Siheyuan, my new life

In the back kitchen of the third canteen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, a dozen kitchen helpers were skillfully washing vegetables for today's lunch while loudly chatting about all kinds of gossip.

What we are discussing today is what happened last night in the courtyard at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang.

It has to be admitted that in this era without television, computers, and mobile phones, people are keen on all kinds of gossip. Just one night later, the news about what happened in the courtyard of No. 95 Nanluoguxiang had spread around the area. Coupled with the deliberate guidance of some people with ulterior motives, Yi Zhonghai, a name that was not known to many people, quickly became another celebrity in the Red Star Steel Mill after Liu Haizhong, but this fame was notorious.

What Yi Zhonghai never expected was that, because he usually said one thing and did another in the courtyard of No. 95, advocating respecting the elderly and loving the young, helping neighbors, and unity and mutual assistance all day long, but except for the deaf old lady in the backyard and the Jia family, he turned a blind eye to other families no matter how difficult their lives were. In addition, he often favored Jia Zhang, who was a scoundrel in the courtyard, which had already made the residents of the courtyard dissatisfied. However, out of fear of the street office, no one dared to stand up and question it publicly. This also made Yi Zhonghai mistakenly believe that he was highly respected and his words were law in the courtyard of No. 95.

Now that He Daqing, deputy director of the Red Star Steel Mill canteen, has stepped forward and Yi Zhonghai's lies about taking care of the deaf old lady have been exposed, everyone has publicly voted to remove Yi Zhonghai from his position as manager. Some people have taken the opportunity to add insult to injury and deliberately spread the scandalous deeds that Yi Zhonghai had done. This is not just the credit of Xu Fugui, but people like Fang Dahu have also spontaneously participated in it. As soon as people got to work this morning, the scandal about Yi Zhonghai had quickly spread to all workshops and departments of the Red Star Steel Mill.

Listening to the vivid descriptions of these kitchen helpers, people who are not in the know might really think that they have all experienced it personally.

In just a short while, Courtyard No. 95, which had already become notorious because of Liu Haizhong, the manager, has now become a gathering place for demons and monsters in the eyes of the public.

You can't blame people for thinking this way. First, the second uncle in charge brought people to smash the homes of the deputy director of the Dongcheng Branch and the director of the Security Department of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill for no reason. Then, a few days later, it was revealed that the third uncle in charge, Yan Bugui, deliberately concealed his identity. The son of Yan Wenzhai, a reactionary capitalist who committed heinous crimes, could actually become the third uncle in charge of the courtyard house No. 95.

As Yan Bugui came back from school early every day and blocked the gate of the courtyard, demanding various items from the neighbors living in the courtyard, and even requiring pickled vegetables by the number of strands at home, people were shocked when they heard about it. If Yan Bugui had done something like this in other slums, he would have been beaten to a pulp. After all, no one's money comes from the wind, but is earned through hard work. Why should you, Yan Bugui, take advantage of the things that they bought with their hard-earned money?

Especially when they heard that the police from Jiaodaokou Police Station had found so much gold and more than 4,000 yuan in cash from Yan Bugui's home this morning, everyone cursed. However, after countless people relayed the news, the amount of gold found in Yan Bugui's home quickly increased several times, and even the cash became 10,000 or 20,000 yuan.

The scandalous deeds done by Yi Zhonghai, the manager of Courtyard No. 95, attracted the attention of many onlookers.

After all, Yan Bugui was a teacher at Hongxing Primary School, and few people in the steel mill knew him. Moreover, the seized property had already been taken away by the Jiaodaokou Police Station and had nothing to do with everyone directly. But Yi Zhonghai was different. He worked in the fitter workshop of the Hongxing Steel Mill, and many people even knew him, especially the kitchen helpers who often saw Yi Zhonghai coming to see He Daqing, the deputy director of the canteen.

The most important thing is that what Yi Zhonghai did was despised by almost everyone. Some old workers in the fitter workshop have already scolded Yi Zhonghai for being shameless. The reason is very simple. Those old workers know very well that when Jia Fugui was still alive, he could almost be regarded as Yi Zhonghai's master. At that time, Yi Zhonghai proposed to worship Jia Fugui as his master, but Lao Jia felt that the age difference between them was not much, so he did not agree. However, Lao Jia still taught Yi Zhonghai the fitter technology without reservation, otherwise he would not have been promoted to an intermediate technician so quickly.

Therefore, although Yi Zhonghai and Jia Fugui were not master and apprentice in name, they were master and apprentice in reality. After Jia Fugui died of a work-related injury, Yi Zhonghai should have taken care of Jia's widow and son. After all, Jia's widow, Jia Zhang, was also half of Yi Zhonghai's master's wife.

But after Old Jia passed away, Yi Zhonghai actually disregarded propriety and had an affair with Jia Zhang. How could this not make the old masters hate him?

Yi Zhonghai now has no idea that he has been banned by several senior technicians in the factory. From now on, he is not allowed to ask those eighth- and seventh-level technicians for technical advice. Even the junior technicians have been given a death order by their masters that if they dare to associate with Yi Zhonghai, they will be expelled immediately.

It is precisely because of the orders of those senior technicians that Yi Zhonghai has now become a lonely man in the fitter workshop, and even the temporary workers avoid him.

These helpers in the canteen kitchen would not pay attention to the changes in the locksmith workshop. They were happily chatting about Yi Zhonghai, the new celebrity in the steel rolling mill. Especially when they talked about Yi Zhonghai having an affair with the mother of their apprentice, the old ladies unscrupulously used their imaginations, and all kinds of straightforward words made the boys working next to them blush.

No one noticed that among the group of people chatting, there was a woman in her early thirties with a complicated expression. Except for a few words when others asked her about something, she kept her head down and worked slowly the rest of the time.

This woman was none other than the White Widow from Baoding. Although she was wearing a loose blue work suit, her graceful figure could not be concealed. Especially her pretty face that could make her look happy or angry, attracted several middle-aged helpers around her to secretly glance at her with passionate eyes from time to time.

Although the looks in those boys' eyes were very obscure, they could not escape the attention of White Widow at all. However, she looked down upon these young boys who had nothing. Her target was a capable person who could help her raise her three sons, such as He Daqing, who had both skills and financial resources.

Although Widow Bai used a little trick to make He Daqing fall in love with her, every time she urged him to fulfill his promise and go back to Baoding with her, He Daqing always hesitated and made excuses, obviously he did not intend to fulfill his promise.

After Yi Zhonghai left that evening, Widow Bai immediately went to her cousin Liu Dali's house. She had never hidden her relationship with He Daqing from her cousin. At that time, Liu Dali praised his cousin's vision. To be honest, with He Daqing's conditions, it would not be a problem for him to marry a country girl.