Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

For several days in a row, Li Yu did not go to see Zheng Qiushi again.

That day, Zhu Dachuan from Workshop 2 brought someone to the workshop director's office.

"Section Chief Zhu, what brings you here?" Zhang Changfu, the director of Workshop 2, greeted Zhu Dachuan as he approached.

"Section Chief Zhang, didn't we mention before that my son was going to be transferred from the machine repair shop to our steel rolling mill?"

"That's why I brought this kid along," Zhu Dachuan said, pointing to his son, Zhu Jianjun.

"Jianjun, this is your Uncle Zhang. From now on, you'll be working under him. You better do a good job!"

Zhang Changfu replied, "Oh, I see. Director Zheng's secretary told me about it before."

After completing the onboarding process, Zhang Changfu gathered the people from Group Three together.

"From now on, you'll be the group leader for group three!"

"Hello everyone, my name is Zhu Jianjun. I used to be a level 5 blacksmith at the machine repair shop. Please take care of me in the future."

Liu Haizhong, standing in the crowd, felt incredibly sad looking at the group leader. The position had been vacant ever since the group leader was transferred away from the research workshop.

He thought that since he was the most skilled person in his group, he would naturally become the group leader, but unexpectedly, someone else was parachuted in.

That afternoon, Liu Haizhong, who was eager to become a leader, gritted his teeth and bought a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. He planned to treat Zhu Jianjun to a meal to see if he could get him the position of group leader.

Liu Haizhong, who was sitting opposite Zhu Jianjun at Donglaishun, kept putting meat on Zhu Jianjun's plate.

"Team Leader Zhu, look at you, you're so young to have become a team leader, and look at me, I'm already this old."

"Could you show me the way?"

Liu Haizhong asked cautiously.

After taking a bite of meat, Zhu Jianjun leaned closer to Liu Haizhong and whispered:

"You want to know about the new factory manager, Zheng Qiushi, right?"

"I know, so what?" Liu Haizhong asked, puzzled.

"What do you think the new factory manager is lacking right now?"

"Are you short of money?" Liu Haizhong replied in a low voice.

Seeing that Liu Haizhong couldn't guess, Zhu Jianjun said directly, "They're not short of money, of course they're short of people! They're short of obedient people."

After finishing his sentence, Zhu Jianjun took another sip of wine, while Liu Haizhong nodded thoughtfully as he ate.

The next day, Liu Haizhong, carrying two packs of cigarettes in his pocket, knocked on Zheng Jianshe's door as soon as he got to work.

Ma Wude opened the door and saw a person he didn't recognize, so he stopped him outside.

"Who are you?" Ma Wude asked.

"Secretary Ma, I am Liu Haizhong, a level seven forging worker from Workshop Two."

Zheng Qiushi, who was sitting inside reading documents, felt that the name sounded familiar. He seemed to have seen the name before when he was investigating Li Yu.

So he said, "Let him in."

Liu Haizhong quickly ran up to Zheng Qiushi and took out two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket.

"Director Zheng, this is a small token of my appreciation for you."

Seeing that Zheng Qiushi ignored him, he placed it on Zheng Qiushi's desk.

"What is your relationship with Li Yu?" Zheng Qiushi asked at that moment.

"Li Yu and I are from the same courtyard. I am the second uncle in charge of our courtyard," Liu Haizhong quickly replied.

"Oh? Then tell me what brings you here?"

With a fawning smile, Liu Haizhong rubbed his hands together and said, "I'm just seeing if Director Zheng can see if he can give me a team leader position."

Zheng Qiushi wasn't angry after hearing this; he simply asked calmly, "On what grounds?"

Seeing that there was a chance, Liu Haizhong quickly patted his chest and said, "As long as Director Zheng gives me a group leader position, I will follow your lead from now on."

"Since that's the case, I can agree to your request. I have something for you to do now," Zheng Qiushi said.

Upon hearing that Director Zheng had agreed, Liu Haizhong was so excited he wanted to jump for joy, and quickly replied:

"Director Zheng, I will certainly do as you instruct."

"I want you to take every opportunity in your department to disgust Li Yu. Can you do that?"

When Liu Haizhong heard that it was about dealing with Li Yu, he was a little scared, but when he thought about the opportunity to become an official, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

Just as Liu Haizhong was about to leave after finishing his business,

Zheng Qiushi stopped Liu Haizhong and told him to take the two packs of cigarettes he had brought and smoke them himself.

Liu Haizhong hesitated, fearing that Zheng Qiushi might change his mind.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Qiushi said, "I don't need these two packs of cigarettes. Just do a good job of handling the things I assign you in the future."

Only then did Liu Haizhong dare to take the two packs of cigarettes back.

"Factory manager, how could you give someone like that a team leader position?"

Zheng Qiushi said, "It doesn't matter who's the team leader, it's always better to give it to someone who's obedient. Plus, he can make things difficult for Li Yu, so why not?"

Ma Wude quickly flattered, "As expected of the factory director!"

"Go and tell their workshop director," Zheng Qiushi said, and then started looking at the documents.

Li Yu and Bai Ling had just returned to the courtyard that day when they heard Jia Jiabangeng shouting incessantly as soon as they entered the middle courtyard.

"Grandma, it hurts! Ahhhh~"

"Mom, be gentle~"

When Jia Zhangshi saw Li Yu and Bai Ling return, she rushed over to stop them.

"Li Yu, stand still! You must give my family an explanation today!"

Li Yu and Bai Ling looked at Jia Zhangshi with suspicion.

People in the courtyard heard Jia Zhangshi's shouts and came over to watch.

"Jia Zhangshi, just say what you need to say and don't delay my meal," Li Yu said impatiently.

"Still eating? Come and see! Come and see! Look at the state of my dog's hands."

After saying that, he pulled out the stick from the mousetrap that had just been removed from the house.

Everyone stared at Bang Geng's bloodied and mangled hand, exclaiming, "My God! How did this happen?" and "Is it ruined?!"

Li Yu looked at it and said, "It is quite serious, but what does it have to do with me?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi exclaimed, "What do you mean it has nothing to do with you? This was caught in your house!"

Bai Ling then said, "Then I have to ask you this: Li Yu's door was locked, so tell me how he got in?"

Madam Jia stammered, "My son Banggeng saw that Li Yu's window had broken by itself, so he climbed in and got caught."

"Hmph! Jia Zhangshi! I bet she went in to steal! The window was smashed with a stick, wasn't it?" Bai Ling said.

Jia Zhangshi stammered and couldn't speak.

Because when Banggeng came home from school today, he saw that no one was at Li Yu's house, so he smashed the window and prepared to climb in.

Unexpectedly, his hand got caught in a mousetrap that Li Yu had set as soon as he touched the windowsill.

Liu Haizhong, who had just returned to the courtyard, heard the commotion and came over to see what was going on.

At this moment, Liu Haizhong suddenly said, "It's normal for a child to climb out of a window while playing, but Li Yu, look, Bang Geng's hand was injured by your mousetrap."

"You should take responsibility both morally and logically."

"Yes! Second Uncle is right!" said Sha Zhu, who was watching the show from the sidelines.

Qin Huairu also said, "Li Yu, you must take responsibility for what happened today."

Li Yu snorted coldly and said, "Take responsibility? Take responsibility for what? Would you take responsibility if a thief broke into your house and got hurt?"

The onlookers immediately understood: if they agreed now, who would dare to stop Bang Geng from stealing things from anyone's house?

They all chimed in, "That's right, how could they possibly be responsible?" "If you ask me, the Jia family should even pay Li Yu to repair the windows."

"Li Yu, what nonsense are you spouting? How does a funny joke become a thief? He was just playing around, don't label him like that," Liu Haizhong said.

Bai Ling said, "Whether someone is a thief or not is not up to you to decide, but up to the police station."

When Jia Zhangshi heard that she was going to report to the police station, she pointed at Bai Ling and was about to scold her, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she remembered the incident of the deaf old lady being beaten and immediately chickened out.

He just muttered to himself, "You don't need to report this to the police station. Your family can just pay for the medical expenses."

Li Yu looked at Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu and said, "There won't be a single penny for medical expenses. If your family doesn't compensate me for the broken glass, then you can wait to be sent to a juvenile detention center."

At this point, Liu Haizhong chimed in, "Li Yu is a resident of the same compound, so why do you keep bringing up the police station and juvenile detention center?"

Li Yu looked at Liu Haizhong, who was relentlessly targeting him, and said, "Fatty Liu, you'd better shut up, or you won't be able to be my second uncle anymore."

"You...you? Humph!" Liu Haizhong turned and left.