Siheyuan, my new life

A trace of embarrassment flashed across He Daqing's old face. In recent days, he had been hesitant in order to deal with the White Widow's pressure.

He Daqing was reluctant to give up his current job as chef and position as deputy director of the canteen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, nor was he willing to give up the reputation for his superb cooking skills that he had worked so hard to gain over the years. However, he had never thought about his two children.

With the job of chef in the canteen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, especially with the title of deputy director of the canteen, who wouldn't look up to him? This made He Daqing, who was extremely proud, extremely satisfied. You know, he was rejected by the restaurant just after he became an apprentice. If it weren't for his master finding him a job at the home of a deaf old lady, I'm afraid he wouldn't know what he would be like now. From a small chef who cooked for private people, how much sweat He Daqing has put in along the way is beyond the imagination of outsiders; He Daqing, who is already middle-aged, is considered a top figure in the entire Dongcheng District Qinxing with his cooking skills. His reputation has brought him a lot of income. There is an endless stream of people who come to him to ask him to help with weddings and funerals. Similarly, the remuneration for asking He Daqing to cook is also quite high in Dongcheng District Qinxing. Most people in the old city of Sijiu are proud of their reputation. Since they want to hold a banquet, why don't they invite a famous chef to give themselves face? Preparing the same meat and vegetables, how can the dishes cooked by famous chefs be compared with those ordinary chefs? As long as the guests who come to the banquet can give a thumbs up and praise the food for being delicious, it will be the most face-saving thing for the host.

He Daqing really couldn't bear to give up everything he had now, because he knew very well that once he left for Baoding, he would have to start all over again.

However, He Daqing was extremely reluctant to give up the beauty, the White Widow. When he thought of her soft skin, graceful figure, and especially the wonderful feeling of ecstasy in bed, how could He Daqing possibly give her up?

But He Daqing knew very well that since the deaf old lady had already said that he could remarry but was not allowed to bring her back to live in the main house in the middle courtyard of No. 95 courtyard, he would never dare to disobey the deaf old lady's wishes.

To others, the deaf old lady always looked kind and gentle every day, but He Daqing had witnessed with his own eyes how cruel and ruthless she could be.

On the eve of the Japanese occupation of Beijing, a group of vagrant soldiers who fled into the city took the opportunity to extort money and do all kinds of evil on the streets. The black dog patrols in the city usually dared to show off their power to ordinary people, but when faced with these armed soldiers, they were as honest as quails, and turned a blind eye to the evil deeds of the soldiers.

The connivance of the Black Dog Patrol further encouraged the arrogance of the defeated soldiers. Some of the daring soldiers could not openly break into residents' homes to rob in broad daylight, so they took advantage of the dark and windy night and broke into the homes of wealthy families who had been selected in advance in groups of four or five, looting their money and bullying women.

Courtyard No. 95 was not spared either. One night, He Daqing, who was living in the front yard at the time, was awakened by a loud banging on the door. The young and energetic man picked up a kitchen knife and walked out of the door, only to see the owner of the house, Mrs. Long, who would later become the deaf old lady, holding a lantern, appearing in the front yard accompanied by two doormen holding pistols.

Mrs. Long whispered a few words into the ear of a doorman, who put his pistol on his waist and walked towards the gate.

At this time, He Daqing came to Mrs. Long with a kitchen knife in his hand and said in a low voice: "Madam, please go back to your room and take shelter. When I went out to buy vegetables today, I heard that several wealthy families nearby had been robbed at night. Please close the door and keep quiet. Let Uncle Jiao, Uncle Liu and I handle the outside situation."

Mrs. Long saw He Daqing's actions and praised softly: "Well, Daqing is very good, but don't worry, these rotten fish and shrimp outside can't cause any trouble, so you should be more alert later."

While the two were talking, the door had already opened, and six dishevelled, drunken soldiers with long spears slung across their shoulders had stumbled in. One of the soldiers said in a careless manner: "Since you are quite sensible, we brothers will not make things difficult for you today. Honestly hand over the gold and silver treasures in your home, otherwise don't blame me for giving you a good beating."

He Daqing was about to speak when he was stopped by Mrs. Long. She said coldly: "You are not fighting the Japanese on the front line, but are doing evil in the city. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

A defeated soldier said with a lewd smile: "This middle-aged woman is quite attractive. Brothers, let's make a deal. I will be the first to taste her."

The rest of the defeated soldiers also laughed triumphantly. They did not notice that the gatekeeper who had opened the door for them just now had quietly closed the door and was now tiptoeing behind a defeated soldier.

Hearing the dirty words of the fleeing soldiers, Mrs. Long shouted coldly "Do it", and before she finished her words, the two doormen almost simultaneously cut off the neck of a fleeing soldier with the daggers in their hands. The usually frail Mrs. Long made He Daqing drop his jaw in shock. He didn't know when a dagger with a cold glow appeared in Mrs. Long's hand, and it was slashing across the throats of the two fleeing soldiers at lightning speed. As for the last two fleeing soldiers, they had just subconsciously raised their guns when the two doormen wiped their necks cleanly.

Mrs. Long wiped the blood off the dagger on the defeated soldiers, turned around and saw He Daqing who was already stunned, and said with a smile: "Daqing, help Xiao Jiao and Xiao Liu clean up here." After that, she walked straight to the backyard with a lantern.

He Daqing came back to his senses when he heard Mrs. Long's words. He quickly put down the kitchen knife, walked over with trembling legs, and started to work with the two doormen.

They first searched the fleeing soldiers for their belongings, and put them aside along with six rifles, bullets, and twelve grenades. Then they wrapped the six bodies in rain cloth and put them into sacks. When the streets were silent in the second half of the night, the three men used a cart to pull the sacks to the moat overnight, tied them up with stones and threw them into the moat.

After returning, he washed the bloodstains on the ground in the front yard with water, and was busy until dawn. When He Daqing dragged his tired body to go back to his room to sleep, the doorman named Jiao stuffed him a package of things, which were some of the property searched from the defeated soldiers. Before he could speak, the other party said cheerfully: "Take it, whoever sees it will get a share." After that, he picked up the spear and walked towards his house.

Although so many years have passed, He Daqing will never forget the two clean and sharp cuts made by Mrs. Long, who later became the deaf old lady. Who could have imagined that Mrs. Long, who was usually kind to others, could be so decisive and ruthless?

Moreover, after so many years of getting along, He Daqing had already realized that Mrs. Long had a huge network of connections.

Whether it was during the Japanese occupation of Sijiucheng or after the skinheads took over, no official had ever come to No. 95 Siheyuan to cause trouble. Especially after He Daqing started working in the canteen of Lou's Steel Rolling Mill, whenever he occasionally ran into the boss Lou Zhenhua, the dignified Lou Bancheng would always politely ask He Daqing to say hello to the old lady on his behalf.