Siheyuan: How the Little People Live

The front yard of Hongxing Siheyuan.

Ye Wenwu, who was sleeping and forgetting to eat in the room, heard the noisy sound outside.

That voice should not be too familiar or too recognizable, it is the voice of Sha Zhu from the Central Courtyard.

Ye Wenwu stopped writing and listened to the conversation outside. After hearing the general idea, Ye Wenwu already knew what was going on.

There was this guy named Sha Zhu who was fined 500 yuan by the factory. He first went to borrow 200 yuan from the eldest uncle Yi Zhonghai, but found that he was still short of 100 yuan. Then he went to borrow 50 yuan from the second uncle Liu Haizhong. He still needed 50 yuan, so he was going to borrow from the Jia family. However, the Jia family said that they had no money at home and sent Sha Zhu away.

Finally, we arrived at the door of the third uncle Yan Bugui. The third uncle was a stingy person, and he had four children in his family. Although the eldest son was an adult, he did not have a proper job.

Faced with Sha Zhu asking for 50 yuan, he looked embarrassed.

Ye Wenwu suddenly thought of a way to alienate the old man Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu, so he walked out.

"Uncle, what's going on?"

When the third uncle Yan Bugui saw Ye Wenwu, his eyes lit up. Facing Sha Zhu's 50 yuan, he finally took out 20 yuan.

But Sha Zhu kept begging and begging, which really put him in a difficult position.

When he saw Ye Wenwu coming, he felt like he had seen a savior and quickly told him everything.

"Ye Wenwu, I've already apologized to you, what else do you want to do?"

When Sha Zhu saw Ye Wenwu coming out, he thought that Ye Wenwu was going to disrupt his plans, and looked at Ye Wenwu with a wary look on his face.

Ye Wenwu shook his head.

"One thing is one thing. I'm not here to mess things up. I'm here to tell you a good news."

Sha Zhu didn't believe what Ye Wenwu said at all. After all, he had offended Ye Wenwu so badly. Anyway, he would not help the enemy.

"I'm not kidding you, but you'll know the answer once you run this yourself."

"The day before yesterday, when I passed by the post office, I saw Yi Zhonghai from our courtyard, and then I followed him and secretly asked the people in the post office. You know what they said, the letter just sent was from Baocheng, and they send a letter every month, and have been doing so for more than ten years."

Ye Wenwu spoke slowly and looked at Sha Zhu from time to time.

"Baocheng, Silly Zhu, isn't this the city where your father lives? When you and your sister went there, didn't your father say anything else?"

The third uncle Yan Bugui exclaimed as if he had discovered some big secret.

At this moment, Sha Zhu's thoughts went back to the time when his father abandoned him and his sister. Then he and his sister took the train to Baocheng, questioned his father, and finally returned home disappointed without even entering the door.

From then on, I became disappointed with my father and we completely stopped contacting each other.

"Uncle, when my brother and I arrived at Baocheng, we were driven out by the White Widow before we even got through the door. We waited at the door for two days but didn't see our father, so we returned. We thought he didn't want to see us."

Sha Zhu slowly told his past events.

"Silly Zhu, you should have waited a little longer. You should have waited until your father came out. Were you deceived by that White Widow? Maybe your father didn't even know that you two were going to look for him."

The third uncle Yan Bugui sighed and expressed his thoughts.

After all, he couldn't believe how heartless this person was since he had been sending letters to him every month for more than ten years.

Moreover, he felt that this matter was a bit strange at the beginning. Why did He Daqing suddenly want to leave Sijiu City and go to Baocheng?

More importantly, he also knew He Daqing's character. After all, Sha Zhu and He Yushui were his children. How could he not feel sorry for them? But if that was the case, why didn't Yi Zhonghai tell Sha Zhu about it? What did Yi Zhonghai want to do?

"No, I want to find the uncle and ask him why there is a preserved envelope. He shouldn't even tell us two siblings. We two siblings thought my father didn't want us."

A tear flowed from the corner of Sha Zhu's eye. He had originally thought that his father was heartless and ungrateful.

Ye Wenwu shook his head and said jokingly:

"I know about this, but I saw it secretly. If I hadn't happened to pass by that day, I believe you would never know about this in your life. Even if you, Shazhu, ask, I, Yi Zhonghai, will not admit it."

"By the way, Wenwu, when did you see it?"

The third uncle Yan Bugui interrupted and seemed to have thought of a solution.

Ye Wenwu was not making this up. The original owner's body did have some memories of the old man going to the sea to get stamps and envelopes.

Ye Wenwu thought about the scene and it seemed to be the last day of every month.

"It seems to be the end of the month. Anyway, the next day when I saw it was the first day of the new year."

Ye Wenwu said uncertainly. But the third uncle Yan Bugui next to him jumped up.

"Wenwu, when you mentioned this, it reminded me of the fact that Yizhong seemed to ask for leave to go to the village at the end of every month. He said that there was an elder in the village, and he had to give him something at this time every month."

"If you think about it this way, maybe he took the envelope secretly. No wonder no one noticed this problem."

When the third uncle Yan Bugui said this, he also felt a little bit unbelievable. After all, normal people would often think in this way.

"But tomorrow seems to be the end of the month. Chazhu, do you want Third Uncle to take a leave with you to go over there and take a look? After all, this is the only news we have heard about your father in more than ten years."

Thinking of this, Third Uncle Yan Bugui became more active.

Sha Zhu gritted his teeth, still somewhat unconvinced by these things, but he was already suspicious in his heart. He didn't believe that Yi Zhonghai, an old man who had taken care of him for more than ten years, was actually an accomplice who was hiding it from his father.

Seeing that Sha Zhu was a little hesitant, the third uncle Yan Bugui did not agree. He quickly took out 30 yuan from his pocket and put it in Sha Zhu's hand.

"Silly Zhu, Uncle San watched you grow up when you were little, so consider this 30 yuan as a loan from me, but I want 5 yuan in interest. Now I've been demoted by the factory, so I'll probably have to pay it back in two or three months. But I found something different at the post office tomorrow, so I might be able to pay it back in a while."

The third uncle Yan Bugui was still persuading them.

Sha Zhu was originally dissatisfied with the old man Yi Zhonghai tonight. After all, with a monthly salary of 99 yuan, he must have 500 yuan in hand, but now he was unwilling to lend it all to him.

He went to his second uncle Liu Haizhong's house and borrowed 50 yuan, and then went to his third uncle's house and borrowed 50 yuan, and finally he got together 500 yuan.

When had Sha Zhu ever been so miserable? It was when his father had just abandoned him and his sister. The first person who caused this consequence was his father He Daqing, but the second person who caused this consequence was Yi Zhonghai.

Looking at the 30 yuan in his hand, Sha Zhu hesitated and finally nodded.