sbdcsierra Chapter 121 Kite
Chapter 121 Kite
"Brother Dongjin, can I talk to you?"
Despite the sweltering summer heat, He Yushui's heart remained icy. She took good care of He Yuzhu and, through their daily conversations, discovered the true nature of the "silly brother."
Upon learning that He Yuzhu had indeed deliberately taken sides, the young girl nearly collapsed; she no longer wanted to say anything to the silly brother.
But He Yushui had to speak her mind, so in the end she could only turn to Jia Dongjin, hoping to improve relations between the two sides.
After get off work, He Yushui arrived at the courtyard gate early. Since Jia Dongjin had a bicycle, he usually returned to the courtyard half an hour earlier than others. This was the most suitable time to chat. Qin Huairu was also present, so she wasn't afraid of what others might say.
"Rain, just tell me what's on your mind."
Jia Dongjin's tone remained normal, and his refusal to speak to He Yushui alone hinted at the distance and estrangement between them.
He Yushui glanced at Qin Huairu, frowned, and then chose to get straight to the point.
"Brother Dongjin, it was wrong of my brother to take sides, but he didn't mean any harm. He was just misled by Yi Zhonghai."
One's position is determined by one's own circumstances. He Yushui couldn't say that He Yuzhu did it on purpose. She knew that her silly brother was jealous, just like she was jealous of Qin Huairu. But she only offered her blessings and didn't try to harm Jia Dongjin like her brother did.
"Rain, don't worry, I've never held a grudge against you or Zhuzi. Besides, I didn't suffer any loss, the matter is in the past, and we're still neighbors."
Regardless of how much Jia Dongjin despised He Yuzhu, He Yushui was innocent, and he would not harbor any ill will towards her.
Qin Huairu's eyes flickered. She had a good impression of He Yushui and had also communicated with the man. She wouldn't push He Yushui away and turn a friend into an enemy for no reason.
The woman stepped forward, patted the little girl on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Yushui, Dongjin is right. Zhuzi was just confused for a moment. Don't overthink it. We'll be the same as before and the same as before."
Seeing that He Yushui seemed somewhat disappointed, Jia Dongjin hesitated for a moment before revealing some of his thoughts, "Yushui, you're still young. You should focus your energy on your studies. Wait until you get into vocational school before you start paying attention to adult matters. Yi Zhonghai isn't a good person, but your brother is too deeply involved, so I can't say much. Besides your studies, you should also be careful about your brother's marriage. Don't suffer losses without even realizing it. That's all I can say for now."
It's best not to be too explicit. Since He Yushui has taken the initiative to get closer to him, Jia Dongjin has also given him hints. He said that Yi Zhonghai would never do anything meaningless. As long as his behavior is different from usual, there must be a purpose behind it. Don't be foolish and believe Yi Zhonghai's words on the surface.
"Dongjin is right. Zhuzi and Yi Zhonghai are close. Keep an eye on anything unusual about the Yi family. If anything happens, just say so. Let's communicate more so we don't suffer from Yi Zhonghai again."
Jia Dongjin was somewhat reserved, but Qin Huairu spoke bluntly; the couple actually wanted to recruit He Yushui as a sentinel.
"I know who's good and who's bad, and I'll listen to you all."
From childhood, He Yushui knew that the Yi family treated her and her brother differently. As He Yuzhu's younger sister, she knew very well that Yi Zhonghai wanted He Yuzhu to support him in his old age.
Retirement is not a bad thing, but Yi Zhonghai's approach is not one of care and protection, but rather something strange that makes He Yushui feel uncomfortable. In particular, her father, He Daqing, inexplicably abandoned his children and went to Baoding.
He Yushui has grown up; she no longer thinks like a child. The more she thinks about it, the more uneasy and suspicious she feels.
If, like in the original drama, He Yushui is isolated and helpless, she can only silently endure it until the day she can become independent.
The situation is different now. He Yushui is not fighting alone. Jia Dongjin has shown her kindness and has genuinely reached out to her.
Jia Dongjin rejected her advances, but He Yushui wasn't stupid. After a little thought, she realized that Jia Dongjin's refusal to take advantage of her was a sign of his genuine kindness. He also provided her with support in various ways, guiding her on how to get into a vocational school. Even her own brother couldn't have been better.
Compared to the Yi family, if you want to eat something good for the New Year's Eve dinner, you have to shamelessly fight for it yourself. The difference between the two is clear once you compare them.
The little girl was very smart and quickly understood right and wrong, good and evil. This time, He Yuzhu was misled without realizing it and ended up being badly beaten by Jia Dongjin. He Yushui did not hate Jia Dongjin. In fact, everyone knew who was right and who was wrong.
Unlike others, Jia Dongjin was the person He Yushui loved and the person she trusted most besides He Yuzhu.
He Yushui worried that Jia Dongjin would stop paying attention to her, thus losing his help, and this feeling made her uneasy.
He Yushui didn't ask for much; all she wanted was Jia Dongjin's words. As long as the trust between the two parties remained, she had confidence.
The three were unaware of the significance of this meeting. This simple meeting at the gate, which lasted less than five minutes, was like the opening of the prelude to World War II, turning a new page in the battle of the courtyard.
Many hands make light work; as the saying goes, it's true that you really need a lot of friends.
When Jia Dongjin joined forces with the Yan family, he promised to help Yan Jiecheng take the electrician's certificate exam, and the Yan family reciprocated. During the battle with Liu Haizhong, without Yan Jiecheng's timely notification and Yan Fugui's intervention, Jia Dongjin would not have won so cleanly and decisively.
This time, He Yushui's approach inadvertently gave Jia Dongjin the upper hand. No one, including Jia Dongjin and Qin Huairu, knew that the little He Yushui, with just a flap of her wings, could shatter a series of painstaking schemes like soap bubbles.
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"Jie Di, don't move around, or the kite won't be able to fly."
Kite making usually follows a four-step process: "tying, pasting, painting, and flying". For Yi Damao, he can only make a simple diamond-shaped kite, but that is enough for the children in the courtyard.
He asked Yan Jiedi to bring him some lightweight and flexible bamboo strips, and began to tie them together to form a cross-shaped frame. Then he cut thin paper into shapes slightly larger than the frame, and pasted it smoothly onto the frame with glue, while taking care to keep the covering taut and wrinkle-free.
Yi Damao selected two points slightly above the intersection of the cross-shaped frame, tied lifting lines to each point, and then joined the two lifting lines together and tied them into a knot to form a loop that could be used to connect the flying line.
"All done. Now all that's left is to add the tail. After that, we'll go fly the kite and see how long the tail is. Jie Di, the kite is for you, so you'll be in charge of painting on it."
The tail is added to maintain balance; most kites require a tail or ribbon to the bottom. The tail length needs to be adjusted through test flights: if the kite flies unsteadily, wobbles, and falls, the tail is too short; if the kite is difficult to take off or cannot fly high, the tail may be too long.
No one in the courtyard was willing to spend money to buy kites, so the children could only rely on the adults or make their own simple kites to play with.
After making the kite, Yi Damao said that there were too few of them and it wasn't worth going out to play. Then he looked at the Jia family's house in the west wing across the street.
"It's windy today, Brother Mao is taking me to Shichahai to let my farts out. It's awesome, wanna come?"
Banggeng sat on the veranda, bored with no one to guide him. He watched the two make a kite with longing eyes. Yan Jiedi was still young, so she casually extended an invitation.
Given Jia Dongjin's warning, Banggeng dared not approach Yi Damao, and Qin Huairu also specifically told him that he was absolutely not allowed to go near the water.
But Banggeng had no resistance to his old friend Yan Jiedi's invitation. He looked back at Jia Zhangshi in the house and saw that his grandmother was taking care of Xiaodang. He then patted his bottom and followed Yan Jiedi out of the courtyard in a flash.
"Third sister, Banggeng went to fly a kite, I want to go too."
The Luo family children were also playing in the courtyard. When Luo Jun saw Bang Geng go out, he couldn't resist the urge and begged his older sister Luo Sanya.
Luo Sanya was playing hopscotch when she shook her head and said, "Not now. It's not the time to fly kites. Next spring, your third sister will take you to fly kites. Banggeng's dad is really rich; he's even willing to buy kites for him to play with."
She made her own kite, but it was a bit ugly and not as pretty as the kite she bought.
"The kite was made by Brother Da Mao. After he finished making it, he took Bang Geng to play with it, and Sister Jie Di also came along. They said they were going to Shichahai."
"Da Mao, Shichahai?!"
Luo Sanya suddenly stopped, her face turning pale. She immediately took her younger brother and chased after them. "Xiaojun, go tell Jie Kuang first, and then come with us."
She is 11 years old this year and knows a lot about the Jia and Yi families, especially that Yi Damao is Liu Hong's eldest son. The Luo family is small and has many people, so the conversations between adults can't be kept from the children. Luo Sanya heard her grandmother say that Yi Damao would do bad things to Banggeng.
After the house-grabbing incident, due to Old Luo's influence, the Jia family deliberately befriended the Luo family. Jia Dongjin sent small fish to the Luo family several times, greatly improving their meals.
Although the Luo family reciprocated by giving the Jia family some pickles, pickles are never as good as meat.
The Jia family stopped taking advantage of the residents of the courtyard house, and Old Mrs. Luo's impression of the Jia family improved. She kept saying that she should not forget the kindness shown to her.
"If someone treats me with respect, I will treat them with even greater respect." Old Mrs. Luo once deliberately reminded Luo Sanya that if she could help Banggeng, she should definitely help him; the Luo family could not stand idly by.
The weather is so hot now, it's definitely not a good time to fly kites, but Yi Damao insisted on taking the two little ones to some Shichahai, it's practically a death sentence.
That's why Luo Sanya ran forward. Her heart was in her throat, and she prayed all the way that all the gods and Buddhas would protect her and that nothing bad would happen.
Many things are better left unsaid, and Luo Sanya was afraid that things would escalate. In Jia Dongjin's rage, the courtyard would be thrown into chaos and bloodshed. Jia Zhangshi was like a firecracker, and she was not a good-tempered person either.
Luo Sanya's father, Luo Jianguo, was a fitter and a colleague of Yi Zhonghai. They both worked in the same workshop. Fearing that she would cause trouble for the Luo family, she dared not tell Jia Zhangshi. She could only notify the Yan family first and then ran to Shichahai.
It only took Banggeng ten minutes to walk to an open space by the Shichahai seaside, where the three children started playing with kites.
At this time, the fence around Shichahai was not complete, and there were several places without railings where they chose. Banggeng was flying a kite with laughter and merriment, and before they knew it, they were close to the lake.
The bank here is steep; Yi Damao just checked the water depth yesterday.
He knew very well that just one meter behind the stick was the one-meter-deep Shichahai Lake.
Suddenly, Banggeng tripped over a stone, stumbled, and fell into the lake!
Yi Damao's eyes flashed, and he rushed towards Banggeng!