Chapter 18. Community Police

     Walk into the vermilion gate and go around the mountain screen wall.

 

 

 

     Seeing Uncle Ling in a military green coat. He is sitting under the bare grape trellis in the front yard. He has a lot of white hair on his head and wears a pair of black-framed reading glasses on his face. He is fascinated by the newspaper.

 

 

 

     This scene is very old-fashioned.

 

 

 

     Uncle Ling’s name is Ling Jianguo. When he was young, he was the most handsome policeman in Mabian Hutong. He was a soldier, tall and handsome, and was very popular with the aunts and uncles in the hutong.

 

 

 

     Now the change is really big.

 

 

 

     He is only a dozen years older than Ye Mo, and he is still a community policeman. Rather than being a neighbor elder, he actually played more of a brother role for a long time.

 

 

 

     And now——

 

 

 

     The neighbor’s brother is also getting older.

 

 

 

     “Uncle Ling.” Ye Mo cleared her throat, raised her voice, and called again, “Uncle Ling.”

 

 

 

     Ling Jianguo then withdrew his attention from the newspaper, took off his glasses and put them on the table, and looked up at the door.

 

     Pause for two seconds, then look again.

 

 

 

     “Momo? Is that Little Momo? Look at this girl, she has changed a lot since she grew up, she is getting more and more beautiful, do you have a boyfriend? Is he here today? Let me see him, I’ll give you some reference.”

 

 

 

     Ye Mo was concise: “No boyfriend.”

 

 

 

     “Is that so? My old friend has a son, he has the same education as you, he looks OK, I heard he is a returnee, working at Peking University, he is a good match for you, Momo, I was thinking about you, and you came back today, fate has come, it can’t be stopped.”

 

 

 

     “…”

 

 

 

     Uncle Ling and Aunt Zhang would always say this to Ye Mo every time she came back.

 

 

 

     At this moment, Bandit and his owner were in tune with each other, 

 

     So he barked, “Woof woof woof”, attracted Ling Jianguo, who always liked dogs very much.

 

     “Hey, I remember this big black dog was called a bandit, right?, he’s gained some weight, he really well raised!”

 

 

 

     Leaving Bandit to Uncle Ling to ‘play’, Ye Mo carried the remaining two bags of things, passed through the screen door from the west, crossed a long corridor, and passed through an inner courtyard door to the North Courtyard.

 

 

 

     The North Courtyard is about 30 square meters in size, with four pomegranate trees in the yard, and a super large jujube tree in the middle. Under the jujube tree, there are some commonly eaten vegetables and common flowers and plants.

 

 

 

     Ye Mo came to the main room familiarly, knocked on the door three times, and said loudly: “Grandma, I’m back!”

 

 

 

     “Momo?”

 

 

 

     It was cold in winter, and Grandma Ye rarely went out. She was watching TV with the nanny Aunt Yang in the bedroom equipped with floor heating. Seeing Ye Mo coming back, she was very happy, and the wrinkles on her face were all smiling.

 

     “Grandma, don’t get out of bed.”

 

 

 

     Ye Mo put down her things and sat next to her grandma. She wrapped her old, skinny hands with her hands and listened to her chatter. The heating in the bedroom seemed to be warmer.

 

 

 

…

 

 

     We’re having mutton hotpot tonight.

 

 

 

     Uncle Ling is the chef. Ye Mo wanted to help out, but was pushed out of the kitchen by Aunt Zhang and Aunt Yang.

 

 

 

     In the hall of the middle courtyard, a couple of strangers sat. They were the people who rented the Ling family’s courtyard. They were freelance workers and were invited to dinner by the enthusiastic and enthusiastic Aunt Zhang Lan.

 

 

 

     The couple worked in art-related fields. They had some ideals and poetry that others could not understand. When chatting, they often had a cold effect with one sentence. It was better to keep quiet.

 

 

 

     “Aunt.”

 

 

 

     Ye Jialin, one of the twins who looked 90% similar, liked to get close to Ye Mo today.

 

 

 

     She and her brother Ye Jiayong were 13 and a half years old and were already in the third year of junior high school. They had big eyes, round faces, and white and tender skin that only children had. They looked very cute.

 

     The thoughts of adolescents are unpredictable. They used to ignore each other when they met, but today, the little girl spoke like honey, full of all kinds of rainbow farts that made people laugh to death.

 

 

 

     “Aunt, are you really my father’s biological sister? My father is older than my mother, and you are older than my mother. Before makeup, you look like my mother’s sister, and after makeup, you look like her daughter. You are hundreds of times more beautiful than her.”

 

 

 

     It can be confirmed that Ye Mo’s cheap brother and sister, who may not see her once a year, will be furious after hearing this. This girl was born in vain, and she stabbed her mother more cruelly than anyone else.

 

 

 

     “Stupid.” 

 

 

 

     Ye Jiayong, one of the twins, was rational. He rolled his eyes and protested by playing King of Glory with his back to his sister.

 

 

 

     Nowadays, many high school students have learning machines, mobile phones, iPads, and notebooks, which are mainly used to play games or chase stars.

 

 

 

     Parents can’t be cruel, and teachers can’t control them either.

 

     “Tsk, the truth is not allowed to be told.” Ye Jialin is good at coaxing the elderly,

 

      “Grandma, don’t you think so?”

 

 

 

     “Momo is very beautiful.” Grandma Ye nodded with a smile. At her age, it is the happiest to see her children and grandchildren living in harmony. “Linlin, your mother is also very beautiful, Linlin, you are also very beautiful.”

 

 

 

     “Then do I look like my eldest aunt?”

 

 

 

     “Ye Jialin, you have a big basin face, and my eldest aunt has a standard oval face. How can you compare? She is not blind.”

 

 

 

     “Ye Jiayong!”

 

 

 

     “…”

 

 

 

     Ye Mo has no feelings for her younger brothers and sisters, and naturally has no malice or close intentions towards her nephews and nieces. She used to be very distant from her younger brothers and sisters.

 

 

 

     But her niece Ye Jialin does not understand the word “distant” now.

 

 

 

     She talks a lot.

 

 

 

     When the two steaming mutton pots were served on the table, Ye Mo finally got rid of this little man who could not be beaten or scolded.

 

 

 

     Old Beijingers love to eat shabu-shabu, mainly for the fresh taste. If you dip it in hot sauce, the taste is too strong and will cover the taste of the ingredients.

 

 

 

     It can be paired with sesame paste or scallion salt.

 

 

 

     It takes real skill to select and cut the mutton. The slices are just the right thickness, with the right amount of fat and lean. After eating, the mutton is full of fresh juice, which is a great enjoyment for the taste buds.

 

 

 

     Everyone is just focused on eating.

 

 

 

     Only the chef Ling Jianguo shook his head and ears with a beer in his mouth, looking very proud.

 

 

 

     During the chat, the topic turned to the recent community security, and Ling Jianguo said: “Everyone should be careful at night recently. Don’t go out at night if you can, try not to go out, and don’t go out alone.”

 

 

 

     Ye Mo stopped picking up the lamb slices, and Aunt Zhang asked worriedly: “What happened again?”

 

 

 

     “Nothing.” Ling Jianguo waved his hand, “The higher-ups asked our community police to patrol more often on weekdays. It should be related to the recent incident in Chaoyang where some people gathered to smoke that drug and commit suicide. The one in the news a while ago.”

 

 

 

     The main reason is that the order was inexplicable. It is said that many communities in Capital have received the same or similar orders from their superiors, which made the old police who have worked for decades smell something different.

 

 

 

     He is a person who has experienced a period of hard times and knows that some orders may be more than just orders.

 

 

 

     I hope he is overthinking.

 

 

 

     Ye Mo continued to pick up the lamb slices into the sesame sauce dish. When she lowered her eyes, a gleam of light flashed in her eyes.

 

 

 

     Is the country acting so quickly?

 

 

 

……

 

 

     On the second day, Saturday, Ye Mo politely rejected Aunt Zhang’s blind date request with the excuse that she had something to do at work, and asked Uncle Ling to help take care of Bandit and take him away on Sunday.

 

 

 

     If she could come back alive.

 

 

 

     Aunt Zhang was still nagging: “Momo, why don’t you go to the Forbidden City or Jingshan Park with the handsome overseas returnee Uncle Ling mentioned? Anyway, it’s close to our hutong and there are many people.”

 

 

 

     The elders will not understand the concept of “having a house, a car, savings and a dog, and living a more free and unrestrained life”. In their opinion, women have to get married and have children to live a good life.

 

 

 

     Although this idea may not be right, they do care about Ye Mo, and there are not many people who care about her in this way. Grandma Ye is now powerless.

 

     “…”

 

 

 

     “Let’s talk about it this weekend!”

 

 

 

     Ye Mo smiled helplessly, squatted down and rubbed Bandit’s head, waved to the grandmother who came to see her off with a cane, turned around and left the courtyard, step by step towards the unknown future.

 

 

 

     “Woof woof woof!”

 

 

 

     Bandit barked at the back of the shit shoveler at the gate of the courtyard, and kept barking until he could no longer see her. Perhaps it was the inherent sense of uneasiness of stray dogs that was at work.