Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

After discussing the details and price with Lao Wu, Li Yu arrived at Liu Haizhong's house. His second aunt, who was at home, was worried that Li Yu had come to cause trouble when she saw him with a burly man with a fierce face.

The second aunt looked at Li Yu in a panic and said, "Little Li, what are you doing? You know hitting people is illegal!"

Seeing that Auntie Er had misunderstood, Li Yu quickly smiled and explained, "Auntie Er, you've misunderstood. I came to find you because I wanted to tell you something."

Next, Li Yu explained his purpose for coming: to have Auntie Er cook two meals a day for Master Wu and his team for five days, at a rate of five yuan per day, and to pay Auntie Er one yuan per day for each meal she cooked.

Aunt Er readily agreed upon hearing this. In fact, Liu Haizhong had already told her and her several sons yesterday that he would help Li Yu as much as possible whenever she needed it, not to mention that there would be a reward of one yuan per day.

After agreeing on the terms with the second aunt, Li Yu gave her thirty yuan and left with Master Wu. As soon as they stepped out of the courtyard gate, Master Wu said, "Since Brother Li has taken care of our meals, I'll give you a 30 yuan discount!"

Upon hearing this, Li Yu said, "No need, just charge me whatever amount you're due, it's just a few meals. I'll be grateful if you finish on time."

After hearing this, Master Wu quickly said, "Brother Li, don't worry! I will definitely deliver on time and with guaranteed quality."

After seeing Master Wu off, Li Yu realized it was lunchtime. He went to a noodle shop near Zhengyangmen, ate a bowl of noodles, and then rode his bicycle back to the steel rolling mill.

Upon arriving at the steel rolling mill, Li Yu heard about the reprimands given to Yi Zhonghai, Qin Huairu, and Sha Zhu. Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu were demoted one grade and barred from taking exams for two years, with two months' wages deducted. Qin Huairu, on the other hand, had one month's wages deducted.

Li Huaide was reading documents in his office when the door was suddenly pushed open. Li Huaide was about to scold the person who came in when he saw that it was Li Yu.

Li Yu entered Li Huaide's office, took a cigarette from the desk, lit it, and said, "Brother Li, could you arrange a place for me in the staff dormitory? I'm homeless now."

Li Huaide rolled his eyes. "You're not homeless, you're just renovating your new house." He then took out a key and handed it to Li Yu. The key had a house number on it.

She continued, "This is a single dormitory room that I occasionally stay in when I work overtime. I'll be staying here for now."

After speaking, Li Huaide handed Li Yu another document, which contained information about the expansion of the steel rolling mill into a new workshop and Li Yu's appointment letter as workshop director.

After reading it, Li Yu said, "I thought they would build a new workshop, but I didn't expect it to be a converted warehouse."

Li Huaide, thinking Li Yu was dissatisfied, explained, "Although this is a warehouse, it was previously the research and development workshop of the Russian experts. Many things in it can be used after a little modification."

Li Yu wasn't actually dissatisfied, but he felt the pressure from above was a bit too much. Li Huaide then asked, "Do you have any thoughts on the new workshop?"

After listening, Li Yu revealed a plan he had prepared beforehand: "I plan to conduct a test, and I will only accept those that pass the test."

Upon hearing Li Yu's words, Li Huaide immediately became interested and asked, "Why not just transfer a group of skilled workers from each workshop? Why go through the extra testing process?"

Li Yu responded, "The establishment of this new workshop is definitely not just for producing this rolling mill. I plan to conduct all new research in this workshop in the future, so the workers need to be not only skilled but also literate and quick-witted."

Upon hearing Li Yu's words, Li Huaide immediately understood. After discussing various details, Li Yu took the key and went to the dormitory.

When I opened the dormitory door, it was surprisingly clean and tidy inside. Although there was only a desk and a bed, it was enough.

Li Yu glanced around the dormitory and then planned to go back to the courtyard house to move the things he needed from home to the dormitory. He would stuff the things he didn't need into large wooden boxes so that they wouldn't be a mess when he renovated.

Li Yu finished moving everything in just two trips. Luckily he had a bicycle, otherwise it would have been much more troublesome. If he wasn't afraid of being seen, he would have just thrown everything into his spatial storage.

Because Li Yu was appointed as the workshop director of the research workshop, he no longer planned to go to the technical department. He went back to his dormitory, put his things away, and prepared to finish writing the last part of the maintenance manual.

After finishing his writing, Li Yu glanced at the time and realized it wasn't even 5 PM yet. He stretched and muttered, "Uncle Li said he wanted me to have dinner at his house, and since it's still early, why don't we go today?"

Li Yu opened the system shop and bought a bottle of wine, a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes, and a pound of White Rabbit milk candy. He only spent 30 points, which he felt was much more cost-effective than going to the supply and marketing cooperative.

He casually tied a rope to a rope and rode his bicycle out of the steel rolling mill. Just as he left, a pair of eyes were watching his departing figure from inside the technical department. That person was Deputy Section Chief Wang.

After hearing about Li Yu's situation yesterday, he immediately reported all the information about Li Yu. The task that came to his door was to obtain the technology and take Li Yu away. They planned to kidnap Li Yu and take her to Xiao Rizi's place.

So today, Oda Saburo had been keeping an eye on Li Yu's whereabouts. When he came back this afternoon, he heard that Li Yu had asked for leave. He was planning to make his move another day, but he didn't expect that Li Yu would go back to the steel rolling mill this afternoon.

Not long after Li Yugang left, Oda Saburo also left under some pretext. He went to an alley not far from the steel rolling mill and found a person who was keeping watch. He asked in Japanese, "Which direction did that person go?" The person pointed towards the steel rolling mill's residential building.

Oda Saburo immediately knew that they must be going to Li Jianshe's house, because he had known for a long time that the Li Yu family and the Li Jianshe family had a good relationship.

He took three men to the family quarters, planning to wait for Li Yu to come out before figuring out how to make a move.

Li Yu had just arrived at Li Jianshe's house when she ran into Zhang Yulan, who was returning from grocery shopping. Upon seeing Li Yu, Zhang Yulan immediately exclaimed, "Oh, Xiao Yu! Aunt Zhang hasn't seen you in so long! You didn't even bother to come and see Aunt Zhang!"

Li Yu quickly replied, "I've been quite busy lately, so I just had some time to come see Aunt Zhang."

Then, seeing that Li Yu was carrying quite a few things, Zhang Yulan said reproachfully, "You child, you just came, why did you bring all this stuff? Do you think Aunt Zhang is an outsider?"

"This is the last time, this is the last time," Li Yu said with a smile.

As soon as Li Yu entered the house, Zhang Yulan took the things from Li Yu's hands and told Li Yu to find a place to sit. Then she hurriedly went into the kitchen to cook. Li Yu sat down on the sofa and looked around the room by himself.

The house is small, with a two-bedroom and one-living room layout. The furnishings are simple, and the furniture is ordinary wooden furniture with some paint chips, but it has been wiped clean.

Just as Li Jianshe was idly looking around, he returned home from get off work.

As soon as I entered, I saw Li Yu sitting on the sofa and immediately said, "I knew it was you as soon as I saw the bicycle in the hallway."

As soon as Li Jianshe entered the room, he sat down next to Li Yu and said, "I heard your appointment has been finalized. What are your plans now?"

Li Yu leaned back on the sofa and said lazily, "I don't have any plans. I just plan to take up my post as soon as the workshop is ready."

Seeing Li Yu's lazy demeanor, Li Jianshe's face immediately hardened, and he said sternly, "You brat, have you become arrogant just because you've achieved some success? If you have the ability, you should work harder. How can you be so lazy?"

Seeing Li Jianshe suddenly become serious, Li Yu immediately said, "I plan to audit classes at Yenching University these next few days to learn some newer technologies."

As soon as Li Yu finished speaking, Zhang Yulan poked her head out from the kitchen and said, "Li Jianshe, are you ever going to stop? Every time Xiaoyu comes, you have to lecture her. If you have nothing to do, you come and serve me dishes."