Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 461

In the past two years, the standard of weddings and funerals has been much lower.

In the past, the tradition of "eight bowls" was emphasized, with at least half of them being main dishes. But now, that standard simply cannot be met.

After all, each person only has seven taels of meat coupons per year now. If it's a happy occasion, you can prepare in advance and find someone to exchange some.

Funerals do not have such conditions.

At noon, there were only two large basins: one was stewed pork head meat, and the other was stewed pork offal, only the stewed vegetables were different.

There was also more meat than yesterday, but it was still pitifully little.

They still ate cornbread made from cornmeal, but now they had sorghum liquor, which they could drink as much as they wanted.

No one complained about the food. Many people hadn't seen meat for months, and having pig's head and offal was like a treat for the New Year.

Although it sounds terrible, it was still beyond many people's expectations; they thought it would be a vegetarian dish.

Madam Jia Zhang was indeed disgusted: "Pah, my son is dead, and I don't even know to make him some braised pork."

Despite saying that, Madam Jia was not to be outdone. She picked up the meat with lightning speed and kept stuffing it into her mouth.

"Eat slowly, don't choke," Auntie Er couldn't help but remind her.

"What's it to you? You're not giving me any meat to eat."

The second aunt rolled her eyes and ignored her.

Qin Huairu was so angry she wanted to grind her teeth. Jia Zhangshi didn't care about her son dying young; all she wanted was to eat meat and ask for money.

But if I were to speak up, it would only lead to an argument and make me a laughingstock among my friends and family.

Right now, all he wants is to get Jia Dongxu safely to the ground and let all of this be over.

After lunch, relatives and friends burned paper money one last time, and the funeral procession reached its final stage.

With a white banner fluttering in front and a broken earthenware basin, accompanied by music and fanfare, Jia Dongxu was carried out of the courtyard and out of Dongzhimen all the way to the cemetery.

After the new grave was erected, Qin Huairu and Banggeng carried the grave on their backs, took off their mourning clothes, and insisted on not looking back, walking straight back home.

All the relatives and friends have left; only the neighbors in the courtyard and the employees of the steel rolling mill remain.

He Yuzhu heard a commotion as soon as he entered the courtyard. When he went over, he found that it was Jia Zhangshi causing trouble again, asking the staff for money.

The staff member was naturally unwilling to give it, but finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Qin Huairu return.

He said, "The money and the accounts are all here; you can discuss and decide what to do with it yourselves."

He shoved the account book and money into Qin Huairu's arms, turned around and left; he couldn't stay in this courtyard for even a second longer.

I never want to see Jia Zhangshi again in my life. She doesn't grieve for her son's death; all she thinks about is money.

Qin Huairu glanced at the account book and found that there were still a few dozen yuan left over.

After all, the factory covered all the expenses without making them pay.

He said, "Just like the condolence money, it will also be divided into three parts. Everyone can be a witness. I will also give this money to my former mother-in-law."

She emphasized the words "former mother-in-law" with great emphasis, her teeth clenched, sounding somewhat disappointed and frustrated. But Jia Zhangshi didn't care at all; her eyes were only on her wallet.

Qin Huairu had no choice but to hand over the money and account books to Yi Zhonghai.

After checking and confirming that everything was correct, Yi Zhonghai divided the money into three portions in front of everyone.

Jia Zhangshi still wanted to cause trouble, but no one indulged her. Even Yi Zhonghai scolded her a few times before she calmed down.

He Yuzhu was about to leave when Yi Zhonghai stopped him.

"Zhu Zi, I have something I want to tell you."

"whats the matter?"

"Zhu Zi, Dongxu is gone now, and the Jia family has fallen to this state..."

He Yuzhu said, "Although Jia Dongxu is gone, Qin Huairu will be able to change her household registration to an urban one after she gets a job, and the corn will also receive planned grain rations."

Previously, Qin Huairu was just a temporary worker on the street and did not meet the conditions for transferring her household registration from the countryside.

With Jia Dongxu's unexpected death, the steel mill has agreed to issue a certificate to help change Qin Huairu and Bang Geng's household registration from rural to urban.

This way, their quantities will be higher.

“That makes sense, but they are widows and orphans, and their lives will be much more difficult. You can’t just ignore them.”

He Yuzhu naturally wouldn't stop asking questions, since Qin Huairu could already arrange things into the shape she wanted.

He Yuzhu said, "Master Yi, you know very well how Jia Dongxu treated me before. I won't hold it against him now that he's dead, but it's impossible for me to take good care of him and his mother."

Yi Zhonghai thought that He Yuzhu would be more accommodating after helping him earnestly these past two days, but he didn't expect him to still have the same attitude, showing no mercy whatsoever.

He Yuzhu is gone. Everyone in the courtyard praises He Yuzhu for his thoughtfulness. Jia Dongxu has done too many things that have wronged He Yuzhu.

Now that he's in trouble, He Yuzhu doesn't care about the consequences and is busy taking care of him, getting him to the ground.

Hearing their discussion, Yi Zhonghai felt uneasy and sighed, lamenting that there was no going back.

If I hadn't schemed against He Yuzhu back then, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

What he didn't know was that even if Yi Zhonghai didn't scheme against He Yuzhu, He Yuzhu would never forgive him.

He encouraged He Yuzhu to disown He Xiao in order to secure his retirement.

Based on this alone, it's impossible for He Yuzhu and Yi Zhonghai to get in.

Upon arriving at the courtyard, he met Qin Huairu and whispered, "Take Banggeng to that courtyard tonight."

Qin Huairu nodded, her face flushed, and said, "I was just saying I was scared at night."

Then she glared at He Yuzhu angrily.

He was timid and somewhat afraid, after all, he had done something wrong to Jia Dongxu by having an affair with He Yuzhu.

He couldn't help but wonder if this was the reason Jia Dongxu died so young.

When she closes her eyes, she sees Jia Dongxu's face, questioning her about why she doesn't uphold traditional wifely virtues.

Especially last night, right there in the mourning hall, He Yuzhu was incredibly audacious, allowing me to wear mourning clothes while I made love to him.

Qin Huairu doesn't even dare to carry it into the west wing now, and is worried about how she will get through the days to come.

He Yuzhu also thought of this. Fortunately, the place where they had previously met was a separate courtyard, which Qin Huairu could stay in for a while.

Qin Huairu quickly understood, glanced gratefully at He Yuzhu, and said, "I'll go back and move my things right away."

He turned and went into the yard, telling Banggeng to pack his clothes.

Yi Zhonghai was stunned and asked, "Huai Ru, where are you going?"

"I discussed it with my supervisor and we borrowed a place from the company's housing to stay for a while."

"What? You're moving out?" Yi Zhonghai was extremely surprised.

Qin Huairu said, "Jia Dongxu left so suddenly. Living in this house, I see Jia Dongxu's image every time I close my eyes. I can't stay here for a while."

Yi Zhonghai sighed. His closest loved one had been gone in the blink of an eye. It was something that would be hard for anyone to accept.

"That's fine, staying away for a while is also an option. As for this house..."

"Let's lock it up first, since it's all reserved for the stick-shaped ones anyway."

Qin Huairu suddenly felt nauseous, covered her mouth with one hand, and then rushed out of the door to lean against a pillar and vomited a few mouthfuls of sour water.

Yi Zhonghai said, "Was it because you were keeping vigil last night and got cold?"

Qin Huairu was also puzzled. This wasn't the first time; she had vomited bile yesterday as well.

"Who knows? Maybe they ate something bad these past couple of days."

Auntie Er came out from the backyard and, seeing the situation, laughed, "Huai Ru, are you pregnant?"

Qin Huairu's face turned deathly pale.

Chapter 329 Taking a break from the busy schedule

Since last year, Jia Dongxu has been starving and has no energy left, so he has no interest in doing anything to himself.

Qin Huairu and Jia Dongxu haven't had marital relations for a long time.

That scoundrel He Yuzhu seduced me. If I had been able to eat my fill regularly, I wouldn't have been so easily seduced by him.

In the past few months, only He Yuzhu has cultivated this grassland.

If it can flower and bear fruit, then it is He Yuzhu's seed.

Yi Zhonghai was stunned for a moment, then asked in disbelief, "Qin Huairu, are you pregnant again?"

Qin Huairu shook her head and said, "I don't know if it is."

She secretly longed to get pregnant. Since Jia Dongxu had just died, she could claim that He Yuzhu's child was Jia Dongxu's posthumous offspring.

If we wait a while longer before making such a statement, no one will believe us.

What if I can't have a child with He Yuzhu? What if He Yuzhu ignores me after the initial excitement wears off?

It would be better to have a child with him, so that he will still think of her and come to her room often.

It's obvious that He Yuzhu has many women outside, and since I'm older than him, I'm definitely not as good as those young girls.