Restarting life in Siheyuan

"Bang Geng, tell me clearly why you stopped Zhu Xuemei. Don't lie to me and say you wanted dates."

"I just wanted dates, but my sister didn't have any. She was so anxious that she cried. She even didn't want the fruit candies I bought. What can I do?"

"You can't fool mother. You must know that you are a piece of flesh that fell from mother. Don't try to fool me. When I saw you staring at Zhu Xuemei, your eyes were not looking for candy. You stared at her viciously and lifted up the girl's shirt. I could see that it was hatred."

Banggeng was lying on the bed, feeling a little annoyed by his mother's questions.

"That's right, I just hate her, I hate her whole family. What's wrong with that? Is it not okay? His brother sent Dad away and killed him. He also locked up Grandma. My aunt came to take care of us, but she was also taken away by him to take care of his godmother. When they distributed pork and fish before, our family was not included. This time, the dates were also not included. Why? Why? I can't hold my head up at school. Everyone laughs at me. This is all their fault. It's all their fault!"

Qin Huairu was shocked. How could a ten-year-old child have such hatred? "You have no conscience. How many times have I told you..."

"Your father's death has nothing to do with him. I'll tell you the details when you grow up. Your grandmother was taken away by the police for stealing someone's cellar and money. What does it have to do with them? Your aunt is asking someone to help her find a job. You don't know what's good for you..."

Qin Huairu tried her best to explain and reason, but Bang Geng was like a stubborn rock and just wouldn't make any sense to her.

Sha Zhu, who was sweating profusely after being told by the old lady, has now started drinking with Zhu Xuefeng. It's true that the dry-fried camel meat with dried chilies and celery is very fragrant and just right for drinking.

Sha Zhu had something on his mind, and he asked Zhu Xuefeng to drink with him. Zhu Xuefeng picked up the cup and chatted about things in the factory, and also talked about what he saw and heard in the peninsula when he had time.

The second child and the youngest sister finished eating early and didn’t want to keep us company, so they slipped away to tidy up the vegetable garden.

"I never thought there would be food in the desert, including this Arabic flatbread. The taste is really interesting. It's really interesting."

After taking a sip of wine, Sha Zhu took a bite of the cake and said, "Brother, you have the opportunity to travel around the country while you are studying, and you even went abroad this time. That's amazing. These dates taste really good. I won't eat this bag. I'll save it for her when the rain comes back."

Sha Zhu was not in good shape today. He was already drunk after drinking only a little. Zhu Xuefeng had no choice but to take the bottle away. "Don't worry about it. Sister Yushui's wine is all here. Don't drink today. You have to go to work tomorrow. Let's stop here and drink next time."

Sha Zhu did not argue. Seeing Zhu Xuefeng took the bottle of wine, he took a few more bites of the stir-fried camel meat, drank the remaining wine in one gulp, and stood up with a red face.

"Okay, clean up by yourself. I have to go back and hang out for a while. The food is great, the wine is strong, I need to take my time..."

As he said this, he opened the door, staggered out, steadied himself, calmed himself down, and walked towards the middle courtyard.

Seeing Shazhu leaving, the younger sister who was watering the vegetable garden came back angrily and punched her older brother who was cleaning up the dishes.

"You bastard brother, you bad brother, you actually helped Bang Geng to bully me..."

Zhu Xuefeng smiled and stopped his sister, "Alright, alright, you're really acting like a little brat. It's just a few dates. I have plenty of them."

The second brother came back and closed the door quietly.

"Little sister, don't worry about this. I don't want to waste time talking to them. I'm just giving them a few dates. I don't want to be laughed at by the people in the yard."

The younger sister pouted, "I know big brother is powerful, and our family is big, so we don't care about this, but this is what big brother worked so hard to carry back, and I just don't want to give it to them. You didn't see the way Banggeng looked at me, like a wolf cub. I endured it again and again, and only teased him once. With my temper, I would have wanted to kick him away."

"Alright, alright, it's not a big deal. Let's focus on the business. It's no wonder that this little guy hates us. Don't bother with him. Quickly pack up and accompany me to see the twins."

When the younger sister heard that they were going to see the twins, she immediately stopped paying attention to Banggeng's trivial matter. She happily washed up, changed into clean sportswear, and picked and chose the gifts prepared by her eldest brother. The three siblings pushed the stroller out together.

"Knowing that you went to the Persian Gulf, I guessed that you would have eaten dates. Mm, they taste really good, better than those sold in grocery stores. Is this camel meat?"

Director Wang took a bite of the date and pointed at a piece of barbecued meat.

"You have a very sharp eye. These dates were also sent by the royal family, so of course they are of a different quality. This is camel jerky, you can try it too. And this is wild honey, which is said to be good for lesbians, but I don't know exactly how."

"Well, Xiaofeng is still good to me. He always remembers to bring me things when he goes out. Unlike your uncle Kong, he only brings back dirty clothes."

Director Wang picked up another one and put it in his mouth, looking at the two siblings teasing the twins in the inner room, his eyes full of happiness.

"Godmother, I saw quite a few people gathering this afternoon. It wasn't organized by the street, was it?"

"You're talking about this. The street didn't get involved. It was all spontaneous by the masses. For safety reasons, the higher-ups sent a lot of people from the police stations to maintain order. For such a big event, the people must be allowed to express their wishes. You'd better not go. I heard there were huge crowds of people and the mood was very high. I wanted to take people to maintain order, but Xiao Zhu snatched the opportunity away. Haha, young people nowadays are pretty good."

The Xiao Zhu mentioned by Director Wang is the current deputy director of the Street Office. The former deputy director retired, and the former section chief Zhu took advantage of the opportunity to be promoted.

"Oh, Uncle Kong hasn't come back yet. Is he also maintaining order?"

"As for him, I can't say for sure, but it shouldn't be the case. He has been very busy these days. He was like this before you left. Let's not talk about him. Tell godmother how the big project you are involved in is going. They can even ask the other party to send a special plane to pick you up. The impact is quite big. I heard this news from several channels, but I didn't tell them that my godson is on the plane, haha."

Director Wang looked at Zhu Xuefeng and couldn't hide her pride. The more successful her godson was, the happier she was.

"Now, the project has met the requirements at that time, about eight months ahead of schedule. According to the agreement at that time, the country can earn 30 million US dollars this time. Now the site selection for the factory has been completed. The next step is to build a factory for them, which can also make a fortune."

"Awesome, awesome! Thirty million, how many problems can it solve? Haha, our Xiaofeng is awesome."

Director Wang had no idea how much Zhu Xuefeng was involved in this. As long as Zhu Xuefeng was involved in this big project, in her eyes, all the credit belonged to her godson.

"Godmother, I just participated in the proposal, but I have nothing to do with the rest. These are the results of the hard work of professional researchers. I just took advantage of it and watched the fun."

Director Wang certainly knew that Zhu Xuefeng had not gone to conduct concentrated closed research at all, and that such a large project was not something a young man could control. He was also very happy to hear that Zhu Xuefeng was involved in the planning.

"I don't understand the specific technology, but desalinating seawater is definitely a good thing for the country and the people. In the past few years, there was a severe drought. You young people may not know that many rivers dried up and many people had difficulty getting drinking water..."

"Godmother, this project is only suitable for implementation at the seaside. There is a water shortage in the inland areas, and we can't help you in a short time. It's a huge project."

"Don't tell me this, it's also a kind of hope. If this day comes again, the factory will work overtime to produce pipelines, and there is hope.

Unable to convince his godmother, Zhu Xuefeng had to give up and got up to accompany his godmother to see the two little babies. With sufficient milk powder, the two little guys were developing very well, and were plump and white, giggling in the hands of their younger brother and sister.

"You are just half a year old. The little guy now is so happy and has no worries about food. I remember back then, I took care of your three brothers..." Director Wang recalled the scene of taking his three children to fight during the war years.

"That's really hard. The adults can't even get enough to eat, and the comrades always try every possible means to make some food to feed the three of them, for fear that they will starve. They say that they are our hope. Even if they sacrifice themselves and don't see the day of victory, we still have these children..."

Seeing Director Wang's eyes begin to mist up, Zhu Xuefeng could only remain silent. Ever since Director Wang had these two treasures, he seemed to become easily emotional and sentimental.

Fortunately, the sound of a door awoke Director Wang, "I'm sorry, I remembered the hard times back then. It must be your Uncle Kong who has returned."

It was indeed Uncle Kong who opened the door. Uncle Kong greeted the two children before speaking to Zhu Xuefeng.

"Hey, you still remember to come back. I wanted to send you on a mission, but you didn't come back after waiting for a long time. This time it should be fourteen days."

"Why does Xiaofeng have to go on this mission? Don't forget what you said at that time."

Director Wang heard it through the door, walked out and said something to Uncle Kong in a bad mood with a bad look on his face.

"It's just a joke. Look at you, you're protecting your child. Stay with Xuesong and Xuemei first. I'll chat with Xuefeng for a while."

Qin Jingru, who was waiting on the side, quickly made some tea and brought it to the study, then tactfully left and closed the door. Uncle Kong got straight to the point and said, "The leader wants to see you."

"Which leader?"

"It's okay, we'll lead ourselves, Leader Hao."

Zhu Xuefeng calmed down, but still asked curiously, "Nothing, why do you want to see me? I haven't done anything in recent days."

"You kid, you forget what you did the moment you turn around. Didn't you help Gao Feng catch someone before the National Day? Gao Feng said that if it weren't for you, the person might have slipped into Jinhai. That main channel leads to Jinhai."

Zhu Xuefeng then remembered, "He's just a small character, not a big deal, just don't let him run away again."

"I don't think there's any chance of escaping this time. There will be a group of serious criminals on trial next month. He will probably go to the court. There's no hope for him to escape."

"Oh, the leader wants to commend you. You taught everyone a lesson last time, which was a great achievement. You also caught a dangerous person. It would be unreasonable not to reward you. When you are free, I will arrange it."

"How can the boss wait for me? I am on call during this period."

Anyway, you don’t have to go to military training and the time is flexible. It is the most basic professional ethics not to let your boss worry about you.

"Then wait for notification. The bureau is very busy during this period, so we may ask you to go on a mission. I'm giving you a heads up, but we won't disturb your studies unless it's absolutely necessary or there's no one available."

"What's going on? Are so many people not enough?"

Uncle Kong glared and said unhappily, "Are there too many people? There are only a few teams, and there are so many things in the country that we have to take care of. This time it was originally an internal matter, but the higher-ups made a request, so this time it's my turn."

Zhu Xuefeng was startled. Uncle Kong had always been in charge of external affairs, which seemed to mean that the mission this time was unusual. He really couldn't believe it.

Uncle Kong slapped Zhu Xuefeng, who was distracted, and called him back to his senses. "What are you thinking about? This matter is not what you think. Now the big beautiful warships are rampant in the strait. After several frictions with us, some new situations have emerged. Every time our patrol fleet leaves, they appear. When we come, they just leave."

"You don't know if you don't listen to the other side's radio station. You are very arrogant, saying that we suffered a great loss. Now that Da Piaoliang has arrived, we are scared and run away in disgrace. When Da Piaoliang leaves, we appear again with high and mighty attitude, constantly smearing us. The leaders above are very angry."

"Isn't it obvious that the ship's combat duty information has been exposed?"

Zhu Xuefeng was very curious and couldn't help but interrupt.

"Yes, it's so obvious that even an outsider like you can see it at a glance. How could the Navy not know about it? They are cooperating with us to investigate the traitor."

"Then we can just change the combat duty arrangement so that they can't get the new duty information."

"It's not as simple as you think. There are many things involved. This is a game. I can't tell you too much. Just be mentally prepared, stay in the best condition, and be ready at any time."

Zhu Xuefeng nodded. He had fallen into the trap and had to carry out the order. From now on, he had no control over his own actions and his flexibility in time was greatly reduced.

"No problem, always on call!"

Zhu Xuefeng spoke very softly, for fear that his godmother would hear him.

"Nothing else, just go and do what you need to do. Someone will notify you if anything happens."

"Uncle Kong, I have something that I would like you to help me find out."

After briefly explaining Director Shao's matter, Uncle Kong thought about it for a while and nodded in agreement. They were involved in handling this matter at the time and they still remembered the process and reasons very clearly.

"What are you talking about? You've been talking so sneakily for so long."

As soon as I left the study, Director Wang stopped me and asked me questions.

"Oh, there's something I want Uncle Kong to help me with, so we chatted for a while longer."

Director Wang expressed his doubts, and Zhu Xuefeng was not lying, so he explained.

"Didn't a cadre in our factory get into trouble before? I asked Uncle Kong to help investigate. He was imprisoned because he accidentally leaked secrets. Now that technology has been eliminated, it didn't cause any major losses. Let's see if this situation can be handled appropriately."

"Oh, I know. You mean Shao Yuanjie. His family is in a bad situation right now. It's very difficult to help them."

Of course it is troublesome. The crime that Director Shao was imprisoned for is one that everyone hates. Although he did not mean to do it, the fact that it caused the leakage of secrets made him both pitiful and hateful.

"You want to help him?"

"The last time I went to the aluminum factory, I encountered a landslide and he carried me back. Actually, this old comrade is a good person. He just made a big mistake accidentally. I heard that his family is in a difficult situation now. Since I owe him a favor, I thought of asking him."

"Oh, Lao Kong, you agreed?"

"It's not difficult to find out about his situation. Although he feels very wronged, he is wrong and it is impossible to change his sentence. However, if he behaves well in prison, his sentence may be reduced."

"That's right. Xiaofeng finally spoke up. As long as it's legal, you can help him repay the favor. I know Lao Shao. He doesn't have any major problems. He just suffered an injustice."

Uncle Kong's meaning was very clear. Zhu Xuefeng could only be grateful in his heart. It was more or less embarrassing for him to let Uncle Kong pay attention to someone they sent in. Never mind. At most he could just help him with a few more tasks.

The following days were relatively leisurely. Apart from meeting Leader Hao once and receiving a third-class merit medal and encouragement, Uncle Kong did not summon him for a long time, and Zhu Xuefeng slowly forgot about the matter.

I took some time to take Shao Kai (Director Shao's eldest son) on this trip, which helped him find a temporary livelihood, and Director Shao's wife was very grateful.

"You really don't need to thank me. I have received help from Director Shao, and this is all my duty. I just blame myself for coming here late. I won't say more. I will come to visit you again when I have time. If you have any difficulties, just tell me and I will definitely find a way to handle it for you. If you see Director Shao, please let him reform with peace of mind, strive for a commutation of his sentence, come back as soon as possible, and continue to make contributions. You can tell him that many people are looking forward to his early return."

In the following days, I spent my days attending senior classes, studying materials at the Materials Research Institute, communicating with Professor Xu, and tinkering with jet ski production.

The steel rolling mill does not have the energy to take care of this new project for the time being, so Zhu Xuefeng can only ask his father-in-law for a green light to produce dozens of vehicles first. This task is not a big deal for the steel rolling mill's new vehicle plant, and it is expected to be completed by the end of November.

The trial date of Guo Junjie's case has not been announced. The conditions of the two girls are not very good, but they can already express themselves normally. There is no hope for them to stand up. The hospital has confirmed that there is little hope for them to stand up in this lifetime. As for returning to the stage, that can only be a dream. Although Zhu Xuefeng has repeatedly stated that he will find someone to help with restorative treatment after the trial, the two girls obviously have no confidence.

"Gao Bo, go find someone else. I understand your feelings, but I'm already a useless person. I can't support myself in this life. I'll be a burden to society if I live. Xiao Song and I have an agreement that we will be sisters in the next life. I can only repay your kindness in the next life."

Yang Ying has been in a low mood. She and Song Tangyun agreed that after seeing Guo Junjie go to prison with their own eyes, they would rush to a new life and not create difficulties for their family. The parents of both families have persuaded them countless times, but it could not shake their determination.

"Classmate Xiaofeng, you have seen the situation now. The expert you found must bring them back. My daughter is still so young..."

Yang Ying's mother held Zhu Xuefeng's hand and burst into tears. She was about to send her enemy to prison, but sending her enemy away might also be the time for her daughter to die. How could she not be heartbroken?

"Auntie, don't worry. I assure you that I am not sure if I can continue dancing, but being a normal person should be fine..."

"So does that mean that the bones that have already grown still need to be broken, and it won't be very painful?"

(End of this chapter)