Siheyuan: Happy Life of Jia Zhang Family

After Zhang Dabao knocked on the door, the person inside shouted "Come in". Zhang Dabao came to Li Huaide's office and saw the legendary Deputy Director Li. He looked to be in his forties, with a fair and clean face. He was good-looking and had a gentlemanly demeanor.

"Comrade, are you looking for me?" Li Huaide was very polite. When he saw Zhang Dabao in military uniform and with crutches, he stood up and came to greet him.

"Director Li, I'm Zhang Dabao, a retired soldier who has just been assigned to the factory. Our regiment commander heard that you are a leader here, so he entrusted me to bring you some specialties. He and you are comrades-in-arms," ​​Zhang Dabao said as he saluted Li Huaide.

"Who is your commander? Da Biao, please sit down quickly. You can't stand all the time because your injury hasn't healed yet." Li Huaide's subordinates became more enthusiastic when they heard what happened to his comrades.

"Our leader's name is Wu Liheng. This is what he asked me to bring to you." Zhang Dabao gave the tea and the gold bracelet and gold necklace in his pocket to Li Huaide.

"Wu Liheng is your regiment commander? Can he send me something? Comrade Da Biao, you are not telling the truth. Wu Liheng and I are really comrades-in-arms. You can't imagine it, can you?" Li Huaide laughed.

Zhang Dabao was embarrassed. He touched his head and started laughing.

"During the Battle of Peiping-Tianjin, Wu Liheng and I were in the same regiment. He was a battalion commander and I was a staff officer in the regiment. After the battle, I stayed to participate in local construction, and he left with the troops. It has been almost ten years, and I have not heard from him. How could he know that I am the deputy factory director here?" Li Huaide laughed, emphasizing the word "deputy".

"Tell me what's the matter?" Li Huaide pushed the things back.

"Director Li, we just arrived at the factory and have no place to live. Don't we want to ask you to allocate a bigger house to us? I also have a comrade-in-arms who wants to live with us," Zhang Dabao told Li Huaide his purpose.

"You have a good relationship with Wu Liheng?" Li Huaide asked.

"I was demobilized due to injury, and the regiment commander gave me his sword," said Zhang Dabao.

"Good boy, it seems that he thinks highly of you. That guy likes this thing the most. Let me see where there is a suitable house." Li Huaide returned to his desk and took out a booklet from the cabinet. After looking at it for a while, he said, "Here is it, No. 95 compound, there are a few houses in the backyard of our factory, take a look at the big label."

Zhang Dabiao walked over and took a look. The two northern rooms and three eastern rooms in the backyard were all empty. "Old leader, can you give us these five rooms?"

"Da Biao, according to the standards, you should get two rooms and Xiao Huang should get one. If they are all given to you, the other comrades will be dissatisfied," said Li Huaide.

"Old leader, you are our commander's comrade-in-arms. We are from the same army. You are my predecessor. I heard that your aunt comes from a wealthy family. She may like Commander Wu's specialties. I have two bottles of foreign wine in my bag. Can you help me treat others to a meal and do some work? Just say that Zhang Dabao is a wounded soldier after all, and he has a brain disease and needs care." After Zhang Dabao finished speaking, he took out the diagnosis certificate issued by the doctor and showed it to Li Huaide.

After reading it, Li Huaide thought for a while and said, "Da Biao, you are seriously injured. You are a war hero, so you should be taken care of. I will do as you say. Da Biao, which department are you assigned to? If you have any problems in the factory in the future, just come to me. Just tell others that I am your cousin."

"Thank you, cousin. What is this circle?" Zhang Dabao pointed to the east side of the east wing in the backyard.

"The former cattle shed in Yard 95 has no house on it now. There was a bit of a peculiar smell on the ground when the weather was hot. It is now empty," said Li Huaide.

"Uncle, can I buy it? I come from the countryside and I like to grow things," Zhang Dabao asked Li Huaide.

"Okay, just pay the additional three hundred yuan. The area is not small, about three hundred square meters." Li Huaide explained because he was afraid that Zhang Dabao would be unwilling.

"Okay, cousin, I'll go get the money," Zhang Dabao went out and stayed at the door for a while, then took out two bottles of red wine with foreign language prints from his bag and three hundred yuan and went into Li Huaide's office.

"Good boy, you come prepared. I'll write you a note. Will you still renovate the house? Go find the infrastructure engineer Kang Qianjin later. I'll give him a call. He knows you are my nephew and can give you a much lower price." Li Huaide did another favor.

Zhang Dabao returned to the Personnel Department with the note and said, "Xiao Huang, it's done. Go find Chief Kang to renovate the house."

"Secretary Zhang, how many rooms are there?" Section Chief Hu was also very concerned.

"Chief Hu, I got three rooms and Xiao Huang got two. Isn't that a coincidence? We were talking in Director Li's office and it turned out that Director Li is my mother's aunt's cousin, my uncle. Our two families haven't been in contact since he joined the revolution. I didn't expect to meet my relatives here," Zhang Dabao said with a smile.

"That's such a coincidence," Section Chief Hu also laughed.

The two of them asked for home visit leave from the Personnel Department and Section Chief Hu, and went to work on the sixth day after the Spring Festival. Then they went to the Infrastructure Department to find Section Chief Kang and told him their renovation requirements, especially that the bedroom must have a kang. They just needed to tidy up the messy things in the yard, and after the spring, they would have to plow the land and farm. Zhang Dabao left a fee of 200 yuan, which would be refunded if they exceeded the amount or supplemented if they lacked. After settling the bill at work, Section Chief Kang gave the two of them some new keys and said that he would replace the locks for them when the time came.

The two of them left the steel mill and headed straight for the train station. Zhang Dabiao saw Huang Xinsheng off on the train, and he took a rickshaw to the bus station and took a bus to his hometown, Zhangjia Village, Xiangyang Commune.

Zhangjia Village is 20 kilometers away from Beijing. Zhang Dabao, sitting on the bus, looked out the window and saw almost no pedestrians on the road. It is winter now and a difficult time. The autumn harvest this year is not optimistic. Most people are lying at home to reduce energy consumption.

An hour later, we arrived at Xiangyang Commune. After getting off the bus, Zhang Dabao walked another four or five kilometers to Zhangjia Village. When he arrived at his home, the house he imagined to be dilapidated was actually quite new. It seemed that someone was helping to maintain it. The door was closed, but there was smoke coming out of the chimney, so someone must be living there. Someone had occupied his house. Zhang Dabao was furious and tapped the door with his crutch, and it opened.

"Who is it?" A woman in her twenties came out, whom Zhang Dabao did not recognize.

"Who are you? Why do you live here?" Zhang Dabao said, holding his breath.

"This is my home. If I don't live here, I should live somewhere else. Get out of here right now. What is a disabled person asking questions about?" The woman spoke very unpleasantly.

After hearing what the woman said, Zhang Dabao couldn't control himself anymore and hit the woman on the shoulder with the crutch in his hand. The woman was stunned for a moment, probably because she didn't expect someone to hit her. She was about to curse when the crutch hit her on the back for the second time, each time harder than the last. She couldn't bear the pain anymore and shouted towards the door, "Zhang Shoucheng, someone hit me."

A young man in his twenties ran out and asked, “Who is so brave as to cause trouble at this time?”

Zhang Shoucheng was also greeted by the cane, again and again, and was soon knocked to the ground. The woman's screams became louder, and someone heard it - several neighbors came out.

"Are you Dabiao?" Someone recognized Zhang Dabiao.

"The village chief is here," someone said, and then a man about fifty years old appeared.

"Young man, who are you? Why are you hitting people?" the village chief asked Zhang Dabao.

"Fourth uncle, you are such a forgetful person. My own house has been occupied by someone, and I can't fight back against the robbers?" Zhang Dabao said to his uncle Zhang Zhiling who lived in the next room.

"Are you Da Biao? You're back?" Zhang Zhiling said in surprise.

"Uncle, when was my house distributed to others? I joined the army to defend my country, but you ransacked my house?" Zhang Dabao did not answer the village chief's question, but continued to look at the village chief and ask questions.

"Da Biao, you misunderstood. Shoucheng from your eldest brother Zhang Dasong's family lives here. You beat Shoucheng and his wife," explained the village chief.

"You let them live there?" Zhang Dabao's eyes made Zhang Zhiling dare not look him in the face.

"No, isn't Dasong your cousin? You've been in the army for five years and there's no news. The clan held a meeting and adopted Shoucheng to you. He has no place to stay when he gets married, so where else can he live if not here?" the village chief explained.

"Ha..." Zhang Dabao laughed, "Fourth uncle, Zhang Shoucheng is the only junior in the clan? It was because Zhang Dasong was incompetent that you were made the clan leader. At that time, the clan held a meeting and said that if the eldest grandson was capable, he would become the clan leader after you left. I remember that Zhang Shoucheng was the eldest grandson. Can the eldest grandson in the clan be adopted by someone else? Is this the rule you set? If I remember correctly, Zhang Shoucheng is two years older than me. I have little experience and have never heard of a son being two years older than his father? Who is sending whom off?" After Zhang Dabao finished speaking to Zhang Zhiling, he turned around and looked at Zhang Shoucheng and his wife lying on the ground.

The village chief Zhang Zhiling also looked unhappy. His nephew Zhang Dabao didn't give him any face at all. He just stood there and didn't know what to say.

"Who attacked our family, you bastard?" a shrew rushed towards Zhang Dabao.

Zhang Dabao was not polite either. He hit her on the leg and knocked her to the ground. She wanted to curse, but when she saw Zhang Dabao's cold eyes, she didn't dare to curse and stood up and wanted to run away.

"Sister-in-law, if you leave, I will go to your house to light up the restaurant. You can try it?" Zhang Dabao's voice was not loud, but the woman was scared.

"Da Biao, I won't leave. I'll ask Shoucheng to move back now." The woman was scared. It was this man. When she was thirteen years old, she scolded his father, and he chopped her with a knife. Her cotton jacket was torn and the wound on her back was half an inch deep. Even so, he still didn't let her go. He chased her for more than a hundred meters with a knife. When she went home and closed the door, he chopped the door again and again, scaring her to the point of peeing. In the end, her second uncle came and persuaded him to stay. She went to his father and knelt down to apologize, and he let her go. Now she is still a little scared when she thinks of that scene.

"Shoucheng, where are my family's things?" Zhang Dabao asked Zhang Shoucheng again.

Zhang Shoucheng kept his mouth shut.

Zhang Dabao's cane hit them down again and again, without a trace of expression in his eyes.

"Da Biao..." Zhang Shoucheng's mother loved her child and wanted to say something, but when Zhang Da Biao looked over, she quickly shut her mouth.

"Uncle, he's in the east room," Zhang Shoucheng said quickly, fearing that he had been beaten.

Zhang Dabao walked into the house and took a look. He saw things were in a mess, so he turned around and walked out.

"Shoucheng, pack him up before the New Year and don't put things in the wrong place, otherwise I won't forgive you," Zhang Dabao said to his nephew lying on the ground.

"Fourth uncle, this house is mine and no one else can occupy it. Whoever occupies it will bear the consequences. If someone comes to rob it, I hope you can tell him. Otherwise, if someone dies, it will be difficult for you to be the village chief. I will stay in the small house in front of the ancestral grave for a few days to accompany my parents and second uncle. Don't let anyone come over." Zhang Dabao said a few words to Zhang Zhiling, then walked up the hillside with a crutch.

After he walked away, Zhang Shoucheng and his mother and son stood up. "Fourth Uncle, those who were demobilized came back in the autumn, but Zhang Dabao came back at this time. He must have run away. He is a deserter. I want to report to the government," Zhang Dasong's wife said to Zhang Zhiling.

"You can report it or not, but don't tell me. I don't represent the government, so what am I?" Zhang Zhiling also got angry and turned away.

Seeing that there was nothing exciting to watch, the neighbors left. Zhang Shoucheng, his mother and his two sons discussed it together, and Zhang Shoucheng went to Xiangyang Commune.