Xu Damao's Thirty-Six Stratagems in Siheyuan

"Silly pillar."

Jia Dongxu was waiting at the entrance of the alley early in the morning for He Yuzhu who was going to work.

"Brother Dongxu, good morning. Why don't you go to the factory? You're going to be late for work."

"I'm waiting for you here. Silly Zhu, do you have enough money these days? Lend me ten dollars for an emergency."

"Brother Dongxu, it's not necessary. I just got married and the New Year is coming soon. I don't have any savings, so I really don't have any spare money to lend you. Besides, I don't care about money now. All the money has been given to Yu Li. I only have a pack of cigarettes in my pocket. How about a cigarette? I still have some." As he said that, he generously took out a cigarette from his pocket and gave it to Jia Dongxu, and took one to smoke himself.

"No, forget it, I'll think of other ways."

At this time, Xu Damao came over on a bicycle, and Jia Dongxu shouted again, "Damo, stop, stop."

Xu Damao got off his bicycle and said, "Oh, you two brothers are so friendly. You even go to work together."

"Da Mao, do you have enough money? Lend me 10 yuan to make ends meet."

Xu Damao looked at Jia Dongxu like he was looking at a monkey, then turned back to look at He Yuzhu, "Why, Brother Zhu has no money to lend you? Dongxu, don't cry about being poor and pretend to borrow money. Your mom has at least 400 or 500 in savings. Your family has no money, who are you trying to fool? Oh... You're not afraid that we'll ask you for money. But don't worry, I, Xu Damao, will definitely not ask you for money. Talking about money really hurts feelings, don't let money become a stumbling block to our friendship."

Jia Dongxu failed to steal the chicken and ended up losing the rice. His mother did have some savings, I dare not say 20 or , but there must be or . But he dared not take more from his mother, and it was estimated that he could not get more. If he continued to take more, the family would be in turmoil. The uncle cheated him of , but it was just a few days ago. He did not dare to borrow again. Otherwise, if Yi Zhonghai knew about his past, who knew what would happen.

In the past month, Jia Dongxu has borrowed money from a few good co-workers in the workshop, as well as a few senior brothers. He has borrowed more than 200 yuan, plus the money he got from his mother, his master, and most of his salary, all of which he used to fill the hole of gambling. In total, he lost nearly yuan, but it was still not enough. He wrote an IOU on the gambling table and borrowed another yuan, but lost it too. Now he has no money in his pocket, but he has seven or eight IOUs. If you borrow yuan at the gambling table, you can only get yuan. This is the rule of the casino. That's the rule. If the date is more than a month, you have to add a point of interest every day. Now, it's almost the end of the year, and his IOUs are all due.

During the Spring Festival, debt collection is not allowed. Gambling debts are not paid off during the Spring Festival.

He was a little scared. He had no money in his pocket, but he still had to pay back the money he owed. His co-worker was thick-skinned enough to put it off. He said that if he didn't pay back the money on the gambling table before the New Year, he would move furniture home to pay for it. By then, he would be notorious in the compound.

But they had borrowed from all places they could, and today was off to a bad start. It was obvious that Sha Zhu and Xu Damao had no money to borrow.

Come to think of it, he has a family, how could he have spare money to lend you, especially during the Chinese New Year.

Jia Dongxu is really numb, what should I do? What should I do?

Really. The Jia family was in turmoil again early in the morning. Yesterday, they barely made a bowl of cornmeal to make a meal of porridge, and this morning they were out of food again. Jia Dongxu ran away in the morning, leaving the three people at home staring at each other again.

"Qin Huairu, why don't you go to the compound and see if there's anyone who has food to borrow? Do you want to starve my grandson to death and starve me to death?"

"I told Dongxu yesterday that if there is food, I will cook. If there is no food, we will all starve. You also know that you are your eldest grandson. You have money but you don't use it. Dongxu doesn't give me any household expenses from his salary. Borrow? Other people's food is blown by the wind. You can borrow it whenever you want."

When Jia Zhang heard that they were trying to deduct her pension money again, she immediately got angry and rushed out of the house, "Everyone, please judge for me. This damn daughter-in-law is going to starve me and my grandson to death. I don't want to live anymore. I can't live anymore. Old Jia, please take me away. No one in this world loves me and no one cares about me."

All the people in the courtyard who were not at work went to the middle courtyard to watch Jia Zhang's performance, and no one came forward to say a word.

At this critical time of the New Year, who dares to provoke this shady woman Jia Zhang? What if she gets harassed? What should we do? Living in the same courtyard, everyone knows each other. Anyway, the Jia family quarrels every day, so everyone just watches the fun to kill time.

The aunt couldn't stand it any longer. Jia Zhang's howling in the middle courtyard was annoying. The most important thing was that her husband was the uncle in charge of the courtyard.

"Zhang Xiaohua, didn't Dongxu go to the grain station to buy grain this morning? There was no grain yesterday, and there is still no grain today. What should we do? Think about it. Your Banggeng is still growing, and Huairu is a twin. Let Dongxu solve the problem quickly. You ask Huairu, who is not working and has no money to pay, to find a solution. What can she do?"

"Why would you care? You are just an old hen that doesn't lay eggs, and you are meddling in the affairs of my Jia family. If you are kind enough, please give me food."

When Auntie heard Jia Zhang say that she was an old hen that didn't lay eggs, she was so angry that she wanted to vomit blood. Not having children was a pain in her life, and she couldn't bear to have her scars exposed in front of so many people in the compound.

"Okay, okay, Zhang Xiaohua, yes, I'm meddling in other people's business. From now on, don't bring any problems to my house. You can howl if you want."

The old lady turned around and went home angrily.

Qin Huairu ignored Jia Zhang's verbal abuse and crying and wailing, and continued to act as she pleased.

The crowd surprised Yu Li, who had just arrived at the compound, and Lou Xiao'e, who was far away.

Yu Li was really shocked: there is such a family in the world, and this neighbor is so combative, it's so fucking unreasonable.

Lou Xiao'e was surprised that Jia Zhang could perform such a solo. She had already roughly understood Jia Zhang's personality and temper through Xu Damao's teachings, but there was still a gap between hearing about her and seeing her in person.

Today, Jia Zhang's performance still surprised her. She looked at Qin Huairu leaning against the door of Jia's house from afar, and felt a little sorry for her. Pregnant women could easily feel the same way. What kind of life did Qin Huairu live in Jia's house? She had no food to eat.

She was just moved by kindness for a moment, but then stopped. Her husband was right. You can't just be kind in the compound. Otherwise, you'll end up like the old lady just now, being scolded and maybe even blackmailed. Besides, her family background is not good. It's better to stay away.

Fortunately, Yu Li is now with her in the compound, and the two families have close contacts. Sometimes she now has lunch with Yu Li.

After Jia Zhang's performance, she felt really hungry, so she had to go home and take out five dollars to give to Qin Huairu.

"Why don't you go to the grain station and buy some grain and some cabbage?"

Qin Huairu picked up the five yuan from the ground, took the cloth bag and went out, and soon came back with a whole bag of 40 kilograms of corn flour and kilograms of cabbage, which she had called back on a cart.

Another person moved into the middle courtyard.

"Corn flour is 9 cents a pound, pounds is yuan, pounds of Chinese cabbage is yuan, and the cart fee is cents. I have cents left, which I will return to you. I didn't embezzle your money."

Qin Huairu put the remaining three cents on the table, scooped up some flour and started making steamed bread. Steamed bread without white flour was very hard and tasted bad, but it was good for keeping hungry. She steamed two trays of twenty steamed bread in one go, boiled water and made a pot of cabbage soup. Gu Zi and her son Banggeng sat at the table to eat. There was no breakfast or lunch, and they were almost starving. Qin Huairu ate four steamed bread and two bowls of cabbage soup in one go, and then she felt strong again.

Jia Zhang was also seeing stars. After eating five steamed buns and two bowls of cabbage soup, she came back to her senses.

"You bastard, why do you eat so much if you don't work? From now on, you can only eat one steamed bread. Save the food for Dongxu and Banggeng. Eating so much will bankrupt the Jia family."

After hearing what Jia Zhang said, Qin Huairu took another steamed bun from the steamer, sat down at the table again and started eating.

"Qin Huairu, didn't you hear what I said? You're still eating."

"If you keep talking nonsense, I will pour the whole bag of cornmeal into the toilet. Do you think I dare?"

Qin Huairu was not afraid of Jia Zhang at all. She slowly ate the steamed bread with the remaining cabbage soup and stared at her mother-in-law with a provocative look, which scared Jia Zhang.