Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

The next morning, after cleaning the streets, Yi Zhonghai changed into clean clothes, and carrying the three gold bars and address given to him by the deaf old woman, headed towards the outskirts of the city.

He proceeded cautiously, avoiding the crowds, until he arrived at an abandoned warehouse.

The warehouse door was dilapidated and covered in rust, and the surrounding area was overgrown with weeds, making it look particularly desolate.

Yi Zhonghai took a deep breath, and following the old woman's instructions, gently knocked on the warehouse door and whispered, "The old lady wants me to come and pick up the goods."

The door creaked open a crack, and a man in a black short jacket with wary eyes poked his head out and pointed a gun at Yi Zhonghai's head.

"Who are you? How did you find this place?"

Yi Zhonghai panicked and quickly said, "Thank you so much, ma'am!"

The man's gaze softened somewhat. He looked him up and down before putting away his gun and letting him in.

The warehouse was dimly lit and filled with the smell of rust and dust. Several men dressed in black sat in a corner, holding weapons and staring at him fiercely.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" asked the bearded man at the head of the group, his tone icy.

Yi Zhonghai took out a gold bar from his pocket and placed it on the table. The gold bar's luster was particularly eye-catching in the dim warehouse.

"I'm here to ask someone for a favor," he said in a low voice. "I need you to kill someone for me. Her name is Widow Li, and she's a widow from the courtyard at number ninety-five. This is the deposit; there will be a generous reward after the deed is done."

The bearded man picked up the gold bar, weighed it in his hand, and a glint of greed flashed in his eyes.

"Murder? That's a job that could cost you your head. But if the money's right, we'll do anything."

He paused, then said, "Tell me about her situation. When would be the best time to take action?"

Yi Zhonghai described Widow Li's daily routine and address in detail, and then instructed, "She is very vigilant, so you must be careful. It's best to do it cleanly and neatly, without leaving any trace."

The bearded man nodded: "Don't worry, we're professionals. We'll let you know in three days."

Yi Zhonghai breathed a sigh of relief, not daring to linger any longer, and turned to leave the warehouse.

He walked briskly, feeling both nervous and excited. As long as Widow Li was dead, and these people still existed, there would be a great chance of them taking revenge on Lin Weidong.

The skinny man standing to the side spat as he watched Yi Zhonghai leave.

"Whose mistress is this? I didn't expect this old guy to still be as promiscuous as he was a few years ago."

After putting the gold away, the leading man said, "That's her business. We just need to take care of our own."

"We haven't heard from home for two months, and we don't know what's going on over there."

"Should we continue sabotaging the mission?"

The skinny man looked expectantly at the leader. In fact, he had long wanted to quit. The job was too risky and he didn't make any money. Now he was stuck in this dilapidated warehouse every day.

At this moment, a bespectacled man pulled out a gun, pointed it at the thin man, and said, "If you don't want to work, you can die, but we can't. Our families and children are all in the south."

"If there's a next time, I'll let you see your brains."

"Alright!" The leader looked at his men and was getting annoyed with them; they were all useless.

"These few large yellow croakers should be enough for us for a while."

"Tonight we're going to relax in the Eight Great Hutongs, but anyone who dares to make a mistake should end their own life."

The group completely ignored the warnings and only knew that they could have meat tonight. For these guys who were now in heat at the sight of a sow, everything else was long forgotten.

The next day, Li Huaide's office phone suddenly rang.

He picked up the receiver, assuming it was good news that the Ministry of Industry had approved the heavy truck project, and asked with a hint of urgency, "Minister Liu, has the technical evaluation been passed? Can the project start now?"

On the other end of the phone, Liu Jie's voice carried an unquestionable tone: "Director Li, let's adjust the project. The heavy truck technical data and subsequent R&D will be handled by the state-owned automobile factory."

"You must organize all the drawings and data as soon as possible and hand them over without any mistakes."

Li Huaide's smile froze instantly, thinking he had misheard: "Minister Liu, what did you say?"

"This technology was developed by Chief Engineer Lin through painstaking effort, and our steel rolling mill also did a lot of preliminary preparations. How can we just hand it over like that?"

"This is a decision made by higher authorities for the purpose of optimizing resource allocation."

Liu Jie's tone remained firm: "The state-owned automobile factory has mature production lines and can produce results faster. Director Li, just cooperate and don't ask any more questions."

"Cooperate?"

Li Huaide's temper flared instantly. He slammed his hand on the table, raising his voice eight octaves.

"Minister Liu, this isn't resource optimization, this is outright robbery!"

"Chief Engineer Lin's hard work, the expectations of all the factory workers, you just gave it all away to someone else with a single sentence?"

"I cannot agree to this! I cannot make this decision myself; you should speak with Chief Engineer Lin directly!"

After saying that, he hung up the phone without waiting for Liu Jie's response, his chest heaving and his face flushed red.

Ten minutes later, in the R&D workshop, Lin Weidong and Su Wanqing were checking the parts parameters of the heavy truck prototype when Li Huaide pushed open the door and entered, explaining the situation with a serious expression.

"What?"

Lin Weidong suddenly raised his head, his eyes instantly blazing with anger, and slammed the blueprints in his hand onto the table.

"They want to steal our technology? Dream on! This heavy truck technology, from the blueprint design to the parameter optimization, every detail was the result of countless sleepless nights of hard work. Why should we hand it over to someone else?"

His chest heaved violently, and veins bulged on his forehead.

"I developed the eight-cylinder engine to bring honor to the steel mill and contribute to the country, not for them to use it to curry favor or claim credit!"

Su Wanqing stood to the side, her expression becoming extremely serious.

"Weidong, we can't hand over the technology! This is not only your hard work, but also the result of our entire team."

"What they're doing is completely unreasonable!" she exclaimed.

He picked up the technical manual on the table, his tone resolute, "You'll have to hand it over if you have to snatch it from my hands!"

Lin Weidong took a deep breath and said, "They want to steal it? Not so easy!"

"Director Li, please leak the news that the technology has been stolen so that all the workers in the factory know about it."

Li Huaide was taken aback: "Won't this... cause a big fuss?"

"The bigger the commotion, the better!"

Lin said, "Now, the factory workers' welfare and bonuses are all linked to the company's performance."

"The heavy truck project is a huge future opportunity for the factory. If they try to take it away, they're taking away the workers' jobs! The workers won't stand for it!"