Restarting life in Siheyuan

Zhu Xuefeng briefly introduced the origin of his kung fu, and the old man was a little surprised.

"You mean, you learned the light body skills of the Yanzi Sect and the skills of the Taiyi Sect, and you also learned the skills of the Xingyi Sect. That's quite a mix."

Zhu Xuefeng nodded ashamedly, "Yes, it's a bit mixed."

"Who did you learn Xingyi from?"

Unexpectedly, the leader was still concerned about this, Zhu Xuefeng quickly replied.

"Master Guo Mingli taught me for a while, but I only learned the basics."

"Guo Mingli, I didn't expect to hear his name again." The old man fell into deep thought and it took him a while to recover.

"Yes, he has a very good foundation. I didn't expect that he is already a master. Didn't he teach you the principles of 'Yin Yang as the Mother, Four Symbols as the Root' and the requirements of 'Six Combinations, Eight Characters, and Nine Songs'? Judging from your appearance, you probably haven't practiced the 'Three Body Style' stance of the 'Squatting Dantian Pose'."

Zhu Xuefeng was shocked. Of course he had heard of these methods and had seen them practice them, but no one took the initiative to teach him and he had no intention of learning them secretly. He had already learned the internal skills of Taiyi School, so he was not so jealous of the internal skills of Xingyi School.

"Oh, right, it should be that you learned Kung Fu from Lao Yang, but he didn't teach you."

Zhu Xuefeng heard by chance that the leader knew Kung Fu, but he didn't expect that he could even speak the secret Kung Fu. It seems that he is really unfathomable.

Seeing Zhu Xuefeng's shocked expression, the old man continued, "It's not a secret. I had contacts with Master Guo and Old Yang of Taiyi when I was young. That was more than 40 years ago. Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's talk about your mission this time."

Zhu Xuefeng recounted the entire mission again. The old man nodded and asked about Zhu Xuefeng's studies. When he heard that he was currently researching trucks and cars, he nodded with satisfaction.

"Very good. Learning is endless. You must have the perseverance and ambition to climb the peak of science and technology. Our country is now developing rapidly, and what it lacks are young people like you who are knowledgeable and have the ability to learn."

"Please rest assured, Chief, I will study hard and serve the country."

Little Sun at the door poked his head out and pointed at his wrist. The old man understood and stood up. Zhu Xuefeng and Leader Hao also stood up quickly.

The old man walked to the table, picked up a pile of books and a red brocade box from the table, and walked in front of Zhu Xuefeng.

"This is a commendation for your meritorious service, representing your contribution to the country's security!"

Zhu Xuefeng excitedly reached out to take the brocade box, and the old man handed him a few books.

"This is a personal inscription from another leader who learned of your deeds and asked me to pass it on to you. You must keep it well and read it carefully."

Looking at the special cover and the familiar title, Zhu Xuefeng had already guessed it and was even more excited. He didn't expect that for an insignificant little task, he could receive such a valuable gift. He took it carefully and held it to his chest.

The old man returned to the desk again, took out a small square box from the drawer, thought for a while, then found a yellowed box from the bookshelf and handed them both to Zhu Xuefeng.

"I don't have anything good to give you. This is my message to you. I hope you can maintain this enterprising spirit as always and overcome the international technological blockade against us. Let us work together to break this shackles and make new achievements."

After a pause, he continued, "There is another copy. Go back and read it yourself. I hope it will be useful to you."

"Thank you for your encouragement. I will study hard and live up to your expectations."

Looking at the old man's thin face, Zhu Xuefeng was a little excited. He put down all the prizes and gifts, took out two pills and handed them over.

"Commander, I don't know if I'm right. Your body is a little too tired and your internal organs are also damaged. These two pills are healing medicine. According to your current mental state, divide the pill into four and take one every three days. You should feel much better after taking one. If it is effective but not a cure, you can take the second pill."

A dark shadow flashed behind him and quickly blocked Zhu Xuefeng's way. Zhu Xuefeng was not nervous. He looked at the "little sun" who had just received him. He didn't expect that this little sun's skills were even better than the guard who had just searched him.

"I have no ill intentions, you can smell and look."

The old man and Little Sun were both staring at the two healing pills in Zhu Xuefeng's palm, smelling the refreshing medicinal fragrance.

"Thank you for your kindness. I know my body very well. Was this medicine made by Lao Yang?"

Zhu Xuefeng shook his head. "It was obtained by chance. Master Yang is still researching it. Imitations cannot achieve this effect yet."

"He has been interested in this since he was young, and I didn't expect that he is still researching it now. He is truly persistent and worth learning from."

...

After leaving the compound, Zhu Xuefeng was still confused as to whether the old man would take the healing medicine.

"Old Kong, this little guy must have been very satisfying to you. Look, it's been more than ten minutes. He got something amazing. Haha, you should send him back."

Two jeeps left the compound one after the other.

"Let me see what the commander gave you as a reward for being in there for so long."

A bronze medal of "People's Defender" made Lao Kong a little dazed. He had heard of this thing, but this was the first time he saw it.

When Lao Kong saw the book again, he was speechless for a long time. This kid is lucky, quite good!

I put the book down and opened the small box. A piece of rice paper with an inscription neatly folded was lying quietly inside.

"You need to find someone to frame the chief's inscription and keep it away. I won't open it."

The last one turned out to be the Xingyi School’s mental method, what a surprise.

"Have you learned this, Commander?"

"Well, the commander has practiced martial arts for many years. He was a master when he was young, and he still often instructs the guards now."

"Logically, we should let your godmother and two brothers celebrate for you, but there is no other way. I dare not."

"Uncle Kong, I don't dare to do that either."

The two looked at each other and laughed at the same time.

...

The compound was not far from No. 95, and the jeep soon arrived at the gate of the compound.

"Go back and find someone to clean it up as soon as possible. This can be a family heirloom, haha."

Uncle Kong gave some instructions and left with the car. Zhu Xuefeng was even happier for being commended and he had to hurry home to share it with his two godsons.

Zhu Xuefeng pushed the tightly closed gate, which was already locked. He left the house without saying hello to the third uncle. It was just the right time for him to stroll back to the courtyard. There was no heating here, so he couldn't sleep.

In the study, Zhu Xuefeng spread out his calligraphy, and a short poem that was well-known to later generations jumped into his eyes. It was "Green Pine" by General Chen.

Heavy snow weighs down the green pines.
The pine tree is tall and straight,
To know the pine tree’s purity,
Wait until the snow melts.

Knowing that the old man is encouraging me, I always keep it in mind, strengthen my beliefs, and climb the technological ladder.

Zhu Xuefeng was speechless for a long time. This gift was too heavy, and it carried the old man's infinite expectations for the new generation. He really couldn't bear it.

"Boss, who wrote this?" Daya looked at the signature and seal below in surprise and was a little dazed.

"Well, I'll have someone frame it tomorrow. This will be our family heirloom."

"Well, Master Wang knows how to do this. I'll ask him to come tomorrow. This is too expensive. It would be more appropriate to ask him to come."

"You're right. We can only ask him to come here. It's not appropriate to take it out. I won't be home tomorrow. You can arrange it. You must pay attention to it and ask Master Wang not to spread it."

After receiving such an important task, Daya was obviously a little excited, and it took her a while to calm down.

"By the way, Miss Zhou and Miss Lin are back. Do you want to meet them?"

Zhu Xuefeng shook his head, "It's late, don't disturb them. We have to go to work tomorrow. You should go and have a rest. I will practice kung fu and rest too. There's no need to prepare hot water."...

In the third workshop of the steel rolling mill, Master Lu took the tea and said, "Boy, this is the third time you have come to see me since you came back from our mission. It has been more than half a year, and I thought you had forgotten about me."

"How could that be possible? I was very busy in the second half of last year and didn't come to the factory many times. Isn't it Chinese New Year? Look at you. In the next few days, I have to go to the new factory area. There are even fewer people coming here. I apologize for this first."

"You kid, hey, just do your own thing. You're busy everywhere now. I didn't expect that there are thousands more people in the factory and it's still so tense. Go now. If you don't go, that kid will be very resentful, haha."

Looking at Liu Ze who was glaring at him, Master Lu smiled and drove Zhu Xuefeng away.

"Why did you still remember to come over? I couldn't find anyone at your house before the New Year. You college students are more comfortable, and you still have winter vacation."

Liu Ze was very resentful. He had originally planned to marry Guo Ting as soon as they returned from Hong Kong. However, due to a work requirement, Guo Ting was left in Hong Kong, and it became a mystery when she would be able to return. They could only wait endlessly for their marriage.

I wanted to find someone to drink with and relieve my boredom, but my childhood friend Qu Changwen went to the army and I could never see him. I looked for Zhu Xuefeng several times, but he was either abroad, undergoing military training, working as a farmer in the countryside, or reviewing for exams. I finally waited for Zhu Xuefeng to take a vacation, but he disappeared without a trace and his entire family was gone.

"It's a special matter, I can't explain it, I'll just accompany you after get off work, call the other classmates, I'll treat you, let's eat something delicious, let you satisfy your craving."

Liu Ze then smiled and said, "We agreed that we will wait for you at the gate after get off work. You can come by yourself."

Zhu Xuefeng threw down a pack of cigarettes and said, "I can't forget it. I'm going to see Director Sun and then I have to go back to the new factory. I'm leaving now."

Zhu Xuefeng came here during his lunch break. After Director Sun came back, he was still the director of the third workshop. Apart from receiving an end-of-year commendation, there was no change. After chatting with Zhu Xuefeng for a while, he also urged him to take a nap.

Along the way, he visited Director Zhang, Director Chen and Director Ma without stopping, and then hurried back to the office in the new factory.

Zhou Wenwen and Lou Xiao'e were already here. They had just received the notice to come to work this morning. The driver team sent a small car to deliver a lot of stuff. The two of them received the camping gear and have been cleaning. Although the office building is new, the camping gear are all old items and cannot be used without cleaning.

"Team leader, this is so inappropriate of you. I couldn't find you when you showed up in the morning, and you didn't come back to help in the middle of the day, which made Xiao'e and I tired." Zhou Wenwen immediately denounced Zhu Xuefeng when she saw him show up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I went to talk to Chief Engineer Xu about some ideas this morning, and went to Workshop 3 at noon. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you..."

"I know you're a busy person, so I can't count on you. Xiao'e and I are almost done. Just help put the desk and these cabinets back in place. We can't do anything about it. The logistics staff here are really stupid. They just help lift things up and then throw them away and leave them there."

"There's such a thing? Who are they? Tell me more. I'll go find their leader."

"Forget it, it's not a big deal. I see they are very busy with logistics. Team leader, we women should do the cleaning work. You men don't have the patience." Lou Xiao'e raised her arm and wiped the sweat off her cheek with her upper arm.

Zhu Xuefeng didn't feel comfortable sitting around doing nothing, so he immediately got to work. Actually, there wasn't much work for him to do, so he had to finish it all before work hours.

"Team leader, we are both exhausted. We don't have any other requests. Can you go and get us some Arctic Ocean?"

Zhou Wenwen leaned against the desk and gasped for breath. The filing cabinet was too heavy for her. Even if she and Lou Xiao'e lifted one end of it, they were exhausted.

"No problem, but are you sure it's okay to drink Arctic Ocean in the middle of winter? You sweated so much just now?"

"What's the problem? I was eating popsicles at the temple fair the day before yesterday." Zhou Wenwen said with a smile. The two of them were not afraid of Zhu Xuefeng. Although the team leader rarely showed up, the relationship between the three of them was pretty good and they dared to make any jokes.

"Okay then, tell me what you want in one go, so I don't have to run anymore."

"We'll talk about it when we think of it. We just want to get rid of the stupid boy, so let's go now."

Zhou Wenwen covered her mouth and laughed. Lou Xiao'e was not as relaxed as Zhou Wenwen, but she was also not vague.

"Two bottles per person. I didn't drink any water all morning. I didn't drink any soup at noon to save time. I'm really thirsty."

Zhu Xuefeng went out with a smile, and was about to start his seclusion in the vehicle factory.

After get off work, seven young people, four men and three women, had gathered in front of the steel mill. The crowd of people getting off work had dispersed, and there was basically no one walking in the alley. It was winter and it got dark early. In another ten minutes or so, it would be dark, and it would be even colder by then. The group of people were looking around anxiously.

"Liu Ze, is what you said reliable? Today is only the third day of the new year. Will he come to work? You are not lying to us, right?"

A female worker looked at the big clock at the door and felt really cold, so she couldn't help complaining. Liu Ze put his hands to his mouth and blew a few breaths of hot air, then looked towards the new factory area again, but still didn't see Zhu Xuefeng.

"I can't fool anyone but you. This guy is no good. It's been more than a quarter of an hour since I got off work, and he's still nowhere to be seen. Let's order a few more dishes as a punishment for him."

"Forget it. Who hasn't eaten something delicious these days? Don't be greedy. It would be a waste if you order too much. Besides, have you forgotten that his family is not well off? We donated money to him back then." The tall and beautiful Cheng Ling tightened her scarf, put her hands to her mouth and blew on them, and couldn't help stamping her feet.

"That was in the past. This guy treated us to a few treats in the cafeteria. He seemed to be short of money that time. Didn't you hear that he was awarded 1,000 yuan within less than a month of starting work? He spent it all."

Liu Ze didn't care. Although Zhu Xuefeng only visited Master Lu three times in the second half of last year, he received gifts every time. He also benefited from it a few times and knew that Zhu Xuefeng was now relatively well off.

"I seem to have heard of this before. Could it be true?" The young worker who spoke was called Shen Wei.

"It's really cold, let's go to the guard room and wait for a while. We're all like idiots here. If we wait any longer, we'll all be ice sticks."

Liu Ze looked into the distance and saw no sign of a ghost except for a few bare trees, so he had to nod.

"Okay, brothers and sisters, I'm sorry for being inconsiderate and making you all suffer. Go to the duty room first. I'll keep watch here for a while."

A slight roar was heard, and Liu Ze subconsciously turned his head to look and suddenly screamed.

"Here we go, the one riding the bike should be him."

The few people who had just entered the duty room crowded out again to look around.

"It's true. This kid was nearly twenty minutes late this time. It's winter. It's really annoying. Let's criticize him later." Guan Qiumei called out, and everyone agreed. They pushed their carts and went forward.

"Good job, Zhu Xuefeng, you finally came. I'm almost freezing to death. Hurry up, where are you going? You guys have no rules when it comes to doing things. Stupid Liu Ze doesn't even know where to go, and makes us wait foolishly in the middle of winter."

"Cheng Ling, you are so unfair. We agreed to criticize him together, but now you are criticizing me instead? I was wronged, but he didn't say anything."

Knowing that several classmates were very cold, Zhu Xuefeng felt embarrassed. He blamed it all on Old Xia, who had to keep dragging him along.

"I'm really sorry, everyone. It's my first day to report there, and I've been delayed by a lot of chores. Let's go directly to Inner Street and have some Yu De Fu hot pot to warm up."

"Is it the one at the end of Guijie?"

Most of them were children of workers at the steel rolling mill and lived in the family quarters. Dongzhimen Inner Street was right on their way home, so they all had an impression of it.

"Yes, that one. It's delicious and not far away. It's also on the way home."

The group had long forgotten about criticizing others and happily jumped on their bicycles, one taking another with them, and quickly disappeared into the alley which had already become dark.

"This kid is forming cliques at such a young age."

In the distance, Director Yang and Director Ma were walking out of the factory at the same time, watching a group of young people cheering as they walked away.

"They are all his classmates. How can having a meal together during the New Year count as forming a clique? Leader, you are making false accusations."

Old Yang smiled and said, "You understand the problem you just mentioned. You should also strengthen internal supervision. This matter is too strange. Observe it for a few more days and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Okay, you are the leader, so the ball is kicked back." Normally, the Security Department is under the charge of the Secretary, but when Director Ma has a problem, he still reports to Lao Yang first. They are both old people from the steel rolling mill, so he always feels closer to Lao Yang.

"By the way, why do I see Xiao Lin on duty again? If I remember correctly, she was on duty on New Year's Eve and the first day of the new year. Why is she here again today? She's a young girl, and you guys shouldn't use her like this."

"Alas, we originally wanted to arrange for Section Chief Ma to take over, but he received a phone call and said he had something urgent to do, so he had to leave first. Xiao Lin then took the initiative to take over. Don't worry, I'll have someone replace her right away."

Old Yang waved his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it. He should be praised for taking the initiative to cover the shift. You should remind Section Chief Ma. I think there is something wrong with his work attitude. He was not at work several times when I came back from overtime at the end of the year. You can't turn a blind eye just because he can't write two characters for "Ma" with one stroke."

Director Ma also cursed inwardly. This Section Chief Ma had indeed left in a hurry several times while on duty after receiving a phone call. This was a bit inappropriate. If you criticize him, he is always brave enough to admit his mistakes but refuses to change. However, he has Secretary Gu's support. He is really a troublesome person.

(End of this chapter)