I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

Night fell

A pregnant woman walked slowly towards them; from a distance, it was Yu Li, Sha Zhu's wife.

She was seen clutching her protruding belly with one hand and supporting her waist with the other, making every step extremely difficult.

No one noticed that in a corner of the alley filled with clutter, a pair of eyes were staring intently at her.

The owner of those eyes was none other than the long-awaited Bang Geng.

He clutched the cold, hard steel ball in his pocket, his little palms sweaty.

That young face was filled with a complex of inner turmoil and ruthlessness that belied its age.

In his mind, Yu Li was a jinx. If it weren't for her, Sha Zhu would have brought meat to the family every day, and his grandmother wouldn't have been arrested.

His stomach was still rumbling with cravings. Just thinking about the braised pork and stewed ribs that Sha Zhu used to give him made his mouth water. This longing made him hate the person in front of him even more. Even the child in her belly seemed like an eyesore and an unwanted presence.

"It's you, you bad woman!"

Banggeng gritted his teeth and lowered his voice to a whisper: "You won't let Shazhu give me meat, and you even dare to conspire with Zhou Weiguo to harm my grandma! Mother is right, I'm going to kill you, kill the little bastard in your belly! As long as something happens to you, Shazhu will bring me meat again, and grandma will come back! I'll kill you, and see if you still dare to go against our family!" He said, trying to bolster his courage.

He dumped all the steel balls from his pocket onto the bluestone pavement, then stomped on it several times, creating a dense "trap" of steel balls on the path Yu Li had to take.

As Yu Li got closer and closer to the steel balls, Bang Geng hurriedly shrank back into the corner, his back pressed tightly against the cold wall, even his breathing was deliberately slowed down, and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.

Half of it was fear of being discovered; if caught, not only would they not get to eat the meat, but they would also be beaten. The other half was a morbid expectation, hoping that Yu Li would fall hard so that Sha Zhu's meat could be back in their bowl.

"Grandma's right, Sha Zhu should be helping our family. How dare he not give me meat! I'll smash you to death! Smash the little bastard in your belly to death! As long as you're gone, Sha Zhu will give me meat again... You and Zhou Weiguo harmed Grandma, so I'll make you fall flat on your face!"

He stared intently at Yu Li's footsteps, his small hands clenched tightly, his nails digging into his palms.

The sinister look on her face and the barely concealed panic in her eyes created an eerie contrast.

But the next second, Banggeng's eyes widened suddenly, his pupils contracted sharply, and his mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg. He seemed to be nailed to the spot, forgetting even to breathe. Yu Li's steps did not stop at all, and she did not even look down at the ground. She walked steadily and as if on flat ground across the steel ball!

Those slippery steel balls seemed to have taken root under her feet. They couldn't make her slip or even stumble, let alone fall. It was as if the road full of traps was just an ordinary bluestone slab.

"Impossible! How could this happen!"

Bang Geng muttered to himself, his voice filled with disbelief and shock, and a hint of a sob from fright.

Her initial expectations were dashed, and a sense of panic welled up inside her, only to be replaced by overwhelming anger, causing her face to flush bright red.

His plan has completely fallen through! Will he never be able to get meat from Sha Zhu again? Will he never be able to avenge Zhou Weiguo and Yu Li for harming his grandmother?

An unnamed anger surged from his feet to the top of his head in an instant. His stomach was still rumbling with hunger. A mixture of grievance and anger made his nose sting and he almost cried.

At this moment, Banggeng completely lost his composure, and only one thought remained in his naive mind: the steel ball was obviously slippery, Yu Li must have played a trick on him and deliberately messed with him!

Unconvinced, he jogged forward and tried stepping on the steel ball.

As soon as his foot landed, he slipped on the steel ball and stumbled. He hurriedly shook his arm and almost fell, barely managing to regain his balance.

He was even more puzzled and angry: the steel ball was obviously slippery, so why was Yu Li fine when she walked on it? He was not giving up, so he stomped on the steel ball again, but this time he lost his balance and fell flat on his face with a "thud".

A piercing pain shot through his chin, so intense that tears welled up instantly, swirling in his eyes and almost spilling out.

Banggeng scrambled to his feet, his hand brushing against his chin. It stung terribly, and his palms were raw and bleeding from the ground. The excruciating pain made him gasp.

But this pain did not bring him to his senses; instead, it ignited the resentment in his heart.

He blamed all his grievances and anger on Yu Li, and hated Sha Zhu and Zhou Weiguo even more. It was all their fault that he had no meat to eat and that he had fallen so hard!

He wiped the cold sweat and dust from his chin, glaring fiercely at Yu Li, who had already walked away, his eyes almost overflowing with hatred. Although he was still a little scared, the thought of the aroma of braised pork and his grandmother being arrested made his cheeks bulge and his teeth grind loudly.

"You wretched woman! How dare you harm me? I think you did it on purpose!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he didn't bother to brush off the dust from his body or care about the pain in his chin and palms. With his neck stiffened, he charged towards Yu Li like a madman, like a calf that had been provoked.

But just as he reached Yu Li, before his fingertips even touched the hem of her clothes, he felt a blur before his eyes, a "buzz" in his head, and his body went limp, collapsing straight to the ground, completely losing consciousness.

About two minutes later, two piercingly painful screams suddenly rang out from the side alley: "Ah...!!"

...........

Zhou Weiguo simply shrugged, his tone indifferent: "Director Wang, although I'm considered a cadre in the factory, I'm just an ordinary resident in this compound. There are some things I'll have to trouble the comrades from your street office to take care of in the future."

He couldn't be bothered with the petty squabbles and chaotic affairs in the courtyard.

Zhou Weiguo wanted to discipline these people in the compound, which meant the street office needed to "clean up the mess."

Director Wang rolled his eyes helplessly at Zhou Weiguo's detached attitude.

She knew perfectly well that Zhou Weiguo's words were deliberately directed at her; most of the mess that had happened in the courtyard today was related to this man.

But what could she do? Was she going to offend the now-powerful chief engineer of the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill over such trivial matters? In the end, she was just a street office director.

"I understand what Comrade Zhou Weiguo means."

Director Wang suppressed his impatience, gave a perfunctory reply, and then straightened up, eager to turn and leave.

"etc."