Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 11 Review Meeting
Yan Bugui wasn't angry when he was rebuffed by Li Hongbing; he just touched his nose somewhat awkwardly.

Li Hongbing today is a completely different person from before.

In the afternoon's battle, not only Jia Zhangshi, but even Yi Zhonghai suffered a great loss, and Li Hongbing became famous overnight.

From now on, I doubt anyone will dare to underestimate him.

soon.

When Li Hongbing arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, a large number of people had already gathered there.

Upon seeing him appear, some people instinctively made way for him.

Once the first one appeared, a second one followed. The crowd quickly made way for him and began to cast their gazes toward him.

Today, Li Hongbing is the absolute protagonist, and no one can ignore him.

"Brother Hongbing, Sister Hongmei."

As soon as Li Hongbing and Li Hongmei arrived, a little girl ran up to them and called out to them.

"rainwater."

Seeing He Yushui running over, Li Hongmei smiled.

He Yushui is currently an eight or nine-year-old girl who is very close to her siblings.

The incident started last year when He Daqing ran away to Baocheng with the widow, leaving behind Sha Zhu and his sister. When they were in such dire straits that they almost had to beg for food on the streets, Li Hongmei couldn't bear to see them suffer and gave them a bowl of rice.

Sha Zhu and He Yushui's situation clearly reminded Li Hongmei of her own past, but back then she had a job and received a pension from the factory, so life wasn't so difficult.

Compared to the hardships of life, the loss of her loved ones caused her even greater grief.

However, the help she could offer Sha Zhu and He Yushui was limited. After all, her own family still needed to make a living, and no matter how much she sympathized, she couldn't bring herself to add two more people to her family.

Later, I heard that it was through Yi Zhonghai's connections that Sha Zhu got a job as an apprentice at Emei Restaurant, which solved his problem of food and clothing.

Because of the kindness shown to her at the time, and because Li Hongmei worked at the food factory and would occasionally bring back some delicious food as a perk, sometimes sharing some with He Yushui, He Yushui's favorability towards her was immediately boosted.

Li Hongbing didn't know how to evaluate He Yushui in the drama, but now this innocent little girl is quite cute.

"Hongbing, you did a great job with Jia Zhangshi! She should have been dealt with like this a long time ago. She's always calling out to the dead in the courtyard, serves her right!"

Seeing He Yushui run over, Sha Zhu followed and said the following words to Li Hongbing.

Although Sha Zhu was close to Yi Zhonghai, he disliked Jia Zhangshi very much, and they often clashed, resulting in some unpleasant incidents.

When I came back just now, Sha Zhu found out that Jia Zhangshi had been taken away for ideological education, and he felt incredibly relieved.

only.

Sha Zhu quickly said to Li Hongbing, "However, I don't think it was right for you to talk back to that old man today. He is an elder, and we juniors should follow the rules..."

For Sha Zhu, whether it was Li Hongmei and Li Hongbing, or Yi Zhonghai, they had all been kind to him, and he did not want to see any discord arise between them.

"Alright, alright, silly Zhu, it's getting boring if we keep going. Just be quiet!"

Before Sha Zhu could finish speaking, Li Hongbing waved his hand, stopping him from continuing.

Sha Zhu's visit this time was clearly intended to act as a peacemaker between him and Yi Zhonghai.

The problem is, as soon as Sha Zhu finished his preamble, Li Hongbing knew what he was going to say next.

It's nothing more than asking him to apologize to Yi Zhonghai or something.

but……

What do you think?
Li Hongbing genuinely suspected that there might be something wrong with Sha Zhu's thought process.

For what happened today, it's already quite generous of him not to make Yi Zhonghai apologize to him.

It seems that Yi Zhonghai put a lot of effort into He Daqing during the time he was on the run; in less than a year, Sha Zhu had already been brainwashed. Now that Jia Dongxu is still alive, he is naturally Yi Zhonghai's number one choice for retirement, and the most effort has been put into him.

But people like Yi Zhonghai never put all their eggs in one basket. He made two preparations at the same time, and Sha Zhu was his backup plan for retirement.

He's straightforward, strong, easy to fool, and most importantly, he's a great cook.

How could the future war god of the courtyard house be anything less than outstanding?
Perhaps Yi Zhonghai had already set his sights on Sha Zhu after He Daqing fled, or even when he discovered that He Daqing had the intention to flee, and had begun to plan and scheme against him.

Li Hongbing's thinking was not without basis.

Besides later analyses, there are also some memories in his mind that serve as corroboration.

When Sha Zhu and his sister were almost starving to death, Li Hongmei gave them a bowl of rice. Yi Zhonghai and his wife, who had only shown concern for them verbally before, suddenly became considerate and warm-hearted, as if they were afraid that Sha Zhu would get too close to them.

Within a few days, Yi Zhonghai introduced Sha Zhu to the Emei Restaurant as an apprentice, and even had him become a disciple there.

Yi Zhonghai was a fitter at a steel rolling mill. How could he have such a connection?

Not surprisingly.

Most of these arrangements were made by He Daqing before he left, but they were used by Yi Zhonghai through his hands.

There are also too many suspicious points regarding He Daqing sending living expenses.

In any case, over the past year, under Yi Zhonghai's deliberate cultivation and guidance, Sha Zhu has completely regarded him as his elder and almost always obeys him.

Of course.

Sha Zhu still remembers that meal from last year, otherwise he wouldn't have come to tell Li Hongbing all this.

If it were Xu Damao, it might not have been persuasion, but rather a direct attack.

"Red Soldier..."

"Shazhu, we understand what you mean, but this has nothing to do with you, so you don't need to worry about it."

Sha Zhu was somewhat unwilling and clearly wanted to say something, but Li Hongmei, who had noticed the situation earlier, spoke up.

When Sha Zhu realized that even Li Hongmei said the same thing, he was completely at a loss.

Since Li Fushun passed away, they have had no elders in this courtyard, or even in the whole of Beijing, and no one to support them. Therefore, Li Hongmei has never liked to get involved in the affairs of the courtyard, and she doesn't want to get involved in disputes.

But the fact that she doesn't cause trouble doesn't mean she's afraid of trouble.

Li Hongbing stood up for himself today, and as his older sister, I naturally couldn't hold him back.

Regarding what happened in the afternoon, Li Hongmei didn't think Li Hongbing had done anything wrong.

contradict?

Yi Zhonghai has already sided with the enemy to the extreme. If they don't fight back, are they just going to sit back and wait to be slaughtered?
Moreover, as Li Hongbing said in the courtyard that afternoon, she never regarded Yi Zhonghai as her elder, but merely as an old neighbor living in the same courtyard.

At most, we'll add one more senior staff member to assist the police station.

Not long after.

With everyone in the hospital present, the general meeting officially began.

The crowd gathered around Yi Zhonghai, Xu Fugui, and Liu Haizhong, all curious about what they were up to.

"I think everyone knows or has heard about what happened in the courtyard this afternoon. My second uncle, third uncle, and I have convened this courtyard-wide meeting for two purposes."

As an elderly man, Yi Zhonghai spoke first, giving an opening remark that filled people with anticipation. Without keeping them in suspense, he continued: "Firstly, we need to criticize backward thinkers like Jia Zhangshi, hoping that everyone will take this as a warning and stay away from feudal superstition and other outdated cultural dregs of the old society."

Secondly, as the elders, we must deeply reflect and examine ourselves. In this matter concerning Jia Zhangshi, we were negligent in our oversight…”

(End of this chapter)