A Vicious Heart and a Cannon for a Mouth: The Siheyuan Is Falling Apart!

Chen Jianguo, a civil servant, wakes up in the body of Wan Hongjiao’s son in 1960s Beijing. Wan Hongjiao is a widow living on Tongluogu Lane. From the start, his father is dead, he has a lung disease, and every gust of wind leaves him coughing nonstop. The neighbors in the building watch coldly from the sidelines. Not one of them offers a helping hand. Instead, they’re all scheming to take everything the Chen family owns. There are Jia Zhangshi, Yi Zhonghai, Yan Bugui, Liu Haizhong... In his previous life, civil servant Chen Jianguo spent his days immersed in the racket of people hurling insults and squabbling in the local dialect. He was even driven to his death by the relentless barrage of the neighborhood aunties. Given another life, who would want to be a civil servant? If he had to be anything, he’d be a foul-mouthed old man, ready to curse out anyone who crossed him Jia Zhangshi: “Wan Hongjiao! Your family’s sitting pretty in a three-room house, eating fine grain while pretending to be poor. Do you think the whole neighborhood is blind?” Chen Jianguo: “Well, Auntie Zhang, your mouth stinks worse than an outhouse! You’ve got your abacus beads clicking faster than an old-time accountant’s! Your son’s chewing steamed buns stolen by Banggeng, and your grandson’s got ration coupons he swiped from Deaf Granny, yet you’ve got the nerve to stand here acting all righteous? You’re like shit wrapped in oiled paper and passed off as rice cake! Pah!”