Life in siheyuan era

"The Zhou family's second son is back..." The quiet courtyard was awakened by Sha Zhu's loud voice.

He shouted from the front yard to the middle yard, with a sense of joyful revenge.

But Zhou Zhiyuan wouldn't argue with Sha Zhu. His heart was pounding violently as he stared intently at the two rooms, seeing a familiar figure rushing out the door and hearing the shout of "Zhiyuan," his body trembled slightly.

"Zhiyuan..." Hearing this incredibly familiar voice and seeing the two figures running towards him, he couldn't contain his emotions any longer and knelt on the ground with a thud.

Held in Lin Shurong's arms, he was in tears. When his dream mother left him, he forever lost the person who loved him the most.

He didn't appreciate this love when his parents were alive, and only knew what he had lost when he lost it.

Fortunately, it was just a "dream." At this moment, he was being held tightly in his mother's arms, and a deep voice came from behind her: "It's good to be back, it's good to be back..."

This was the voice of his father, Zhou Dehou. His voice was trembling as he repeated the same sentence.

A stern voice came from his older brother, "Sha Zhu, his name is Zhou Zhiyuan, Zhou Zhining's younger brother."

Zhou Zhining solemnly announced, rejecting the title of "Zhou family's second son."

Sha Zhu's loud voice came again, "Got it, Zhou family's eldest son."

A crisp voice followed, "What are you calling him? Zhining doesn't like that name, can't you change it?"

"Alright..." Sha Zhu called out and turned to leave.

Zhou Zhining quickly turned around and, together with Zhou Dehou, helped Lin Shurong up.

Lin Shurong stood up, grabbed Zhou Zhiyuan's arm tightly, and pulled him into the house.

This was his home, a room of less than twenty square meters, but it was his root.

Standing in this room, all his alertness disappeared, and his muscles completely relaxed. He let Zhou Zhining take off his military backpack and nodded mechanically, with a tear-streaked face full of smiles, as he listened to Zhou Dehou's introductions.

"Is this child a little silly?" This was Liu Haizhong, known as Second Uncle, speaking.

Third Uncle Yan Fugui wouldn't respond to this, a slight nod would suffice. This way, he wouldn't offend Zhou Dehou and his wife, and he would also gain Second Uncle's favor. Why not?

"What are you saying? Zhiyuan just got back, let him rest well. Let's go." This time it was Yi Zhonghai, known as First Uncle, who spoke.

Zhou Zhiyuan knew these three uncles. Zhou Dehou introduced them to him solemnly. The three uncles were the managers elected by the residents of the courtyard. They had come one after another after learning that Zhou Zhiyuan had returned, which could be considered fulfilling their responsibilities as managers.

As First Uncle was about to leave, Second Uncle and Third Uncle were also eager to go home, and they all bid farewell and left.

Zhou Zhiyuan followed his parents to see off the three uncles, then returned to the house and looked at the pretty girl standing to one side. She had a pair of big, expressive eyes, and she said, "Master and Mistress, Zhiyuan must be hungry. I'll go cook."

Qin Huairu was actually his next-door neighbor, and she even called them "Master and Mistress"?

But Zhou Zhiyuan definitely didn't want to trouble her, and quickly said, "No need to cook, it's fine to just eat some leftovers."

Lin Shurong then said, "No need to trouble you, I'll cook for Zhiyuan."

As she spoke, she walked out of the house. The great joy of the mother and son's reunion made her steps light. Qin Huairu followed closely behind and walked out of the house.

Looking at Lin Shurong's back, a warm smile appeared on Zhou Zhiyuan's face. It felt so good to have a mother.

He then realized that it felt pretty good to have a father too. Zhou Dehou helped him take off his cotton-padded coat and asked him with concern, "Are you injured?"

Seeing Zhou Dehou put the cotton-padded coat on the kang and then sit on the edge of the kang, looking at him, he turned to see Zhou Zhining sitting in a carved wooden chair, knowing that his father and brother wanted to understand the situation.

When the enemy invaded the plateau, the whole family was in a state of tension. Hearing the start of the Self-Defense Counterattack from the radio, the whole family couldn't eat or sleep.

It wasn't until a month later that Zhou Zhiyuan made a long-distance call, and after receiving news of his safety, the family of three was relieved.

But they only knew that Zhou Zhiyuan had participated in the Self-Defense Counterattack, and knew nothing else, because he didn't have time to say it.

Zhou Zhiyuan said that he used the phone of the unit leader to report his safety to his family. There were hundreds of people waiting behind him. Lin Shurong, who answered the phone, understood his haste, and Zhou Dehou and Zhou Zhining also understood.

Now that he was home, they wanted to know the details.

Zhou Zhiyuan understood his father and brother's thoughts, sat in another carved wooden chair, and laughed lightly, "A little injury is nothing."

Hearing him say "a little injury," Zhou Dehou and Zhou Zhining breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

In those years, Zhou Zhiyuan was either fighting or on the way to fighting. He had extremely rich "combat" experience, and his whole body was tough and thick-skinned. A little injury was really nothing.

Zhou Dehou was relieved, but Zhou Zhining was concerned about another matter, and asked eagerly, "What battle did you participate in?"

For him, Zhou Zhiyuan's bravery was his bravery, and Zhou Zhiyuan's honor was his honor.

Zhou Dehou was also concerned about this matter. Zhou Zhiyuan fought for the country, and as his father, he felt honored.

His father and brother were focused on the battle situation, and Zhou Zhiyuan satisfied them. When Lin Shurong came in with a large bowl of steaming noodles, the three men were still chatting enthusiastically.

Zhou Zhiyuan participated in two large-scale battles, and experienced the entire Self-Defense Counterattack. There were too many stories to tell.

He had fought tough battles, and he had also fought funny battles. The scene of twenty-six soldiers of the sharp knife platoon chasing hundreds of enemies was quite funny. When such battle examples were told in a relaxed tone, Zhou Dehou and Zhou Zhining's faces showed happy smiles.

But Lin Shurong was more concerned about Zhou Zhiyuan's stomach, and said in a reproachful tone, "Hurry up and tidy up, let Zhiyuan eat."

At Lin Shurong's command, Zhou Dehou, who was sitting on the edge of the kang, quickly made room. Zhou Zhining got up and put the kang table in place, and a large bowl of almost overflowing noodles landed on the kang table, with two poached eggs on top.

Qin Huairu followed behind Lin Shurong, holding two plates in her hands. One plate contained two cornbread buns, and the other plate contained Sichuan pickles.

Seeing the cowpeas and small cucumbers on the plate, Zhou Zhiyuan immediately felt hungry and shouted, "I'm starving..." and was about to climb onto the kang.

Seeing his expression, Lin Shurong smiled and said, "Take off your shoes before getting on the kang."

Zhou Dehou laughed, and Zhou Zhining joked, "I won't fight you for it."

"Pfft..." Qin Huairu's laughter made Zhou Zhiyuan remember her presence. He straightened up and turned to look at her, and he was suspicious of Qin Huairu.

But Qin Huairu misunderstood. Seeing him look over, she said to Zhou Dehou and Lin Shurong, "Master and Mistress, your family is reunited, so I won't disturb you."

She thought that Zhou Zhiyuan was embarrassed to eat in front of her, so she said goodbye, glanced at Zhou Zhining, and turned to leave.

Seeing the door close, Lin Shurong withdrew her gaze and turned to look at Zhou Zhiyuan. Seeing him sitting in a wooden chair, untying his shoelaces with his left hand, but his right hand didn't move at all, her face suddenly changed. She squatted down, grabbed his right arm, and asked in a trembling voice, "What's wrong with your right hand?"

Without waiting for him to explain, Lin Shurong raised his arm and saw the knife scars on the four fingers of his right hand. Two lines of clear tears flowed down uncontrollably, and she asked in a trembling voice, "Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt, you know I'm tough." He replied in a relaxed tone, and turned to look at Zhou Dehou and Zhou Zhining.

The two leaned over and saw the scars on this hand. Zhou Dehou's square face twitched a few times, while Zhou Zhining kept a tight face.

Plop... Two drops of Lin Shurong's tears fell on his hand.

Zhou Zhiyuan reached out and wiped away the tears on Lin Shurong's face, and said softly, "Mom, compared to the sacrificed comrades, I only injured four fingers, you shouldn't be sad."

Zhou Dehou said in a muffled voice, "Zhiyuan is right, coming back alive is better than anything. Let him eat quickly, the noodles will get cold in a while."

Zhou Zhining asked in a deep voice, "What happened to the guy who hurt your hand?"

He cared about this, and couldn't sleep tonight if he didn't avenge this.

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "His neck was cut off by me."

At that time, Shen Lanbo was shot and fell to the ground. He grabbed the enemy's bayonet tightly with his right hand, pulled out his dagger with his left hand, and jumped up to give the other party a knife to the neck. His right hand loosened slightly and four finger tendons were cut.

But he didn't regret it. The situation was urgent at the time, and his first reaction was to pounce over and grab the enemy's bayonet.

But he wouldn't tell the truth, using the sacrificed comrades to set off the insignificance of his injuries. In this counterattack, more than 700 soldiers of our army were sacrificed.

Lin Shurong had heard the broadcast and knew about the sacrifices of the soldiers of our army. She sighed softly, her eyes full of concern, and asked softly again, "Does it still hurt?"

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "It doesn't hurt, I can still bend it a little, look..."

He demonstrated to Lin Shurong, slowly bending his four fingers. A burst of pain came, he blinked his eyes lightly, and still maintained a smile on his face.

The military doctor's assessment of his injury was a fourth-class disability, ruling that his four fingers were completely useless.

But he was not reconciled. After more than three months of hard work, the slightly bent four fingers gave him great confidence, and the pain was gradually减轻，信心十足地说着：“妈、您放心，通过努力，这四根手指一定恢复如初。”

His confidence infected his family. They understood Zhou Zhiyuan, and with his tenacity, he would definitely be able to recover.

An optimistic mood rose in the room. Zhou Zhiyuan, with the help of Zhou Zhining, took off his cotton shoes and climbed onto the heated kang. Facing a large bowl of steaming noodles, he raised his left hand and skillfully picked up the chopsticks. Lin Shurong's concerned voice came from his ear: "Eat a bite of noodles first, then eat the eggs."

This voice was so kind. He had heard this sentence countless times in his dreams. His mother was always full of expectations for him.