"Damn it, who launched this sneak attack? If you're so capable, let's have a head-on confrontation."
Sha Zhu was shocked that someone would dare to kick him from behind. Didn't they know his nickname as the "Courtyard War God"? Sha Zhu fell face-first into the mud and turned around angrily.
"What, who do you want to fight with?"
Behind Sha Zhu stood four or five men in peaked caps, each carrying a real weapon. Just then, the police arrived. It turned out that when the group of burly men came to beat Jia Zhangshi, Yan Fugui had ridden his bicycle to report the incident.
He was a teacher, and he felt ashamed that he had failed to guard the gate, but he didn't dare to confront them directly, so he had no choice but to seek help from the authorities. Sure enough, as soon as Sha Zhu and his group stopped, everyone arrived.
"Where's the person in charge of the compound? Come and explain the situation," said the leader from the police station.
"He's lying over there, the one with the nosebleed. He's an old man, the police are here," a neighbor said.
When the police arrived, they were shocked to find that the compound's manager had instigated a fight, and the situation was quite serious—his face was covered in blood. They rushed over to check on him. Fortunately, it was mostly nosebleeds; there were no other external injuries.
An elderly man in the compound was involved in the fight; the second elderly man and Xu Damao hadn't arrived home yet; only the third elderly man, Yan Fugui, was present. However, Yan Fugui wasn't at the scene and didn't know what had happened. Finally, through a few words from the neighbors, the police officers from the local station learned the details.
"Jia Zhangshi, Yi Zhonghai, Sha Zhu, Bang Geng, where is Bang Geng? Where is he?"
The officers began taking inventory of those involved in the case, but when they got to the headcount, they discovered that the young man was missing. He was the source of all the problems; how could he be gone? Everyone in the compound began helping to search for him.
Finally, it was found in the neighbor's yard and brought back by the neighbor.
"Why? I'm not going back. My grandma earned 20 yuan but didn't give me a share, so I don't want to go home."
The boy was angry that Jia Zhangshi had made money from his sticks but hadn't given him a single penny, so he ran off to play with people in the neighboring yard.
"You're Bang Geng, and you're so young?" The police officers were quite surprised to see that the person who intercepted and robbed their classmate was such a chubby little boy. Despite his size, this little chubby boy was no more than 10 years old.
“My surname isn’t Bang, it’s Jia. Bang Geng is out playing and hasn’t come back yet. I’ll go find him for you.”
Seeing so many police officers present, Bang Geng was afraid he had committed a crime and would be taken to jail. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him: he would deny being Bang Geng and try to deceive them and run away.
The neighbors were all shocked. The joke about Bang seemed to be true; his surname wasn't Bang, it was Jia. But wasn't Lu Xun actually Zhou Shuren?
“Comrade, he is Bang Geng, oh, right, his full name is Jia Geng, and his nickname is Bang Geng,” said the mother of the child who was robbed earlier.
The officer in the police hat didn't expect this little brat to be so cunning at such a young age; he figured he might actually be capable of robbing someone on the road.
"Where are you going? Come back here."
A comrade in a peaked cap went up and grabbed the stick, bringing it to Jia Zhangshi.
"Grandma, save me! I don't want to be taken away!"
Bang Geng cried out for help from Jia Zhangshi. But Jia Zhangshi had been beaten too badly by the two women; her mouth was swollen and she couldn't speak at all, only able to whimper.
"Take them all away and talk to them at the station."
The team leader, seeing the chaotic scene and worried about potential problems, ordered several men involved in the fight to be tied together with rope and taken to the police station. Jia Zhangshi, Bang Geng, and the other two women were fine; they simply followed along.
“Sir, we were just a bit hot-tempered. Everyone is fine, and I’m the victim. Could we mediate here instead of going to the station?” Yi Zhonghai said.
The officer on duty tonight wasn't the local police officer and didn't know Yi Zhonghai. He insisted on bringing Yi Zhonghai to the station and even tied his hands, which made Yi Zhonghai, who is always concerned about his image, very embarrassed. So he thought he could mediate and end the situation.
The other burly men also refused to go to the police station, so they joined Yi Zhonghai in saying they were willing to mediate.
"You've all fought like this, and you're still trying to mediate? Besides, even if we were to mediate, we should wait until the matter is thoroughly investigated. Behave yourselves and go back to the station," said the team leader.
And so, the eight men walked in a line from the courtyard to the police station. Along the way, Yi Zhonghai practically buried his head in his buttocks. Even so, they kept being recognized and greeted.
"Old Yi, what have you done wrong?"
"Old Yi, are you still going to be arrested for what you did more than ten years ago when you frequented the Eight Great Hutongs?"
Along the way, acquaintances kept cracking jokes.
At one point, Banggeng tried to escape when no one was looking. He was caught after running less than ten meters and then tied up as well.
With these people arrested, the courtyard became lively. An elderly woman, as flustered as an ant on a hot plate, ran back and forth between the front and back yards.
"Uncle, what should we do now? My husband, Lao Yi, was beaten and taken away." The old woman finally turned to Yan Fugui for help.
"Don't worry, Lao Yi's matter isn't a big deal. At most, it's just a fight. We can investigate it thoroughly. The most difficult cases now are Jia Zhangshi and Bang Geng. Did they rob people on the road? The nature of their cases is different."
"Why hasn't Qin Huairu come back yet?" Yan Fugui comforted him.
"I heard he was called in for a talk by the new factory manager today, and I don't know what they've been talking about until now," a neighbor from the steel rolling mill joked.
"Hey, Uncle, Xu Damao doesn't seem to be back either?" an older woman suddenly asked.
"Yeah, none of the people from the auto repair shop are back. They live a bit further away, and I heard they had something to do today, so they're probably delayed. My two kids aren't back either," Yan Fugui said.
"If Xu Damao had come back, he might have been able to talk to the leader, and Lao Yi might not have been taken away," an older woman sighed.
They had seen Xu Damao having meals at home with the police officers a few times and knew that Xu Damao had a wide network of connections.
"Let's not talk about Xu Damao for now. Here's what you two do: go to the steel rolling mill and find Qin Huairu, tell her about it, and ask her to go to the institute as soon as possible."
"Ma'am, come with me to the station right now and see what's going on there."
At this critical moment, Yan Fugui, as the highest-ranking leader at home, took on the heavy responsibility and began to arrange personnel.
Before the people assigned here had even left the front yard, Qin Huairu returned humming a little tune.
"Qin Huairu, are you happy? Your mother-in-law and Banggeng have been taken to the police station by the comrades in the police station. You should go and see them quickly," the neighbor said.
The reason Qin Huairu stayed until today was because the new factory director had a long talk with her. Although there was no substantial progress, as a woman, she deeply felt the new factory director's feelings for her.
Qin Huairu has now figured it out. If she's going to follow Sha Zhu, why can't she follow other people who are more powerful and influential? Today, she lingered in the factory director's office, perfectly gauging the atmosphere.
Perhaps, after one or two more times, her good thing will come true.
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