Transmigrating Through the Heavens: Starting with the Silly Pillar of the Courtyard

Chapter 8 The Steward

The crossbody bag that He Yuzhu was carrying was custom-made; several were made at once.

He Yuzhu wasn't stupid; he had a bag but insisted on showing off by using a net bag, as if he was afraid others wouldn't see the lunchbox inside.

Let alone during difficult times, in any era, such ostentatious displays will inevitably provoke jealousy and lead people to want to report you.

He Yuzhu always came back from outside with a crossbody bag on his back, and no one knew what was inside.

Once he gets home, he can freely take things out of his spatial storage.

When asked, He Yuzhu said it was bought from outside, and he didn't reveal a single secret about the space, even to He Yushui.

Anyway, he felt that it was best to keep the secret of his personal space to himself until his grave.

As long as I do it discreetly, I won't be afraid of arousing suspicion when I take things out of the space in the future.

There are many bad people in the courtyard, so he must always be careful.

When He Yuzhu returned to the courtyard, he saw many people standing in the middle courtyard, discussing something.

Is this a college-wide meeting? Finally witnessing the mysterious and terrifying college-wide meeting, He Yuzhu was a little nervous and a little excited.

In a traditional courtyard house, the front and back courtyards are relatively smaller than the central courtyard, and people usually like to chat in the central courtyard. This area gradually became the concentration of courtyard houses and is one of the most frequently seen scenes in the story.

Usually, when there's something to discuss, we all gather at the Intermediate People's Court. That's why we're all here at the Intermediate People's Court today.

Seeing the crowd, He Yuzhu could only lock his bicycle at the moon gate and walk straight in.

I wondered if it was because of the story of the old man in charge?

"Pillar, you're back."

"Um, Uncle Xu, what are you doing?"

"The military control commission has come to announce something."

"Oh, so there are enemy agents appearing again recently?"

"No, it's about the liaison officer."

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu suddenly realized that he had been so busy learning cooking skills since his time travel that he had forgotten about the courtyard plot, and that the eldest uncle, second uncle, and third uncle had not yet appeared.

This is the most familiar name to all the birds in the courtyard, and even after the liaison officer position was abolished, nothing changed in the courtyard.

At that time, Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui had already truly established their prestige among the residents of the courtyard.

The birds in the courtyard seem to have gotten used to submitting to the three stewards, and they hold a courtyard-wide meeting whenever there's a reason.

With Sha Zhu as his henchman, the deaf old lady as his backer, and Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui as his two helpers, Yi Zhonghai was finally able to control everything in the courtyard.

No matter what happened in the courtyard house, Yi Zhonghai could always make a big deal out of it and let it go. Of course, no one would resist, since they were just neighbors, and why should they listen to Yi Zhonghai?

As for the manager, that's not true at all.

The military control committee and the subsequent street offices only had liaison officers, and the "manager" was appointed by Yi Zhonghai and his two associates themselves.

To be precise, the Military Control Commission intended for them to primarily serve as a precaution against the enemy. Unexpectedly, while they were afraid to arrest the enemy, they were quite adept at bullying the common folk in the courtyard.

He Yuzhu walked over and saw He Yushui, Zhang Panpan, and Xu Xiaoling sitting side by side on a long bench.

"Big brother, you're back."

He Yuzhu took a lunchbox out of his crossbody bag and handed it to He Yushui, waving her to go back to her room to eat.

He Yushui was already hungry, so she grabbed her lunchbox, turned around, opened the door, and went back inside.

When renovating the house, He Yuzhu directly replaced the door locks with concealed locks, which was a necessary precaution.

When He Yuzhu was renovating his house, he instinctively thought of the suggestion that, at the suggestion of the three old men, no one in the courtyard should lock their doors.

To avoid arguing with them, I changed the lock to a concealed one beforehand. If they don't allow me to lock the door, as long as no one deliberately pushes the door open, they won't be able to tell there's a lock.

Conversely, if someone deliberately pushes the door open, you should ask them what they want to do.

The reason why people don't lock the door is simply because most families now only have one person working.

Whether it's the wife or the parents, someone in their family stays home every day.

This eliminates the issue of whether or not to lock the door, which would actually be more troublesome. In reality, considering how often Bang-geon frequents Sha-ju's house in the story, it's unlikely that nothing has ever been stolen from other people's homes.

Those houses where no one is home definitely need to be locked, but some old men have misinterpreted the rules.

Since someone is home in every household, there's no need to lock the door. But who will compensate those who have things stolen if no one is home?

Unfortunately, they were being held down by the three old men, so they couldn't call the police even if something happened.

Xu Damao's old hen was stolen, and in the end, Sha Zhu paid five yuan to resolve the matter.

While their lack of legal knowledge was certainly a factor, the three elders in charge also frequently taught everyone to resolve issues within the courtyard.

In addition, people don't usually like to see someone reporting their neighbor, and at this time many people have some minor problems.

If you keep reporting people, everyone will probably be afraid to be your neighbor. Apart from Sha Zhu, who lives in a private house, the other tenants might actually be evicted from the courtyard if they are collectively ostracized by the residents.

Finding a house these days is incredibly difficult. According to reports, thousands of houses collapse in Beijing every year around this time.

The government currently lacks the funds for repairs. This is also why the average living space per person in Beijing has decreased from four or five square meters to three square meters.

Sha Zhu was hated by everyone in the courtyard because his house was the biggest, and he had no parents or elders to protect him.

Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady appeared at the right time to help Sha Zhu, which made Sha Zhu feel that they were all one of their own.

"Alright, fellow residents, in order to cooperate with the Military Control Commission in monitoring the enemy and mediating disputes between neighbors, we have come here today to elect three liaison officers for No. 95 Courtyard."

Xu Fugui, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, Yi Zhonghai, and Zhang Xiaoquan are our five tentative candidates.

Next, the five of them stood in a line at the front. Someone who wanted to be the liaison could put a red bean in the bowl behind the person they wanted to be the liaison. Each person only had three red beans, meaning you could choose three people.

He Yuzhu felt a pang of regret when he saw that Yi Zhonghai had also participated.

I've been too busy lately. Although I saw Yi Zhonghai running around in the yard helping others, I never imagined it was because of the old man in charge.

I knew He Yuzhu would definitely cause some trouble for Yi Zhonghai.

He Yuzhu gave his two red beans to Xu Fugui, Zhang Xiaoquan (Zhang Panpan's father), and finally put the last one into Liu Haizhong's bowl.

Unfortunately, these three are the best candidates available right now.

Compared to Yi Zhonghai's moral blackmail, Liu Haizhong is a brainless, impulsive type. Yan Bugui is disgusting; he doesn't bite, but he's still annoying.

Actually, none of these people are good, especially Yan Bugui. Everyone says he's the best of the three old men. That's pure nonsense. The others are just individual troublemakers at most.

He bullied everyone indiscriminately. You can imagine how scarce resources were during those ten-plus years; every family was struggling.

As a result, he stood guard at the door every day, and everyone who came home was skinned alive.

In particular, sometimes people have to risk going to the black market at night to get something to eat.

When he got home, Yan Bugui interrogated him, and in order to shut him up, he had no choice but to reluctantly give him some benefits.

It's like you go out and earn a hundred dollars every day, spend a dozen dollars to buy a pound of meat to improve your wife and kids' meals, only to be swindled out of two ounces by the other party. Wouldn't you say that's disgusting?

The key was about twenty households. Each household was extorted for a little something, and in the end, the family didn't need to buy groceries anymore.

If Qin Huairu was a bloodsucker of Sha Zhu, then Yan Bugui was a bloodsucker of the entire courtyard.

Due to the powerful inertia of history, the final result was that Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui became the liaisons for Courtyard No. 95.

Xu Fugui and Zhang Xiaoquan looked somewhat dejected. There was nothing they could do; they were simply too slow to react. It wasn't until the military control commission officer came to their door today that they realized they had already lost many advantages compared to Yi Zhonghai.

With a large majority of the residents working at the steel rolling mill in the courtyard, Liu Haizhong and his colleagues naturally dared not offend the two master steel rolling mill workers, especially when facing Yi Zhonghai.

The deaf old lady knew about the news in advance because she often went to the military control committee to chat with people. Yi Zhonghai knew about it before anyone else took action.

With this advantage, he was able to take the lead.

Even though Yi Zhonghai has a bad reputation, he recently pretended to do some good deeds. This allowed him to get the position of liaison officer in this election.

"Alright, I now announce that Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui will be the liaison officers for Courtyard No. 95. If no one has any objections, then we'll dismiss?"

"I have a problem."

A loud voice rang out, and everyone hurriedly looked around to see who dared to disrupt the military control committee's important affairs.

He Yuzhu stepped forward directly, staring intently at the military control committee officers.

"Hello, young man, what's your problem?"

"I just want to ask, what makes someone like Yi Zhonghai, who schemes against other people's families, qualified to be a liaison officer? Is he afraid that everyone in our compound is too happy?"

"Silly Zhu, don't cause trouble."

"Snap"

"Comrade, why are you hitting someone?"

He Yuzhu rubbed his hands together.

"Boss, this isn't my fault. It's his fault for calling me by my nickname."

The military control commission leaders were somewhat helpless; they couldn't simply blame the other side.

"Okay, what do you mean by scheming against other people's families?"

"It's just my family, Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady. No, there's also Luo Qiaoyun, Jia Zhangshi and a few others who, in order to seize my house, forced my father to leave for Baoding. Everyone in the compound knows about this."

The fact that everyone in the courtyard was silent indicated that what He Yuzhu said must be true.

Yi Zhonghai wanted to explain, but was afraid of drawing even more attention to He Yuzhu.

After a brief discussion, the officers decided to deal with Yi Zhonghai.

"Alright, remove Yi Zhonghai from his position as liaison officer, and appoint Comrade Xu Fugui as the new liaison officer."

"Young comrade, if you have solid evidence, you are welcome to report to the Military Control Commission. We will certainly not allow saboteurs to escape justice."

"Okay, thank you, boss."

After the military control committee leaders left, everyone in the courtyard went home, discussing amongst themselves.

With a gloomy face, Yi Zhonghai hurried home with his head down. He hadn't expected that He Yuzhu would ruin everything he had spent so much time on.

He had worked so hard for his retirement plan, but unfortunately, it all fell through.

He Yuzhu is keeping a close eye on him now, making him somewhat regretful that he shouldn't have schemed against He Daqing in the first place.

In particular, He Yuzhu's vengeful nature made him increasingly afraid that he would be retaliated against when he got old.