Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 48 Only the One Knows the Truth

As the workday ended, the setting sun bathed the courtyard in a warm golden glow. Director Wang personally helped the elderly, deaf woman, her steps faltering and her body hunched, slowly make her way back to the familiar yet now strange courtyard. This scene, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, immediately attracted the attention of the neighbors.

"Oh! The old lady is back!"

"Grandma, you're finally alright! Are you feeling better? You looked really unwell!"

"Your complexion looks better than before, but you're still weak. You need to take good care of yourself and not cause any more trouble!"

Neighbors gathered around to greet him, their voices filled with genuine concern, but even more so with curiosity and inquisitiveness. After all, the changes in the courtyard during the time this "patriarch" had been in a coma were nothing short of earth-shattering, and everyone wanted to know what kind of waves the return of this former "pillar of stability" would stir up.

The deaf old woman forced a tired smile, her cloudy eyes struggling to make out the people around her, responding to each one: "Oh, much better, much better, thank you all for thinking of me... Hello Teacher Yan, hello Liu's daughter-in-law..." But her gaze involuntarily searched anxiously in the crowd, looking for the two people she relied on most and worried about most.

She saw Tan Jinhua standing at her doorstep, her expression complex and her eyes darting around. Tan Jinhua saw her too, and the instant their eyes met, Tan Jinhua seemed to be burned by fire, quickly looking away. Her lips trembled a few times, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't go forward. She just nodded slightly as a greeting, and then, as if avoiding something, she abruptly turned around, lifted the curtain, and went back into the house, leaving behind a resolute back view.

The deaf old woman's heart skipped a beat, and a chill instantly spread from the soles of her feet to her entire body.

[She really...resented me...and wouldn't even say a word to me anymore...] The old lady felt bitter inside, as if she had swallowed a bitter pill, but she dared not show it on her face and had to maintain that weak expression.

What chilled her to the bone was Sha Zhu's reaction. He had been squatting by his front door tidying up an old cabinet when he saw Director Wang helping the old lady into the courtyard. His expression changed drastically, as if he'd seen a ghost in broad daylight. He jumped up abruptly, forgetting about the cabinet, and slammed his front door shut with a bang. His speed and decisiveness were so extreme, as if he'd be haunted by something unclean if he hesitated. The sight of the closed door and the disappearing figure sent a sharp pang of pain through the deaf old lady's heart, a pain more unbearable than her physical weakness.

Even her eldest grandson... is avoiding her... Her heart ached with bitterness and resentment, a mixture of grievance and panic. She almost burst into tears on the spot, and only managed to stand up because Director Wang supported her.

Director Wang also keenly sensed the subtle and cold atmosphere, understood a bit, and sighed inwardly. She took the old lady back to the cold and quiet room in the backyard, helped her sit down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and carefully instructed her to "take care of your health," "get some rest," and "if you have any difficulties, be sure to contact the neighborhood committee." Seeing that the old lady just nodded listlessly, she left helplessly.

In the empty, cold house, only the deaf old woman remained, facing the cold stove, the dusty furniture, and the suffocating loneliness that filled the room. An unprecedented and immense panic and desolation, like an icy tide, tightly enveloped and overwhelmed her.

After dinner, Tan Jinhua sat alone in the room, holding a rag and repeatedly wiping the table, but she didn't move for a long time, her eyes blank. Two thoughts were fighting fiercely in her mind. One voice said, "Ignore her! Yi Zhonghai treated you like that, even if she didn't know everything, she couldn't possibly be completely unaware! They're all in cahoots! Now she's getting her comeuppance, and she's thinking of you? Why should she?" The other voice said, "But...but she's so old, and she just had a serious illness...Yi Zhonghai is Yi Zhonghai. Over the years, she's served you tea and water, mended clothes, and she really hasn't mistreated you. She even secretly slipped you some pocket money from time to time to help you recover...Are you really going to watch her starve to death?"

In the end, she softened, letting out a heavy sigh, as if she had laid down a heavy burden, or perhaps taken on a new one. She got up and went to the kitchen, quickly cooking a bowl of noodles, carefully poaching a golden-yellow egg, and finally drizzling a few drops of precious sesame oil on top. She filled a large bowl to the brim and carried it to the backyard.

Standing before that familiar door, she hesitated for a moment, her fingers curling and then opening again, before finally raising her hand and gently knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" came the old woman's hoarse, wary voice from inside the house.

"It's me, Jinhua." Tan Jinhua's voice was a little hoarse.

A moment of silence fell over the room, a quiet that was unsettling. Then came the soft, slightly hurried footsteps. The door creaked open, and the deaf old woman saw Tan Jinhua outside, carrying a steaming bowl of noodles. A clear look of surprise and a sudden, cautious expectation flashed in her dim, yellowed eyes, as if she had seen a glimmer of light in her despair.

"Jinhua...you...come in quickly, it's cold outside." She quickly stepped aside, her voice trembling slightly.

Tan Jinhua walked into the house with her head down, not daring to look the old lady in the eye. She gently placed the noodles on the table and said, "I made you a bowl of noodles. Eat it while it's hot." Her voice was flat, revealing no emotion.

"Oh, okay, okay... Thank you, Jinhua..." The old lady looked at the bowl of fragrant noodles topped with a poached egg, her throat tightened, her heart filled with mixed emotions, her nose tingled, and she almost burst into tears. It had been so long since she had eaten a decent, hot meal.

The two remained silent, the atmosphere suffocatingly awkward. Only the steam from the noodles rose gently in the dim light. Finally, Tan Jinhua took a deep breath, as if making a decision, raised her head, and looked directly into the old woman's eyes. Her voice trembled with nervousness: "Grandma... I came today not only to bring you noodles, but also to ask you a truth. Yi Zhonghai... he forged my medical records, insisting that I couldn't have children, and he poured dirty water all over me... Did you... did you know anything about this? Even... even heard a whisper of it?"

Her gaze was fixed on the old woman's cloudy eyes, not wanting to miss any subtle changes in her face, as if trying to discern the truth from the falsehood.

Upon hearing this, the deaf old woman's face changed drastically. First, she was stunned, then her expression turned to one of extreme shock and anger. She slammed her hand on the table, her voice hoarse and shrill with emotion: "What?! That Yi Zhonghai actually… actually did such a despicable, utterly shameful, and childless thing behind my back?! Jin Hua! Heaven and earth bear witness! If I knew even a fraction of this, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death, descending to the eighteenth level of hell!"

She was panting heavily, her chest heaving, as if she were deeply angered by the "truth." Her cloudy eyes instantly filled with tears, and she grabbed Tan Jinhua's hand, which trembled violently: "Child... my silly child... you've suffered such a terrible injustice! You've been unjustly accused! I knew it... I knew why you suddenly decided to divorce him... You deserved it! Good riddance! This kind of black-hearted, rotten-gut bastard deserves this retribution! He wouldn't be unjustly executed!"

Tears streamed down her face as she looked genuinely distressed, filled with boundless pity and heartache for Tan Jinhua, as well as anger at being "deceived": "These years... you've suffered so much... carrying such a heavy burden of injustice... enduring so many scornful looks and gossip... my heart... my heart is breaking like it's being cut by a knife..." She pounded her withered chest, sobbing uncontrollably, as if the injustices Tan Jinhua suffered were more painful to her than her own predicament.

Seeing her tearful outburst and swearing oaths, Tan Jinhua's tense nerves eased slightly, as if the heavy weight in her heart had been lifted a little, but she wasn't completely relieved; a trace of doubt still lingered deep in her eyes. She simply wept silently, letting the old woman's cold hands grasp hers.

After crying for a while, the deaf old woman gradually stopped sobbing. She wiped her tears with her sleeve, looked at Tan Jinhua, and her tone became cautious, even carrying a hint of humble pleading: "Jinhua... I know I have no face to ask you for anything now... I was also at fault for the sins Yi Zhonghai committed. I was old and blind, and I didn't see through his beastly heart. I trusted the wrong person... But... But I... I truly regarded you as my own daughter from the bottom of my heart..."

She glanced around the cold, dilapidated, and lifeless house, her voice filled with raw panic and helplessness: "Look at me now... Zhonghai is in jail, it's collapsed, and you... left. I'm just an old woman, with bound feet, I can barely walk straight, I can't do anything, I can barely even get a hot meal, I'm like a useless person... Jinhua... I'm begging you... you... you'll still be willing... willing to look after me occasionally? It doesn't have to be much, just give me a meal occasionally, bring me a bowl of hot water... After I pass away, this house, and the little money I have left, will all be yours! Everything will be yours, clean and simple! If you're willing, we can officially become godparents! From now on, you'll be my own daughter! You'll take care of me in my old age and see me off when I die, okay?"

She gripped Tan Jinhua's hand tightly, like a drowning person clutching at the last straw, her eyes filled with desperate hope and deep fear, terrified of hearing a rejection.

Looking at the old woman's tearful, humble appearance, Tan Jinhua recalled how she had secretly slipped her money over the years to buy her good food and not mistreat her. Comparing this to Yi Zhonghai's cruelty and hypocrisy, a complex mix of emotions welled up inside her, a bittersweet feeling that was hard to describe. She forcefully pulled her hand away, her tears flowing even more freely, her mind in turmoil.

"Grandma...please...please don't say that...it's shortening my lifespan...let me...let me think...my mind is in turmoil...I need to think this through..." Her voice choked with sobs, her words incoherent. After saying this, she could no longer bear the immense emotional pressure and moral constraints. She suddenly stood up, staggered, and almost ran out of the room, quickly disappearing into the thick darkness of the night.

The deaf old woman was left alone, slumped on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), staring blankly at the bowl of noodles that were gradually losing heat and the oil beginning to congeal, and at the air that had once again become cold and despairing. Her eyes were empty. She knew that with Tan Jinhua's departure, filled with hesitation and struggle, many things might truly be lost forever.

After seeing off the brooding and ambiguous Tan Jinhua, the deaf old woman stared silently at the bowl of noodles, now soggy and cold, for a long time. Finally, the instinct for survival led her to slowly, mechanically, bite by bite, finish it. The cold noodles and congealed grease slid down her throat, bringing a slight feeling of fullness, but doing nothing to dispel the chill in her heart and the growing panic.

She sat alone in the cold room, the night deepening outside the window. The quieter it was, the more acutely she felt the loneliness of being abandoned by the whole world. Tan Jinhua's attitude was ambiguous, full of uncertainty. And Sha Zhu… her "eldest grandson," to whom she had invested the most emotion and placed her last hope in her old age, had refused to see anyone during the day, making her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles, her heart burning with anxiety. If Yi Zhonghai, this mountain, had collapsed, and if even Sha Zhu, her last straw, was completely lost, then she would truly become a lonely old woman in this courtyard, her bleak old age almost foreseeable.

No! We absolutely cannot sit idly by and wait to die! We have to go find Sha Zhu and get things cleared up! Even if we can't go back to the way things were, we at least have to salvage something!

Thinking of this, the deaf old woman seemed to regain her strength. She suddenly stood up, leaning on her cane, and disregarding the late night and heavy dew, she staggered and groped her way out of the house. Under the cover of darkness, she quietly arrived at the door of Sha Zhu's house in the middle courtyard. She took a deep breath of the cold air, tried to calm her rapid breathing, and raised her hand to knock on the door. The knocking sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

"Who is it?" came the extremely impatient voice of Sha Zhu, who had just fallen asleep and was woken up.

"Zhuzi...it's Grandma..." The old lady deliberately lowered her voice, making it sound hoarse and weak, trying to evoke the other person's past pity.

A sudden silence fell inside, a silence that sent shivers down one's spine. After a moment, the door was abruptly pulled open a crack, revealing Sha Zhu's face, etched with irritation, disgust, and inner turmoil in the dim light. He saw the ever-present, haunting deaf old woman outside. All the emotions he had painstakingly suppressed during the day—the anger of being deceived and manipulated, the resentment of being treated like a fool, the doubt and disgust towards the so-called "family ties" of the past—instantly exploded like ignited explosives, blasting straight to his head!

His face suddenly darkened, becoming extremely ugly. Without thinking, he was about to slam the door shut: "I'm going to sleep! We'll talk about it tomorrow! Get out!"

But the deaf old lady seemed to have anticipated his reaction. Almost simultaneously, she thrust her smooth cane forward, precisely and forcefully wedging it into the gap of the closing door! Sha Zhu's force in closing the door was both urgent and violent, and the hardwood cane was clamped hard between the door frame and the door panel, making a teeth-grinding, almost breaking sound!

"Zhu Zi! Let Grandma in! Grandma just wants to say a few words to you! Just a few words! I'll leave after I'm done! Please!" The old lady pleaded desperately, her voice trembling with tears. At the same time, she used all her strength, her withered arms bursting with astonishing power. With the help of her cane, she managed to push the door open a little more. Her thin, hunched body squeezed in with all her might, determined not to give up until she got what she wanted.

Sha Zhu wasn't truly heartless. Seeing the old woman struggling with all her might, her face flushed, as if she were about to get her hand caught in the door or fall over, his heart softened instinctively, and the grip on the door loosened involuntarily. The deaf old woman seized this opportunity, slipping through the crack in the door like an eel, and quickly pulled back her battered cane. Leaning against the cold door, she breathed heavily, still shaken.

Sha Zhu's face darkened, as if he'd been splattered with something filthy. He abruptly took two steps back, creating distance, crossed his arms, and turned his head to stare intently at the wall, refusing to look at her. His tone was as hard as a rock, filled with a chilling aura that kept her at arm's length: "Spit it out! And get the hell out of here! I feel disgusted just looking at you!"

Looking at Sha Zhu's resolute and undisguised disgust, the deaf old woman felt a sharp, piercing pain in her heart, but she couldn't care less at that moment. She steadied her rapid breathing, wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and her voice instantly filled with boundless guilt and choked sobs, her performance perfectly convincing: "Zhu Zi... my eldest grandson... Grandma knows... Grandma is sorry... I've hurt you... It's understandable that you hate and resent Grandma, Grandma deserves it..."

She paused, secretly observing Sha Zhu's reaction. Seeing that he remained stiff and unmoved, she continued in a pained and remorseful tone, "Yes... Grandma is confessing to you today. Grandma admits that back then... it was indeed Grandma who gave Yi Zhonghai that terrible idea, telling him to find a way to force your father... He Daqing away... Grandma had ulterior motives. Grandma is old and afraid that no one will take care of her, afraid that no one will know if she dies in this stinking house. I thought that if you were left in the yard, with Zhonghai looking after you, and you can earn money, and you are honest and filial, then in the future... in the future, you can naturally take care of Grandma in her old age and see her off in her final days..."

Her words were like the sharpest knife, once again brutally dissecting the ugly truth. Although Sha Zhu already knew the general outline from Lin Gang and Lin Yan, hearing it confirmed by the very person he had called "Grandma" for so many years, the person he had trusted and loved, still made him clench his fists tightly, his knuckles turn white, his body tremble slightly uncontrollably, and his teeth grind together.

"But! Zhu Zi!" The deaf old woman's tone suddenly became agitated, her voice rising as if she had been utterly wronged and betrayed, trying to regain control. "Grandma swears to God! Grandma only asked Yi Zhonghai to find a way to get your father out of here, to stop him from coming back and dragging you and your siblings down. I never asked him to do those heartless things! Didn't Grandma always tell you that Zhonghai is your uncle, the most kind and reliable person in the neighborhood, and that you should listen to him and be close to him? Didn't Grandma repeatedly tell him in private to treat you well, to treat you like her own son? To keep you by her side, so we could live a good life together?"

She beat her chest and stamped her feet, tears streaming down her face, portraying herself as a deceived victim: "I really didn't expect it! I never imagined that Yi Zhonghai, that black-hearted, rotten-gut bastard! Behind my back, he pretended to comply but secretly betrayed me, daring to embezzle the child support your father sent! He even dared to sell your workstation for money! He's trying to ruin you! He completely fooled me too! He's using me as a pawn! Zhu Zi... Grandma was also deceived by him... Grandma is a victim too... We've all suffered because of him..."

She cried with genuine emotion, tears streaming down her face, as if she were an innocent victim of Yi Zhonghai's conspiracy, absolving herself of all blame and responsibility, and precisely shifting all the blame and guilt onto Yi Zhonghai, who was already in prison and unable to confront her, in an attempt to gain the last bit of sympathy and understanding from Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu remained standing silently, like a cold statue, head bowed. The light cast deep shadows on his face, making it impossible to discern his expression. Only his tightly clenched, slightly trembling fists and shoulders as taut as iron revealed the intense storm and struggle raging within him.

After a long time, so long that the deaf old woman's cries gradually weakened, leaving only intermittent, suppressed sobs, the room was eerily quiet. Only then did Sha Zhu slowly raise his head. His eyes no longer held the carefree kindness of the past, only utter despair.

He looked at the pitiful old woman crying before him, trying to salvage everything with her tears, his voice hoarse and calm, yet carrying an unprecedented, undeniable resolve; every word seemed to have been pulled from an ice cellar.

"Grandma, are you finished speaking?"

"Now that you've finished talking, go back."

"From now on... you cross your narrow bridge, and I'll walk my sunny path."

"We... are no longer grandparents and grandchildren."

"The decades of friendship in this courtyard come to an end here."

"Don't come here again. You're not welcome here."

After saying that, he stopped looking at the deaf old woman's face, which had turned deathly pale, drained of all color, and looked as if she had seen a ghost. He turned around and faced her with his broad but cold back, making the most thorough and unchangeable gesture of seeing her off.

Every word was like a cold iron hammer, striking the deaf old woman's heart hard, shattering her last shred of hope! She opened her mouth, wanting to make a final struggle, but found that all her performances were pale, powerless, and utterly ridiculous in the face of this resolute determination.

In the end, all her scheming, calculations, and performances turned to nothing. She could only be like a puppet with all its bones removed, leaning on the cane that was almost broken, trembling and disoriented, groping to open the door and staggering out.