Once someone resorted to underhanded tactics, things got complicated.
Director Mao called me over to Chen Jiahui's place.
His apartment was in Building 7, which was in an uproar.
The first thing that came to mind was what had happened with Xu Gang and Xu Tie. The Xu family had made just as much of a racket back then.
I followed the crowd of onlookers upstairs, only to find that a fight had already broken out. Luggage had been thrown into the hallway, and clothes and toothbrushes were being trampled underfoot. Two women were tugging at each other's clothes.
I knew them both.
One was Chen Jiahui's youngest daughter, Chen Minhua. The other was Ni Yanping, the wife of Chen Jiahui's eldest son, Chen Aihua.
The two middle-aged women were pulling at each other and cursing. The scene was ugly, to say the least.
Director Mao stood off to one side, at a loss.
For a moment, I had no idea what to do either.
Fortunately, I'd brought Guo Yujie along.
Guo Yujie stepped in and separated the two women, who had been locked in a scuffle.
As a man, I couldn't very well rush in. Director Mao and Xiao Yao from the residents' committee grabbed Chen Minhua, while Guo Yujie seized Ni Yanping with one hand.
Even after they were pulled apart, the two women kept cursing at each other.
I couldn't find Chen Aihua. I shouted at them a couple of times, but neither woman paid the slightest attention.
The onlookers joined in, chiming in from the sidelines.
I was drenched in sweat by the time the two women finally ran out of steam and stopped yelling. Only then did things calm down.
By then, Guo Yujie had helped usher the two of them into the apartment. I