Chapter 21

When he saw the fire, Ye Manzhi had no idea in his mind. Almost as a conditioned reflex, he ran towards the nearby granary.

Apart from the police station, the grain warehouse is the only unit that has someone on duty at night and a telephone installed.

"Uncle Liu, call the fire department!"

Warehouse manager Lao Liu was playing poker with someone. Upon hearing this, he immediately jumped up and asked, "Xiao Ye, where's the fire?"

He was in charge of the granary and his biggest fear was fire.

Ye Manzhi was so out of breath that she pinched her waist and said, "Yueya Hutong! Don't ask any more questions, just call the fire department!"

Old Liu quickly ran into the warehouse, picked up the phone and dialed 00. Ye Manzhi stopped him and said, "Uncle Liu, dial 09!"

00 is the emergency number, which has to be transferred to the fire department by the dispatch room, which requires a long wait. 09 is the fire department's dedicated line, which was just opened earlier this year and can be dialed directly to the fire department.

After hearing him answer the phone and report the exact address, Ye Manzhi felt relieved. She sat on the sack and took a deep breath for a while. As soon as she had recovered some strength, she ran to Yueya Hutong.

The streets were in complete chaos. When the neighbors saw the fire, they all ran towards Yueya Hutong with buckets of water.

When she arrived near Zheng's house, Zheng Dongmei had just climbed out of a large water tank. She ignored the obstruction of others and rushed into the fire scene, all wet.

Ye Manzhi pulled Zhuang Ting over and asked, "Do you know who else is in the Zheng family's house?"

"According to Zheng Dongmei, her parents and brother are at home."

"Where are the others?"

Zhuang Ting raised her chin, motioning her to look back. Not far away, Xue Qiaoer was huddled together with four children under the wall.

The children's faces were red from crying, while Xue Qiaoer just sat on the ground with a numb expression, staring blankly at the burning house.

"It is said that they took their child to the bathhouse to take a bath at night, and when they returned, they found the house on fire."

Ye Manzhi: “…”

It seems that those soon-to-expire bath tickets were given to Zheng Dongmei by Fourth Sister-in-law.

The two people most likely to have set the fire were not present tonight. Could the fire have been started accidentally?

"Sister Ting, the fire department will be here soon. We don't have any firefighting tools, so staying here won't help. Let's go to other houses in the alley and call for help. It doesn't matter if the house burns down, but we don't want anyone to die!"

"Yes, the scene is too chaotic, this is serious business!"

The two men called some onlookers who did not have fire-fighting tools, and went to the alley to knock on doors one by one.

Regardless of whether the fire will spread, call people out to avoid danger first.

A sudden fire caused panic among the people, and the alley was filled with frightened inquiries and complaints.

Ye Manzhi and others evacuated the neighbors and when they returned to the Zheng family fire scene, Zheng Dongmei had already escaped from the yard carrying her father on her back and supporting her mother.

Following closely behind was Zhao Qiang, who was carrying Zheng Dong on his back.

Seeing someone coming out of the fire, Xue Qiaoer suddenly got up from the ground and staggered to the three people from the Zheng family.

She didn't even look at her burned parents-in-law, but slapped Zheng Dong's face covered with black ash.

Xue Qiaoer beat him silently, and Zheng Dong also took the beating without saying a word. Neither the couple said a word.

The crisp sound of slapping seemed to be able to penetrate into people's hearts, and it was extremely strange against the backdrop of the fire.

It was not until Director Mu arrived with the fire truck that the silent confrontation between the couple ended.

"He's already like this, why are you hitting him?" Director Mu pulled Xue Qiao'er over and ordered, "Take him away quickly. The fire truck is coming. Stop standing here and hindering everyone from putting out the fire!"

The arrival of the fire truck prevented the fire from spreading further, and the fire in the Zheng family yard was quickly brought under control.

Except for the house to the east next to the Zheng family, which had a kitchen and a coal shed burned down, other residents did not suffer any property losses.

Most of the Zheng family's two houses were burned down. After dealing with the problems at the fire scene, Director Mu temporarily arranged for the Zheng family to live in the small courtyard that the fifth brother had just moved out of, and together with Chief Liu, he inquired about the arson case.

Yes, judging by the speed of the fire and the intensity of the fire, the fire was determined to be arson.

The Zheng family's elderly couple has been sent to the hospital for treatment of burns. Zheng Dongmei and Xue Qiaoer have an alibi, and the only person who may know the inside story is Zheng Dong, who is paralyzed in bed.

Zheng Dong lay on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling without saying a word.

Ye Manzhi stood beside Director Mu and looked at the man in front of her.

Zheng Dong was a man paralyzed in bed. She had visited the Zheng family several times but had never entered the room of Zheng Dong and his wife. This was the first time she saw the legendary Zheng Dong.

He has a square face and looks quite tall. Although his face is covered with a lot of black ash, his hairstyle is a neat flat top and his fingernails seem to be neatly trimmed.

Judging from these details, Zheng Dong should be well taken care of, at least he looks clean and tidy on the surface.

Chief Liu stared at Zheng Dong for a moment and asked in a declarative tone, "Did you set the fire?"

He had just asked the Zheng family's children. Before following Xue Qiaoer out to take a bath, Zheng Dong asked his eldest son to get him a cigarette basket, which contained a stack of cigarette papers, tobacco and a box of matches.

"Yeah." Zheng Dong still looked half dead.

"Why set the fire?"

"I don't want to live anymore." Zheng Dong said expressionlessly, "You can save me once, but not a second time."

Director Mu had been busy all night, exhausted both physically and mentally. Seeing his dying appearance only intensified his anger. He completely disregarded his cadre demeanor and scolded him, "If you don't want to live anymore, you can bite your tongue and commit suicide, or you can starve yourself to death! Either way will kill you completely! Do you know how many innocent people this fire will implicate? Fortunately, there's no strong wind tonight. If it had, our entire street would have been buried with you!"

Just imagining the consequences, Mulan's hands trembled uncontrollably.

Hearing this, Zheng Dong actually smiled and gave an unexpected answer: "I want to take my parents with me."

Zheng Dongmei rushed over like crazy and hit Zheng Dong hard on the chest, "Why did you take my parents away? How have our parents treated you badly? Haven't they been taking good care of you for so many years?"

When he was pulled away by the police, he was still not satisfied and kicked his brother hard on the leg.

Zheng Dong remained silent even after being beaten and kicked. After a long pause, he asked, "Tell me honestly, are they really the ones who raised me?"

Everyone subconsciously looked at Xue Qiaoer, who was sitting in the corner with a blank look in her eyes.

Everyone present knew that the Zheng family, from the old to the young, were supported by Xue Qiaoer.

If Zheng Dong could take the two old men away with him, it would really be a relief for Xue Qiaoer.

Zheng Dongmei didn't care about that and pounced on him again, "You beast! At least our parents gave birth to you!"

"I'll pay them back in my next life. I can't take care of them in this one." Zheng Dong's eyes showed a kind of relief after a broken heart. "I didn't bring Qiao'er back home to sell her. Rather than dragging her and the child down like this, it's better to end it all once and for all."

As Xue Qiaoer's bedmate, Zheng Dong has already noticed her abnormality.

He knew that Xue Qiaoer could not hold on any longer.

He is already like this. If Xue Qiaoer is also finished, what will happen to the four children?

Anyway, he has lived enough. Taking his blood-sucking parents with him can also free Qiao'er and his sister.

Ye Manzhi frowned and said, "Since you don't want to burden Xue Qiao'er and the child, just divorce her. Why set fire to the house? Is divorce harder than death?"

"Divorce is harder than death." Xue Qiaoer, who had remained silent all this time, finally spoke up. "We can't get divorced."

Director Mu said angrily, "In this new society, marriage is free. You can divorce if you want. Is there any marriage that cannot be divorced?"

"We got our marriage certificate."

Xue Qiao'er came from a poor family, and their so-called marriage was just to live together behind closed doors, and they never thought about getting a marriage certificate.

But after Zheng Dong became paralyzed, the old couple of the Zheng family were afraid that she would change her mind, so they persuaded her to get a marriage certificate with Zheng Dong.

She had already given birth to a child at that time and had a good relationship with Zheng Dong. She had never thought of abandoning her husband and child. Getting a marriage certificate would put Zheng Dong, who had a sudden bad temper, at ease, so she agreed without any hesitation.

That year, Factory 656 was built near Guangming Street. Suddenly, thousands of outsiders poured in from all over the country, and the city established a street office on Guangming Street.

Her marriage certificate with Zheng Dong happened to be the first marriage certificate issued after the establishment of Guangming Sub-district Office.

The establishment of the 656 factory was a major event, and the Guangming Sub-district Office that emerged as a result also attracted much attention from all parties. When they obtained their marriage certificate, reporters from several newspapers wanted to report on the matter. Upon hearing that Zheng Dong was a paralyzed patient, they came to their home and took photos of the couple.

These newspapers all reported her story, saying that she was a prostitute who, after reforming herself, stayed with her paralyzed husband. To show her determination, she obtained the first marriage certificate issued by the Guangming Street Office, and her parents-in-law and neighbors praised her highly.

What the reporter reported was true. Due to her background and limited knowledge, Xue Qiaoer only thought it was an honor for someone like her to be in the newspaper.

At that time, she had no idea that this marriage certificate and those newspaper reports would become shackles that locked her tightly.

Her mother-in-law framed the marriage certificate and hung it in the most conspicuous place at the entrance of the Zheng family's house.

Although no one in the family could read, her parents-in-law cut out several reports and hung them on the wall. They praised her as a good daughter-in-law and said she had sacrificed a lot for the family.

Xue Qiaoer has a good relationship with Zheng Dong and loves her four children. She was initially confused by these things and resolutely took on the burden of supporting the family.

By the time she gradually realized that something was wrong with her in-laws, they had already been carried to the platform and couldn't get down.

After hearing this, Ye Manzhi couldn't help but sigh that he was not afraid of the red-faced Guan Gong, but he was afraid of the pursed-lipped Bodhisattva.

Although the old couple of the Zheng family are not well educated, they are very smart.

Even an unrelated person like Chang Yue'e knew everything about the Zheng family and Xue Qiaoer, which shows how well the couple did in publicity.

Mulan looked at Zheng Dong and his wife, and finally understood what it meant to pity their misfortune and be angry at their lack of resistance.

"If you can get married, you can get divorced. There's no marriage that can't be divorced these days!"

"I don't want a divorce. I started the fire. Just shoot me."

Zheng Dong has really had enough of life.

Now he is a burden to Xue Qiaoer. After the divorce, without Xue Qiaoer to make money, he will be a burden to his sister.

Instead of that, it would be better to just die, and leave some face and reputation for Xue Qiaoer and the child.

This will also prevent Xue Qiaoer from taking risks and doing something irreparable.

Ye Manzhi despised this kind of man who was so desperate, not to mention that his fire might sacrifice many innocent lives.

Why should they be buried with the Zheng family?

"Zheng Dong, since you're not afraid of death, then don't be afraid of a bad reputation either! You don't want to drag down Xue Qiao'er and the child, right? Then take the initiative to file for divorce, saying that you dislike Xue Qiao'er and don't want to be with her anymore. This marriage must end! One of you insists on divorce, and the other refuses to leave. You've escalated the matter so much that neither the subdistrict office nor the district can mediate, and the court will have to make the final decision!"

"If we get divorced this way, Xue Qiao'er can leave your home with the child, and you won't have to worry about ruining your reputation." Ye Manzhi raised his chin and asked, "Don't you dare to set fire? Then do you dare to mention divorce?"

A few days ago, the scandal of Xue Qiaoer possibly returning to her old ways broke out, and Zheng Dong wanted to burn down the house and get a divorce. In the eyes of outsiders, this was a sign of not trusting his wife.

Everyone knows what Xue Qiaoer has paid for these years. The Zheng family is spending other people's money and thinks the money is dirty, which will only make people sympathize with Xue Qiaoer for being entrusted to the wrong person. Public opinion will most likely be on Xue Qiaoer's side.

Even if Xue Qiaoer will be gossiped about because of this, it is better than working herself to death in the Zheng family, right?

*

The old couple of the Zheng family were still receiving treatment in the hospital, and no matter how long their arms were, they could not reach home. Zheng Dong was not completely confused yet, and without his parents to get in the way, he filed for divorce in front of the street cadres that night.

When she heard him say the word "divorce", Xue Qiaoer, who had been relatively stable, suddenly threw herself on him and burst into tears.

Zheng Dong put his arm around her shoulders and patted her, saying that he had been too cowardly in the past and had let her down over the years.

Ye Manzhi couldn't bear to see this scene, so she said goodbye to Director Mu and went straight home.

The next day was the weekend, and it was also the day when the Guangming Street branch of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association was established.

Director Mu seemed to be worried that things would get more complicated if the night went on, so he handed Zheng Dong's divorce application to the comrade on duty in the district early in the morning.

When she arrived at the venue, she still had two big dark circles under her eyes.

Chief Liu is not much better than her. Zheng Dong is an arsonist, but he is also a paralyzed patient. Putting him in jail and finding someone to take care of him doesn't feel like a punishment, but rather like a reward!

Because of Zheng Dong's matter, Liu Suo was so worried that his head became bald.

If the president and vice president are in low spirits, the other members should cheer up.

To become a member of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, one needs two formal members to recommend her for membership. Ye Manzhi asked Lin Qingmei and her third brother to be her introducers. She has become one of the first members of the branch and officially wears the Friendship Association badge on her chest that she has been coveting for a long time.

Of course, membership dues were also paid.

Hundreds of members came to the scene, and the large classroom was almost full. Ye Manyi saw Qin Xiang in the last row and took the initiative to go over and say hello.

"Comrade Qin is here, welcome! There are still seats up front, please take a seat!"

Qin Xiang was sitting with another colleague, neither of them in uniform. He stood up and said with a smile, "Comrade Xiao Ye, I'll just sit back and listen. Well, our regiment leader originally wanted to come over to show his support, but something happened at the factory and he couldn't leave. Please bear with me!"

Ye Manzhi thought to himself, he is such a high-ranking leader, why should I be tolerant of him?

She wanted to explain a few words, but was afraid of appearing to be being too sentimental.

"Comrade Xiaoye, should your Friendship Association invite Soviet people to participate in its activities regularly?" Qin Xiang asked with a smile. "When is the next time? I'll tell our delegation leader when I get back."

"The next time hasn't been decided yet. If you're interested in participating, I'll invite you then!"

Ye Manzhi was still not used to dealing with the cheerful and enthusiastic Comrade Qin. He nodded randomly, said a few polite words, and went to the front to prepare for the meeting.

After she left, Xiao Chen, who was sitting next to Qin Xiang, asked, "Is this the girl our leader is dating?"

"Not yet." Qin Xiang whispered, "I can't wait for her to start dating the group leader!"

Xiao Chen sighed, "Engineer Sun is about the same age as our team leader. He used to work overtime every day and didn't take weekends off. But he recently found a partner, and I haven't seen him around on weekends anymore!"

"Except for Old Liu and Old Wang, who married back home, everyone else in our military representative office is single! I think we should just change the name to the Bachelors' Office. Chairman Yao even asked me the other day why I wasn't looking for a partner. Hey, we need time to talk! I heard the union is planning a social dance to connect with other units and address the issue of singleness among older youth. They might invite the bachelors in our military representative office to attend."

The two representatives from the military representative office were chirping in the back, while the members of the Friendship Association in front had already started singing the Internationale in chorus.

The content of the first event was relatively conventional. After the leader's speech, the Soviet representative Olya introduced the happy life of the Soviet people.

Lin Qingmei was not very satisfied with this activity. After the activity ended, she ran over and complained to Ye Manzhi.

"Our branch has just been established. To attract more members, we should make our activities both practical and interesting. Today's event was quite meaningful, but it was missing something."

"What's missing?"

"It's a little less fun. If you organize an event like this next time, I won't come. It's not as interesting as the City Friendship Association's events."

"What activities does the City Friendship Association have?"

"Several units in the city are holding ballroom dances. Our Cultural Bureau has also held two, and the atmosphere was very good."

There was a reason why Ye Manzhi and her were childhood friends. Even though she hadn't learned to dance ballroom dance yet, she was already fascinated by Qingmei's description.

"Then I'll mention it to Director Mu later, and our branch will also try to organize one."

Ye Manzhi is ready to exercise his membership rights and look for opportunities to offer suggestions.

However, at the regular street office meeting of the new week, Director Mu suddenly announced another news.

"The Central Committee calls on us to launch a nationwide mass campaign to eradicate the four pests. Within the next seven years, that is, before 1962, the four pests must be eradicated!"

"From the provincial level to the municipal level, notices have been issued at all levels to eradicate the four pests. Organizing the eradication of the four pests by all units is the focus of our work in the near future!"

Director Mu waved his arm and said, "There's a grain reserve on our street. It's the food bag for the entire city. Rats stealing and wasting food is a serious problem. Therefore, we must be at the forefront of the city in our work to eradicate the four pests on Guangming Street!"

Liu Jinbao raised his hand and asked, "Director, are we only catching rats? Don't we need to worry about the other three pests: flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows?"

"Guangming Street needs to protect the grain depot, so catching rats is of paramount importance, along with other pests and animals. Rats are divided into house mice and wild mice. They are extremely widespread, reproduce very quickly, and roam everywhere, so this task of eradicating the four pests is extremely arduous. Let's buy some mousetraps and rat poison first."

Zhang Qinjian, who manages the neighborhood office's purse strings, responded, "We only have enough money to place a few mousetraps and spray some rat poison in public areas. But we can't afford to kill rats in alleyways and corridors, where rats are most likely to hide. We can only rely on the public to buy them out of their own pockets."

When catching mice, you must catch them all in one fell swoop. If any place is missed, all the efforts will be wasted.

But it is easy to get residents to contribute labor, but it is difficult to contribute money.

Mulan said indifferently, "We'll do it first and figure out the solution later! The district can't possibly provide this funding, so each unit has to figure it out on their own. Let's forget about the rest for now. Let's mobilize the neighbors first. Every household must be mobilized, and every person must take action to eliminate the four pests!"

Guangming Street soon launched a vigorous campaign to eliminate the four pests, and all residents began to clean up at the call of the neighborhood committee.

In addition to the streets, various units and even kindergartens have begun to eliminate the four pests.

Ye Manzhi's eldest nephew Mai Duo was appointed as the "deputy captain of the fly eradication team" by the kindergarten teacher. He used a fly swatter to catch flies all day long. After catching them, he put them in cans and handed them over to the street. This was considered the kindergarten's achievement in eradicating the four pests.

In order to catch more flies and become the captain of the commando team, the fourth brother was driven by his son to go into the public toilet every day, and he was smelly all over.

The main task of the street office is to catch rats, followed by flies and mosquitoes.

Considering the limited capacity of kindergartens and primary schools, the task of catching flies was assigned to them.

Unexpectedly, these little guys are so capable. When they can’t catch flies themselves, their parents help them. Within two days, they sent dozens of cans of flies.

Looking at the fly specimens piled up in the office space, Ye Manzhi didn't want to go to work anymore.

"Can we get rid of these flies? It's so dirty just to keep them piled up like this! There are more cans and bottles here than on the counter at the mall!"

Liu Jinbao vomited. "After hearing what you said, I don't want to eat canned food anymore. Deputy Director Zhang said that we can't process it right now. These results need to be reported to the district."

Ye Manzhi: “…”

Would district leaders want to see these cans of flies?

After being in contact with Zhang Qinjian for a long time, Ye Manzhi gradually discovered that he was a bit ambitious.

The other streets would at most make a note of it in the battle report, but Deputy Director Zhang would think of sending all the canned flies and rat tails to the district to report the good news.

But her desk was right at the door, and in order to let everyone see the results of the mass victory, Zhang Qinjian piled all the fly cans opposite her and Aunt Feng's desks.

Ye Manzhi has no appetite for the past two days.

After get off work, she went to her fifth brother's yard to ask him whether the chickens ate flies.

"Yes, they do. Chickens love to eat flies and cicadas. Especially after eating cicadas, they lay very large eggs, sometimes with double yolks."

"What's the effect of eating flies?" Ye Manyi asked.

"It should be about the same. I haven't observed it carefully. Why are you asking this?"

Ye Manzhi told him about the canned flies and asked, "Brother, do you know where there's a chicken farm?"

"There's a pretty big chicken farm over in Dongyanggou. Do you want to send those flies there?"

"Hey, it's definitely not okay to give it away for free. Our Deputy Director Zhang is trying to take credit for it with those canned goods."

However, Zhang Qinjian lives up to his name. Although he is a bit ambitious, he is usually quite frugal. He holds on to the two dollars of office expenses every month.

If we could get some funds back from the chicken farm, perhaps the district leaders could be spared from the harm of the can of flies.