A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

He Yuzhu has been feeling very frustrated lately.

As dusk settled, I got up early. I placed a few cents on the table and covered the bowl with it.

He whispered to the other room, "Rain, I'm leaving now. The money for the meal is on the table!"

Then, taking advantage of the few people in the courtyard, he scooped up water from the water vat, splashed it on his face, wiped it haphazardly with the corner of his clothes, slung a bundle over his shoulder, and hurried out the door.

He secretly knocked on the door of Uncle Yan Fugui's house, "Uncle! Could you please open the door for me again?"

The courtyard house gate is locked at 10 p.m. and unlocked at 6:30 a.m. Yan Fugui has the key.

Yan Fugui enjoys doing jobs that others would avoid at all costs.

The joy here is not something that can be explained to outsiders.

A moment later, the door opened. Yan Fugui, wearing only a thin shirt, yawned and walked out, shaking the keys in his hand.

"Hey, Zhu Zi? Why are you leaving so early lately? It's not even 4 o'clock yet?"

He Yuzhu was quite impatient: "Just open it quickly, I've paid a hefty opening fee!"

Yan Fugui adjusted his glasses and didn't argue with him.

After all, the other party had given him half a lunchbox of braised pork a couple of days ago, and the frugal old man still hadn't finished it.

The door opened a crack, and He Yuzhu eagerly squeezed out. The bundle on his back almost got stuck in the crack.

He turned up his collar as he walked out the gate, hurrying along.

"Dad, Shazhu hasn't been acting normally these past few days. Where is he going so early? And he's carrying something on his back!" The third aunt draped a coat over Yan Fugui's shoulders.

The weather has changed a bit lately; it's chilly when I wake up in the morning.

Yan Fugui patted the hand that the three women had on his shoulder: "I don't know, maybe it's the black market. Even the pigeon market doesn't start this early."

"But what's so great about him? He's just a cook; he'll never go hungry!"

Yan Fugui shook his head, preparing to go back to sleep for a while.

"Dad, have you forgotten? Didn't the steel mill in the yard say they'd made a tractor? And they said they'd give out a reward!"

"Hey! Why think about that? We're not from a steel mill, what a waste!"

Seeing that Yan Fugui didn't understand her meaning, the third aunt gave him a hard tug and whispered in his ear, "Dad, do you think Sha Zhu might have stolen the factory's tractor to sell?"

"Huh?" Yan Fugui stared at his wife, his eyes wide.

"Hey! Didn't some neighbors say that that tractor is really in high demand? Sha Zhu's been going out at night these past few days, sneaking around like a thief..."

"And you forgot, how much braised pork did he bring back the other day! He even gave two big bowls to Jia's wife!"

"He's just a cook; if he doesn't get some extra money, where will he get the money to buy meat!"

Yan Fugui was both amused and exasperated: "You old woman, what nonsense are you spouting! Do you even know how big a tractor is? You stole it and sold it? Do you think a tractor is as big as the steel pipe that Jia Dongxu stole?"

“That thing is as big as a house, how could he steal it! We sent you to literacy class, and you just went to listen to stories! Besides, that meat is a perk from the steel mill. You only listened halfway, and you're still staying in the yard.”

The three women blushed deeply, but their gossipy nature allowed them to keenly spot other things.

"Dad, you're saying that Jia Zhangshi's son stole a steel pipe?"

Yan Fugui was getting impatient and just wanted to go back to bed. He casually closed the door and gave a perfunctory reply.

"Ah, I saw it at the junkyard a couple of days ago."

"Then how do you know he stole it?"

"That kid hides from me whenever he sees me. If he didn't steal my eyeballs, I'd gouge them out so you can step on them!"

"Alright, time for bed. Everyone has their own way of living, we just need to mind our own business." Yan Fugui shrank back into bed, pulled the blanket tighter, and drowsily wondered if he should light a stove.

The three women tucked the blanket around Yan Fugui and sat on the edge of the bed, seemingly lost in thought.

Then, he got up and went to another room, calling softly, "Jiecheng! Hurry up, don't lose them!"

Yan Jiecheng was already dressed when he heard his mother calling him.

He rolled over and got out of bed, then slipped out the door through the crack that the old lady had deliberately left.

He Yuzhu stepped out of the courtyard gate, hurriedly turned into an alley, then stopped and looked around nervously.

Seeing that no one was around, he quickly opened the bundle on his back.

Inside the bundle lay a set of clothes so dirty that their original color was no longer discernible.

After quickly changing, I found the right direction and started jogging.

He ran for half an hour, and by the time he reached the field, he was covered in sweat.

"report!"

A person wearing a red armband glanced at him under the streetlight and casually tagged something in a small notebook.

"He Yuzhu, you did a good job today. You came early, get to work!"

He Yuzhu nodded silently, picked up a large broom, and began to scrub the ground.

"Whoosh~~~~Whoosh~~~~~~"

Yan Jiecheng, who was following him from a distance, was also panting heavily.

He dared not follow closely, and didn't hear what Sha Zhu said; he only saw him sweeping the street with a big broom.

They were dumbfounded. This silly Zhu got up early, changed his clothes, and ran so far just to sweep the floor.

Isn't it stealing things and selling them on the black market?

That's it?

Yan Jiecheng rubbed his rumbling stomach and felt that his mother was too unreliable.

It turns out that, with National Day approaching, people from the neighborhood committee came to the compound to tell everyone to pay more attention to people who seem unusual, and to report any suspicious activity immediately, with a reward for reporting!

When the three women were attending a literacy class, the teacher mentioned that enemy agents would come out to cause trouble every National Day, and that everyone should be vigilant.

He even joked that so-called enemy agents are just ordinary people hiding among us. But these people will show their true colors on special occasions like National Day.

They also told everyone not to be afraid and to fight bravely, saying that every enemy agent was worth a gold bar!

The three aunties had only signed up for the class to make matchboxes, and they were somewhat inattentive during the class. But when they heard the teacher say that one enemy agent was equivalent to one gold bar, they immediately took it to heart.

After carefully considering the people and events that have happened recently,

Hmm! Why does this guy look a bit like Sha Zhu lately?

Leaving home early in the morning and not returning until midnight?

Moreover, this change only began in the last few days.

Is National Day approaching?

Although the auntie wasn't highly educated, she still knew how to write the word "steady".

We still need to observe, observe.

Sure enough, after class today, the restless aunties stopped pasting matchboxes at the entrance of the courtyard and instead changed their work location to the middle courtyard, where they worked while keeping an eye on He Yuzhu's family.

The more I look at it, the more suspicious it seems.

Not wanting to make a scene, the three women instructed their eldest son, Yan Jiecheng, to be vigilant that night and follow He Yuzhu to find out what was going on.

The third aunt knew that her eldest son was timid, so she didn't mention the enemy agents to him.

It's said that He Yuzhu might have stolen things from the factory to sell.

Yan Jiecheng had just graduated from high school and was waiting at home for the neighborhood committee to arrange a job for him. When he heard his mother say that, he felt excited and agreed without hesitation.

As a result, after following him for a while, they discovered that Sha Zhu was sweeping the streets.

Feeling bored, he could only run home, clutching his rumbling stomach.

"Hey, the braised pork that Sha Zhu gave me is probably about to go bad."

"Go back early, or you won't even get any soup!"