Life in siheyuan era

Around four in the afternoon, Yan Wen requested to leave work early. As soon as he stepped onto the street, he was挟持 (xié chí: forcibly taken) by two burly young men and quickly bundled into a jeep.

At the same time, five policemen entered the editorial office of the Jingcheng Daily. Before Editor Ma could react, he was pressed onto the desk and handcuffed.

Just then, a garbage truck drove into the city. As it turned the corner, two young men were seen wrestling together.

The two young men were skilled wrestlers. One grabbed the other's neck, while the other held onto the first's waist. After a few rolls, they blocked the truck's path and were locked in a stalemate.

One shouted, "Let go of my neck!"

The other shouted, "Let go of my waist!"

Someone in the crowd yelled, "Let's count to three and let go together!"

The second person, not to be outdone, immediately replied, "My third brother's second uncle's nephew is a soldier in the army."

The relationship was quite complex. Someone in the crowd shouted, "Let's sort this out properly. What exactly is the relationship?"

Hearing the shouts, Hu Biao flew into a rage and yelled "Idiot!" He opened the car door and jumped out.

The question was quite simple. Whether it was "my fourth sister's third aunt's nephew" or "my third brother's second uncle's nephew," wasn't it just himself?

Hu Biao figured it out. He jumped out of the truck to solve their problem and, by the way, separate the two wrestlers. With their skill, they dared to wrestle publicly on the street?

According to requirements, the two of them had to deliver the goods to the Anxin Hotel before five o'clock. Any further delay and they would be late.

So Hu Feng didn't stop Hu Biao. But when he saw him walk into the crowd, he immediately sensed something was wrong. The shouter and the yeller each grabbed one of Hu Biao's arms.

At that moment, the car door opened, and a figure sat down beside him. A pistol was pressed against his waist, and a middle-aged man said with a smile, "I wanted to spar with you, but the higher-ups won't allow it. Move over a bit."

The young man standing by the car door on the other side was smiling as he said to him, "Move over."

Hu Feng knew they had been exposed. The large boxes in the back of the truck were all filled with antiques. The crime of smuggling antiques alone was enough to sentence them to several years in prison.

But he didn't understand. Was it necessary to make such a fuss to arrest smugglers? They even sent out an expert. He knew he was facing a master from the middle-aged man's agile movements.

This expert was uncouth, actually holding a pistol. Hu Feng didn't dare to resist and obediently made room.

Then he looked ahead. The shouter, holding Hu Biao's arm, said loudly, "What you said is wrong. 'My fourth sister's third aunt's nephew' isn't necessarily me. It could be my older brother or even my younger brother."

The yeller laughed and said, "Half credit gets a prize. Let's go for a drink..."

The two of them each grabbed one of Hu Biao's arms. Hu Biao knew he was being controlled and hurriedly looked back. He saw three people sitting in the car, with Hu Feng squeezed in the middle.

Seeing this scene, Hu Biao also knew they were exposed. He didn't think about resisting either. It was just a few boxes of antiques. He was just bringing them back along the way. It wasn't a big mistake.

So Hu Biao was enthusiastically "pulled" away by the two men. The onlookers were baffled. When they turned around again, they saw the two wrestlers get up and go their separate ways. They couldn't help but exclaim, "Civilized people!"

An uncivilized phenomenon was resolved just like that. As the onlookers dispersed, Hu Biao got into the jeep. Watching the truck drive past, the jeep immediately followed behind, heading in the direction of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Then, trouble broke out at the Anxin Hotel. Old Hua Tou, with his grandson Zhang Quanyi, charged into the Anxin Hotel, determined to find the culprit who beat Zhang Quanyi.

Old Hua Tou stood in the courtyard and roared, "It was your people who did it. Let Quanyi identify them. If he can't, I'll apologize to you. If he can, we'll handle it according to Jianghu rules."

The grandfather and grandson arrived at a perfect time. Bai Wenming had gathered all his staff in the central courtyard for a meeting, and he was talking about service attitude when Old Hua Tou charged in with Zhang Quanyi.

Seeing the grandfather and grandson charge in, Bai Wenming was stunned. "Where are the sentries?"

Zhang Quanyi pointed at a strong man and shouted, "It was him."

Then he pointed wildly, "And him, him, him..."

Zhang Quanyi pointed at more than a dozen people in a row. Old Hua Tou roared angrily, "Come, come, come. Today, my grandson and I will risk our lives here."

Bai Wenming hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade him, "Old man, let's talk this over..." Just as he said this, a group of policemen rushed in. The policeman leading the team shouted loudly, "Someone called the police."

He only shouted this one sentence and didn't even pause as he rushed inside.

Bai Wenming was stunned. "Why does this person look like Zhou Zhiyuan?"

Then he realized that there were too many policemen, at least fifty or sixty, and everyone was armed, including those with submachine guns.

Seeing this scene, Bai Wenming knew that the situation was hopeless. He slowly turned around and saw six figures engaged in fierce combat. The three bodyguards he relied on were being beaten back steadily.

At this moment, a roar came, "Police action! Everyone stay where you are! Anyone who moves will be taken down!"

Hearing this roar, the guests stood firmly on their feet, while more than thirty policemen, armed with pistols and submachine guns, surrounded them tightly.

Two other teams of policemen rushed to the two side courtyards, moving with practiced precision, following the plan without hesitation.

Seeing this scene, Bai Wenming took a deep breath and turned to the tall young man beside him, saying in a deep voice, "The Anxin Hotel is a state-owned enterprise. I am a state cadre. You are framing me without evidence."

Bai Wenming addressed the leader, the tall young man who had shouted the order just now.

He protested, then saw the tall young man turn to look at him, even giving him a slight smile, and said briskly, "Manager Bai, I've heard a lot about you. Let me introduce myself. My name is Shen Lanbo. I specialize in combat boxing. If your hand moves, I can break your arm."

As he said this, he gently waved his hand. A policeman standing next to Bai Wenming immediately reached into his pocket, while another policeman held a pistol against his waist.

Shen Lanbo then turned to the fighting figures and shouted, "Finish this quickly! Don't get bogged down!"

At this moment, Zhou Zhiyuan was facing Hu Dapeng's counterattack. The cold, gleaming dagger was pointed at his chest.

Zhang Quanyi moved, about to pounce forward, but Old Hua Tou's large hand firmly grabbed his arm.

He saw what was happening. Zhou Zhiyuan's right hand had pinched the dagger between two fingers, while his left fist simultaneously struck Hu Dapeng in the stomach.

"Bang..." A muffled sound came, and Hu Dapeng clutched his stomach and rolled around on the ground.

Zhou Zhiyuan raised the dagger and examined it carefully, muttering, "Good knife."

Zhang Quanyi also muttered, "He likes hitting the stomach."

Old Hua Tou heard this muttering and smiled, "Hitting the stomach means he doesn't want to kill him. If that spiral force had hit Hu Dapeng's chest, his heart would have shattered."

At this moment, from the other two fighting pairs, two shouts of "I surrender!" came one after another.

The police had completely controlled the scene, and Bai Wenming glanced at the pistol, which had just been taken from his pocket.

But he had a reason, and said solemnly, "This is a pistol issued to me by the government."

"I know..." Shen Lanbo replied lightly, "I wonder how many guns the government approved? Do sniper rifles and submachine guns count?"

Hearing this, Bai Wenming's face changed drastically. Then he heard Zhou Zhiyuan's voice, "Brother Bai, I'm sorry. You can understand that we're each serving our own masters."

Hearing this voice, Bai Wenming turned to look at the thin, square face, hearing him say in a low voice, "Brother Bai went too far. Knowing that my brother's girlfriend works at the army hospital and still bombing the hospital, you're not treating me like a brother!"

At this point, Zhou Zhiyuan was still trying to maintain a friendly relationship and find a reason, but Bai Wenming couldn't say a word, his face ashen.

Zhou Zhiyuan sighed softly and turned to see Zhang Quanyi, immediately shouting, "Are you Zhang Quanyi, the kid who shouted slogans and defeated me?"

After shouting this, he strode towards him. Zhang Quanyi immediately took a step back and shouted, "So what if I shouted?"

He wanted to take a few more steps back, but Zhou Zhiyuan grabbed his shoulder and said loudly, "The nature of today's events is for the public to judge, but the group fight that night must be investigated thoroughly. If you don't cooperate, we'll take you away in handcuffs."

So Zhang Quanyi was taken away by two policemen. Old Hua Tou only said one sentence, "I am his maternal grandfather."

So Old Hua Tou was also taken away, nominally to assist in the investigation.

Bai Wenming saw this scene and was puzzled, "Old Hua Tou and his grandson aren't with Zhou Zhiyuan's gang?"

He was puzzled, but he didn't know Zhou Zhiyuan's tactics, "I don't care what you think, I just won't admit it. What can you do?"