Break out of the courtyard

"Comrade, please don't joke!" said a male security officer at the exit of Capital Airport, and looked at the security guards around him.

"Husband!" The eldest wife Tang Xin had some psychological trauma from her time in China, and she worriedly grabbed Zhang Heping's right hand.

The concubine Chen Shuting had nothing to worry about, mainly because Tingmei Trading Company had dealt with the mainland more frequently, and she knew that with the size of her company, it was not something that ordinary people could make things difficult for them.

Zhang Heping raised his chin towards the security checkpoint and said with a smile, "It's okay! You go over first and call Aunt Wang who is chatting with someone over there."

Zhang Heping was standing at the security checkpoint, watching a sturdy male security guard who was about the same height as him pick up his guitar bag and said with a smile, "You'd better not open it, otherwise you'll have to go to the office to do your homework."

The sturdy male security guard weighed the light guitar bag and asked, "Which unit are you from?"

Zhang Heping said with a smile: "I am a vagrant with no job."

"Captain, these are their passports!" A female security officer handed over the passports of Zhang Heping's family and placed Zhang Heping's passport on top.

When the sturdy security captain discovered that the whole family had Hong Kong passports, he frowned, put down his guitar bag, and cast a questioning look at the X-ray machine inspector.

When it comes to matters involving foreign guests, he has no choice but to be cautious!

"Captain, the screen here shows that the bag is empty, so I want him to open it and take a look." The male security inspector said, looking behind Zhang Heping.

"No need to look!" A middle-aged man trotted over, followed by Director Wang with a smile on his face.

"Manager, this..."

"Don't worry about this or that. We've already given the green light from above. Just let us go!"

Back in the capital, Zhang Heping did not explain the rules to the security inspectors. The fewer people who knew about the drawings in the bag, the less risk there would be.

Zhang Heping walked out with his guitar bag on his back and asked Director Wang beside him casually, "Auntie Wang, do you know the manager just now?"

"His mother and I were comrades-in-arms. I just found out today that he was transferred here to be the security manager." Director Wang laughed and said, "Why, are you blaming me for not seeing you just now?"

"You didn't see me, so I just wanted to tease the security guards." Zhang Heping said with a smile, "My bag was also stopped and checked when I went through security at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong Island."

Director Wang smiled and said, "Isn't that your airport? The security guards are your people too, who dares to stop you?"

"I have set rules and regulations for them. Whenever the Governor passes by, he must accept inspection. As someone who has set the rules, it is naturally difficult for me to undermine them." Zhang Heping explained:

"However, I just asked the security captain over there to reach into the bag and feel around to make sure there were no dangerous items inside."

"From what you said, I feel like you're talking about the security at the Capital Airport..." Director Wang turned his head to glance at the security check passage behind him, then quickly caught up with Zhang Heping.

Zhang Heping smiled and said, "If the security level of Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong Island is level 10, then the security level of Capital Airport is close to level 0 when facing privileged people!"

"It's not as serious as you say!" Director Wang stretched out his left hand and patted the guitar bag on Zhang Heping's back. "If you hadn't said you had important information to bring back and asked me to come to the airport to pick it up, would we have contacted the airport to make special arrangements?"

"We are vested interests, so we naturally don't think it's that serious." Zhang Heping thought for a while and said:

"Let me give you an example. What if someone absconds with money, or someone else forges an identity and carries explosives, and passes through security like we did today?"

After leaving the airport, Zhang Heping put the guitar bag on the Santana sedan that Director Wang was riding in.

Finally, Zhang Heping patted the roof of the car and said, "The shell of this car must have been hammered by hand! The paint is not evenly sprayed and there are bulges! If this was produced by my car factory, we must stop production and rectify it. This kind of quality..."

"That's enough! Go home!" Director Wang smiled and pushed Zhang Heping away. "This car was given to our department by the Magic City. It's free. Why are you being so picky?"

"I don't even want it even if you give it to me!" Zhang Heping was still a little upset about his stillborn car factory.

"Honey, this box is for Aunt Wang and the others." The first wife, Tang Xin, dragged a silver-gray suitcase over.

"Auntie Wang, these are the local specialties we brought from Hong Kong Island. Grandma Yang's portion is also in it. Please take them back and share them for me." Zhang Heping said as he stuffed the large suitcase into the trunk.

As for the Dior daily chemical products in the box, aren’t they his family’s local specialties?

"We will go back tomorrow and won't sit at your place!" Zhang Heping said, and asked the children to say goodbye to Grandma Wang, and then went into the city in the three Hongqi cars he had bought earlier.

……

The driver stopped the car at Houhai Yinding Bridge, turned around and said with some embarrassment: "Deputy Director Zhang, there are too many people ahead and we can't get through. Please walk back a distance."

"It's okay! Sorry for delaying your meal time. Next time when I treat you to a meal, I'll ask someone to send a table over to you." When Zhang Heping had asked the Capital Hotel to ask for a doctor to repay a favor, he had asked the Capital Hotel to send meals to the guards in Courtyard No. 5, which was why he said this.

"This..." The young male driver was a little embarrassed. He wanted to say no, but was hindered by the other party's identity and the trouble caused by the previous team of guards.

You know, because of the previous fight, this family's villa has been empty, but the hospital arranges people to clean the villa every week, which shows the attitude of the higher-ups towards this family.

After getting off the car, Zhang Heping picked up his 5-year-old daughter Zhang Nuo and walked in front, dragging a suitcase to lead the way.

"Dad, what is that?" Little Zhang Nuo pointed at the food on the roadside stall, smelling the fragrance in the air, his mouth watering.

"That's a pancake. If you want to eat it, dad will make it for you when he gets home." Zhang Heping replied with a smile. He didn't say anything like the roadside stalls were unhygienic, so as not to ruin the business that others had worked so hard to build up.

"That's Tanghulu!" Little Zhang Nuo pointed to another stall and said happily, "Dad, I want to eat Tanghulu!"

"No!" The concubine Chen Shuting stopped him from behind, "You are changing your teeth, and the doctor said you can't eat sweets."

After being yelled at by her mother, little Zhang Nuo hugged her father's neck in grievance, pouted, and looked at the aunt behind her with grievance, but it was of no avail.

Zhang Heping turned around and glanced at his eldest son Zhang Bei, and the boy wisely went to buy candied haws.

However, he had no foreign exchange coupons on him, so he took out his wallet, pulled out a hundred-dollar Hong Kong dollar note, and after a few words, he bought the stick with a dozen candied haws on it.

"Brother! Brother!" Little Zhang Nuo found that her elder brother was carrying a lot of candied haws. She suddenly forgot what her mother had just said and stretched out her two fat little hands to ask Zhang Bei for some.

That action was as if she was about to fly away from her father.

Zhang Bei dragged the suitcase with his left hand and carried the thick wooden stick with the candied haws in his right hand. He walked quickly to Chen Shuting's side and said, "Little mother, let my sister eat one string. After she finishes, I will supervise her to brush her teeth!"

Chen Shuting took a look at the candied haws on the stick and said helplessly, "I'll give it to her when we get to your second aunt's house!"

It's just that she said this a little slowly, and the three older girls, Zhang Nan, Zhang Nian and Zhang Feng, had already reached out to grab a few strings and shared them out.

After little Zhang Nuo got the candied haws, he impatiently put it to his mouth and licked the candy skin with his little tongue.

Zhang Heping led his family through the crowd by the lake and arrived outside their home. They were surprised to find that there were more people setting up stalls on the open space here.

Zhang Heping stood at the door for a while and let his wife and children go into Yard No. 7 first.

"Mom, what's going on outside?" After entering the yard, Zhang Heping asked Ma Xiuzhen, who had a happy face.

"The street encourages individual business. Those people saw that there were many people watching TV here, so they set up their stalls here. Who would have thought that more and more people would come here and it would become like this now." Ma Xiuzhen explained while pouring water for everyone.

"Where is my dad?" Zhang Heping asked casually.

Ma Xiuzhen hesitated for a long time before answering, "He went to Cuishan."

When Zhang Heping heard that he had gone to his petty-minded eldest cousin Zhang Cuishan's place, he did not continue the topic.

It took so much money and grain to cut off the relationship with his uncle. Zhang Heping will not acknowledge that relationship now.

As for Old Zhang, Zhang Heping never thought of correcting his ideas.

You don't live with Lao Zhang on a normal basis, so why make things difficult for yourself and Lao Zhang?

If Zhang Heping is really annoyed, the worst that can happen is that I can just go back to Hong Kong Island and try not to go back to the capital.

However, Zhang Heping didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, but Ma Xiuzhen still had something to say, "Lou Xiao'e came back with her other son and opened a restaurant over in Qianmen."

Zhang Heping was not interested in Lou Xiaoe and asked casually, "Where did Zhang Yi and the others go?"

"Don't interrupt me, just listen to me." Ma Xiuzhen picked up the little girl Zhang Nuo who was eating candied haws and continued:

"Before, I heard from people in Nanluoguxiang that Lou Xiao'e's second son is Sha Zhu's, and his name is He Xiao!"

"But, after she came back to see Cuishan recently, she insisted that the second son was also Cuishan's, and now his name was changed to Zhang Xiao!"

"Humph!" Chen Shuting sneered, "I'm afraid this Lou Xiao'e is planning to take over our family!"

Ma Xiuzhen had gossiped with her two second daughters-in-law about the events at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang before, so Tang Xin and Chen Shuting knew about Lou Xiao'e's past, and now they started the conversation with Ma Xiuzhen.

"When I first heard about this, I was also very confused!" Ma Xiuzhen said to her son's young wife, "From the time Cuishan severed ties with her to the time she fled to Hong Kong Island, I never heard that she was pregnant."

Chen Shuting asked, "Mom, you mean that the timing of the pregnancy doesn't match, right?"

"That's what I mean!" Ma Xiuzhen nodded and said, "Luckily Cuishan has been deceived before! It was his first wife, the one who married him only after she was pregnant..."

"Yeah!" Chen Shuting responded quickly: "I remember you mentioned this before, and you also said that Zhang Cuishan was an ungrateful person."

Zhang Heping glanced at his first wife Tang Xin who hadn't spoken a word, but she was cracking melon seeds and listening attentively.

"You know what, Zhang Cuishan's ungrateful temper flared up, and he would never admit that Lou Xiao'e's second child was his. Plus, his third wife is quite fierce, so she didn't let Lou Xiao'e take advantage of her."

Ma Xiuzhen said this and suddenly kept everyone in suspense, "Guess what happened?"

Chen Shuting guessed: "Lou Xiao'e is running a restaurant now. Could it be that she went to Sha Zhu again and said that her second son is Sha Zhu's?"

"You guessed half right!" Ma Xiuzhen looked at her son's eldest daughter-in-law with a smile, "Did Xin guess it?"

Tang Xin responded: "What is the attitude of Lou Xiao'e's eldest son?"

"That boy!" Ma Xiuzhen said excitedly, "Zhang Cuishan and Lou Xiao'e's eldest son is called Zhang Xin, who is almost 17 years old this year. After graduating from junior high school, the boy has not found a job."

"When he learned that he had such a rich mother, he immediately approached her; he is now helping out in the kitchen of Qianmen Restaurant, and is Sha Zhu's apprentice."

"Hmph..." Zhang Heping sneered but said nothing more.

In his opinion, based on Sha Zhu's character, he was probably claiming to be teaching an apprentice, but in fact he was just trying to get a handyman to do his bidding.

"Don't whimper, if you have something to say, speak up, if you don't, don't interrupt!" Ma Xiuzhen looked at her son with dissatisfaction, then turned to look at her two daughters-in-law and gossiped:

"Ever since Zhang Xin went to the Qianmen Restaurant, he has been staying there for his meals and lodging. This has made Zhang Cuishan very anxious!"

Chen Shuting asked in confusion: "Mom, didn't you say before that Zhang Cuishan has four children? Why is he so anxious?"

Chen Shuting's words seemed to expand the space for gossip among women. Ma Xiuzhen's interest in talking suddenly soared. "Have I ever told you that Zhang Cuishan's third wife brought three children with her?"

"Yes!" Tang Xin responded to show that she was listening.

"Her three children correspond to three men. This first one..."

"I'm going to call and order food!" Zhang Heping shook his head and left the main room. He really couldn't stand their gossip.

The first wife Tang Xin's gossipy spirit also possessed her, and she said without even turning her head, "Hubby, remember to call my parents and have dinner together tonight."

"Got it!" Zhang Heping responded and went to the east gate room on the left to make a phone call.

My father-in-law Tang Ming and mother-in-law Xu Jiefeng have been in the capital recently, saying that they are here to offer advice on the negotiations regarding the return of Hong Kong Island.

Zhang Heping persuaded him several times, and with the help of his mother-in-law Xu Jiefeng, his father-in-law Tang Ming finally agreed to move to a private room at the Capital Hotel.

In the end, before Zhang Heping could even speak, the old man actually returned the three-courtyard house in Di'anmen to the country. Emmm...

No one answered the phone in his father-in-law's room, so Zhang Heping had to call the front desk of the Capital Hotel and ask them to keep an eye on Tang Ming and his wife and order a meal for them.

After calling his eldest and second sisters' offices and telling them they would have dinner at the Capital Hotel that night, Zhang Heping went next door.

"Brother Heping!" Zhou Chengwu, the second son of the Zhou family, greeted Zhang Heping with a smile.

Zhang Heping just nodded, didn't say anything more to the vendor selling socks, and walked straight into Yard No. 8.

Zhang Heping stood at the door of the west wing, looking at his niece who was concentrating, and asked in a gentle voice: "Xiaochun, why don't you turn on the light when you do your homework? Even if you want to save electricity, you should move the desk to the yard!"

"Uncle Third Cousin!" Zhou Xiaochun asked in surprise, "When did you come back? Did you come back alone, or with your family?"

"A few of them were standing at the door curiously and wanted to buy those snacks, but I didn't allow them because I felt it was a bit unhygienic." Zhang Heping said as he made way for the door and followed his eldest niece out of the yard.

After Zhou Xiaochun found Zhang Nan, Zhang Nian and the others, he chatted with them briefly and then talked about the snack stalls outside the door. He didn't seem to be shy at all.

"Look at that stall selling wontons!" Zhou Xiaochun pointed to a stall next to the public toilet on the left and whispered, "The water they use to boil wontons is stolen from the flush tank in the toilet."

"Also, one afternoon, when I saw that man making wontons, he suddenly bent over, blew his nose, and wiped his snot on the table leg. Then, guess what happened?"

Zhang Nan said: "He definitely didn't wash his hands and continued to make chaos!"

"Ugh... so disgusting, stop talking! I absolutely won't eat anything from that restaurant!" Zhang Nian covered his mouth and pretended to be nauseous and wanted to vomit.

"And the one selling tofu, you definitely don't know how he makes it!" Zhou Xiaochun saw Zhang Bei and the others shaking their heads, and whispered:

"He first put the white tofu in a dark place, and waited until the tofu was covered with hairs..."

"Ugh! The tofu is moldy, why are you still selling it?" Zhang Feng followed suit and pretended to be disgusted.

"I haven't finished talking about his sterilization process!" Zhou Xiaochun said with a smile: "He waits for the tofu to grow hair, then moves it outside, takes a sip of white wine, and then sprays it on the hairy tofu, puff..."

Zhou Xiaochun made a spitting motion and said with a smile: "I didn't expect this kind of alcohol disinfection, did you?"

"He actually sprayed it with his mouth...disgusting!" Zhang Nan, who is the same age as Zhou Xiaochun, obviously couldn't stand it anymore.

Zhang Bei asked nervously, "Xiaochun, please tell me, are the candied haws on the other side of the bridge clean?"

"The candied haws are fine. They will be washed and then put into the sugar water. Unless..." Zhou Xiaochun saw that Zhang Bei was very nervous, and smiled and pointed at the candied haws in their hands, "Unless the fruit inside is rotten, or there are bugs in the fruit."

Seeing that his niece was making sense, Zhang Heping patted his eldest son Zhang Bei on the head and said unhappily, "You have no eyesight. Your cousin has been watching you guys eating candied haws for quite a while, and you still don't go in and get a bunch out!"

"No! No! Cousin, you don't have to get it!" Zhou Xiaochun wanted to refuse politely, but Zhang Bei ran too fast. As soon as she finished her words, the boy took out a string from the kitchen next door.

Seeing his niece Zhou Xiaochun being so distant, Zhang Heping shook his head secretly, but asked: "Xiaochun, when do your parents get off work? Where is Xiaopeng? When will he be back? Tonight, we're going to the Capital Hotel for dinner..."