Chapter 4: Using the Deaf Old Lady

"Zhuzi! How can you go wandering right under the noses of the Japanese?" Shen Guizhi grabbed her son's hand. "Listen to your mother, don't go to that school anymore. From now on, just stay home with Mom."

He Yuzhu shook his head. "Mom, I've already grown up. I know my limits and can protect myself well."

He Daqing pondered for a moment, and seeing that his wife's health had indeed improved, he said, "Guizhi, if you feel your body is alright, let Zhuzi go to school! There, at least someone is keeping an eye on him. If he stays home, you won't be able to manage him, and sooner or later he'll turn into a street urchin."

"I'll listen to you." Shen Guizhi nodded. "His father, tomorrow, buy a package of pastries and take them to Li Langzhong to thank him properly. I drank his medicine, and it really worked, though it took a bit too long."

He Yuzhu rolled his eyes: What worked was that Penicillin of mine!

But he didn't show it on his face, only saying, "Dad, why not skip buying the pastries? I think we should save the money to buy some milk powder for my little sister? Look at her, she's as thin as a kitten. I heard from a classmate that his little sister grew up drinking milk powder and grew up quite sturdy, like a little calf."

He Daqing's brows knitted into a knot, and he shook his head heavily. "That stuff is expensive. With just the pittance I earn, to provide her alone with milk powder? Our whole family would starve to death."

When he took my Big Ocean, he acted all fake, saying he'd buy milk powder, and now he's changed his tune! This stingy, scumbag dad—he probably has a mistress outside! He Yuzhu curled his lip, completely losing hope in this father.

If I can rob a pharmacy, why can't I rob a Japanese trading firm? A bold plan was brewing and taking shape in He Yuzhu's mind.

The charcoal fire in the brazier reflected off his youthful yet unusually calm profile.

"His father, let's eat something first! I've been coughing for these past few days and didn't want to eat anything, but I don't know why, I suddenly have an appetite now." Shen Guizhi looked at the pork knuckle on the table, her mouth already watering.

He Yuzhu also sat at the table, ignoring He Daqing, and directly added a few pieces of fatty and lean pork knuckle meat to his mother's bowl.

Shen Guizhi picked up the meat, dipped it in a little soy sauce, and put it in her mouth to chew slowly. It took a long time to swallow, as if she were eating a rare delicacy.

He Daqing poured himself a cup of strong sorghum liquor.

He took a sip with a "slurp," closed his eyes, and said contentedly, "This, damn it, is what you call a life worth living!"

He Yuzhu first drank a large bowl of Xiaomi porridge to warm up his body.

Shen Guizhi also seemed to have come back to life, eating heartily; a bowl of dried tofu and a soy-braised pork knuckle all ended up in her stomach.

A rare, full meal finally brought a touch of human warmth to the cold room.

The family of three ate very contentedly, and in the blink of an eye, only empty plates remained on the table.

After Shen Guizhi was full, she broke into a sweat, and He Yuzhu hurriedly grabbed a towel to wipe it off for her.

She leaned against the quilt, and a miracle happened: not only did she stop coughing, but her forehead had also cooled down.

She kept rubbing her belly gently with one hand and said, "This pork knuckle... is truly fragrant. I ate a whole one by myself, and it feels like there's a gluttonous worm in my stomach that hasn't been fed enough; I want a little more."

He Daqing was using a toothpick to pick meat fibers from his teeth and said, "You haven't eaten anything these past few days, and you're nursing the child, so you've long been depleted. Today, our family has managed to eat a meal at the expense of the little devils. No one would believe it if I told them!"

"Mom, if you want to eat it, I'll buy more tomorrow!" He Yuzhu promised, patting his chest!

Upon hearing this, He Daqing immediately spread his large hands and glared at him irritably: "You silly boy! You still have money! Give it all to me. Tomorrow, I'll go cut the meat myself and let you taste my cooking!"

"No money!" He Yuzhu stiffened his neck, and before the words were even out, he was already like a slippery loach, "whoosh" darting out the door and heading straight for the Houyuan.

"If you've got the guts, don't come back!" He Daqing's roar chased after his backside.

In the main room of the Houyuan, the Deaf Old Lady sat cross-legged on the kang, a dry tobacco pipe in her mouth, puffing away. She also held a deck of long leaf cards, playing against herself.

Seeing He Yuzhu lift the curtain and enter, her wrinkled face immediately blossomed into a smile. She patted the warm kang and said, "Zhuzi! Come up quickly, you must be frozen, right? Come to Grandma's side and warm yourself by the fire!"

He Yuzhu kicked off his tattered cotton shoes, nimbly climbed onto the kang, and held his frozen, red little hands toward the warm brazier.

"What? Did you get hit by your dad's 'Five Finger Mountain' again?" The old lady squinted, the spark in her pipe bowl flickering.

"He Daqing is just an old bastard! He robbed my money and hit me too!"

"Sigh, your dad has that donkey temper... but then again, it's easy for a child to invite trouble by carrying money!" The old lady slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

He Yuzhu's eyes rolled, and he leaned close to the old lady's ear, lowering his voice: "Grandma, I'll give you one Big Ocean. Can you help me buy it all in soy-braised pork knuckles? You keep half, and send half to my mom, but don't say I'm the one who bought it, okay?"

The tobacco pipe in the Deaf Old Lady's hand almost fell onto the kang, and her cloudy old eyes widened: "Zhuzi! You... where did you get the money?" Her voice changed pitch.

"Hi! I got lucky yesterday!" He Yuzhu said with an "innocent" face. "I ran into two little devils grabbing people. The guy running in front was throwing Big Oceans onto the road for his life, so I just... just picked up a few!"

"You little rabbit, you can't fool Grandma!" The Deaf Old Lady didn't believe it at all.

"Grandma, if you won't do it, I'll go find Yan Bugui!"

The old lady stared at him for a long while, puffed on her pipe a few more times, and finally nodded: "Fine! Grandma will help you with this favor!"

In the main room of the Zhongyuan, He Daqing was pouring out his grievances to Shen Guizhi.

He sighed and lamented, his brows knitted into a knot with worry: "Dongxing Lou... is about to be eaten into bankruptcy by that bunch of little devils! Boss Ma is also spineless; he acts like he's seeing his own father whenever he sees the devils, and then cries poor to us once the devils leave. It looks like I'm going to have to pack my bags and get out again... In these times, finding a proper job is harder than ascending to heaven!"

Shen Guizhi's eyes were full of worry: "Then what should we do?"

"If there's really no other way, I'll have to thicken my skin and find my senior martial brother, begging him to put in a word with Lou Laoban. I heard their Rolling Mill canteen is hiring..." He Daqing scratched his head with a bitter expression. "But that mass-produced food, even if you work yourself to death, you can't earn a few coins!"

"How about... going back to your old trade? Like a few years ago, steaming some buns to sell outside?" Shen Guizhi asked tentatively.

"Sigh... that's all we can do!" He Daqing slumped into his chair and crossed his legs, the soles of his shoes nearly worn through.

At midnight, all was silent.

He Yuzhu slipped back into his own house from the Deaf Old Lady's place as silently as a night owl. Fortunately, He Daqing hadn't locked the door.

He tiptoed to the edge of the kang and reached out to touch his mother's forehead; she was running a fever again.

His gaze sharpened, and his fingers pressed precisely on the back of his mother's neck, causing Shen Guizhi to immediately fall into a deeper slumber.

Following that, He Yuzhu gave his mother another injection.

After finishing all this, he felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and he climbed to the cold end of the kang, wrapping himself in a thin quilt.

The night passed without incident, and the sky was just beginning to brighten.

He Yuzhu, carrying that old, patched schoolbag, walked swaying into the gate of the Rolling Mill primary school.

Most of the students here were children of the steel mill, and he was only able to get in thanks to "Yan Laoxi" in the courtyard.

Of course, the price was a Jinhua ham that He Daqing had treasured.

At school, He Yuzhu was a notorious "troublemaker"; fighting and brawling were daily occurrences, and his report card was even more appalling.

The teachers basically left him to his own devices: as long as he didn't tear the roof off, he could do whatever he wanted.

The He Yuzhu who had transmigrated perfectly inherited this "fine tradition" and had recently added a new bad habit—skipping class.

He would often show his face in the morning, only to vanish into thin air in the blink of an eye.

The first period this morning was history and geography.

Teacher Ma, who wore a side-part hairstyle on the podium, said: "Where does the territory of China refer to? It is bounded by the Great Wall; south of the Great Wall is the inherent territory of China, and north of the Great Wall belongs to the ethnic minorities..."

"Screw his uncle, why is this Teacher Ma so happy while spouting this fake history, and why isn't he blushing at all? This grandson must be a traitor."

He Yuzhu couldn't listen anymore after ten minutes, so he directly raised his restless little hand.

Teacher Ma on the podium was speaking excitedly! He couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids, and waved his hand as if shooing a fly: "He Yuzhu! Is it another 'stomach ache'? Does your family eat croton beans every day?"

He Yuzhu felt as if he had been granted amnesty and slipped out of the classroom in a flash.

Passing the gatehouse, Old Man Zhou, who kept the gate, poked his head out with a knowing smile: "Zhuzi, heading to Qianmen again to listen to the 'Ten Thousand People Fan's' *Biography of Ji Gong*?"

"You bet! Old Man Zhou, I'll perform a segment for you tomorrow!" He Yuzhu replied with a grin.

"Forget it! You kid only knows how to sweet-talk people!" Old Man Zhou scolded with a laugh and waved his hand.

As soon as he stepped out of the school gate, the grin on He Yuzhu's face instantly vanished.

Like a sharp little beast, his small figure darted rapidly through the biting cold wind of the early morning, his target clear—the Japanese-funded foreign firm in Wangfujing that hung a glaring plaster flag.

Finding a deserted, dilapidated courtyard, He Yuzhu changed back into that Japanese devil's military uniform.

He faced a broken mirror and smeared his originally delicate, baby-faced features until they looked incredibly ferocious: his eyebrows were drawn thick and black like two caterpillars, two comical Xiaohuzi curled stubbornly upward, and he dotted many "black moles" on his face.

A hot-tempered "dwarf His Excellency" was fresh out of the oven!