Chapter 391: Xu Damao has fallen on hard times

Shazhu greeted Yan Fugui off to work, but before he could even mount his bike, an unexpected guest appeared and threw his plans into disarray.

Xu Damao

Not seen for over ten days.

Yagangchang's renowned film projectionist, Xu Damao, whom countless people envied, seemed like a completely different person—from head to toe, inside and out, utterly lacking any trace of a film projectionist's demeanor.

The former Xu Damao.

The impression he gave.

Lofty and aloof.

He also had the air of being lofty and aloof; as a film projectionist, to countless people he was a dimensionality‑crushing presence; city dwellers envied him to death, hoping they could one day be like Xu Damao and become an honored film projectionist. As for the rural folk, they feared Xu Damao wouldn't screen movies for them, or wished for an extra film, they would wait on him like a grandfather, feeding him well, and when departing they'd bring some rare city specialties.

Yan Fugui once told Yi Zhonghai, "You guys at Yagangchang, being a film projectionist brings in such profits—Xu Damao is constantly hauling stuff home every day."

This bastard, relying on his film projectionist status, always looked down on the neighbors in the courtyard; only Shazhu and Yan Fugui could barely catch his eye.

But the present Xu Damao gives a listless, limp impression—worse than a frost‑struck eggplant—head down, shoulders drooping, hair a tangled mess like a chicken coop, his appearance wan and enervated, as if over the past ten‑odd days he's been leading a life of nightly revelry, draining his energy to the limit, and has grown gaunt.

Yan Fugui was dumbfounded.

Shazhu also froze on the spot.

This damn it's Xu Damao.

He looks like a living beggar.

"San Daye, Shazhu, you're both here."

His voice was hoarse.

Not much better than a broken gong's rasp.

Seeing this.

Shazhu hastily dismounted; he and Xu Damao got along well, so if Xu Damao ran into trouble he wouldn't just ride off to work.

This friendship.

He probably didn't want it either.

In such a big environment nowadays, it's best to be as careful as possible.

He parked the bike.

He stepped up to Xu Damao and deliberately made a joke.

"Xu Damao, good thing you spoke up; otherwise we'd have thought we'd run into a fleeing little beggar."

He had no intention of jabbing Xu Damao in the heart.

Rather, he wanted to ease the atmosphere.

He didn't notice that even Yan Fugui, who was in a bad mood, went along with Shazhu's remark and deliberately made a teasing comment.

"The stick in my hand is just a hair's breadth from being swung; if it landed on Xu Damao, I, Yan Fugui, would surely have to buy him a drink."

"Shazhu, San Daye, I get what you're thinking; let me be frank—I've run into trouble."

Xu Damao sat beside Yan Fugui, while Shazhu stood facing Xu Damao and Yan Fugui, both staring at Xu Damao with doubtful eyes.

They silently thought the same thing.

"If Xu Damao is unlucky, could Yan Fugui be unlucky too?"

They were about to go their separate ways.

There were some things.

Hard to say out loud.

As long as you understand it in your heart.

"Xu Damao, tell me what's up; if I can help, I will; if I really can't, we'll find someone to handle it for you."

Shazhu's big‑handed offer.

It drew Xu Damao's gaze.

Bie Sun cast him a slightly sentimental glance, which landed on Shazhu.

"Shazhu, just having you say that is enough."

"Xu Damao, don't lose heart; San Daye can also come up with plans."

"In my haste I even forgot to flatter San Daye—Shazhu, San Daye, you know why I've been absent from the siheyuan for so long, right?"

Shazhu suddenly recalled something.

He realized he hadn't seen Xu Damao in the siheyuan for over a month, and hadn't heard any rumors about him inside Yagangchang either.

Even Xu Damao's wife, Qin Jingru, hadn't appeared in the siheyuan during that time.

The couple.

Neither showed up in the courtyard.

Xu Damao again bore a desolate air.

Shazhu thought of something, his heart leapt to his throat, his helpless gaze shifting from Xu Damao to Yan Fugui.

Yan Fugui perhaps had the same thought; his and Shazhu's gazes met in mid‑air, a solemn, resigned look.

"You all know I have an ex‑wife."

Lou Xiaoe.

The daughter of Yagangchang's major shareholder.

After marrying Lou Xiaoe, Xu Damao was jokingly called Yagangchang's son‑in‑law, and back then Shazhu and Yan Fugui even used that nickname to tease him.

Could it be that Lou Xiaoe dragged him into this?

Shazhu habitually furrowed his brows.

To be frank.

Lou Xiaoe's identity is indeed a big trouble now, but several years ago, Lou Xiaoe divorced Xu Damao and followed her parents to Hong Kong Island, and hasn't come back.

In this situation.

If those people, because of Lou Xiaoe's matter, try to manipulate Xu Damao as her ex-husband, it seems somewhat unreasonable.

After all, they've been apart for several years.

"How is Lou Xiaoe?" After Yan Fugui finished speaking, he seemed to have committed a grave mistake, warily glanced left and right, quickly changed the three characters "Lou Xiaoe" to "your ex-wife," saying, "What does your ex-wife's matter have to do with you? They're not just grasping at wind and shadows, causing trouble for no reason, are they?"

"Ah!" Xu Damao sighed, then slowly said: "Who says no, but now they insist we two are related; because of this matter, for over fifty days I've been unable to explain it clearly to them, in there, going back and forth explaining..."

Shazhu was frightened.

Yan Fugui was startled.

It seems, compared to Xu Damao.

They are still relatively happy.

What happened to Xu Damao is actually similar to what happened to Yan Fugui; Yan Jiecheng, because he divorced Ran Qiuye, and also because Ran Qiuye was taken away by her parents, those people insist their divorce was a bitter ploy, and they must figure out something.

After Xu Damao divorced Lou Xiaoe, those people still said it was a bitter ploy; even though Xu Damao said his current wife is Qin Jingru, those people still brought up the bitter ploy, demanding Xu Damao explain everything.

Explain an eggplant.

Nothing at all.

Just like that.

Xu Damao stayed inside for about fifty days, and only today did those people let him out.

If it weren't for Xu Damao telling the truth to Shazhu and Yan Fugui, they would surely have thought Xu Damao was busy working as a film projectionist, leaving early and returning late, so they never saw his figure in the courtyard.

All this inside.

And also this clandestine.

Even more unacceptable to Shazhu and Yan Fugui is that Xu Damao obviously did nothing wrong, yet those people stubbornly found an excuse and suspended Xu Damao's job as a film projectionist.

Specifically, what are they doing?

We don't know.

Xu Damao returned to the Siheyuan, intending to first wash his face, change clothes, then go to Yagangchang to look for Shazhu, through Shazhu's connections, to see if his situation could be eased.

Behind Shazhu is the influential figure Deputy Factory Director Li of Yagangchang, whose word carries great weight; as long as Deputy Factory Director Li speaks up, even if Xu Damao has trouble, at least his job as a film projectionist won't be lost.

He has already grown accustomed to the benefits of being a film projectionist.

To have him do something else.

One aspect is that he can't do it.

The other aspect is that he doesn't want to do it.

After clarifying the whole story, Xu Damao then spoke the words asking Shazhu to help plead his case.

"Shazhu, buddy, I'm really in a tough spot; the key is, besides projecting films, I can't do anything else; please talk to Deputy Factory Director Li, everything else can be stopped, but the job must not stop; I still want to better serve the workers of Yagangchang and bring warmth to the vast countryside..."

The words were only half spoken.

Xu Damao noticed the facial expression of Yan Fugui beside him.

It became very unpleasant.

His heart felt a bit depressed.

I'm asking Shazhu to handle things; what do you, Yan Fugui, have to be depressed about?

Just as he was about to say the following content.

Then he heard Yan Fugui say a few words that made him feel utterly disinterested,

"Xu Damao, don't count on Shazhu; his current situation is even worse than yours."

Xu Damao's eyes.

Stared wide and round.

His gaze shifted from Shazhu's body to Shazhu's bicycle.

When he was the head of the cafeteria.

In Shazhu's messenger bag were a lunch box and his own vegetable-cutting and cooking tools; he once said, "I am a cook; the kitchen knife for cutting vegetables, the spoon and ladle for cooking, are my weapons."

Weapons are a soldier's second life.

This is why he carries his cooking utensils with him.

Just now Xu Damao saw the lunch box in the messenger bag, but didn't see the kitchen knife, spoon, etc., the cooking tools.

"Shazhu, you're not working in the cafeteria anymore?"

"I want to, but they won't let me; guess what I'm doing now?"

"Promoted?"

Xu Damao, who had given an answer, instantly overturned his own assumption.

Looking at Shazhu's appearance, he doesn't seem to have been promoted either.

They are all people from Yagangchang.

That little convention of Yagangchang.

Xu Damao still knows: if it's not a promotion, then it's a demotion.

He couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

Shazhu being reassigned is not a good thing for Xu Damao; thinking that Shazhu doesn't even bring his cooking utensils, his assignment naturally isn't good either.

"Could it be that he's been sent to the Cleaning Section?"

Inside Yagangchang.

Everyone knows the Cleaning Section is where those who made mistakes gather; Qin Huairu, because of her messing around, still works in the Cleaning Section to this day, though she's no longer cleaning toilets but sweeping streets instead.

"The keeper of Sihuocangku."

Shazhu told the truth.

Xu Daming, sitting on the steps opposite, jumped up from the steps upon hearing this.

What place?

Sihuocangku!

In this place where even birds don't poop, how did Shazhu end up?

Shazhu went to Sihuocangku's defective goods warehouse as a keeper; as for Xu Daming's film projectionist job, how should it be retained?

Deep helplessness.

It welled up in Xu Daming's heart.

"How are you?"

"I won't say more."

"Xu Daming, this matter, San Daye specially went to Shazhu to apologize; it's our eldest's fault, he wrote the report letter, and last night Shazhu almost..."

Bad news came one after another.

First, Shazhu changed from canteen manager to keeper of Sihuocangku's defective goods warehouse; this news hadn't been digested by Xu Daming when Yan Fugui revealed the news that Yan Jiecheng caused Shazhu to lose his position and that last night Shazhu almost lost his life, an even more explosive piece of news; Xu Daming was shocked, and Yan Fugui then spoke about his own family's affairs.

Xu Daming felt numb all over.

He looked at Shazhu.

He looked at Yan Fugui.

He found that he himself was still fine.

Yan Fugui's family's whereabouts are unknown; they might be traveling in the mountains, might be going to Dongbei to see the heavy snow, or might be going to the northwest to experience the desert scenery.

Shazhu, however, was trapped in that place where even birds don't poop.

"We brothers are all the same!"

He thought of many words.

After finally thinking of this reason, Xu Daming earnestly advised Shazhu and Yan Fugui with a sentence, then chatted a few more words.

The three each went their separate ways.

Those who went home lay like corpses.

Those preparing to go out of town prepared to go out of town.

Those going to work went to work.

Although he left a bit late, but having a bicycle, two wheels are faster than walking; Shazhu took over ten minutes, cycling from the Siheyuan to the Yagangchang.

Just as he entered the gate.

He hadn't even parked his bicycle yet.

He saw Liu Haizhong, belly protruding, leading several members of the Elderly Assault Team, swaggering, blocking Shazhu's path.

"Shazhu! Your bicycle has been requisitioned by our Yagangchang Elderly Assault Team."

Shazhu hesitated a moment.

He found he was somewhat unable to understand Liu Haizhong.

The official-obsessed seemed to become even more arrogant.

However, this administrative ability was full of contradictions before and after.

At last night's Dayuan meeting, they had suffered a dark loss at Shazhu's hands, yet today they arrogantly blocked Shazhu at the Yagangchang gate, in front of countless Yagangchang workers, openly shouting the words to requisition Shazhu's bicycle.

They called it requisition.

But their tone lacked any hint of negotiation.

Thus this requisition turned into outright robbery.

"Shazhu, what's the meaning? My position as captain of the Yagangchang Elderly Assault Team is useless? You, the former canteen manager, don't even look at me? I tell you, you are no longer the Yagangchang canteen manager; you are now just the keeper of Sihuocangku's defective goods warehouse—recognize your identity!"

After Liu Haizhong's barrage of retorts.

Only then did Shazhu's soul, which had flown to the ninth heaven, return to his body.

He glanced left and right at the Yagangchang workers whose faces showed reluctance.

Shazhu replied with an extremely good attitude: "Team Captain Liu, you're teaching me; I'll follow your orders—it's just a bicycle, you can requisition it however you like; when you, Team Captain Liu, speak, I will naturally obey."

Shazhu placed his bicycle.

He stopped it in front of Liu Haizhong, took off the saddlebag holding his lunchbox from the handlebars, and respectfully said goodbye to Liu Haizhong.

Then, in Liu Haizhong's thoughtful gaze.

He walked toward Sihuocangku.

Shazhu's bicycle, up to now, has been ridden for about ten years; he had long wanted to replace it with a new one, and if Liu Haizhong didn't requisition his bicycle, he would still be thinking of how to use the bicycle to trip Liu Haizhong.

Sleepiness found a pillow.

Liu Haizhong himself hurriedly sent it over.

This opportunity.

If Shazhu didn't seize it.

He would feel a bit sorry for himself, walking and thinking, imagining the scene two months later when he would demand a new bicycle from Liu Haizhong.

The bicycle was requisitioned by Liu Haizhong from Shazhu in front of the workers, so naturally Liu Haizhong would return it to Shazhu.

Sixty days.

Trade a ten-year-old bicycle for a new one.

This deal.

It's a good deal.