Chapter 342: Ambush

He Yuzhu slept groggily in his hospital bed, and when he woke up, the sky outside the window had already darkened.

Seeing him open his eyes, Liu Rusi hurriedly brought over a bowl of warm rice porridge and a small dish of shredded pickled vegetables.

He Yuzhu was indeed starving, having eaten nothing since entering the hospital at noon, so he took the bowl and chopsticks and quickly drank the porridge clean.

After finishing, he said to Liu Rusi, "Sister, people died at the factory; there must be plenty of things waiting for you to handle! No need to stay with me, I'm fine now!"

Just as he finished speaking, Tian Dan pushed the door open and walked in, her face showing clear unease: "Zhuzi, the situation is not good, some special agents have escaped. You all must be careful."

He Yuzhu immediately asked, "Didn't you have people guarding the main gate? How could anyone still get away?"

"They didn't go through the main gate; they left through the maintenance passage on the roof. We found footprints, and through interrogation, we discovered that two people from the Technical Division were indeed missing."

He Yuzhu's heart tightened, and he immediately understood: "I get it, they must have jumped from the auditorium roof to the roof of the adjacent workshop, then climbed down the maintenance ladder there and left through the sewer; these two are very familiar with the environment."

Tian Dan nodded and said, "What you said explains everything. The ones guarding the main gate didn't see anyone leave at all."

"The two who escaped should be the hardest to deal with; they are very likely to retaliate against us!" He Yuzhu said.

"You focus on recovering from your injuries, I'm going to go interrogate those people from the Technical Department again, I just feel uneasy..." Tian Dan said, then turned and left.

After Tian Dan left, He Yuzhu looked at Liu Rusi and said, "Sister, you can't go back alone now, I'll go with you."

"No, the doctor said you must rest for at least a week!" Liu Rusi's tone was firm.

"Didn't you hear just now? Two special agents escaped, and those two are the most dangerous individuals." He Yuzhu insisted.

"With Pingping here, I'm not a weak woman with no strength to truss a chicken, we can handle it," Liu Rusi said.

"No, this matter is not up for discussion," He Yuzhu shook his head.

Liu Rusi looked at his eyes that brooked no argument and sighed helplessly: "I really can't do anything with you... let's go."

The attending physician heard that He Yuzhu wanted to be discharged early and tried to persuade him for a long time to no avail, so he could only let him complete the paperwork.

Just as He Yuzhu and Liu Rusi arrived at the entrance of their home, he quietly activated the Scanning System.

The result made his heart sink—Liu Rusi's two bodyguards, Xiaolong and Xiaohu, were lying in a pool of blood, having already lost their breath.

What made him even more vigilant was that there were two people hiding in the living room and bedroom, lurking without moving.

"Sister, take Pingping to He Ji restaurant first, I smell blood in the courtyard."

Liu Rusi's expression changed: "Are Xiaolong and Xiaohu... how could this be..."

He Yuzhu said with a solemn expression: "Go quickly, I'll hurry to save them..."

Liu Rusi bit her lip, hesitated no longer, pulled Pingping, and turned to walk quickly toward Yinding Bridge.

After they were far away, He Yuzhu quietly circled to the back door.

With a thought, he retracted the door bolt into his space, gently pushed the door open, and slipped inside.

He held his breath as he approached the living room, retracted the living room's back door bolt as well, and then pushed the door to enter.

In the living room, a person was curled up in the corner, clutching a gun tightly, eyes staring fixedly toward the front courtyard.

He Yuzhu approached slowly; the person was too focused and didn't hear the movement behind them.

He Yuzhu leaped up quickly, struck them unconscious with one palm, and immediately stored them in his space.

The person in the bedroom heard the movement and asked in a low voice, "Shen Yan, what are you doing?"

Hearing no response, they immediately became alert, took their gun, and walked toward the living room.

Just as they stepped out of the room, they were struck in the jaw by He Yuzhu's fist and fainted on the spot.

Having resolved these two hidden dangers, He Yuzhu immediately rushed to the security room at the corner of the courtyard.

Pushing the door open, a thick, bloody stench rushed toward him.

Xiaolong and Xiaohu were lying on the ground, beneath them a large pool of already congealed, blackened blood; it was ice-cold to the touch, clearly having been dead for a long time.

He Yuzhu returned to the living room, bound the two special agents tightly, and stuffed their mouths with rags.

After handling things properly, he made a phone call to He Ji restaurant.

Liu Rusi hurried back.

Seeing those two familiar bodies at the entrance of the security room, her footsteps stopped abruptly, and her whole body swayed.

Tears rolled down without warning; she stumbled over, crouched down, and began to cry.

These two had followed her for many years; although they were bodyguards, they were actually like family.

"Sister," He Yuzhu asked softly, "there are two more special agents in the house, should we interrogate them?"

Liu Rusi stood up, nearly falling again, and Pingping hurriedly supported her.

He Yuzhu used the most brutal "Water Therapy" torture method, which finally made them confess everything.

It turned out that the reason they chose to lurk in the Phoenix Bicycle Factory was precisely because they saw the loophole that it was a private enterprise with relatively loose personnel vetting.

Initially, the special agent leader Song Enlai bribed and bought off Chief Engineer Yuan to enter the factory, subsequently gradually bringing Chief Engineer Yuan under his control.

The special agents' plan was extremely insidious: by sabotaging the factory's equipment, they would give Chief Engineer Yuan frequent opportunities to interact with Liu Rusi, win her favor, and further facilitate a marriage between Chief Engineer Yuan and Liu Rusi, thereby completely controlling the entire Bicycle Factory. In this way, they could not only steal the factory's Special Steel production technology but also turn this large-scale factory into a secret stronghold and activity center for lurking enemy agents.

After hearing this confession, Liu Rusi couldn't help but gasp—she had never imagined that the period when she had previously distanced herself from He Yuzhu had been entirely part of someone else's scheme.

"Sister," He Yuzhu asked, "should these two be handed over to Tian Dan, or dealt with directly?"

Liu Rusi thought for a long time before saying: "If we don't hand them over to Tian Dan, what about Xiaolong and Xiaohu's bodies?"

He Yuzhu knew she didn't want to make her affairs public, so he asked: "Do they have any family left?"

Liu Rusi shook her head: "They were orphans, both were soldiers under Battalion Commander Liu; after Battalion Commander Liu left, he left them to me."

"That makes it easier, leave these matters to me to handle," He Yuzhu said: "I will find them a suitable burial plot..."

Meanwhile, in the Siheyuan on the other side, Jia Zhangshi finished her three months of Labor Reform and finally returned home.

As soon as Jia Dongxu saw his old mother, his nose felt sore—after three whole months of not seeing her, Jia Zhangshi had lost a lot of weight, but she walked with a vigorous, spirited air, clearly having done plenty of work over these past few months.

His eyes reddened, and he choked up as he went to greet her: "Mother, you've suffered... it's all my fault for being incompetent and letting you endure such hardship..."

Jia Zhangshi didn't even look at him straight, turned her face away, and gave a cold huff: "Stop with the hypocrisy! Three months, and you didn't come to see me even once!"

Jia Dongxu hurriedly explained: "I went to the police station to ask several times, they said your Labor Reform period wasn't long, and visitation wasn't allowed..."

As they were speaking, Zhao Yingzi walked in from outside; seeing Jia Zhangshi, she paused her steps and called out in a low voice, "Mother, you've returned."

Jia Zhangshi immediately turned her head away, not wishing to pay her any mind at all.

Zhao Yingzi had no intention of letting it go at that and immediately said, "Mother, I was called over by the street today. Director Wang said that although you have been released, if you commit any more acts that disrupt the stability and unity of the courtyard, or insult the masses without cause, you might be sent back for labor reform... She also wants you to go to work at the Street Office's factory tomorrow... If you don't go, you'll have to go back to the countryside to farm. She said our society does not support idlers..."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi wanted to fly into a rage, but when she thought of the days during labor reform spent eating corn buns, drinking cold water, and doing heavy labor every day, she had no choice but to swallow her anger.