Courtyard House: Home Alone

So he turned and left the Japanese military court, ran outside, exited Tieshizi Hutong, hailed a rickshaw, and hurried home.

When Lin Yifan returned to Nanluoguxiang, the gate of the courtyard house was already closed. He paid the fare, walked to the door and knocked a few times. He heard hurried footsteps coming from inside.

With a thought, Lin Yifan took out ten catties of pork, five catties of eggs and thirty catties of cornmeal from his spatial storage, put them in two small cloth bags and carried them in his hands.

Then, Grandpa Zhang's voice came from inside: "Who is it?"

Lin Yifan lowered his voice, trying to make it sound as calm as possible: "Uncle Zhang, it's me, Yifan."

The footsteps inside paused for a moment, then came Grandpa Zhang's voice, tinged with surprise and confusion: "Yifan? It's so late, why are you back? Come in, come in!"

With a creak, the heavy wooden door was pulled open a crack, and Grandpa Zhang's wrinkled face appeared behind the door. In the dim light, he carefully examined Lin Yifan. Seeing that there were no obvious wounds on his body, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly opened the door completely, stepping aside to let him in.

"It's not safe outside, kid. Why did you choose this time to come back?" Old Zhang asked, his voice full of concern, as he closed the door for him. "Have you had dinner yet? Should I ask your aunt to make you something?"

As Lin Yifan stepped into the courtyard, a familiar, warm, and homey atmosphere enveloped him, allowing his tense nerves, which had been on edge all day, to relax slightly.

"Grandpa, food is scarce right now, so I won't trouble you, Auntie. I brought it with me; I'll just cook something myself when I get back," he replied with a smile. "I'm just coming back to pick up some things and stay at home for a few days."

Grandpa Zhang said in a reproachful tone, "What are you going to do? What can a child like you do? There's still food at home, you won't go hungry. Just ask your aunt to make you something."

Lin Yifan knew he couldn't refuse, so he smiled and said, "Alright then, thank you for your trouble, Auntie. Here, sir, this is the grain and meat I brought back. My master gave it to me, so please let Auntie cook it with me." He handed over the cloth bag in his hand.

When Grandpa Zhang saw the pork and eggs in the bag, his eyes lit up for a moment, but then he put on a stern face and said, "You child, how many times have I told you not to bring anything back! Your master gave it to you, keep it for yourself."

These days, these things are so precious! He said, but his hands honestly took them, weighed them in his hand, and couldn't help but smile.

"However... your aunt has been saying she wants to eat some meat for days. Since it's from your master, I'll accept it without hesitation. Come on, let's go inside and talk. Your aunt isn't asleep yet."

After saying that, she picked up the cloth bag and led Lin Yifan towards the main house. Just as they reached the eaves, they heard Aunt Zhang's voice from inside: "Old man, who is it so late?"

"Who else could it be? Yifan is back!" Grandpa Zhang called out and pushed open the door.

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Aunt Zhang was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) sewing shoe soles. Seeing Lin Yifan enter, she quickly put down her work and greeted him with a warm smile: "Oh, Yifan's back! Come on, sit on the kang, it must be freezing outside!"

Lin Yifan smiled and called out "Auntie" before sitting down on a stool by the kang (a heated brick bed).

Aunt Zhang looked him up and down, her eyes full of pity: "Look at you, child, you've gotten even thinner. You must have suffered a lot working with your master out there, right?"

"No, Auntie, Master has been very good to me," Lin Yifan quickly replied. "I came back this time to stay at home for a few days and keep you and Uncle company."

"Stay, of course you have to stay! Your aunt cleans the house in the backyard every few days!" After a pause, Grandpa Zhang leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying, "Xiao Fan, do you know that after you left that day, Jia Gui from the middle courtyard was killed at Tang Er Gou's house?"

I heard that it caused quite a stir at the time, and many police officers came, but in the end they couldn't find out the truth.

Also, during the day today, that skinflint Li (Li San Gou) from the police station was murdered in front of the station.

"Besides, something big happened in Tieshizi Hutong too. I heard... I heard even Wang Defa, the commander of that fake Seventh Division, was killed! Isn't that weird?"

As Grandpa Zhang finished speaking, his eyes widened, and his tone carried a mixture of lingering fear and inexplicable excitement.

Aunt Zhang quickly tugged at his arm, signaling him to lower his voice: "Old man, what nonsense are you spouting! Is this something we should be discussing? Be careful what you say!"

Old Zhang retorted, "What's there to be afraid of! We're talking behind closed doors, there are no outsiders here! Besides, this is a truly gratifying thing! Those traitors and Japanese devils deserve to be taught a lesson long ago!"

He looked at Lin Yifan, his eyes searching, "Yifan, do you think this could be... done by that legendary 'ghost'?"

Lin Yifan nodded, thinking to himself, "The news from the first two places has already spread, but you don't know about the Japanese military law office yet. When you find out, you'll be even more surprised."

He laughed and said, "Uncle Zhang, that should be true! No one else has the ability or the guts. But there are still a lot of Japanese devils and traitors hiding in Beiping. We'll have to kill them all before things will calm down."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhang slapped his thigh and exclaimed excitedly, "That's right! We must kill all these beasts! That 'ghost' is truly a great hero of Beiping! I wish I could see him in person!"

Aunt Zhang gave him a reproachful look: "Alright, alright, don't say such nonsense in front of the child. Yifan just got back, he must be tired from the journey. I'll go heat up some food for him."

As she spoke, she picked up the cloth bag that Grandpa Zhang had placed on the kang table. "Oh, Yifan brought back so much meat and eggs! Old man, go wash those cabbage stalks. Tonight we'll make Yifan a pork and cabbage stew with vermicelli, and add two poached eggs!"

Grandpa Zhang chuckled and replied, "Okay! Sure!"

Watching their busy figures, Lin Yifan felt a surge of warmth in his heart. In these turbulent times, such simple care was especially precious.

He quickly said, "Auntie, thank you for your trouble. Uncle Zhang, I'll go check on Zhu Zi in the middle courtyard first. He hasn't been back for a few days; I wonder if he's been practicing his skills as I instructed?"

"Go on, go on, Zhu Zi has been talking about you several times these past few days. He said if you don't come back soon, he'll almost forget the new set of boxing he just learned."

As he agreed, Grandpa Zhang picked up the vegetable basket from the corner of the wall, turned around and walked towards the kitchen, his steps lighter than usual.

Lin Yifan smiled and nodded, then got up and walked towards the central courtyard. Passing through the hanging flower gate, he saw that the oil lamp in He Yuzhu's house in the central courtyard was still lit. He went to the door and gently knocked twice.