Chapter 86 Temporary Airport
He Daqing looked in the direction of Uncle Gui's finger and was startled to see those knifemen.
"Wow! What happened today?
First, the troops outside the city of Beiping began to attack the city, and now the people in the city also began to fight for the water holes.
How come so many things happened at once?

I think we should go back quickly, or those thugs might chase us and come over here.

When the time comes, they will kill us like crazy and they won’t care who we are!"

At this time, Uncle Gui also came to his senses.
"Yes, yes, yes, let's go quickly."

Following behind He Daqing,
As He Yuzhu walked towards the courtyard, he recalled the group of knifemen just now. Those people didn't seem to be the villains from Shichahai.
But he just thought about it for a moment.

No matter where these bullies come from, they won't be able to last long.

The next afternoon,
He Yuzhu was practicing calligraphy on the kang when He Daqing came in from outside.
"Zhu Zi, your Uncle Wu is here.
He said that Zhang Shuiba was hacked to death yesterday, and the newcomer Li Shuiba has made a rule that starting from next month, our monthly water bill will increase by 20%."

He Yuzhu was not surprised to hear the result of the dispute over water.
Anyway, these water tyrants can only stay in this position for one or two years on average.

When Zhang Shuiba killed Wang Shuiba and took this position two years ago, his life began to count down. It was only a matter of time.

What He Yuzhu was really curious about was what the newcomer Li Shuiba did before.

"That's right, Dad.

Uncle Wu didn't say where the new water bully was from.

I saw those knifemen when I went to carry my load yesterday morning. I didn’t recognize any of them. They didn’t seem to be from our area.”

"said,
I heard from Old Wu that the newcomer, Li Shuiba, was a local rich man who had come to the city to seek refuge.
That guy was a tyrant when he was in the countryside. He spent a lot of money during his time in the city. Even selling food was not enough to cover his expenses.

So they set their sights on the water hole.

So, taking advantage of the troops attacking the city yesterday, they gathered a lot of people and killed Zhang Shuiba in one fell swoop, and occupied the water hole.

But this has little to do with us.

We all pay for water, so it doesn’t matter who is the water tyrant.”

……

Just as the father and son were discussing the issue of water supply in the house, the sound of gongs and drums was heard outside the courtyard.

"It seems Wang Mazi has something else to inform you.

Hurry up, stop writing, let's go out and take a look, there's nothing wrong with it every day."

Outside the courtyard, Wang Mazi was leading a few guards, beating gongs and gathering neighbors in the alley. After a while, most people had arrived.

"Chief, didn't we just collect donations yesterday to repair the city defense?
What's going on today?
Are they going to collect donations again? The superiors are too overbearing. They are forcing us to death."

As soon as these words came out, the neighbors in Maoer Hutong became angry.
Jia Zhang and Aunt Yi, two women with nothing to worry about, thought that the superiors took the money and did nothing, so they rushed towards Wang Mazi with anger.
He got a face full of flowers.

"Wang Mazi, Dongxu is our only child. If anything happens to him, I will fight you!"

"Old Yi, if you leave me alone, what will I do in the future?"

"Ouch!
Sister Zhang, Sister Yi, listen to me, things are not what you think, this is a good thing.
Please listen to what I have to say.

You guys are dead, hurry up and pull them apart, do you still want to fight on Baoshang?"

……

After a period of chaos and disorder,
Jia Zhang and Aunt Yi were finally pulled apart by the guards and the neighbors.
At this time, Wang Mazi's face was already covered in blood, and a few neighbors who had some minor grudges against him took the opportunity to pull out a lot of his hair.

He covered his head with one hand and his face with the other, looking at the Jia Zhang family members who were eager to rush forward at the slightest disagreement, and quickly explained, "Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Yi, and all the neighbors,
Today has nothing to do with the city defense repairs yesterday. It’s something else and has nothing to do with it at all.”

"So what's going on today?"

“Great news!

The two airports outside of Beijing, Xiyuan and Nanyuan, were taken down by the People's Liberation Army. The command decided to build two temporary airports in Dongdan and Tiantan.
So we are going to recruit workers from among the common people.
If you apply, you will be paid 3 catties of corn per person per day. If you do not apply, you will have to pay a service fee.”

I heard from Wang Mazi that there was food to be taken.
Neighbors like Yan Bugui and Jia Zhang, who were not very wealthy, thought this was a good thing and asked to be recruited as laborers.
Those whose families were wealthy simply paid the substitute labor fee and went back home.

After the wealthy families paid their money and left, Wang Mazi called on the neighbors who stayed behind to apply for labor.

"Dear neighbors, dear neighbors,
Tomorrow morning, everyone will go to the head of each group under the leadership of the head of each courtyard to gather, and then I will lead the team to Dongdan to work.
They also come to me to get food after get off work in the afternoon.

Now everyone please disperse!"

Under the strict baojia system, everyone was accustomed to Wang Mazi's arrangements and went home directly to prepare for work the next day.

When he got home, He Yuzhu asked first,

"Dad, you really need to take Uncle Yan, Aunt Zhang and the others to Dongdan to build the airport instead of setting up a stall!"

Hearing He Yuzhu's question, He Daqing nodded as a matter of course.
"Go ahead, 3 catties of corn a day.

We’ll talk about setting up the stall later. The situation outside is unclear now, so let’s take a break for two days.

By the way, let's go to work, you stay in the yard and take care of the green hills and rainwater, the old lady has a weak leg, please take care of her. "

"Okay, I understand."

The next morning, He Daqing and his neighbors went out early, and did not return home until the evening, carrying a small bag of corn.

He Yuzhu weighed the bag of corn handed over by He Daqing and asked,
"It's already this critical moment, and the higher-ups are still cutting corners!"

"How fresh,

After so many years of chaos, the common people have become extremely poor.

Today, there are 5 to 6 people working at the temporary airport in Dongdan alone, not to mention the hellhole next to the Temple of Heaven, Longxugou. There will be even more people willing to work.
If you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will do it."

"That means one in ten people in Beijing work at the airport.

This won’t last for a few days!”

"That's right. With so many people and two strong bulldozers clearing the way, they flattened all the houses in the airport area in just one day.

I think this temporary airport will be usable in a few days at most.”

After expressing his feelings about the progress of the project, He Daqing continued,

"When the airport is finished, we'll see how it goes and then continue to set up the stall once we're ready."

as predicted,

The temporary airport was built by the workers at an unprecedented speed.
The last day,
When Jia Zhang, Aunt Yi and the other two came back from work carrying corn, their faces looked as if someone had died in the family.

(End of this chapter)