Chapter 72 Conflicts Arise
After dinner, Yi Zhonghai prepared to talk to Li Shengli. It is not acceptable to disrespect the elderly in this courtyard. Respecting the elderly is related to Yi Zhonghai's future retirement plan.

"Li Shengli! Open the door." Yi Zhonghai was a little angry and knocked on the door loudly.

"Be gentle." Li Shengli's voice came over with a hint of dissatisfaction. Could you be a little more polite? Is this how you knock on the door?
"Uncle, is there something wrong?" Li Shengli said lazily, knowing that Yi Zhonghai's visit was not for good.

"Shengli, I heard from Jia Zhang that you had a quarrel with him and wanted to fight. Shengli, we have to respect our elders in this courtyard." Yi Zhonghai said to Li Shengli meaningfully.

"Oh, uncle, you are only half-listening." Li Shengli was a little angry after hearing what Yi Zhonghai said, "Didn't that old pious woman Jia Zhang tell me why I scolded him?"

"No matter what the reason is, Jia Zhang is your elder." Yi Zhonghai continued to persuade, "You should apologize to her when the time comes."

"I want to apologize to her?" Li Shengli looked at Yi Zhonghai with an expression as if to say, "Are you right?"

"Stop it, uncle. Forget it if you want me to apologize to her. If she scolds my parents again next time, I'll slap her in the face." Li Shengli said angrily.

"How dare you hit your elder?" Yi Zhonghai really didn't expect it. "We are all neighbors, and Jia Zhang is your elder. I will decide that you should apologize to her and that will be the end of it."

"Elders, where do these elders come from? My father didn't tell me before he left that there are elders in my family. Uncle, where do these elders you are talking about come from?" Li Shengli said in a sarcastic tone and pretended to be stupid.

Li Shengli understood what Yi Zhonghai wanted to say, where did so many elders come from.

"Shengli, why isn't Jia Zhang considered an elder?" Yi Zhonghai was a little angry and embarrassed.

"Oh, uncle, I dare not have an elder like Jia Zhang. If my father knew that I recognized such a thing as my elder, he would definitely crawl out from under me and slap me in the face." Li Shengli said sarcastically.

Generally, elders are one’s relatives and blood relatives, so one has to recognize them, whether good or bad. But Jia Zhang is just an ordinary neighbor that one is not familiar with, and yet she wants to be one’s elder.

"She is so old, how come she is not considered an elder?" Yi Zhonghai secretly changed his concept.

"Uncle No. 1, if you don't know what elders mean, you can go ask Uncle No. 3." Li Shengli would never indulge Yi Zhonghai.

"I'm going back to rest. Please do as you please." Li Shengli said as he prepared to close the door.

"The ancients often said: 'An old man in the family is like a treasure.' Doesn't this emphasize that the elderly in the family are the family's wealth, so you need elders in your family to give you some life experience." Yi Zhonghai looked at Li Shengli with some anger.

"Uncle, what are you talking about? What kind of experience can someone like Jia Zhang have? Can she teach you how to curse? Or teach you to be lazy and gluttonous?" Li Shengli said disdainfully. "Besides, the elderly here refer to elders who are related to you by blood. Who is Jia Zhang?"

"After all, she is an old lady, you have to respect her." Yi Zhonghai continued to instill his ideas into Li Shengli.

"Stop it. I see you are the most important person in the courtyard. I don't want to quarrel with you." Li Shengli interrupted Yi Zhonghai's next words, "The country asks us to respect the elderly. We are referring to those who have made contributions to the country and are highly respected. Jia Zhang is nothing but worthy of my respect."

"Okay, I won't talk to you anymore. I'm going to go back and rest." Not wanting to listen to Yi Zhonghai's theories, Li Shengli turned around and slammed the door shut.

After hearing what Li Shengli said, Yi Zhonghai was so angry that his face turned red. Yi Zhonghai went back home angrily, and the aunt was a little worried when she saw him.

"Old Yi, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?" An old lady poured a glass of water and handed it to Yi Zhonghai.

"It's still this Li Shengli." Yi Zhonghai took the cup of water and took two sips to calm his anger, then slammed the cup heavily on the table.

"What's wrong? How did Li Shengli offend you again?" An old lady took the cup from Yi Zhonghai's hand and poured him another glass of water.

"I told him to treat the old man as his elder and show some respect, but he kept making trouble for me." Yi Zhonghai became angrier the more he thought about it.

"Old Yi, calm down. Your sister-in-law really can't be considered an elder." Auntie saw what happened today very clearly. Both Li Shengli and Jia Zhang were wrong, especially Jia Zhang's weird look, which made Auntie want to hit her.

"I'm not angry about this. Li Shengli is a troublemaker. He doesn't respect the elderly and doesn't listen to me." Yi Zhonghai was angry about his control over the compound.

"Forget it then. I don't think Li Shengli can provide for himself in his old age. The only person in this hospital who can provide for us in our old age is Sha Zhu." The aunt also understood that Li Shengli was not like Sha Zhu. Li Shengli was very smart.

"Well, let's talk about it later. Shazhu is a bit reckless. We have to find a way to catch Li Shengli and he doesn't know how to control him." Yi Zhonghai started to think again.

"If you ask me, Li Shengli is nice to whoever treats him well. You see, the one who has a conflict with him is just the old sister-in-law. You know how bad the old sister-in-law is." An aunt persuaded Yi Zhonghai.

"How can a man take care of others? I thought Qin Huairu could live with her, and we can live together when we are old." Yi Zhonghai told his plan to the aunt for the first time.

"Zhu Zi is good at earning money to support the family, but he is not good at taking care of people. If Zhu Zi gets married, what if the wife he marries does not provide us with support in our old age? We still have to keep an eye on Zhu Zi." Yi Zhonghai sighed. It would not be possible to not have children of his own. Now Yi Zhonghai envied the other two uncles.

Unfortunately, Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui did not know how to cherish their children. One of them was particularly partial to his eldest son. He moved away after he got married and never came back. He beat his other two sons every three days or five days.

The other one is always calculating. He calculates how much to eat for a meal and records all his expenses from childhood to adulthood in a notebook.

Yi Zhonghai sighed. If he had a son, he would never be like them. It would probably be a case of one dying of drought or one dying of flood.

"Old Yi, it's all my fault. I didn't give you a child." The aunt couldn't help wiping away tears when she heard Yi Zhonghai sighing.

"Okay, why are you still talking about this?" Yi Zhonghai was a little annoyed.

The old lady didn't say anything else, but just shed tears silently.

Yi Zhonghai took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, took out a match, lit it with a "puff", and took a deep breath.

(End of this chapter)