The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

The steel rolling mill's leadership was affected by the arrest of Factory Director Yang and Director Li.

Soon, the leadership underwent a major reshuffle.

Because they were arrested and confessed to many things, others also suffered as a result.

They provided information on many people.

Fortunately, it's alright.

Xu Damao, a nobody, doesn't get much attention.

Because he had neither the opportunity nor the position to embezzle or accept bribes.

At most, I was called by the factory leaders to be a hostess and have special meals prepared for me.

He wouldn't be affected by something like this.

However, this time it also gave Xu Damao a fright.

I never knew being a cadre was so dangerous.

One bad day can wipe out a lifetime of hard work.

When Xu Damao later went out for drinks with Yang Dalin, he was reflecting on his own experiences.

I just want to be safe and healthy so I can raise my child with peace of mind.

He no longer had that fervent pursuit of an official career.

He seems to have become much more open-minded.

This is something that Sha Zhu and I have in common.

Sha Zhu kept saying that all he was responsible for was making good food.

Ignore everything else.

For example, who the leader wants to invite, or what matters they want to discuss.

He will not pay any attention to any of them.

They simply followed the instructions of their superiors, cooking whatever they were told, regardless of who the guests were or what they were discussing.

This is also a great wisdom of life.

This was probably taught to him by He Daqing.

He Daqing lived through the Japanese puppet regime and warlord period.

As a chef, I must have cooked for many people.

He was fortunate enough to live to a ripe old age.

It's probably related to his attitude.

It's wrong for He Daqing to abandon his children to support a widow, but he does have some skill in doing so.

He might have abandoned his children to go to another place to support widows, perhaps out of fear that people would investigate the fact that he had cooked for those people before the liberation.

Because sometimes things don't necessarily require evidence.

Just like how many women in France suffered after World War II.

The men couldn't protect the country; they surrendered in a month. Afterwards, they were in a fit of impotent rage, shaving the heads of tens of thousands of women in the city and accusing them of being accomplices of the tiger and traitors to the French. They did not resolutely resist Hans' tiger.

What kind of morbid thinking is this?

He Daqing's thinking was probably a bit too far ahead, but it can't be said that his thinking was unreasonable.

However, it is true that they abandoned their children.

This is indeed unforgivable for Sha Zhu and He Yushui.

Humans are two-sided.

They are all selfish.

There are no absolutely good people, nor are there absolutely bad people.

……

……

The steel rolling mill incident did not attract much attention.

After all, the people in the courtyard are all nobody.

We are still far behind them.

Occasionally, you'll hear people talking about which manager has been unlucky enough to be investigated.

It has little to do with ordinary workers like them.

Even the highest-ranking official, Yi Zhonghai, was just an ordinary worker.

He didn't hold any official position, and he didn't have any important duties.

Several days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Yang Dalin was playing with two children in the courtyard of Dongsi Shitiao that day.

Suddenly I heard someone knocking on the door.

Yang Dalin put the child down and went to check on him.

It turns out it was Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu was still holding two letters in his hand.

Yang Dalin said, "Brother Zhu, what's up?"

Come in and say something.

It's quite cold outside.

Sha Zhu said, "Forget it, Da Linzi, I won't go in. I received your two letters from Uncle Qi at the gatehouse of our courtyard."

You're afraid someone might need to contact you urgently.

They brought it back to you without even going inside your house.

Take a look and see who wrote it.

I still have to cook when I get home.

I won't go in.

After saying that, Sha Zhu handed the two letters to Yang Dalin.

Yang Dalin looked at the mailing address and saw that one of them was in the city of Chengde.

The letter was sent from an address in Northeast China.

Yang Dalin could tell who wrote it just by looking at the signature.

He told Sha Zhu, "Brother Zhu, it really is my letter."

Then I won't keep you from cooking when you get home.

"Okay, if it's yours, I'll go back."

After saying that, Sha Zhu rushed home again.

Yang Dalin took the letter back into the house.

Sister Yan asked him what was wrong.

He explained briefly: "I received two letters, written by two children."

One of them was written to me by the son of a martyr from the Chengde Mountain Resort.

One of them was written to me by a little girl I had helped on the road before.

I've told you about both of them before.

"Oh, is it the family of a martyr surnamed Huang, and a little girl named Xiao Cui?"

Yes, yes.

Let me check the letter first.

"Yes, you see, I'm watching the child."

Yang Dalin opened the letter written by Huang Weiguo, the eldest son of martyr Huang Zhongjun.

Take a look.

It's nothing serious.

That means they haven't seen him for two years, and their whole family misses him.

He's going to join the army next year.

Invite him to visit his home sometime.

They also sent him some things, which will arrive later; please check and confirm receipt.

Yang Dalin smiled; Wei Guo had a kind heart.

Yang Dalin told Chu Yanhua the contents of the letter.

Sister Yanhua said, "That place isn't far, and there's still some time before the Lunar New Year."

"If you don't have time, go and take a look."

Yang Dalin asked, "Can you take care of those three children by yourself during the day?"

I'll see how things go.

Chu Yanhua said, "It's alright, you know what those little guys are like during the day."

All he does is sleep and eat.

These three children are all quite easy to take care of.

Mom and Xiaoning came back to help in the evening.

It's nothing much.

If all else fails, you can go on Saturday.

Mom and Xiaoning helped on Sunday.

The place isn't far, so just go and come back quickly.

Yang Dalin nodded: "Okay, I'll take a look at the other letter."

We'll talk about it later.

After saying that, Yang Dalin opened another letter.

This letter was written by Wang Xiaocui, a very sensible young girl whom I helped during a previous business trip.

She had lost her parents. When Yang Dalin met her, there was only her elderly grandfather and her younger brother at home.

Later, her family went to Northeast China to find their older brother who had fled there to escape famine.

Yang Dalin hadn't seen him for several years.

His older brother went to a border region in northeastern China.

It's not far from the Russians.

There's plenty of land over there; as long as you're willing to cultivate it and work hard, you won't starve.

Yang Dalin opened the letter and took a look.

His brows furrowed.

The letter was a plea for help.

It turns out that after they went to Northeast China, their lives gradually improved.

Unfortunately, his brother went hunting in the mountains with a group of people this winter.

They got separated from the other people in the mountains.

Two of the villagers who went hunting in the mountains together also went missing.

The village sent people to search for several days, but they couldn't find her.

Her grandfather also fell ill from the stress.

She wanted to go into the mountains with her younger brother to search for it.

But the villagers all stopped them.

Some people said that the three people who went missing in the mountains were not eaten by wild animals.

It's possible that he was captured by people sent by the Russians.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be no trace at all.

If someone is eaten by a wild animal, they will at least leave some remains or torn clothing as clues.

They went into the mountains but found nothing.

too weird.

The police and border troops arrived afterwards.

Besides searching carefully several times, there was no other good solution.

Desperate, the young girl thought of Yang Dalin.

I just want to ask Yang Dalin if he has any good ideas.

Please help me find someone in Beijing.

See if there's anyone in a leadership position who can help negotiate or ask around to see if his brother can come back.