Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

"Zhu Zi, I heard from your fourth senior brother that the steel rolling mill is recruiting more than 600 workers, and more than 20,000 people have signed up. Are there really that many people?" Master Ma asked.

"More than 20,000 people signed up. They wanted to work in the steel rolling mill. Last night, people from the Military Control Commission came to our courtyard to investigate the applicants' circumstances, and that's what they told me," He Yuzhu answered truthfully.

"Some people in our area have also mentioned this. It seems they want their children to enroll so they can get a formal job," Master Ma said with a smile.

"It's too late for anyone who wants to go. Unless they have connections, they can only try to find a solution within the steel rolling mill. They still have 120 openings. If they can find Lou Bancheng within a few days, they might still be able to get a job at the steel rolling mill."

The other 500 spots are allocated to the neighborhoods near the steel mill; those who don't live in our area won't be given them.

"Those who are unemployed are all poor. We couldn't possibly know Lou Bancheng; even if we did, we wouldn't be unemployed."

"That's true. We poor people don't need to know Lou Bancheng. The population of Yanjing City isn't that large now. Solving the employment problem for tens of thousands of people isn't as difficult as you might imagine."

"Zhu Zi, there are too many unemployed people now, and it's still hard to find a job in Yanjing," Master Ma said seriously.

"It's not as difficult as Master Ma thinks. Military control will end soon, and their focus will be on maintaining order. The government will begin its work, and their task is to improve Yanjing City."

The responsibilities of the two sides are completely different!

This year, while the transfer of power is still underway, factories are already under construction or being expanded in Yanjing City.

The most obvious example is buses, which now have more than twenty additional routes. Do these buses no longer need drivers or conductors?

When they entered Yanjing, the power plant and water plant were being expanded. Didn't they need workers? We are the capital city, and we also have a municipal government. They need to hire people just the same way. Work is needed everywhere.

The steel rolling mill is a key national enterprise; it expanded early, and other important factories will also expand. Anyone who dares to easily change their residency to Beijing's (Yanjing's) will face the problem of unemployment.

"It seems Zhu Zi understood correctly. There has always been a way to solve employment problems. In the past, it was under military control, but the scale was not large. Now that the government is in charge, the employment problems should be solved." Fourth Senior Brother thought so.

"This should solve the employment problem, at least for most people. Without jobs for most people, society will not be stable, and public security cannot be good."

"That seems to make sense."

"You all keep an eye on your work. Over there, yesterday afternoon at five o'clock, a fire burned down two families. Luckily, it happened during the day, so no one died."

The military control committee arranged accommodations and hired builders to rebuild several houses. "As soon as Fourth Brother moved in, there was news about it."

"What happened?"

"My wife told me that when a woman is cooking dinner at home, after lighting the coal fire, there are one or two pieces of firewood left over. When the child is crying in the main room, the woman smothers the firewood on the ground and throws it into the pile of firewood."

To everyone's surprise, the firewood, which had not been completely extinguished, soon caught fire again, setting other firewood in the kitchen ablaze, including the coal nearby.

The fire damaged the kitchen, storage room, and toilet in my own home, and also spread to the main house next door. Everyone worked together to put out the fire, which was extinguished in less than an hour.

The final result was that three of the woman's outbuildings burned down, and two of the main houses next door were burned down. One main house was not too badly damaged, but the other had to be rebuilt.

The military control commission has made all the arrangements, so the losses aren't too great. The military control commission and those bored people estimate that they'll need less than 3.5 million to build new houses.

I wonder how much the interior of the main house next door would cost?

Later I heard it was the military control commission that called the men from both families together to discuss the matter, but I don't know the latest outcome.

"This woman is amazing. She burned down her neighbor's house. They must have a grudge, a really big one."

Fortunately, it's a detached house; if it were a large courtyard or a traditional courtyard house, the trouble would be immense. "Brother Gui is wise."

"A few hundred yuan isn't a huge loss. This woman was just unlucky; the child cried while she was starting the fire. It's her destiny." The master is a little superstitious.

"Winter is coming, so we should be careful about fires. If a fire gets too big, all the nearby houses will suffer."

"We still need to be rich, as rich as Lou Bancheng. Burning down a district is a small matter. We have money, plenty of money. We'll pay for it." Guizi is a suicidal person.

"Hahaha, Guizi, so you're broke. Just wait to get sacked up and thrown into the moat."

"Hanging it on the front gate tower is fine too."

"Execute him by slow slicing for three days straight, then feed him to the dogs."

"Let's just bury it."

There are 108 possible ways that Comrade Wu Gui died.

........

At the end of the month, the steel rolling mill's recruitment list was released, and Wu Laogen was on the list. There was only one opening for every two or three courtyard houses, so the number of workers to be recruited was very small.

Those in the front yard who weren't accepted sighed and groaned, their families complaining and cursing God.

Wu Laogen was very excited. He would start work in a week and have a formal job, no longer having to worry about not knowing where his next meal would come from.

He hadn't initially considered asking for help, until his wife asked him, "Honey, you don't have any advantages whatsoever? You're already over thirty, why would they want you? Did they hire someone else?"

"I don't know anyone, I'm just a rough guy doing odd jobs. But... now that you mention it, there seems to be something wrong with it."

Of the twenty-odd people we know, none are older; they're all in their twenties. I'm the only one who's thirty-two. I can't figure out who's helping me.

Someone must be helping me. In this courtyard house, I'm just an ordinary person, no better than them. Wu Yougen started to feel depressed again, wondering who was helping him.

A few days later, rumors began circulating in the compound that He Yuzhu had helped Wu Laogen find a job and that he had spoken well of Wu Yougen...

When the rumors surfaced, the people in the front yard didn't entirely believe them. He Yuzhu always left early and returned late, and didn't have much contact with the people in the front yard. Their relationship was just so-so, and he didn't care about the affairs of the courtyard house.

Comrade Xiao Zhao from the Military Control Commission came to the compound once and asked everyone in the courtyard, including the Jia family and the deaf old lady, without missing a single resident.

He Yuzhu didn't work for the Military Control Commission, so he didn't have the authority to decide who worked. But the rumors were so detailed and convincing that they were somewhat believable.

"Zhu Zi, everyone in the courtyard is saying that you helped Wu Laogen..." Tan Guilan told He Yuzhu this as he got off work.

Who spread the rumor?

"When I heard it, the women in the front yard were all talking about it, but I don't know who said it."

"Someone else is looking for trouble. I'll go and help him out." He Yuzhu instantly locked onto two targets: Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui.

The other people in the courtyard wouldn't think of or wouldn't spread the word. Xu Fugui and the deaf old lady could think of it, but they wouldn't spread it. Liu Haizhong and Jia Zhangshi and her son weren't that clever; they wouldn't think of it.

Even Yi Zhonghai was unlikely to be involved. He Yuzhu thought he was scheming against the Jia family and looking for a wife. He wouldn't do something that would offend him without much benefit.

All that's left of Yan Bugui is scheming. He's stirring up conflict between himself and the front yard, whether he wants to gain an advantage or try to please both sides. Whatever his intentions, we won't tolerate his scheming habits.

If you want to die, I'll grant your wish.