Chapter 42: Street Brawling and Cursing

It seemed as if the Mo family was under some kind of curse. The men in the household all passed away at a very young age, and every generation had only a single son.

According to the old man who had adopted him in his memories, Mo Yalin’s grandfather had passed away in his thirties, claimed by nothing more than a severe chill.

Next came Mo Yalin’s father, who also died before reaching forty. No one even knew what illness he had; he went to sleep at night and simply never woke up in the morning.

When his wife tried to wake him up at dawn, he wouldn't budge, and when she reached out to touch him, his body was already stiff. Mo Yalin had only been in his teens back then.

And then...

Mo Yalin was now gone as well. Li Yancheng didn't know the exact cause, leaving the Mo family with only the wife Mo Yalin’s mother had found for him from the countryside, along with a posthumous child.

At least they had managed to pass down the family line.

Sending a widow with a son over here?

Heh...

"Why aren't you moving the rest yet? What are you waiting for here?"

"A part of it has already been moved inside. We're waiting for her to tidy up before moving the rest."

"Then come inside and sit for a while, it's freezing out here."

"No need, no need."

Brother Zhao hurriedly waved his hands. "Da Cheng, you should hurry back and rest. We're all wearing thick clothes so we're not cold, we'll probably start moving soon anyway."

"Alright then, I'll head inside first, Brother Zhao. Come over for a cup of water once you're done."

"Will do."

Nodding to the other, unfamiliar flatbed puller as a greeting, Li Yancheng lifted his bicycle, stepped onto the platform, and crossed the threshold into the courtyard.

"Old Zhao, is that the guy whose wife and in-laws ran away?"

Once Li Yancheng had gone inside, the flatbed puller next to him nudged Brother Zhao's arm and asked in a low voice.

Old Zhao turned to glance at the courtyard gate, then turned back and nodded slightly. "Yeah, Fang Qichang introduced her. Truly a disaster of a match, ended up getting himself dismissed from his post too."

"And he's still fine after all that? No wonder that sign could be hung on his door."

"Sigh, I'm not entirely clear on what's going on with that sign either. But Da Cheng really knew nothing about his ex-wife's family. If I recall correctly, they took him away for questioning for several days and only let him out after thoroughly clearing him."

"Talk about bad luck."

"You can say that again. He had a happy wedding, and the bride was even introduced by the sub-district office director. Anyone would think there was nothing wrong with that. Who would have expected such a blow shortly after the wedding? It really is bad luck. Good thing they cleared his name, otherwise he wouldn't even have a place to cry."

When many people learned about what happened to Li Yancheng, they felt sympathetic toward him, though naturally, plenty of onlookers just wanted to watch the show.

Still, as for the attitude of minding one's own business, the neighbors in the alley didn't take it to that extreme. As the saying went, as long as it didn't involve their personal interests, everyone was still willing to offer a few words of free comfort.

However, once personal interests were involved, those same smiling neighbors would flip their faces in an instant—and such instances were not rare.

Take that classmate of his who came running to borrow a house; if his skin hadn't been thick to a certain degree, an ordinary person could never have made such a request. In the end, it was all for the sake of their own petty interests.

Today was Sunday, so there was no work. With someone moving into the courtyard again, the outer courtyard sounded quite lively. Pushing his bicycle through the second moon gate and taking a look, sure enough, it was bustling.

In addition to everyone in the courtyard, young and old alike, gathered in the inner courtyard, Deputy Director Meng of the sub-district office along with two staff members, as well as several uncles and aunts from the neighborhood committee, were also present.

And of course, the protagonist of the day could not be missing: the young widow Fan Chunmei, and her son under two years old, who was temporarily being held by Old Zhao's wife from the outer courtyard.

The moment Li Yancheng stepped inside, the inner courtyard fell silent in an instant.

"Everyone's busy, I see."

"Brother Da Cheng, you're finally back! Come quick, come quick, there's a problem I don't know how to solve."

Seeing the person she had been waiting for, Jin Wenning ran over, grabbed his bicycle handlebars, and pulled him further in.

The girl truly loved to study. Ever since Li Yancheng started tutoring her, he would leave her a stack of assignments every day, which she would complete with absolute diligence. She would clearly mark the questions she couldn't figure out and eagerly ask him the moment he got off work.

Interrupted by her commotion, the courtyard resumed its previous bustling activity. However, Jin Zhihai and his wife Xing Lihua—who had probably only been lending a hand out of obligation—immediately went over to the washing basin to wash their hands and followed him into Li Yancheng's room.

Deputy Director Meng of the sub-district office turned to glance at the Li family's quarters, specifically fixing her gaze on the wooden sign hanging by the door. Her expression suggested she wanted to go in as well, but after some hesitation, she remained where she was.

Actually, it was better to leave things as they were than to stir them up; no irreversible consequences had occurred, and they just needed to be more careful in the future.

"Hey, let me ask you, what's going on with that sign by your door?"

As soon as they stepped inside the room, Jin Zhihai asked impatiently.

"What do you mean, what's going on? It's just a sign, what else could it be?"

"Just a sign? You make it sound so simple. You can't possibly not know what's written on it, right?"

"Of course I know. I'm the one who asked someone to make it, how could I not know?"

While speaking, Li Yancheng lifted the kettle sitting on the stove to check the fire inside. He hadn't changed the coal overnight, and as expected, the stove had gone out.

"Ningning, fetch me a block of coal from your room."

"Coming right up!"

"Sit down, you two, why are you just standing there? Zhihai, Ningning should have told you about what happened yesterday, right?"

"She told me."

"As long as she told you. I had no choice either. If I didn't think of something, I probably wouldn't even be able to keep this room. First, it was the Cai family living in the same courtyard biting the hand that feeds them—damn it, I don't even know how I offended that family. Just a few days ago, I treated them to a whole table of food, and the moment they turned around, they stabbed me in the back. Talk about eating someone's food and then smashing their pot. And if that weren't enough, the Qian family from Courtyard Thirty-One even chased me all the way to my workplace, demanding a house swap. Zhihai, you tell me what I was supposed to do? I have a somewhat stubborn temper; pushed too far, I'd rather shatter like jade than remain intact as a tile. Since so many people have set their sights on my room and think I'm easy to bully just because I'm alone, rather than letting others have the upper hand, I might as well contribute it to the public. At least the public will still let me live here and won't throw me out."

Li Yancheng practically shouted these words out. His voice was so loud that not just the inner courtyard, but anyone standing at the main gate could probably hear it clearly.

Sure enough, as his voice trailed off, the outside fell silent once again.

Among those outside who heard his words, Cai Fangchao and his wife Fu Xiuli had the most magnificent expressions—shifting from green to red, and then to white. If they could manifest a couple more colors, they could double as a fine arts student's paint palette.

Jin Zhihai and Xing Lihua probably hadn't expected that the usually meek and honest Li Yancheng would start cursing people out so directly today. The couple exchanged glances, both seeing a trace of amusement mixed with astonishment in each other's eyes.