Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 844 Looking for the murderer
The people in Yard No. 95 were in a mess. They didn't know when a large number of termites appeared in the yard. They couldn't see them at first, but later a few children found a few in the corner of the wall. They were curious and started playing with them because they had never seen big white ants, and they were so big.

Within a few days, swarms of termites were seen moving unscrupulously in the corners of the walls. At that time, people in the yard didn't know what was happening until one day, the ear room of Yan Bugui's house in the front yard collapsed. Fortunately, no one lived in it, because the two youngest children were still young and lived in the same room with Yan Bugui and Yang Ruihua, so that room was just used as a storage room.

Yan Bugui was very puzzled. How could a good house collapse so suddenly? He found Master Li from nearby. Master Li was a craftsman who repaired houses nearby. He had been repairing houses for people in Nanluoguxiang for many years and had a very good reputation.

Master Li carefully checked the damage to the house, frowned, turned to look at Yan Bugui, and asked, "Is there anything unusual in your yard recently?"

Yan Bugui was stunned, thought for a moment, and said, "If there is anything unusual, it's just that Sha Zhu from the middle yard and Xu Damao from the back yard are fighting more and more frequently. There's nothing else unusual."

Master Li chuckled and said, "This is not the abnormality I'm talking about. Is it that termites have appeared in the yard?"

Yan Bugui didn't know there were termites in his yard at this time, so he shook his head blankly. Master Li got nervous and said quickly, "Teacher Yan, you should find the manager and call a meeting. Call all the children together and ask if there are any termites in the yard. I'll check other people's houses in the front yard and take a closer look."

Master Li didn't have time to explain and hurried out of the Yan family. When Yan Bugui saw Master Li's serious expression, he didn't dare to delay and went directly to the Central Courtyard to find Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai also knew the seriousness of the problem. He called Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui together and quickly called everyone in the courtyard. Every family and every person must be present, especially the children.

Today happened to be a holiday, and most people were at home except for a few families who went out to visit friends. After a while, people from the Central Courtyard gathered together. Without waiting for Liu Haizhong to speak, Yi Zhonghai directly told Liu Haizhong about Master Li's visit to see the collapsed house, and also told him about Master Li's speculations and concerns. Finally, he directly asked the question Master Li had asked, which was, whose child had seen termites in the yard?
In an instant, everyone in the yard was in an uproar, because not only children had seen termites, many adults had also seen them. Everyone answered at once, and before long, Master Li realized that the situation was serious, because termites had appeared not only in the corners of the walls, but also under the walls of each house.

The three uncles quickly found a few children and took Master Li to check the yard. After Master Li finished, he sighed and said, "This is a bit serious. I can't do it alone. Master Yi, you should report it to the street office and ask them to quickly organize professional house repairmen to check your house, especially the wooden structure of the beams. If things go wrong, the house may collapse."

When the people in the yard heard this, they were all horrified. Yi Zhonghai frowned and said, "Are termites so powerful?"

Master Li said: "Don't take it lightly. In serious cases, even your main supporting pillars may be corroded. Termites are powerful and reproduce very quickly. They feed on wood and secrete formic acid that can corrode wood materials and metals, causing the internal structures of buildings and furniture to gradually decay. In serious cases, it can cause collapse."

Yi Zhonghai finally took the matter seriously and hurried to the sub-district office with Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui. The housing management section of the sub-district office took the matter very seriously. This was not just a matter of one courtyard, but also threatened other surrounding courtyards.

The subdistrict office organized a professional team and specially dispatched two professors from Tsinghua University who were specialized in pest control to come and check it out. It turned out that every household in Courtyard No. 95 had varying degrees of damage, and many of the wooden structures on the roofs had varying degrees of damage.

The most serious problems were in the east wing of the central courtyard, the east wing of the backyard, and the west wing of the front yard. After evaluation by experts, all the wooden structures of the roofs of the houses on these sides had to be replaced, otherwise they might collapse over time. For example, Yi Zhonghai's house would cost 500 to 600 yuan to repair. The subdistrict office told each household about the seriousness of the matter, and the next day, a professional pest control team came. They dug pits and filled water wherever termites were found in the yard, then sprayed pesticides, and carried out a comprehensive pest control in the yard.

The residents of Courtyard No. 95 are now in tears, especially the three uncles' three houses, which almost need to have the entire wooden roof structure replaced. This is thanks to Xiaowu. Xiaowu found out the location of Yi Zhonghai's family, who was causing trouble at the time, along with the Liu family, the Yan family, and Wang Zhan's family. There were three sacks of termites, one sack in the backyard of each family. Aren't these three families the worst hit?

When Xiao Wu described the whole story to Wang Zhan and others in vivid detail, He Yushui could no longer sit still. He packed up his things and went to Yard 95 to see what was going on. Da Laotie and Xiao Si also wanted to go and see. So, they all went to Yard 95 together, using the excuse of checking out He Yushui's room.

Wang Zhan did not join the activity because he knew that he was not welcome in that compound. If he showed up in that compound, something strange might happen.

Wang Zhan took out the radio and was drinking tea and listening to storytelling with his sister in the backyard. At this time, there was a knock on the door in the front yard. Wang Zhan stood up and walked to the front yard. He saw Director Wang had come in, as well as Uncle Li's secretary Brother Wang. Wang Zhan was also very curious about how they met.

As soon as Brother Wang came in, he put his arm around Wang Zhan's shoulders and said, "How are you, did you miss Brother Wang?"

Wang Zhan rolled his eyes and said, "It's only been a few days since the celebration banquet. How can I miss you every day?"

Director Wang laughed and said, "Xiao Zhan, hurry up and invite your brother Wang in for tea. There's something good going on."

Wang Zhan was confused. He had already given all the rewards. What good things could come out of this? He took the two people to the backyard. As soon as they entered the backyard, Wang Li threw herself into Director Wang's arms and said, "Auntie Wang, why didn't you come these days? I missed you."

Director Wang was stunned, and looked at Secretary Wang beside him. Several people laughed, and Director Wang said, "See, Comrade Xiao Wang, you asked the wrong person."

Secretary Wang was also happy and said, "That's right, little girl still wants someone to love her. Come, Lili, Brother Wang brought you some candy. Hurry up and hug me, Brother Wang."

When the little girl heard this, her eyes lit up and she threw herself into Secretary Wang's arms again. Wang Zhan slapped his forehead and said, "This little sister is hopeless. Everything will be fine if you have candy."

(End of this chapter)