Courtyard House: Ten-year-old Master Zhu reorganizes the entire courtyard

The sky gradually darkened.

The light in the alley was swallowed up.

He Yuzhu hid in the shadows around the corner, motionless.

He was like a stone.

It was completely dark.

The two watchmen at the alley entrance had changed shifts.

The newcomers seemed a bit relaxed, huddled together chatting in hushed tones, and even lit a cigarette.

Mars flickered in the darkness.

8 PM.

The clinic's back door opened silently once again.

This time, the door was opened wider.

A figure wearing a dark coat flashed out quickly.

It's Lin Wanqiu.

Without pausing, she quickly walked into the depths of the alley, heading straight in the direction of the arrow He Yuzhu had drawn.

Her footsteps were very light, almost silent.

He Yuzhu waited for her to walk past the corner where he was hiding.

He emerged from the shadows and followed behind her.

Maintain a distance of ten meters.

Lin Wanqiu walked to the end of the alley, which was a dead end filled with discarded furniture.

She stopped and turned around.

He Yuzhu also stopped.

"Dr. Lin," he called softly.

Lin Wanqiu's body tensed instantly.

She turned around abruptly.

Under the moonlight, He Yuzhu saw that she was holding something in her hand.

It's shiny.

It is a scalpel.

The knife tip was pointed at him.

"Who?"

"It's me, He Yuzhu."

Upon recognizing him, Lin Wanqiu did not lower the knife in her hand, but the tip of the knife drooped down.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but her eyes remained as sharp as an eagle's.

"How did you find this place?" she asked in a low voice. "There are dogs outside."

"I saw her," He Yuzhu said. "My sister still needs medication to consolidate her recovery. So I came to check on her."

He didn't say how he got into the city, nor how he discovered the surveillance.

He asked directly, "Are you in trouble? Do you need help?"

Lin Wanqiu scrutinized him.

The child in front of me is only ten years old.

He was dressed as a beggar, his face covered in soot.

But his eyes were frighteningly bright.

Calm, frank, without a trace of the innocence or fear that a child should have.

She remained silent for a moment.

"Come with me," she said. "Don't make a sound."

She turned around and didn't go back.

She pushed open an inconspicuous wooden door next to her, behind which was the backyard of a family.

She led He Yuzhu through the backyard and out through another small door.

We arrived at a more secluded alley.

She moved through the darkness like a cat familiar with the terrain.

Five minutes later, they returned to the clinic's backyard.

She didn't use connections.

She pointed to a shed in the corner of the yard that was piled with coal and miscellaneous items.

She moved aside some coal, revealing the entrance to a cellar below.

"Get out of here."

He Yuzhu jumped without hesitation.

It's not deep below.

There was a faint smell of medicine and mildew.

Lin Wanqiu followed her down and closed the cellar door.

She struck a match and lit a kerosene lamp.

The lights came on.

This is a basement.

It's not big, but it's very clean.

Against the wall was a medicine cabinet, filled with medicines.

A table with a microscope and some medical instruments on it.

On the other side was a cot and a row of bookshelves.

The bookshelves were filled with medical books in German and Japanese.

Lin Wanqiu walked to the medicine cabinet, took out two small bottles of medicine, and handed them to He Yuzhu.

"This is sulfanilamide. It's for your sister. Twice a day, half a tablet each time. Dissolve it in warm water."

She then took out a small paper packet.

"This is quinine. Take this if you get a fever again. Hopefully, you won't need it."

He Yuzhu took it and put it in his pocket.

"thank you."

"No need." Lin Wanqiu looked at him with a serious expression. "Zhu Zi, you saved my patient, which means you saved me too. I'll trust you this once."

She pointed up.

"The people outside are from the Special Higher Police. They're secret police officers from the Japanese military police."

He Yuzhu was startled.

Special Higher Police.

They are more ruthless and professional than the regular military police.

"Are they here for me?"

"No," Lin Wanqiu shook her head. "They came for something else. But my clinic was one of the contact points they suspected. I was caught in the crossfire."

She paused, then said, "The clinic is relatively safe for now. It has a sign for a branch of a German church hospital, so they don't dare to openly break in without direct evidence. But it's still a problem."

"What can I do?" He Yuzhu asked.

Lin Wanqiu smiled.

This was the first time He Yuzhu had seen her smile.

"You?" She looked him over. "You're still a child."

"Children can also kill," He Yuzhu said.

Lin Wanqiu's smile faded.

She looked at him. "The case in Dongtangzi Hutong, you did it."

This is not a question. It is a statement.

He Yuzhu neither admitted nor denied it.

Lin Wanqiu understood.

She took a deep breath.

"He Yuzhu, you're a born warrior. But you're fighting alone now. It's very dangerous."

She walked to the table and poured two glasses of water.

He handed a cup to He Yuzhu.

"It's safe here for now. You can stay. Or, I can arrange for you and your family to leave Beiping."

He Yuzhu did not take the water cup.

"What are the conditions?" he asked.

"No conditions," Lin Wanqiu said. "Consider it me repaying your favor."

"I don't like owing favors, nor do I like others owing me," He Yuzhu said. "I want to know, who exactly are you?"

Lin Wanqiu looked at him.

Looked for a long time.

"You are not qualified to know my identity," she said. "Unless you can prove your worth."

"How can you prove it?"

"I need to send something out of the city. Something very important," Lin Wanqiu said. "But I'm being watched closely, and my people can't move. I need a stranger, someone who will absolutely not arouse suspicion."

She looked at He Yuzhu.

"A child like you."

She was testing him.

It's also giving him a chance.

An opportunity to join them.

He Yuzhu remembered the system panel's notification about Lin Wanqiu's identity.

Yan'an, Pagoda Hill.

He knew this was an opportunity he had to seize.

"I'll do it," he said.

Without the slightest hesitation.