Siheyuan, Me and the Yu Sisters

When He Yushui knocked on Zhang Renkang's door, Zhang Renkang was already sitting on the sofa, eating melon seeds and waiting for him. Seeing the melon seeds and comic books on the table, He Yushui sat down without hesitation and grabbed a handful of them and started eating them.

Zhang Renkang opened the door and said with a smile

"Isn't it inappropriate for you to come to my place so late at night?"

He Yushui rolled her eyes at him and said

"I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?"

Zhang Renkang said with a smile

"Don't you know that your brother and a bunch of people in the middle courtyard are waiting to catch me?"

He Yushui said

"My brother and the old lady asked me to come here. They said my brother will no longer oppose you and asked you to spare him."

Zhang Renkang laughed and asked

“Why should I let him go?”

As he spoke, he looked at He Yushui unscrupulously, which made He Yushui blush and keep silent. To be honest, He Yushui had regular features, fair skin, and a pair of long legs (see Teng Xuan), which was quite pretty. He was the exact opposite of Sha Zhu, except that he was thin, so skinny that he didn't look beautiful at all.

He Yushui said shyly

"Zhang Renkang, please help me, I will repay you"

Zhang Renkang said jokingly with a smile

"Repay? You can't even eat, how can you repay me? You are so skinny that you don't have any meat on you, and you don't look good at all."

"How about trying it first?"

He Yushui pouted angrily and gave Zhang Renkang a blank look, ignoring him. Zhang Renkang came up and said

"I can stop making things difficult for him and agree to his transfer back, but if Shazhu continues to act like a fool, don't say I'm ruthless."

He asked with a smile

"Now how are you going to repay me?"

When He Yushui heard Zhang Renkang's promise that he would not prevent Sha Zhu from being transferred back to the cafeteria, she kissed him shyly on the face and was about to run away. Zhang Renkang grabbed her and leaned over to kiss her on the mouth. He Yushui's mind went blank. She didn't expect Zhang Renkang to be so bold. He was not afraid of being caught when he opened the door. Zhang Renkang kissed her deeply for a while, then let go of He Yushui and said

"We are even now."

He Yushui grumbled and blushed as she was about to leave. Zhang Renkang quickly stopped her and said with a smile:

"Are you planning to run to Baocheng tomorrow?"

He took out a big black bill and a few national food coupons and handed them to He Yushui.

"Take it. Go and tell He Daqing about what happened over the past decade."

He Yushui blushed and snatched it away without looking back. Zhang Renkang smiled and the atmosphere became lively again. Zhang Renkang hummed "Promise" and went back to his room to sleep.

there

As soon as He Yushui entered the room, Sha Zhu couldn't wait to ask

"How did he say?"

The deaf old lady also asked

"What does Zhang Renkang mean?"

He Yushui glanced at Sha Zhu unhappily and said to the deaf old lady

"He said he wouldn't stop my brother from going back, but if my brother gets into trouble again he won't let him go."

The deaf old lady said happily

"Okay, as long as Zhang Renkang doesn't get in the way, Zhuzi can go back this time."

Then he said to Shazhu

"Zhu Zi, did you hear me? When you go back, be a good boy and don't cause any trouble. Your most urgent task is to pass the exam safely and securely. After your grandma finds you a wife, you can just wait to have a son."

Silly Zhu thought about his wife and son and was so happy that his eyes were cracked, and he said shyly

"Grandma, I will listen to you. I will behave myself and I will not provoke Zhang Renkang."

When He Yushui heard what Sha Zhu said, she knew that Sha Zhu was not convinced, but she didn't want to argue with him anymore. She would wait until she went to Baocheng tomorrow to talk about it.

Sha Zhu carried the deaf old lady away. He Yushui closed the door and lay on the bed, thinking about Zhang Renkang's kiss just now. Her face turned red as if it was scalded. She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

So-called

"Although spring is not here, I still think of it as a dream in my boudoir"

Tonight is destined to be a night of mixed thoughts for He Yushui.

The next morning, Zhang Renkang washed up, boiled seven or eight eggs, and poured some soy sauce. He was about to eat when He Yushui suddenly pushed the door open. Zhang Renkang smiled and asked when he saw He Yushui's dark circles under his eyes.

"I say, He Yushui, don't you think of me as your canteen? Why do you always come at mealtime?"

He Yushui glanced at him coquettishly and sat down at the table without any hesitation and peeled an egg to eat. Zhang Renkang didn't mind. He Yushui was almost the dish in his bowl anyway. He ate more and gained some weight. Then he would have a delicious seafood feast.

Zhang Renkang pushed the bowl of soy sauce toward He Yushui and said

"Take the remaining eggs and eat them on the way. Wait until Yi Zhonghai and the others leave before you leave. Be careful not to miss your stop."

He Yushui nodded without saying anything. After a while, four eggs went into her stomach. For the first time, He Yushui burped with satisfaction. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had eaten too much, especially eggs, which were precious.

Zhang Renkang took out a pack of biscuits and a small bag of melon seeds from the cupboard and handed them to He Yushui, saying

"Eat something on the way, I'm leaving now."

He Yushui stared at Zhang Renkang blankly with red eyes without saying a word. It was the first time that He Yushui had received such care from someone since He Daqing passed away. Sha Zhu himself was too shabby to care about He Yushui. That year, Sha Zhu forgot to leave something for He Yushui when he went to work. He Yushui fainted on the threshold of the door due to hunger. It was an old lady who was kind enough to cook a bowl of noodles for He Yushui.

Zhang Renkang looked at He Yushui, who was staring at him with red eyes, and said

"Don't stand there, I'm leaving"

As he spoke, he pushed his bicycle out of the house, locked the door, and walked away. He Yushui watched Zhang Renkang leave without saying a word, then returned to the house, laid down in her quilt, and began to cry. Not long after, people in the yard went to work one after another. He Yushui glanced at the sky and saw that they had probably left the alley, so she left without saying a word.

At 8:30, He Yushui arrived at the post office. He had been waiting for the post office to open since early morning. He went in and found the receiving area and asked the staff.

"Sister, do we have letters sent from Baocheng to He Yuzhu every month?"

The elder sister in green clothes said in confusion

"Yes, who are you?"

He Yushui said quickly

"I am He Yuzhu's sister, and the one who sent the mail was our father He Daqing"

The elder sister said

"Oh, there are letters to He Yuzhu every month, and there is money. How come you brothers and sisters have never seen anyone come to get it?"

He Yushui's eyes welled up with tears when she heard this. It turned out that her father didn't ignore her. He wrote letters to her and sent money to her every month. Seeing He Yushui crying, the staff of the post office looked over. This is for residents. There are not many people sending mail these days. There were not many people coming early in the morning. The eldest sister asked in confusion:

"Why are you crying, little girl?"

He Yushui wiped her tears quickly and found an excuse.

"I, I kind of miss my dad. Can I ask when the letters start to be delivered?"

The post office doesn't have much business these days, and the only person who delivers mail every month is He Daqing. The post office is already very familiar with him.

"This is easy to check. He mails it every month. I'll show it to you."

As he flipped through the records, he said

"Since June 51, a letter has been delivered every month. By the way, little sister, why don't you come to pick it up, but always a middle-aged uncle? Take a look."

He Yushui heard that He Daqing had been mailing letters since he passed away in 51. He took the record book with trembling hands and was so angry that his lungs were about to explode. For the past thirteen or fourteen years, Yi Zhonghai had deceived them. He Yushui suppressed his anger and asked slowly,

"Sister, does the post office keep records of how much money my dad mailed?"

The eldest sister pointed to the record book and said

“这有写的，51年6月邮递两万元，......55年三月邮递3万元（第一套人民币，一万等于一元），从55年开始到62年每个月是5元，63年1月到上个月每个月邮递6元”

He Yushui calculated for a long time that He Daqing had mailed more than 680 yuan to the brothers and sisters over the years. She and Sha Zhu had no idea about this amount of money, and they had never seen the letter. He Yushui smiled and said

"Thank you, sister. I understand."

The staff said

"Little sister, this month's supply usually comes at the end of the month, you can come and pick it up then."

He Yushui smiled and replied. As soon as she came out of the post office, she couldn't hold back her tears. She ran to an alley, hugged her legs and cried. After a while, He Yushui finally held back her sadness, wiped her tears, took the bus to the train station.

Here, Sha Zhu carried the deaf old lady all the way to Yang Weiguo's office at the steel mill. As soon as he knocked on the door and went in, Yang Weiguo was furious when he saw Sha Zhu. After seeing the old lady on his back, he smiled and said

"Old man, it's you, why are you here?"

The deaf old lady smiled and said

"Director Yang, I'm here to ask for a favor."

Director Yang glanced at Sha Zhu, had some ideas in mind, and said calmly:

"You said, old lady"

The deaf old lady said

"Director Yang, I have no children, so I adopted Zhuzi as my grandson. This child is filial and kind, but a little stubborn. He made a mistake in the factory, and it was right for you leaders to punish him. Now the child knows he was wrong, and I, an old lady, would like to beg you to forgive him this time. After all, the child still has to get married, and it is not a good thing for him to keep sweeping toilets. Can you please consider it?"

Yang Weiguo frowned and said

"This isn't He Yuzhu's first offense. Last time I wanted him to clean for a month to reflect on his behavior, but he got into a fight again within half a month. This has a big impact. If I change the rules right after the punishment, the workers will be dissatisfied."

The deaf old lady said

"Director Yang, I haven't asked you for help in all these years. This time, consider it as my shameless request to you. If you help Sha Zhu this time, how about we write off our previous mistakes?"

Yang Weiguo thought for a while and said

"Old lady, you are making things difficult for me."

"Let me think of a way. I'll just treat it as a token of my gratitude for your kindness. If He Yuzhu does it again in the future, I won't show mercy to him anymore."

The deaf old lady nodded with satisfaction. After Sha Zhu thanked Director Yang, he let Sha Zhu carry him away. Yang Weiguo thought with a headache that he had to go talk to Zhang Renkang about this matter. Yang Weiguo also knew about Zhang Renkang and Sha Zhu. When Zhang Renkang came to the factory, they had held a meeting to discuss the punishment for Sha Zhu Yi Zhonghai. Now Zhang Renkang held that channel in his hands, and Yang Weiguo didn't want to offend Zhang Renkang because of this.