Courtyard House: Ten-year-old Master Zhu reorganizes the entire courtyard

An abandoned brick kiln in the western suburbs of Beiping.

The area is overgrown with weeds, and several chimneys cast shadows in the night.

He Yuzhu skillfully navigated around several pitfalls and arrived at a cave dwelling. Following the agreed-upon rhythm, he gently knocked three times.

A response came from inside the cave dwelling: one long and two short.

A dark figure flashed out; it was Old Chen, the person in charge of the operation.

"Apprentice, you've finally arrived!"

When Old Chen saw He Yuzhu, the scarred man smiled and stepped forward to pat He Yuzhu's shoulder forcefully. Then, realizing that the other person was still a child, he awkwardly withdrew his hand.

"Old Chen, how are the supplies?" He Yuzhu asked bluntly.

"Everything's here, nothing's missing!" Old Chen's tone was filled with excitement. "It's already been handed over to another team of comrades and sent out of the city overnight. This time, we owe it all to you. The intelligence was accurate and the plan was meticulous, especially those two signals, they were simply divine! Otherwise, we would have definitely run into those puppet troops and police."

Inside the cave, three other team members were bandaging their wounds; fortunately, they were all just superficial injuries. Their eyes were filled with surprise and admiration as they looked at He Yuzhu. No one could have imagined that the commander of this perfect operation was such a child who looked shorter than a rifle.

"How's that mole, Li Si, doing?" He Yuzhu was concerned about the final step of the plan.

Mentioning Li Si, Old Chen frowned and shook his head: "Something unexpected happened. According to the original plan, our men would injure him in the chaos and then take him away. But the police arrived too quickly, and the scene was much more chaotic than expected. Our men didn't find an opportunity to strike. He was mistaken for one of our own by the puppet troops and was mixed in with them in the crowd. He's probably still being questioned now."

He Yuzhu's heart sank. Li Si knew too much. Although he didn't know the specific people involved in the operation, he had drawn a map and knew that the contact was Lao Gui's subordinate. If he couldn't withstand the interrogation, the investigation would implicate a large number of people.

"Can he be trusted?" Old Chen also realized the seriousness of the problem.

"It's hard to say." He Yuzhu shook his head. "He's a gambler. People like that are spineless and will do anything to survive."

Old Chen's scarred face twitched. "That's troublesome. The shopkeeper means we have to find a way to get him out, or... shut him up forever."

His last words were delivered with murderous intent.

He Yuzhu fell silent. He disliked indiscriminate killing, and although Li Si was forced to cooperate, he had still helped in some way. But now, for the safety of more comrades, it seemed there was no other choice.

"Don't rush," He Yuzhu calmly analyzed. "The police and the puppet army are currently focused on tracking down the notorious bandits. They are in complete disarray, shifting blame among themselves, so the interrogation won't yield results quickly. Li Si is just a low-ranking sentry and won't be the main focus for now. We still have time."

"So what do you mean?"

"Have Lao Gui's men get ready to silence us at any time. Meanwhile, I'll think of another way." He Yuzhu's eyes flickered.

He said goodbye to Old Chen and, taking advantage of the deepest darkness before dawn, quietly slipped back to his home in Rongxian Hutong.

Everything at home was normal. He Daqing and Chen Lanxiang hadn't slept all night, and their hearts were finally at ease when they saw him return safely.

The next day, the entire city of Beiping was in an uproar.

News of the looting of the puppet security forces' warehouse in the western suburbs by ruthless bandits quickly spread throughout the city. Newspapers embellished the story, claiming the bandits were incredibly fierce, had killed over a dozen puppet soldiers, and stolen a large amount of military supplies. The city was now swarming with heavily armed Japanese soldiers, puppet troops, and police, and checks were ten times stricter than before.

Around noon, Xu Fugui, carrying two roast chickens and still looking shaken, sneaked into He Yuzhu's house.

"Pillar, Pillar! My God, you're amazing!" he shouted in a low voice as soon as he entered the room, his fat face trembling.

He Daqing was chopping firewood in the yard when he heard this and frowned, saying, "Xu Fugui, what are you shouting about?"

"Brother He, you don't know!" Xu Fugui sidled up to He Yuzhu and said mysteriously, "Something big happened at the western suburbs warehouse! There was a bandit attack last night, and I heard it was like a battlefield, with many people dead! I was supposed to go there today to pick up a batch of film, but luckily I listened to Yuzhu and changed the date to the day after tomorrow. Otherwise, I would have been caught in the crossfire, and I probably would have lost my life there!"

As he spoke, he patted his chest with a look of lingering fear, staring intently at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu feigned surprise and said, "Oh, that's scary? Uncle Xu, you're really lucky."

"What good luck? It's all thanks to you!" Xu Fugui said obsequiously. "Zhu Zi, tell me honestly, did you hear something beforehand?"

His eyes were full of inquiry. He Yuzhu's heart skipped a beat; he knew this man was suspicious, but he couldn't let him know too much yet.

"I didn't hear anything," He Yuzhu said, pretending to be a little adult, counting on his fingers. "I just felt that things weren't very peaceful in the city lately. The Japanese were acting like they'd lost their minds, so it was better to stay away from outside the city. Who knew it would be such a coincidence?"

Xu Fugui was skeptical, but seeing He Yuzhu's innocent face, he didn't press the matter. He put down the roast chicken, chatted a few more times about city gossip, and then took his leave.

Watching his departing figure, He Yuzhu's gaze darkened. Xu Fugui, if used well, could be an asset, but if he knew too much, he could also become a hidden danger.

Three days later, He Yuzhu received a message from the shopkeeper via the dead mail system.

There are two messages.

The first item is a commendation order, in which the apprentice comrade is awarded a first-class merit for his meticulous planning and command in successfully organizing the acquisition of a batch of urgently needed medicines and supplies.

The second message brought He Yuzhu a complete sigh of relief.

The message read: Li Si's problem has been resolved.

He Yuzhu immediately understood that the organization had intervened. He found Lin Wanqiu to inquire about the details and learned what had happened.

It turns out that the day after the warehouse robbery, Yi Zhonghai went to the police station to stir up trouble again. He added fuel to the fire, saying that the He family must have colluded with the ruthless bandits, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence that the police went to question them and the bandits made their move right afterward?

These words caught the attention of Section Chief Liu of the Detective Team. Because of Wang Kui's case, Section Chief Liu already had reservations about the He family, and now that such a big case had occurred, he would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free. So he personally led a team to the warehouse to interrogate all the puppet soldiers on duty that night, intending to use severe torture to extract confessions.

But just an hour before he went to retrieve the man, news suddenly came from the warehouse: Sentry Li Si had committed suicide out of fear of punishment. It was said that he hanged himself in the outhouse with his belt.

Section Chief Liu was furious when he missed his target, but he could only let the matter drop.

He Yuzhu knew that there were no such things as coincidental suicides out of guilt. It must have been someone from the organization who bribed someone within the puppet army to silence Li Si before Section Chief Liu could.

Although the outcome was somewhat cruel, it was undoubtedly the best choice at the time. The life of Li Si was exchanged for the safety of the entire intelligence network.

The commotion has finally passed without any real danger.

Inside the courtyard, Yi Zhonghai was unaware that his latest report had not only failed to harm the He family in the slightest, but had actually hastened the death of a nobody. He was also unaware that a net targeting him was slowly being cast.