The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 469: Winter Solstice
In the winter of 1978, every morning in the capital felt cold.

The gray sun finally struggled to break through the mist, casting its heatless light on every corner of this huge city.

On the evening of November 11th this year, in a dilapidated thatched house in Xiaogang Production Team, Fengxian County, Anhui Province.

18 farmers in tattered clothes and with hungry faces, with the help of a dim kerosene lamp, faced a contract and pressed their blood-red fingerprints nervously.

These 18 people swore with determination: they would rather... than divide the land into individual households and set up contract responsibility systems.

Three days later, a long report titled "The masses have created experience in accelerating the pig farming industry" was published on the third page of Renren Daily, which detailed new methods used by Guangxi Province and Tong County in Beijing to improve pig farming efficiency.

Change is happening in this cold winter.

On December 12, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Xia Dynasty was held.

On the evening of December 12, the first group of 26 visiting scholars going to study in M ​​left Beijing by plane in the dark.

Xia Country plans to send 500 more students to Maple Leaf, Great Britain, France, Germany and Japan respectively in the next fiscal year, while M Country hopes to accept 5000 people.

The winter solstice soon arrived this year. The winter solstice was called "the shortest day" or "the shortest day" in ancient times.

After the winter solstice, the nine-day cold period begins.

"Ten days after the winter solstice, the Gregorian New Year begins." This is a dead end, it's the same every year, and no one can change it.

After the Gregorian New Year, the Lunar New Year is not far away, and those children who are looking forward to the New Year start counting on their fingers.

The winter solstice is here. The winter solstice is a traditional Chinese solar term, and eating dumplings has become a traditional custom among people.

The company commander and instructor of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion notified everyone two days in advance that the entire company would make dumplings on the morning of the Winter Solstice.

On the 21st, the company's quartermaster and cook team leader went to the local area in advance to contact the purchase of meat.

However, there is very little meat in state-owned stores during the holidays, and ordinary people have money, so they want to buy some meat to make dumplings during the holidays.

But in order to let the officers and soldiers have a meal of dumplings, the quartermaster ran to the pig farm in Liujiazhuang and after much trouble, he finally got 100 kilograms of meat.

The kitchen staff chopped up a bunch of white radishes and green onions, mixed them with minced meat, and made a large camp pot.

Then each class was notified to take basins to get the stuffing and flour, and then return to their own classes to make dumplings.

The deputy head of the group said, "Let's have a dumpling-making competition. Whoever finishes first gets to eat first. The first pot of dumplings tastes the best!"

Most of the soldiers in Zhong Xingguo's squad three came from the countryside.

Rural children rarely eat dumplings, let alone white flour buns.

Many soldiers have never seen dumplings made in their lives.

After receiving the flour and dumpling fillings, the squad leader divided the work and asked Zhong Xingguo to be responsible for kneading the dough, while other soldiers in the squad, such as Liang Shan and Zhang Fang, were responsible for making dumplings.

However, Zhong Xingguo made a fool of himself when kneading the dough.

He didn't know the ratio of flour to water, nor did he know whether to use cold water or hot water.

I ran to other classes to see, and finally found out that it was warm water that was used to knead the dough.

However, after I started kneading the dough, I felt it was too dry so I poured in some water. Unexpectedly, I added too much water and it turned into a paste.

Zhong Xingguo was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He had no choice but to go to the logistics canteen to ask for flour, but was scolded by the cook squad leader.

As a result, their class had significantly more noodles than other classes.

When starting to make dumplings, the squad leader rolled the dough into a thin layer of skin, turned a canning bottle cap upside down, and pressed it into round pieces.

However, when Liang Shan and his friends picked up the dough to make dumplings, either the openings could not be closed tightly, or the bottom leaked, or they looked ugly.

The squad leader suddenly had an idea. He knew that the female soldiers upstairs were very skillful. He had seen them making dumplings before. They were very good at making dumplings. Not only were there many styles, but each one was compact and good-looking. So he sent Li Erhu to the female soldiers' class upstairs to learn.

Li Erhu quickly washed his hands and ran to the female soldiers' dormitory upstairs in a few steps.

He was about to go in when he heard the female soldier platoon leader Lu Xiaofang speaking inside, so he didn't dare to shout "report".

He knew that it was a female soldier's dormitory and that a male soldier like him could not go in rashly, so he secretly peeked inside through the glass window.

Li Erhu is a bit fierce, but not very courageous.

Through the window, he heard the female platoon leader teaching the new recruits methods.

"We female soldiers are role models for the entire regiment, and we should also set an example when making dumplings. Just now the deputy regiment commander said that whichever class finishes making dumplings first will eat them first, so we must strive to be the first.

As the saying goes, the first pot of dumplings is followed by the second pot of noodles. The dumplings in the first pot are clear and delicious. We should grab the best ones, which is a manifestation of our fighting power. Comrades, do you have confidence?"

The female soldiers in the class answered in unison: "Yes!" Then she divided the work of making dumplings.

Under her instruction, the veterans led the new recruits, and in a short while, some were kneading the dough, while others were preparing the wooden boards for the dumplings.

Luo Yufang, squad leader of the female soldiers squad, said, “Whether it is kneading dough or making dumplings, you must not be impatient, knead the dough patiently and make dumplings carefully.

Especially when kneading the dough, you need to put in enough effort, knead it for a long time, and let it rest for a while after it is done. It is just like when we do ideological work for others, we need to pay attention to methods and grasp the timing and timing, and we cannot just do things based on enthusiasm..."

"Hey! I didn't expect that the female soldier squad leader also had ideological work to do while making dumplings..." Li Erhu's eyes lit up. He felt that it was not very authentic for a scout to learn from others through the window, so he turned around and was about to run downstairs. However, as he turned around, he bumped into the instructor who came to check the dumpling-making work.

This caused a big problem. All the female soldiers came out, and even his squad leader was called up...

Later, when Li Erhu returned to the dormitory, the squad leader said, "It's nothing. Let's sum up our experience and lessons and continue working."

We must learn how to make dumplings, and we must dare to compete with them to see who can finish first.

Because there were not enough rolling pins, Zhong Xingguo found two beer bottles, washed them, and turned them into a rolling pin by turning them upside down.

Then I looked at the board again and found that there was no dumplings on it yet. What should I do?

After hearing what Zhong Xingguo said, Zhang Fang and his team simply ran to the window, removed a window in no time, wiped it clean with a rag, sprinkled some flour on it and it became a long panel.

However, with so many people in their class making dumplings, they really had high expectations but low skills. What they thought in their minds and what they made were completely different things.

More than half an hour passed, and there were several rows of crooked dumplings on the window frame, looking really miserable.

At this time, Zhong Xingguo and his friends noticed that the female soldiers upstairs had already gone to the cafeteria to make dumplings, but their class still had a small half of the dumplings left to make.

The deputy team leader said that whoever finishes wrapping the dumplings first can eat first, and it would take a while for their class to eat the dumplings.

After a while, the aroma of dumplings from the kitchen wafted through the air.

Zhong Xingguo and the others became even more anxious when they saw this. Li Erhu simply poured the stuffing onto the dough, squeezed it tightly, and placed it on the door panel...

However, by the time Class 3 arrived at the cafeteria, the dumplings for other classes had basically been cooked.

They stood by and saw the white dumplings bubbling in the big pot, and they were so envious.

Finally, it was Zhong Xingguo's class' turn to make dumplings.

Zhong Xingguo and Liang Shan lifted the window frame, and the squad leader and his men put the dumplings into the pot.

However, maybe everyone was a little anxious and didn't notice that the water in the pot had not fully boiled.

Moreover, there were too many dumplings in the pot, and after burning the fire for a long time, the dumplings still didn't float up.

Li Erhu became a little anxious when he saw this. He was afraid that the dumplings would stick to the bottom, so he stirred them vigorously with a big spoon.

I didn't expect that just by stirring it, a layer of dumpling stuffing suddenly appeared in the pot.

After a while, the pot was boiling, but it was no longer possible to tell which was the dumpling skin and which was the filling.

The company commander of the fifth company and the head cook were watching beside them.

While eating dumplings, the company commander said, "You came the latest, so this pot is all yours. No matter the dumpling skin or the stuffing, you can eat it as long as it's cooked!

Soldiers! You must dare to win, but you must also dare to admit defeat, and if you fail, you must rise up and catch up!"

Zhong Xingguo and his friends blushed as they scooped two bowls of the dough mixture onto their dining table.

To be honest, no matter what it was, they enjoyed the dumplings very much.

That day, Zhong Xingguo ate from three large yellow porcelain bowls and was sweating all over his head, while Li Erhu just took the basin and emptied the bowl clean at the end.

The next day, the company commander commented: "On the winter solstice, our entire regiment made dumplings. Our grassroots backbones took the lead and each class also had their own methods.

Especially the female soldiers, they combined making dumplings with ideological work and the principles of being a human being and doing things, they competed in their thoughts and realm, and won the first place.

We should learn from female soldiers and strive to make new progress in all aspects.

One night after the "dumpling making" incident on the winter solstice.

At the class meeting, the third squad leader first made a self-criticism and said: "I am responsible for making dumplings. I didn't have any training in normal times, so I failed at the critical moment. I hope we can pay attention to learning, do more, practice more, and think more, and strive for progress." After that, it became a new habit for Zhong Xingguo and his class to help in the kitchen.

While helping in the kitchen, I first learned how to pick and wash vegetables, clean the place, and rinse the floor. Then I learned how to steam rice, steam buns, prepare vegetables, and cook...

----

"Dingle bell! Dingle bell!"

In the early morning of the winter solstice, the sky was still immersed in a deep blue-purple color. At around five o'clock, the air in Ge Shuping's house was suddenly awakened by a rapid phone call.

Dujuan is a hardworking housewife who is used to getting up early to prepare breakfast for her family.

She hurriedly put down the work in her hands, walked quickly to the living room, and grabbed the phone that was ringing frantically.

"Hello! Hello, who is this? Oh? What? Okay... please wait a moment..." A hint of doubt flashed across Du Juan's face, then she gently put down the phone, turned around and walked quickly towards the bedroom.

In the bedroom, Ge Shuping was sleeping soundly, his breathing heavy and even.

Last night, he and several old colleagues went to visit their long-missed old leader Liu Zhiye.

It's a rare occasion for us to get together, and as we recall the past, our hearts are filled with emotion.

In such a reunion atmosphere, Ge Shuping unconsciously drank a few more glasses, so that he was still deeply drunk at this moment.

Du Juan gently pushed Ge Shuping who was sleeping soundly and called softly: "Old Ge, Old Ge, wake up quickly."

Ge Shuping responded in a daze: "Hmm? What's the matter?"

Du Juan's tone was a little anxious: "Your company just called, and it sounded very anxious. You should get up and take a look..."

Before he finished speaking, Ge Shuping suddenly jumped up from the bed, his pajamas hanging loosely on his body. Without time to tidy them up, he hurried to the living room.

Ge Shuping said briefly on the phone: "You go ahead, I'll be there soon." After hanging up, he acted quickly, first tidying up his uniform, then picking up the handbag full of daily necessities, as if he was about to go out.

"Hey, Lao Ge, what's the matter? You're going to work without even eating a bite of food?" Seeing this, Du Juan hurriedly chased out of the house, with a bit of concern in her tone.

Ge Shuping frowned and waved his hands, but he didn't stop walking: "No, no, Xiaojuan, I'll just go to the company cafeteria to have a bite, time is tight."

There was a reason why he was in such a hurry to get out.

At around 5 o'clock this morning, their city's public security department received a call from a citizen saying that a female corpse whose owner was unknown was found in a public toilet in Yushu Hutong, Beixinqiao, Dongcheng District.

When the comrade in charge of criminal investigation who was on night duty at the Public Security Department heard the news, he immediately took action and rushed to the scene.

The murder scene was in the women's restroom of a public toilet west of the north entrance of Yushu Hutong, Beixinqiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing.

The dead person was an old lady. She was lying on her back with her head facing north and her feet facing south, right in a toilet stall.

His clothes were in a tangle, with the pockets turned inside out.

There was a lot of white powder on the back of her shirt and both legs, which looked scary.

Moreover, she was not wearing any shoes, just a pair of old stockings. Strangely, the soles of her socks were quite clean, without any dirt at all.

After the forensic examination, it was found that the female corpse was 1 meters tall and had some purple-red spots on her back.

The rigidity of the corpse had worn off.

There were two pinch marks on the front of her neck, near the thyroid cartilage. Each mark was about 5 cm long and 0.5 cm wide, and there was bleeding under the skin. This was caused by someone strangling her neck, and it was also the cause of her death.

In addition, there were circular subcutaneous hemorrhage marks on the back of her wrists, indicating that her hands were tied with ropes when she was alive.

Considering that it was a cold winter at that time, the forensic doctor speculated that she should have died before 6 o'clock last night.

The deceased had bleeding from her lower body, which indicated that she had been sexually assaulted before her death.

The toilet was just the place where the body was dumped, not the primary scene where she was killed.

This case is now being seen as a case where LM killed someone and dumped the body, but the reason why he killed people still needs to be investigated.

The person who reported the case was Wang Lingling, 10 years old, a female worker who lived at No. 38 Yushu Hutong. She was the first person to see the body.

She said: "In the morning, I woke up at 4:40 and went to the toilet.

As a result, I found a person lying in a pit in the women's restroom, motionless. I was so scared that I ran to Beixinqiao Police Station and reported the case! "

It was now bright outside and some onlookers recognized that the deceased was 74-year-old Grandma Cui Yufen who lived at No. 60 Fuxue Hutong, Jiaodaokou, Dongcheng District.

She has lived alone for more than 30 years, gets along well with her neighbors, has never had any conflicts with anyone, and has a clean lifestyle.

The old lady seldom goes out, and never goes out at night. During the day she just wanders around the alleys.

After Ge Shuping arrived, he immediately organized people to investigate Cui Yufen's social relations.

Later the deceased's family arrived.

Wang Sanshang is the third son of the deceased. He was heartbroken and told the criminal investigation personnel: "My mother has been living alone since she was 38 years old. She doesn't talk much and doesn't like to socialize with others.

The three of us brothers took turns taking care of her and gave her 35 yuan a month for living expenses.

But my mother often went to scavenge without telling us, and she lived a very tight life. I guess she must have saved some money."

Who on earth could be so cruel to this old lady?

The investigators immediately went to Yushu Hutong and asked the residents around there.

Fu Linlin, a female worker who lives at No. 20, said that when she went to the public toilet at 12:21 p.m. on December 10, she found nothing. It was quite normal and she did not see any body.

Fan Ming, a 74-year-old girl who lived in the same compound as the deceased at No. 20 Fuxue Hutong, was a student who had just graduated from Beijing No. 21 Middle School and was waiting for assignment. She recalled: "At about 8 o'clock in the morning on the st, I saw Grandma Cui drying washed pillow towels and pillowcases in the backyard. She was also sitting in the yard basking in the sun.

It was around nine o'clock and I went to the bathroom for about 15 minutes. When I came back, Grandma Cui was gone, the pillowcases and pillowcases that were hanging in the yard were gone, and her door was locked.

At 8: in the evening, when I went to return her gas bill, the door was still locked.

Normally she would tell me before she went out, or ask me to go with her, so this time she left without saying anything, and I was quite puzzled. "

After inspecting the scene and questioning surrounding residents, Ge Shuping felt that the possibility of murder for money was high.

Everyone said that although the deceased had only 35 yuan per month for living expenses, he lived a very frugal life and often picked up waste to sell for money. Everyone guessed that he must have saved a lot of money.

Also, the deceased’s door was locked properly, but the key was missing, probably taken away by the murderer.

Moreover, after the victim was killed, the body might have been hidden in the house first, and then the murderer would throw the body into the toilet at night when no one was around.

Therefore, Ge Shuping and other investigators speculated that the deceased should have been killed during the 12 minutes when Fan Ming went to the toilet at 21 am on December 9.

To be able to commit the crime in such a short time, the murderer must be very familiar with No. 74 Fuxue Hutong.

The murder and hiding of the body in broad daylight has not been discovered yet, which means that the murderer may live in Courtyard 74, or the courtyard next door, or may be someone who lives in Yushu Hutong but often comes to Fuxue Hutong.

In general, the possibility of the crime being committed by an acquaintance is very high.

As a result, investigators quickly focused their investigation on No. 74 Fuxue Hutong and several surrounding courtyards, as well as Yushu Hutong.

Because the case happened not long ago, everyone had a deep impression of it and was very willing to help the public security personnel.

Therefore, Ge Shuping planned to mobilize the masses and quickly tell everyone about the case.

He hopes to use the "human wave tactic" to get everyone to help catch the criminals.

Therefore, Ge Shuping focused the investigation on the Jiaodaokou Police Station where the deceased was registered.

There is also the area under the jurisdiction of the Beixinqiao Police Station where the body was found, especially the homes of residents in Fuxue Hutong and Yushu Hutong.

In three days, the two police stations conducted a careful investigation and found more than a hundred suspicious clues.

But after some investigation, the result is neither.

They visited more than 100 households in Fuxue Hutong and Yushu Hutong, involving more than 300 people.

During this process, investigators noticed that the deceased lived next door to a man named Fan Dawei who worked as an electrician at the Central Conservatory of Music.

Fan Dawei is 52 years old this year. His eldest son is Fan Guozhi, who is 22 years old this year.

Fan Guozhi is a worker at the Dongcheng Automobile Factory. As he is planning to get married recently, he is very short of money and really wants to save money.

On December 12, Fan Guozhi happened to be on vacation and he lived in a room alone.

Fan Guozhi was quite familiar with the situation in the deceased's home, and the time also matched, so he became the key suspect.

(End of this chapter)