Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

As Zhuang Zhongchen left the courtyard, he greeted everyone along the way. However, he had a vague feeling that the neighbors avoided him as if he were a plague carrier, at most giving him an awkward nod.

In particular, Zhuang Zhongchen became exceptionally sharp-eared and sharp-eyed, and he could even vaguely hear the whispers of his neighbors behind his back.

"Hey, any news from you? When is Chenzi going to pay back the money?"

"Forget it! Consider this money wasted. Damn it! Let me tell you, what I fear most now is that he'll ask for more money."

"Huh? He wants to borrow money from us again?"

"Most likely. That damn bastard is beyond saving. Sigh—!"

"Oh, no way! It's fine if your family is well-off, but my family is barely making ends meet. Are you really going to just let this go like this?"

"What else can we do? We'll run into each other all the time. Are we supposed to go to their door to collect the debt? We can't afford to lose face like that. Sigh!"

"No way, bro. Isn't Brother Chen a really good person? I've never seen him argue in the yard, and he never reneges on his debts?"

"He'll never repay a thousand years, not even ten thousand. Damn it! By the way, Rainwater, stay away from Chenzi from now on. He's just a gigolo, a born freeloader. He can coax a woman a few times and she'll be all confused and borrow money again. If you don't believe me, go ask around. He's already ruined everyone in our yard. He even took advantage of the deaf old lady in the backyard."

"Oh no! Bro, I borrowed 3.5 yuan from him the day before yesterday. That was all the pocket money I had painstakingly saved up!"

"No, how come I didn't know about this?"

"Waaah! Brother, Brother Chenzi told me not to tell you. I believed him. Waaah!"

"Girl, are you out of your mind? Lending him money? Grandma, did he ruin our rainwater supply? Damn it!"

"..."

Hearing these words, Zhuang Zhongchen was both amused and exasperated. He silently gave He Yushui a thumbs up.

However, a deadbeat like myself is indeed disliked by everyone, even mice would run away at the sight of me.

A moment later, Zhuang Zhongchen arrived at the courtyard gate, just as Yu Li was leaving. She furtively glanced at him a few times, finding the man particularly handsome: "Chenzi, going to work?"

"Yes! You're here too..."

However, at that moment, a blurry figure suddenly blocked Yu Li's path. Zhuang Zhongchen looked closely and saw that it was Uncle Yan Fugui. Behind Yu Li, Aunt Yan quickly pulled Yu Li home.

Lou Xiao'e married Xu Damao almost a year ago. However, she prefers to sleep in, so she didn't show up this morning.

Just six months prior, Yan Jiecheng had also married Yu Li. It was because of the three years of hardship that dowries and wedding banquets were waived, easing the burden on Yu Li's family. Ultimately, the third uncle's family found a wallet.

In this way, the entire Siheyuan Girls' Group has now arrived.

Lou Xiao'e and Yu Li were both newcomers, and they hadn't yet grasped Zhuang Zhongchen's despicable nature. Especially Lou Xiao'e, the wealthy and beautiful woman, who unwittingly borrowed 100 yuan. She even surpassed the old man Yi Zhonghai, gloriously becoming the top woman in the courtyard.

"Chenzi, I received a notice from the neighborhood committee that next month's vouchers will be distributed tomorrow morning. It should be our courtyard's turn around nine o'clock," Yan Fugui said with a smile.

"Okay, thank you."

Zhuang Zhongchen smiled and waved goodbye. Behind him, Yan Fugui hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't...

In this day and age, we work a six-day work week. Tomorrow is Sunday, our day off.

At the end of each month, the neighborhood committee will come to your door to distribute the ration coupons for the following month. If you miss the deadline, you'll need to go to the local grain depot to collect them yourself, which is usually quite inconvenient.

Later, there were bicycle tickets, watch tickets, industrial coupons, and so on. These coupons were issued by work units.

In other words, ration coupons for grain and non-staple foods were issued by the local street offices, while ration coupons for industrial products were issued by individual work units. In those days, this was a top priority for every household.

As he left, Zhuang Zhongchen sighed inwardly: Luckily, people in the capital are very concerned with saving face and wouldn't dare to come knocking on someone's door to collect a debt. Otherwise, someone as shameless and persistent as him would have been trapped in a sack long ago.

That said, the original owner of this body was also quite concerned about saving face. Judging from the notebook, the clear list of debts, and the preparation to take the medicine, that person genuinely wanted to pay off their debts. It's just that they ultimately messed things up completely.

However, in Zhuang Zhongchen's eyes now, these debts are really not a big deal, at least not to the extent of the loss of Zisha teapots.

That money was borrowed through my own abilities.

Owe one, it's a sin; owe ten thousand, it's a hero! Owe nine million, and you're the hero among heroes!

Just like before time travel, if you could owe the bank tens of billions, the bank manager would kneel down and call you their ancestor.

Of course, I don't intend to actually become a deadbeat. I just want to pay back the money slowly and delay the process for a longer period.

……

Zhuang Zhongchen strode out of Nanluoguxiang. The streets were bustling with people, all rushing to work or school.

With the mindset of a tourist, Zhuang Zhongchen began to observe the surrounding historical atmosphere.

Before long, Zhuang Zhongchen made some interesting discoveries: regardless of gender, their clothes were mostly monotonous in color, consisting of only a few colors such as black, gray, blue, and white.

And unlike in period dramas, many of the clothes were covered in patches. If there were only a few small patches, then the clothes were considered quite decent.

On the contrary, his clothes were completely unpatched, which was extremely rare and even attracted the attention of passersby.

There are relatively few motor vehicles on the road. Occasionally a few will drive by, and you'll often see gas cylinders on the roofs of the vehicles. This is because there's a severe oil shortage in China. Some vehicles can even be started by burning firewood?

Holy crap! Burning firewood? Can you believe it?

On the contrary, there were quite a few bicycles. Although bicycles were one of the major household items and were indeed quite valuable, they were not as luxurious as they later became.

If you don't believe me, you can recall some old movies.

In those anti-Japanese war dramas, when the traitors went to the countryside to sweep away the enemy, each of them had a bicycle; when the guerrilla teams behind enemy lines fought against the enemy's sweep, each of them also had a bicycle.

That was during the War of Resistance against Japan, in the countryside, let alone in Beijing in the 60s.

Just like in the movie "In the Heat of the Sun." Hundreds of students went out to fight, each with a bicycle. Although the families of children from high-ranking officials' compounds were relatively well-off, bicycles were still commonplace for their children. Every family already had several bicycles.

The reason for the shortage isn't that ordinary people can't afford them, but rather that domestic bicycle production capacity is too low to meet the demand. That's why policies like bicycle vouchers are used to limit purchases.

That said, judging from the expressions of the passersby, they generally seemed spirited and exuberant, displaying a unique sense of exhilaration characteristic of this era. Their morale was quite good. There were even a few Young Pioneers at the intersection, helping an elderly woman cross the street… Wow!

Zhuang Zhongchen suddenly remembered that he still needed to complete the novice task and do a good deed.

Nothing much to say.

Red scarf, let go of the old lady, I'm coming!