Siheyuan: The Era of Struggle

Chapter 372 Brother-in-law

Zhang Lide's mind was preoccupied with Zhang Zhao's affairs at the moment, so he had no intention of socializing. But the person who was talking was his brother-in-law's comrade-in-arms after all, so he couldn't interfere, so he had to look at He Yuanchao.

Seeing the inquiring look of his father-in-law, He Yuanchao nodded slightly to him, then smiled and said to Li Hongtao:
"Instructor, my father-in-law and I still have to go to my eldest brother's father-in-law's house, and the smell of alcohol is not good.

Besides, drinking at this time is not fun. I will definitely have a good drink with you after I finish my work. What do you think?"

Having said that, Li Hongtao didn't bother to argue any further.

"Okay, then you go and get busy first, but we have to agree that you must come and get together with me after you are done."

After knowing that Zhang Zhaojia had no intention of letting him stay in the army, Li Hongtao did not mention the idea of ​​going with him.

Although he really wanted to get closer to Zhang Lide through He Yuanchao, he also knew that now was not the time to talk about this. If he approached him without tact, it might backfire.

Seeing this, Zhang Lide secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that his comrade He Yuanchao would be too enthusiastic and insist on following him to find Zhang Zhao. Then he would be embarrassed to find a reason to refuse.

After all, he was a senior cadre and usually paid great attention to his reputation. It was shameful enough that his son Zhang Zhao embezzled military supplies. If things at home became a hot topic, he would be really disgraced.

While he was gritting his teeth and thinking about how to teach his son Zhang Zhao a lesson, he watched silently as He Yuanchao exchanged contact information with his comrades.

After the two men finished exchanging greetings, he said hello to Li Hongtao, no longer caring about his image, and impatiently pulled He Yuanchao into the jeep.

Apart from working and being on duty in the army, Zhang Zhao usually lives at his father-in-law's home in the county town.

To be precise, Zhang Zhao and his wife rented a house there.

The jeep bumped along the bumpy gravel road, and after about forty to fifty minutes it finally entered Quyang County, where Zhang Zhao's father-in-law lived.

It’s not that the army is too far away from the county town, but mainly because of the bad road conditions. To be honest, on this kind of road, a jeep is not much faster than a bicycle, and may even be slower than a bicycle.

The county town is not big and not particularly prosperous. Except for a few isolated three- or four-story buildings on both sides of the main road, most of the rest are bungalows.

After asking around, the driver quickly drove the car to a residential area near the Quyang County Education Bureau.

It was Zhang Lide's first time in Quyang and he had no idea where Zhang Zhao's father-in-law lived. He got off the car and asked several people, but they either said they didn't know or simply ignored him. Finally, with the help of the driver, he found out the exact address.

This is not the tense relationship my wife mentioned! It's simply a situation where we will never have any contact with each other again.

While thinking about the relationship between his father-in-law and his eldest brother-in-law's family, He Yuanchao and Zhang Lide got out of the jeep and walked to a brick-and-tile bungalow on the street.

The house was close to the street, with doors and windows closed and curtains hung, so it was impossible to see what was going on inside the house.

He Yuanchao looked around and, based on the location the driver had given, guessed that this was the address of Zhang Zhao's father-in-law's family. Without further hesitation, he took two steps forward, stood in front of the house, and knocked on the door.

Bang bang bang~~
As the knock on the door sounded, an impatient voice soon rang out in the room.

"Who is it? Why are you here visiting in the middle of the day instead of working?"

Hearing the familiar Kyoto accent, before He Yuanchao could say anything, Zhang Lide behind him said with a dark face, "I, open the door quickly." After Zhang Lide finished speaking, the people in the room seemed to have encountered something incredible. There was silence for a while, and then a burst of hurried footsteps were heard coming from afar to the door.

The door was an inward-opening type with the door frame outside and the door inside, so He Yuanchao did not step back, but just moved slightly to the side to reveal Zhang Lide behind him.

Just as He Yuanchao stood here, the door was opened from the inside with a "whoosh".

The person who opened the door was a bearded man in his thirties. Upon closer inspection, he looked somewhat similar to Zhang Lide, but his temperament was very different.

The man glanced at He Yuanchao standing at the door and didn't pay much attention. He turned his head and looked at Zhang Lide in a daze and said, "You... why are you here?"

Looking at his son Zhang Zhao in front of him, whose clothes were wrinkled, his face was haggard, and he looked like he had lost his soul, Zhang Lide's suppressed anger suddenly burst out.

"Why am I here? If I hadn't come, you bastard would have just eaten peanuts..."

"I begged you to come?"

Zhang Zhao, who opened the door, saw Zhang Lide and originally showed a bit of surprise on his face, but after hearing Zhang Lide's words, he immediately changed his expression to a nonchalant one and interrupted:

"It's not up to you to decide whether to eat peanuts or not. Even if you do eat them, it has nothing to do with you."

Zhang Lide was immediately embarrassed after being hit on the neck by his son in front of his uncle. He raised his hand with a red face and pointed at Zhang Zhao and said:
"you you……"

Zhang Lide, who is usually eloquent, suddenly felt a little speechless. After talking for a long time, he couldn't come up with anything. He was so angry that he wanted to teach Zhang Zhao a lesson.

He Yuanchao, who was standing by, didn't know that his father-in-law was planning to take action. Seeing that he was trembling all over, he was afraid that he might get angry and do something bad, so he quickly stepped forward and said,

"Dad, calm down. This is not the place to talk. Let's talk slowly if we have anything to say."

While speaking, He Yuanchao also signaled Zhang Lide with his eyes to look around.

Although Zhang Lide was very angry, he had been in the officialdom for many years and had some basic skills in cultivating his energy. After getting He Yuanchao's reminder, he suppressed his anger and looked around.

Seeing that many adults and children were looking over here, he was afraid of bad influence, so he snorted with a sullen face and gave up his plan to take action.

Seeing that his father had calmed down, Zhang Zhao knew that he had escaped danger, so he stopped paying attention to Zhang Lide and instead looked at He Yuanchao with interest.

Although he did not return to Kyoto when Zhang Min got married, he still knew some basic information about He Yuanchao through Ma Xiufang.

After taking a look up and down, he saw that there was nothing outstanding about He Yuanchao except his burly figure, and he couldn't help but complain in his heart.

"He is such an ordinary-looking man, how can he be worthy of my sister? I don't know if my parents are old and confused, why did they agree to this marriage..."

He Yuanchao didn't know that his elder brother-in-law, whom he met for the first time, was plotting against him in his mind. Seeing that Zhang Lide and Zhang Zhao were both silent, he was afraid that they would do something weird again, so he had to bite the bullet and said:
"Brother, this is not the place to talk. Do you think we should go inside to talk, or find a quiet place outside to talk?"

(End of this chapter)