Siheyuan: The Era of Struggle

Chapter 429 Snitching
As soon as Zhang Min finished speaking, He Yuanchao's left cheek turned red instantly.

He was too embarrassed to tell his wife that he had hit her because of greed, so he could only vaguely say:
"It's nothing. I was half asleep during my nap at noon, and when I woke up, I was so groggy that I accidentally choked."

Zhang Min was indeed somewhat naive, but she wasn't stupid either. After taking a closer look at the scars on He Yuanchao's face, she knew that her man hadn't told the truth.

To be fair, Zhang Min was a smart woman. Seeing that He Yuanchao was unwilling to tell the truth, she knew there must be something fishy going on. Looking at her colleagues leaving after get off work, she didn't press the matter further. She gave a half-smile and said "Oh," then sat on the back of the bicycle.

Seeing this, He Yuanchao breathed a sigh of relief. Fearing that he might say something wrong, he didn't waste any words and quickly pedaled his bicycle home.

He Yuanchao had already prepared dinner before leaving and kept it warm in the pot.

The couple rode their bikes home. While He Yuanchao was bringing food into the house, Zhang Min relit the stove, added a ladle of water to the cleaned pot, and took two eggs from the bamboo basket above the cupboard and put them into the pot.

He Yuanchao, who had just returned from the main house, didn't think much of it when he saw this and casually asked, "What's wrong? Want to eat eggs?"

With no outsiders at home, Zhang Min felt relieved and turned to her husband, saying in a teasing tone:

"It's not that I want to eat eggs, it's that someone who's lying needs eggs to reduce the swelling, otherwise how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow? If someone says it was my wife who beat me, I won't be able to explain myself no matter how hard I try."

When He Yuanchao realized that his lie had been exposed, he was a little embarrassed and didn't dare to say anything. He took out a bowl and chopsticks from the cupboard and left the kitchen.

Hahaha~~
Seeing her usually calm and composed husband looking so embarrassed, Zhang Min couldn't help but burst into laughter.

When He Yuanchao heard Zhang Min's laughter coming from the kitchen, he felt like he wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. This person had really embarrassed himself.

……

After dinner, Zhang Min cleared away the dishes and took a boiled egg from the kitchen, walking straight to He Yuanchao, who was sitting at the table drinking water.

"Here, wait a bit before you drink water. I'll put an egg on your face."

As she spoke, Zhang Min took out a still slightly hot egg from the bowl, and before He Yuanchao could put down the enamel mug in his hand, she pressed the egg directly onto his face and rubbed it.

hiss~~
He Yuanchao knew his wife was angry, so he quickly took the opportunity to bare his teeth and put on a pitiful look, hoping to get away with it.

Seeing her husband acting like a child, Zhang Min secretly chuckled. She put on a stern face and deliberately adopted the sarcastic tone of a female spy from a movie, saying:
"Oh! Now you know what pain is. Since it hurts, tell me how it happened. If you don't tell the truth, I have all sorts of torture waiting for you."

Seeing that he couldn't fool anyone anymore, He Yuanchao stopped pretending and told the whole story of what had happened that morning.

"I thought it was something serious!"

Zhang Min, unaware of the future market trends for antiques, dismissively said:
"How much are those two things worth? If you like them, just take a portion of your salary each month to buy them. Once you buy more, you'll naturally become less attached to them. Why would you be so hard on yourself?"

He Yuanchao saw that the matter was quickly glossed over and didn't cause any trouble by telling Zhang Min about the market for antiques after the reform and opening up. He just reminded her that this matter was a bit embarrassing and that she shouldn't tell anyone.

"Okay, okay, I got it. I'll pretend I don't tell anyone."

Zhang Min didn't pay much attention to it, and while smilingly agreeing, she continued to rub He Yuanchao's face with the egg.

Whether it was the egg rubbing on his face that worked or He Yuanchao's strong self-healing ability, when he woke up the next morning, his right cheek, which had been red and swollen the night before, was almost completely healed, with no trace of redness or swelling at all.

Zhang Min was very proud of this, and on her way to work she did a lot of self-promotion. He Yuanchao didn't dare to argue and could only keep saying nice things to her.

After dropping Zhang Min off at the branch office and riding his bicycle to the steel rolling mill, He Yuanchao couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"It's over. My brilliant and heroic image is ruined this time. Who knows how my wife will talk about me about this in the future!" Dejected, Li Jiefang rushed to the steel rolling mill. As soon as he entered the factory gate, he hurriedly rushed out of the security room.

"Section Chief, no, Division Chief."

Li Jiefang held onto He Yuanchao's bicycle handlebars with one hand and patted his mouth twice with the other, saying, "Director, if you're not in a hurry to go to your office, I'd like to report something to you."

He Yuanchao glanced at Li Jiefang a few times, and seeing that he didn't seem to be in a hurry, he wasn't worried either. After getting off his bicycle, he teased:
"What's wrong, Jiefang? Why are you in such a hurry? Did the dog chase you?"

Li Jiefang didn't care at all about He Yuanchao's teasing and said with a smile, "I didn't get chased by the dog, but someone else got targeted by the dog."

Upon hearing this, He Yuanchao became interested, pushed the car to the side of the road and parked it, then took out a cigarette and offered one to Li Jiefang, who had followed him:

"Who let the dog target them? Tell me."

Li Jiefang didn't stand on ceremony, took the cigarettes, lit them with matches, and said:
"Who else could it be but you, Director He!"

"Oh!"

He Yuanchao took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and asked in confusion, "Who's been watching me?"

Li Jiefang, with a cigarette between his fingers, glanced around and, seeing that no one was around, quickly leaned close to He Yuanchao and whispered, "Wu Mengsheng."

Sha Zhu had mentioned this to him the night before last, but since he wasn't from the security department, he didn't know the details. Now that Li Jiefang had brought it up again, He Yuanchao curiously inquired about the specifics.

Upon hearing this, Li Jiefang didn't hide anything and told everyone he knew.

"Director, the day after you took leave, Wu Mengsheng has been running around like crazy ever since he came back from his escort mission. He's either reporting to the leaders or treating the heads of various departments to meals and drinks."

I heard they're still inquiring about some of the cases you handled, saying they want to learn from you, but I don't think that kid has anything good in mind."

After listening to Li Jiefang's account, He Yuanchao seemed unconcerned and didn't press the matter further. Instead, he smiled and changed the subject, asking if anything else had happened in the security department in the past few days.

Li Jiefang understood He Yuanchao's style of doing things, and knew that his leader had taken this to heart, so he didn't say much, but smiled and shook his head, saying:

"Aside from Wu Mengsheng's connections with superiors and subordinates, the security department has been quite quiet these past few days; nothing else has happened."

He Yuanchao nodded, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out, then said, "Alright, it's time to go to work. I won't say any more. If you need anything, come to my office!"

After saying that, He Yuanchao got back on his bicycle and rode towards the office building.

He Yuanchao hadn't ridden far when he suddenly stopped his bicycle, turned to Li Jiefang who was standing there, and said, "By the way, you're a security officer now, not a regular security guard. Don't spend all your time in the security room."

"Yes, it's the section chief. I understand."

Li Jiefang readily agreed, but after He Yuanchao rode away on his bicycle, he couldn't help but mutter:
"I'm sick of seeing the same faces all day in the office. It's much more comfortable to stay in the various security rooms."

He Yuanchao rode his bicycle to the bike shed, locked it, walked into the office building, greeted acquaintances as he strolled to his office.

I had barely sat down, not even had my bottom warmed up, when I heard a knock on the office door.

(End of this chapter)