Siheyuan: Grassroots Counterattack

Half a year passed quietly. After the Chinese New Year and the resumption of work, the Military Control Commission began to gradually withdraw from urban management. New street offices appeared in various streets, responsible for various matters concerning the courtyards within their management scope.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with the ordinary residents in the courtyard. They still have to go to work or work outside.

That evening, when everyone in the courtyard had just gotten off work and went home, a young man in a Zhongshan suit came into the courtyard. As the courtyard's door god, Yan Bugui naturally went forward to ask questions. Especially during this period, the government was promoting anti-enemy and anti-spies every day, and the people's vigilance was also mobilized.

"Comrade, who are you looking for?" Yan Bugui stared at the man.

"Hello, I'm Xiao Zhang from the Street Office. I'm here today to tell you something. Please gather all the residents in the courtyard together."

When Yan Bugui heard that it was someone from the Sub-district Office, he immediately became enthusiastic and said, "So it's a comrade from the Sub-district Office. Wait a minute, I'll go get him."

After saying that, he ran to the yard, "Everyone come out quickly, the comrades from the street office are here, everyone go to the middle courtyard to gather."

People from every household came out after hearing the noise. Yi Zhonghai stepped forward and asked, "Old Yan, what happened?"

"Lao Yi, the comrades from the subdistrict office are here. Let's gather together. We have something to announce."

At this time, Xiao Zhang also followed everyone to the central courtyard. He didn't expect that the people in this courtyard would be so exaggerated when they saw him, but work was important and he had no time to care about these things. He had to go to other courtyards soon.

Seeing that most people had arrived, Yan Bugui signaled to Xiao Zhang, who came to the opposite side of the crowd and introduced himself, "Hello everyone, I am Xiao Zhang from the Street Office. I am here today to inform you of something. In order to better prevent enemies and spies, the Street Office has decided to select a manager in each courtyard to assist the Street Office in mediating neighborhood conflicts and promoting national policies. You can think about it for a while and select the candidate that everyone in this courtyard likes. Tomorrow evening, Director Wang of the Street Office will come to count the votes. That's it, everyone can go home."

After saying that, Xiao Zhang left, but the people in the courtyard did not disperse. They gathered together chattering and discussing with each other.

Now, there are five families living in the front yard of the entire courtyard, seven families living in the middle yard, and six families living in the back yard. There are nearly twenty households and more than one hundred people in the entire courtyard.

Many people in the courtyard began to become active. Although they were not formal government officials, they could often contact the street office and also manage the courtyard on behalf of the street office. There was a lot of room for maneuver.

Li Tianyi was doing homework in the room just now, so he didn't go out. When he heard his parents mention this matter during dinner, Li Tianyi looked at his father and said, "Dad, do you want to run for the position of steward?"

Father Li did not speak, and Li Tianyi did not urge him, but continued to eat. After dinner, everyone sat at the table, "I don't really want to compete, it feels meaningless."

But Li's mother disagreed with Li's father's idea. "Why is it boring? It's so beautiful in the yard."

Li Tianyi smiled after hearing what his mother said. "Mom, I agree with my dad. Being a housekeeper is not good. As the saying goes, after three years of being a housekeeper, even cats and dogs will hate you. Don't you know who is in this courtyard? Our front yard is better. Look at the middle yard. Yi Zhonghai's family, Sha Zhu's family, Jia's family, plus the old lady in the backyard, they are almost the tyrants of the courtyard. How can we manage them?"

Father and mother Li nodded. Suddenly, mother Li saw her younger brother also listening there with his ears perked up. "Huzi, why don't you hurry up and do your homework? What are you listening to here? If you don't study hard, I will beat you."

The little brother was so scared that he quickly shrank his neck. He has been in school for half a year. Although his grades are good, he just likes to play. If there is no adult watching him, he probably won’t do his homework.

"Since we have decided not to get involved in this, who should we vote for?" asked Li's mother.

Li Tianyi signaled everyone to be quiet, and then he heard footsteps approaching his door, "Lao Li, are you home?"

The three of them looked at each other and knew the purpose of Yan Bugui's visit. "Old Yan, come in. The door is not closed."

Yan Bugui pushed the door and walked in, "Old Li, are you planning to run for election?" Yan Bugui looked at Li's father nervously. The Li family is very popular in the Siheyuan and they even help other people, so if the Li family runs for election, then other people probably don't have much hope.

"Old Yan, you know that I'm very busy at the factory every day, and when I get home I have to keep an eye on that brat Huzi, so I don't have time to serve the people in the hospital, so I won't participate. What about you? Are you going to participate?"

A hint of happiness flashed in Yan Bugui's eyes. "Hey, I thought you were running for election, and I wanted to vote for you. Since you're not running, then I'll run. Anyway, I have nothing to do after school."

"Okay, then I'll vote for you," said Father Li.

There are several scenes like this throughout the courtyard.

In the evening of the next day, Director Wang and Xiao Zhang arrived as scheduled. They first briefly introduced themselves and the duties and powers of the manager. After everyone understood, they let those who participated in the election stand to the front.

All of a sudden, several people stood up, including Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, and Xu Fugui.

Then Director Wang gave each of them a piece of paper with a number written on it, asked them to show it to the people below, and then asked everyone to write the number on the paper.

Of course, it should be mentioned here that because there are too many residents in this courtyard, three uncles must be elected to manage the three courtyards respectively, so that the residents of the three courtyards can each elect an uncle to manage their own courtyard.

In the front yard, only Yan Bugui was running for election. He originally thought that there was no hope, but unexpectedly, things took a big turn. He was the only one in the front yard, so his election was a foregone conclusion.

Sure enough, the three uncles were exactly the same as in the original book. Yan Bugui from the front yard, Yi Zhonghai from the middle yard, and Liu Haizhong from the back yard were elected as the uncles in charge, and then their order was determined according to the number of residents.

After that, Director Wang took Xiao Zhang away, and the new manager continued to hold a meeting for everyone. Of course, the messy things that happened later had not happened yet. This meeting was just to let everyone know that they could come to them if there was any problem in the future.

After the meeting, Xu Fugui was in a bad mood, and the usually lively Xu Damao didn't dare to mess with his father.

This matter was considered over at this point, and the courtyard returned to its former tranquility, but the way the three uncles were addressed had changed. Of course, the third uncle Yan Bugui's enthusiasm for learning had not diminished in the slightest, and now he could already have simple conversations, and the subsidy from his school had also arrived, 5 yuan a month, and he was already very satisfied.