The entire courtyard is full of villains

Zhang Guowei said goodbye to Zhang Erhe and left, while Zhang Erhe took his three sworn brothers home. Just as Yi Zhonghai was about to say "Meeting adjourned," Liu Haizhong stood up first and announced loudly, "Alright, that's enough for tonight, meeting adjourned!" He then glared at Yi Zhonghai.

The crowd gradually dispersed, leaving only Sha Zhu standing there, on the verge of tears—who should he ask for compensation for that large square table with a hole smashed in it?

Chapter 13 Disbandment

In the east wing of the front yard, Zhang Erhe invited Sun Xiangdong and the others to sit down. Guan Xue carefully brought over some hot water, and as soon as she stood to the side, Zhang Erhe glared at her and said, "Men are discussing things here, what are you doing here, a woman? Get out!" Guan Xue responded aggrievedly and turned to leave.

Sun Xiangdong clicked his tongue and smiled at Zhang Erhe: "Second brother, it has to be you. Your family is really strict." He then smiled bitterly—he was the son of a worker and married the daughter of the deputy factory director. He had never lifted a finger since childhood and was full of envy for Zhang Erhe's family status.

Zhang Erhe glared at him and said, "Boss, from now on call me Erhe. Calling me Lao Er sounds like trash."

"What's so strange about that? The four of us brothers kowtowed to the ground together. You're the second oldest, so what's wrong with calling me 'Second Oldest'?"

Zhang Erhe explained helplessly, "This isn't the case with the doctor from Chang'an. They call the men below 'Second Brother' there too!"

Upon hearing this, the three of them were taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter, filling the room with joy. After a long while, Sun Xiangdong finally stopped laughing under Zhang Erhe's resentful gaze, "Old... no, Erhe, we're going to the hospital today, why did you come out? Shouldn't you have stayed in there for a few more days for a check-up, so you don't develop any aftereffects?"

“It’s alright, all the necessary checks have been done,” Zhang Erhe shook his head. “The hospital is too oppressive and stuffy. It’s not as comfortable as home. I can just go there to change the dressing.”

Sun Xiangdong nodded and gestured with his chin toward Wu Qian. Wu Qian immediately handed over the bag on his back, and Sun Xiangdong took it and said, "Erhe, even brothers should keep clear accounts. You were the one who contacted us for that batch of grain, and you were the one who came up with the idea. We agreed before that you would take 40% of the profits, and the remaining 60% would be split among the three of us. Wu Qian, take out the money."

Wu Qian just took out the money when Zhang Erhe was a little surprised: "Is that batch of grain all sold out? I thought I would have to wait a few days."

"I don't know why, but grain sales have been exceptionally brisk lately. We even doubled the price, but it still didn't stop the market from booming," Sun Xiangdong said, looking at Zhang Erhe. "What do you think is the reason?"

“What else could it be? This year’s autumn harvest is almost certainly going to fail.” Zhang Erhe said with certainty. “Has anyone of you gone to the countryside recently?” All three shook their heads. “Then it’s for sure. News travels fast these days. If there’s a crop failure in the countryside, the city will know immediately and everyone will rush to hoard grain.” He paused and added, “If you sell your grain a few days later, even if the price doubles, people will still want it.”

"My goodness, it's already so expensive, and people will still want it even if the price doubles?" Ma Qianli jumped in surprise. Sun Xiangdong sighed, "If there's a complete crop failure this year, and we hold onto the grain until the end of the year, we might be able to sell it even if the price doubles."

"Alright, let's call it a day while we're ahead. But guys, I might have to spoil the fun today—you guys can do this business from now on, I won't get involved."

"Why?" Ma Qianli suddenly jumped up. "Second brother, if you hadn't gotten involved, without your planning, I would have lost money after just two days!"

“Exactly,” Wu Qian quickly chimed in. “Second Brother, do you think the profit margin is too low this time? If you think it’s too little, I’ll give you ten percent!”

Sun Xiangdong nodded in agreement: "Yes, if you need money urgently, I'll give you all of my profits first!"

“No.” Zhang Erhe waved his hand and pointed to his head. “After my head was broken this time, I’ve finally figured things out. I’ve been too flamboyant these past two years, but to this day, I still don’t know who did it.”

"Second Brother, we're not police officers, how can we guess who it is right away? Give me a guess, and we'll go teach him a lesson!" Ma Qianli said anxiously. "But don't talk about quitting business! If you quit, will the four of us brothers still be able to get together? What hope will we have in the future?"

"That's right!" Wu Qian and Sun Xiangdong echoed in unison. "Second brother, don't say things like that! If there are any difficulties, we'll face them together!"

Sun Xiangdong blinked and leaned closer, saying, "Second brother, did you guess who did it and are afraid of implicating us?"

"No, no, boss, you're overthinking it." Zhang Erhe waved his hand. "You know Director Zhang who just came in, right? My older brother used to be one of his soldiers. He died before the Japanese surrendered in 1945. He's still thinking of us, and he just quietly told me that they're going to crack down on the black market in Beijing this year. Even though we're just small fry, we're still involved in this business. If we get caught, boss, you and I both work at the factory. If we get fired, our whole family will be ruined."

After listening, Sun Xiangdong hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "That makes sense, but this deal is so profitable, if we really sell it..."

"Boss, listen to me," Zhang Erhe interrupted him. "We got the last batch of grain by pulling strings and beat others to it. It's true that it sold quickly, but will we be able to get grain in the future? Without grain, what can we deal in on the black market? We wouldn't dare touch stolen goods anyway, and we can't exactly sell local specialties to you guys, can we?"

"Pfft—" Ma Qianli couldn't help but laugh. "How could that be, Second Brother? How about... how about we learn from other black markets and let those 'Buddha's' sell their stolen goods here?"

"No!" Sun Xiangdong immediately stopped him. "We'd be dead even faster if we did that! We've managed to escape unscathed from several crackdowns on the black market these past few years, all thanks to your second brother's mediation. If we were really involved in receiving stolen goods, your second brother wouldn't be able to explain it to him, understand?"

Zhang Erhe nodded slightly and didn't say anything more. Sun Xiangdong sighed and said, "Since that's the case, let's split the money. Once Erhe has recovered, let's have a meal together, as a way of... saying goodbye."

Although Wu Qian and Ma Qianli were reluctant, they exchanged a glance and nodded. Then Wu Qian picked up the ledger and started calculating the accounts—despite his poor grades in school, he was exceptionally efficient at accounting and quickly calculated everything clearly.

"The total profit is 2175.6 yuan." He said, first dividing the money into two portions for each person, and then handing the remaining stack of money to Zhang Erhe. "Second Brother, please count it."

Zhang Erhe rolled the money into a bundle, stuffed it into his bag, tossed it onto the table, and waved his hand: "No need to count, we're all brothers. But what we're saying today, the three of you just listen in here, and you can't let a single word slip out after we leave. If this gets out and people find out, we'll all be implicated, understand?"

His voice deepened towards the end, carrying a noticeable sternness. The three nodded quickly, "Understood!"

“Alright. Let me say a few more words from the heart.” Zhang Erhe looked at Wu Qian, “Qian’er, you’ve made quite a bit of money over the years. Listen to me, go back to the old cripple at the Liangmaqiao black market and buy a job, preferably two, and get one for your wife too, and transfer her household registration to the city. Food is so scarce right now, and she can’t get grain because of her rural household registration. If this continues, your family will go hungry sooner or later. Don’t worry about the money; if you need more, I’ll lend you some more.”

Wu Qian quickly replied, "Enough! Don't worry, Second Brother, there's definitely enough money at home!"

Zhang Erhe then turned to Ma Qianli: "Fourth brother, you're a bachelor all these years. Besides helping those sluts in the alleys, how much money have you made left?"

Ma Qianli squinted and pondered for a moment: "Second brother, there should still be a little over a thousand left."

“Okay, I’ll see if I can buy you a job in the security department later,” Zhang Erhe said. “With your personality, if you were a worker, you’d probably be fired in a couple of days. It’s safer to put you in the security department where someone is watching you.”

Ma Qianli scratched the back of his head and laughed: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Second Brother!"

Finally, he looked at Sun Xiangdong, but before he could speak, Sun Xiangdong quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, no, Erhe, don't make it sound like you're making arrangements for my funeral! Don't worry, everything's fine on my end. After all, my father-in-law is still the deputy factory director."

"Just be careful," Zhang Erhe cautioned. "But you absolutely mustn't tell your wife about the black market—she's a blabbermouth, and if she tells us, we'll be in big trouble."

"I understand!" Sun Xiangdong quickly replied.

Zhang Erhe nodded and stood up: "Okay, that's settled then. Let's get together again once I'm healed."

Chapter 14 The Unpredictability of Human Hearts

Autumn nights fall early, and after seeing the four people off, Guan Xue pushed open the door and came in. She looked at Zhang Erhe at the table, her brows furrowed with worry: "Erhe..."

Zhang Erhe beckoned to her: "Come here."

Guan Xue cautiously approached and heard him order, "Go and put that bag away." She jogged over, picked up the bag, and as soon as she opened it, her mouth gaped open. She hurriedly covered it with her hand, her voice trembling, "Erhe, this... so much money... You didn't do anything wrong, did you?"

"Shut up," Zhang Erhe snapped, then softened his tone and explained, "I stopped the black market business; this is our severance pay."

Guan Xue breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly, "It's good that it's stopped, it's good that it's stopped." She wanted to say something more, but Zhang Erhe suddenly tilted his ear and twitched it. He then gestured for her to go into the inner room.

Just as Guan Xue closed the door to the inner room, the door to the outer room creaked open. Wu Qian leaned in, his voice hesitant: "Second Brother, there's something I'm not sure if I should say."

"What's wrong? Did your wife cheat on you?" Zhang Erhe joked.

"No, no!" Wu Qian hurriedly waved his hand and lowered his voice. "It's about our business dealings. Logically speaking, since the four of us brothers have kowtowed to the ground, I shouldn't be gossiping behind our backs. But I saw my eldest brother skimming money from the total profits—it doesn't look like a problem on paper, but he definitely took it."

"How much did you fleece?"

Wu Qian tapped the table with his fingers, a bead of sweat on his forehead: "I don't know about the past, but this time I made at least two hundred."

"Two hundred? That's quite a lot." Zhang Erhe's tone turned serious.

"Exactly!" Wu Qian was even more indignant. "Second brother, you've put in so much effort and thought for our business, and you even got your head ripped off this time. But eldest brother just goes around every day and leaves. He's already been given 20% of the profits, and he's still not satisfied!"

“Alright, Qian’er,” Zhang Erhe interrupted him. “Since the deal is off, just keep this to yourself and deal with things the way they always have.” Seeing Wu Qian’s surprise, he added, “By the way, remember what I said earlier, hurry up and buy a job—I didn’t have a good chance to bring it up when the boss was here. I reckon jobs are getting harder and harder to buy, so if you have any connections, try to get into food factories or meat processing plants.”

Wu Qian nodded immediately, his expression solemn: "Second Brother, I've got it! I'll go to Liangma Bridge to find Lao Hei tonight, I definitely won't be late!"

"Alright, since you've remembered it, go back if you have nothing else to do. Let me know when you actually get the job." Zhang Erhe waved his hand.

"Hey! Second brother, you can rest now." Wu Qian said, then gently closed the door and left.

Seeing that there was no more movement outside, Guan Xue was about to push the door open when Zhang Erhe suddenly raised his hand and made a "shut up" gesture. She immediately closed the door halfway, and the next second, footsteps came from the outer room—Sun Xiangdong pushed the door open and walked in.

"Erhe, was that the third brother who just left? What did he say to you?" Sun Xiangdong asked, rubbing his hands together.

Zhang Erhe didn't answer, but just looked at him with a half-smile. Seeing this, Sun Xiangdong gave a wry smile: "I still couldn't hide it from you... Erhe, your older brother has come to apologize to you."

"What's wrong, boss? What's gotten into you?" Zhang Erhe finally asked.

Sun Xiangdong sighed, his voice lowering: "You know, my wife is the deputy factory director's daughter. She's been married for four or five years and hasn't had a child. My mother makes a fuss every day, making me feel like I'm caught in the middle. I had no choice but to find someone in the countryside, but the expenses suddenly skyrocketed. Even our savings weren't enough, so we had to take some money from the public account... Second brother, I'm sorry."

The dim light shone on their faces. Zhang Erhe was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Alright, boss. We swore we'd share the good times when we kowtowed, so this is nothing. But you shouldn't have kept it from the three of us. It would have been better if you had just told us sooner. Next time we eat, you should explain this to them as well, so they don't hold a grudge. We've been together since we were teenagers, and if we really fall out over this little bit of money, it would be too ugly."

"Yes!" Sun Xiangdong quickly agreed, then hesitated before speaking, "Second brother, there's something I'm not sure if I should say?"

"Go ahead and tell me." Zhang Erhe pulled out a cigarette and tossed it to him.

Sun Xiangdong lit a cigarette and said quietly, "I suspect that it was Lao San who did the sneak attack on you this time."

"Why?" Zhang Erhe raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t you handle the grain distribution channels last time? The third brother told me several times to ask you to hand over the channels so that it wouldn’t be ‘safe’ for you to control them all by yourself. I didn’t agree to his request, and then you got injured the next day. I guess he wanted to hurt you so he could take over the channels while he was doing so.”

"It shouldn't be that bad, right? For something like this, would he really go to such lengths?" Zhang Erhe frowned.

“You don’t know,” Sun Xiangdong sighed. “The third brother is different from us. We are children of workers, while his parents are temporary workers. He’s been stealing food from other people’s mouths since he was a child, and he’s used to it. He looks thin and skinny, but he’s ruthless. We have to be careful.”

Zhang Erhe exhaled a long smoke ring, his tone full of helplessness: "We're brothers, why did it have to come to this..."

"I'm just letting you know so you're aware of the situation. It's not necessarily true that it was the third brother who did it," Sun Xiangdong quickly added, afraid that he might take it to heart!

Zhang Erhe remained silent, only staring at Sun Xiangdong for a long time. It wasn't until he finished his cigarette that Sun Xiangdong, feeling increasingly uncomfortable, finally spoke: "Erhe, don't overthink it. Once you're healed, we brothers will help you get properly checked out. It's getting late, I'll head back now."

Zhang Erhe seemed to have just come to his senses, and nodded, saying, "Then you go first, boss, I won't see you off."

After Sun Xiangdong closed the door and left, Zhang Erhe didn't signal Guan Xue to come out. A moment later, the door opened again, and Ma Qianli walked in, rubbing his legs: "Second Brother, why is Boss's butt so heavy? It made my legs go numb from squatting outside!"

As he spoke, he took out his cigarette case, found it was empty, picked up Zhang Erhe's cigarette from the table, lit one for himself, and asked, "Second Brother, do you still smoke?"

"I'll stop smoking for now!" Zhang Erhe gestured for him to do as he pleased. "Is it true that the boss was looking for women in the countryside?"

“It’s true.” Ma Qianli immediately revealed a teasing smile: “But he was too embarrassed to say it. He was set up by that woman—she asked for two thousand right off the bat! He even sold his bicycle to me to scrape together the money.”

"Really? Why didn't he contact us about this?"

"Why are you looking for us?" Ma Qianli curled his lip. "That woman is withholding his work ID! If this gets out, do you think his father-in-law, the deputy factory director, will let him off the hook? He's not looking for us because he's afraid we'll let things slip!"

Zhang Erhe sneered: "The boss is trying to play tricks on us."

"What do you think?" Ma Qianli flicked his cigarette ash. "Do you think he's still the same guy who was willing to fight alongside us a few years ago? Now he's sitting in an office doing things with his brain. How could we peasants possibly catch his eye? If it weren't for the fact that he's been making money on the black market, he would have cut ties with us long ago."

"I understand!" Zhang Erhe nodded calmly, then changed the subject, "By the way, what about what happened with Lao San hitting me?"

"It shouldn't be true. The day after your accident, I kept an eye on the third brother for two nights in a row, and I didn't see him make a move. Compared to the eldest brother, the third brother still has some conscience," Ma Qianli explained!

Zhang Erhe suddenly turned his head, staring intently at Ma Qianli, making him feel a little flustered. "And what about you?"

Ma Qianli quickly waved his hand, his tone somewhat flustered: "Second brother, you know I'm not very bright, you used to be the one leading me. This business is the same whether I'm here or not. It's just that you've always stuck with you and given me a share—otherwise, given the personalities of the eldest and third brothers, I'd probably end up like the others, only getting scraps."

After listening, Zhang Erhe reached out and patted his shoulder, his tone deep: "Alright, I'll remember this, Second Brother."

Chapter 15 Clearing Mystery

"Second Brother," Ma Qianli suddenly leaned closer, his voice very low, "Are you planning to go it alone? I'll stick with you. Just give me some money each month, enough for me to help those 'sisters' make a living. I don't need anything more."

Zhang Erhe shoved him away irritably, glaring at him and yelling, "All you ever do is think about these things. You'll die on a woman's belly one day! I'm really not doing this anymore—I've been thinking a lot since I woke up in the hospital. I really was too flamboyant before."

Ma Qianli rolled his eyes, full of disappointment: "Hey, you made me happy for nothing. I thought you were going to leave the eldest and third brothers behind and go solo! If you ask me, what kind of job do you work, second brother? What kind of job do you work? You work from dawn till dusk every day, and you only earn that little bit of money. It's not even enough for me to live a carefree life for two days."

"Shut up!" Zhang Erhe suddenly raised his voice, his eyes flashing fiercely. "If you still consider me your second brother, then remember what I just said and find a job and work honestly! If you keep hanging around in the black market these next few years, I'm afraid I'll have to come and collect your corpse one day, do you hear me?"

The last few words were spoken with a stern tone, and Ma Qianli shrank back in fright, replying with a wronged expression, "Fine, Second Brother, I'll listen to you, okay?"

"Get lost!" Zhang Erhe waved his hand irritably, then added, "Bring me a thousand yuan tomorrow, and I'll help you find a job in the security department."