Siheyuan, my new life

Yi Zhonghai endured the pain in his back and walked staggeringly on the street. At this moment, he felt mixed emotions. He had always been a man who could calculate others, but today he was taught a lesson by others. Not only did he fail to achieve his expected goal, but he also got himself into trouble.

Although he felt painful for losing 2,600 yuan (he had been cheated of 600 yuan in cash and 2,000 yuan in IOUs by Bai Guafu before), what made him most nervous were the two confessions signed by him. You know, they were almost two time bombs, and who could guarantee that Liu Dali and Bai Guafu would keep their promise?

But a man has to bow his head when he is under someone's roof. Thinking back to what had just happened, Yi Zhonghai had nothing to do but to deal with the present hurdle, except for being furious and helpless. He knew very well that if he could not send the money in time, those two dogs and bitches would definitely go to the police station with the confession letters to report him. If he had been able to make out something in front of the public security officers before, now with those two confessions, jail would surely be waiting for him. Yi Zhonghai was only in his early forties, how could he be willing to give up a good life and suffer in prison?

After thinking it over and over, Yi Zhonghai still had no idea how to break the impasse. Finally, he let out a long sigh and decided to give the money to the two dogs first. It is said that revenge is never too late for a gentleman, and he believed that he would have a chance to take revenge in the future.

After making up his mind, Yi Zhonghai suddenly felt his steps became much lighter. He took a quick look at the surrounding environment and quickly walked towards the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang.

As they walked, they carefully watched the patrolling security guards. Since enemy spies often came out at night to cause trouble, each police station and street office organized young and middle-aged men in their jurisdiction to patrol the streets and alleys at irregular intervals at night, questioning and investigating those who did not return home at night, and taking anyone with suspicious whereabouts back for interrogation.

Yi Zhonghai can't let the patrol find him now, otherwise the scars on his body will be hard to explain.

After a while, Yi Zhonghai had thought it through. Since he had decided to spend money to buy peace, he had to think carefully about how to give them the money.

Yi Zhonghai has never put all his eggs in one basket. The cash he accumulated over the years was divided into two parts. A small half of the cash and the monthly bills were given to his wife Qu Xiuqin for safekeeping to maintain the family's daily expenses, and the rest of the money was hidden by him.

Over the years, Yi Zhonghai has saved nearly two thousand yuan in cash. On the surface, the couple's daily life is very simple. Every day, they eat cornmeal steamed buns and home-cooked dishes such as cabbage and radish. Outsiders rarely see them eat meat.

In fact, the couple's real living standard is relatively high in the entire courtyard. In addition to the things they have on the surface, Yi Zhonghai often secretly buys some cooked food and braised food and brings it back. The couple closes the door and stays at home to improve their meals.

Living in such a large compound, if someone cooks meat, the smell will be unavoidable to the residents. However, due to face, few people are willing to go to other people's homes to eat and drink.

Especially after the implementation of the ticket system, each family was only given a few taels of meat tickets each month. Apart from occasionally buying some meat to improve the diet, most of the money was saved for making dumplings during the New Year and other festivals.

Yi Zhonghai's income was not low. Apart from the money he gave to his wife every month, his biggest expenses were smoking, drinking and occasionally sneaking out to find half-open doors. Later, Qin Huairu added more than ten yuan in expenses every month, so he did not save much cash.

However, it was impossible for Yi Zhonghai to touch the two thousand yuan savings of his wife, as he still had a considerable amount of property.

When Yi Zhonghai and his wife went to live with their relatives in Sijiucheng, they sold their property in Shencheng and exchanged it for a few small yellow croakers and some cash. When they were robbed by three gangsters on the way, Yi Zhonghai, relying on his kung fu, not only killed the three robbers, but also used extremely cruel means to force them to reveal their hidden property.

Yi Zhonghai found seventeen large yellow croakers, more than thirty small yellow croakers, hundreds of silver dollars and eight or nine hundred yuan in legal tender from the three robbers' hideout. However, he did not tell his wife about all the things he had found. He hid all the gold in the secret groove at the bottom of the cart and only said that he had obtained the silver dollars and legal tender.

If nothing unexpected happened, these properties alone would be enough for Yi Zhonghai and his wife to live a rich and good life even in the city. Unfortunately, Yi Zhonghai caught a cold on the way. If it weren't for his wife Qu Xiuqin who braved the wind and snow and walked for a day and a night to find an old Chinese doctor who was good at treating colds, I'm afraid Yi Zhonghai's body would have turned to ashes long ago.

Along the way, he spent a lot of money on treating his cold, and his wife had a miscarriage due to overwork. Yi Zhonghai had to spend money to buy a mule to pull the cart. He didn't dare to stay in the city to recuperate and waste time, because he had learned from the three robbers that there were a total of eight people in their gang. That day, the leader took four brothers to rob a landlord more than 30 miles away, leaving these three guys to guard the hideout. One of them was the leader's younger brother.

Yi Zhonghai was worried that the bandits would chase him, so after he recovered from his cold, he drove away quickly.

After traveling through the country and sleeping all night, they finally arrived at Sijiu City. Yi Zhonghai noticed from afar that the soldiers guarding the city gates were checking very carefully, especially the vehicles. He witnessed with his own eyes that the soldiers found a lot of money from a carriage. They not only confiscated the property, but also arrested the people in the carriage.

Frightened, Yi Zhonghai immediately turned the car around and quickly returned to a deserted village they had passed before. He buried the gold hidden in the secret groove under the cart and all the money he and his wife had under a big tree. Only a hundred yuan of French currency was left on the two of them. The cart and the mule that pulled the cart were also left in a nearby yard. A large pile of hay was prepared for the mule. Then the couple sneaked into the city with a simple gift on their backs.

Yi Zhonghai planned to wait until he found his uncle before leaving the city and trying to get the cart, mule and property into the city.

Unfortunately, when Yi Zhonghai and his wife went to the address given by their uncle, they found that the store had been changed and their uncle's family had left the city and went to the south.

What was particularly unfortunate was that the Japanese had just approached the city of Sijiu, and the army defending the city simply closed all the city gates and prohibited anyone from entering or leaving.

As the city gates were closed, prices in the city soared rapidly. The little French currency that Yi Zhonghai and his wife had was spent in just three days. The couple had no money to stay in the hotel anymore, so they could only hide in the gate hole, hugging each other and shivering.

Fortunately, the next morning, a deaf old lady who went out for a walk found Yi Zhonghai and his wife hiding at the door of her house. After careful questioning, the old lady took them in.