Silly Zhu's Moving: The Old Neighbor's Nightmare

Seeing that Sha Zhu had finally let go of him, Xu Damao quickly took a few steps back to distance himself from Sha Zhu.

He continued relentlessly, saying, "Hmph, you fool, don't think you can get my forgiveness so easily. You have to make it up to me."

Do you know how I've been these past two months? Everywhere I go, people point and whisper about me.

My classmates at school laugh at me, and even the female classmates who used to be close to me now avoid me.

"Hurry up, take out the cigarettes you have on you."

Sha Zhu shook his head helplessly and said, "What does it have to do with me if your classmates laugh at you?"

Although he said that, his hand had already reached into his pocket to take out a cigarette.

The moment he touched the cigarette, Xu Damao swiftly snatched it away.

He muttered to himself, "Shazhu, you're not being fair. It's Hua Zi again. Did you steal it from your master again?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu rushed forward to snatch it, shouting, "I didn't steal it! This is the bag from two months ago!"

When I treated you to meat buns, didn't I give you one? I've been saving it up, not wanting to smoke it. Give it back to me right now, I took the wrong cigarette!

As he spoke, he pulled out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from another pocket and showed it to Xu Damao. “Look, I usually can’t even afford to smoke Daqianmen. I’m saving that half pack of Huazi for the New Year.”

Seeing this, Xu Damao ignored Shazhu and ran straight into the yard, shouting, "Shazhu, let's split it in half when we meet."

As he spoke, he divided the half-pack of cigarettes in half, put half in his own pocket, left four or five for Sha Zhu, and tossed them back to him.

Then he quickly said, "Shazhu, I'm returning it to you. This is my first time visiting your new home, so I'm just taking a look around."

As Xu Damao spoke, he wandered around the yard.

The kid completely ignored Sha Zhu, looking around and touching things. He even went to the toilet to push the door open, and when he couldn't, he went to wander around the three main rooms.

He first went to the two bedrooms in the east room and then ran to the rainwater room in the west room.

Rain is packing up the things she brought back from Master Shazhu's house in the room.

Seeing Xu Damao suddenly burst in, they hurriedly stuffed the snacks, treats, and pastries on the kang (heated brick bed) into the cupboard.

She pouted and said, "Brother Da Mao, why did you come into my room without even knocking?"

Seeing Yu Shui tidying up the snacks and the pastries on the kang (heated brick bed), Xu Damao dashed over to the kang, grabbed a pastry, and...

He muttered to himself, "Little Rain, leave two pieces for Brother Da Mao. Why have you become stingy after just two months? I used to give you plenty of candy."

As he spoke, he tore open the packaging and stuffed the pastry into his mouth.

Just as the rain was about to snatch the pastries back, it heard Xu Damao's words and saw that he had already started eating them.

She then pushed Xu Damao towards the door with both hands, saying, "Brother Damao, you can't take my snacks anymore. My teacher's wife bought these for me. Hurry up and get out, I still need to tidy up the room."

Xu Damao, however, stayed in Yushui's room and didn't leave. Instead, he plopped down on the kang (a heated brick bed), touched the thick quilt, and asked, "Little Yushui, what did your brother do at your master's house on Sundays when he was off?"

The rain couldn't move Xu Damao; seeing him acting like a rogue, still sitting on his new mattress,

Enraged, he unleashed all his power, punching and kicking Xu Damao.

While hitting him, he shouted, "Why are you bothering my brother? I told you not to leave and to stop stealing my snacks! Brother, come in here right now, Xu Damao is bullying me!"

Although the rain was light, after two or three months of practice, his technique became quite methodical, specifically targeting painful areas.

Xu Damao didn't take it seriously at first, but as the punches and kicks landed on his body, he felt unbearable pain and quickly rolled to the other side of the heated brick bed and got off.

He rubbed the spot where he had been hit with both hands, hissing as he inhaled, and said exaggeratedly, "Rain, who taught you that? How can you hit so hard?"

The rain, its face dark, ignored him. Just then, Sha Zhu, who had been moving things in the living room, came over.

Looking at Xu Damao, he said, "Silly Mao, stop pretending. Come on, let's go to my room."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and pulled Xu Damao out of the rain-soaked house.

Sha Zhu led Xu Damao back to his room, grabbed a chair, and invited him to sit down.

He said, "Yushui just moved back from Master's house. Nobody cares about her anymore, and she can't play with her friends there. She's unhappy. Why are you teasing her?"

Xu Damao was pulled over and sat down by Sha Zhu. He wiggled his buttocks a couple of times and listened to Sha Zhu's words.

He said nonchalantly, "How was I supposed to know the little girl was unhappy?"

As he spoke, he stood up from the chair, walked to the recliner in the room, plopped down, lay back, and placed his hands on the armrests.

He said, "This place is still the most comfortable to sit in." Then he turned to Sha Zhu and said, "Your new home is nice. Although it's all made of old bricks, it has more rooms than your old No. 95 courtyard, and such a big yard."

It's a bit deserted now. Aren't you and your sister scared living here? I think the old courtyard is better.

At least it's lively with lots of people, and you'll have many friends. If you move here, won't the neighbors bully you and your brother?

Sha Zhu moved over a small table, poured Xu Damao a cup of tea, and gestured for him to drink.

He said, "Silly Mao, you're pretending to be ignorant when you know the truth."

Before my father passed away, the people in the courtyard were thinking of contributing our bicycle. Jia Zhangshi even tried to take our bicycle and give it to Jia Dongxu.

"After the news of my father's death spread, do you think I wasn't bullied in that courtyard?" Sha Zhu took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

She said angrily, "Look where my brother and I aren't bullied! In courtyard number 95, those neighbors are always trying to bully us."

Since we moved here, the neighbors have been trying to bully my brother and me. They're either trying to take advantage of us, insulting us, or pointing fingers at us.

"Look, I beat up those two uncles surnamed Liu, and they're still doing labor reform in the road construction team. I don't believe you, idiot Mao, don't know about it."

Xu Damao got up from the recliner, sat down in the chair next to the table, and took a sip of tea.

He asked in confusion, "What exactly happened? I just heard that they came to your house to take some bricks back, and you beat them up and sent the uncle and nephew to the road construction team for labor reform."

"It can't be that serious, can it? Besides, they didn't even move the bricks. How come you're completely unharmed? Does Director Wang have some kind of connection to your family? I haven't heard of you having any relatives."

Sha Zhu chuckled twice, looked at the puzzled Xu Damao, and said, "Actually, it's just that old guy surnamed Liu who called me Sha Zhu twice."

They even tried to hit me, so I beat them both up. After Director Wang came over, I exaggerated the situation, saying that they not only tried to steal our bricks, but also verbally abused, kicked, and bullied me. Now I'm being used as an example.

Then, Sha Zhu continued earnestly to Xu Damao, "Sha Mao, you always call me Sha Zhu, and I've never laid a hand on you, have I?"

Look around, none of my neighbors or colleagues at the factory dare to call me "Silly Zhu" to my face. I'm not one to back down.

However, if you can't get used to calling me that, then for the sake of our childhood friendship, I'll start calling you "idiot" to other people's faces too.