Zhao Xianchen had long been thinking of retiring, and now in the era of telegraphs and railways, the escort agency had become a thing of the past. Teaching a few apprentices was just to reminisce about the glorious days of old.

  This time he lost to Yu Zhan Kui, and his idea of retreating from the world became even stronger. He finally admitted that he was old.

  The Zhao family had a house in Tofu Alley inside Xuanwu Gate, the yard was not big, three rooms, empty as it was. It was said that Chen Zikun was looking for a house, so they asked someone to pass on the message and rent it to him at a discount. The rent was not high, only five yuan a month. In fact, this also contained a sense of gratitude, after all, Chen Zikun had defeated Yu Zhanjiang, and at least helped the old man save some face.

  Zhao Lao Biao Shifu left without saying goodbye, and didn't even see them off. He packed his bags that day and hired a donkey cart to return to Baoding Prefecture, leaving the large mansion to Chen Zikun.

  Chen Zikong arrived at his new home, looked up and saw that the paint on the gate had peeled off, the copper door ring was dull and dim, a few withered yellow grasses danced in the wind on the eaves, and the wall seams were blackened, presumably covered with moss in summer.

  She took out the key and opened the copper lock, went in and strolled around for a while. The house was dilapidated, but it was a proper quadrangle courtyard with a street door, a screen wall, an inverted T-shaped house, a hanging flower gate, a three-bay main house, wing rooms, moon gates on both sides, and a back house where the servant's mother lived. Everything was complete, even the furniture was ready-made, and the yellow pear wood furniture showed the prosperity of the escort agency in its heyday.

  The house is not bad, Chen Zikong immediately brought his family to move in. When he first came to Beijing, his total assets were only 50 yuan, a set of clothes, and a knife. Now it has expanded to four rickshaws, a mansion, although it's just a rented house, it's considered his own home.

  The front yard was a garage, the inverted house stored cars and could also serve as a dormitory for drivers. The rear residence had nine rooms in total, including the main house and wing rooms, all of which were quite wealthy. Chen Zikun asked Xiao Shunzi and Baoqing to move in together, so that they wouldn't have to live outside the city and come back and forth, which was also troublesome, and would be delayed when encountering the closed city gate.

  Xiao Shunzi works at Liuguo Restaurant, Baoqing is a package boy at Huashi Clinic, both live in the inner city, and living in Toufa Hutong is just right. Xiao Shunzi also moved in happily.

  The old woman, surnamed Wang, whom Chen Zikun picked up on the street, also moved in. Everyone called her Wang Dama. She had no relatives in Beijing and Chen Zikun was her only support. According to Chen Zikun's words, she should live in the east room of the main house, but she refused, saying that it was a place for family elders to live, and she would be content with living in the back house next to the kitchen, which was also convenient for taking care of everyone's food and drink.

  "Da Kui Zi is really capable, without spending a single cent, he found a diligent old mother." Little Shun Zi said privately.

  There are only a few days left before the Spring Festival, and every household is busy preparing for the New Year's goods. Chen Zikong lives alone, eating enough to feed the whole family, but he still has to celebrate the New Year. As a single man, he doesn't know how to prepare for the New Year's goods, so it's all up to Xing'er to help him with everything inside and out.

  Since the opening of the Ziguangche Factory, the neighbors in the Dajuan Courtyard have often come to help with household chores, buying vegetables, cooking meals, washing clothes and sweeping floors. Among them, Xing'er is the most diligent. The scar on her face was originally shallow, and after being treated with Dr. Stanley's foreign medicine, it had almost healed. She is busy in the Ziguangche Factory all day, and those who don't know would think she is the boss's wife.

  Baoqing heard about this, and his heart felt sour. He made time to rush over and help Xing'er with her work, while chatting with her. However, what Xing'er loved to chat about the most was how Da Kuizi was doing, which ended up making Baoqing heartbroken.

  Chen Zikun didn't know any of this, he spent his days pulling a cart around the city, and whenever he had time, he would go to the Lin residence's entrance to wait in ambush, unfortunately, he never ran into Lin Wenjing.

  In just a few days, Chen Zikun had walked through all the big and small streets of Beijing, perhaps there were some remote alleys that he didn't know, but the main streets were familiar to him, and when driving a rickshaw, he no longer needed passengers to direct him.

  At 6 o'clock in the evening on the twenty-ninth of the year, Chen Zikun pulled his car back to the garage to hand over his shift. Xing'er told him: "An old man has been waiting for you for half a day and just left. He left this."

  He took out a business card with three words on it: Du Xinwu.

  Chen Zikun turned the business card over and over in his hand, muttering to himself: "This name sounds familiar, why didn't he stay?"

  "We asked him to stay for dinner, and he left, saying that he would come back another day." said Xing Er.

  The dishes on the table were already set, stir-fried cabbage with shredded meat, sticky rice cakes, and sweet potato gruel. Chen Zikun, who was famished, sat down at the table and started eating voraciously. Xing'er was sewing clothes beside him, speaking softly: "Don't choke, no one is competing with you."

  "Xing Er, you eat too." Chen Zi Kun said with a rice cake in his mouth.

  "I've eaten." Xing'er bit off the thread with her teeth, blushed slightly and asked: "Dajunzi, when are you getting married?"

  "What's wrong with my family? I have one, don't I?"

  "Silly, it's not about that house, but when are you going to get married?"

  "Daughter-in-law~~" Chen Zikun put down his bowl, and Lin Wenjing's round face appeared in his mind.

  Seeing him in a daze, Xing Er's face turned even redder. The candlelight flickered, and Chen Zi Kun, that foolish guy, didn't even notice.

  "I want to marry a..." Chen Zikun held his chopsticks and gazed up at the sky.

  Xing Er's eyes gazed at him eagerly, her breathing becoming hurried.

  "Marry a female student." Chen Zikong smacked his lips and continued eating with gusto.

  "I'm leaving." Xing'er threw down the clothes that hadn't been mended yet and got up to leave.

  "What's going on?" Chen Zikun stared with two innocent eyes.

  Xing'er hastily walked out of the second gate and ran into Baoqing who was coming in, they brushed shoulders as they passed each other.

  "Xing Er, what's wrong?" Bao Qing asked.

  "It's nothing." Xing'er walked away with her head down.

  Bao Qing had the heart to go and ask, but there were still important things to discuss with Chen Zi Kun, so he could only reluctantly take a glance at Xing Er's slender back, quickly entering the main house. Seeing that Chen Zi Kun was still eating, he hastily said: "You still have the appetite to eat, our car has been smashed by someone."

  "Who's so bold as to smash my car?" Chen Zikong pushed the dinner table away, grabbed his coat and went out the door.

  The place where the conflict occurred was not far from the cart factory, with a crowd of people gathered by the roadside. A purple foreign-style rickshaw lay overturned on the ground, its brass horn dented and its electric lamp smashed. The curtains were torn into strips. Wang Dongliang, a fellow worker from their own household, crouched silently by the side of the road, clutching his head, with blood still dripping from his nose.

  On the road, a black four-wheeled car was lying horizontally, the cover of the headlight was broken, white smoke was coming out from under the hood, and a man dressed in a black uniform and cap was cursing and inspecting the car. There was still someone sitting vaguely inside the car.

  Chen Zikun walked quickly over and took a glance, knowing what had happened. He stepped forward, grabbed the driver's collar and asked, "Was it you who smashed the car?"

  The driver glared at him with no fear: "Let go!"

  "Slap!" A big slap landed first, sending him spinning around in a circle three times.

  Chen Zikong just walked to the side of the road and asked Wang Dongliang: "Brother, how are you?"

  "Boss, I'm fine, it's just that the car broke down. I owe you an apology." Wang Dongliang said hesitantly.

  "What's going on?"

  "I don't know what happened either, I was just about to turn the corner when the car came crashing over and smashed half of our wheel. The guy got out and started hitting me..."

  "He hit you, why didn't you hit him?"

  "I don't dare."

  Wang Dongliang did not dare to call out the people driving cars, as cars were a rare commodity at that time. Except for foreigners living in Dongjiaomin Lane and high-ranking government officials and their families, ordinary citizens would not even dare to get close to them, let alone pick a fight.

  "Did you signal when you turned? Did the car behind you honk its horn?" Chen Zikun asked.

  "How come I didn't hit it? I turned right and stretched out my hand, and even pressed the horn, but I didn't hear any car honking behind me."

  Chen Zikun sneered and said, "This car has learned a lot of traffic rules in the past few days. This accident is clearly the car's fault. They damaged our rickshaw and even hit someone. We need to settle this account with them."

  She turned around and found a young girl standing in front of her, with her hands on her hips and furious.

  "Who are you! How dare you hit my family's car, I think you've eaten a leopard's gallbladder!"

  Although she was scolding, her voice was soft and sweet, making her look adorable. Chen Zikun couldn't help but laugh, his hands clasped behind his back, looking down at the girl with a mocking tone: "Call your family's adult to talk to me."

  The girl became even more indignant, puffed out her cheeks and blew air, the bangs on her forehead were blown up, she was short in stature, completely without any imposing manner in front of Chen Zikun, glared again and got back into the car to sit.

  The police whistle sounded, and the patrol officer on duty finally came to deal with the dispute. Seeing the police arrive, the girl became agitated again, jumping out of the car and shouting: "Patrol officer, arrest this man! He delayed my arrival at the dance party and hit my family's driver!"

  The patrol officer took a look at the license plate and suddenly put on a smile: "Miss Yao, you're lucky."

  The girl raised her head and proudly ignored him.

  Xue Ping-shun also arrived, panting and out of breath. Seeing the scene before him, he couldn't help but be shocked. Having served as a patrol officer in Beijing for over a decade, he knew that the license plate on the car was used by high-ranking officials of the Imperial Cabinet.

  Seeing the old colleague had arrived, the patrol officer was even more embarrassed and came over in a low voice to say: "Old Xue, this matter is not easy to handle, it's the car of Deputy Minister Yao from the Ministry of Transportation, you can't afford to offend him, just apologize and settle the matter quickly to avoid trouble."

  Xue Pingshun's heart sank, the Deputy Minister of Transportation was a high-ranking official with great power in his hands. He hastily advised: "Dakuizi, you're too reckless, we can't afford to offend her, hurry up and apologize."

  "It should be them who apologize and compensate us, the dance party is so important that they rushed onto the street, damaged someone else's car, not only didn't apologize but also beat people up. This kind of thing, I Chen Zikun will fight every time I see it."

  He reported his own name, and the patrol's eyes were straight: "You... are you the Kunye who defeated Yu Zhongkui?"

  "That's right, I am Chen Zikong."

  "Ah, I've long admired you." The patrol officer was excited and couldn't help himself.

  The girl didn't expect something like this to happen, obviously she was still a child and had little social experience, for a moment she didn't know how to deal with it, so she used the thirty-sixth trick of running away as the best option, calling out to her driver: "A Fu, let's go."

  "Don't move." Chen Zikun shouted loudly, scaring the girl into a tremble.

  "What do you want to do?"

  "You broke the traffic rules first, damaged my car, and beat up my man. This is outrageous! I've already taught him a lesson earlier, so let's consider the beating even. Just compensate for my car."

  "How much does it cost?"

  The girl was so scared that she stuttered, and Chen Zikun didn't dare to continue scolding her. He looked at the damaged bicycle and estimated, "Pay five bucks."

  The girl seemed to let out a sigh of relief, pulled out a 10-yuan traffic banknote from her purse and handed it to the patrolman: "Give it to him, no need for change."

  The patrol officer handed the banknotes over to Chen Zikun with a smile.

  "I don't take advantage of others, I pay what's due." Chen Zikong took out a five-yuan note and handed it directly to the girl.

  The girl didn't take it, so Chen Zikun directly grabbed her hand and stuffed the ticket into her palm.

  "Let's go." Chen Zikun led Xue Pingshun and his son, Wang Dengliang, pulling a broken cart slowly away, their silhouettes unusually tall in the sunset.

  "It's simply banditry." The girl gritted her teeth, and only after Chen Zikun left did she dare to throw the banknotes on the ground. After thinking for a moment, she picked them up again and viciously stuffed them into her purse.