Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

There are only fifteen days left until the college entrance examination.

The night was exceptionally quiet in the courtyard at No. 95, with only the kerosene lamp in the Lin family's house still lit.

Lin Weidong sat at his desk, his brows slightly furrowed, his pen flying across the draft paper as he performed calculations. The "College Entrance Examination Sprint Buff" triggered by the system had him fully focused, and he was able to clearly break down complex physics formulas in his mind. Even the chirping of insects outside the window could not disturb his thoughts.

"Dongzi, drink some milk before studying, don't ruin your health." Zhao Xiulan quietly brought over a cup of hot milk powder, which she had specially bought through connections at the supply and marketing cooperative to help Lin Weidong improve his health.

Lin Weidong took the milk, took a sip, and said softly, "Mom, it's okay. I'll do two more practice problems and then go to sleep."

But this peace didn't last long, when a loud crash suddenly came from Xu Damao's house next door.

Immediately afterwards, the enamel basin was banged on loudly.

"Li Xiulian! You spendthrift woman! You can even break a dish while washing it. I think you did it on purpose!" Xu Damao's roar tore through the night sky, carrying obvious provocation.

Lin Weidong frowned but ignored him. However, Xu Damao's noise intensified, with the sounds of banging pots, cursing, and throwing things rising and falling, continuing until 11 p.m. without any sign of stopping.

"That's too much!"

Lin Jianjun said angrily, "Xu Damao is clearly doing this on purpose. He knows Dongzi is taking the college entrance exam and is deliberately making noise to disturb him!"

Lin Weidong put down his pen, his expression calm: "Dad, I'll go say a few words to him."

He walked to Xu Damao's door and knocked: "Uncle Xu, it's very late now, could you please keep your voice down? I still need to study for the college entrance exam."

The door creaked open, and Xu Damao leaned against the doorframe, a mocking smile on his lips: "Studying for the college entrance exam? What do I care! This yard belongs to everyone, I can cause as much trouble as I want. If you're so capable, move out!"

Lin Weidong's eyes turned cold. "How dare you talk like that? We're all neighbors, isn't it easy to be understanding of each other?"

Xu Damao scoffed, "Consideration? When your family was doing well, why didn't you ever think about being considerate of others? Now that you're taking the college entrance exam, you want everyone to revolve around you? I won't!"

As he spoke, he turned around, picked up the enamel basin, and started banging on it again, making an even louder sound than before.

Lin Weidong knew that reasoning with Xu Damao was useless, so he turned around and went home. "Mom, invite Director Wang over to our house tomorrow. It's not appropriate for you to deal with him now; doing so will only make people think that our family is bullying others."

Zhao Xiulan paused for a moment, then understood her son's meaning. "Mom will invite her over for a meal tomorrow. If Xu Damao dares to cause trouble, he'll definitely suffer the consequences."

The next evening, Zhao Xiulan brought Director Wang to her home.

As soon as he entered the room, Director Wang looked at Lin Weidong and said, "Weidong, you're about to have your climax. How are the preparations going?"

Lin Weidong pretended to be troubled and said, "The preparations are okay, but the courtyard is always noisy at night."

"Oh? What's going on? Why is it so noisy at night?"

Lin Weidong didn't answer, only saying, "Aunt Wang, you should eat first. You'll know later."

"Alright, let's eat first. I want to see how much more trouble this courtyard can cause."

Half an hour later, Xu Damao's commotion arrived as expected.

"Aunt Wang, listen."

Director Wang knew immediately that this was intentional; who argues and smashes pots every day?

Director Wang pushed open the door and arrived at Xu Damao's door: "What's going on at your house? You've been arguing non-stop since it got dark?"

Xu Damao was surprised to see Director Wang. His heart skipped a beat, and he stopped banging on the basin. "Director Wang, what brings you here? My wife and I were arguing. We weren't bothering anyone else."

"Didn't it bother anyone?" Director Wang sneered.

"Lin Weidong is about to take the college entrance exam, and you're making such a racket in the middle of the night, and you say it's not bothering anyone? I think you're doing it on purpose!"

At this moment, the neighbors in the courtyard were all awakened and gathered around.

Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui also rushed over, but when they saw Director Wang, they didn't dare to speak.

Lin Weidong stepped forward and said, "Director Wang, Uncle Xu has been banging on pots and cursing every day as soon as it gets dark. I've tried to communicate with him many times to no avail, and it's seriously affecting my studies."

The neighbors also testified: "Yes, Director Wang, Xu Damao did make noise until the middle of the night, and we were all woken up."

Xu Damao tried to argue, "I didn't! I just had a little argument with my wife, it didn't take that long!"

"Whether it's true or not, everyone has seen and heard it. The college entrance examination is a major life event, related to the child's future. As an elder, not only do you not understand, but you deliberately interfere. It's outrageous!"

She paused, then addressed the entire courtyard, saying, "This matter must be dealt with seriously! Tomorrow afternoon, we will hold a general meeting in the courtyard, where Xu Damao will make a profound self-criticism in front of everyone and will be responsible for cleaning the courtyard for a month."

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao became agitated: "Director Wang, I disagree! Cleaning for a whole month? That's too embarrassing!"

"You have to agree, whether you like it or not! This is your punishment."

Xu Damao was intimidated by Director Wang's imposing manner and dared not refute him. He could only hang his head, his heart burning with hatred for Lin Weidong.

The next afternoon, the hospital-wide meeting was held as scheduled. Xu Damao stood in the center of the courtyard, head bowed, making a self-criticism, his voice barely audible.

Director Wang criticized Xu Damao on the spot: "Xu Damao, your behavior is not only selfish, but also damages neighborly relations. We all live in the same courtyard, so we should be considerate and helpful to each other, especially at such a crucial time as the college entrance examination. We should create a good environment for each other. I hope you can learn from this and not make similar mistakes again."

After the criticism session, Xu Damao could only pick up a broom and begin cleaning the courtyard.

Lin Weidong stood aside, watching this scene without feeling the slightest disturbance.

Back home, Lin Jianjun patted his son on the shoulder: "Now you can focus on your studies."

Lin Weidong smiled and sat back down at his desk. "Dad, I need to get back to studying. By the way, you said yesterday that the factory's military equipment project encountered technical difficulties. What's the situation?"

Lin Jianjun sighed: "It's a problem with the precision of the machine tools. The existing equipment isn't precise enough, and the pass rate is too low. The technical department is almost driven crazy with worry."

Lin Weidong's heart stirred, and he remembered the "Machine Tool Parts Optimization Blueprints" in his system backpack. He secretly planned to help his father solve this problem after the college entrance examination.