Chapter 44: Silly Zhu is Almost Out

Morning.

The morning sun hung low over the old apartment buildings, spilling specks of golden light across the capital.

The streets, silent for the entire night, came back to life.

Right outside the entrance of the courtyard police station.

The Deaf Old Lady, Yi Zhonghai, First Aunt, Mrs. Jia, Qin Huairou, Jia Dongxu, and He Yushui were all standing on tiptoe, peering anxiously into the station.

"Why hasn't Shazhu come out yet?" Yi Zhonghai frowned, a trace of worry in his voice.

"Old Yi, keep your composure. The old friends I contacted are all prominent figures with real clout; they certainly carry weight inside the bureau."

The Deaf Old Lady crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and said, "Back before liberation, they would have had to personally escort Shazhu home to me."

"Yes, yes, yes, everyone knows just how formidable you are, Old Lady!" Yi Zhonghai smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

After a long wait, still no sign of Shazhu.

Unable to bear it any longer, the group outside began to mill about.

"Look at that, just how important does Shazhu think he is? All of us waiting around here for him alone."

Mrs. Jia leaned sideways against the wall of the guard station, her face twisted in resentment, and casually spat out a couple of gobs of saliva.

The wind carried the spray straight through the open window, drifting into a chipped enamel bowl and landing squarely in the thin rice congee.

Seeing the ripples spreading across the bowl of congee, the elderly guard, who was currently eating his meal with a pair of chopsticks, saw his face darken.

Thwack!

He slammed his chopsticks down onto the table, thrust his head out the window, and roared angrily, "Listen up, you lot! The station opens for business at eight. Even if someone is being released, you have to wait until nine. Go find somewhere else to rest for a bit."

"It's no trouble at all, we'll just wait right here."

Yi Zhonghai forced a sheepish smile, turned his head, and gestured to Jia Dongxu. "Dongxu, hurry up and offer the old gentleman a cigarette."

"Master, I forgot to bring my cigarettes today, look..." Jia Dongxu patted his upper pockets, turned them inside out, and offered an awkward smile.

Yi Zhonghai frowned.

He had clearly seen Jia Dongxu smoking just a moment ago; now he had forgotten his cigarettes?

The boy was good at almost everything.

Except for being just as stingy as Mrs. Jia.

If the fellow weren't so obedient, he really wouldn't want to take him on as a son.

Mrs. Jia was already growing impatient, and having no patience for Yi Zhonghai's obsequiousness, she curled her lip:

"He's just an old gatekeeper, wasting food just by breathing. Is he really worth sucking up to?

I'll stand wherever I please. What business is it of his?!"

"Not only am I going to stand here, I'm going right inside."

With that,

Mrs. Jia smiled triumphantly, wiggled her hips, walked briskly to the entrance, and crossed one foot over the threshold.

Advanced in age though he was, the guard had remarkably sharp ears.

He had heard every single word Mrs. Jia had just uttered loud and clear.

"Comrade, please register before entering."

"Hey, you old woman with the flower pinned to your hair, I'm talking to you!"

"No entry without registration!"

Mrs. Jia's eyes rolled as an idea seemed to strike her.

She hopped across the threshold from the outside, hopped back out, hopped back in...

Taunting him as she moved, "Aha, I'm in, I'm out, I'm in again, I'm out again. Go on, hit me, hit me, you dummy!"

"..."

The guard could no longer contain his fury. His gray hair stood on end, and his eyes bulged as large as copper bells.

He groped around in his drawer, pulled out a dark, heavy object, pushed the door open, and charged out in great strides.

Clatter.

A pitch-black gun barrel was pressed firmly against Mrs. Jia's forehead.

A wave of icy terror surged from her forehead straight down her spine, freezing Mrs. Jia instantly into a statue locked in place at the doorway.

Rolling her eyes upward along the barrel of the gun, she caught sight of the guard's furious expression and the finger curled around the trigger, nearly frightening her out of her wits.

She stammered frantically in self-defense, "Old man... no, old comrade, I was just joking, I meant no harm, there's no need to pull a gun..."

"Joking? Do you take the police station for a place to play jokes?"

Never before had the guard encountered someone so utterly audacious, and his anger had reached its boiling point.

Did she really take him, the gatekeeper, for someone who wasn't a real police officer?

He was a regular staff member, and the kind who carried a firearm at that.

Seeing that Mrs. Jia had courted disaster yet again,

Yi Zhonghai rubbed his brow in vexation and urged Jia Dongxu, "Dongxu, go save your mother quickly."

"I don't dare..."

Even from a distance, Jia Dongxu could feel the palpable murderous aura radiating from the guard, and he couldn't help shivering.

Utterly useless...

Yi Zhonghai muttered inwardly, then looked up at the Deaf Old Lady.

The Deaf Old Lady's eyes were half-closed, as if she had seen and heard nothing at all.

The old lady was playing deaf and dumb once more.

Realizing the Deaf Old Lady had no intention of intervening, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to step forward with a ingratiating smile, fishing a cigarette from his pocket to offer him.

"Old comrade, Mrs. Jia is getting on in years and a bit muddled in the head. Just let her off this once."

"Being old gives someone license to do whatever they please? What are you playing at? I don't smoke!" The guard rebuffed him righteously with a wave of his hand.

Yi Zhonghai plastered on a fawning smile and said, "We're all residents of the courtyard here, just ordinary citizens. I beg you to show some leniency."

"Ordinary citizens? Does she look like an ordinary citizen? To me, it looks like she was attempting to storm the station—she's an enemy!"

In this era, in remote regions, the situation remained unstable, and hostile elements occasionally attempted to charge into government offices.

The guard's words weren't entirely far-fetched.

"You're making too much of this..."

Seeing the old man elevating the matter to a political level, Yi Zhonghai hurriedly nudged Mrs. Jia with his elbow. "Zhang Erhua, hurry up and apologize to the old gentleman!"

"Huh?"

Mrs. Jia's mind was a complete blank at that moment.

When she finally snapped out of it, the vicious look on her face had long since vanished without a trace.

Instinctively, she began bowing repeatedly to the guard.

"Comrade, I'm truly sorry, I'm so sorry..."

"This old woman doesn't know any better, please spare me just this once."

"I don't know any better, I don't know any better."

"Forgive me, forgive me..."

Right at that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed, and Shazhu was escorted out from the interior.

Yi Zhonghai recognized the leading public security officer.

His name was Wang Zhenshan, the father of He Yushui's classmate Wang Xinmin, and a minor official within the police station.

Wang Xinmin frequently came over to play at Shazhu's place.

Judging by the boy's enthusiastic attitude toward He Yushui, it was clear he harbored certain romantic intentions.

Yi Zhonghai's eyes flickered, and he promptly signaled to He Yushui with a glance.

He Yushui had no desire to meddle in the affairs of the Jia family.

Before Qin Huairou married into the Jia family, Shazhu had still behaved somewhat like an older brother.

At that time, Shazhu had inherited He Daqing's position as a ninth-rank chef, earning thirty-two yuan a month.

Even without bringing leftovers back from the cafeteria, that amount was more than enough to keep both brother and sister well-fed and worry-free.

However,

ever since Qin Huairou became a Jia, Shazhu had acted as though he had lost his mind, trailing after her day in and day out.

All the good food and drink in the house was constantly handed over to Qin Huairou by Shazhu.

The amount of money he lent out was countless, and not a single cent had ever been repaid.

As his younger sister, she was reduced to drinking cornmeal congee, sometimes going hungry for two meals a day.

If not for the kindness of several neighborly matrons who felt pity for her,

adding an extra bowl of water whenever they cooked and letting her grab a bite by the stove, she would have starved to death long ago.

That was the only reason He Yushui hadn't wasted away to the thinness of a bamboo splint.

The matrons in the courtyard all worried about how He Yushui would ever manage to nurse children in the future.

Seeing He Yushui hesitating,

Shazhu barked at her, "Yushui, didn't you see that Mama Jia is in trouble? Why aren't you going over to help!"