Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 8 Memories of the Past

December 1951, West Wing of the Central Courtyard of the Siheyuan
Yi Zhonghai and He Daqing sat opposite each other. An aunt made two side dishes for them and then went straight to the backyard.

The two brothers clinked their glasses and took a sip of wine.

"Shazhu isn't going to the steel mill anymore?" Yi Zhonghai asked.

"I just put my name on it. I don't go there very often, but I'll still get my salary." He Daqing took another sip.

Yi Zhonghai took a bite of food and said, "Then why did you go directly to the army?"

He Daqing actually didn't know much about Sha Zhu's work, he only knew about the military because of the confidentiality system.

"I don't know. Look at what he's wearing and the epaulettes on his shoulders. He looks like a real soldier. I'm worried too. A fight just broke out over there and Shazhu is an impulsive guy." He Daqing said with a sigh.

Yi Zhonghai seemed to be thinking about something, and said to He Daqing, "The old lady in the backyard misses Sha Zhu. Let Sha Zhu cook a meal when you have time."

He Daqing was very confused. Did Sha Zhu cook for the old lady? How could he not know? Sha Zhu had not even started cooking yet. But he did not think much about it and nodded in agreement.

"The White Widow is gone, are you still looking for her?" Yi Zhonghai asked.

"What are you looking for? Someone is watching me when I go out and in. I guess my superiors have investigated me. Now because of that silly boy, I feel like someone is following me every day." He Daqing said depressedly.

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat. He still ignored the influence brought by Sha Zhu, this unreliable father. Should he also stay away from him?
He Daqing took a sip of wine and said unintentionally, "How is your apprentice?"

"Dongxu, he's good. He's already a junior worker. His wife is pregnant and he's doing well." Yi Zhonghai answered casually.

He Daqing said, "The main thing is that the family has a plan. The two women share the food from the land, and Dongxu makes money. They get the best of both worlds. It's amazing."

"What do you mean?" Yi Zhonghai asked puzzledly. He knew that He Daqing would not speak without a purpose.

He Daqing lowered his voice and said, "Just now I heard the silly boy reciting the propaganda draft, and it seemed that he mentioned that land reform should be deepened. Think about the general survey and registration two days ago."

He Daqing gave Yi Zhonghai time to think while he drank to relieve his boredom.

Yi Zhonghai finally figured it out. When registering some time ago, Jia Zhang was concerned about the land and output in the countryside. She said that Datian was not registered as an urban resident, and Qin Huairu also had a rural resident. Jia Zhang had the final say in his family. If there were any major changes to the land, his apprentice's family would probably be the most affected. After all, the two of them occupied the land but did not cultivate it, and let others cultivate it. This was the biggest problem.

Yi Zhonghai took a sip of wine and said, "Everyone has their own destiny, let them be."

"Your disciples are all clear-headed and capable. Will you help them or not?" He Daqing asked again.

"I'm still trying hard, but I don't know what they're thinking. Let's wait and see." Yi Zhonghai didn't tell the truth. He cared about Jia Dongxu a lot, but it was a different story with Jia Zhang between them, so he was also keeping his distance from the Jia family.

The two brothers finished the bottle of wine in a short while and then left the party.

Front yard of the Siheyuan

Xu Damao has rarely appeared recently. After school, he goes back to his parents' house in the suburbs, which is closer to the school.

Xu Damao didn't want to see Sha Zhu, didn't want to see Sha Zhu's arrogant look. But he knew that he couldn't afford to offend Sha Zhu now. Today was his father's birthday, so the family of four had agreed to have a meal together.

But things didn't go as he wished. The more he didn't want to see someone, the more he ran into them. As soon as he reached the entrance of the alley, the person walking towards him was Sha Zhu.

"Are you back?" Unexpectedly, Sha Zhu greeted him first.

Xu Damao was very surprised and looked at Sha Zhu, "You, what do you mean?"

Sha Zhu was silent for a few seconds, then raised his head firmly and looked at Xu Damao, "Let's talk?" Xu Damao was a little scared, but when he thought about how Sha Zhu was now completely different from before, he didn't think much about it and replied, "The old place." Both of them were a little stunned.

The two of them walked one after the other towards a courtyard house in the back street. It was a garden, which turned out to be the annex of their courtyard house. Because it had been in disrepair for many years and people had died there, the Military Commission sealed it off after liberation.

But Sha Zhu and Xu Damao were familiar with the way. They went around the main gate and found a small door deep in the alley. After fiddling with it for a while, the door opened.

The two of them were filled with memories and walked to a pavilion and sat down.

"What do you mean? Now that you're rich, you want to deal with me?" Xu Damao took out a box of cigarettes from somewhere, opened it, handed one to Sha Zhu, and lit one for himself.

Sha Zhu looked at the garden he hadn't been to for seven or eight years, took the cigarette, and remained silent for a while.

"You want to hit me? Let me tell you, Silly Zhu, if you hit me, I will go to the Military Control Commission. You are a role model now, and if a role model hits others, it will be a big deal." Xu Damao said provocatively.

"When did we start?" Sha Zhu took a puff of cigarette, blew out a puff of smoke and asked.

Xu Damao was stunned. He just couldn't stand seeing Sha Zhu doing well. When did it start? Xu Damao also began to recall.

Yes, they were childhood friends, and grew up together. At that time, there were only a few families in the courtyard. There were only the two little kids, and Damao still called Zhuzi brother. At that time, the two brothers were together every day, running wildly in the mountains, fishing in the river, and going shopping in Qianmen.

Suddenly one day, the two people were at loggerheads because of an incident that had something to do with the people in the compound. At the time, one of them was ten years old, and the other was eight years old. They wanted to go to Qianmen to watch a circus.

Not far from Nanluoguxiang, they saw a group of puppet soldiers, led by a few black dogs, heading towards Nanluoguxiang. The two saw that they were both from the old city and this kind of thing was common. They were going to Nanluoguxiang to collect money.

Sha Zhu was simple-minded. He turned around and shouted, "Da Mao, go back and report the news." He also turned around and wanted to run back.

Xu Damao was so angry. Just report the news. Just speak quietly. Why are you shouting? Let's just go quietly.

The final result was that Sha Zhu didn't run away. Sha Zhu was stubborn and was beaten. Xu Damao was smart and went straight into Jingshan and took a detour to run back. Sha Zhu was beaten and limped back home, but he still informed everyone.

But Sha Zhu was indignant in front of everyone, saying that Xu Damao was a coward for deserting the battlefield.

In this way, Xu Damao got the reputation of a traitor, and the two became enemies and ignored each other.

Because of Sha Zhu's report, everyone hid their valuables. There were some losses but they were not big. Sha Zhu was praised by everyone and was given an image of a righteous person.

Sha Zhu just couldn't understand why Xu Damao didn't go up to help him and ran away on his own. When he came back, he complained to his neighbors, saying that Xu Damao had deserted the battlefield.

The neighbors followed Sha Zhu's thinking and said that Xu Damao should not have run away on his own, and that deserting the battlefield was an act of treason.

Xu Damao's original intention was to take a detour back to report the news, but he came back too late and the puppet troops had already left. Finally, amid the accusations in the compound, Xu Damao was labeled a traitor and everyone ignored him.

Xu Damao was furious. All this was caused by Sha Zhu. Sha Zhu was stubborn and thought Xu Damao was a traitor. The two became enemies.

The two recalled together, "I'm sorry, it's my fault." Sha Zhu said.

Xu Damao was silent, he didn't know how to answer Sha Zhu. There was no deep hatred between the two of them, it was mostly the neighbors who instigated the two of them to be incompatible.

"Do you have any ideals? Damao, we have all grown up." Sha Zhu continued.

The full moon hangs high in the sky, there is a dilapidated pavilion, tall weeds, and two people smoking silently.

　I wrote something that doesn’t exist, please forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)