Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

Early the next morning, Li Yu, carrying three large stacks of technical drawings retrieved from the system space, strode into the final assembly workshop. Inside, dozens of machine tools were already running at high speed, and the technicians, eagerly awaiting their arrival, gathered around the whiteboard in the center of the workshop, notebooks and pencils in hand, their eyes filled with anticipation.

"Comrades, gather around!" Li Yu's voice, coming through the loudspeaker, drowned out the roar of the machines.

He pasted the blueprints of the marine gas turbine onto the whiteboard, his fingertip landing heavily on the core turbine blade structure diagram. "This is the gas turbine that our navy urgently needs! Compared to traditional steam turbines, it is smaller, more powerful, and starts up faster, allowing our warships to accelerate from a standstill to top speed in just three minutes!"

The technicians immediately crowded around, their pens scribbling across the paper with a dense, scratching sound. One pointed to the curvature of the blades on the drawing and asked, "Factory manager, the curvature of these blades is too tricky. Can our existing milling machines machine it?"

"Yes!" Li Yu answered decisively, then turned around and pasted on the formula for special ship plate steel.

"I've adjusted the milling machine's feed parameters, and with our newly developed special alloy welding rods, we're guaranteed to crack this tough nut! And this large-caliber naval main gun—the key is the rifling in the barrel."

He picked up the chalk and began to calculate rapidly on the whiteboard, from the twist rate of the rifling to the muzzle velocity of the shell, from the proportion of high-temperature resistant materials to the recoil buffer design, every piece of data was accurate to two decimal places. The workers listened intently, their previously anxious hearts gradually settling down, their faces, covered in oil stains, filled with excitement and enthusiasm.

"Don't worry, Chief Engineer! We guarantee to build a prototype within three months!" the workshop director roared, clenching his fist, his voice filled with a do-or-die determination.

"Yes! Three months!"

"For the Navy! For our maritime borders!"

The deafening shouts ripped the roof off the workshop. Infected by this atmosphere, the workers quickened their pace, and even the experienced boiler operator swung his shovel with incredible force.

Looking at the excited technicians and workers in front of him, Li Yu smiled with satisfaction.

Unbeknownst to him, in the steel mill canteen, Sha Zhu's resentful eyes were fixed on the cutting board in front of him as he ruthlessly chopped the vegetables on it.

His teeth were clenched so tightly they were grinding, and the hatred in his eyes was almost overflowing. Ever since Li Yu had completely crippled him that day, his hatred for Li Yu had grown stronger every day. But yesterday, he overheard Yan Bugui and his wife whispering that Bai Ling was pregnant with Li Yu's child. At that moment, the resentment that had been building up in his heart exploded.

He hated Li Yu. He hated Li Yu for killing the deaf old woman, for making him lose face, and even more so for making him completely infertile, leaving him childless and without descendants.

"Why is it that you, Li Yu, can achieve success and fame, and even have a deaf child? Why should I end up like this?" Sha Zhu clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his flesh, and blood seeped out.

A wicked thought began to grow wildly in his mind.

As evening approached and the sun began to set, Bai Ling, carrying a vegetable basket, was preparing to return to the courtyard house to cook. Just as she reached the entrance, she bumped into Sha Zhu, who wore a forced smile.

"Bai Ling, wait a moment." Sha Zhu was holding a thermos, his face plastered with a fawning smile, but his eyes were darting around. "I know you're pregnant, so I specially made chicken soup to nourish your body. I was wrong before, please be magnanimous and don't hold it against me."

Bai Ling frowned, instinctively sensing something was wrong. Why was Sha Zhu, who usually avoided her like the plague, suddenly being so attentive?

"Get lost! I have no interest in your motivational speeches! As for what happened before, that was your own doing. It's best if we don't bother each other anymore," Bai Ling said coldly.

Hearing Bai Ling say this, Sha Zhu gripped the handle tightly, but still smiled and said, "I just wanted to apologize to you, that's all."

Seeing that Sha Zhu was so persistent, Bai Ling decided to see what he was up to. She reached out and took the thermos from Sha Zhu's hand.

Sha Zhu grinned broadly, but as he watched Bai Ling walk away with the thermos, the smile in his eyes instantly turned into a sinister look.

He had added three packets of laxatives to the chicken soup. He wanted to cause Bai Ling to miscarry, and to make Li Yu taste the bitterness of being childless!

Bai Ling returned to the courtyard house and had just poured the chicken soup into a bowl when Li Yu pushed open the door and walked in. He had spent the whole day in the workshop, and although he was covered in the smell of machine oil, his face showed an undeniable weariness and a smile.

"The workshop is making good progress today; the gas turbine blades have already started processing." Li Yu walked over, instinctively wanting to hug Bai Ling, but then smelled a strong aroma of chicken soup. "Where did this chicken soup come from?"

"Sha Zhu brought it here, saying it was to help me recover. I wasn't planning on taking it, but he insisted, so I took it back to see what tricks he was up to," Bai Ling said.

Hearing Bai Ling say this, Li Yu knew perfectly well what kind of person Sha Zhu was. That guy was narrow-minded and vindictive; how could he suddenly change his nature? Li Yu snatched the bowl, smelled it, dipped his finger in the soup, and tasted it.

A faint bitter taste spread across the tip of the tongue.

"It's a laxative!" Li Yu angrily slammed the bowl on the ground, splashing chicken soup all over the floor.

Li Yu's face instantly darkened to a point where it seemed to drip water. He turned abruptly, the coldness in his eyes almost freezing the air.

"You idiot Zhu, you're asking for it!"

At that moment, Sha Zhu was hiding in his house, listening intently to the sounds outside. He imagined Bai Ling vomiting and having diarrhea, and he imagined Li Yu's breakdown, and couldn't help but let out a sinister laugh.

But before his laughter could finish, it was interrupted by a loud bang.

"Bang!"

The door was kicked open, and Li Yu stormed in like an enraged lion.

Sha Zhu's smile froze on his face, terrified, and he turned to run. But Li Yu was much faster, grabbing him by the back of his collar and slamming him to the ground like a chick.

"Tell me! Why did you give Bai Ling laxatives!" Li Yu said angrily.

Sha Zhu was dazed and confused from the fall, but he still stubbornly insisted, "I didn't! Don't make false accusations!"

"No?" Li Yu sneered, stepping on his wrist. "Then tell me, where did you get your laxatives? Did you think no one saw you sneaking off to the pharmacy?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu's face turned deathly pale. He knew his plot had been exposed.

"I hate you! Li Yu! I hate you!" Sha Zhu suddenly screamed hysterically, "You ruined me! You made me childless! I'll make you taste the bitterness of being childless too!"

Li Yu's gaze grew increasingly cold. "You want to make me childless?" Li Yu's voice carried a chilling edge. "Then I'll show you what it means to wish you were dead!"

Li Yu slammed Sha Zhu to the ground. "Ugh!" Sha Zhu groaned. Then, Li Yu stepped on Sha Zhu's left hand.

Upon seeing this, Sha Zhu's pupils contracted. "No!"

As soon as Sha Zhu finished speaking, he suddenly increased the force of his foot, and with a crisp "crack", Sha Zhu's wrist was broken!

"ah--!"

A piercing scream echoed throughout the courtyard. The Yan family was so frightened that they hid inside the house, not daring to even breathe.