Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

After He Daqing left, the courtyard returned to peace, and another week passed peacefully like this.

For the past week, Mr. and Mrs. Yi Zhonghai have been sighing all day long. Apart from going to and from get off work, they haven't even left the house.

Yi Zhonghai goes to work early every day, and even Jia Dongxu rarely sees him in the compound. He also comes home late after get off work, basically avoiding the people in the compound.

The Yan family has been in a slump lately. Yan Fugui had so much money and croakers stolen, it's no wonder he's in a good mood. He's stopped guarding the gate, since no one in the courtyard has given him a chance to take advantage of them.

But life had to go on, so he could only turn his grief and anger into motivation, leaving get off work earlier every day and going to Shichahai to dig for ice fishing whenever he had time.

There was one thing to be happy about for the Yan family today: Yan Jiecheng has almost fully recovered and went back to work at the steel rolling mill.

Since Yan Jiecheng underwent surgery, his temper has become increasingly volatile, and he gets angry at the drop of a hat. Once, he even dared to yell at Liu Yuhua, but after Liu Yuhua slapped him to the ground, he became obedient and only dared to yell at his parents and two younger brothers.

Yan Jiecheng now hates heaven and earth, hates everyone in the courtyard, especially Wang Feng, Qin Jingru, Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu, and even hates his parents.

If it weren't for them, he wouldn't have become a cripple. The person he hated the most was Jia Dongxu. It was Jia Dongxu who kicked him and crippled him. But he had been lying in bed all this time, unable to move even though he wanted to take revenge.

Friday finally arrived, the day of the year-end worker assessment at the steel rolling mill. Wang Feng and Qin Jingru arrived at the factory early. Originally, Wang Feng didn't want to watch the worker assessment, but Qin Jingru wanted to see it, so he had no choice but to bring her along.

When Li Huaide saw that Wang Feng and Qin Jingru wanted to watch the worker level assessment, he invited them to sit on the judges' panel to watch. However, Wang Feng refused, saying that he didn't know anything about fitter work and what would it look like to sit on the judges' panel.

Seeing this, Li Huaide did not insist and went to arrange the preparations for the assessment.

Jia Dongxu looked exceptionally energetic today. It was his big day of being promoted to the second-level worker. He was wearing his brand-new work clothes and his hair was neatly combed. He arrived at the steel rolling mill early.

Upon arriving at the steel rolling mill, he found Yi Zhonghai and excitedly said, "Master, I've been studying and practicing diligently lately. I've already raised the pass rate for Class B Level 2 workpieces to 90%. I should be able to get promoted to Level 2 worker without any problem, right?"

Yi Zhonghai forced a smile and nodded, but a barely perceptible cold glint flashed in his eyes.

This past week has been incredibly agonizing for him. Not only has he lost all his savings, but Sha Zhu is now completely ignoring him. Every time he goes to the second canteen, Sha Zhu flips his food.

He has come to terms with reality these past few days and no longer eats at the third and second canteens. Instead, he has gone to the more distant first canteen with Jia Dongxu.

Seeing Yi Zhonghai nod, Jia Dongxu was overjoyed. As long as he was promoted to level two, his salary would be 38.5 yuan. If he worked hard next year, he might be able to be promoted to level three. His family's life would get better and better in the future.

Soon, under Li Huaide's organization, all the machines in the steel rolling mill workshops were debugged, and all the workers who had registered for the workpiece assessment were ready for the assessment.

The first to be assessed are the regular employees. Once a regular employee passes the assessment, they become a Level 1 employee.

Yan Jiecheng is a formal employee, but he hasn't been with the factory long enough to be eligible for assessment. He can only wait until next year to be promoted to a first-level worker.

As an eighth-grade fitter in the factory, Yi Zhonghai was unsurprisingly selected as a judge for this fitter assessment.

Li Huaide, sitting on the judges' panel, nodded to Guo Daliang: "Old Guo, let's start with the fitter."

"Yes."

"Li Ergou, Wu Dasheng, Zhu Dachang, and Wang Jianjun, the four of you come up here for the assessment first."

Soon, the four full-time employees arrived at the machine, picked up the prepared first-level workpieces, and began processing.

Wang Feng and Qin Jingru stood aside and watched. When they saw that two of the four people's hands were trembling, they knew that the two people would definitely fail the test.

as predicted.

After the workpiece was finished, the judges took a look at it, and Yi Zhonghai also took a look at the workpiece and quickly came to a conclusion.

"Wu Dasheng and Wang Jianjun are qualified."

"Li Ergou and Zhu Dachang are not qualified; the next batch will be brought up."

Upon hearing that they had passed, the two who passed instantly became excited and danced with joy, while the two who failed sighed and groaned.

Wang Feng was getting sleepy watching from the side, but Qin Jingru was watching with great interest.

Soon, the formal employee assessment was completed. Some were happy, while others were sad. Passing the assessment meant a raise, so everyone was happy. Those who failed the assessment would have to wait until next year.

"The next step is the Level 2 worker assessment."

"Jia Dongxu, Wu Chunhua, Zhang Tianci, Li Bin."

Upon hearing his name appear first, Jia Dongxu excitedly stepped forward and looked at Yi Zhonghai, who nodded slightly in return.

Seeing this, Jia Dongxu became even more confident. He walked to the machine and saw that there were indeed Class B Level 2 workpieces on the workpiece table. He was immediately delighted.

As expected, Yi Zhonghai did not lie to him and really assigned him the work he was best at. This time, he was absolutely certain to pass the Level 2 worker exam.

Without further hesitation, Jia Dongxu picked up the workpiece and began to concentrate on processing it.

When Qin Jingru saw Jia Dongxu come on stage, she looked at Wang Feng beside her and asked curiously:

"Brother Wang Feng, do you think Jia Dongxu will pass the assessment?"

Wang Feng smiled and shook his head: "I probably won't pass the exam."

"Um?"

"Brother Wang Feng, why are you so sure?" Qin Jingru asked, puzzled.

"Hehe, everyone in the factory knows that Jia Dongxu is no good at fitting. Otherwise, why would people say he's a top-level worker for life?" Wang Feng laughed.

In fact, Wang Feng's judgment was based on the original drama. Jia Dongxu hadn't been promoted to a second-level worker when he died, so it's impossible that he could be promoted to a second-level worker just because he came to the hospital, right?

"Oh, that's true." Qin Jingru nodded, indicating her agreement.

Just as Jia Dongxu was concentrating on processing the secondary workpiece, he suddenly heard a screeching sound from the machine. However, the sound was relatively quiet, and only Li Chunhua, who was processing the workpiece next to him, heard it.

Sudden.

"what!"

Jia Dongxu's workpiece was suddenly jammed by the machine, and then his hand was caught in it. Jia Dongxu only had time to let out a scream before half of his body was caught in the machine, and then that was the end of him.

"Ah! Someone's dead!"

Li Chunhua was the first to react, and immediately let out a terrified scream, dropping the workpiece in her hands to the ground.

"Quick! Turn off the power!"

Upon seeing this, Li Huaide immediately roared urgently.

When Yi Zhonghai and the other judges saw this, they were so frightened that they trembled all over. Director Guo of the fitter workshop quickly turned off the power switch, and the machine stopped running.

"Dongxu!"

Yi Zhonghai ran frantically to Jia Dongxu's body, trying to pull it out, acting as if he had gone mad.