The Life of a Son-in-Law in a Courtyard House

Goodness, this is the first time anyone has ever dared to come to the police station to "exchange" something.

The other two deputy captains in the office gathered around, wondering what Yang Dalin wanted to change.

Yang Dalin took out the braised beef, which was wrapped in several layers of newspaper and oil paper, from his satchel.

Although it was wrapped in several layers, the fragrance could still be smelled.

This office is rectangular, with another door on the left leading to another room, which is the captain's office.

Wu Tiejun shouted in a high-pitched voice, "What? You want to trade something with me?"

This startled Dou Xiaolong, the captain of the brigade, out of the inner room.

As soon as Shawn Dou appeared, everyone quieted down.

The three deputy captains, smelling the oil packet in Yang Dalin's hand, were all reluctant to leave.

Dou Xiaolong asked, "What's going on? Why are you making such a fuss?"

Wu Tiejun then explained the matter.

When Dou Xiaolong heard that this was Yang Dalin, who had provided Wu Tiejun with clues a few days earlier and personally apprehended the head of the human traffickers, he was shocked.

Captain Dou quickly grasped Yang Dalin's hand and shook it up and down.

"Thank you, Comrade Xiao Yang. You're a great young man. On behalf of the team, I thank you. My surname is Dou, Dou Xiaolong. I'm the captain of the security team in the bureau. By the way, what are you here to exchange? What's going on here?"

This is the first time I've seen someone come to our team to exchange things.

Yang Dalin really hadn't expected this situation.

I originally thought Wu Tiejun had a separate office.

This mess... we can't take it back now.

Of course, you can't say you're selling it, nor can you say you're giving it away.

We had to change our tune and say we'd exchange it for something else.

The bag contained two jin of braised beef prepared by Yang Dalin.

This made me the center of attention all of a sudden.

Yang Dalin, feeling embarrassed, first opened the oil packet that was covered with two layers of newspaper.

Further inside is the oil paper; once you open the two layers of oil paper, you'll find two pounds of braised cooked beef.

The aroma of meat filled the air, and Yang Dalin clearly saw several people sniffing loudly.

Before Yang Dalin could speak, Captain Dou said, "Tiejun, go and lock the office door."

Wu Tiejun quickly replied, "Yes," and then promptly closed the door.

Captain Dou gestured for Yang Dalin to continue, and then the group swallowed hard, staring at the piece of beef.

Yang Dalin glanced at the expressions on the faces of the group; they were clearly craving it too.

Then he spoke up, "Well, Captain Dou, and a few vice-captains."

Captain Dou chimed in again: "Why do you call them brothers? Why do you call me captain? You seem distant with me, right? Call them brothers too, Brother Dou, or Brother Long, it's all fine."

Whether you call me captain or not doesn't matter, the captain needs to eat meat too.

Yang Dalin had no choice but to continue: "Hey guys, here's the thing. I helped a minority group in Niujie with this meat, and they gave it to me. I'm short on cotton fabric, so I was thinking of getting a big cotton-padded coat for winter."

I'm new to Beijing and don't know anyone. After thinking it over, I remembered Brother Jun. That's why I came to ask him for some tickets and a thick cotton-padded coat. That's all.

Wu Tiejun reluctantly averted his gaze from the beef, too lazy to doubt Yang Dalin's words.

It's normal for him and Grandpa Qi to use a handcart. After finishing their work at the freight station, they would do some hauling and moving work.

As for why they gave him two catties of braised beef, that's not within his purview.

Or you can go to the pigeon market or the black market to buy things. That's nothing. In this day and age, many people go to buy things, as long as they don't resell them.

Besides, there's a bunch of pigeon sellers near the train station. Do you really think they don't know that?

They all tacitly approved it; they just didn't investigate properly.

Thinking that Yang Dalin was probably also short of money, he still spoke up, saying, "Dalin, for something as small as this, you don't need to bring the meat over. Just open your mouth, and I'll change your reward application at the bureau later. If that doesn't work, I have some vouchers here; you can take them back and use them first. You don't need such a big piece of meat..."

Wu Tiejun's voice grew softer and softer, and the brothers around him were staring at him like hungry wolves.

Especially Shawn Dou, his eyes seemed to say, "You refuse to try."

No sooner had Wu Tiejun finished speaking than a deputy captain next to him said, "Brother, my name is Zhang Weiguo, you can call me Brother Zhang from now on. Don't listen to Lao Wu's nonsense. If he won't exchange it for you, I will. I have the ticket here, wait, I'll go get it for you."

Another deputy captain chimed in, "That's right, brother. I have some too. My name is Xin Zhiqiang. You can call me Brother Xing or Brother Qiang. If anything good happens, think of me, don't just think of Lao Wu. Why don't you wait a bit, I'll go home and get it for you? My tickets are with your sister-in-law. No, why don't you give me the meat first, and I'll have your sister-in-law bring it over later?"

Looking at his subordinates who were shameless enough to see meat, Lao Dou really wanted to kick them a couple of times.

A good idea will come to you if you close your eyes and think for a moment.

"What's the point of arguing? Nobody can have it all to themselves. Hey bro, you're short on cotton clothes and fabric, I'll figure something out. I'll just add one of my old coats to your reward. Don't mind, I'll bring it to your house in a few days. Everyone's struggling, will you even have anything to eat at home if you bring this?"

Yang Dalin thought to himself, "That's great! I don't even need my aunt to make it. The branch office will just give me a dark blue police overcoat as a reward. How impressive!"

It's of good quality and keeps you warm. It would be perfect if it came with a hat too.

Two pounds of meat for a coat, what a bargain!

So Yang Dalin replied, "Brother Long, I'm so sorry, but thank you very much. I still have some at home, which I brought here specifically to exchange for tickets with Brother Jun."

Since you've already rewarded me with a coat, I won't exchange this ticket. I'll give the meat to Brother Long. Thank you for the reward, Brother Long.

Captain Dou could tell at a glance that this kid, Xiao Yang, was getting the hang of things.

He quickly patted Yang Dalin on the shoulder: "Brother, that won't do. Consider the coat a reward for you. We can't take the meat for free, and we can't take every single thing from the people for nothing."

"You lot, hurry up and hand over your cigarettes, alcohol, candy, tea coupons, and stuff. Do you still want to eat meat? Hurry up!"

It seems that these deputy captains and the captain have a good relationship.

This is the food prepared for the four of us to stay and drink together.

Wu Tiejun and the other two team leaders hurriedly searched their pockets.

In this way, Yang Dalin exchanged two jin of braised beef for an old police overcoat and several kinds of receipts.

Those receipts alone were worth far more than two pounds of meat.

Coming today was the right decision.

Yang Dalin felt he had gotten a great deal, so he took out two more packs of Daqianmen cigarettes from his bag.

Actually, he took it out of his spatial storage and handed it to Captain Dou: "Brother Long, I have two packs of cigarettes here. I usually use them to offer to others when I'm working. You guys can have some too."

Wu Tiejun held onto the two packs of cigarettes, not letting go, and said, "Brother, how can I accept this? You know, this, sigh."

You're too young to smoke, I'll take care of that for you.

Then he took out a dollar and gave it to Yang Dalin.

Two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes require Class B cigarette coupons and 70 cents in cash.

He gave me a dollar, which wasn't much, but it wasn't little either.

I would have believed you if you had loosened your grip on the cigarette even a little.

Moreover, before the cigarette even reached Wu Tiejun's pocket, it was snatched away by two other people next to him.

These people are really something else. They want the best stuff, but they don't want to take advantage of it, and they don't want to let go of it. It's unbelievable.

As Yang Dalin was leaving, Wu Tiejun said, "Brother, come again when you have time. I won't see you off."

Then the door was locked, and you could vaguely hear someone shouting from inside, "Stop fighting over it, it smells too good, hurry up and get the wine."

Another voice said, "Why drink? Let's just split it among the four of us and take it home for our families to try."

Another voice, seemingly Wu Tiejun's, said: "Why should we split it equally? Dalinzi came to see me. I'll take one jin (500g) by myself, and the remaining three of you will split the rest."