Chapter 67: New Powers Rise, Challenges Return

Zhao Jianguo closed the toolbox with a "clack," snapped it shut, and set it by the door. He didn't rush inside, but stood in the courtyard smoking a cigarette. The sky was clear, the stars shining like lights that had just been turned on.

The courtyard had just had a source of trouble removed, so it should have settled down. Yet the quieter it was, the more he felt something was off.

Early the next day, a child from Qin Huairu's family ran out shouting, "The coal balls are missing again!"

The public coal depot had just restocked yesterday, but this morning it was short by about half a basket. San Daye, leaning on his cane, came over, looked, and shook his head: "It looks like the work of someone scraping by."

Zhao Jianguo crouched, brushed the coal ash a couple of times, pinched it with his fingers; the ash contained a bit of mud, as if soil had been brought in from outside.

On the third day, the duty roster on the bathroom wall was smeared with ink. All the neatly arranged names were crossed out, and in crooked characters in the middle it read: "Whoever's turn is unlucky."

Sha Zhu passed by, saw it, and cursed, "Who is so unscrupulous? Isn't this looking for trouble?"

Zhao Jianguo stayed silent; at eleven at night he threw on an old cotton coat, carried the Toolbox into the storage room. He left the door ajar, crouched beneath the window crack. The spot faced the coal depot and the bathroom alley, so any movement at night was clear as day.

Just after one o'clock in the night, someone arrived.

Er Lengzi hunched his back, shouldered a burlap sack, dumped it by the coal depot, and moved things out from inside. His movements were very practiced, as if he'd done it many times.

Not long after, a dark silhouette emerged from beneath the Wall Base, grabbed the coal and left. Zhao Jianguo squinted for a moment, recognized him as the temporary worker Lao Chen from the factory, Xu Da Mao's distant cousin. The two met eyes without speaking, exchanged a gesture: one nodded, the other raised a hand showing a "three".

He didn't move.

On the fourth day, the coal was missing again.

Zhao Jianguo met Lao Chen at the factory, smiled and asked, "Has your household been burning more coal lately?"

Lao Chen was startled, immediately waved his hand: "Not really, we're conserving."

Zhao Jianguo nodded, then asked, "Then where did you go last night around midnight?"

Lao Chen's face changed: "I… I went up to the bathroom in the night."

"Oh," Zhao Jianguo laughed, "Then that's perfect, we should redo the bathroom duty roster, will you be the supervisor?"

Lao Chen forced a dry laugh twice, turned and slipped away.

Zhao Jianguo returned to the Siheyuan, found Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu, and the three closed the door in his room.

"What did you discover?" Sha Zhu asked.

"It's not just one person," Zhao Jianguo said, "It's several who have been touched by Yi Zhonghai's influence, now feeling their Meal Ticket is unstable, wanting to stir up trouble."

Jia Dongxu sneered, "Er Lengzi, Lao Chen, and that cousin of Xu Da Mao—back then they profited from Yi Zhonghai, got more coal shares, priority scheduling. Now that you set the Rules Sign, they've lost everything."

Sha Zhu slapped the Desk: "Then what are we waiting for? Snatch them out, publicly expose their old secrets!"

Zhao Jianguo shook his head: "If we expose them, they'll just change their name and return. We need to make them understand that causing trouble brings no benefit; keeping the Rules Sign is how you get a Meal Ticket."

That night, he pulled out several industrial sealing gaskets stored in the system, and casually modified the old water pump in the courtyard. It had been leaking every few days, but now once the valve opened, a water jet shot straight up three meters, even reaching the second floor.

He kept it low‑key, only having He Yushui help register: "These materials are allocated uniformly by the factory, for collective use."

He Yushui understood his meaning, smiled and said, "If you don't say you took them, others won't think it's on you."

"It's not that we don't want to take responsibility, it's that we can't monopolize," Zhao Jianguo said, "Yi Zhonghai fell because he treated the technology as private property. We have to do the opposite."

On the fifth day, news of the repaired water pump spread.

San Daye came to test the water, rubbing his hands with joy: "Now that's convenient!"

Er Lengzi was also nearby, saying "Really impressive" aloud, but his eyes kept glancing at Zhao Jianguo's Toolbox.

Zhao Jianguo pretended not to see, and announced publicly: "Next Night School, we'll cover water pump maintenance; anyone who comes will be taught, no restrictions."

Someone below immediately responded.

Sha Zhu was the first to raise his hand: "I sign up!"

Jia Dongxu also said, "I'll come too."

Even Qin Huairu, who usually stayed silent, asked, "Can a woman learn?"

"Yes," Zhao Jianguo said, "Whoever wants to learn, they'll have a share."

That evening, He Yushui came to him, holding a child, lowering her voice: "Jianguo, someone's talking about you behind your back."

"What are they saying?"

"They say you're cleaning up Yi Zhonghai, not for the public but to seize power. They say your current Night School is forming a faction."

Zhao Jianguo laughed, "If they didn't say it, I'd be the one worrying."

"But you must guard yourself." He Yushui stared at him, "Now you're the beam that sticks out; when the wind blows, you're the first to break."

He nodded, offering no rebuttal.

After returning to his room, he opened his notebook and wrote three points:

1. Add people to the rotation, bring in a few neutral households, so everyone has a share in managing affairs;

2. Replenish the coal depot under the collective name, without mentioning individuals;

3. At the Night School opening, first discuss the Rules Sign, then the techniques, cementing the word "shared" firmly.

Finishing, he closed the notebook, clear in his mind: removing Yi Zhonghai is easy, establishing a set of Rules Sign is hard.

Harder still is that some people don't hate what you do, only the position you sit in.

On the sixth night, he made his usual patrol.

Reaching the Courtyard Gate, his foot caught something; looking down, it was a paper strip folded into a triangle.

He picked it up, unfolded it; in crooked writing it said, "When people leave, tea cools; don't be too smug."

The handwriting wasn't from a single person; some strokes were thick, some thin, clearly multiple people taking turns mimicking the script, deliberately making it untraceable.

He wasn't angry, nor did he tear it.

Back in his room he struck a match, tossed the paper into it, burned it to ash, poured it into the tea jar, added water and stirred, then splashed it onto the frozen ground at the door.

Early the next day, light snow drifted from the sky.

Zhao Jianguo carried out a broom, sweeping the accumulated snow at the doorway in steady strokes.

Sha Zhu, wearing his cotton coat, came out and took the broom from his hand: "I'll do it."

"If you're coming, then we do it together." Zhao Jianguo didn't push back.

The two swept side by side; the snow wasn't heavy, but the wind was strong, blowing the broom across the ground with a swish.

"Anything?" Sha Zhu asked in a low voice.

"Yes." Zhao Jianguo nodded, "but it's not urgent."

Sha Zhu grunted, and didn't ask again.

Sweeping to the Courtyard Gate, Zhao Jianguo suddenly stopped.

At the edge of the snow, there were several tracks, winding in from the Wall Base and leading straight to the rear side of the coal storage.

They were fresh, not yet covered by snow.

The tracks showed three trips—one in, one out—and the last still had coal dust on the soles.

He stared at those tracks, saying nothing.

Sha Zhu followed his gaze over, his brows slowly furrowing.

The wind rolled snow grains, striking the broom handle, making a faint sound.