Courtyard House: New Life, New Silly Zhu

Seeing Xu Xiaoling's anxious expression, He Yuzhu quickly got up.

"What's wrong, Xiaoling? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Brother Zhu, my brother went out this afternoon and hasn't come back yet."

Upon hearing that Xu Damao had not returned, He Yuzhu was immediately relieved and comforted Xu Xiaoling.

"Xiaoling, don't worry. Your brother is a grown man. How could he possibly get lost? Besides, he's always fine when we go to the countryside to show movies. How could he possibly get into trouble in the city?"

At this moment, He Yushui also stood up and pulled Xu Xiaoling towards the dining table.

"Yeah, Xiaoling, how could your brother, a grown man, get into an accident? It's alright. You haven't eaten yet, have you? Come and eat something with us."

"No need, I can cook for myself. I wouldn't be worried under normal circumstances, but this morning my brother went out and bought braised vegetables for the whole family to eat tonight, and he also bought a bottle of wine for the house. So I'm sure my brother wouldn't be out having fun and forgetting the time." Xu Xiaoling's face was full of worry, especially her parents.

Today is Sunday, and the movie theater is very busy; I don't know when she'll be back. Her mother, on the other hand, is the Lou family's nanny; she only comes home when the Lou family is off work.

Now that her brother is missing, she doesn't know what to do, so she has no choice but to come to the He family.

Hearing Xu Xiaoling say this, He Yuzhu also looked at the sky and realized that it was indeed quite late. In summer, the days are long, and it was already getting dark, so it must have been around 7 o'clock.

Thinking about it this way, Xu Damao probably really had run into trouble. In addition, he had almost finished eating by this time, so he said, "Alright, I'll go see what's going on. Xiaoling, your brother won't be found for a while, so you can eat at my house and wait for my news here."

Xu Xiaoling nodded gratefully when she heard He Yuzhu, who was at odds with her brother, agree to find someone.

"Thank you, Brother Zhu. By the way, Brother Zhu, my brother's bicycle is still at home. Why don't you ride your bicycle to find it?" With that, Xu Xiaoling got up and went back home, pushing out her brother's old bicycle.

When He Yuzhu pushed the car to the front yard, a large group of neighbors were enjoying the cool air and playing chess. Seeing He Yuzhu like this, Yi Zhonghai asked him what was wrong.

"Zhu Zi, where are you going pushing your bicycle so late at night?"

"Uncle, I have to go out on something. Xu Damao hasn't come back yet, so I'm going out to look for him," He Yuzhu explained.

Yi Zhonghai nodded when he heard that they were going to see Xu Damao. He might have been nervous if it were a child, since there were still many human traffickers in Beijing.

However, Xu Damao was still a resident of the courtyard, so he said, "Then go ahead, Zhuzi. I don't know if he went to the factory to play. When you get there, go and look around. If you really can't find him, come back and tell us, and we'll all go out and look for him together."

He Yuzhu nodded. If he really couldn't find it after going out, he would probably have to look for the residents inside the courtyard.

In those days, there weren't many surveillance cameras to track people down. To put it bluntly, even if there were cameras everywhere in later generations, finding someone wouldn't always be that easy.

However, Yan Bugui watched with curiosity as He Yuzhu pushed his bicycle out of the compound. He followed behind, watching He Yuzhu lift the bicycle out of the gate.

Curious, they watched how He Yuzhu was going to get on the bicycle. Everyone in the compound except for Xu Damao didn't own a bicycle.

He Yuzhu didn't know either, and he didn't know how he was going to get on.

Under Yan Bugui's astonished gaze, He Yuzhu pushed the bike, one foot pushing and the other on the pedal. After a few steps, He Yuzhu swept his right leg across the crossbeam, stepped onto the pedal, and wobbled towards the steel mill.

"Hey, I didn't expect that besides learning his cooking skills, this cook also learned to ride a bicycle at some point." Yan Bugui shook his head with a smile and went back to playing chess.

Yan Bugui wasn't surprised that He Yuzhu knew how to ride a bicycle. After all, learning to ride a bicycle was quite trendy, and many people would seek out someone with a bicycle to learn how to ride.

Even when one of their school's teachers bought a bicycle, many teachers borrowed it to learn how to ride. He couldn't resist borrowing a bicycle himself and learned how to ride it.

I must say, that bicycle is really fun to ride. Not only can you carry things on the back, but you can also travel a long distance on it.

Yan Bugui's mind started to wander, and he was thinking about how to get a bicycle. However, a new bicycle was definitely out of the question, since bicycles were expensive items and he couldn't bear to part with them.

He Yuzhu adapted quickly and soon mastered the bicycle of that era.

In modern times, he also rode a bicycle, but it was a mountain bike, which was slightly different from modern bicycles, but mostly the same, so he mastered it after riding it for a while.

He rode all the way to the security office of the steel rolling mill, which was a key unit with security personnel on duty 24 hours a day.

"Old Zhang, let me ask you something. Xu Damao, the projectionist, did he come to the factory this afternoon?" He Yuzhu asked, taking out a cigarette and offering one to Old Zhang, and also giving one to the others.

"That projectionist, Xu Damao? I'm not too familiar with him. Did any of you see him?"

The others shook their heads. "The projectionist definitely didn't come this afternoon. I was the only one on guard duty outside all afternoon, and no one came at all," one of the security guards said.

Hearing that they hadn't seen it, He Yuzhu nodded, quickly got on his bicycle, said goodbye to the others, and rode towards the back door.

The back gate of the steel rolling mill is the direction leading to the bus station in the TV series. That's where the famous scene from the series, the "bangji" (a popular meme) scene, takes place.

He couldn't get any information about Xu Damao from the security personnel at the back gate either. He Yuzhu knew then that Xu Damao definitely hadn't come here today.

After thinking for a moment, He Yuzhu got on his bicycle and rode towards the movie theater to see if he was out taking some young lady to the movies.

He Yuzhu took a detour and passed by the supply and marketing cooperative, but it was already late and the cooperative was closed.

"Uncle Xu, did you see Xu Damao come over this afternoon?" He Yuzhu asked Xu Damao's father, Xu Fugui, who was at the ticket counter at the entrance of the movie theater as soon as he arrived.

Hearing that the caller was looking for his son, Xu Fugui frowned and asked, "Zhuzi, what's wrong? Why do you want to see him?"

He Yuzhu quickly recounted what Xu Xiaoling had asked him to do, and now Xu Damao's father, Xu Fugui, was also getting a little anxious.

"Da Mao definitely didn't come today. That kid never buys a ticket when he comes to the movie theater. He always sneaks in through the side door. If he came here, I would definitely see him," Xu Fugui said, opening the door as he tried to come out.

"This kid won't do. Zhu Zi, wait for me a minute, I'll go ask for leave, then we'll go look for him together."