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

December 29, 1961, evening.

The courtyard at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang has never been this lively.

Starting at 3 p.m., Sha Zhu took leave to come back and prepare for the engagement banquet. He set up a chopping board in the middle courtyard with a kitchen knife and got busy. The open space in the small courtyard was planted with vegetables. It was fine for a small gathering of three or five friends, but it would be inconvenient to fit more people in for a banquet.

Liu Guangqi helped move the tables, while Xu Damao climbed the ladder to hang red lanterns in the central courtyard hall.

"Hey, Xu Damao, this is an engagement, not a wedding. Isn't putting up red lanterns a bit too much?"

"You idiot Zhu, you're making a huge fuss! Can't you treat my brother Da Biao's engagement party like a big deal?!"

"Hey, Xu Damao, I was just trying to advise you not to mess things up, and you're yelling at me? Get down here! Let's have a serious talk!"

As the two were arguing, Liu Guangqi, who had just moved a table, smiled and advised, "Alright, alright, both of you, say less. Today is a joyous occasion; don't let the neighbors laugh at us."

"Da Mao, Sha Zhu is right. Lanterns aren't appropriate for engagements these days. Keep them for now, and we'll use them when Da Biao gets married."

Xu Damao thought for a moment. Liu Guangqi knew a lot, so he decided to listen to him. He took the lantern and climbed down the ladder, dusted his hands off, and muttered resentfully, "I'm only doing this because of Da Biao and Guangqi. Otherwise, who would bother with this cook, Sha Zhu?"

"Hey, Xu Damao, you—" Sha Zhu rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush forward.

"What are you doing? What are you doing!" The current head of the household, Liu Haizhong, walked out of the backyard with his hands behind his back, speaking in a serious, official tone: "On such a joyous day, can't you two just calm down? Don't cause any trouble! Go help out!"

Liu Haizhong spoke up, and the two of them finally quieted down. Although Sha Zhu looked down on Liu Haizhong a bit, he had to prepare the vegetables first, so he could only roll his eyes and continue chopping vegetables.

Inside the small wooden cabin in the courtyard, Zhang Dabiao was adjusting his dark blue Zhongshan suit in front of the mirror. He had just bought the suit two days ago from the Wangfujing Department Store; the fabric was crisp, the cut was perfect, and it made him look much more energetic.

"Oh, whose groom is this?" Wang Fushan pushed open the door and came in, followed by two girls, Huang Yan and Chen Puqing.

The three of them were researchers under Zhang Dabiao, all assistants assigned to him by the ministry. They usually helped with errands and tasks, and could also provide support in crucial moments.

Just imagine, a vocational school graduate managing three college student cadres, how awesome is that?

Anyway, Liu Haizhong would never dare to show off in front of Zhang Dabiao.

Zhang Dabiao turned around: "What are you three doing here?"

"How could we not come?" Li Yuanchao said with a smile as he walked inside. "Chief Designer Zhang Dabiao is getting engaged, and none of our three assistants from the institute can be missing."

The three of them greatly admired Zhang Dabiao. It had nothing to do with his academic qualifications. The main reason was that Zhang Dabiao's designs always broadened their horizons and brought them real benefits!

The gadgets designed by Zhang Dabiao were organized and reported to higher authorities, and then put into production to earn foreign exchange for the country. Their names were all on the reports!

The leaders of each department also told them to learn from Zhang Dabiao. Their contributions were recognized by the departments. As long as the products produced could earn a certain amount of foreign exchange, the three of them could be promoted to clerk level.

Their futures are directly tied to Zhang Dabiao, so how could they not admire him?

It's just that their ages aren't right, otherwise they would have been willing to directly acknowledge Zhang Dabiao as their "godfather"!

The two men behind him, one wearing glasses and called Lao Zheng, and the other with a round face and called Lao Wang, were both assistants assigned to Zhang Dabiao by the ministry.

"Comrade Zhang, congratulations!" Huang Yan handed over a red envelope. "This is a small token of our appreciation from the three of us."

Zhang Dabiao took it, didn't even open it, and put it on the table: "You came all this way, why did you bring anything?"

"That won't do," Huang Yan said with a smile. "If we come empty-handed for your engagement, our superiors at the headquarters will criticize us."

Zhang Dabiao was only engaged, and it wouldn't be appropriate for someone of Director Zhao's rank in the Ministry of Foreign Trade to attend. So the three of them were just representatives, and that was one of the underlying meanings.

Zhang Dabiao, however, felt it was making a mountain out of a molehill: "Criticize you? Is it really necessary?"

"Of course—"

As the group was arguing, a commotion suddenly broke out in the courtyard.

Zhang Dabiao walked to the door of the side room, opened the gate and looked out—a group of people entered the courtyard. The leader was a lean old man, about sixty years old, wearing a faded blue cloth jacket, but he stood up straight and walked with a brisk pace.

Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up, and he rushed out to meet them.

"Master!"

The visitor was Qin Dingsong, the head of Qin Family Village (brigade leader), clan chief, and Zhang Dabiao's martial arts teacher.

Those who are useful to Zhang Dabiao are called "Master," and those who are not are called "Old Man." This is because the "Old Man" had previously morally blackmailed him. Their relationship is just that bizarre.

Qin Dingsong smiled when he saw Zhang Dabiao, but his words were sharp: "You little brat, such a big thing as an engagement, and you only told me at nine or ten in the morning?"

Zhang Dabiao chuckled: "Master, I made this decision on the spur of the moment this morning."

Zhang Dabiao was called to Teacher Zhou's office in the morning, and that's when he decided to get this done today. So, as soon as he left the school, he called Qinjiatun and the commune near Old Zhang's house.

"Alright, the sooner you finish this, the sooner you can settle down." Qin Dingsong stepped aside, and a few more people came in—Uncle Zhang Er, Maoshan, Brother Maosheng, and Uncle San from the Zhang family, all relatives of Zhangjiatun in Zhangzhen, Shunyi.

"Second Uncle! Brother Maoshan! Brother Maosheng! Third Uncle!" Zhang Dabiao greeted them one by one.

Uncle Zhang and Third Uncle's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter: "Da Biao, congratulations, congratulations!!"

Then he whispered in Zhang Dabiao's ear, "Second Uncle didn't have much to give, but he bought a jade Guanyin statue that grants children last month!"

"It used to be offered by the landlords in our area, and I heard it was very effective; they had eight sons!"

"I used 50 kilograms of rice to replace it! It's guaranteed to work!"

Seeing Zhang Erda's sly look, Zhang Dabiao said helplessly, "Erda... this is an engagement, not a wedding. You're giving me this thing now..."

"If it comes true, then there will be a huge problem."

Grandpa Zhang then realized what was going on: "Just keep it for now, treat it as a keepsake, and use it later, later!"

Zhang Dabiao – [This thing can't possibly be timed, can it?]

The Mao brothers, Maoshan and Maosheng, smiled maliciously and immediately helped Liu Guangqi move things and set up the table.

Before things had even calmed down here, another group of people entered through the courtyard gate.

This time, the leader was a middle-aged man wearing a Lenin suit, followed by several others—Director Han and Secretary Niu of the Hongxing Daily Necessities Manufacturing Plant, as well as Li Huaide, the deputy director of the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, Director Wang of the Subdistrict Office, and others.

Zhang Dabiao was also embarrassed. He had originally planned to set up three tables discreetly, mainly to accommodate the teachers from both schools, but why were there so many more people?

Where did you all hear the rumors from?

I didn't send out any invitations either.

Having no other choice, Zhang Dabiao made a "three" gesture towards Sha Zhu.

Enough said, add three more tables.