Siheyuan: Reborn Silly Pillar, Taking Control of the Entire Courtyard

Wei Yidao, with half a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced sideways at Yi Zhonghai, who stood before him with his head bowed and eyes lowered, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"I know you work in a factory, and your skills sound passable. Just focus on your work. My skills are useless to you; you won't learn them, and you can't handle the responsibility."

Yi Zhonghai shivered, as if he had been doused with ice water from head to toe.

Why make him learn Wei Yidao's dirty tricks of risking his life and taking money to solve other people's problems? It would be better to just stab him to death!

He nodded and bowed repeatedly, his voice trembling:

"Yes, yes, Master Wei is right. I understand. I would never dare to overthink it."

Wei Yidao waved his hand impatiently:

"Alright, take the money and get back. Keep today's events to yourself; don't utter a single word. These days, don't show your face unless I call you. If someone really needs you, they'll come looking for you."

"Hey! Hey!"

Yi Zhonghai hurriedly agreed, stuffing the heavy silver dollars on the table into his pocket and holding them down tightly, as if afraid they would fall out.

He bowed deeply to Wei Yidao, his back almost breaking, before taking a few steps back, turning around and hurrying out.

Wei Yidao narrowed his eyes, staring at Yi Zhonghai's hasty departure with a sinister gaze. The smile on his lips grew increasingly unfathomable, like an old wolf eyeing its prey.

Yi Zhonghai practically fled from Wei Yidao's courtyard, walking through the deep alleys of Qianliang South Lane until he turned the corner and, making sure no one was following him, abruptly stopped, turned back, and spat fiercely in the direction of the courtyard.

"Pah! What a bunch of idiots! They really think they're something special!"

He cursed under his breath, the heavy silver dollar in his arms pressing against his chest, making him feel uneasy again.

In those days, carrying so much cash on your person was like carrying a death warrant.

Yi Zhonghai dared not linger and quickened his pace, almost running towards Nanluoguxiang.

I was on tenterhooks the whole way, but I finally made it home safely.

As soon as he entered the room, Yi Zhonghai breathed a long sigh of relief; his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

His wife, Li Guihua, was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) mending clothes when she saw him return looking flustered and covered in sweat. Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn't dare to ask any questions.

Since the major upheaval that happened before, Yi Zhonghai has become a completely different person. His former kind and gentle demeanor has vanished, replaced by gloom, violence, and a tendency to throw tantrums at the drop of a hat.

It wasn't until Yi Zhonghai slammed the few silver dollars he was carrying onto the table with a loud thud, a flash of silver light, that Li Guihua finally spoke, her voice barely audible:

"Honey...where have you been? Where did all this money come from?"

Yi Zhonghai glanced at her, his eyes chillingly cold.

"The men are out doing business; you're just a woman, so don't pry or meddle."

He stretched, his tense nerves relaxing as a wave of drowsiness washed over him. "Keep the money safe and well hidden. Serve me well from now on, and you'll have plenty to eat and drink."

After saying that, he didn't bother to look at Li Guihua again, and simply lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed) fully clothed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

Li Guihua silently picked up the silver dollar, wrapped it in a tattered cloth, and stuffed it into the deepest part of the kang (heated brick bed).

Once she was sure Yi Zhonghai was fast asleep, she turned her back, covered her mouth, and silently let her tears fall.

Yi Zhonghai no longer hits or scolds her, but his cold, ruthless, and inhuman demeanor chills her to the bone even more than if he had hit or scolded her.

But in those chaotic times of war, a woman's family couldn't survive in Beijing without a man to support her.

What could she do?

What else can we do but endure it?

In the following days, Yi Zhonghai suddenly calmed down a lot and often had a smile on his face.

But his neighbors in the compound, who knew him well, felt uneasy and their scalps tingled when they saw his smile.

That smile was so fake, so stiff, like it was forced out, and there was an indescribable malice hidden deep in his eyes.

Especially the way he looked at Jia Dongxu, that was really weird.

He was all smiles, but he looked like a hungry ghost eyeing a young, unmarried woman—slippery, sinister, and gave Jia Dongxu the creeps.

Who was Jia Zhangshi?

She was a notorious shrew in the neighborhood. As soon as she saw Yi Zhonghai staring at her son, she jumped up and started cursing.

"Yi Zhonghai! You old bastard! What are you staring at our Dongxu for?! Don't you want your eyes anymore?!"

"I'm telling you, stay away from my son! If you dare look at him again, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

After scolding her several times, Madam Jia Zhang simply gave a death order:

As long as Yi Zhonghai is home, Jia Dongxu is not allowed to step out of the house, not even the courtyard!

Jia Dongxu had also secretly mentioned this to his father, Jia Laonian.

After listening, Jia Laonian just silently took a few puffs of his pipe, the light from the pipe flickering, his brows furrowed into a knot.

He only gave one word of advice in a deep voice:

"Stay away from Yi Zhonghai, as far away as possible. This guy is really weird now."

After saying that, he smoked even more heavily, puffing one cigarette after another, filling the room with a pungent smell of smoke.

He knew in his heart that Yi Zhonghai had completely gone mad, but he dared not point it out.

During this period, Wei Yidao sent people to look for Yi Zhonghai several times.

Every time Yi Zhonghai went out, he would return with several more silver dollars in his pocket.

As for what he did after he went out, who he met, and what dirty things he did, no one knows except himself.

Li Guihua dared not ask, and the people in the courtyard dared not ask either.

On the other hand, Zhao Fengnian has been extremely busy lately, leaving early and returning late every day, often not getting home until midnight, covered in dust and with a solemn expression.

Yi Zhonghai had been holding back his anger, always wanting to find out what Zhao Fengnian was doing. He considered secretly following him several times, but when he thought of Wei Yidao's warning, he didn't dare to actually follow.

After much deliberation, he asked Wei Yidao to find two people to investigate Zhao Fengnian's background.

Two days later, news came that the two men they sent had been killed!

None of them came back!

Wei Yidao was so angry that he immediately gave Yi Zhonghai a thorough dressing-down.

"Yi Zhonghai! Are you tired of living?!"

Wei Yidao slammed his fist on the table, his eyes flashing with malice. "You think you can mess with someone like Zhao Fengnian? Let me tell you, that guy's backing is incredibly deep, we can't afford to mess with him! If you dare to act on your own again, you can go die yourself, don't drag me down with you!"

Yi Zhonghai was scolded until his face turned pale, and he nodded repeatedly in agreement.

But whether he had truly given up hope or extinguished the evil fire of revenge, only he himself knew the answer.

Time flies, and July is here soon.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and the cicadas are chirping incessantly. The whole city of Beijing is like a giant, simmering steamer.

He Yuzhu has been checking in every day for the past few months, but the rewards from the system haven't been very impressive.

Most of the items were food like rice, flour, cooking oil, canned goods, and biscuits. Forget about powerful weapons, I didn't even get a single decent skill.

He also took the opportunity to sneak out twice, as instructed by his father, He Daqing.

His father told him to take the opportunity to stockpile a lot of goods, but the situation was too tense these days, and large-scale purchases would be too conspicuous, so he didn't dare to do anything reckless. He just took the opportunity to secretly put a lot of scarce supplies such as pork, beef, milk powder, eggs, and fine grains into his static space.

At home, the younger sister, He Yushui, can now sit up steadily.

The little girl is as pretty as a porcelain doll, and she laughs "ga ga ga" every time you tease her, her voice as clear and crisp as a little bell.

Moreover, she is especially close to He Yuzhu. Whenever He Yuzhu hugs her, she immediately beams with joy and holds onto his clothes tightly with her little hands.

But when Xu Damao hugged her, she immediately pouted and burst into tears, crying her heart out.

This made Xu Damao extremely depressed, and he spent every day looking in the mirror pondering:

I'm not scary-looking, so why is this little girl so disrespectful?

Who doesn't love a chubby, soft, and adorable little dumpling? Yet, some people are just afraid of it.

The Xu family also has some good news recently.

Xu Damao's mother, Zhao Cuifeng, is pregnant. Her belly isn't showing yet, but she's experiencing severe morning sickness, vomiting everything she eats, and she's become quite haggard.

The Lou family felt sorry for their daughter and immediately granted Zhao Cuifeng a long leave of absence so she could stay home and rest during her pregnancy.

As a result, the task of taking care of his mother fell to Xu Damao again.

Feeling bad about it, Xu Fugui specially sent some money to the He family as payment for Zhao Cuifeng and her daughter's meals at the He family's house.

He's always out doing business and can't take care of his family at all.

He Daqing did not refuse and accepted it readily.

Xu Fugui didn't ask whether the He family had enough food or vegetables. He knew that He Daqing, though seemingly ordinary, was actually quite capable and never lacked work opportunities.

On the night of July 14th.

He Yuzhu had only been lying down for a short while when the system panel in his mind suddenly flashed and lit up with a dazzling red light!

The red light flashed rapidly, carrying an unprecedented sense of urgency.

He Yuzhu's heart tightened, and he immediately focused on reviewing the mission details.

Upon seeing this, he couldn't hold back any longer and gasped.

The system is about to do something big! Something incredibly big!

Previously, he had quietly destroyed the Japanese puppet regime's stronghold, "Gucheng Zao Da." Although he hadn't received any concrete information, he knew from the rumors He Daqing had heard outside that things outside Beiping must have been in complete chaos.

That commotion was definitely not small.

Outside of Beiping, it was still just small-scale fighting.

In other parts of the country, no one can say for sure what the situation is like now.

Especially before the new commander-in-chief of the Japanese Expeditionary Army took office, the Japanese forces were scattered and command was chaotic. Except for the Northeast, the Japanese forces were at a disadvantage in most parts of the country.

How could either side let such a good opportunity slip by?

Now, the system has thrown a deadly task at you.

[System Task: Power Generation Mountain City, Red Cradle]

The message content, corresponding password, and radio frequency band have all been stored in the host's static space. Please check them yourself.

Please send both telegrams by 24:00 tomorrow!

Urgent! Urgent! Extremely urgent!

He Yuzhu immediately focused his mind and entered the space. He took out the stack of telegrams and looked at them. His pupils shrank drastically.

Good guy!

The document clearly lists the detailed location of the Kamo unit's base, its troop deployment, weapons and equipment, patrol routes, and guard arrangements. It even details the atrocities committed by this unit recently and the massacre of civilians, all in a lengthy document of over a thousand words!

Moreover, it is made in duplicate.

Each one is equipped with a completely different code and a different transmission frequency band.

One was sent to the mountain city, and the other to the red cradle in the north.

He Yuzhu suddenly slapped his forehead.

He remembered that when they robbed the Mitsui & Co. building before, they seemed to have found a radio in the pile of junk and another in a secret room!

At that time, we were only focused on moving grain, supplies, and gold, and didn't pay much attention. Now that I think about it, it was like sending charcoal in snowy weather!

He immediately began searching through the space.

A short while later, two radios suddenly appeared before our eyes.

One was found in the residential area of ​​the Mitsui & Co. building, mixed in with miscellaneous items, and looked somewhat old; the other was hidden in an iron box in a secret underground room, still in its packaging, brand new and shiny, clearly a genuine military item.

He Yuzhu clenched his fists.

Sending a telegraph from your own side room?

Don't even think about it!

Even the entire courtyard house is not allowed!

Now in Beiping, Japanese radio monitoring vehicles roam the streets all day long, and can be locked onto as soon as a signal appears.

At that point, forget about sending telegrams, people won't even be able to leave!

We can't wait until tomorrow.

The longer the night lasts, the more things can go wrong; the sooner you send it out, the sooner you'll be safe.

He Yuzhu immediately made up his mind to set off that very night!

Target—Wangfujing, Mitsui & Co.!

He quietly got up, made sure his father and sister were asleep, changed into a dark-colored outfit, wiped his face, jumped over the courtyard wall, and rode the bicycle he had hidden beforehand.

With a powerful push of the foot, the wheel spun rapidly, the chain almost sparking from the friction.

The night was deep and the streets were deserted. Occasionally, Japanese and puppet troops would patrol by, but He Yuzhu would skillfully avoid them.

Outside the Mitsui & Co. building, the Japanese soldiers who had been stationed there had long since withdrawn.

Since he looted it all, the place has become an empty shell, with extremely lax defenses, leaving only one or two old and weak puppet soldiers to handle the errands at the gate.

For He Yuzhu, it was no different from being completely unguarded.

He parked his bicycle in a dark spot, and with a swift movement, he moved close to the courtyard wall like a ghost.

With a leap, he silently scaled the wall and landed almost without a sound.

The two puppet soldiers at the door were still yawning and chatting, completely unaware that death had already crept in.

He Yuzhu's eyes turned cold, and he quickly stepped closer.

With a hand like an iron clamp, he covered the mouth of a puppet soldier. With a slight force of his wrist, a soft cracking sound was heard, and the puppet soldier collapsed to the ground without even uttering a sound.

Just as another puppet soldier realized something was wrong, he turned around and saw a flash of cold light, and the blade instantly sliced ​​through his throat.

Clean and neat.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.

Climbing over walls, slitting throats, breaking in, clearing out the area, looting.

He Yuzhu was already very familiar with this process.

In total, it only took a little over half an hour.

He had already emptied the Mitsui Trading Company once, so there wasn't much good stuff left this time. He didn't bother to look closely and went straight to the underground secret room.

He took out the military radio that was officially registered with Mitsui & Co., lit two kerosene lamps in the secret room, and the dim light illuminated the small space.

He Yuzhu quickly flipped through the system's operating instructions, familiarizing himself with the buttons, frequency bands, and transmission methods.

The system was simple and easy to understand, and since he was quick-witted, he mastered it completely in no time.

Confirmed.

He took a deep breath and placed his fingers on the keys.

"Beep—beep beep—beep—beep beep beep—"

The rapid, rhythmic radio waves gently echoed in the silent, enclosed room.

Strings of coded messages, carried by radio waves, flew into the deep night sky, towards the mountain city thousands of miles away.

The first one he sent was the one sent to the mountain city.

As for who will receive it, he doesn't know, nor does he need to know.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, in a mountain city.

The Presidential Palace of the Bald Party, the Attendant's Office, the most confidential Telegraph Section.

In the dead of night, all was quiet except for the faint static of the radio.

Suddenly, the top-secret dedicated radio turned on!

"Beep—beep beep—"

The telegraph clerk on duty was startled and immediately picked up his pen to quickly copy it down.

After copying only a hundred or so words, cold sweat poured down his forehead, and he began to tremble uncontrollably, his hands shaking.

The contents of this telegram are terrifying!

When Song, the deputy head of the telegraph department on duty, saw that he hadn't moved for a long time and his face was as pale as paper, he immediately walked over, frowned, and was about to reprimand him.

"What's going on? It's just sending a telegram, what's the panic!"

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze swept across the telegram draft and landed on it.

After just one glance, Section Chief Song's expression changed drastically; he was terrified!

He immediately stepped in front of the telegraph operator, not daring to leave his side for even a moment, cold sweat pouring down his forehead and soaking his back.

He suddenly looked up and waved fiercely at the guard standing at the door.

The guard sergeant was taken aback, then quickly strode in:

"Section Chief Song, what's wrong?"

Section Chief Song's voice was extremely low, yet it carried an undeniable air of authority:

"Go, summon your captain immediately! Quickly!"

The guard sergeant's heart skipped a beat:

"Section Chief Song, has something serious happened?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask. This isn't something you need to know." Section Chief Song's eyes were cold and sharp. "Go and call your captain here!"

"yes!"

The guard sergeant didn't dare ask any more questions and turned to run away.

Not long after, the guard captain rushed over.

The atmosphere in the entire telegraph department instantly became extremely tense, as if the air itself had frozen.

Without saying a word, Section Chief Song gave the order directly:

"Immediately and secretly mobilize manpower to fully protect the telegraph section. Without my order, no one is allowed to enter, leave, or approach!"

The guard captain's expression changed:

"Section Chief Song, there must be a reason for such a commotion, right? What happened?"

Section Chief Song looked at him, his lips moved slightly, and he uttered only two words, each word carrying immense weight:

"Top Secret!"

He paused, then added:

"Also, go immediately and fetch the head guard! Quickly!"

The captain of the guards dared not delay and immediately turned and left.

Soon, the Presidential Palace Chief of Staff arrived quickly.

As soon as he entered, his expression turned sour, and he seemed rather impatient.

What is this place? The Presidential Palace!

Unless something major happens to the US military, or the Japanese are completely defeated, or an entire theater of war is lost, it's not a big deal!

"Section Chief Song! What are you up to? Making such a commotion in the middle of the night, are you trying to alarm the President?"

Without saying a word, Section Chief Song handed over the telegram, which had already been copied in its entirety.

The head guard took it dismissively and glanced at it casually.

At that glance, he froze on the spot, his face turning from red to white, from white to green, and finally to ashen!

He abruptly looked up, his eyes sharp as knives, at the guard captain, his voice low and cold:

"Listen up! Assemble the entire guard force immediately! Put the camp on high alert! No one is allowed to leave! Not even a fly is permitted to escape!"

The guard captain was startled:

"Captain, this...is this really going to work? We haven't received orders from above..."

The head guard spoke with absolute certainty, enunciating each word clearly:

"If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility!"