Silly Zhu's Moving: The Old Neighbor's Nightmare

Chapter 151 Union

In the early morning, the bright sunshine dispelled the winter chill.

Old Yang, who sells fried cakes, set up his stall early at the street corner.

"What a tragedy! Fifty or sixty people were arrested, and two of them died."

Aunt Wang came out to bask in the sun early in the morning, her eyes gazing into the distance.

It's as if your own child has returned victorious from the battlefield and will soon appear before you.

Hearing Old Yang's words, he dispelled his longing and shook his head.

"Liu Gui and his nephew from the front yard were caught gambling again last night. I heard that his nephew was sent to the hospital."

"Little Yang, who sells mutton, didn't set up his stall today," he said.

"I heard it was hit by a calf. Last night, our compound was searched and two people were arrested. People who came to visit relatives were also arrested,"

Aunt Dong, holding her three-year-old child, asked in surprise and doubt,

"Our yard was also searched. Is that the little yellow ox you mentioned, the one that hit someone last time and still hasn't been caught? It's reappeared! Has it been caught?"

Grandpa Guo said, puffing on his pipe, "They didn't get caught. Yesterday, Director Wang led a group of people to block off the road and searched house to house all night."

……

"Brother Li, come visit sometime." Sha Zhu escorted Li Wei to the street corner and saw the reporter off.

"Okay, Zhu Zi, you go and get busy at the restaurant with your second uncle. I'll come over after I've rested."

Li Wei waved to Sha Zhu, then turned and walked gracefully toward Gulou East Street.

"Zhu Zi, didn't Reporter Li stay with us for a couple more days?" Aunt Wang asked.

"No, he's going to other places to do interviews and reports today. He spent the whole day here yesterday."

"Zhu Zi, does Reporter Li have a wife yet? I have a niece who's quite pretty," Aunt Dong asked.

"Well, I heard he's seeing someone. Why don't you come over again, Aunt Dong?"

"Ask him yourself, I have to go to the small restaurant to get busy," Sha Zhu said, and quickly walked towards the restaurant.

I'm still a bit dazed; I clearly didn't sleep well.

Last night, Sha Zhu went home, entered his spatial dimension, rushed into the lake, and swam around.

Not long after he came out, Director Wang arrived at his door with his men. "Zhu Zi, is everything alright at home?"

Sha Zhu yawned and said blankly, "Nothing's wrong. What's wrong? What happened to Director Wang?"

"It's good that you're alright. There are two families in the alley whose yards were broken into by thieves who hit them on the head. Stay home and be careful. What about your second uncle and Reporter Li?"

"They're still sleeping. They drank a bit too much tonight. If the knocking hadn't been so loud, I wouldn't have gotten up."

Director Wang, don't worry, even if a thief manages to climb over my yard wall, he won't be able to get into my house.

"Unless you break my window, I'm sure I'll wake up."

"I'll take some people in to take a look. I won't feel at ease if I don't check it out."

Director Wang and his men thoroughly searched the yard, and I personally went inside the house to inspect it.

Inside the room, two drunkards lay on the bed and the heated kang (a traditional brick bed). In the rainy room, only a little girl was on the heated kang. The thief and the little yellow ox were naturally nowhere to be found.

After seeing reporter Li off in the morning, I arrived at the small restaurant, greeted Uncle Cao, Aunt Hu, and Second Uncle, and then went into the kitchen to supervise and guide my three apprentices.

My second uncle, Cai Quanwu, doesn't need to buy ingredients or drinks for the next couple of days; he's doing odd jobs at the small restaurant.

Early in the morning, customers started coming to the small restaurant to have breakfast.

There were rickshaw pullers, old men from nearby alleys, and Manchu people in long robes and mandarin jackets, all gathered together eating breakfast and chatting about what happened last night.

Sha Zhu was instructing three of his disciples on how to prepare ingredients when Li Jianguo from the neighborhood committee walked in from outside.

Seeing that Sha Zhu was instructing his apprentices, he ignored them and began to look around the kitchen.

He lifted the cloth covering the earthenware basin on the cutting board, and seeing the basin full of cooked food, he immediately beamed with joy.

"Zhu Zi, hurry up and cut me a piece, I'm starving."

Looking at Li Jianguo, who looked like a starving ghost, Sha Zhu asked in confusion, "Aren't there some in the lobby outside? Aren't your meals reimbursed?"

"Don't even mention it. I was sleeping soundly last night when Li Gang came over and dragged me out of bed. We were busy all night, searching house to house."

More than eighty unidentified people were arrested. Two escaped, and it took all this time before Director Wang finally released them; they weren't carrying a single penny.

"Was the entire Nanluoguxiang area searched?"

"That's right. If I hadn't been with Li Gang, I almost wouldn't have made it back last night. It was too dangerous."

This is quite a lot of information.

Sha Zhu said, "How about I give you some change, and you can eat in the lobby outside?"

"No, when I went into the small restaurant just now, the neighbors from the neighborhood grabbed me and asked me all sorts of questions. It was a struggle to get rid of them."

"Fine, I see you just want to freeload here, and you even said you wanted to get rid of them,"

Sha Zhu cut a piece of pig's head meat from the ceramic basin and handed it to his apprentice Zhou Biao to slice.

He then took out some change from his pocket and handed it to Zhao Xiaohu, saying, "Go to the pasta section and get a few steamed buns."

After instructing his two apprentices, Sha Zhu asked, "Brother Li, why was there such a commotion in Nanluoguxiang last night?"

Reporter Li leaned close to Sha Zhu's ear and said, "You don't know, but there are two high-ranking officials living in the alley south of Nanluoguxiang, a commander and a political commissar."

Last night, several departments worked together to search the entire Nanluoguxiang area.

Those who couldn't provide their identities, whose origins were unclear, and who stammered were all arrested.

And that includes the fifty or sixty gamblers who were arrested earlier. The police station was overflowing last night.

"No, Brother Li, several departments are working together on this case, how come two people have still escaped? Aren't the intersections blocked off?"

Sha Zhu asked, puzzled.

Li Jianguo shook his head and said, "When we first started the search, we didn't have many people, but we added more later."

Zhao Xiaohu brought the steamed buns from outside and handed them to Li Jianguo.

Li Jianguo ignored Sha Zhu and started eating the steamed bun with big bites of pork head meat inside.

"Brother Li, don't choke. How about I get you a bowl of soy milk?" Sha Zhu couldn't bear to see Li Jianguo swallowing his food so hard, so he said.

"Cough cough," Li Jianguo rolled his eyes and swallowed the food.

He complained to Sha Zhu, "Zhu Zi, either you don't talk, or you can get me a bowl of mutton soup. I really can't stand the taste of douzhi (fermented mung bean juice)."

Before Sha Zhu could move, Zhao Xiaohu put down his work and said, "Master, I'll go."

After saying that, he took a bowl from the kitchen and hurriedly walked outside.

Seeing this, Li Jianguo glanced at the other two apprentices and secretly gave Sha Zhu a thumbs up.

......

No. 38 Beiluoguxiang, Anding Hospital. In a ward, Yi Zhonghai lay on the bed, eyes open, listening to the conversations of the other patients.

"Have you heard? Last night, some people from Beiluoguxiang went to Nanluoguxiang to gamble, and they were found out to be spies."

"A relative from Nanluoguxiang came to pay New Year's respects today and said that the little yellow ox that hit someone last time has reappeared."

Upon hearing the name "Little Yellow Ox," Yi Zhonghai immediately pricked up his ears to listen carefully.

The patients chatting were unaware that the person who had been hit last time was lying on the bed next to them.

"That's right, last night they brought over a few more gamblers who were injured by the calf."

The ward right next to ours has armed guards patrolling the door.

"Old Yi, the little yellow ox that hit you last night has reappeared," said Aunt Yi, Yi Zhonghai's wife, as she hurriedly walked in carrying a lunchbox.