Siheyuan: From Being Called Shazhu

After He Daqing and He Yuzhu walked away, the old man told the young soldier beside him:

"Go, find out the information about the father and son just now, and give it to me before breakfast tomorrow."

The little soldier looked embarrassed.

"Old leader..."

Before the young soldier could finish his words, the old man exploded again.

"You are old, not me. Besides, I am no longer the regiment commander. Now I have even been demoted to company commander. Now I am just a quartermaster in charge of logistics."

"Yes, yes, Chief Steward, you are right."

The young soldier had no choice but to nod in agreement. Then he changed the subject and made a teasing remark.

"Old captain, you accept him as your apprentice without even knowing his situation."

This time the old man didn't get angry, instead he looked like an accomplished person.

"What do you know? I'm not accepting him as my apprentice. He's from a hardworking family. And I can see that he's been around a lot since he was a kid. He's even learned from a master. He calls me Master, but that's just a polite way of saying it."

Now, the little soldier was puzzled.

"Then old captain, you are not recruiting disciples, so why are you investigating them? Besides, you want it tomorrow morning, the time is too tight! We have less than a regiment of people coming in now, and our company has even fewer people, only about 100, and they are all scattered. We are short of manpower."

"You are stupid. We will have to take over this area in a few days. Wouldn't it be helpful for us to find a few local residents who know the situation well to help us understand the situation? Moreover, that guy is good at speaking and writing, which can reduce a lot of our workload. Besides, when we take over, wouldn't it be helpful for us to promote a few examples first? And what could be more suitable than promoting women and children?"

Listening to the old man's explanation, the young soldier nodded and agreed at the right time.

"That's right. I think the old leader has already gotten most of the information about that kid. Even his father has shown up. We just need to verify it. It's much easier than screening most of the people."

Then, the little soldier began to feel conflicted and confused again.

"But old captain, you just said that the father and son are gangsters. You accepted them in to ask for their help, and you also want to promote them as an example. Isn't it a bit... a bit..."

"Oh~~~"

Faced with the young soldier's question, the old man first sighed, then slowly shook his head.

"Once you enter the martial arts world, you are all miserable."

Then he looked at the little soldier with a complicated expression.

"Not all Jianghu people are bad. Just like the father and son just now, you can say they are both Jianghu people because they are both hardworking cooks. But, can you say that cooks are bad people? That's why I asked you to investigate and verify. Some things cannot be hidden. Once the investigation results come out, you will know."

"Yes, old captain, I understand."

The young soldier agreed and prepared to start the investigation.

But I didn't expect that the old man hadn't finished speaking yet.

"Not only that, I could sense that the boy just now was on our side."

Speaking of this, the old man's eyes became profound.

"Besides, that kid has a smooth sense of having experienced a lot. When we take over this area, with that kid here, he might be able to help us solve a lot of problems. Most importantly, this kid has learned martial arts, and he is pretty good at it."

Having said that, the old man looked at the young soldier with a serious expression.

"You have to remember that whether we are praising role models or looking for helpers, the premise is to ensure the personal safety of the people. You can see that the world is so chaotic now, and there may be some rats left behind, and you never know when those hidden rats will come out and jump around. If those rats jump around and hurt the people who help them, that's not what we want."

"Well, the old leader is right."

After hearing what the old man said, the young soldier also reacted.

"Okay, let's find someone to verify it. You also know the information about the father and son just now, so hurry up."

"Yes, I'll check it out right away."

The old man waved his hand and let the young soldier get busy.

After the young soldier left, the old man murmured to himself:

"Jianghu, ah, Jianghu."

After saying that, the old man took out his pipe, lit a bag for himself, and smoked quietly, not knowing what he was thinking.

In fact, not only the old man was scheming, but He Yuzhu was also scheming.

You don't think He Yuzhu is really a fool, who goes to the street to chat with people for no reason, do you?

Yes, what He Yuzhu talked about with the old man at the beginning might have been because He Yuzhu had been holding it in for a long time and he was finally able to speak freely, moreover, he was talking to a fellow native from Northeast China.

But when He Yuzhu noticed that other soldiers around him were paying attention to the old man intentionally or unintentionally, He Yuzhu guessed that the old man's identity was not simple.

The following things, such as revealing his teacher, listening, speaking, reading and writing, and even his family situation, were all gambles made by He Yuzhu.

He was betting that according to our army's usual practice, the vanguard troops would stay and garrison.

In other words, he was betting that the old man would stay and work for the Military Control Office.

At the same time, he was also betting that the old man would be more considerate in the future.

As for the consequences of losing the bet, it is nothing more than wasting time for a few days, or at most half a month. However, isn't that still earning food for your living?

But once both bets are won, the rewards are enormous.

Let alone whether I can really become the apprentice of this extraordinary old man.

For example, the things that He Yuzhu has revealed, which can be considered "skills" in this era, can also allow He Yuzhu to establish a relationship with the old man, and even be arranged a job by the old man.

Then why didn’t He Yuzhu go to gamble?

In fact, these were all learned by He Yuzhu when he was punished for crimes in later life.

When he was first convicted, He Yuzhu was still young and thought that it was the new century and the Olympic year, so all kinds of chaos would not occur in the trading floor.

Even if there were, no one would touch me after I killed four and seriously injured three.

But as the old saying goes, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes.

It is obvious that the underworld in the trading room is even more complicated.

Three months, just three months made He Yuzhu grow up.

I also understand what it means to take advantage of the situation and what it means to stand in line.

This allowed He Yuzhu to live a fulfilling life in the trading floor in the next few years.

And now, He Yuzhu is not only taking sides, but also taking advantage of the situation.

All of this was He Yuzhu's preparation for He Daqing's escape two years later as per the plot.

He didn't know if he could find out why He Daqing ran away before he did, and then keep He Daqing like in some novels.

So he had to prepare for the worst case scenario, that is, he did not keep He Daqing, and He Daqing still left him and his sister behind and ran away after two years, and then the neighbors in the yard would all be bad neighbors.

If He Daqing ran away, leaving He Yuzhu alone would be fine.

If you don't study well, you can just join the army and leave.

Anyway, if I go to the 38th parallel and die there, it won’t be a wasted trip.

If I'm not dead, then I won't have to worry about anything when I come back.

But He Daqing also left a younger sister for himself.

You know, in this day and age, there are many people who rely on their family members and orphans for food.

Don't say anyone will take care of it.

In this turbulent era, if someone is killed, let's not talk about whether the murderer can be caught. Let's say that everyone in a compound gives a consistent confession and says that the person died of illness, committed suicide, or was burned. Then the question is, who can find evidence?

Besides, let’s not talk about this for now.

Take the people in the courtyard for example.

According to the plot, Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong in the hospital are at level eight and level seven respectively, so they must have some face in the factory.

They might just say hello to the factory leaders, but He Yuzhu would have to be prepared to fight to the death.

After all, He Yuzhu didn't think that his clever tricks could fool those who had experienced thirty or forty years of turmoil.

However, this presents a problem.

That means He Yuzhu really wanted to kill people, and there would definitely be casualties.

He Yuzhu is not bragging. If you give him a knife and a door, he can stand in the door and chop the man until he has no strength left.

But the result?

Yes, these people would be stunned at that time.

However, if there are casualties, He Yuzhu will be arrested.

Let’s not talk about whether the laws of this era will rule that He Yuzhu acted in self-defense.

Even if He Yuzhu is judged to have acted in self-defense.

However, there is a period of time from being caught to being sentenced.

Taking advantage of this period of time, these people can take revenge on their sister. They don't have to kill He Yushui. Even if they cause He Yushui some irreversible harm, He Yuzhu will regret it deeply.

This is also the reason why He Yuzhu always calls the old man "Master" and even shouts "Master" so loudly in front of a bunch of neighbors in the alley when he is leaving.

Isn't it just to let the people in the courtyard know that he has a master through the neighbors in the alley?

You have to know that in this era, it is still at the stage of "once a teacher, always a father", which means that the master is not an outsider.

In other words, if He Daqing really runs away one day, the people in the courtyard may not take action because they are afraid that He Yuzhu has a master.

Even at that time, the old man might not still stay in Peking.

However, delaying the time for those people to take action would give He Yuzhu time to find a solution, and would not leave him at a loss when the time comes.

Don’t say that He Yuzhu has a dark heart and always thinks the worst of everything.

You have to know that human heart is the thing that cannot stand scrutiny.

Since some fan fictions have written about eating out the whole family, occupying houses, demanding money and jobs, it means that there are some people who really think this way.

After all, there is a saying that reality is often stranger than fiction.

What's more, He Yuzhu had witnessed many dark things in the trading houses of later generations.

Think of ways to deal with the worst-case scenario first. Isn't this what our ancestors taught us: "Predict defeat before talking about victory?"

Moreover, He Yuzhu is just taking precautions now.

If this happened to He Yuzhu in the future, he would probably not even think about it and would just use the knife to eliminate the source of danger first.