Siheyuan: Cooking journey

Many single men are left behind after the family migration. It is often difficult for these young people to get married and start a family, and the future seems very hopeless to them. So when they occasionally make some money, they often choose to drink or indulge in entertainment venues to forget the depression in real life.

Many years have passed since then, the urbanization process has come to an end, and the current industry needs employees with professional skills and is more inclined to recruit the newly grown generation.

As a result, jobs left for the older generation of slum residents have become increasingly scarce, and as time goes by, there are fewer and fewer jobs they are qualified for, and their living conditions have become more difficult.

Most importantly, the law has little effect in this area, and the police are more like a decoration. The local illegal organizations are the ones who really control this area.

When the slums were first formed, because of the complex and chaotic environment, they quickly became a breeding ground for illegal transactions such as prostitution, gambling and other illegal businesses.

In order to control these underground interest chains, some organizations expanded rapidly and occupied the core position in this area, controlling most of the dark activities.

Once formal labor organizations were established, these illegal organizations became more and more unscrupulous.

Basically, all temporary jobs are assigned and managed by them, and workers have to pay part of their hard-earned salary to the gang as "tax", which is usually deducted on the day of salary payment. If anyone is dissatisfied or resists, the consequences will be serious.

Nevertheless, when it was easier to find a job, people could accept this arrangement, but now there are fewer job opportunities and the "taxes" are getting higher and higher.

Many people therefore choose to give up working outside, even if they are starving, rather than endure such exploitation. The result is that more and more vagrants, alcoholics and drug addicts appear on the streets, making the entire area more unstable.

Generally speaking, no outsider is willing to enter here on his own initiative.

If Huang Ruo had not been kidnapped,

He Yuzhu estimated that he would never set foot in this place in his lifetime, let alone know that there was such a neglected corner of the world in Japan.

According to the information Kana collected, the Shanhai Gang is active in various slums, and the nearest point is near this location. With a glimmer of hope, he came directly to the door.

If the other party keeps his promise, it is easier to deal with, at least the problem can be solved with money;

But it is obvious that the Shanhai Gang has no intention of fulfilling the previously agreed agreement. Perhaps due to pressure from local forces, they do not want to cause trouble, and now they simply deny everything that has happened.

If this is the case, Huang Ruo might be released quietly...

There has been no news for so long, it’s definitely not because of fear.

If the other party really wanted to take action and directly deal with Huang Ruo, things would become even more difficult to handle.

Kana had previously guessed that she might still be alive.

But He Yuzhu didn't hold out much hope.

No matter what, no matter whether Huang Ruo is dead or alive, she must be found.

The reason for coming to the slums was very simple, just to lure them into the trap.

This slum is home not only to Japanese people, but also Red Chinese, Koreans, and people from many other countries.

Looking for a job and making money here, most of the positions are controlled by gangs.

If you are a Chinese working here and earning money, the Shanhai Gang will come to your door to share a piece of the pie. If you don't give it to them, they will just take it all away; if you are willing to pay, half of your salary will be taken away.

This is easy money.

It's really amazing that they specifically target Chinese people.

He Yuzhu wished these bastards would come to him on their own initiative.

The Shanhai Gang is different from other gangs in that it does not have its own territory to operate izakayas, entertainment venues or other gray industries.

Such places sometimes become obvious targets of attack.

Precisely because they do not have such burdens, the Shanhai Gang is so bold and is not afraid of other gangs at all.

On the contrary, you can strike back at others at any time.

Despite this, even with this advantage, the Shanhai Gang would not provoke other gangs.

It is more like a jackal hiding in the dark, only bullying its own people.

Besides, those who are active outside are all small characters of the Shanhai Gang, and the real top leaders rarely show up.

The local Japanese gangs rarely come into conflict with the Shanhai Gang.

It’s not that I’m afraid of them, but I feel it’s unnecessary.

Unless one is determined to fight to the death, it will be impossible to bring down the Shanhai Gang.

More importantly, those gangs act only for profit.

They are too lazy to do things that are not beneficial.

Even if they occasionally lose face, they usually just warn or scare each other and will not really go against the Shanhai Gang.

If you really want to take action,

Putting aside other things, none of the Shanhai Gang members active in the slums will be able to escape.

But now is not the time.

He was also worried that if he angered the other party, it would harm Huang Ruo.

Even without this consideration,

Those societies will not take any practical action against the Shanhai Gang.

This was not revealed by Kana.

Instead, He Yuzhu analyzed it from her story.

So he did not let Kana interfere in this matter, and did not ask other gangs to help look for it, and asked her to go back to memorize the chess manual.

The reason is simple,

There are more than 100,000 people in the three slums combined, so it is very easy to hide one person.

This search is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If something really happened to Huang Ruo, there would be no point in going through all this trouble.

It would be better for him to investigate on his own.

When he came here, He Yuzhu did not tell Kana or Hisayama Mitsuki.

Even the matter of instant noodles was put aside for the time being.

Over the years,

He Yuzhu rarely gets angry.

This time he must find the answer.

Otherwise, he doesn't want to do anything else until this matter comes to a conclusion.

There is no help in Japan.

You can only do it yourself, pretend to be bait, and lure the other party into taking the bait.

He Yuzhu knew that as long as he found some day-paying jobs in the slums and let people know that he was Chinese and had connections with the Shanhai Gang, they would naturally come to him.

There is really no other way to do this.

If we had known the exact location of the Shanhai Gang long ago, why would we have gone through so much trouble to provoke them in this way?

Regarding the situation of the Shanhai Gang, Kana's information was very vague. Apart from knowing that this gang bullied fellow countrymen from the Red Country, there was almost no other valuable information. Even their leader was only known as Yamanaka Yue. There was no photo of him and no one had ever seen him. It sounded like a genuine Japanese name.

From this point of view, He Yuzhu understood why this gang specifically picked on the red Chinese to bully, and the person behind it must be a guy who was more "Japanese" than the Japanese.

He wandered around the slums for a while, hoping to run into some fellow villagers.

But it was completely dark and I didn't see anyone.

So, He Yuzhu walked into a cheap hotel, planning to spend the night there and then find work to lure out the Shanhai Gang members tomorrow morning.

"What price range of home do you want?"

The innkeeper looked like a Japanese man in his 50s or 60s, with gray hair. He glanced at He Yuzhu casually, then returned his gaze to the TV and said calmly, "The fee schedule is posted on the wall."

Obviously, there must be differences between rooms with different prices.

After looking at the price list and considering his current identity - a down-and-out Chinese, He Yuzhu finally chose a small single room for 500 yen a day.

After paying the money, I got the room number directly without filling out any forms.

"Just go inside. The public bathroom has hot water from 6 to 9 p.m. every night, but no water the rest of the time."

After hearing this, He Yuzhu thought that this hotel was not bad, as he could even take a shower for free.

However, the moment he actually entered his room, the satisfaction he had just felt instantly disappeared.

This so-called "room" is actually a space built with simple boards, which is only a few square meters in size. There is not even a bed. There is only a musty tatami and various sundries scattered on the floor.

Can this be called a room?

No wonder this hotel is called a simple hotel. It is so simple, probably a large dormitory with many people living together. No wonder the rent is so low.

He frowned and decided to change the environment. It’s not that he couldn’t stand the hardship, but he didn’t like sleeping together with strangers.

The people who hang out in places like this are either idlers or drug addicts. It's rare to see normal people.

Who knows what will happen after you move in?

Came to the front desk again and asked for a room change for 1500 yen.

"Are you sure you want this?"

The old man glanced at him and kindly reminded:

"This is your first time here, right? Although it's good to live more comfortably, it's better to save your money. At least you can sleep in a cheaper place, which is much better than sleeping on the streets in the future."

He Yuzhu remained calm and answered firmly, "It's decided."

Of course, if you really have plenty of money, you won’t say that.

Then he added: "I heard that this area is quite chaotic. Even if you want to save money, it might be gone the next day. It's better to enjoy the present."

"Well, it's good that you think so."

After listening to his explanation, the old shopkeeper nodded and looked at the guest in front of him again.

"Where are you from? You speak very standard English, with no accent at all. No matter how you ended up here, let me give you some advice. There aren't many job opportunities here, and this isn't the place for you to stay. Leave quickly tomorrow, even if you can find a place to sleep somewhere busy, it's better than here. If you can't make it, go to the shelter and ask the volunteers to help you get back so you can continue doing your work. Although Edo is prosperous, not everyone can make it here, and sometimes it's really not as comfortable as the countryside..."

After listening to the earnest advice of the person in charge, He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment and felt confused.

Originally he had dressed inconspicuously on purpose to hide his handsome side. Now he looked like a very ordinary person, nothing special about him.

This old Japanese man talks a lot and seems to care about young people. What is his purpose?

Is the attitude towards the red people so good?

He Yuzhu pondered for a while and had a vague idea.

It was probably because I spoke Japanese so fluently that he mistook me for a Japanese.

Indeed, they look similar, and now he looks ordinary and speaks fluent Japanese, so it's no wonder you can't tell from the outside.

"Thank you for your reminder. I will pay attention to it."