Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 352 Demolition (Lai Bao's Birthday +)

Angkor said, "Okay, if you can't find anyone later, I'll call two for you, fifty each, right? The boss is generous."

Xiao Wei smiled and said, "Fifty is for Mu Lijuan's brother. It would be crazy to ask someone else for fifty. At this time, a state-owned enterprise worker's monthly salary is only about three hundred yuan. He said, 'That's my friend's family's. If we ask someone to help, a meal would cost at least a hundred or two, right? If we hire outsiders to do the work, we have to pay them according to their wages. Giving fifty is definitely not an option.'"

Angkor nodded and said, "That's true. Ten or twenty dollars would be enough. Smashing walls and moving things isn't easy."

After chatting with this Angkor man for a few more minutes, Xiao Wei came back to the restaurant and found a broken stool to sit down and wait.

About half an hour later, a taxi stopped by the roadside in front of the door. Mu Lijuan got out of the passenger seat, and Xiao Wei quickly went out to greet her, took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to the driver, saying, "Here, brother, take this."

The taxi driver paused for a moment, glanced at Mu Lijuan who was standing by the car rummaging through her pockets, then reached out and took Xiao Wei's money, giving her five yuan in change. Mu Lijuan also took out her money, blushing, and said, "Look at you, I have some here."

Xiao Wei looked at the three young men getting off the bus from the back and said, "It's all the same. How can I ask you to pay for my help? Sister-in-law, which of these guys is your brother?"

Mu Lijuan pointed to one of them and said, "This is my brother, Mu Qiqing. You can call him Xiaoqing. Xiaoqing, this is your brother-in-law, the boss. You can call him Brother Zhang."

Mu Qiqing nodded and smiled at Xiaowei, calling him Brother Zhang. Xiaowei took out a cigarette and handed it to him, saying, "Thank you for your help, coming all this way to help me with the work. Are these two your buddies? They're really strong."

Mu Qiqing took the cigarette and said, "He's my classmate, we hang out together every day, it's nothing, bro. What kind of work do you do? My sister didn't explain clearly either."

Xiao Wei led a few people into the house and said, "I think this part is hollow inside. Let's break it open and see what's inside. It looks like it's made of nailed boards." Xiao Wei pointed to the wall next to the stairs and said, "This part upstairs is also hollow."

Mu Lijuan looked around and asked, "What are you going to throw at?"

Xiao Wei took out his money and said, "Isn't there a supply store over there? I'll just buy a hammer and a shovel." He handed over the money, and Mu Lijuan took it, turned around, and went out to buy the items. A little while later, she came back carrying the hammer and shovel. Brother Wu from the store followed her in and asked, "Which area?"

Xiao Wei pointed to the side of the stairs, and Mu Qiqing took the hammer and said, "Let's just smash it open, shall we?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead and smash it."

Mu Qiqing threw away his cigarette butt, picked up the two hammers, walked over, looked them over, and swung them at the wall. With a loud thud, the hammers bounced back, and thick layers of white plaster scattered across the floor. Brother Wu said, "Don't smash it yet! Don't smash it yet! This isn't masonry; it's probably made of nailed wood. You can't smash it like this. Wait for me to get something."

A few minutes later, Angkor came in with several large nail screwdrivers and said, "Use this, use this end to pry it open, and use this end to pry it open. You can't break it with a hammer."

Several people took the nails, and Brother Wu also took one and tapped it on the wall, saying, "This, this is the joint. Come on, young man, pry it open from here." Mu Qiqing and one of his buddies took the nails and started poking along the spot Brother Wu indicated.

Soon the whitewashed wall was peeled away, revealing the corners of the wall and the wooden planks underneath. Using nail pullers inserted into the seams between the planks, several people worked together, and quickly the first large plank was pried off, revealing a dark, musty hole emanating from it. Wu Ge peered through the crack and said, "I can't see anything. It seems like quite a large place. Come on, let's keep going."

The wooden planks were slowly pried open, revealing thick planks about five centimeters in diameter, with a frame of round wooden nails about ten centimeters in diameter inside.

Light streamed through the pried-open opening, revealing a jumble of boxes and other items, along with books, newspapers, and documents scattered on the floor. A door could be seen on the side wall, but beyond that, the interior was obscured.

With Angkor as the leader, everyone dismantled the boards and piled them to one side. They also dismantled the round wooden frame and piled it to one side as well. A pungent musty smell, mixed with a gust of wind from who-knows-where, blew out from inside, making everyone feel cold. Angkor said, "I'll go find a flashlight." He turned around, went back into the shop, and brought back a large flashlight. The group of people walked inside with the flashlights in hand, like explorers.

The doorway was quite large, over two meters wide and nearly three meters high, with a ceiling over four meters high. Inside, on the side wall, there was indeed a door leading to a room that looked quite large. Beyond the room, the space opened up into a large hall.

The walls and floor were littered with tattered books, newspapers, documents, and posters. The walls on both sides were covered with large characters written in calligraphy, revolutionary posters, ******* posters, and slogans. For some reason, the windows on the walls had been bricked up, preventing any light from entering.

On the side of the hall facing the road, there were several rusty bicycles lying on their side, a three-wheeled vehicle with all its tires rotten, a pile of pickaxe handles scattered in the corner with faint black stains on them, and several rusty, unrecognizable bayonets lying nearby.

Xiao Wei roughly judged the location based on the orientation. He figured they had left the restaurant and entered a building behind it. It seemed to be an I-shaped building or a corner building, because he didn't see any obvious joints or gaps on the walls and ceiling along the way, indicating that it was built as a single piece.

Back then, Russian-style architecture was quite popular in China, with many buildings resembling the letter "工" or having a large, curved shape, which wasn't unusual. Even earlier, pre-liberation Japanese architecture rarely consisted of stand-alone buildings; most were corner buildings.

At the very back of the courtyard was a large wooden gate, unlocked and clearly dilapidated, leaning against the wall. The doorway had been bricked up from the outside, and next to the gate was the staircase leading to the second floor. Wu Ge searched around with his flashlight and found several pull switches, but nothing happened. He didn't know if the switches were broken or if there was no power inside. There were incandescent light bulbs with shades hanging from the ceiling.

There were also some things scattered messily on the stairs. Xiao Wei said, "Let's go out first, go up to the second floor, open the wall over there, and then come back in. It's too dark."

The group retraced their steps and returned to the first floor of the restaurant. The musty smell had dissipated considerably and wasn't as strong anymore. They stood outside in the sun for a while, but when they went inside, they were immediately chilled by the cold. It was too gloomy, and the smell was too pungent. Wu Ge said, "You've hit the jackpot; there's such a big place inside."

After resting for a while and having a cigarette, everyone took nail screwdrivers and went up to the second floor to find a spot and continue dismantling.

(End of this chapter)