The Fitter Master in the Courtyard: Surrounded by Dead Men

Jia Dongxu chuckled and walked towards the door with the bucket in his hand.

As he passed Yang Ping, he paused for a moment and lowered his voice, saying, "Someone saw him coming out of your workshop yesterday, his eyes were as red as a rabbit's."

After saying this, he stepped out the door without looking back, leaving a trail of blurry footprints on the damp cement floor with the soles of his rubber shoes.

Yang Ping stood there watching the footprints gradually fade away.

A draft of early winter air blew in through the entrance to the public restroom, causing the sign on the wall that read "Practice Hygiene, Eliminate the Four Pests" to flutter.

The promotional posters rustled loudly.

He folded the handkerchief, put it back in his pocket, straightened his collar, and walked out of the restroom.

As darkness fell, the windows of the row of bungalows at the west end of the courtyard began to glow with a dim, yellow light.

Yang Ping carried the net bag home, the cabbage leaves inside swaying gently with each step.

As he passed the boiler room, he glanced to the side—there were vague figures moving behind the windowpane, which quickly disappeared into the darkness.

The door was ajar, and the iron pot on the stove was still steaming.

Yang Ping placed the dishes on the table and took off his coat, hanging it behind the door.

The sound of a radio playing opera drifted from the inner room; it was Lu Shuitian's favorite piece, "Farewell My Concubine."

He lifted the lid and looked inside. The cornmeal porridge had thickened and a thin film had formed on the surface.

"You're back?"

Lu Shuitian strolled out of the inner room carrying an enamel mug with tea stalks floating on its rim. "Xie Quancai came looking for you earlier. I told him you went to buy groceries."

Yang Ping scooped up a ladle of water and poured it into the basin: "What is it?"

"He didn't say."

Lu Shuitian took a sip of tea, leaned against the doorframe, and sized him up. "Have you been going to the logistics department a lot these past few days?"

"There's something going on with the MCA."

Yang Ping wrung out a towel and wiped her face, the steam blurring the mirror.

Lü Shuitian: "Oh."

He uttered a sound and didn't ask any further questions.

On the radio, Yu Ji was singing, "The Han army has seized the land, and the songs of Chu are heard on all sides."

The mournful, drawn-out melody lingered in the cramped kitchen.

Yang Ping hung up the towel when she suddenly heard a muffled thud outside the courtyard wall, like a heavy object hitting the ground, followed by Xu Damao's cursing voice:

"Who the hell put the slop bucket here?!"

Lu Shuitian chuckled and, carrying his teacup, swaggered to the window to look outside.

Yang Ping didn't move. She bent down and broke off the cabbage leaves one by one. The tender yellow cabbage hearts glistened with moisture under the light.

The noise in the courtyard gradually grew louder, mixed with women's attempts to persuade and children's crying.

When he broke off the third leaf, he heard Xu Damao shout at the top of his lungs:

"Jia Dongxu! Was this your doing?!"

The fingers that were breaking off the vegetable leaves paused for a moment.

Yang Ping looked up and saw Xu Damao standing under the streetlight, his trousers soaking wet, with an overturned tin bucket at his feet, stinking swill spilling all over the ground.

Jia Dongxu slowly walked over from the direction of the public toilet, still carrying the long-handled brush in his hand.

"I clean the toilets."

Jia Dongxu's voice was unusually calm, "I don't have time for this."

Xu Damao was about to start cursing again when his second uncle, who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, stopped him.

More and more people gathered to watch, and the beams of flashlights swayed and danced in the night.

Yang Ping looked away and soaked the broken cabbage in clean water.

Lu Shuitian was still watching the commotion from the windowsill, the water in his teacup had long since gone cold.

"Xu Damao's new pants are ruined."

Lu Shuitian clicked his tongue and said, "It's from Shanghai. I heard they saved up cloth coupons for half a year."

Yang Ping didn't respond.

He drained the washed cabbage, and with each swift stroke of his knife, a steady, rhythmic thud echoed on the cutting board.

The opera on the radio has finished, and they're broadcasting tomorrow's weather forecast.

The noise outside the window gradually subsided, leaving only the loud voice of the second uncle trying to smooth things over:

"Alright, alright, everyone, that's enough! We have to go to work tomorrow!"

Lu Shuitian left the window, still wanting more, and refilled the teacup with hot water.

Yang Ping pushed the chopped cabbage into a pile, then turned to the cupboard to get a soy sauce bottle.

The moment the cabinet door opened, he saw the pack of Peony brand cigarettes on the innermost shelf—Ma Hua had secretly given it to him last week, saying it was a gift from a relative back home.

"Oh, right."

Lu Shuitian suddenly spoke up, "The factory is going to evaluate outstanding employees next month, and Xie Quancai submitted your name."

Yang Ping's hand, which was holding the soy sauce bottle, froze in mid-air.

The label on the bottle was curled up at one corner, revealing the dark yellow glass underneath.

"Did Xie Quancai say that?"

"Yes, he came to deliver some materials this afternoon and mentioned it casually."

Lu Shuitian blew away the tea leaves floating on the water and said, "I told you you could definitely do it. Your workshop has had the lowest defect rate in the last six months."

Yang Ping slowly took out the soy sauce bottle, and the cabinet door made a slight clinking sound as it closed.

One of the streetlights outside the window suddenly went out, plunging the eastern half of the courtyard into darkness.

Xu Damao's cursing could no longer be heard; only the sound of a child crying could be heard, the cries intermittent, like cotton wool torn apart by the night wind.

The coal stove on the stove made a slight crackling sound, and blue flames licked the bottom of the pot.

Yang Ping poured some oil into the pot, and after the oil was hot, he poured in the cabbage. With a sizzle, white smoke with a sweet aroma rose up.

Lu Shuitian carried the teacup back to the inner room, and turned the radio back on; this time it was the evening news.

The cabbage gradually softened in the pot, and clear juice seeped out.

Yang Ping sprinkled some salt and then drizzled on some soy sauce.

The dark brown liquid spread along the veins of the vegetable leaves, like some kind of slowly growing root system.

He was stirring the food with a spatula when he suddenly remembered the bowl that Ma Hua had broken in the kitchen that afternoon—a celadon bowl with a lotus flower on the bottom. He wondered what kind of sound it must have made when it broke.

The cabbage in the pot was already overcooked and lay limply at the bottom.

Yang Ping turned off the stove and put the dishes into an enamel plate.

The last streetlamp outside the window went out, and the entire courtyard sank into inky darkness. Only the windows of each house were still lit, one by one, like paper lanterns floating on a sea of ​​night.

When he brought the dishes into the house, Lü Shuitian had already set out the bowls and chopsticks.

The corn porridge was served in a large, rough porcelain bowl, steaming gently.

The two sat down facing each other, and neither of them mentioned the commendation, nor Xu Damao's soaked pants, nor Ma Hua's eyes which were as red as a rabbit's.

The chopsticks clinked against the rim of the bowl, making a crisp sound. In the quiet night, one sound after another, so rhythmic it was unsettling.

The news broadcast ended, and the radio started playing ** songs.

Lu Shuitian hummed along for a couple of minutes, then suddenly said, "I'll get up early tomorrow and go to the grain station to see if they have any new rice."

Yang Ping: "Hmm"

He made a sound and picked up a piece of cabbage with his chopsticks.

The vegetable leaves were cooked so soft that they practically melted on the tongue without needing to be chewed, leaving only the saltiness of the soy sauce and a faint hint of bitterness.

Stepping inside, they didn't see Jia Dongxu, but instead bumped into Sha Zhu.

Yang Ping was stunned for a moment—shouldn't this silly Zhu be punished by sweeping the floor in the courtyard? Why did he wander into the toilet?

"Silly Zhu, you've finished sweeping the courtyard? What are you doing here?"

Yang Ping stared at the deeply wrinkled face of a man in his forties and confirmed in his heart: it was indeed Sha Zhu.

Otherwise, he would almost have thought that Qin Huairu's "front" was...

And "behind"

Men, as they live their lives, eventually become the same way.

Sha Zhu, with a dark expression, didn't say a word, just kept his head down scrubbing the floor, his whole being screaming "Leave me alone."

.

Yang Ping smiled, didn't ask any further questions, and turned to relieve himself.

Just as he was about to leave, a loud, cheerful laugh burst in from outside. Xu Damao strode in, his eyes lighting up:

"Hey! Silly Zhu, you're really cleaning the toilets here!"

He was so happy his eyebrows almost flew off.

Sha Zhu kept brushing, but his cheeks were tense, and anger was burning in his chest.

"Hahaha!"

Seeing his expression, Xu Damao chuckled even more, deliberately pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, looking around in a serious manner:

"This part isn't clean enough; there are still stains on the edges. We need to work harder."

"Work hard, and tomorrow I'll ask an old man to appoint you 'Toilet Chief,' so you can deal with this place for the rest of your life!"

"You little brat, are you asking for a beating?"

Sha Zhu suddenly slammed down the brush, his eyes wide with shock.

"Hey, what's the rush!"

Xu Damao was prepared, and while joking, he backed towards the door, saying, "I'm doing this for your own good. From now on, you'll be in charge of this toilet—"

Before he could finish speaking, Sha Zhu had already grabbed the wet brush and pounced on him.

Xu Damao turned around and ran away in a flash, his laughter still echoing in the corridor.

Sha Zhu stopped sweeping and stood up straight.

"Silly Zhu, sweep carefully! Grandpa's coming to check later!"

Xu Damao's sharp, sarcastic voice drifted in from outside again.

Sha Zhu felt a surge of anger rush to his head, and he threw down his things and rushed outside.

Xu Damao had long since disappeared, only peeking out half his head at the far end of the alley, waving it around with a grin.

Sha Zhu chased after it for a few steps, but seeing that he couldn't reach it, he had no choice but to suppress his anger, turn around and go back to the smelly place to continue wielding the broom.

The punishment was a done deal. Liu Haizhong would be coming to inspect it later, and he didn't want that old guy to find any faults and cause any more trouble.

Seeing this, Yang Ping couldn't help but smile.

Xu Damao is a really despicable guy.

He didn't linger; he pushed off with his foot and rode his bicycle towards the compound.

Xu Damao emerged from another narrow alley and saw that Shazhu had already retreated back into the public toilet. He then swaggered over and teased him from a distance, yelling at him.

Yang Ping figured that if Xu Damao kept provoking him like this, he would eventually be caught by Sha Zhu and get a good beating.

Back in the compound, as soon as I entered the middle courtyard, I saw Jia Dongxu holding a large broom, idly sweeping the ground.

This situation also confirmed Yang Ping's previous guess—the punishments for the two had indeed been switched.

It's highly likely that Yi Zhonghai pulled strings behind the scenes to bring about this change.

As for Qin Huairu, ever since she was slapped by Jia Dongxu last time, she has rarely shown her face in the courtyard, probably because she is worried that if she runs into Sha Zhu, the scene will be embarrassing.

Yi Zhonghai's choice of Jia Dongxu as his "retirement" option.

The promising talents were given some credit, so they were assigned to do light work in the yard; as for Sha Zhu, the substitute, he was not so important and was simply sent to clean the toilets.

Yang Ping pretended not to see it and pushed the cart straight to the backyard.

"snort!"

Jia Dongxu caught sight of him, and let out a loud snort, full of undisguised resentment.

If it weren't for Yang Ping, how could he have ended up in such a state? It's just that there's nothing he can do about Yang Ping right now, otherwise he would have pounced on him long ago.

Xu Damao wandered back to the public restroom area, maintaining a safe distance, still hurling insults at her.

This time he learned his lesson and refused to step inside that door again, fearing that the silly cat might ambush him from the shadows.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, two thick hands suddenly grabbed his arms from behind, restraining him firmly like a prisoner being escorted, making him unable to move.

"That's the guy I was peeping at in the public restroom last time!"

A woman pointed at Xu Damao, her tone resolute.

Xu Damao looked up and saw the other person's face clearly. His face turned pale instantly. Wasn't this the woman who had run into him while he was using the toilet when he broke into the women's restroom to look for Lou Xiao'e?

"You little brat, stop right there!"

Sha Zhu rushed out of the public toilet carrying a toilet brush, only to find Xu Damao already being held captive by the crowd, and he stood there stunned.

The situation before him was truly baffling.

"You know this shameless person?"

The woman turned her head and asked Sha Zhu.

"I know him... no! I don't know him!"

Sha Zhu blurted out, then hurriedly corrected himself, raising the brush in his hand to explain, "I'm just a toilet cleaner, I don't know him at all."

No matter how he tried to explain, the woman had already seen through their relationship. "That little scoundrel peeped at me while I was using the toilet. Take me to their compound; I need to find his parents and demand an explanation."

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu grinned and said, "Alright, I'll lead the way right away."

Thinking of Xu Damao's arrogant demeanor just now, and how he was about to lose face in front of the entire hospital, Sha Zhu felt a surge of pleasure.

"No! Please, please don't go!"

Xu Damao struggled and pleaded, his voice trembling.