Chapter 37 Issues of Conduct
Upon hearing Lu Xun mention the black market, Ning Xuan suddenly wondered, "When you deal with people in the black market, do you ever reveal your true colors?"
The two shook their heads and said one after the other, "We disguised ourselves, and we always made sure to check if anyone was following us when we left."
Zhou Zhipeng nodded, "A Xun said that when you're in the black market, you have to be careful not to be double-crossed, so we're always very careful."
Ning Xuan thought for a moment but was still a little worried. "Then you guys shouldn't go to the black market recently, just in case."
“Yes, we haven’t been going out lately. If he can find us once, he can definitely find us a second time. We feel more at ease staying at home,” Lu Xun said.
Ning Xuan didn't expect Zhang Qiang to be so impatient, actually coming to the Red Star Brigade early the next morning.
While Ning Xuan and the others were having breakfast, some village children knocked on the door to warn them.
"My uncle said that someone heard you're eating refined grains every day and is coming to inspect you, so he told you to be careful." The person who came was Tie Tou, Zhou Jianguo's nephew.
Ning Xuan and the others' expressions darkened. They thanked Tie Tou and asked him to leave first, so as not to run into him later.
Meanwhile, Zhou Jianguo knew that the visitors were from the G Committee and that they had ill intentions. He first tried to stall them, and then sent his nephew to inform the educated youth.
Tie Tou was responsible for informing Ning Xuan and the others, and another child went to the educated youth compound.
However, Zhou Jianguo heard that they had come to inspect the conduct of the educated youth, saying that someone had reported that some educated youth were eating refined grains at every meal and were behaving like capitalists, so he had to come down to inspect.
Zhou Jianguo immediately thought of Ning Xuan and the others, but just in case, he also asked his nephews to notify the educated youth at the educated youth institute.
After giving the visitors some sugar water and trying out several topics, Zhou Jianguo finally led them towards the educated youth compound under Zhang Qiang's urging, as they could no longer delay.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Qiang rushed straight to Ning Xuan's courtyard and questioned Zhou Jianguo, "Didn't you build a youth housing complex? Why are some of the educated youth living separately here? Do you think the conditions in the youth housing complex are too harsh?"
Zhou Jianguo frowned. He hadn't figured out a good reason yet. Ning Xuan and the others heard the commotion and, not wanting Zhang Qiang to make things difficult for the captain, took the initiative to come out and open the door.
“You’re wrong about that. We built our dormitories because the educated youth settlement couldn’t accommodate everyone, so we volunteered to help the brigade. We used our educated youth subsidies to pay for the dormitories ourselves,” Lu Xun said to the people.
Zhang Qiang knew that this reason was not very convincing, but that was not his main point. He said, "I heard that some of you had to eat refined grains separately at every meal when you were in the educated youth compound."
Now that you've moved out and are eating meat every day, we suspect you're involved in speculation and profiteering, and are behaving like capitalists. We're going to search your premises!
Hearing the commotion, Huang Xiaomei came out and became anxious upon hearing this. She and Ning Xuan lived in a small courtyard and could often smell the aroma of meat coming from their house. However, she and Liu Jun both knew that Jiajia and the others came from well-off families, so it wasn't surprising that they could eat meat often, and they weren't jealous.
Thinking of this, she looked anxiously at Ning Xuan and the others, but she couldn't speak at the moment.
Lu Xun blocked the doorway. "A search is fine, but if you don't find anything wrong, you have to give us an explanation. You can't just come and search every few days saying you've heard something!"
Zhang Qiang was confident that his surprise attack early in the morning would catch them off guard. Moreover, his men had already inquired within the brigade and found that these people were indeed well-off. He refused to believe that he hadn't found any clues. As long as he discovered a small problem, he would magnify it!
So Zhang Qiang confidently said, "Don't worry, if we don't find any problems this time, we guarantee we won't come back for six months." Zhang Qiang originally wanted to say that he wouldn't come back, but he left himself some leeway, since the weather would be cold soon and it wouldn't be convenient to go out for several months anyway.
Lu Xun didn't expect the other party to say they wouldn't come back. He just wanted to delay for a few months, giving them some time to gather evidence and bring down the Zhang family.
So when Lu Xun heard Zhang Qiang's words, he stepped aside.
Zhang Qiang immediately ordered his men to rush in and begin the search, while he himself stood outside watching Xu Jiajia and the others.
Ning Xuan and the others followed the search team calmly to prevent them from deliberately damaging things during the search.
Zhang Qiang's men rushed into the kitchen immediately, but after searching the kitchen, they found no meat. The oil container was almost empty, and the rice jar contained only coarse grains.
Gou Sheng shook his head at Zhang Qiang. Zhang Qiang was surprised and, not believing it, followed him inside and searched the place. Indeed, he found no signs of a life of luxury.
"Search their rooms!" Zhang Qiang said, and then he followed.
Starting from Lu Xun's room, you have to open the wooden box. Inside are just a few sets of clothes, but no money or tickets.
Lu Xun guessed what they wanted to say, and directly took out a few yuan and tickets from his pocket. "We are used to carrying money and tickets with us. There are only clothes in the suitcase."
Ning Xuan and the others did the same, each taking out only a few yuan.
Then the next few rooms were searched and the same thing happened. There was also food piled up in the rooms, and when the bags were opened, they were all coarse grains.
I also went to see the cellar; it contained only ordinary cabbage, radishes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
Zhang Qiang frowned. "Xu Jiajia, you used to be unable to eat whole grains and only ate refined grains. Now you can eat them again?"
Xu Jiajia looked puzzled. "When I first came here, I had some throat problems, so I couldn't eat coarse grains. Lu Xun and Ning Xuan helped me gather my refined grains. Later, when I recovered, we didn't have any refined grains left, so of course we ate the coarse grains distributed by the brigade."
Looking at the seemingly delicate Xu Jiajia, Zhang Qiang didn't quite believe she could eat coarse grains. But he was conflicted, thinking that it would be too much of a hardship for such a delicate girl to eat coarse grains. If she were with him, he would definitely not let her suffer like that and would let her eat refined grains every meal.
One of the men Zhang Qiang brought, a very clever one, saw that Zhang Qiang didn't believe him and suggested, "Brother Qiang, why don't we have them cook a meal and eat it in front of everyone? That would prove that they usually eat whole grains."
Zhang Qiang really thought it was a good idea. Ning Xuan was about to speak when Lu Xun stopped her.
“We just had breakfast. Now that it’s cold, we only eat two meals a day. We can’t waste food by cooking another meal at this time.”
Zhang Qiang had no choice but to give up after hearing this.
Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Qiang looked at the man standing very close to Xu Jiajia, namely Zhou Zhipeng, with a displeased expression, and suddenly an idea came to him.
“It’s true that we didn’t find any evidence that you eat refined grains every day during this search, but the fact that you men and women live together in a small courtyard makes me suspect that you have issues with your sexual relationships!” Zhang Qiang said, feeling pleased with his own cleverness.
But the other people in the brigade and the other educated youth all looked at him with the same eyes. Zhou Jianguo spoke up at this time, "They are one person per room, not men and women sharing a room. The educated youth housing in the nearby brigades also have men and women dormitories in the same courtyard. This is for the convenience of management and for safety reasons. It is not as safe for female educated youth to live alone."
Zhang Qiang retorted angrily, "But the educated youth compound was for many educated youths together, and these few..."
Zhang Qiang was interrupted by Lu Xun before he could finish speaking, "We are a group of educated youth together, not a single man and woman alone."
Zhang Qiang swallowed back what he wanted to say, and upon hearing this, he glared fiercely at Lu Xun and Zhou Zhipeng.
"Let's go!" Zhang Qiang hadn't found a plausible charge, so he decided to go back first.
As he passed by Lu Xun, he whispered to Lu Xun, "You better pray that you two are just as lucky next time, so that I don't catch you doing anything wrong!"
Lu Xun raised his thick, dark eyebrows upon hearing this, but remained silent. However, his provocative gaze nearly drove Zhang Qiang into a rage.
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