Courtyard House: Home Alone

Grandpa Tang paused for a moment, then slapped Lin Yifan hard on the shoulder, so hard that even the rocks beside him winced: "Good! Good! Good that you found him! How's your mother? Where's the child?"

"Mother and daughter are safe." A rare smile appeared on Lin Yifan's lips. "My sister's name is Lin Yu'an, which I chose, meaning 'peace and tranquility.'"

"Lin Yu'an..." Old Master Tang murmured, his eyes reddening further, "A good name, a good name. Where's your father? How is he?"

"He's doing well too; he's working over there now."

Lin Yifan briefly mentioned his father, then helped the old man to the nearby rest area. "Grandpa, let's sit down and talk. Dr. Chen, could you tell me about the trial production?"

Dr. Chen quickly followed, still clutching the sample tablet in his hand: "Young master, this production line can currently produce two thousand tablets per hour. If there's enough raw material, and all three lines are running, the daily output can reach 150,000 tablets. But the problem is—"

He unfolded a notebook, "The purity of morphine hydrochloride is insufficient. Our current purification equipment can only achieve 92%, which is still far from the pharmacopoeia standard of 98%."

"I'll figure out a way to deal with the equipment."

Lin Yifan glanced at the German-imported centrifuge in the corner of the workshop. "I got a batch of precision instruments from Shanghai, including two Swiss-made vacuum drying ovens, which can raise the purity to over 99%."

Dr. Chen's eyes lit up instantly: "A vacuum drying oven? Young master, you can't buy those on the black market anymore, and foreign firms have a six-month waiting list for orders..."

"It's already in my hands," Lin Yifan said calmly. "It will be delivered tonight along with the steel and cement."

Grandpa Tang listened from the side, shaking his head. This brat had been gone for two months, and his words were becoming increasingly unpredictable. But he knew Lin Yifan's character; his words never failed him.

"Xiao Fan," the old man lowered his voice, "you just said you traveled around Shanghai and Tianjin, is that right...?"

"We've captured that old devil Matsui."

Lin Yifan's voice could only be heard by a few people nearby: "The North China Area Army Headquarters is paralyzed, and we've emptied the armories and dock warehouses in Tianjin. The Japanese are currently preoccupied with their own problems; their 'iron wall encirclement' won't last more than a few days."

Zhao Gang gasped, and Shi Tou's eyes widened in shock. In the past two months, they had lost two brothers and wounded seven or eight in their efforts to break through the blockade, and this man had casually said "emptied out" and wiped out the Japanese army's stronghold in North China?

Grandpa Tang was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with both desolation and triumph: "Good, very good. Matsui Iwane, how many of our compatriots did he kill in Nanjing back then... Yifan, you've made a brilliant move."

"It's not over yet."

Lin Yifan's gaze drifted out the workshop window; the open fields of the western suburbs gleamed white under the blazing sun. "Grandpa," he said, "I plan to double the size of the pharmaceutical factory's underground infrastructure, building a deep bunker capable of withstanding heavy bombs. Also—"

He looked away. "We need to set up several secret transit points around Beiping to send the medicine directly to Shanghai."

There are many foreigners in Shanghai; we need to use them to sell our medicines overseas.

"How many?" Zhao Gang couldn't help but interject, "Young master, the area outside the city is now full of Japanese pillboxes and blockade lines..."

"I'll break through the blockade. Brother Stone, tonight you transport the supplies and materials, and tomorrow during the day, take some men to my house. I'll prepare some good stuff for you. Then we'll smash all the Japanese pillboxes together."

"What good stuff?" Shi Tou scratched his head, his dark face full of curiosity. He had been running around with Zhao Gang for the past two months and knew best how formidable the Japanese pillboxes were—those reinforced concrete bunkers, when machine guns swept through them, were like iron brooms. The last time they tried to sneak over there, they were almost nailed to the ground.

You'll find out tomorrow.

Lin Yifan didn't elaborate, but instead looked at Dr. Chen, "Are the trial production data records complete? And what's the current status of penicillin?"

Dr. Chen nodded hurriedly, "Young master, penicillin can now be mass-produced, but due to the Japanese blockade, we dare not use that corn, so we haven't..."

"Okay, I understand. You make the arrangements. Start mass production of penicillin tomorrow. I have a way to solve the food problem."

Lin Yifan waved his hand, "Also, I'll draw up the expansion plans for the underground project in the next couple of days. Zhao Gang, you'll personally oversee the construction."

"clear!"

Lin Yifan then turned to Grandpa Tang: "Grandpa, are you going back to the city tonight?"

"Yes, the trial production is a success. I need to go back and offer incense to my ancestors." The old man wiped the sweat from his brow, then suddenly lowered his voice, "Xiao Fan, you just said you wanted to sell the medicine overseas, this…"

"It's a waste not to make money off foreigners."

Lin Yifan's lips curled into a slight smile. "We'll use the money from selling medicine to buy equipment and raw materials. The more the Japanese impose a blockade, the more we need to wage this economic war against them. Besides—" He paused, "those painkillers and penicillin are also hot commodities on the battlefields of Europe and America, more valuable than gold."

Old Master Tang paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "You little rascal, your mind is much sharper than this old man's! Alright, you make the decision on this matter. If you need me to deal with the foreign firms, just let me know."

"I understand, sir, I won't stand on ceremony with you."

"Dr. Chen, I'm leaving the pharmaceutical factory in your care. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now." After saying goodbye to Grandpa Tang, he turned and drove away from the pharmaceutical factory, heading towards the three courtyard houses in the city that were being used as warehouses.

Lin Yifan quickly transferred the supplies from his spatial storage to the three courtyard houses. Then he drove back to Nanluoguxiang. Although he had already used his mental power to check the east courtyard, seeing the newly renovated east courtyard still warmed Lin Yifan's heart.

Two months ago when he left, this place was still a pile of ruins. Now, it's a main building with blue bricks and gray tiles. The side rooms and the rear building have been renovated. The window frames of the east and west side rooms have been painted a new maroon color, and the platform in front of the main building has been paved with bluestone slabs.

What surprised him most was that a new stone table and benches had been built under the old locust tree in the center of the courtyard, and a grape trellis had been erected next to it. Next summer, he could enjoy tea and cool off under the tender green vines.

"Young Master!"

A clear, crisp voice came from the west wing. Lin Yifan turned his head and saw a girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old standing under the eaves with a copper basin in her hand. Her round face was tanned, but her eyes were surprisingly bright.

Behind her were two even younger children, both around thirteen or fourteen years old, timidly peeking out.