Sha Zhu's Rebirth in the Courtyard: Starting with Hitting Someone in the Head

Chapter 65 Giving Credit

He Yuzhu stood outside the courtyard wall of Deputy District Chief Zhou's house, his spatial awareness fully activated. He noticed that Deputy District Chief Zhou's behavior was becoming increasingly strange, even checking the desk drawers after arriving home.

He probed into the drawer in the study. Inside were several meeting minutes and work documents, with a copy of "Journey to the West" at the very bottom.

He Yuzhu frowned. Why would a government official keep a copy of "Journey to the West" on his desk? It's a bit like the codebooks and keys that appear in later films and TV series.

Sensing the main house, a careful examination revealed a cavity beneath the soil. The basement was the entrance, not in the study, but behind the wardrobe in the bedroom. Sensing followed the steps down to a three-meter square, secret room.

A table stood against the wall, with a radio on it and its antenna tucked away in the corner. Against the opposite wall stood a gun cabinet containing two pistols, three Thompson submachine guns, and a considerable amount of ammunition.

He Yuzhu leaned against the courtyard wall, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it. This man was in his early fifties, held the official rank of deputy district head, but was actually a spy.

As he pondered his next move, he sensed Deputy District Chief Zhou enter the bedroom. A bedside lamp was on, casting an orange glow on the bed. The woman, in her thirties, had just showered; her hair was still wet, and she lay on her side in a thin nightgown. The June night was sultry; the window was half-open, and an occasional breeze blew in, causing the curtains to sway gently.

Deputy District Chief Zhou sat down on the edge of the bed, and the woman reached out and pulled him up. The two rolled onto the bed, the gauze curtains being lifted by the wind and then falling back down.

After their lovemaking, Deputy District Chief Zhou leaned against the headboard, panting. The woman rested her head on his shoulder, her fingers slowly tracing circles on his chest.

"Why are you so angry today? Did something wrong?" the woman asked lazily.

"Hmm, it's a bit frustrating." Deputy District Chief Zhou stared at the ceiling. "I, a dignified Major General in the National Revolutionary Army, have to apologize to an ordinary citizen. But this He Yuzhu doesn't seem like an ordinary person."

The woman chuckled softly. "She's just a purchasing agent, what's so special about her?"

"What do you know?" Deputy District Chief Zhou's tone turned serious. "This man is ruthless and has no scruples about officials. If I don't go tonight, I'll probably be next."

"Alright, alright, that's good, it's resolved." The woman rolled over. "Old Zhou, we won't be staying here for many more years. We've done enough; it's time to go back and enjoy life."

"Hmm. Now there are just a few things left to finish," Deputy District Chief Zhou said in a low voice. "If we hurry, it should only take two or three years. The higher-ups have promised me that once it's done, I can go back to retire. You can just stay with me and live a good life."

"That's good." The woman yawned. "I'm sleepy. Are you going back tonight?"

Deputy District Chief Zhou glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table; the hour hand was almost pointing to eleven. "I have to go back. I told her I'd be home by midnight. She only knows I have work to do tonight."

The woman didn't speak. Deputy District Chief Zhou got out of bed and dressed. Before leaving, he bent down and kissed the woman on the cheek. "Don't see me off, go to sleep."

Deputy District Chief Zhou pushed open the courtyard gate, and as he turned to close it, he was struck on the head with a stick. After a dull thud, his body went limp and collapsed.

He Yuzhu stepped forward, took the person into his spatial storage, and retreated back into the shadows of the courtyard wall. After waiting for more than half an hour, he sensed that the woman in the bedroom was breathing evenly and had fallen asleep.

He pushed open the door and went inside, walking to the bedside. The woman was lying on her side, facing outwards; she was quite attractive.

He Yuzhu knocked her unconscious with a wooden stick and stored her in his spatial storage. After thinking for a while, he realized he had no use for this achievement and couldn't let it go to waste.

He went to the living room and released the woman from the confinement space, binding her limbs tightly with hemp rope. He also released Deputy District Chief Zhou and tied him up. Both of them were gagged and remained unconscious.

He Yuzhu used his spatial storage to store the documents, Journey to the West, radio, telegrams, and firearms and ammunition. He placed these items on the coffee table, putting the Journey to the West on top and accepting the firearms and ammunition himself—his reward for tonight's hard work.

Deputy District Chief Zhou woke up, saw the pile of things on the coffee table, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he made a whimpering sound. The woman next to him also woke up, her body stiffened, and she trembled all over, making Zhu Zi swallow hard.

He Yuzhu squatted down, lit a cigarette, and looked at the two through the smoke. "Using Journey to the West as a codebook, that's quite professional."

Deputy District Chief Zhou's eyes widened, his mouth stuffed with a pillowcase, unable to speak, and his sobbing grew louder.

He Yuzhu flicked his cigarette ash onto the ground. "You're all enemy agents, it's not easy to have been undercover for so long. You've run into me, Master Zhu. You deserve your bad luck."

The voice coming from Deputy District Chief Zhou's throat changed tone.

"Shut up, you're the dumbest one. You even offered yourself up for that old deaf man."

He Yuzhu took out a wooden stick from behind his back. "This stick has been with me for several years. Tonight, I'll knock out two more spies." He stood up and began to strike Deputy District Chief Zhou's knees and elbows with the stick, slowly and deliberately. The dull thuds of bones breaking echoed in the living room.

The veins on Deputy District Chief Zhou's neck bulged, and he arched his back before collapsing back to his knees. Next was the woman; her limbs were similarly broken, and she passed out after a series of muffled thuds.

Looking at the two crippled men, He Yuzhu slung the wooden stick over his shoulder and nodded with satisfaction. They couldn't run away now.

He went home, got on his three-wheeled motorcycle, and headed to Chen Xiangqian's house.

The motorcycle stopped at the gate of Chen Xiangqian's house, and he knocked on the door to call for help.

Chen Xiangqian came out wearing shorts and a t-shirt. "Zhu Zi, what's the matter in the middle of the night?"

He Yuzhu said he had captured two enemy agents and told him to change his clothes and set off.

The motorcycle sputtered and turned into that narrow alley.

He Yuzhu pushed open the courtyard gate and led Uncle Chen into the living room.

As soon as Chen Xiangqian entered, he saw two people lying on the floor, and then noticed the pile of things on the coffee table. He quickened his pace. "Zhu Zi, who are these two?"

"The deputy head of Dongcheng District, the one surnamed Zhou, also has a mistress and assistant."

Chen Xiangqian suddenly turned his head and stared at the middle-aged man on the ground whose hands and feet were bound. "How could he be an enemy agent?"

He Yuzhu stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "There's a secret underground room here, hiding a radio, a pistol, and a submachine gun. That Journey to the West book is probably the key." He gestured with his chin towards the coffee table. "I took the guns home; they can be used for hunting."

Chen Xiangqian turned to look at He Yuzhu. "Zhuzi, how did you discover all this tonight?"

"I broke the leg of the deputy director of the steel rolling mill. The old bastard got scared, probably afraid I'd disrupt his plans. He came to the courtyard tonight begging for mercy." He Yuzhu took the photo out of his pocket and handed it to Uncle Chen. "He told me he surrendered to our army in 1947 and was hunted down by spies. It was the old deaf man who saved him. I became suspicious of him and followed him here. I overheard the conversation between these two enemy agents, found an opportunity to knock them unconscious, tie them up, and searched for these things."

Chen Xiangqian stared at him for a while, then shifted his gaze to the two enemy agents. One of them, a deputy district chief, was a hidden enemy agent who had been exposed single-handedly by a purchasing agent tonight. That was a great achievement. He reached out to pat Zhu Zi's shoulder, but then withdrew his hand halfway through.

"What do you mean by handling this?"

"Uncle Chen, the credit is yours. I'm just a purchasing agent for the supply and marketing cooperative; what happened tonight has nothing to do with me."

He looked at Chen Xiangqian and said, word by word, "You can't touch that old deaf woman in the backyard. She was the one who came up with the idea to force my father away. Now that she's lost her backing, I'm going to legally and legitimately starve her to death."