Chapter 89 Jia Zhang: Stop hitting me, it’s me
Pushing his bicycle, Wang Mengde came to the front yard.

I saw the third aunt holding a basin with bowls and chopsticks in it and was about to walk towards the central courtyard.

"Auntie, is Uncle three at home?"

"Meng De, you are looking for Old Yan. He is at home. Go find him inside." Aunt Three said with a smile.

Thinking that there was still enough time, Wang Mengde parked his bicycle and walked towards Yan's house.

When I entered the door, Yan Bugui was packing his things, apparently getting ready to go to school. Except for the eldest son Yan Jiedi, the other boys in his family were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone to school long ago.

"Third uncle."

"Hey, Meng De is here, is there something you want to talk to me about?"

"It's like this, Uncle Three. There have been power outages at night these past few days. I want to ask, what's going on? Is it a circuit breaker or is there a power outage for the entire area?" Wang Mengde asked with a smile.

Pushing the frame of his glasses, Yan Bugui said, "Yes, there have been frequent power outages in the past few days. Five days ago, the day before yesterday and this morning, when I passed by the front corridor, I found that the switches were all off.

I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the circuit. If it keeps tripping so frequently, I’ll have to call an electrician to check it out. Otherwise, if there’s a leakage somewhere, it’ll be troublesome.”

After hearing his words, Wang Mengde's heart was slightly moved, and he asked again: "Uncle, did the switch trip in the middle of the night? Did it trip during the day and before going to bed at night?"

"These few times the power went off in the middle of the night. It was fine during the day and before going to bed at night. I was very puzzled. Logically, there is not much electricity consumption in the hospital at midnight. Why did the power switch go off every time in the middle of the night?"

Yan Bugui also said with a strange look on his face.

After getting the answer he wanted, Wang Mengde said goodbye, "Okay, I got it, Uncle San, I'm going to work now."

Saying that, he turned around and left.

On the way, he thought to himself that it seemed that the power switch must have been turned off by human beings.

As for the candidate, he also had an answer. There was no one else except Jia Zhang.

night.

After dinner, in the bedroom, looking at his two sleeping sons, Wang Mengde asked in a low voice: "Shengnan, how did you find out about the power outages recently?"

He wanted to further confirm this with his wife.

"These past few nights, every time the child cried, when I was feeding or changing his diaper, the power went out after a while, and my mother and I could only light a kerosene lamp to illuminate the way," said He Shengnan.

"By the way, have you asked Uncle San what's going on? Why does the power go out in the middle of the night?"

"I asked him this morning, but he didn't know either. He said that if the circuit breaker keeps tripping like this in a few days, he would ask an electrician to come and see what's going on."

Wang Mengde did not tell the truth because he was afraid that He Shengnan would be angry after knowing the truth.

If a pregnant woman gets angry while breastfeeding, she may get milk stray.

"Yeah." He Shengnan agreed casually, then looked at her two sons happily and said with a smile:

"Meng De, take a look at Yuanxun and Yuandi. Their noses and eyebrows look like yours. They will surely be very handsome when they grow up."

"That's for sure. By the way, their eyes and ears are like yours. They combine our advantages and will definitely surpass us in the future." Wang Mengde also said with a smile.

The next day, at night, in the side room of the central courtyard, after Wang Mengde and his two younger brothers fell asleep, he leaned on the bed and began to read a medical book.

It was estimated to be almost eleven o'clock. He yawned loudly, sat up and shook his neck. Under normal circumstances, he should have gone to bed at this time, but he had something to do today, so he was forcing himself to stay awake.

After a while, a cry broke the silence of the night, and then another cry sounded like a small conch shell.

Wang Yuanxun and Wang Yuandi have woken up. They are probably hungry or have to pee.

Wang Mengde quickly turned off the lights in the room and looked at his two younger brothers who were sleeping soundly. He quietly got out of bed, carefully opened the door, went outside and hid in the shadows, looking towards the Jia family.

At the Jia family, in the living room, Jia Zhang heard faint crying coming from next door. She turned over and wanted to continue sleeping, but the crying sound would not go away in her mind. She sat up angrily, cursing.

Then he got out of bed, put on his clothes and shoes, picked up two pieces of bean paper, opened the door quietly and walked out.

After going out and closing the door carefully, she looked hatefully in the direction of Wang Mengde's house, then quickly walked towards the front yard.

Seeing her come out of the hanging flower gate, Wang Mengde, holding a few sheets of yellow paper in his hand, pretended to go to the toilet and quickly followed her.

When he arrived in front of the hanging flower gate, he turned sideways to look at the front yard and saw Jia Zhang looking around for a while, then picked up a bamboo pole and pushed it towards the electric switch. After turning on the switch, she quickly put the bamboo pole back to its original place and slipped out of the gate that had been opened in advance.

(This is a true story that the author's family experienced in the 1970s.)
Seeing her leave the yard, Wang Mengde looked at everything with indifference. He did not turn on the power switch to alert her, nor did he continue to follow her out of the yard. Instead, he walked back.

When I passed by my window, I heard He Shengnan complaining, "Mom, there's a power outage again tonight. I just changed half of my child's diaper. Let Meng De ask Uncle San tomorrow. If it doesn't work, I'll ask an electrician to fix it."

"Shengnan, don't tell anyone for now. I'll tell Meng De about this tomorrow." Ran Xiaomei is experienced. She had realized something was wrong the day before yesterday. She had been so busy in the past two days that she forgot to tell her son.

After returning to the room and tucking in the quilts for his two younger brothers, Wang Mengde lay on the bed, thinking something.

Jia Zhang was somewhat smart, knowing that the power outage would occur every other day, and the next power outage would be the night after tomorrow. It seemed that I had to prepare a "big gift" for her in advance.

After finishing his calculations, he fell asleep.

The last day of October, Wednesday.

night.

A small table was set up in the side room of Wang Mengde's house.

On the table was a plate of peanuts, a plate of stewed tofu, and a pound of white wine.

He, Xu Damao, Liu Guangqi, and Yan Jiecheng sat around the table, drinking wine and bragging.

He called these people here today to implement the plan he had made the day before yesterday.

As for why he wasn't called Sha Zhu, it was because Sha Zhu was still cooking at Hongbinlou. Besides, even if Sha Zhu was at home, he wouldn't be called.

Today's plan is aimed at the Jia family. If Sha Zhu knew about it, Qin Huairu would probably get the news soon.

"Brothers." After a few drinks, the atmosphere became heated. Wang Mengde put down his chopsticks and said in a low voice: "In the past few days, I found a bad guy."

"Where are the bad guys?" Xu Damao was immediately excited when he heard that there were bad guys: "Let's report it to the street office or the police station right away. Maybe we can get a reward for our meritorious service."

"That's right. If you make a contribution, you might get some rewards." Yan Jiecheng and Liu Guangqi also said with their eyes brightened.

After saying that, everyone stared at Wang Mengde.

"Don't panic. There's no need to report to the street office or the police station yet. If we can catch this bad guy, we'll get even greater credit," Wang Mengde advised.

Seeing that they were in a dilemma, he knew their concerns and then said, "She's a woman in her forties. What are you afraid of? You can beat her up and vent your anger later."

As he said this, he looked in the direction of the Jia family.

Xu Damao and Liu Guangqi understood immediately and knew what he meant, most likely referring to Jia Zhang.

The two of them suddenly became more energetic.

Xu Damao and the Jia family have had many conflicts. He still can't forget the tragic experience of being kicked in the face, while Liu Guangqi had been taught a lesson by Jia Dongxu before.

"Okay, Brother Mengde, we will follow your arrangements."

"Brother Mengde, what are you talking about? I don't understand." Yan Jiecheng, who was only fourteen years old, asked curiously while stuffing peanuts into his mouth.

The Yan family can only eat peanuts during the Chinese New Year. At other times, the third uncle and aunt will not buy them home for the children.

"Jie Cheng, don't ask so many questions. When the time comes, you will be responsible for quickly notifying the people on the street and telling them that a bad guy has been caught in the hospital. Don't worry about anything else." Wang Mengde said:
"You want to ride a bike? Later, I'll let you ride my bike for two hours."

For the children of the old Yan family, there will always be brave men when there is a big reward.

Sure enough, when Yan Jiecheng heard that he could ride a bicycle for two hours, he tilted his head back and drank a bowl of Sanlou. It was so spicy that he grimaced, but he couldn't bear to spit it out:

"Brother Meng De, I'll take care of this. If you give the order, I'll run to the street right away."

"Okay, then after you finish eating, go back and quietly tell your family members that you are coming to my house to play." Wang Mengde made the final decision.

At night, the yard was silent.

Wang Mengde was holding a book in his hand, reading it intently. Xu Damao and the other two were sitting on stools, leaning their backs against the wall and dozing off.

Today, Wang Yuanxun and Wang Yuandi woke up a little later than usual.

At about half past eleven, the sound of a child crying was finally heard in the house. Wang Mengde woke up the three people, then calmly pulled the light cord and turned off the light.

Soon, Jia Zhang tiptoed out of the Jia family's house, holding a few sheets of bean paper in her hands as usual, and hurried to the front yard.

After she passed the Chuihua Gate, Wang Mengde stuffed a flashlight into Yan Jiecheng's hand, patted him on the shoulder, and then several people hurriedly followed.

When Xu Damao saw Jia Zhang using a bamboo pole to hit the electric switch, he could not help it. He shouted "Catch the thief" and rushed over. When he got close to Jia Zhang, he took advantage of her before she could react and hit her in the ass.

Wang Mengde and Liu Guangqi followed closely behind, and several people started punching and kicking. Of course, they knew it was Jia Zhang, so they held back a little.

Yan Jiecheng, holding a flashlight, walked out of the yard and ran towards Jiaodaokou Street.

Jia Zhang was pinned to the ground and beaten several times by several people. The pain in her body made her sober up and she shouted, "It's me, stop hitting me."

Several people pretended not to hear and continued beating while shouting "Catch thief".

At this time, several families in the front yard heard the noise outside and turned on the lights.

Yan Bugui, holding a wooden stick in his hand, walked out of the house first and asked, "Who is it? What's going on?"

(End of this chapter)