Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

After saying this, Zhang Dabiao nodded to the factory director and party secretary, then turned and left the meeting room.

The moment the door closed, the British businessman chuckled and said to his companion in English, "This young man is interesting."

The Frenchman shrugged: "The Japanese have really messed up this time."

Tatsunosuke stood there, his face ashen. Director Zhao and Tian Youfu exchanged bewildered glances, realizing for the first time that things had completely spiraled out of their control.

At that moment, Zhang Dabiao, having stepped out of the conference building, looked up at the sky. The autumn sunlight was blinding; he squinted, knowing in his heart—this was just the beginning.

The real showdown will take place in Hong Kong.

Liu Guangqi and Tian Baocheng followed them out and helped Zhang Dabiao complete the formalities to receive the bonus and grain coupons, and also got a bicycle.

The car was relatively new. Although it was registered under the factory's name and was considered public property, it was practically no different from Zhang Dabiao's private car.

Even if only one wheel is left, as long as you bring it back and report the loss to the company, the factory will replace it for you!

Liu Guangqi was extremely envious; he still hadn't gotten a bicycle ticket, and could only borrow the factory's vehicles when he needed to run errands.

Tian Baocheng then apologized to Zhang Dabiao: "Biaozi, I'm sorry. My uncle, that man..."

Zhang Dabiao shook his head: "He is him and you are you, it has nothing to do with you."

Zhang Dabiao had seen plenty of people like this who fawned over foreigners and acted like they owned the place. Since they weren't his superiors, why bother with them?

The patent is registered under Lou Yufan's name. If you have any issues, go find him and see if he'll even listen to you.

He's just a deputy section chief, does he really think he's something special?

Without saying a word, Zhang Dabiao rode his bicycle back to the courtyard house.

I drove Qin Jingru back to the courtyard house at noon, and drove Mu Wanqing home from get off work in the afternoon—I was so envious of the single men in the courtyard!

perfect!

------------

Zhang Dabiao didn't take the patent matter too seriously. He had already suffered losses at Lou Bancheng's hands several times, and he figured that Lou's eldest son was no pushover either and wouldn't let him suffer any losses.

After all, the Lou family still makes 20% of the profits; they're not stupid.

Paying for a patent, having to renew it every year, giving Zhang Dabiao a house, and even getting him an ID card—there must be some benefits, right?

The Lou family actually spent nearly HKD 5 in total!

Shouldn't we make up for it?

You want to buy out the license for $3000?

Young Master Lou isn't a fool.

Just wait for news.

The next day, Zhang Dabiao, who was still in class, was summoned for a talk by the ministry. Liu Guangqi, Tian Baocheng, and Lou Bancheng were also summoned for a talk at the same time.

This is all about the ownership of this patent.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that Zhang Dabiao had donated money free of charge, only asking the ministry to help him register a patent.

The ministry said there was no precedent for this, so they were unwilling to do it and didn't take it seriously.

Zhang Dabiao was allowed to resolve the patent issue on his own, but the ministry did not provide any funding or solutions; it only gave him an opportunity and a month to resolve it.

So Zhang Dabiao approached Lou Bancheng because Lou Bancheng's eldest son, Lou Yufan, was developing his career in Hong Kong.

Because of the department's permission, we went through the proper channels and sent over the authorization letter, the finished product of the lighter-pressed mop, and the design drawings.

However, the patent was registered under Lou Yufan's name because he had Hong Kong residency and could apply for the patent in England. Zhang Dabiao and Lou Yufan signed a supplementary authorization contract, which stipulated that Zhang Dabiao would receive 8% of the profits, while Lou Yufan—the Hong Kong Lou Clan Chamber of Commerce—would receive 2%.

The entire registration cost HKD 3.

The price Zhang Dabiao paid was reportedly a 50-year-old ginseng root.

As for whether Lou Yufan listens to Lou Bancheng, the children are all grown up and have long since separated from the family. The Lou Clan Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and the Lou family in mainland China are two separate entities.

Therefore, Zhang Dabiao did this only with the permission of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and the patent was not in Zhang Dabiao's hands, so everything was reasonable and legal.

Lou Bancheng was just a go-between; the eldest son had gone abroad to develop his career before the founding of the People's Republic of China and already had legal status in Hong Kong. They couldn't possibly say he was still under the jurisdiction of the mainland.

Liu Guangqi, Tian Baocheng, and others paid for the samples themselves, and it had nothing to do with the factory.

So the higher-ups are helpless. If you say the patent is in the ministry or in Zhang Dabiao's hands, we can discuss it further. But now, everything has nothing to do with the ministry or even the country.

In the end, they could only discuss it with Zhang Dabiao and Lou Bancheng. If the goods were sold, they could go through the Ministry of Foreign Trade's account so that Zhang Dabiao could exchange them for RMB, which would make their political achievements look better.

Zhang Dabiao didn't care about this requirement.

As they exited the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Zhang Dabiao and Lou Bancheng exchanged a glance and smiled slyly.

It was a pleasure working with you.

Zhang Dabiao asked Xu Damao and Sha Zhu about their relationship.

Lou Bancheng then explained, "In terms of character, Sha Zhu is certainly a good person, and he is the kind of person this era advocates."

"But I want to find Xiao'e a husband who can accompany her for life and cherish her, not a moral exemplar."

"So later I explained it to Xiao'e, and she understood the reasoning."

"Our Lou family is not worthy of Sha Zhu."

"Although Xu Damao has moral flaws, I can also see that what he said that day was his true feelings, as long as he can treat Xiao'e well."

"All his past troubles are nothing to worry about."

Zhang Dabiao nodded. That's true. How could a big capitalist not understand these issues?

"What about Da Mao and Xiao E? Are they just going to stay together like this?"

"Let the two of them get to know each other better first. After all, it depends on Xiao'e's own wishes. If they get along well, we can get engaged at the end of the year and get married next year."

"These days, especially with our family's social standing, it's best to keep a low profile when we get married."

As expected of capitalists, they are indeed cautious.

Zhang Dabiao chatted with him for a while before returning to the courtyard house.

The paint on the log cabin was completely dry, and while everyone in the yard was busy with work or classes, Zhang Dabiao began to work on it.

Zhang Dabiao clearly understood that the log cabin could indeed be pieced together with the "nest".

Even if Zhang Dabiao tried hard enough, he could lift the small wooden house up a little.

This thing can be towed away by any truck, so who dares to say it's not "completely their own house"?

As for splicing it with the doors and windows?

Zhang Dabiao used the remaining wood to make an extra door frame and door, which he installed on the wall of the inner room.

Normally, when you open this door, you will see the wooden wall behind it.

If other people came in, they would also find it strange that there was a useless wooden door on the wall—there was nothing in front of the door.

But Zhang Dabiao connected this door with the main door of his "little nest".

Pushing open the door to the "little nest" reveals wooden doors on the walls of the cabin's partitions that have no practical function. Yes, because they are connected, both the main door and the windows can be opened.

From then on, the courtyard house, the "little nest", and the Xiangjiang village house were all connected!

Portal combination, achieved!

Zhang Dabiao kept moving back and forth between the three places, pondering whether he should paint the door of the "little nest" the color of the original wood, or paint the inside of the cabin the same color as the door of the "little nest," so that the style would be consistent and wouldn't attract attention.

The "little nest" is marked as Space 0, the Xiangjiang Village House is marked as Space 1, and the courtyard cabin is Space 2.

He was still thinking about which other countries have land and houses that are completely privately owned.

Japanese? Very beautiful? English?

It seems that capitalist countries recognize this, so how many houses can I link together?

How about buying a small island or a manor?

But Zhang Dabiao only had a little over 2000 yuan in his pocket...

Buy a ball, please.

talk later.

Just as Zhang Dabiao stepped out of the cabin, he heard someone shouting loudly in the courtyard—

"Someone come here!"

"Help!"

Is that the voice of Guangqi's wife, You Hongjuan?

Didn't she go to work today?

Zhang Dabiao rushed out immediately and saw that You Hongjuan's water had broken! She was sitting on the porch in front of her house, completely at a loss!

Is she about to give birth?!