Siheyuan: Starting from the Old Society

"Have you heard? The kid from the Jia family has been poisoned!"

"Is this true? Who did this? It's so wicked!"

"Who else could it be? Maybe it was that kid Bang Geng who got sick from eating something he stole!"

"Shh! Keep your voice down, it's not good if others hear you..."

Qin Huairu became even more annoyed listening to these discussions. She pushed the crowd away and squeezed into the house, only to see Bang Geng still lying on the bed, his face pale, his lips purple, and he looked even weaker than before.

"Banggeng! Banggeng! How are you?" Qin Huairu rushed to the bed and called Banggeng's name anxiously.

However, Bang Geng did not react at all, and only the faint sound of breathing proved that he was still alive.

Qin Huairu couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She held Banggeng's hand tightly and said with a sob, "Banggeng, wake up. Talk to mom. Who hurt you? Tell me and I will avenge you..."

At this moment, Jia Zhang, who had been silent all the time, suddenly went crazy, grabbed Qin Huairu's hair, and screamed: "It's you! It's you, the jinx! It's you who killed my son, and now you're going to kill my grandson! I'll beat you to death! I'll beat you to death..."

"boom!"

With a loud bang, the door of Jia's room was kicked open.

Qin Huairu felt like she had overturned a bottle of five flavors in her heart, and she couldn't tell what she felt. Of course, she knew that Banggeng was usually disliked by others, but no matter how naughty he was, he was just a child. How could he be killed? She was too familiar with the eyes of those people in the yard. There was worry, but more of it was gloating, as if they were eager to add more firewood to the muddy water of her family so that it would burn more vigorously.

Yi Zhonghai looked gloomy and said nothing, staring at Jia Jia with complicated eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. But the "first lady" beside him spoke first, with a barely perceptible sarcasm in her tone, "Huai Ru, don't worry too much, good things will happen to good people, Bang Geng is a lucky kid, he will be fine."

Qin Huairu forced a smile, but before she could say anything, she heard Jia Zhang start to cry again, "Why is my life so miserable? Bang Geng, if anything happens to you, how will I live?"

"Okay, stop talking!" Sha Zhu got annoyed when he heard her crying like a funeral hymn, and yelled at her in annoyance.

Xu Damao sat at the back of the crowd, with a sly smile on his face, muttering in a veiled tone, "This is really retribution, it's their fault..."

Before he could finish his words, Lou Xiao'e, who was standing beside him, pinched him hard and said, "Can you please say less?"

Xu Damao felt pain and had to shut his mouth. But he was secretly proud in his heart that someone finally managed the Jia family!

Qin Huairu ignored the discussions of the people in the yard. Her mind was now filled with the words the old doctor said before he left, "This poison... is really strange..."

Could it be that, as she thought, the poisoning of Banggeng was not an accident but a human act? But who would be so cruel as to poison a child?

Qin Huairu couldn't figure it out, and she didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to figure out one thing, that is, who was trying to harm her?

As night fell, the courtyard was still brightly lit. The Jia family's house was crowded with people, all anxiously waiting for news about Bang Geng.

Sha Zhu bought a few spores from outside and handed them to Qin Huairu, "Eat something first. You haven't eaten for a whole day."

Qin Huairu shook her head, not having any appetite at all. Sha Zhu sighed, put the spores on the table, and comforted him: "Don't worry, Banggeng is a tough kid, nothing will happen to him."

Qin Huairu forced a smile, but she felt more and more uneasy. She always felt that something was going to happen...

Suddenly, a rapid knock on the door broke the silence in the yard. Sha Zhu got up and opened the door, only to see a thin figure standing at the door. In the dim light, Qin Huairu recognized the person at a glance - it was the famous "thief" in the yard - Bang Geng's "good friend" -

Qin Huairu's heart seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar. The gazes from all directions were like sharp knives, slicing her to pieces. She bit her lower lip tightly, almost biting it until it bled.

"Huai Ru, you love this kid the most. Tell me, how could this child get poisoned for no reason?" The speaker was Aunt Liu, who was famous for being a gossip in the courtyard. Her slender eyes were flashing with gossip, as if she wanted to see through Qin Huai Ru.

"That's right. This child is usually not honest. Maybe he has eaten something unclean outside!" Another sarcastic voice sounded. It was from Aunt Xu, who was at odds with the Jia family. She crossed her arms across her chest, looking like she was enjoying a good show.

"That's enough!" Sha Zhu slammed the table and glared at everyone, "Can you all be more polite! Bang Geng is still unconscious, you should just say a few words of comfort, but why are you saying these sarcastic words!"

Although Sha Zhu usually takes good care of the Jia family, he is not a fool. He knows very well what kind of person Bang Geng is. But the child is innocent after all, and he can't watch him walk through the gates of hell while these neighbors are still talking about him.

"Shazhu, stop pretending to be a good person here! Who knows if your dog Banggeng was greedy and ate something he shouldn't have, and now you blame us?" When Jia Zhang saw Shazhu helping Qin Huairu, she immediately got furious and pointed at Shazhu's nose and cursed him.

"You..." Sha Zhu was so angry at Jia Zhang's unreasonable words that he was speechless. He pointed at Jia Zhang and kept talking about her for a long time but she still couldn't make any sense.

"Okay, stop talking!" Yi Zhonghai, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke. He tapped his pipe and said slowly, "The most important thing now is to find out how Banggeng got poisoned, instead of blaming each other here."

Yi Zhonghai is an old man in the courtyard. His words usually carry a lot of weight. As soon as he opens his mouth, the courtyard suddenly becomes quiet.

"Uncle is right. We should now think of a way to help Banggeng find the person who poisoned him!" Qin Huairu quickly agreed, as if she had grasped a life-saving straw.

"Poisoned?" Someone in the crowd exclaimed, "How could someone poison someone in this courtyard? This is too scary!"

"Yes, yes, this is a life-threatening matter!"

For a while, the people in the courtyard were in a panic and talked about it. Everyone was talking about who the poisoner was and what his purpose was.

"Stop arguing!" Yi Zhonghai spoke again. He looked around with a sharp gaze like a hawk. "I will get to the bottom of this matter! If I find out who did it, I will never let him off easily!"

As soon as Yi Zhonghai finished speaking, he heard a sneer from outside the crowd, "Haha, check it out? I want to see how you check it out!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall young man in a black Zhongshan suit standing outside the crowd with a playful smile on his face.

"Who are you...?" Yi Zhonghai narrowed his eyes and looked at the stranger in front of him.

The young man ignored Yi Zhonghai and walked straight to Qin Huairu, looking down at her with a wicked smile on his face. "Qin Huairu, long time no see..."

Qin Huairu felt cold all over. The eyes of the people in the yard were like the tongue of a poisonous snake, icy and piercing. She tightly grasped the prescription, her nails almost digging into her flesh. She never thought that she would be poisoned by the stick, but now, she has become the target of public criticism.

Yi Zhonghai was the first to break the silence. He cleared his throat and said earnestly, "Huai Ru, how could this child suddenly be poisoned? Think carefully, has anyone come to your home recently, or has Bang Geng eaten anything he shouldn't have eaten?"

Qin Huairu shook her head, tears falling like beads from a broken string, "Uncle, I really don't know! Banggeng is usually very obedient and never eats anything he wants. Today he was playing in the yard the whole time, and I was cooking in the house the whole time, and I didn't pay any attention to him..."

"Didn't you notice? I think you just don't take the child seriously!" Jia Zhang suddenly jumped up, pointed at Qin Huairu's nose and cursed, "You are a jinx. Since you married into our Jia family, you have never had a peaceful day! Dongxu passed away early because of you! Now even Banggeng..."

"Jia Zhang!" Sha Zhu could no longer bear it, and slammed the table so hard that the teacups in the room jumped up. "What nonsense are you talking about! Huairu has been working so hard for this family over the years, how could you..."

"Am I talking nonsense? Am I not telling the truth?" Jia Zhang stiffened her neck, looking like a shrew scolding on the street, "If she hadn't killed Dongxu, how could our family become like this? Now Banggeng has been poisoned again. I think this matter has something to do with her!"

Qin Huairu was so angry at Jia Zhang's unreasonable behavior that she was shaking all over. She stood up suddenly, pointed at Jia Zhang's nose and cursed: "Jia Zhang, do you still have a conscience? Don't you think about it? If I hadn't raised Bang Geng with all my heart and soul over the years, would he be alive today? You..."

"Enough!" The second uncle Liu Haizhong, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. He put down the teacup in his hand heavily and said dissatisfiedly, "It's already this hour, and you still have the energy to make a fuss here! The most urgent thing is to find out the cause of Banggeng's poisoning first, and don't let the bad guys get away with it!"

Liu Haizhong's words seemed fair, but they were actually quite pointed. As soon as he opened his mouth, he pointed the finger at "outsiders", and suddenly everyone in the yard became a suspect.

Sure enough, as soon as Liu Haizhong finished speaking, people in the yard began to whisper.

"Who is so cruel that he doesn't even let the children go?"

"That's right, this will bring punishment from God!"

"I think it was probably done by someone in the yard!"

"Who knows? You can only know a person's face but not his heart..."

Once the seeds of doubt are planted, they will grow wildly like weeds.