Traveling back to 1966, starting by living in a cowshed.

Chapter 4 Following Zhang Jianguo

Lin Zhou walked close to the shadows along the wall, his cloth shoes treading lightly on the stone slabs of the alley, making almost no sound. He had to avoid the street patrol officers from time to time, and when he couldn't avoid them, he would hide in his spatial dimension.

Lin Zhou stood at the front door of the house in the space, and through the peephole, he could clearly see several patrolling personnel approaching from a distance, with a few casual words mixed in.

"It's really cold today, let's finish our tour quickly and head back!"

"That's right, I heard that another person in that courtyard at the west end has been found to have 'overseas connections,' and they're going to hold a denunciation meeting tomorrow." Only after the footsteps completely disappeared into the depths of the alley did Lin Zhou's mind stir again, and he reappeared in the shadows.

The man he was looking for, Zhang Jiefang, lived in that large courtyard at the end of the alley. This man and Lin Zhou were "old acquaintances." They both worked in the temporary labor team of the street office. One day they would go to the grain station to carry heavy loads, and the next day they would go to the factory to clean up waste. Over time, they became familiar with each other.

Lin Zhou knew perfectly well that Zhang Jiefang's gaze always carried a hint of inexplicable jealousy. Who told him to be so lucky? After his mother passed away, she left him a small, secluded courtyard. Although it wasn't big, he could live peacefully by himself without any petty conflicts with neighbors, and he didn't have to lock the doors and windows and sneak around to eat something nice every day.

As for Zhang Jiefang, he was crammed into a large courtyard with more than ten households and eighty or ninety people. He didn't even have a proper room and could only share a room with his older brother Zhang Jianguo on a kang (a heated brick bed) in a partitioned room in the west wing. He had to be careful even when turning over at night.

A few days ago, Lin Zhou was washing clothes in the yard when a group of people wearing red armbands came to him, saying that someone had reported him for "having overseas connections and being the descendant of a capitalist." Lin Zhou immediately guessed that it was Zhang Jiefang who did it. Apart from him, no one knew that he had overseas connections, and the original owner of this body had been tricked into finding out by Zhang Jiefang.

Lin Zhou hadn't originally planned to do anything big when he came to Zhang Jiefang's house. He just wanted to take advantage of the darkness to put a sack over Zhang Jiefang's head and beat him up to vent his anger. But when he actually arrived at Zhang Jiefang's door, he hesitated. There were so many families living in this courtyard. If he made a big fuss and got caught, it would be troublesome.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Zhou decided to go to his house to check on the situation first. He quietly moved along the base of the courtyard wall to the back wall of the west wing of the front yard. He could faintly hear voices coming from there, a buzzing sound, but since there was still a wall in between, he couldn't hear clearly. Lin Zhou arrived at the courtyard wall next to the side room. This courtyard wall was lower than the others, and a few withered morning glory vines were still climbing on top of it.

He took a deep breath, lightly pushed off the ground with both feet, and his body suddenly shot up a great height. Lin Zhou was also startled. Without thinking, he hurriedly put his hands on the top of the wall. The moment his fingertips touched the cold bricks, he had already flipped over. The landing was even more ridiculously light. The moment his soles touched the ground, he was stunned. When did he become so agile?

A few days ago, he was carrying sacks at the grain station. Although he wasn't weak, he was just an ordinary person, and he would be out of breath even climbing a ladder. But just now, his movement as he scaled the courtyard wall was so smooth, as if he had practiced for over a decade. When he landed, his knees didn't even bend. He subconsciously clenched his fist, and could clearly feel a surge of strength in his arm that he had never felt before.

"I wonder if it's because my body was strengthened after I transmigrated, or because of the spatial enhancement?" Lin Zhou wondered to himself. Could this space really enhance the body secretly? He couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it. In any case, becoming stronger was always a good thing. He wouldn't be afraid of losing to someone like Zhang Jiefang in the future. In the past, when Lin Zhou witnessed Zhang Jiefang getting into arguments with others at the grain station, he always boasted that he had four brothers and was never afraid of anyone in a fight.

He crouched low and walked along the wall to the window of the west wing. There was a window without glass, only a faded coarse cloth curtain hanging to block the view. As for soundproofing, forget about it; the voices inside were now even clearer.

"Brother, are you serious? There are really a lot of good stuff in your factory's warehouse?" It was Zhang Jiefang's voice, a little anxious and a little incredulous.

"Would I lie to you?" another voice rang out, a bit deeper than Zhang Jiefang's; it was his older brother, Zhang Jianguo.

Zhang Jianguo works at a steel rolling mill. Although he is just an ordinary worker, he is skilled in his craft. During this period, he followed Director Li in battle and was highly valued by Director Li.

"A few days ago, Director Li took me to the warehouse three times. You didn't see it. It was full of things that had been confiscated from homes—there was mahogany furniture, Western clocks, and several boxes of porcelain vases. I heard they were all treasures from the homes of former capitalists."

"So how much did you send to the director's house? Hmm! This yellow croaker." Zhang Jiefang lowered his voice even further, gesturing with a famous hand gesture, but couldn't hide his excitement.

"I don't know either. I guess Director Li took them himself. The first time I went, I took a brass clock, and the second time I took several blue and white porcelain bowls." Zhang Jianguo paused. "Director Li said he would deliver them again in the next few days and asked me to go with him. I mentioned to him that I would like to take you with me on any missions in the future. He didn't say yes or no, so I guess he tacitly agreed."

"Really?" Zhang Jiefang's voice suddenly rose, then he quickly lowered it again. "Then, could we... could we take something out of there?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Otherwise, why would I recommend you to go with me?" Zhang Jianguo's voice carried a hint of smugness. "I'll be in charge of blocking everyone else's view, and you can take the opportunity to slip some small items into your clothes. Don't take anything big, or you'll be easily spotted. As long as we cover for each other, we'll definitely succeed. Once we get the stuff, we'll find a chance to secretly sell it on the black market. We can make some money, and when we've saved enough, we'll buy you a job. Then we won't have to squeeze into this tenement anymore."

The excited sounds inside gradually subsided. Lin Zhou hid in the shadows under the window, his heart pounding. He had only come to vent his anger, but he hadn't expected to overhear such a huge secret. Zhang Jianguo had said the warehouse was full of confiscated goods, things that didn't belong to them. If they could take them, why couldn't he?

"If Kou can go, so can I." Lin Zhou silently repeated this sentence to himself. If he could take some things from the warehouse, wouldn't they be worth a lot of money in ten or twenty years? But now he has to smash them all for firewood. Alas! What a waste.

He quietly retreated to the foot of the courtyard wall and jumped over it again. This time, he paid special attention to his movements and found that his body was indeed much more agile than before, and he could even jump over the wall much faster.

From that night on, Lin Zhou began to secretly follow Zhang Jianguo. Every morning, he would arrive early on Zhang Jianguo's route to work, hide in the shadows at the street corner, and follow him from a distance after Zhang Jianguo passed by. When Zhang Jianguo went to the steel rolling mill, he would walk around the mill's perimeter wall and observe the location of the warehouse; when Zhang Jianguo went home after get off work, he would follow him to see if he went anywhere else.

This tracking lasted for three days. During these three days, Lin Zhou's body was also quietly changing. That evening, Lin Zhou returned to his spatial apartment and went to the kitchen to drag two bags of rice and noodles out of the cupboard. Before, if he wanted to carry a bag of noodles from the elevator to his apartment, he had to squat down, hold the bag with both hands, and then lift it with all his might, and he would have to rest twice before he could get it inside. But now, he stretched out his right hand, grabbed one corner of the bag, and gently lifted it up without his arm even wobbling.

"Good heavens, good heavens! My strength is really getting greater and greater!" Lin Zhou was both surprised and delighted. He was certain that this was all thanks to his personal space. It seemed that this space could not only be entered and exited at any time, but also strengthen the body. He just didn't know if there was an upper limit to this strengthening.

He put the rice and noodles back in their place, left the spatial house, looked up at the moon, and remembered that a leader had told Zhang Jianguo earlier that he would be going with him to handle some business tomorrow. Lin Zhou had heard Zhang Jianguo address him as Director Li, so it seemed that leader was Director Li, the big boss at the steel rolling mill. Now, Lin Zhou only didn't know where Director Li lived. He had already figured out the location of the warehouse and the shift change times. Tomorrow, he would first go to Director Li's house, memorize the location, and then check the warehouse. Maybe he could find something useful later, and incidentally, he could shift the blame to the Zhang brothers. Zhang Jianguo had been causing trouble for many people lately; this time, he'd let him taste what it was like to be caused trouble by others.