Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 372

He Yuzhu was surprised. This was a hutong inside Qianmen Street. Xu Damao usually wouldn't come to his sister's place, especially since it was evening.

Startled, he quickly pulled his hand out of Xu Xiaomei's arms, helped her stand up, and helped her button up her clothes.

Xu Xiaomei, who was in the middle of a great time, was still a little confused as to why He Yuzhu, whom she had been unable to stop earlier, had suddenly stopped being affectionate towards her.

Then He Yuzhu said, "Someone's here outside."

Xu Xiaomei immediately came to her senses. Forgetting to complain about He Yuzhu's excessive behavior, she was so frightened that she quickly straightened her clothes to avoid being discovered as abnormal.

Then they heard Xu Damao's voice from outside: "Sister, little sister, I'm here."

Although they are siblings, Xu Damao knew from a young age that he should let out a warning before entering his older or younger sister's room, so that he wouldn't see them changing clothes inside.

Fortunately, He Yuzhu had only unbuttoned two buttons, and they were quickly buttoned back up. Xu Xiaomei pulled her clothes down a bit, glared at He Yuzhu, and then replied, "Big sister has gone to work. Come in."

After receiving permission, Xu Damao pushed open the door and said, "Little sister..."

Then, seeing He Yuzhu there, she was somewhat surprised and said, "Zhuzi's here too!"

She was still puzzled as to why He Yuzhu and her sister were alone in the room so late at night.

"Yes, the trap caught a mouse just now, and my sister asked me to come and take care of it. I took care of it and then came back to set a new mousetrap."

He Yuzhu's words dispelled most of Xu Damao's doubts, after all, these were his older sister and younger sister, two girls living here.

You certainly wouldn't do something like catching mice yourself; you'd have to find a man to do it.

Xu Damao had no more doubts, but Xu Xiaomei and He Yuzhu had a lot of questions.

Both of them could clearly see that Xu Damao was covered in dust and mud, two buttons were torn off his clothes, and there was a tear in one of his clothes.

It's obvious that this is the result of a fight.

Xu Xiaomei asked, "Brother, did you get into a fight with someone?"

"No...no, how could I fight?"

Xu Damao immediately denied it, and then said, "Little sister, can you make me some more? I'm going to wash my face. I'll sleep here tonight."

what?

He Yuzhu was furious. He had been hoping to play with Xu Xiaomei a little longer today, but unexpectedly, Xu Damao came over covered in mud and wanted to sleep here.

Xu Xiaomei also sensed that something was wrong and asked, "You must have gotten into a fight with someone and came here to hide?"

"There was no fight; it was just an accident."

Xu Xiaomei got up and went into the inner room, took out a sewing basket, and then asked Xu Damao to take off his coat, saying, "Then tell me what accident made your clothes so dirty?"

"This..." Xu Damao hesitated.

Then he said, "Little sister and Brother Zhu, you two have to keep this a secret for me. Promise not to tell anyone about my appearance today. Just say I arrived before dinner, understand?"

After hearing these words, Xu Xiaomei and He Yuzhu both understood that there must have been a fight outside, and they were afraid that he would ask the two of them to give false testimony for him if something happened!

"You're still saying you didn't get into a fight? Did you beat them up badly?" Xu Xiaomei asked.

Xu Damao said guiltily, "It's not serious, I was just doing it in case."

She was secretly groaning inwardly. If only her older sister and younger sister were there, she could easily coax them into covering up her lie. But now that He Yuzhu was there, she was worried and didn't know what to do.

Who would have thought that He Yuzhu would be at his sister's house so late at night!

If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have come.

He Yuzhu asked, "You have to tell me who you fought with, how you fought, and whether you seriously injured the person?"

At that time, there was no surveillance, the average young person had a low level of education, and people were quite wild.

If someone bullies you, you'll often get together to fight, or trip them up or knock them out. After all, the crime-solving rate is very low, and unless you're caught on the spot, it's hard to find the culprit.

Besides, in ordinary fights, most people who get beaten up just accept their bad luck and don't call the police.

As long as you don't lose an arm or a leg, or have a physical disability, you can just accept your bad luck.

Of course, they have the ability to retaliate. If they know who hit them, they will take the opportunity to retaliate. But very few will end up at the police station.

Xu Damao is still young, not even twenty, and is at the age where he is impulsive. He Yuzhu is worried that he might cause someone's death in his impulsiveness.

"It's not serious at all, nothing bad will happen." Xu Damao looked relaxed. He Yuzhu saw that he was unwilling to talk about it, so he stopped asking. After all, the two did not have a good relationship.

He Yuzhu said, "I don't care about your affairs, and don't ask me to vouch for you."

It was just a joke. Who knows who he fought with? If the other party came looking for him and he had to prove that Xu Damao had been here all night, wouldn't that cause a lot of trouble?

Therefore, He Yuzhu would not testify for him, lest he get himself into trouble.

“Then it’s settled. You didn’t come tonight and you didn’t see me,” Xu Damao said.

He Yuzhu nodded and said to Xu Xiaomei, "If there are mice again, don't take care of them yourself. Just call me over."

Xu Xiaomei said, "I understand."

It's not mentioned that He Yuzhu went out to drink at a small tavern.

Xu Xiaomei started her "educational mode" at home, giving Xu Damao a scolding. There had been fights before, and if the other party came looking for her and she didn't show up, she would always have to pay three or five yuan in compensation.

The main reason was that Xu Wude went to jail, and Xu Damao's mother couldn't control him anymore.

Xu Damao was young and often went out drinking with his cronies. Occasionally, they would get together to fight or play cards. He spent half of his monthly salary outside and lived a very carefree life.

Zhao Di often talked about these things with He Yuzhu, and sometimes she was so angry with her younger brother that she cried.

The next day, after He Yuzhu went to work, he went to the street office to hand over the rat's tail. He saw the staff member carefully examining it with tweezers.

He Yuzhu was greatly surprised: "What's so interesting about this? Could it be a fake?"

"Yes, even rat tails are fake these days."

"what?"

At this moment, the recorder nudged him with his elbow: "This is Director He from our machinery factory, how could he be fake?"

The inspector looked up and recognized He Yuzhu. He smiled apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, Director He."

"It's alright, you're working hard and deserve praise."

Then he asked, "This rat tail of mine isn't fake, is it?"

Chapter 272 Framed

"No, no, it's definitely not fake."

He Yuzhu asked, "Tell me, what is this fake rat tail made of?"

Upon hearing that there was a fake rat tail, He Yuzhu was very curious and couldn't understand how the other party could make a fake rat tail.

He said embarrassedly, "I only discovered yesterday that someone cut a long rat tail in two and then trimmed the thicker part to be thinner, so that it became two tails."

"I never knew there was such a thing. It's truly an eye-opener."

He Yuzhu was surprised; such a clever person exists at any time.

Fortunately, I didn't cheat; I just caught the rats, chopped off their tails, and preserved them with quicklime.

After He Yuzhu understood the situation, he left the acquisition point.

Back in the office, Xu Xiaomei brought him tea, and He Yuzhu asked, "Who did Da Mao fight with yesterday?"

Xu Xiaomei said, "I asked him, but he didn't want to say. He just said the beating wasn't serious."

She said somewhat angrily, "This time I'm going to tell Dad that I won't cover for him again."

After Xu Wude was released from prison, he disciplined Xu Damao. At that time, Xu Damao knelt down and admitted his mistakes, saying that he would repent and never go out to fight, drink, or brawl again.

Otherwise, Xu Damao wouldn't have stayed away from home this time, but instead came to Xu Zhaodi's place, hoping that the two sisters could cover up his clothes problem in front of their father.

He Yuzhu said, "He really needs to be disciplined properly. Hanging him from the rafters and giving him a good beating would be enough. Your father just isn't ruthless enough."

Living in this era, what He Weizhu finds most unaccustomed to is the way he disciplines and educates his children.

If a child makes a mistake, the punishment is either one word or two words, and then the child is hit hard.

In severe cases, the child is hung up and whipped with a belt, because parents know that if the child cannot be controlled, he will cause trouble outside and might even get shot.

Unlike later generations, families at that time typically had three to five children, and some families had as many as seven, eight, or even more than ten.

Zhao Yali, the accountant at the tavern, has eight sons. It's impossible to expect them to take good care of each child and educate them patiently.

The parents were not highly educated and could not articulate many profound truths. In addition, they were tired from working every day, so they would beat their child whenever he made a mistake.

Since ancient times, strict teachers have produced outstanding students. A sapling will not grow straight if it is not pruned. If a child does something wrong, he or she should be disciplined strictly, otherwise the child will be ruined.

He Yuzhu was right, but there was a hint of schadenfreude in his words; he just enjoyed seeing Xu Damao get beaten up.

Xu Xiaomei said, "Would you be happy if my dad beat him up?"

He Yuzhu nodded and said, "Of course, the harder the better."

"Hmph, you scoundrel, you're even worse than my brother. I think it's more appropriate to beat you up."

He Yuzhu retorted, "What's wrong with me? I'm too busy taking care of you all, I didn't expect you to say I'm bad."

"You're not only bad, you're a pervert! Don't you know what you did yesterday? You even put your hands on your hands..."

Xu Xiaomei couldn't continue speaking, as some things were simply too embarrassing to talk about.