Chapter 10: The Devils Check Household Registrations

A flash of sinister malice crossed Xu Fugui's eyes; he lowered his voice and leaned into his son's ear: "What's the rush! If we can't do it openly, we'll do it in the shadows! Find an opportunity and let the Japanese deal with him!"

Inside the Jia Family home, a family of three was gathered around a small kang table eating.

On the table sat a plate of salted vegetable chunks and a few black-and-yellow mixed-grain steamed buns.

Lao Jia was an honest man whose ancestral home was Baoding Prefecture. He had fled to Beijing as a refugee in his early years. Because he was quite sharp, he once drove a large carriage for a wealthy family. Later, when the masters fled to Chongqing, he didn't follow them, staying in Beiping to do odd jobs. After the Japanese occupied Beiping, Lou Laoban opened the Rolling Mill, and Lao Jia, relying on his brute strength, entered the Locksmith Workshop.

He was the type of person who kept his nose out of other people's business; as long as it didn't concern him, he wouldn't even step outside to take a look if people were beating each other's brains out.

Lao Jia picked up a steamed bun, took a big bite, and with the salted vegetables, asked his son Jia Dongxu in a muffled voice: "Dongxu, those two families have a pretty good relationship, don't they? Why did they come to blows today?"

Just as Jia Dongxu was about to speak, Jia Zhangshi cut in: "It's all because that brat Xu Damao has a loose tongue, asking Zhuzi if he got beaten up by the Japanese military police. Can Zhuzi's stubborn temper take that? He went right up and twisted Xu Damao up. Must have hurt him, he was crying his lungs out."

Lao Jia picked up the bun crumbs that had fallen on the table and stuffed them into his mouth, shaking his head: "Xu Fugui is also lacking in sense! Kids fighting, why do the adults have to get involved? It's beneath them!"

"Xu Damao deserves a beating! At school, he likes to hang out with older students and loves to bully others by relying on someone else's power. But Zhuzi is born to be Damao's nemesis. Every time the two fight, it's Xu Damao who suffers."

Jia Zhangshi immediately glared at her son: "Dongxu! Don't you go learning from them! Those two brats, one is an Erlengzi, the other is rotten to the core! Neither of them is going to amount to anything! You stay far away from them!"

"Mom, I know," Jia Dongxu replied, then remembered something, "By the way, Dad, Uncle He was talking to me the day before yesterday, saying if Zhuzi keeps acting this wild, he won't let him go to school next spring. He wants to pull some strings and send him to Hongbinlou to learn cooking."

"Learn to be a cook?" Lao Jia chewed his bun, "That's a trade, at least he won't starve."

Jia Zhangshi, however, disagreed, "What's so great about being a cook? Always covered in smoke and fire! Dongxu, you have to win some face for your mother! You need to study hard now, and when you graduate from high school, you'll learn locksmithing from your father! That's a proper trade to make a living! Once you're rated as a high-level worker in the future, you'll be living the high life!"

"Mom, don't you worry! I'll definitely study hard!" Jia Dongxu puffed out his chest in assurance.

At Yan Laoxi's house, Yang Ruihua said with a bit of schadenfreude: "This time the two families have really formed a grudge. I originally thought He Daqing was an honest man! I didn't expect him to be so fierce!"

"Neither of these two is any good. Xu Fugui relies on his wife being a servant for Lou Laoban and looks down his nose at everyone; he's not easy to deal with. I think He Daqing is going to suffer this time!" Yan Laoxi analyzed.

"Not necessarily!" said Yang Ruihua.

"Then just watch! Xu Fugui is a real snake in the grass," said Yan Laoxi.

Inside the He Family home, He Yuzhu had just returned with He Daqing and hadn't even stood steady when "Whoosh!" a gust of wind from a palm slapped toward his face! Fortunately, He Yuzhu was prepared and pulled his neck in sharply; He Daqing's fan-sized palm swept past his scalp, stirring up a cool breeze.

"He Daqing! Why are you hitting me? If you touch me again, see if I don't run away from home right now! So you can't even find me!" He Yuzhu jumped back two steps, neck stiff with rage, his little face flushed red.

"You little fool! You've grown some nerve, haven't you?" He Daqing missed and got even angrier, pointing at his nose and cursing, "Xu Fugui hit you, why didn't you hit him back? Where did that sharpness you use to talk back to me go?"

He Yuzhu rolled his eyes: "I'm only nine! He's a big, burly grown man! How am I supposed to hit him back? Headbutt his crotch?"

"You're ten, stop saying you're younger every day."

"That's by the lunar calendar!"

"To hell with the lunar calendar. I'm telling you, if you can't beat them, run! Run far away, find a rock! And smash it right into the back of his head! Smash him until he's blooming all over! Let him know that people from our He Family aren't to be trifled with!" He Daqing spat as he "taught" his "way of survival."

Shen Guizhi, on the kang, was terrified listening to this and couldn't help but scold: "He Daqing! You... you bastard! How can you teach a child like that? It's getting more and more outrageous! Zhuzi... don't listen to your father's nonsense..."

"Long hair, short insight! What do you know!" He Daqing glared at his wife, then turned to stare at He Yuzhu, his eyes fierce and his tone ironclad, "What kind of world is this, damn it? It's a world that eats people and doesn't even spit out the bones! Remember, Zhuzi! From now on, when you're outside, as long as anyone big dares to bully you, you deal with them until they're dead! Don't care what method you use! Make them hurt! Make them afraid! Make them remember the lesson! Once you do it once, no one will dare to touch you easily again! Understand?"

He Yuzhu looked at the ruthlessness and the protective determination in his father's eyes. Although he felt this "educational" method was simple and crude, deep down, he felt a faint sense of agreement.

In this chaotic world, weakness truly only leads to being beaten. He nodded and said in a low voice: "Dad, I'll remember."

Just then!

"Woof! Woof, woof, woof!" A shrill dog bark suddenly rang out in the courtyard! Immediately following, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" violent door-smashing sounds erupted like beating drums! Accompanied by ferocious roars: "Open the door! Open up! The Imperial Army is checking household registrations!"

The air inside the room instantly froze!

He Daqing's face turned pale in a flash! He lunged to the window, lifted a corner of the tattered curtain, and peered out nervously.

He saw several armed figures standing in the dim courtyard.

"Damn it, why have the devils entered our courtyard?" He Daqing's voice carried a trace of imperceptible trembling.

Shen Guizhi was so scared her face turned bloodless. She looked sharply at He Yuzhu, her eyes filled with extreme fear and worry, her lips trembling: "Zhuzi, do... do you need to hide?" She thought of the mysterious milk powder and the "secret" on her son.

"Hide? Hide from what?" He Daqing turned back abruptly, his suspicious and stern gaze sweeping back and forth between his wife and son, "Guizhi! Zhuzi! Do you... do you have something you're keeping from me?"

Shen Guizhi was pressured by his sharp gaze, flustered and panicked; she opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn't dare to say anything.

He Yuzhu also lowered his head, thinking, *This is bad, these bastards actually have dogs. This is something I really didn't expect. I have the devils' blood on me, will the dogs smell something? What to do? What to do? *

The group of people outside had already begun searching the front yard.

The increasingly violent door-smashing and roaring were like a heavy hammer, pounding fiercely against everyone's heart.