Life in siheyuan era

The piercing screams of several burly men shook the heavens and the earth. Neighbors in the courtyard, hearing the noise, came over, but stopped short when they saw it was the Xu family.

People outside the courtyard also came upon hearing the sound, looking at the windows of the house. They saw the fire pit was crowded with people, and a young man was standing in front of the pit, talking to them.

The people outside were puzzled and asked the neighbors in the courtyard, "What's going on?"

Xu Laoer hurriedly interjected, "Comrade Zhou, you came in so silently, you scared us to death."

Xu Laoer tried to change the subject, but Zhou Zhiyuan didn't take the bait. He turned to look at Xu Laoer slowly getting up, and asked coldly, "When Xu Laosan said 'I know,' you shouted as loud as you could, trying to cover up what?"

Xu Laoer hurriedly said, "There's absolutely no concealment, and nothing to cover up."

He made a guarantee, but Zhou Zhiyuan looked at him coldly, saying slowly, "The more I look at you, the more suspicious you seem. It's necessary to keep an eye on you every day."

His words made Xu Laoer reveal a bitter smile. Who had he offended? He got beaten up, and it wasn't even over yet!

Just then, the reasonable young man squeezed through the crowd and hurried in. Before he could open his mouth, Zhou Zhiyuan asked coldly, "Earthworm, was the information sent out?"

Hearing his question, the reasonable young man was slightly stunned. Then he heard Xu Laoer's voice, "Earthworm, did you find anyone?"

The reasonable young man's name was apparently Earthworm. Zhou Zhiyuan, seeing his confusion, reminded him, "Who did you go to find?"

Xu Laoer immediately asked, "Did you find anyone to demolish the house?"

Earthworm then reacted, replying quickly, "Couldn't find anyone. I looked for a long time, but no one was willing to come demolish the house."

As soon as Earthworm finished speaking, Xu Laoer immediately said to Zhou Zhiyuan, "Comrade Zhou, you see, it's not that I don't want to demolish it, it's that I can't find anyone to help demolish the house. The few of us are like this, we can't demolish the house either."

Seeing him feigning pity, Zhou Zhiyuan said coldly, "Those are all excuses. You just don't want to demolish it."

"I want to demolish it..." Xu Laoer guaranteed, "I'll demolish it as soon as I find someone."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "That's easy. Look at those people outside the window..."

He pointed to the outside of the window and continued, "They can help you. Come on, Xu Laosan, let's go out together and make an appeal."

Hearing his summons, Xu Laosan looked at Xu Laoer. Seeing him nod, he got off the pit, put on his shoes, and followed Zhou Zhiyuan out of the house, listening to him raise his voice and say, "Xu Laoer knows he was wrong and is determined to demolish the illegal building. Because his brothers and friends are unwell, and he can't find anyone to help, he sincerely requests everyone's assistance."

He said that Xu Laoer was asking everyone to help demolish the illegal building, but everyone looked at Xu Laosan at the same time.

So Zhou Zhiyuan turned to Xu Laosan and said, "Everyone isn't familiar with me. You make a statement."

Xu Laosan glared and roared, "Who will help my family demolish the house!"

He already had a notorious reputation. Now, with his bulging eyes and loud voice, the onlookers scattered with a bang, and many turned and left.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Zhiyuan sighed, "Look at your popularity. It's stinky enough."

At that moment, Xu Laoer was helped out by Earthworm and the others. Xu Laoer sighed, "Comrade Zhou, I have no choice. I want to demolish the house, but I'm powerless!"

Xu Laoer's tone was relaxed. If he could drag out this afternoon, it would be difficult for Zhou Zhiyuan to demolish his house.

He was smug in his heart, but his face showed a helpless expression. Seeing Zhou Zhiyuan walk to the stone dumbbells, he was puzzled. These were the stone dumbbells Xu Laosan used to practice his strength, each weighing more than fifty pounds.

Zhou Zhiyuan picked up a stone dumbbell, easily lifted it up and put it down, then turned to Xu Laoer and said, "I like to help people the most."

As soon as the word "help" landed, before they could react, Zhou Zhiyuan swung the stone dumbbell around, and then there was a heavy crashing sound.

This crashing sound happened to reach Han Xue's ears, causing her to quicken her pace.

Her timing was perfect. She had just walked out of Li Huaiyi's office and was heading straight for Bitter Gourd Alley at a normal speed. As soon as she entered the alley, she heard a heavy crashing sound in front of her.

Han Xue hurriedly quickened her pace and arrived in front of the courtyard, hearing the third crashing sound again, followed by a loud "Boom!"

Hearing this loud noise, Han Xue rushed into the courtyard anxiously, but was forced out by the dust flying everywhere.

After the dust settled, she rushed in again, only to see that everyone in the courtyard was covered in dust.

One of the dusty figures saw her and called out in surprise, "Section Chief Han, why are you here?"

Following the sound, she saw that this dusty figure was holding a stone dumbbell in his left hand, his hair and eyebrows turned gray. You could write a line of words on his thin, angular face with your finger.

After careful identification, Han Xue recognized him, covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing, and looked at the others. The patched cotton hat seemed familiar, like Xu Laoer, and the burly Xu Laosan. The four gray shadows next to him should be the four young men from this morning.

Looking at the illegal building again, only the foundation of the broken walls remained.

"Demolished thoroughly," Han Xue affirmed to herself.

Zhou Zhiyuan threw down the stone dumbbell in his hand and shouted, "Xu Laoer, who built this house for you? It's like a piece of tofu, it breaks with a touch."

He demolished someone's house and even accused them of not building it strong enough.

Xu Laoer didn't want to talk anymore. What could he say? Zhou Zhiyuan was just retaliating against him, with interlocking moves and no loopholes.

He demolished his house, but under the guise of doing a good deed, leaving Xu Laoer swallowing bitter medicine.

He thought a lot, but Xu Laosan just stared at Zhou Zhiyuan with wide eyes, speechless. The stone dumbbell could be played like this?

Zhou Zhiyuan held the stone dumbbell in his hand and used the force of rotation to smash the wall. Three impacts completely broke the supporting pillar. With the collapse of the supporting pillar, the house collapsed like dominoes with a loud crash.

This was a premeditated forced demolition. When Zhou Zhiyuan walked into the courtyard, he was going to demolish the illegal building. The Xu brothers had offended him, and he had an absolute reason to retaliate.

Han Xue had the same idea as him. Wan Chunfang emphasized Xu Laoer, just to see if she had the courage and ability.

This was the first battle of leading troops, only victory was allowed, not defeat.

Han Xue thought of many ways, including asking the police station to come forward, using both soft and hard tactics to demolish the illegal building.

Zhou Zhiyuan had solved the problem for her, so she had to consider what she should do?

Walking out of the courtyard with Zhou Zhiyuan, she whispered, "How to explain it to Li Huaiyi?"

Zhou Zhiyuan replied indifferently, "At Xu Laoer's request, I helped him demolish the house."

Hearing this reason, Han Xue nodded, still worried about Li Huaiyi's revenge, and whispered, "What if Li Huaiyi retaliates against you?"

"Bring soldiers to block, use earth to dam the water." Zhou Zhiyuan didn't care much.

The two walked towards the Subdistrict Office talking, not caring about the attention of the passersby. They walked into the Subdistrict Office gate, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

A group of people poured out of the front rooms, discussing when they saw Zhou Zhiyuan covered in dust.

"Is that Zhou Zhiyuan?"

"How did he get like that?"

"Who knows."

"Let's go see."

The crowd followed them into the middle courtyard, just in time to catch Qiu Jianye walking out. Seeing Zhou Zhiyuan, he was slightly stunned, then asked, "What happened?"

Zhou Zhiyuan replied in a deep voice, "Reporting to the Director, Section Chief Han took us out this morning and gave Xu Laoer a serious criticism and education, and he promised to demolish it himself at that time."

He mentioned Han Xue first, then spoke for himself, "This afternoon, we conducted group investigations. When I was investigating in Bitter Gourd Alley, I saw Xu Laoer looking everywhere for someone to help him demolish the house, so I volunteered to help him demolish the illegal building, and that's how I got like this."

Zhou Zhiyuan's statement made everyone look at each other, and Qiu Jianye was also slightly stunned, then looked at the expressions of the crowd, and then turned to Zhou Zhiyuan's face, slowly saying, "So, you were doing a good deed?"

"It's not a good deed..." Zhou Zhiyuan replied lightly, "I'll help if I can."

Hearing his answer, Qiu Jianye smiled and said, "That's a good attitude. You demolished Xu Laoer's illegal building and helped him at the same time. Keep up the good work in the future."

After saying this, he walked out of the courtyard, and the crowd dispersed back to their rooms, with murmurs of discussion.

Han Xue looked at Wan Chunfang and Wang Dagang, and turned to Zhou Zhiyuan and said, "Go back to your room and wash up. I'll go report to Deputy Director Li."

"Let's go together."

"No need, we have a clear division of labor. You are the main attacker and I am the support. Now it's my business."

After Han Xue finished speaking, she walked inside. Wan Chunfang hurriedly said, "Zhiyuan, hurry into the house and wash up."

Wan Chunfang thought that Zhou Zhiyuan would go to find Xu Laoer, but she didn't expect that he would do it himself. This strength made her admire him, so she called Wang Dagang to help Zhou Zhiyuan pat the dust off his clothes.

At this moment, Han Xue walked into Li Huaiyi's office, briefly reported the situation, causing Li Huaiyi's face to turn pale, but he didn't know how to vent his anger.

Han Xue went to deliver the order, but it was one step too late. Zhou Zhiyuan didn't receive Deputy Director Li's order, and he was helping Xu Laoer demolish the house, which was praised by Director Qiu.

Hearing Han Xue's report, Li Huaiyi didn't know what to do, and Nie Yucheng smiled and said, "It's interesting that Zhou Zhiyuan is helping gangsters demolish illegal buildings."

This reminded Li Huaiyi that Xu Laoer was a gangster, and some things couldn't be said publicly, so he gave a bitter smile, waved his hand to let Han Xue out, and complained to Nie Yucheng, "Zhou Zhiyuan's working style is too rough."

Nie Yucheng smiled and said, "Director Qiu appreciates him."

This sentence reminded Li Huaiyi again, so he could only shake his head and say nothing more.

Han Xue walked out of the Deputy Director's office, stood in the courtyard and breathed a sigh of relief. This matter was temporarily over.