After lunch, once Jian Ping'an fell asleep, Old Mrs. Cheng took Lin Lishan and her daughter out. On the way, the old lady didn't say where they were going first. She just had Zhou Jiao and her mother follow her.
After taking the bus for over half an hour, finally Old Mrs. Cheng took the mother and daughter through alleys, twisting and turning into a big courtyard.
The area outside the big courtyard was a mess, and the passageways were piled with clutter, even emitting an acrid smell of urine.
Inside the courtyard, Zhou Jiao counted the coal piles under the eaves and windows, concluding at least seven or eight families lived there. She carefully watched her step, following behind Old Mrs. Cheng, all the way to the door of a family at the deepest part.
Old Mrs. Cheng knocked on the door; soon a head peeked out, the body hidden behind the door. Seeing it was someone familiar, they opened a small gap barely wide enough for one person to pass sideways.
