He Daqing, do you know how I've lived these past years?

"Jia Gui, the ration coupons have been implemented today. You'd better hurry and buy some food, otherwise you won't be able to buy anything even if you have the money. The others heading south have already assembled."

Jia Gui glanced grimly at Beijing, then turned to the captain of the Changsheng Escort Agency and said:

"Old Wang, you take my wife and son first. I need to go to Beijing to settle something on my mind, otherwise I won't be able to sleep at night with this weighing on my mind."

The captain of the escort agency hesitated for a moment and said:

"Old Jia, let me tell you, General Yue doesn't call the shots in Beijing anymore. Don't you dare lay a hand on a gun, or you'll regret it."

Jia Gui nodded, pulled over a horse, and galloped straight towards Beijing.

The head of the escort agency, worried, also rode off on horseback to follow.

"Yi Zhonghai, not bad, your community was just named a 'Civilized Courtyard,' and you're already leading people to clean the streets early this morning."

Director Wang was also pleased and praised Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai rubbed his hands together and said:

"That's all thanks to Director Wang's leadership; you're the driving force! Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to do this well."

Director Wang nodded in agreement as he listened.

Yi Zhonghai looked around, then pulled Director Wang aside and chuckled, saying:

"Director, I heard that land has started to be distributed in the countryside, and household registration is also becoming more differentiated. Jia Zhangshi from our courtyard is too embarrassed to say anything, so she had to ask me to come."

"She's still a rural resident, with a small plot of land allocated to her. She doesn't have a city household registration anymore; the household registration in the courtyard is under Jia Dongxu's name."

Director Wang hesitated for a moment before saying:

"Didn't you tell her that starting today, the Great Xia Dynasty will implement a ration system? Urban residents will be issued a ration booklet, but rural residents don't receive a monthly grain ration."

Yi Zhonghai shook his head and said:

"Director, as you know, Jia Zhangshi is just a country woman; her little bit of land is her lifeline. So when I talked to her about it, she refused. She just wants to save face. She says she'll just have to accept your refusal when she comes to transfer her household registration."

Director Wang nodded in agreement. There are always strange people every year, but this year there seem to be especially many.

Seeing Director Wang nod in agreement, Yi Zhonghai was secretly delighted.

"Little Flower, don't blame me. Huai Ru told me in the cellar last night that she's pregnant. Your Jia family can just relax and help me take care of the child."

Dongxu, I never thought you were all show and no substance. The Qing Dynasty hasn't fallen, and you're a born servant. You made my beloved Huairu cry all night. Don't worry, if we run out of food, I'll help Huairu and her child.”

Before he could finish thinking, a large sack was stuffed over his head, and Director Wang's scream rang out from the side.

Jia Gui and the镖局 captain, who had followed along out of concern, each put a large sack over the heads of Yi Zhonghai and Director Wang respectively.

Then Jia Gui pulled an iron bar from his pocket and struck Director Wang directly.

"Ah, help"

"Who are you? How dare you hit me? You just wait!"

"Stop hitting me! Tell me what your grievances are."

As Director Wang shouted threats, Jia Gui lashed out even harder.

Upon hearing the noise, Yi Zhonghai didn't even have time to pull the sack away; he simply shoved aside the person holding the sack and ran towards Director Wang.

But just as he was about to run, he was kicked in the knee.

Yi Zhonghai also collapsed to the ground, but he hurriedly crawled towards where Director Wang had spoken and shouted:

"Director Wang, don't be afraid, I'm here."

Then he pressed his entire body against him, and the iron rod began to lash out at him.

After regaining his senses, Director Wang heard Yi Zhonghai's screams and shouted:

"Help! Someone, please help!"

Jia Gui also kicked Yi Zhonghai aside and hit Director Wang's leg with a stick.

"Click"

The pain nearly made Director Wang faint; he could only grit his teeth and remain motionless, pretending to be unconscious.

As expected, the iron bar didn't fall; all that could be heard was Yi Zhonghai's screams.

It turned out that when the escort agency captain saw that the woman had stopped moving, he feared something had happened and hurriedly pulled Jia Gui to run away.

After the two disappeared without a trace, a man emerged from a corner.

"I've learned something, I've learned something!"

He looked at the two people on the ground with a fierce expression.

"Yi Zhonghai, you treat me like a fool, targeting me at every turn. He Daqing is gone, and I have the best chance of running for the position of Grandfather, yet you try to play tricks on me."

"And you, Director Wang, are no good either. You can't distinguish right from wrong and you protect bad people. I heard you even brought down Director Huang, who treated you like a sister."

The man looked around, then picked up a stone from the ground, strode forward, and smashed it heavily on Yi Zhonghai's head.

Then he stomped hard on Yi Zhonghai's lower body.

Yi Zhonghai let out a deafening roar, and then all was silent.

Startled, Director Wang, who was tearing at the sack, quickly scrambled to his feet.

Without a second thought, the man kicked Director Wang, who had run a few steps and was about to tear off the sack, to the ground, and then smashed a stone in his hand hard on his head.

Director Wang endured the pain without uttering a sound, and remained silent.

The man also ran frantically towards the courtyard of No. 95.

Xu Damao groggily got out of bed and said:

"Dad, what are you doing? Why are you slamming the door so hard so early in the morning? Can't a person get any sleep?"

Xu Wude, his hands trembling, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and slapped his shaking thigh forcefully before yelling at Xu Damao:

Get the hell out of here!

……

After a short while, Director Wang slowly untied the burlap sack and looked at Yi Zhonghai, who was still covered by the sack, moving in the distance.

He touched the still-bleeding spot on his head and shouted loudly:

"Help! Something's happened!"

"The bad guy is gone, come out quickly!"

After shouting for several minutes, someone slowly opened the courtyard gate, peeked out, and then hurriedly ran out.

"Quickly, get Yi Zhonghai to the hospital first."

With the help of passersby, Director Wang stood up and shouted loudly.

Watching the departing crowd, Director Wang murmured to himself:

"Old Yi, I'll remember this. I won't treat you unfairly from now on; your business is my business."

Then, with the help of passersby, they got on a handcart and headed to the hospital.

In the afternoon, news spread throughout the entire street that Yi Zhonghai and Director Wang had been beaten up with sacks over their heads.

The police came to investigate, but no one had seen anything, and they were completely stumped.

"Tsk tsk, did you guys hear? That old man at number 95 got beaten up this morning."

"Hey, that little rascal deserved to be beaten. He's been stealing chickens and dogs since he was a kid, peeping at widows bathing, he's a scoundrel."

"What do you have? Even Director Wang from the neighborhood committee got beaten up."

"Haha, is that the Director Wang who betrayed his master for personal gain?"

Director Huang used to treat her so well, but she betrayed him.

How did you know?

"My aunt's son-in-law's brother's girlfriend's daughter's classmate works at the neighborhood office. They all know that everyone who was promoted by Director Huang in the neighborhood office has been fired."

"Stop talking, or someone will report you. You'll be lucky to escape with your life."

"They're gone, they're gone."

……