Chapter 59: The Celebration Banquet Turns into a Feast at Hong Gate

In the middle courtyard, the windows of the Jia family home were shut tight.

Mrs. Jia sat cross-legged on the kang, her aged face pulled longer than a donkey's, her triangular eyes filled with venom.

Qin Huairu sat on the edge of the kang, her head lowered as she worked on the sole of a shoe, her stitches terribly haphazard.

"It's over... It's truly over..." Mrs. Jia slapped her thigh, her voice raspy. "Such a high-ranking official as Deputy Director Li has just fallen just like that? And he was brought down by that little bastard, Silly Zhu? Who... who will ever be able to keep him in check from now on?"

Qin Huairu's hand trembled, the needle piercing her fingertip and drawing a bead of blood. She didn't even bother to wipe it away, her voice shaking, "Mom, keep your voice down... Please don't..."

"Keep my voice down? What's there to keep quiet about?" Mrs. Jia suddenly raised her voice, then quickly suppressed it again as she said viciously, "He's about to ride roughshod right over our heads! Bangeng is still in the juvenile detention center! East-facing's death benefit... and Yi Zhonghai is paralyzed too... It's plain to see that this courtyard is about to become He Yuzhu's world! Is there any path left for the two of us to survive?"

The words struck a raw nerve, and Qin Huairu's tears burst forth, flowing silently.

Mrs. Jia breathed heavily, her small eyes darting around wildly before she suddenly lowered her voice. "Huairu, we cannot just let this go! Deputy Director Li has fallen, but his wife... Wang Chunmei from the Women's Federation, she is no pushover! Can she swallow this insult? We must..."

Before she could finish, a commotion drifted in from the front courtyard, mixed with Yan Fugui's characteristic, calculating, and loud laughter.

"Oh! Zhuzi! You're back? Congratulations on your promotion! This is a tremendous joyous occasion for our entire courtyard! We must celebrate!"

Mrs. Jia and Qin Huairu exchanged glances, both seeing shock and unease in each other's eyes.

The two quietly moved to the edge of the window, lifting a corner of the curtain to peer outside.

They saw He Yuzhu pushing his bicycle into the courtyard gates, with a string mesh bag hanging from the handlebars. Inside were several lively crucian carp and a piece of pork belly with balanced layers of fat and lean meat.

Yan Fugui was rubbing his hands, grinning from ear to ear as he stepped forward to greet him, followed by several neighbors who had rushed out upon hearing the news.

He Yuzhu's expression remained unremarkable; he merely gave a faint nod. "Third Uncle."

Yan Fugui was exceptionally enthusiastic. "Zhuzi! You're a deputy section chief now! And you've rendered a great service! You've brought glory to the factory and to the country! Doesn't our courtyard share in the honor? We simply must celebrate!"

"I say, let's do it tonight! We'll set up a few tables right here in the courtyard to celebrate your success! Everyone can bask in the good fortune!"

Several neighbors echoed his sentiment, though most of their eyes drifted toward the fish and meat in the mesh bag.

He Yuzhu didn't stop walking, heading toward his own room. "The factory is busy; I don't have time for such fuss."

"Don't be like that!" Yan Fugui quickly hurried after him, trailing closely behind. "Why should you worry about a thing? Everyone will pitch in and arrange it! You just need to show your face! You're the guest of honor!" He lowered his voice. "Zhuzi, look, there were some misunderstandings in the courtyard before... mostly stirred up by old Yi and the Jia family... But now that's all settled, the bad apples have been cleared out, and our courtyard needs unity! This celebration banquet of yours is the perfect opportunity to smooth things over, and it also shows your magnanimity, doesn't it?"

He Yuzhu paused his hand as he unlocked the door, glanced back at Yan Fugui's shrewd countenance, and then swept his gaze over the neighboring onlookers whose expressions held a mix of envy and ingratiating flattery. He saw through it all as clearly as a mirror.

This old miser was trying to use the occasion to freeload a meal and smooth over the awkwardness of having previously aligned himself with Yi Zhonghai.

He didn't agree immediately, pushing open his door and saying, "We'll see."

Yan Fugui met a polite refusal and felt slightly abashed, but looking at the meat and fish in the mesh bag, he refused to give up. He turned around and shouted to the other neighbors, "Everyone, get things ready! Tonight, we're all celebrating Zhuzi's success! Those with money contribute money, those with strength contribute effort!"

As soon as these words were spoken, quite a few households were indeed tempted.

After all, getting a taste of oily food and sucking up to the factory's current rising star was a good deal.

The Jia family mother and daughter heard every word clearly inside their room. Mrs. Jia huffed angrily, "Celebrate? Eat horse manure! Eat until they drop dead!"

Qin Huairu, however, had a flickering look in her eyes. She tugged at Mrs. Jia's sleeve, her voice so low it was almost inaudible. "Mom... this is an opportunity..."

"Opportunity? What opportunity?" Mrs. Jia froze.

Qin Huairu bit her lip, a flash of desperate ruthlessness passing through her eyes. "Doesn't He Yuzhu want to act magnanimous? Doesn't he want to smooth things over? The whole courtyard is going... We're going too! And not just going, we're taking the children with us! In front of everyone in the courtyard, I will cry!"

"I'll cry about Dongxu dying young, cry about how hard life is for the two of us, cry about Bangeng being ignorant... I'll beg him! Beg him to raise his hand in mercy and let our widowed mother and orphans go... I want to see how he manages to step down in front of the whole courtyard! If he dares to put on a cold face, people's spit will drown him!"

Mrs. Jia's eyes lit up abruptly. "Right! Right! Let's do just that! Let him put on airs! We'll eat his food and still make a public spectacle of him!"

By evening, two old eight-immortal tables and a few long benches were indeed set up right outside He Yuzhu's doorway.

Yan Fugui directed a few households to pool together some greens and radishes, and he himself parted with a small handful of vermicelli noodles, but his eyes remained glued to the meat and fish inside He Yuzhu's room.

In the end, He Yuzhu didn't object. He brought out the fish and meat, letting several neighboring women help prepare them.

He couldn't be bothered to argue with the entire courtyard over such a trivial matter, and it was also a good chance to see who else wanted to jump out.

The courtyard instantly grew lively, with people washing vegetables and tending fires as if a genuine grand celebration were taking place.

The Jia family's door opened.

Qin Huairu had changed into an old tunic jacket, her hair intentionally disheveled, and her eyes red and swollen as if she had just been crying.

With one hand she pulled Xiaodang, and with the other she carried Huaihua, walking out with her head lowered.

Mrs. Jia followed behind her, also wearing a drooping face.

As soon as this mother-and-daughter pair stepped out, the bustling courtyard grew noticeably quiet, all gazes converging upon them.

Yan Fugui felt a sinking sensation in his heart, sensing that trouble was brewing.

Qin Huairu looked at no one, walking straight up to He Yuzhu. He Yuzhu was sitting on a small stool by the doorway drinking tea, not even lifting his eyelids.

"Zhuzi..." Qin Huairu began, her voice laden with a sob, tears falling the instant she spoke. "Elder Sister... Elder Sister knows there were many things she did wrong by you in the past... Elder Sister is apologizing to you..."

As she spoke, she actually moved to drop to her knees!

A muffled gasp rose from the surroundings.

He Yuzhu was quick-witted; with the back of his foot, he thrust forward to block her knees, his voice cold. "Save it. Say what you have to say."

Unable to kneel, Qin Huairu simply collapsed weakly onto the ground, hugging the two frightened and crying children, and wailed loudly. "Zhuzi! Elder Sister is begging you! Dongxu left us too early... leaving just this widowed mother and orphans behind... Bangeng is still young, he didn't know better and made a mistake... and right now he's still suffering in the juvenile detention center... I know he got what he deserved... but my heart aches as his mother..."

She cried until mucus and tears streamed together. "Deputy Director Li has fallen too... and there's no one in the courtyard to help us out anymore... We can barely survive anymore... Brother Zhuzi, you're a leader now, be magnanimous and show mercy, I'm begging you to spare our family a path to survival... Elder Sister will be a beast of burden to repay you in the future..."

Mrs. Jia chimed in from the side, slapping her thighs and howling dryly, "There's no way for us to live... bullying widows and orphans..."

This tragic melodrama was performed with full force.

Many clueless neighbors, especially a few older women, found their eyes turning red as they began to whisper among themselves.

"It really hasn't been easy for them..."

"Sigh, a widow raising two children..."

"He Yuzhu is doing well now, he really ought to help out a bit..."

Yan Fugui rubbed his hands in anxiety, watching the celebration banquet rapidly morphing into a struggle session.

He Yuzhu put down his teacup, looked at Qin Huairu who was "grief-stricken" on the ground, and suddenly chuckled, though the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Elder Sister Qin, you're begging me to show mercy?" His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly cut through Qin Huairu's wailing. "When did I ever grab you by the throat and stop you from living? Bangeng went to the juvenile detention center because he stole copper wire from the factory, caught red-handed, handled by the factory security department, and sentenced by the court. What does that have to do with me?"

"You say there's no one to help you? Didn't Yi Zhonghai help you out before? Did any courtyard meeting forcing donations of money and grain stamps ever leave the Jia family out? Do you have any idea where the white flour steamed buns you ate and the industrial coupons you used came from?"

"You say you can't survive?" He Yuzhu stood up, walked over to the two tables displaying the vegetables and meat, and pointed at them. "This fish and this meat were bought with wages I earned through my own hard work."

"If your Jia family wants to eat, fine, bring money to buy it, bring grain stamps to trade for it. Don't sit here acting virtuous while playing the whore, crying a few times hoping for a free ride while trying to pin the blame on me!"

His gaze swept across those soft-hearted neighbors. "If anyone thinks they're pitiful, no problem, bring out your own family grain ration book, give half of your monthly grain to their family, donate half of your wages to them, and I, He Yuzhu, will be the first to admire you as a good person! Who can't just flap their lips?"

His words landed like slaps across Qin Huairu's face, waking up those bleeding hearts as well.

That was true. Bangeng stealing things was a fact, and the Jia family taking advantage of others in the past was also a fact.

Qin Huairu's crying stopped abruptly, her face turning alternately red and white.

Mrs. Jia still wanted to make a scene, but He Yuzhu shot her a cold glare. "If you let out one more howl, I'll immediately go to the neighborhood committee and apply for an audit of your family's relief funds and donations over the years! Let's see if you people are really on the verge of starvation!"

Mrs. Jia instantly lost her voice, her eyes widening in terror.

He Yuzhu didn't look at them again, saying to Yan Fugui, "Third Uncle, is this celebration banquet happening or not? If it is, let's start eating. If not, I'm taking my things back inside."

"It's happening! It's happening! Let's start the banquet right now!" Yan Fugui hurriedly called out, terrified that another mishap would occur.

The neighbors also came to their senses, stopping their glances at the Jia family mother and daughter, and each found a seat to sit down.

Qin Huairu and Mrs. Jia remained frozen in place. Amidst the intentional or unintentional ignorance and contemptuous gazes of the crowd, they could neither stand nor sit, and in the end could only slink back inside their house with the children.

Even with the door shut, Yan Fugui's lowered curses and Qin Huairu's suppressed weeping could still be faintly heard.

Outside, the courtyard grew lively once more, though no one mentioned a single word about the Jia family anymore.

He Yuzhu sat in the master seat, eating quietly. Yan Fugui hurried over to pour him wine, asking cautiously, "Zhuzi, look... As for Xu Damao... how do you think the factory will handle it?"

He Yuzhu picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks. "However it should be handled, it will be handled. Sent to justice."

Yan Fugui's hand shook, spilling a bit of wine, and he dared not ask any further.