Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 215

"You idiot, you dog, do you have any conscience? You've already slept with me..."

"Stop talking nonsense. You think ten yuan is too little for sleeping with you once? Even girls in the old Eight Great Hutongs wouldn't ask for ten yuan. Aren't you satisfied?"

"You...you idiot, you just wait."

"Fine, I'll wait. What can you do to me?"

At first, he might have had some reservations, but now that he's slept with Widow Zhang, he can do whatever he wants.

He Yuzhu, who was hiding outside, couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. He never expected that Granny Zhang would be manipulated like this.

It's true what they say, bad people always have their match. Granny Zhang stole her bicycle, and now Er Lengzi is taking advantage of her.

Not long after, Granny Zhang came out of the house with money in her hand. Her clothes were a little disheveled, and she walked back home crying.

He Yuzhu didn't disturb them. This wasn't the time for me to go find Er Lengzi. Since we discovered that Granny Zhang had stolen the bicycle, we couldn't let them off easily. This matter should be sent to jail.

He Yuzhu returned home without disturbing anyone. After warming up, he climbed into bed and fell asleep with Xu Huizhen in his arms.

As soon as it got light, I got up and went to the police station. I saw a sidecar motorcycle parked in the yard, and two police officers were repairing it.

There was no one in the entire police station that He Yuzhu didn't know. He wasn't in a hurry to report the case, so he went up to the car and asked, "What's wrong with this car?"

One of them looked up and saw that it was He Yuzhu, and said with a smile, "This was assigned to our police station by the higher-ups, but it breaks down frequently."

He Yuzhu nodded, exchanged a few polite words, and then used his mental energy to check. He quickly found the problem and said, "It should be that the piston rings are worn. Just remove them and replace them."

"You know how to fix cars?"

He Yuzhu was about to say he didn't understand, but he held back and nodded, saying, "What's so difficult about this? I've fixed it before."

"Great! Please fix it for us!"

These vehicles were all old cars from before the liberation, and their quality was poor. In addition, they were very old and often broke down on the road.

The first requirement for being a driver is knowing how to repair cars. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if the car breaks down on the roadside. There are no repair shops on the roadside that can fix it, so you have to rely on the driver to do a simple fix and drive the car back.

He Yuzhu had always wanted to touch a car, but unfortunately there were very few cars at that time, as most of them were from before the liberation.

It was already quite unexpected that the police station had a sidecar motorcycle. He Yuzhu wanted to lend a hand in exchange for the opportunity to drive one in the future.

"Okay, actually fixing a car is very simple."

Although He Yuzhu had never repaired a motorcycle before, he had a scanning ability and knew the overall structure like the back of his hand. He was quite skilled at disassembling it and quickly turned the engine into a pile of parts. Sure enough, he could see that one of the piston rings was broken in two.

Do you have spare piston rings?

"Yes, I'll get it for you."

Seeing how quickly He Yuzhu disassembled the engine, the two police officers were full of admiration. After taking the piston rings, they asked him how to repair the car.

He Yuzhu answered every question and quickly replaced the piston rings before installing them.

After completing the task, a system notification popped up in front of He Yuzhu's eyes:

You have learned a new skill – Vehicle Repair, level 1.

A surge of joy welled up inside me; how come I've gained another skill?

Does that mean that riding a sidecar motorcycle for a short distance will activate your driving skills?

He Yuzhu felt a fire burning in his heart. It had only been a few years since liberation, and there weren't many vehicles on the road, so there was practically no chance to touch a motor vehicle.

"Zhu Zi, what are you doing here?"

Just as He Yuzhu was feeling happy, he turned around and saw Ye Dapeng coming in from outside. He smiled and said, "You've come at the right time. I've fixed your tricycle. Let me ride it in a few days."

"You can fix cars?" Ye Dapeng asked, somewhat incredulously.

"If you don't believe me, ask those two people."

After two police officers confirmed that He Yuzhu could repair cars, Ye Dapeng was shocked. He looked him up and down again and asked:

When did you learn to repair cars?

"Never mind that, I have something important to discuss with you."

"What's the matter?"

He Yuzhu said, "My bicycle was stolen in the courtyard."

"Hey, does anyone dare to steal He Yuzhu's bicycle?"

"Look at what you're saying, now you've been robbed."

"Alright, let's go inside and talk slowly."

He Yuzhu and Ye Dapeng went into the office, and then He Yuzhu started talking about how his bicycle had been stolen.

Ye Dapeng suppressed a laugh and then said, "You just stood by and watched the bicycle get sold?"

He Yuzhu rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not a police officer, I don't have law enforcement power, so I can only come to you to report the case."

"Alright, I'll arrange to catch Er Lengzi right away. I've wanted to catch him for a long time, but I just haven't had the chance."

Then he paused for a moment and said, "At this hour, your bicycle would have been a pile of parts long ago."

"Anyway, I don't care, brother-in-law, you have to find my bicycle."

"You always call me brother-in-law when there's trouble, but Ye Dapeng when there's nothing to do. That's such a double standard," Ye Dapeng remarked with some emotion. After all, this was his father-in-law's apprentice.

He Yuzhu chuckled, exchanged a few words with Ye Dapeng, and then hurriedly returned to the courtyard house.

"Help! Help! Something terrible has happened! There's been a thief in our courtyard house!"

"What? A thief?"

Yi Zhonghai was the first to run out, and then he saw that it was He Yuzhu calling out. He asked with a hint of schadenfreude, "Zhuzi, what's been stolen from you?"

"My bicycle was locked properly yesterday, and I went for a run this morning, but it's gone now."

"What? The bicycle is stolen?" He Daqing heard the noise and ran out of the house.

"Yes, I remember it clearly, the bicycle was locked, but it's gone."

All that remained under the cruise ship in front of the gate was He Daqing's old bicycle; Xu Huizhen was pregnant and couldn't ride her bicycle to and from the hotel.

"Is it really lost?"

"Quickly go and invite Second Uncle and Third Uncle. Our courtyard has never lost anything so valuable before."

Others who heard the noise came over to check, and the courtyard became busy.

Soon, Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui rushed over, and other neighbors who had also heard the commotion gathered around.

Inside the west wing, Qin Huairu wanted to go out and see what was going on, but Granny Zhang said coldly, "What are you looking at? What's so interesting? We're not going to watch their show."

Jia Dongxu, standing nearby, found it strange. His mother wasn't like this before. Logically speaking, when Sha Zhu's bicycle was stolen, his mother would have gone outside to watch the commotion, made some sarcastic remarks, or even clapped and cheered.

This time, he didn't go to watch the excitement and even stopped Qin Huai from going out, which puzzled Jia Dongxu. However, he didn't say much. As for himself, he wouldn't go to crowded places to avoid being bumped into by others.

In those days, losing a bicycle was no small matter, and soon everyone in the courtyard came over.

Everyone was talking about it, finding it strange, while some gloated, saying that Sha Zhu deserved it.

He Yuzhu turned around and saw that it was Xu Zhaodi who said it. When she saw that Shazhu was looking over, Xu Zhaodi glared at him, looking very smug and like she was watching a good show.

He Yuzhu was too lazy to argue with her and said to Yi Zhonghai, "Old Yi, what do you think we should do? A bicycle has been stolen. You have to help me find it."

"What does this have to do with me? I'm just mediating neighborhood disputes; catching thieves isn't my responsibility." Yi Zhonghai certainly didn't want to take on this hot potato and declined directly.

They were overjoyed; they hadn't seen Sha Zhu suffer a loss in all these years, and they were so happy they wanted to buy some firecrackers to set off.

He Yuzhu didn't expect Yi Zhonghai to help him. Besides, he didn't need Yi Zhonghai's help today. Looking around at the neighbors, he realized that Zhang Pozi's family hadn't come out.

"These kinds of things are usually not done by outsiders, but by the neighbors. Some people get evil thoughts in the middle of the night and steal bicycles."

Yi Zhonghai thought He Yuzhu wanted to pin the charge of stealing the bicycle on him, and quickly interrupted:

"Stop talking nonsense. It's just a bicycle. Everyone can afford one these days. We're all neighbors, who would steal a bicycle?"

"That's hard to say. Some people just can't stand seeing others do well. They can't have children themselves, so they secretly report others for supporting widows."

Yi Zhonghai was furious when he heard this. Although Xu Wude's incident happened a long time ago, everyone still believed that they were the ones who reported Xu Wude. It was a terrible misfortune to be burdened with this crime.

These words infuriated the Xu family members who were watching the commotion. They glared at Yi Zhonghai, their anger practically spitting fire. Xu Damao said sarcastically:

"Some people just can't stand seeing others do well. It's quite possible that they might secretly take the bicycle away and sell it in the middle of the night."

Yi Zhonghai said angrily, "Xu Damao, stop talking nonsense. You need to have evidence to back up your words. Stop spouting nonsense."

"Hmm, if I had evidence, I would have sent you to the police station," Xu Damao said. "There are so many people here, why are you the only one who spoke up? Isn't it because you have a guilty conscience?"

"You..." Yi Zhonghai was speechless.

Xu Damao smiled smugly; making Yi Zhonghai suffer was the most gratifying thing.

Looking around, he suddenly realized that Jia Dongxu's family hadn't come out, so he continued to smear Yi Zhonghai, saying, "Why didn't your precious apprentice's family come out? Are you feeling guilty?"

He Yuzhu was just thinking about how to steer the conversation toward the Jia family when Xu Damao's timely intervention came as a surprise.

Yi Zhonghai shouted, "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll get rough with you! Dongxu's leg isn't fully healed yet, how could he be out here?"

"Hmph, they must have done something shady and are hiding, otherwise why is it that none of them have come out?"

Although Xu Damao had consummated his relationship with Granny Zhang that day, he felt nauseous after sobering up. It could be said that his love turned into hatred, and he wished Granny Zhang would suffer so that he could feel a little better.

He Yuzhu secretly gave Xu Damao a thumbs up in his heart; Xu Damao's intervention was timely.