Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

After finishing his porridge and washing the dishes, Li Yu realized it was completely dark. He turned on the dim incandescent light, took out paper and pen, and began to organize his thoughts about the day and plan his next steps.

The factory has initially established itself, and technology is the foundation of its business. We can continue to strengthen it and find ways to bring out more technologies.

Inside the courtyard, the Jia family was temporarily subdued. Sha Zhu was not a major concern, as long as they prevented him from acting recklessly.

Xu Damao is not a threat yet, but we need to pay attention to him. The deaf old woman and Yi Zhonghai need to be closely guarded against.

In the original novel, the deaf old woman's identity is a mystery. She seems confused but is actually shrewd. She is the matriarch of the courtyard and even Yi Zhonghai has to respect her.

However, there are too many different interpretations of her identity in fanfiction; I'll keep an eye on it as it unfolds.

In the original owner's memories, the deaths of his parents were sometimes sudden and the causes of death were strange.

Furthermore, in the original owner's memories, before his parents died, they mentioned that they had accidentally seen Deputy Director Wang of the Technical Department and people from the Security Department taking things from the factory, and then they died inexplicably due to an accident.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Li Yu opened the door and saw Liu Guangtian. Liu Guangtian saw Li Yu open the door.

"Uncle Li Yu was notified to attend a general meeting at the Intermediate People's Court."

Li Yu turned off the lights and headed to the central courtyard. As soon as he arrived, he saw three old men sitting imposingly at a square table.

Upon seeing Li Yu approach, Yi Zhonghai slammed his hand on the table and let out a cold snort.

"Li Yu, look at all these people waiting for you! Don't you have any sense of community? Even the deaf old lady came over; do you think you need to wait longer than her?"

Li Yu looked coldly at the three old men.

"Are you done talking? What business is it of yours when I come? And you talk about collective consciousness, but you're the one representing that collective?"

Seeing that Li Yu was getting more and more excited, Liu Haizhong quickly stood up to smooth things over.

"Li Yu, please refrain from saying anything for now. That's not what I meant. The purpose of calling everyone here today is to address the conflict between He Yuzhu and Li Yu in the cafeteria."

"I believe everyone knows the details, so now let's have this respected elder say a few words."

Yi Zhonghai took a sip of tea and then said:

"Today, Zhu Zi was still resentful because Li Yu hit him yesterday, so he flicked a spoon at Li Yu. Then Li Yu actually hit Zhu Zi back, and not only that, he also made Zhu Zi clean the toilet and deducted his wages."

The purpose of today's meeting is to address this matter. Now, I will explain the solution.

"First, Li Yu should compensate Sha Zhu for the loss of 20 yuan in wages and 30 yuan in medical expenses and apologize. What do you all think?"

Before the conference, Yi Zhonghai approached Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui, giving each of them five yuan to support him at the conference.

Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui quickly echoed this.

"I think Lao Yi is right. Li Yu really went too far in this matter. We are all in the same hospital, and any issues should be resolved within the hospital. We shouldn't act so impulsively."

When Li Yu saw that the three old men had such a surprisingly consistent opinion, he knew that they must have reached an agreement beforehand. Otherwise, given Liu Haizhong's nature, he would definitely have dealt with Yi Zhonghai. And Yan Bugui was the kind of guy who wouldn't do anything without a profit.

Li Yu laughed in anger upon hearing their reasons, and pointed at Yi Zhonghai, saying:

"You, Yi Zhonghai, you really think you're something special just because I call you 'Grandpa'? What, do you have a problem with how the steel mill was handled? Or are you trying to become the local tyrant of this courtyard and set your own rules?"

Upon hearing Li Yu's words, Yi Zhonghai quickly responded.

"What nonsense are you talking about, asking me to be a local tyrant and set the rules? I'm just trying to protect the reputation of the compound. Besides, the three of us old men were appointed by the neighborhood committee, and you can't argue with that."

"Oh? You say you three old men were appointed by the neighborhood committee? Then I'd like to ask you, did the neighborhood committee appoint mediators or just old men?"

Li Yu looked at Yan Bugui and asked him a question.

"Yan Bugui, you two are teachers, so please tell everyone what the appointment process of the street office is, and what the responsibilities of the mediators include."

Yan Bugui knew he was doomed when he heard Li Yu say that. The purpose of the street office setting up mediators was twofold: to keep an eye out for suspicious people entering the courtyard and to mediate neighborhood disputes.

However, due to the deliberate concealment by Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui, they became known as the three old men.

At this point, Yan Bugui stammered and couldn't say anything more. Seeing that Yan Bugui was about to handle the matter, Yi Zhonghai quickly signaled to He Yuzhu with his eyes.

Upon seeing Yi Zhonghai's signal, He Yuzhu immediately stood up and started cursing at Li Yu.

"You little brat, you think you're so great? You don't even respect these three elders? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to rebel? I think you deserve a beating."

As He Yuzhu was about to raise his hand to hit him, Li Yu dodged the fist and slapped He Yuzhu to the ground.

Then he stepped on He Yuzhu's head.

"Calling you 'Idiot Zhu' is really not wrong. Don't you know your own strength? Haven't you had enough of getting beaten up?"

Xu Damao quickly chimed in, "Silly Zhu is just a smart aleck who needs to be taught a lesson. He's used to being arrogant and domineering, but now he knows how powerful my brother Li Yu is."

Seeing that Xu Damao was still kicking him while he was down, Yi Zhonghai shouted, "Shut up, Xu Damao!" Xu Damao shrank back and didn't say anything.

Qin Huairu saw that Sha Zhu had been beaten and quickly ran over to pull Li Yu away.

"Brother Li Yu, stop fighting! Something bad is going to happen if you keep fighting. Quickly help Zhu Zi get up."

Li Yu didn't even glance at Qin Huairu.

Li Yu took the opportunity to lift his foot, and Sha Zhu quickly stood up with Qin Huairu's help.

"Zhu Zi, are you alright?" Qin Huairu asked quickly.

When Sha Zhu saw how much Sister Qin cared about him, he felt a warmth in his heart and felt full of energy.

"It's alright. I didn't expect this kid to have some skills. I was careless, otherwise I would have killed him."

Qin Huairu rolled her eyes and thought, "You were almost beaten to death and you're still being stubborn. If it weren't for the lunchbox, who would care about you?"

Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Sha Zhu was alright.

The deaf old woman slammed her cane on the ground and said in a muffled voice:

"You brat from the Li family, you've gone too far! Look what you've done to my son! You must apologize and pay compensation today, or I'll never forgive you!"

When everyone heard the old lady say this, they all thought that Li Yu was doomed and would definitely have to bleed a lot to survive.

Unexpectedly, Li Yu's opening remark was: "Deaf old lady, I didn't expect you to be not only deaf but also a bit blind! Didn't you see that this big idiot started it? You've finished drinking and you're still not done, what do you want? Knocking on the glass? If you dare to knock on my window, I'll break your legs. You don't believe me? Try it."

"Shut up! Do you know who you're talking to?"

"The old lady is not only a recipient of the Five Guarantees program recognized by the neighborhood committee, but she also gave straw sandals to our army. She is the ancestor of our courtyard house. If you continue to be so disrespectful, don't blame us for kicking you out of the courtyard house," Yi Zhonghai said angrily.

Upon arriving, Li Yu thought to himself that they were always using the old deaf man as a shield, so Li Yu immediately replied:

"You say that old deaf woman sent straw sandals to our army? I ask you, how did this bound-footed old lady manage to get out of Beijing, and she's called an ancestor? The last ancestor with bound feet was Empress Dowager Cixi. Are you trying to stage a restoration in a courtyard house?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd began to discuss it. "Yes, everyone says that the old lady is a martyr's family member and gave our army straw sandals. There might be something wrong with this."

When Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady heard everyone talking, they panicked instantly. Yi Zhonghai knew very well that the old lady giving him straw sandals was a rumor he had spread.

At this point, the deaf old lady started pretending to be deaf.

"What is Zhonghai saying? I can't hear him anymore. Oh, I'm getting old and can't hear anymore. Zhonghai's wife, come and help me back home. I need to rest." Upon seeing this, the older woman quickly helped the old lady walk towards the backyard.

Seeing that the old lady had left, Yi Zhonghai quickly tried to smooth things over.

"Little Li, it was wrong of Grandpa today. It was actually Zhuzi who was in the wrong first, so let's just let it go. We're just calling the old lady 'ancestor' to show respect for the elderly and care for the young, not to revive the old ways."

Yi Zhonghai quickly smiled apologetically.

Seeing Yi Zhonghai's attitude, Li Yu also felt it was pointless.

"I have parents and I don't have the idea of ​​randomly claiming ancestors. Only those who have no descendants would go around claiming ancestors, right, Grandpa?" Li Yu emphasized his words when he mentioned Grandpa.

Yi Zhonghai's fists were clenched so tightly they turned white. He wished he could bite the guy in front of him to death right now, the guy who didn't know how to respect his elders.

Li Yu glanced at the three old men and the residents of the courtyard, his gaze finally settling on Sha Zhu, and said calmly:

"You'd better use your brain in the future and not act like a fool all the time, letting others use you as a pawn without even realizing it."

After saying that, Li Yu went straight back to his house.

Seeing that Li Yu had left, Yan Bugui asked, "Old Yi, what do you think of this...?"

Yi Zhonghai immediately understood what he meant, fearing that he would be asked to repay the money. He waved his hand and said, "That's enough, everyone go home."