Chapter 3: Help? Are You Crazy!
A bowl of yangchun noodles, with a spoonful of soy sauce and a small piece of lard inside, symbolically sprinkled with a few chopped green onions for garnish.
The taste was a bit bland, but in this era of scarce supplies, such a meal was already very good.
It was just to entertain Cao Weida without being too stingy. Normally on his own, he would just make some cornmeal porridge and chew on steamed cornbread buns made with mixed flour.
Duomen poured him a glass of wine. “You, from now on don’t stoop to Wang Ba Ye’s level. He’s just a foul-mouthed rogue, an annoying person. It’s not worth getting upset with him.”
Cao Weida nodded. “Since Master Duo has spoken, how could I not give face? As long as this bastard doesn’t proactively provoke me in the future, I really don’t want to deal with him! He’s annoying enough!”
“Yes, yes, yes, he is indeed annoying. Who among the neighbors doesn’t find him annoying?” Wang Ba Ye was previously called Eighth Master to his face, but behind his back everyone called him Wang Ba Ye, showing how much he was disliked.
Duomen also quite disliked him, but after all, he was a neighbor, someone he saw all the time. Wang Ba Ye hadn’t done anything truly wicked, so could he kill him?
Although he was a black-hearted one, he wasn’t like a funeral stick, conscienceless. Naturally, he couldn’t do such a thing.
“Come on, come on, let’s drink.”
After eating and drinking their fill, Duomen didn’t even clear the table. He stood up and said, “Go pack some clothes. Men, I’ll take you for scrubbing.”
“Alright, I’ve been waiting for you to say that!” Cao Weida grinned with his big teeth, scurrying back to his own room.
Duomen’s courtyard was a single-entrance yard, with four or five families living there.
Duomen, Zhang Chao, Wang Ba Ye, Cao Weida, and also Rickshaw San’er’s family.
Cao Weida lived in the easternmost room, which was only a pitiful thirteen or fourteen square meters.
After placing a bed, the remaining space was pathetically small.
The furnishings in the room were plain to see: a bed, a one-meter-square table, and two dilapidated stools.
There was a wooden chest at the head of the bed, where he kept his clothes.
Electrical appliances?
Thinking too much. Not to mention now, even twenty or thirty years later, only a very few could afford to use electrical appliances!
Not to mention whether he could afford to buy one, even if he could, he didn’t want to. It would attract too much attention.
The quilt on the bed was messily wrinkled; that was because he was too lazy to tidy it after getting up.
A few pieces of clothing were haphazardly scattered around, making it look messy.
Before transmigrating, he didn’t like tidying the room, and after transmigrating he did?
How could that be!
“I really do need to find a woman. At least with a woman at home, things would be picked up and kept clean and tidy.”
In this courtyard, only Rickshaw San’er had a wife. That room was kept neat and orderly. Though not big, it looked very tidy, completely different from a single man’s house, like night and day.
Thinking of women, female characters from the TV series inevitably appeared in his mind.
Thinking about it, hey, there were quite a few.
Not to mention the female lead Bai Ling, many female supporting characters had stunning looks too.
Who to choose?
That was a problem.
Hmm. Kids make choices; we’re all adults here, so of course we want them all!
Fantasizing like this, he quickly pulled out a few changes of clothes from the chest at the head of the bed.
When he went out, Duomen was already waiting.
The two chatted along the way and arrived at the bathhouse.
No matter the era, any consumption service was inevitably divided into levels.
Bathhouses were the same; people of different levels had bathhouses of corresponding levels.
High-end bathhouses generally had luxurious facilities, more spacious and comfortable bathing areas, better hygiene products, and additional services like dedicated back-scrubbing and massage.
Of course, the fees were naturally higher, mainly for mid-to-upper-class people.
And the bathhouse Duomen and the others came to was naturally a low-end one. With their trifling salaries, they couldn’t afford a high-end bathhouse.
“Master Duo, you’re here. Please come in!” As soon as they entered, the bathhouse boss wearing a gray cloth headscarf proactively came forward to greet them.
In the Outer Fifth District, Duomen was quite well-respected.
The people had their own scales in their hearts and could tell who was good and who was bad.
“Thanks for the trouble. For two people, and arrange two scrubbers too. Thanks a lot.”
“Alright, please~”
The low-end bathhouse had rudimentary facilities and relatively narrow space. All sorts of bottom-level people came to bathe, so the hygiene inside was imaginable.
After emerging from the bathhouse covered in a layer of gray, lazily lying on the scrubbing platform, Duomen glanced at Cao Weida and exclaimed in admiration: “Kid, who would’ve thought? You look skinny, but this muscle is really solid.”
Cao Weida flexed his biceps, grinning with his teeth bared, quite satisfied with his current physique.
Mermaid lines, inverted triangle, muscles tight all over—not the fake kind pumped up in gyms with protein powder, but looking full of explosive power.
Pleased in his heart, he modestly said on his lips: “I was just a farmer before, facing the yellow earth and back to the sky every day. It all came from hard labor.”
“If I had a choice, who would want to suffer like that? If possible, I’d rather have a big belly.”
In these poor times, a body full of lean muscle wasn’t the most envied; instead, having fat on the belly was more desirable.
Why?
Because only those who didn’t lack oil and water could sport a fat belly, showing good living conditions!
“That makes sense,” Duomen patted his belly. He had neither solid muscles nor a big paunch.
With that pat, his belly rippled like waves.
“You, clever brain, slick lips. Learn more at the bureau in the future, and you’ll make it big sooner or later.”
“But my words remain the same: we can’t do immoral things. Keep your eyes sharp, don’t provoke people you shouldn’t.”
“Master Duo, rest assured. Don’t you know me? Born timid and afraid of trouble—would I go looking for it?”
He wouldn’t foolishly think that as a transmigrator with a system, he was invincible.
Be a dog when needed, be ruthless when needed; assess the situation to live long.
Duomen: “.”
Alright, no fault in that logic. This kid cherished his life a lot; at the slightest hint of danger, he slipped away faster than anyone.
In the Outer Fifth District police station, San’er, Zong Xiangfang, and Cao Weida—the three had reputations for being timid, afraid of trouble, and unambitious, known to all.
It could be said that anyone in the bureau with some ambition and desire to advance might make it, except these three!
Soon, the scrubbing masters arrived. It had to be said that in these times, anyone in a craft had solid skills.
Though the bathhouse was low-end, the scrubbing master’s craftsmanship was top-notch, making Cao Weida hum comfortably.
After bathing, the refreshed pair left the bathhouse, waddling home in pigeon-toed steps, chatting and laughing along the way.
Halfway there, a gunshot suddenly rang out nearby, startling both of them.
“Damn!” Without a word, they hurried to hide in a corner, wanting to quickly leave this trouble spot but afraid their movement would alert the gunman.
“Baka! Gurgle gurgle~~”
“Biri biri~~”
Bago~~
Little devils’ roars, pursuing footsteps, sounds of Type 38 rifles and pistols firing one after another.
The two huddled deeper into the corner. No need to think—it must be Resistance fighters causing trouble for the little devils again.
Such things happened often in Beiping; they were used to it.
Help?
Crazy. Their consciences already troubled them enough for not helping the Resistance fighters—help these beast-like little devils?
“Let’s go, hurry!”
Seeing the gunshots fading farther away, they didn’t dare delay and quickly left the trouble spot.
At the entrance, Duomen grabbed Cao Weida and whispered, “Tonight, we know nothing and heard nothing.”
“Mm, Master Duo, rest assured. I know what to do.”
Cao Weida wasn’t a fool; he naturally understood what Duomen meant.
The next morning early, Cao Weida was woken by his growling stomach.
When Duomen came out, Cao Weida was brushing his teeth with a pained face.
Why pained?
It was really too unfamiliar and too hard to endure.
Toothpaste was tooth powder—that was one thing—but this water was too bitter.
Even after using it for over half a year, he still wasn’t quite used to it.
Ming Dynasty Zhu Zhong Zhi and Qing Dynasty Yanjing Zaji both recorded how bitter Beiping’s water was. Having grown used to tap water, he never imagined even plain water would be so hard to swallow.
Beiping now had tap water, but urban supply coverage was only 29.5%, basically for dignitaries and nobles and the little devils’ areas. They couldn’t even think about it here.
“Men, up early enough? No wonder you’re young—full of energy. At my age, I just want to slack off.”
“Master Duo, don’t joke. You’re in your prime. Our police station still counts on you to shine.”
Heaven forbid, who wanted to get up this early? There was just nothing else to do!
In later generations, after eight or nine o’clock was when nightlife began, but in this era, once it got dark, besides sleeping at home, what else was there to do?
He had no wife, no kids, and no way to have kids or play with them.
Cao Weida’s words amused Duomen. “Kid, with that mouth, you’ll never lack food. Wait a bit for me.”
“Sure, no rush.”
“Men, let’s go, time for roll call.”
Duomen quickly washed up, and the two dressed neatly and headed out.
Morning in Beiping wasn’t warm, with occasional gusts of wind kicking up dust everywhere.
The police station wasn’t far; a ten-minute walk on foot.
When they arrived at the station, quite a few people were already there. They checked in for roll call and were about to find an excuse to slip out for food.
Early in the morning, none of them had eaten yet.
Slacking off at work wasn’t a modern invention; it had been popular since people started having jobs.
Just as they were about to sneak off, a whistle sounded.
