital be jealous? Forget it, I'll wait until that day to see what other people in the hospital eat.

After washing up, Chen Feng heated up yesterday’s leftovers, ate quickly, and then pushed his bicycle out.

Chen Feng pushed his bicycle slowly to the middle courtyard and happened to meet Yi Zhonghai. Seeing Chen Feng pushing his bicycle, Yi Zhonghai was full of curiosity and asked, "Chen Feng! When did you buy this bicycle? Is there any problem with the source of the bicycle? You must not do anything illegal or criminal!"

Hearing Yi Zhonghai's question, Chen Feng's face turned gloomy. Because of something that happened the day before yesterday, his attitude towards Yi Zhonghai was already quite bad, and he even replied somewhat chokingly: "Just the day before yesterday, I bought it from a trustee. If you don't believe it, you can report me!" After saying these words, Chen Feng turned around and prepared to leave, not wanting to waste any more words with Yi Zhonghai.

However, Yi Zhonghai was very dissatisfied with Chen Feng's disrespectful tone. He immediately raised his voice and scolded loudly: "Hey! How can you talk to an old man like this? Don't you know the rules? You don't even know the most basic way of respecting the elderly and loving the young!" Yi Zhonghai seemed to like to teach other people's children as an elder, perhaps because he himself had no children.

When Chen Feng heard Yi Zhonghai calling himself "the eldest uncle", he immediately felt disgusted. The elders in his family had all died heroically for the construction of New China. Whenever he heard someone pretending to be an elder in front of him, he would feel that it was an insult to those sacrificed elders. At this moment, facing Yi Zhonghai's lesson, Chen Feng could not bear it, and the anger in his heart burned more and more.

Chen Feng said angrily, "My uncle died on the Long March. Which uncle are you? Don't act like a senior in front of me! You are not worthy of being my elder!"

After saying this, Chen Feng pushed the cart away and no longer wanted to pay attention to Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai was so angry at Chen Feng that he was breathing heavily. He had many things in his heart that he couldn't say. He looked at the direction where Chen Feng left and didn't react for a long time.

At this time, Sha Zhu came in carrying a pound of fatty pork and saw Yi Zhonghai standing in the yard in a daze, staring at the door with lifeless eyes.

So he asked, "Uncle, who are you waiting for? Why are you standing in the yard?"

"It's okay. Isn't this the trend in Northern Chen?" The old man replied to Sha Zhu, and then asked, "Do you want to improve the food?"

Yi Zhonghai thought that if Sha Zhu improved his food, he would definitely send a portion to him and the old lady. After all, Sha Zhu was a filial and good child.

"Hehe, that's because I'm improving the food. It's because Sister Qin went to Chen Feng's house in the backyard to borrow meat yesterday. Not only did Chen Feng refuse to lend it, he also said a lot of unpleasant things, which made Sister Qing cry. I'm not buying a piece of meat, but Sister Qin can satisfy her craving."

Yi Zhonghai was disappointed when he heard what Sha Zhu said. He thought: You bought a piece of meat for Qin Huairu instead of honoring me and the old lady! I was so kind to you in vain!

What he was thinking was one thing, but he said, "Shazhu! You are really kind. You didn't expect that Chen Feng is a bastard. People like him will get into trouble sooner or later! Shazhu! You can't learn from him!"

Sha Zhu also followed Yi Zhonghai's words and said, "Uncle, you are right. Chen Feng is a bastard. He has no sympathy at all. Sister Qin's family lives such a hard life."

"I asked him to change houses when the house was not big enough, but he refused. He even refused to lend Sister Qin any meat. It's just a bowl, not much!" Yi Zhonghai looked at Sha Zhu and felt confused.

He really couldn't help but ask: Do you have any misunderstandings about hard times?

The Jia family has three adults and two babies. With Jia Xudong's salary alone, their family lives a pretty good life.

In comparison, some families even need to rely on one person's salary to support six or seven people!

Moreover, Qin Huairu would go to Sha Zhu's house to "borrow" meat almost every day. Has Sha Zhu never seen the big bowl of Jia's family?

The bowl was so big that even five pounds of meat might not be enough to fill it up! And Sha Zhu actually said that one bowl was not much! You know, his family didn't have many meat coupons throughout the year!

Yi Zhonghai really didn't want to argue with Sha Zhu on this topic, so he looked at the meat in Sha Zhu's hand and asked, "Sha Zhu, this piece of meat..."

"Hey! Why am I chatting with you here? Sister Qin is still waiting for me to cook meat for her! Uncle, let's stop chatting! I'm going to go back and make twice-cooked pork for Sister Qin first."

Yi Zhonghai actually wanted to say, "When you're done, give the old lady a copy and he'll pay for it." But he was interrupted by Sha Zhu before he could finish his words.

Sha Zhu did not look at Yi Zhonghai again, but just walked home by himself, saying as he walked, "It would be a pity if I don't make twice-cooked pork with the meat I bought today!"

Yi Zhonghai, who was abandoned by him, had a look of ashamed disgust on his face. He shook his sleeves, snorted, and went back to the house with a cold face.

Sha Zhu returned to the room and started preparing side dishes. After a while, he started to heat up the oil in the pot and make twice-cooked pork. As time passed, the meat in the pot was cooked and the fragrance slowly drifted out of the window.

At this time, Qin Huairu also came to Sha Zhu's kitchen carrying the large bowl from the Jia family.

When Sha Zhu heard the noise, he turned around and saw Qin Huairu and said in surprise, "Sister Qin! You're here just in time! Put the bowl down and I'll take the meat out of the pot. Be careful not to burn yourself."

Qin Huairu put the bowl aside, and Sha Zhu took the meat out of the pot neatly.

One pound of meat just covered the bottom of the bowl. The Jia family’s bowl was indeed big.

Sha Zhu took out his chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat and handed it to Qin Huairu's mouth and said, "Come on! Sister Qin, try it and see how it tastes."

Qin Huairu bit off the meat, chewed it for a few times and said, "It's delicious, Shazhu, you are amazing!"

"Of course, my family's cuisine is the Tan family cuisine that has been handed down from generation to generation!" Sha Zhu said with some pride.

"Shazhu! You are so nice to me! You sent me meat when I asked you to. Unlike Chen Feng, he didn't even lend me some meat! Not only did he not lend me any, he even scolded me!" Qin Huairu's tone was very green tea.

"Of course! I am a city man! I must do what I say and I can't lose face!"

Sha Zhu said to Qin Huairu again, "Okay, let's not talk about Chen Feng anymore. He's not even a man. Sister Qin, you should go home quickly. The meat will get cold soon."

"Okay! I understand! Thank you, Silly Zhu. I'll go back now!"

"You go back!" Sha Zhu watched Qin Huairu come into the Jia family's house.

Qin Huairu's hand was not touched by him during the whole process, but Sha Zhu gave her a pound of meat. He is such a good man!