Siheyuan: Xu Damao's New Life

It was past nine in the evening when the banquet ended. Xu Damao returned to the lounge, a little drunk, and lay down to sleep. I don't know what time it was, but there was a slight knock on the door, which woke Xu Damao up.

"Da Mao, Damao, open the door quickly." It was the voice of a young woman.

Xu Damao was very familiar with this voice. Wasn't this the widow Zhang, Xu Damao's former lover?

"Sister Zhang, is there something wrong?" Xu Damao also lowered his voice.

"I, I want to do it with you again."

"Sister Zhang, I'm already married, and my wife is pregnant. I know your life is not easy, so you can take this money back and live a good life in the future." Xu Damao jumped out of the bed, took out thirty yuan and some food coupons and stuffed them under the door, then went back to bed and lay down without saying a word.

After a while, suppressed sobbing was heard outside the door, but it soon disappeared. Although Xu Damao lay down, he felt a little uneasy in his heart. Alas, it was all forced by life, otherwise who would be willing to ruin themselves like this.

The next morning, Xu Damao got up and went to the yard to exercise, practicing the Bajiquan he had exchanged for. While he was practicing, Wang Gang came over with a big bowl of porridge and a plate of pickles, with two steamed buns on the plate.

"Brother Damao, you also know Kung Fu? You look quite powerful." As soon as Wang Gang entered the yard, he saw Xu Damao practicing boxing.

"Hi, I learned some Kung Fu from a master. I used to go to the countryside often and the roads were not safe. Learning some Kung Fu for self-defense can make me safer." Xu Damao replied.

"I brought you a bowl of porridge and pickles. Our conditions in the countryside are really limited, so you just have to make do with what you have."

"Hey, our city is only slightly better than yours. I also grew up eating pickled vegetables and steamed bread."

"Okay, then you eat first, I'll go back to eat too. After dinner I'll bring everyone over here to gather."

Xu Damao took the breakfast without any hesitation, nodded, said "OK" and went back to the house. Xu Damao only ate one steamed bread with porridge, and also ate a lot of pickles. In fact, this steamed bread is sore in the throat. Eating too much not only makes the throat uncomfortable but also causes constipation.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Secretary Wang and some staff members came to the commune compound to work. Wang Gang also brought a team of ten militiamen to the compound to gather. Each of them carried a gun and a bullet belt on his shoulder, looking very majestic.

Xu Damao heard the noise and came to the hospital to chat with people. After Director Wang arranged the work, he walked towards Xu Damao and Wang Gang. "Let's set off early. The journey is quite long and there is a very difficult part."

"Okay, let's go."

A group of more than ten people set out on foot. Xu Damao knew that there were only two broken bicycles in the commune, and there were not enough for so many people, so he left his bicycle behind and chose to walk with everyone.

Everyone was chatting along the way, and Xu Damao looked at the bare earth with regret. If he had come in the other three seasons, he would have been able to see the beautiful rural scenery.

Around ten o'clock in the morning, everyone came to a stretch of low hills with a winding mountain road in the middle of the mountains. The mountains on both sides were only about three or four hundred meters high, but they were quite steep, making it a natural checkpoint that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The group walked arduously on the winding mountain road. The long journey had long since drained everyone's energy and spirit from the beginning, and the group was very silent. After walking for more than an hour on the mountain road, they finally arrived at the entrance of a valley.

Director Wang pointed to the valley ahead and said, "Comrades, we have arrived at noon. The valley ahead is Lijiazhuang."

There was a burst of excited cheers in the team.

"Let's take a break first, and then work harder later. We can have a good rest when we get to the village." Wang Gang said.

Xu Damao also took out his Daqianmen and walked around, chatting with everyone. They didn't know that there were two pairs of eyes on the mountain above their heads watching their every move.

"Asano-kun, you go back and report first. I'll continue to keep an eye on them here."

"Hi."

After resting for about ten minutes, everyone regained some strength and continued on their way. It took another twenty minutes to see people. A small road led to the village. There were farmlands on both sides of the road. There was a winding river not far away, but the river was frozen.

Director Wang had been here several times before for work and was quite familiar with the place, so he took the initiative to lead everyone to the brigade headquarters.

Captain Liu Zifeng was working in the office and came out when he heard the sound. His real name is Yamashita Masao, he is in his fifties and was one of the guards of the special forces. He was a captain at the time. Because he had to cover the retreat of the experts and destroy the evidence, he did not have time to withdraw, so he had to hide on the spot. Finally, he led the team to this hidden mountain village and killed all the men here, successfully occupying the nest of the magpie.

Since there was only one road leading to the outside of the valley, as long as people were arranged to guard the entrance of the valley, basically no one could get out. Some women in the village who dared to resist were killed, and the rest did not dare to resist openly. Later, in order to reproduce and not arouse suspicion from people around them, they had to follow the trend of the times, strengthen some exchanges with the outside world, and marry some women from outside. This time, the news was spread by a woman who married into the village from another place through her relatives who came to visit her.

Team leader Liu Zifeng said indifferently: "Welcome Secretary Wang to our village to inspect our work. Please come in."

Secretary Wang had been here several times and knew that they were very xenophobic, so he didn't take it as an offense and took Xu Damao and Wang Gang into the brigade's office.

Liu Zifeng poured everyone a cup of hot water and asked, "I wonder what Director Wang is here for this time?"

"Oh, I'm here for the projectionist sent by the steel mill. I heard that he disappeared on the way to your place. Do you have any news about him?"

Liu Zifeng frowned, thinking to himself, "Could it be that Director Wang didn't know that we had detained him? Why did he just say that he disappeared? Was he trying to trick me?" Fortunately, there was someone standing guard at the entrance of the valley for a long time, and the person who came back informed him of the news, so he was able to arrange for someone to send the projectionist to the secret room in the back mountain in advance.

The news has been leaked out, and now people have come to my door. I won't be able to fool them by simply saying no, so I might as well just do it.

"A projectionist came a few days ago, and he started to flirt with the young wife of our team and tried to take advantage of her, so we caught him directly." Liu Zifeng said seriously.

Director Wang wanted him to call the person out to inquire about the situation, but Liu Zifeng insisted on resolving the issue in the village and refused to let him see him. The two were constantly arguing with words and neither could convince the other.

When Xu Damao came here, he felt something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what it was. Seeing that there was nothing for him to do here, he suggested going out for a walk.

Liu Zifeng winked at the person next to him and said, "Xiao Li, go and accompany this comrade around the village."

"Yes!" The man straightened his back and his right hand moved unconsciously and then retracted.