Chapter 235 Rooftop Postman (3)

Jiahui, who is familiar with most of the routes, likes to take the outdoor bamboo ladder when walking down from the rooftop, and go all the way down from the high rooftop, so that he can feel the last bit of rare sunlight.

When he walked down, he happened to see the uniformed police entering the walled city to patrol and maintain law and order. It was their last patrol of the day.

For some unknown reason, the police and the neighbors started arguing today. Uncle Ho, one of the leaders of the neighborhood welfare association, tried to persuade them again and again, but still failed to calm the confrontation between the two sides.

Jiahui is now the new postman. When asked by him, the people in the Walled City naturally told him everything they knew: Some people heard outside that the Hong Kong government was going to make an appointment with the relevant departments in the mainland to discuss the future disposal of the Walled City.

As soon as the news spread, there was an uproar in the city.

In particular, the elderly who were worried that the homes they had lived in for decades would be "relocated" were banging their heads on the tables at the nursing homes, saying they wanted to repeat the protest actions of 20 years ago.

When people were in panic, they saw uniformed police entering the walled city for patrol. Of course, they were extremely jealous as if they were meeting an enemy.

"We have never given up on you! You have always been uncooperative and have been causing trouble for us!" Jiahui stood in the crowd and saw a young policeman named Wei Zai with red eyes. "If we really didn't care, would I and my brothers be here?!"

It is said that it was not until 1987 that uniformed police patrols were officially stationed in the Walled City, but in fact, plainclothes police officers also ventured in during the years before that.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for the community to invade by relying solely on the spontaneous organization of the neighborhood.

"Tsk, that's just nice talk. Aren't you coming here to patrol for your own benefit?" The anti-corruption campaign only started in the early 1970s. Before that, plainclothes police secretly entered the walled city to maintain balance and order, and also to collude with the gangs.

Even if a newcomer was once full of enthusiasm and ambition, he would eventually be assimilated by this polluted environment.

The decent people in this world have always been no match for the bottom of society who are troublesome, entangled and difficult to communicate with. Seeing that Wei Zai, who was no match for them in the argument, was taken away by his boss Li Sir, the neighbors finally fell silent and watched in silence as the two figures walked out of the dim walled city.

"Okay, okay, let's go. There's nothing to see anymore." Uncle He waved his hands and asked the neighbors to go home.

After finally dispersing the crowd, Uncle He approached Yunji, who had been standing in the corner watching coldly, and said, "Yunji, a machine in my fish ball factory is broken. Could you please come over and take a look?"

In fact, most of the factories in the Walled City were just simple workshops. In the early years, food processing factories such as fish ball factories were rampant in the Walled City. There was once a glorious period when the Walled City alone supplied 70% of the fish balls in Hong Kong.

Nowadays, the outside world has changed dramatically with each passing day. Those old machines and factories and workshops, like this walled city and the people who cannot leave it, have become the surplus of the changing times. They rely on recruiting unwanted child laborers and old people from outside to do work, and then sell the goods at prices lower than the market price in exchange for money.

Jiahui remembered that Uncle Ho was a well-known good man in the area. In addition to frequently donating money to support the neighborhood welfare association's warm-hearted program, his fish ball factory also supported many elderly people and children who had difficult lives.

Unfortunately, good people don't always get good rewards. Not only did his wife die early, but his only daughter also met a scumbag who despised her for her background in the Walled City when she was studying at university. He died of depression not long after giving birth to his child, leaving Uncle Ho to play the role of both father and mother to raise his grandson. As a result, although he was only in his early fifties, he looked older than the people in their sixties in the Walled City.

Uncle He was one of the few customers in the area who could get paid on the spot. Yun Ji didn't say much. He picked up the tool box and followed him to the fish ball factory.

When she saw Jiahui standing here when she was leaving, she nodded slightly to greet him: Electrician and postman are two professions that can basically go everywhere in the city, but because of the content of their work, they have different focuses and differences. These days, Jiahui has been exchanging information with Yunji based on the information he has sorted out.

As an electrician, Yunji is able to go deep into the residents' homes to investigate, but he is not welcomed by some people because of his personality and background. On the other hand, the postman can freely go to every corner of the city, and people generally do not guard against him.

Therefore, Jiahui used the information of finding out which households were still messing with the wires to steal electricity to exchange with Yunji for the information about the internal furnishings and structures of the residents which was difficult for him to find out.

Therefore, Yun Ji has become increasingly unpopular recently: She forced those households to accept her wiring modification business, otherwise she would refuse to work, on the grounds that stealing electricity and randomly pulling wires pose safety hazards.

This kind of behavior of squeezing out a small number of people for the benefit of the majority is naturally understandable if one has good interpersonal relationships.

Unfortunately, Yun Ji’s popularity in the city was not very good. On the surface, everyone followed suit and condemned and ordered those families to accept Yun Ji’s changes, but they wentssiped a lot in private.

Jiahui walked home carrying the postman's large brown satchel. After his figure gradually disappeared into the dark alley, the scene switched to the police station.

The young policeman Wei Zai, who thought he was well-intentioned but was treated as a donkey, sat on the chair aggrieved and listened to the advice of his boss Li Sir: "I know you just became a patrolman in the Walled City, so you want to make some achievements, but now you are in the limelight, you should keep a low profile..."

After giving Wei Zai a heartfelt lecture, Li Sir sighed and said, "I also know why you chose to follow me. However, the Walled City is very dangerous. It is not a place that a newcomer like you can challenge rashly."

"You are tired. I'll grant you a vacation these few days. Take a good rest. Don't think too much. I don't want to see you become the second Aqiang."

When he heard the name, Wei Zai shuddered and moved his lips, but he didn't say anything in the end.

As Wei Zai moves, the scene switches to a small modern room. Compared to the dirty, messy and backward urban-rural area in the Walled City, this small room with simple furnishings actually looks a lot more fashionable and upscale.

Wei Zai stroked a photo frame in his hand, and memories of him and his brother Ah Qiang playing together when they were young flashed back to his mind.

This short flashback scene with a memory filter did not even require the effort of finding child actors - because Chen Baiyang, who guest-starred as Aqiang, and Liang Shaowei, who played Wei Zai, were quite similar in appearance and temperament. Therefore, when filming "The Fault in Our Stars" that year, Liang Shaowei played the childhood of Chen Baiyang's character, leaving behind many play clips.

After Su Yun searched and edited the system's material library, this real-life flashback plot came into being.

The last photo of Aqiang was taken at a celebration party for new employees of Hongfa Real Estate Company. After graduating from the academy, Aqiang became a new employee. Not long after, he was arranged by Sir Li to conduct an undercover operation. He changed his identity and infiltrated Hongfa Real Estate as an accountant to investigate the accounting problems and shady transaction records of Hongfa Real Estate.

Unfortunately, when Aqiang collected enough evidence to bring down Hongfa, he was suddenly betrayed by his friend. Not only did the evidence book he had collected with great difficulty disappear, but he also lost his life.

The reason why Wei Zai also chose to enter the school after graduation and took the initiative to apply for the job of Walled City Patrol, a job that no one else was willing to take over, was to investigate the case of his brother Ah Qiang. The reason why Ah Qiang was silenced was most likely due to the "disappeared" account book.

Earlier, Wei Zai found some traces of handwriting on the cover of an old notebook at home.

After processing, he obtained the information left by Aqiang: the "disappeared" account book was hidden somewhere in the walled city.

"Don't worry, brother, I will definitely avenge you!" Wei Zai said gritting his teeth as he looked at the photo.

At this moment, the camera took a close-up of the photo he was holding - A Qiang, played by Chen Baiyang, was smiling brightly, and in his hand was a young man wearing glasses and with a beard, who looked like an artist. It was obvious at a glance that these two had the best relationship among the new employees, and even when taking a photo, they were hugging each other's shoulders.

The photo was suddenly wiped by a hand.

"It seems like he really doesn't recognize me." Ah Rong raised his head while wiping the photo with his hand and pointed at Jiahui, whose face was only half exposed in the lower left corner of the photo. "But when we all joined the company together, he was indeed the most withdrawn one. He only wanted to work hard, but in the end he was betrayed by the ways of the world."

"You look like this now. If they are not very familiar with you, who can recognize you?" Yun Ji, who was sitting in front of the old book table, put down his pen.

"There's nothing I can do. At that time, in order to look like a well-read person, all the designers in newspapers and magazines had beards and wore glasses..." Ah Rong spread his hands.

"I'm too lazy to talk to you. I'm just going to go out for a walk." Yun Ji sorted out the hand-drawn map that became more detailed after exchanging information, stood up and picked up the toolbox again.

"We have been searching for so long. We have searched in all places, both visible and hidden. If it was so easy to find, Aqiang would not have..." Arong paused for a moment before whispering, "I'm sorry."

"You chose to do this in the beginning, so now, I don't want to comment on your behavior." Yunji's voice, which was originally flat, became even colder. "However, I will definitely find the account book - otherwise, Aqiang's sacrifice will be in vain."

"This is not your fault. You don't need to blame yourself so much..." Ah Rong lowered his eyes. "Basically, it's enough for me to stay here and investigate alone."

"This is what I should do." His voice was filled with a complex dullness.

"But unfortunately, you have done everything you should and shouldn't have done. Who are you trying to show off to by pretending to be atonement?" Yun Ji sneered, "Besides, I never stayed here because of you."

"I heard that Hongfa Real Estate is planning to purchase the land in the walled city... I really want to see the expressions of those people who stood by and watched us die when they were forced into a desperate situation by Hongfa." Yun Ji closed his eyes, and his tone was filled with the satisfaction of revenge.

That year, her father died in an accident at Hongfa's construction site. After failing to get compensation, her mother swallowed a bottle of cleaning agent in despair and collapsed on the wooden bed at home.

She was still young and unattended at the time, and was burned on most of her face in a small fire in the walled city. Fortunately, her uncle and aunt were kind-hearted and rushed to the hospital for treatment upon hearing the news. They also adopted her, provided her with education, and took care of her until she grew up.

However, when she was in college, her uncle was beaten to death by gang members secretly hired by Hongfa in a dispute with Hongfa Real Estate Company over the demolition of the tenement building where he lived. Her aunt was also crippled and spent half a year in the hospital in agony.

Finally, before her death, her aunt kept apologizing to her, saying that she had harmed her, and asked her not to pursue the matter any further to avoid getting into trouble.

In fact, she never regretted dropping out of school to look after her aunt, and she didn't think her aunt needed to apologize for this, but unfortunately, God didn't see her efforts and eventually took away her last relative.

Afterwards, she inherited her uncle's inheritance and finally stepped out of the shadow. However, she was ridiculed by the world because of the scars on her face.

Even if her boyfriend Aqiang didn't dislike her, she would dislike herself when she saw the ugly scars on her face.

After going around in circles, I finally found a doctor for treatment, but it turned out to be a quack who cheated me out of money. Not only did the scars not get smaller, but they became even more hideous due to the inferior quality medicine. They also became infected and the doctor gave me a critical illness notice, requiring surgery as soon as possible.

If Aqiang hadn't raised the money for her surgery, she wouldn't be alive today.

As Yun Ji finished speaking, the camera slowly moved to the alley wall. The large black and white stickers that proclaimed mainland China's opposition to the demolition of the walled city shifted time and space in the flow of light and shadow.

In the picture filtered through the lens of memory, there was also this scene twenty years ago: in the not-so-crowded and dim walled city, people not only posted stickers opposing the demolition of the walled city, but also hung protest slogans and bright red flags everywhere.

Due to historical reasons, the walled city, which is said to be a lawless place but is actually a place of three-way struggle, is a "enclave" of China.

To put it simply, it is the last part of the territory retained by the Qing Dynasty in its colony of Hong Kong, and it belongs to the Qing Dynasty at that time. Mainland China, Taiwan, and Britain all wanted to control it, but they could not convince the other two parties, so in the end they could only let the walled city be preserved until the present day.

In order to fight against the British, the current rulers, the residents of the walled city have always claimed to be Chinese citizens on Chinese territory. Not only do they hang the iconic red flag in the walled city, but they even organize a spontaneous citizen representative conference in the walled city...

Once this flag of considerable importance is hung out, touching the buildings of the fortress will be equivalent to touching the flag of China, which is a serious matter and difficult to start.

The Walled City won the confrontation back then, and now history is repeating itself. With both the political and business circles facing their fate, everyone probably has an idea of ​​what the outcome will be.

But those who once fought for their homeland are once again staging a united struggle.

"This is sheer nonsense!" A plainclothes officer, posing as a cheap dentist visiting the Walled City, became anxious when he saw the content of what was posted on the wall.

This is no longer the era of mutual struggle as it was in the past. For the sake of a modern image, everyone outside is now looking forward to the demolition of the Walled City - therefore, it is no longer a "good" opportunity for the two sides to fight and for the Walled City to benefit.

Such commotion will only make outsiders more determined and eager to demolish and rebuild.

Wei Zai angrily tore off the stickers on the wall and before he knew it, he had gradually arrived at the east side where many social organizations gathered in the central commercial district of the Walled City.

The noise from the nearby Kai Tak Airport was getting louder and louder - soon, another plane would fly over the walled city.

As for those shady people and things in the Walled City, apart from secretly throwing them to the dog meat stalls at night for disposal, the loud bombings of planes flying over the Walled City were used to cover up the gunshots that should not have occurred on this land.

At the moment when the huge roar came, Wei Zai saw a person fall down, and the reason why that person could never get up again was also looked at him with a very unfriendly look.

He had practiced target shooting many times in the academy and achieved excellent results, ranking first among his peers in both practical exercises and theoretical knowledge.

But when he found that Tokarev, commonly known as the "Big Black Star", was aiming at him, he... inevitably developed an extreme fear of powerlessness.

Li Sir is right, the Walled City is very dangerous, and it is not something a newcomer like him can challenge rashly...

As the huge roar was about to fade away, Wei Zai, who had fallen to the ground exhausted, closed his eyes with an extremely complicated mood.

The expected pain did not come.

He opened his eyes in horror and disbelief, and saw a tall figure with a big brown bag standing in front of him: "Xiong, Xiong, right? There's a letter for you..."

In a trance, he seemed to see his brother who had not left him that year.