Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

With only three days left until the college entrance examination, the Lin family finally regained some peace.

Lin Jianjun relieved himself of his heavy responsibilities at the factory and spent his days at home helping Lin Weidong study. The whole family was putting in their best effort for the final sprint. But this peace was eventually shattered by the Jia family.

As Jia Zhangshi watched the Lin family prosper, her jealousy grew like poisonous weeds.

Especially after hearing that Lin Weidong had solved a major problem for the steel rolling mill and that the factory director had personally commended him, she became even more restless. She spent her days in the courtyard making veiled accusations and giving everyone a cold shoulder.

"Why should the Lin family be so glamorous? That little bastard is just lucky. If he didn't get the chance to take the college entrance exam, let's see how smug he'll be!"

Jia Zhangshi sat by the door, muttering to the little bastard in her arms. The little bastard immediately chimed in, "You little bastard! Make sure he doesn't get into university!"

Jia Zhangshi's eyes lit up, and a wicked idea popped into her head. She secretly whispered a few words to Bang Geng.

After hearing this, Banggeng clapped his hands and laughed. Taking advantage of the adults' inattention, he slipped out of the house.

At this moment, Lin Weidong was at the neighborhood office picking up his college entrance examination admission ticket; no one was home.

Banggeng tiptoed, peered through the Lin family's window, saw the review materials spread out on the table, sneaked inside, grabbed the thick notebook of wrong answers and a few practice exams, stuffed them in his arms and ran out, hiding in the woodshed in the corner of the yard, where he tore them apart with all his might.

After Lin Weidong got his exam admission ticket and went home, he found that the materials on the table were missing as soon as he entered the door.

That was the core review material he compiled by staying up all night. His error notebook recorded all his weaknesses, and the prediction papers were based on past exam questions and key points, which were crucial for the college entrance examination.

After being enhanced by the system, Lin Weidong's observation and hearing abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people. He soon heard the sound of paper being torn in the woodshed.

He strode over, pushed open the door, and saw that Banggeng had torn his practice test paper to shreds, and several pages of his error notebook were also torn.

"Stop!" Lin Weidong shouted, quickly stepping forward and grabbing the wrist of the stick.

Banggeng was startled, scattering the shredded paper on the floor: "I'll tear it up! Grandma said it'll prevent you from getting into college!"

At this moment, Jia Zhangshi also rushed over. Seeing this scene, she started throwing a tantrum: "Oh my! You're bullying a child! Lin Weidong, you're a grown man, why are you arguing with a three-year-old? It's just a few tattered books, so what if you tear them up!"

"This old book? It's the review material I put together after staying up all night. The college entrance exam is just around the corner!"

After saying that, Lin Weidong raised his hand and slapped Banggeng across the face, knocking Banggeng to the ground.

"Ah~ Waaaaah~"

Upon seeing this, Jia Zhangshi lunged at Lin Weidong, yelling, "You little bastard, how dare you hit my Banggeng! I'll fight you to the death!"

Lin Weidong kicked Jia Zhangshi in the chest, sending her flying.

"Damn it, you think you're so great?! You're never going to stop this? I didn't argue with you before because I had exams, but you think I'm easy to bully?!"

"It's illegal for you to encourage Bang Geng to steal from my house!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Jia Zhangshi got up and reached out to grab the shredded paper.

"It's this little brat's fault for being disobedient, it has nothing to do with me! Don't try to smear me!"

"Whether it was you who instigated it or not, everyone knows the answer."

Lin Weidong stopped arguing with her, picked up the shredded paper, grabbed the stick, and headed towards the neighborhood office.

Zhao Xiulan was handling some business in her office when she saw her son come in with sticks and a pile of shredded paper. She quickly asked what was going on.

Upon learning that Jia Zhangshi had instigated Bang Geng to tear up the college entrance examination review materials, Zhao Xiulan's face instantly darkened, and she immediately sent someone to the courtyard to fetch the Jia family.

Soon, the entire staff followed them to the street office.

Jia Zhangshi still wanted to throw a tantrum, but when she saw the shredded paper and stick in Lin Weidong's hand and kept saying "Grandma told me to tear it," she could no longer deny it.

Director Wang glared at Jia Zhangshi and said, "Jia Zhangshi, the college entrance examination is a major event that affects your child's entire life. How could you encourage your grandson to tear up Lin Weidong's study materials? Are you even human?"

"I...I was just confused for a moment," Jia Zhangshi said, lowering her head and not daring to look at the crowd.

"Being confused is no excuse!"

"Your Jia family must now compensate Lin Weidong."

Lin Weidong, who was standing nearby, chimed in, "Nothing to talk about without 20 yuan!"

Madam Jia rubbed her chest and said, "Pay up! You just kicked me!"

"When did I kick you? Do you have any proof?"

"You...you..." Jia Zhangshi pointed at Lin Weidong, speechless for a moment. She never expected him to start acting like a rogue.

For the Jia family, 20 yuan was undoubtedly a huge sum of money, equivalent to more than half a month's salary for Zhang Guilan.

"Director Wang, our family really can't afford that much money! Please, please make an exception!"

"You have to produce it even if you can't!" Director Wang said firmly.

"This is the price you're paying for your actions, and it's a lesson for you! If you refuse to pay compensation, we'll report you to the police station and handle it as disorderly conduct!"

Zhang Guilan stood aside, her face grim, but she could only accept her fate.

In the end, Jia Zhangshi could only scrape together 50 yuan in compensation and tearfully handed it over to Lin Weidong.

Her written self-criticism became a laughing stock among the neighbors after it was posted.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the hospital, Banggeng lowered his head, said "I'm sorry," and followed Jia Zhangshi home.

Back home, Lin Jianjun looked at the torn documents and said with heartache, "Dongzi, you stayed up all night to organize these documents, what are we going to do?"

"Dad, it's alright." Lin Weidong smiled.

"Anyway, most of this information is already in my head, so not having these things won't make much of a difference."

Seeing their son's calm demeanor, Lin Jianjun and Zhao Xiulan finally felt relieved. They knew that their son could handle any difficulty with composure.

After receiving 20 yuan in compensation, the Jia family faced even greater hardship.

Madam Jia sighed all day long and dared not provoke the Lin family for a while.

After this incident, Bang Geng became much more restrained and avoided Lin Weidong whenever he saw him.

Under the kerosene lamp, Lin Weidong continued to study.

He Yushui, who had returned home for the college entrance examination holiday, immediately said she would go and ask about Lin Weidong after hearing Qin Huairu talk about him.

Qin Huairu quickly stopped him, saying, "With Lin Weidong's level of expertise, whether or not he has these things shouldn't make much of a difference."

He Yushui agreed.

Jia Dongxu's gaze towards Zhang Guilan had become increasingly strange these past two days, because he noticed that Yi Zhonghai had been calling Zhang Guilan out at night frequently.

Although Zhang Guilan always had some food with her when she came back, she told Jia Dongxu and Yi Zhonghai that they had asked her to go out to help their family.

But each time I go out, it lasts for ten or twenty minutes.

This made Jia Dongxu, who could finish the task in three seconds, feel deeply uneasy.