I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

As soon as the three entered the house, Zhou Weiguo smiled and said to Zhu Zi, "I was thinking about how to confront Yi Zhonghai, but now look what's happened. It seems like Yi Zhonghai will make the first move at tonight's hospital-wide meeting."

He Yuzhu nodded, seemingly understanding. Zhou Weiguo kicked him in the backside: "Go cook! You're a disgrace to the He family, you can't even walk past a woman."

Time flies, and by 8 p.m., the Intermediate People's Court was already full of people.

Zhou Weiguo deliberately kept the two from leaving, even though the Yan family boy knocked on the door several times, he didn't open it. Only when he felt the courtyard was almost full did he slowly lead He Yuzhu and his sister out.

As soon as the three of them stepped into the central courtyard, the once noisy courtyard instantly fell silent, and everyone's eyes turned to them.

Today's college-wide meeting did not have the He family's traditional eight-immortal table in the center. Instead, there was a dilapidated table belonging to someone else, with one of the table legs almost broken off.

Three old men sat in the middle, each with a chair and a large tea mug in their hands.

Upon seeing the three arrive, Liu Haizhong, sitting on the left, looked displeased: "These young people nowadays have no respect for elders or children. Everyone's here, and they're still making us wait."

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand: "Forget it, it's not that serious. Uncle Zhuzi just came to the courtyard and doesn't know the rules very well, so please don't blame him. What could Zhuzi and Yushui possibly know? Don't you all agree?"

Liu Haizhong looked at Zhou Weiguo with dissatisfaction, then shook his head with a sneer: "Young people these days really have no sense of time at all."

Zhou Weiguo cursed inwardly: This Yi Zhonghai really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. How did he manage to fool Liu Haizhong into targeting us?

He glanced at his Bond watch, then looked at Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong: "Comrade Yi, Comrade Liu, I'd like to ask, what time does today's plenary session begin?"

Yi Zhonghai narrowed his eyes and said righteously, "8 o'clock! I sent someone to notify the neighbors this morning, and I just sent someone to call you too. What, Comrade Zhou didn't receive the message?"

Yi Zhonghai was secretly puzzled: He clearly heard Zhou Weiguo say he was going to the train station yesterday, so why was he back today? He had originally planned to use Zhou's absence to finalize the matter of He Yuzhu bringing lunch to the Jia family with Liu Haizhong, but he didn't expect Zhou to return today. Since he was determined to walk into the line of fire, then he shouldn't blame Yi Zhonghai for teaming up with Liu Haizhong to deal with him.

Zhou Weiguo smiled enigmatically: "Comrade Yi, Comrade Liu, look at the time. It's only 7:58, two minutes until 8:00. How can we be so ignorant of the rules and have no sense of time?"

Yi Zhonghai's face darkened slightly, but he forced a smile and said, "Comrade Zhou, arriving early is simply the proper procedure. Look at everyone, who arrived right on time?"

Liu Haizhong chimed in, "That's right! You guys are so good at timing things, and these young people nowadays have no manners at all. They don't even know to call people 'sir'. This whole-court meeting was organized by the three of us, the officials in charge appointed by the street office. You're showing disrespect to those officials, disrespect to the street office, and even disrespect to..."

Seeing that Liu Haizhong was going too far, Yi Zhonghai quickly pulled him back, and Liu Haizhong stopped talking.

Zhou Weiguo sneered inwardly: This Liu Haizhong is a complete fool, daring to say anything. He slowly stepped forward, stood in front of Liu Haizhong, his eyes sharp as knives, his tone icy: "I don't know who you are, and I don't want to know who you are! I only know that I am a staunch communist! A staunch communist is fearless. We have just overthrown the three great mountains, and you three so-called big shots want to put new 'three great mountains' on this little courtyard? This is simply turning back the clock of history, this is seeking special privileges, this is feudal patriarchal behavior!"

I see your ideological awareness is very poor, and your ideological problems are extremely serious. Your actions have reached the point where immediate ideological education is necessary! The organization entrusted you with the glorious task of liaison officers—to guard against enemy agents and resolve neighborhood disputes—but you've turned it into feudal patriarchal behavior! Don't say we weren't late; even if we were, that's no reason for you to criticize comrades! What's wrong with calling you comrade? Is being a 'big boss' more important than comradeship?

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Weiguo slammed his hand down, and with a loud "crack," the rotten table in the middle collapsed.

The loud noise made everyone's eardrums hurt, and wood chips flew everywhere.

Everyone in the courtyard was stunned. Yi Zhonghai's face turned from white to green, and he pointed at Zhou Weiguo, speechless for a long time.

Liu Haizhong was so frightened that his face turned ashen, and his legs trembled uncontrollably. He was inwardly groaning: I don't understand! I don't understand! What is this kid talking about?! What?! What?! Ah, I really shouldn't have listened to Yi Zhonghai. He said he was going to "increase the intensity" on this kid. He was clearly digging a hole for me!

In the corner, Jia Dongxu shrank back in fright from the commotion, grabbed Banggeng who was playing nearby, and thought to himself that the way he spoke was just like the leaders of the military control commission back in the day: "Good son, see? You have to study hard from now on. College students are so amazing. They can even train your uncles like grandsons. You have to make our Jia family proud and get into Tsinghua or Peking University. Do you hear me?" Banggeng looked bewildered and nodded as if he understood.

Qin Huairu blushed and stared blankly at Zhou Weiguo, her legs unconsciously tightening.

Yan Fugui stood up shakily, thinking: This college student is not to be trifled with; he almost knocked Old Yi and Old Liu down! He forced his trembling legs to support himself, glanced at his ruined dining table with heartache, and tried to calm himself: "Comrade Weiguo, please don't be angry. Old Liu and Old Yi aren't very educated; some things are hard to explain. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against them."

Yi Zhonghai also came to his senses, suppressing his panic and quickly shifting the focus away from the hurt, saying, "Comrade Zhou is right, Lao Liu's ideological awareness does indeed need improvement. You are a university student, and he is just a primary school student, so please don't take it to heart. We will definitely urge him to correct his mistakes in the future."

Liu Haizhong's face turned bright red, and after stammering for a long time, he finally managed to say, "I'm Gao Xiao! Gao Xiao!" After saying that, he sighed helplessly.

Having achieved his goal of establishing his authority, Zhou Weiguo, amidst the surprised and fearful gazes of the crowd and the admiring looks of Zhu Zi and Yu Shui, walked to the side and found a stool to sit down.

As soon as Zhou Weiguo sat down, Yi Zhonghai tried to change the subject: "Everyone's here, let's get down to business. The first thing we'll do today is welcome our new resident—the maternal uncle of He Yuzhu and He Yushui, and also a Tsinghua University student from Beijing, Comrade Zhou Weiguo! Everyone, give him a warm welcome!"

Sparse applause broke out.

Yi Zhonghai, adopting a conciliatory tone, said, "Comrade Zhou Weiguo, you are the only college student in the institute. I would like to ask you to tutor the students in the institute when you have some free time. You surely hope that all the students in our institute will succeed and that our country will produce more college students, right?"