Courtyard House: I Have Countless Bodyguards

As Liu Jianguo munched on his lamb chop, gazing at the vibrant and heartwarming scene before him, he was momentarily lost in thought.

In his previous life, in an era of immense material abundance yet impersonal and stressful society, what he desperately sought was a simple, sincere life filled with close-knit relationships between people.

The dream that I had strived for half my life without ever reaching was realized in an unexpected way in this barren era, by the campfire in this wasteland.

A complex and indescribable feeling welled up inside me, a mixture of relief, irony, and a deep sense of being moved.

Laughter and joy must eventually fade. The moon hangs high in the sky, the chill deepens, and the campfire gradually dies out.

Qin's father arranged a clean spare yurt for Liu Jianguo and the others to stay in.

Liu Jianguo once again expressed his sincere gratitude to the host, and then, feeling slightly tipsy and satisfied, he instructed Li Cheng and the others to carefully put away the groceries they had traded with the children that afternoon and the cages containing the small animals, before heading to their lodgings together.

Before entering the yurt, Liu Jianguo stopped and looked up at the night sky.

Without the obscuring light pollution and smog of later generations, the Milky Way stretches across the dark blue sky, its stars shining brightly, seemingly within reach.

The crisp, clean air, carrying the scent of grass and a touch of chill, invigorates the spirit.

"So beautiful..."

He murmured to himself that this sense of being one with nature was a treasure that no modern comfortable life could replace.

The next morning, Liu Jianguo and the others got up early.

Upon arriving at the main house, Qin's father and Qin Sande were already waiting. In a temporary enclosure made of ropes, there were two thick-skinned yak, two strong goats, and two magnificent Mongolian horses.

The livestock were in good condition, clearly carefully selected. Without much small talk, the two sides got straight to the point.

Liu Jianguo took out gold bars wrapped in soft cloth from his cloth bag and got straight to the point: "Old man, according to the price we agreed on yesterday, two cows, two sheep, and two horses, totaling two thousand two. I don't carry much cash with me when I'm traveling, so I mainly use this."

He took out two large yellow croakers, each weighing ten taels. "According to the market price, one of them is worth nine hundred and fifty yuan, so two of them would be worth one thousand nine hundred yuan." But this is just the official buyback price; the actual price may be higher.

He then took out three small yellow croakers, each weighing one tael. "These three, each one hundred, total three hundred. That's two thousand two hundred yuan in total. What do you think?"

His price was reasonable; he didn't try to lower the price, which showed his sincerity.

After inspecting the quality, Qin's father nodded in satisfaction, and the large transaction was quickly completed in an atmosphere of openness.

After the transaction was completed and the livestock were properly secured, Liu Jianguo once again expressed his sincere gratitude to Qin's father for his hospitality the previous day.

Before leaving, he asked Li Cheng to take out a cloth bag from his luggage, which contained five bottles of honey weighing one jin each.

He handed it to Qin's father with both hands, his tone sincere: "Old man, a transaction is a transaction, and friendship is friendship. This honey is a gift for my friends and family on the grasslands, to sweeten the children's mouths. You must accept it. It's just like the roasted whole lamb you treated us to yesterday; it's a token of friendship."

He cleverly compared the return gift to yesterday's hospitality, leaving the other party no room to refuse. Looking at the bottles of precious honey, and then at Liu Jianguo's sincere face, Qin's father finally smiled and accepted them, gripping his hand tightly: "Good! Director Liu, I've decided to be your friend. From now on, this will be your home on the grasslands."

After bidding farewell to the Qin family, the group, leading their newly acquired livestock, embarked on their journey home under the guidance of Qin Sande.

They walked in silence. As the outline of the Baogang plant area came into view, Liu Jianguo stopped and said to Qin Sande:

"Brother Sande, that's enough for now, thank you so much. We still have some things to take care of, so we'll be back later. We won't keep you any longer."

As he spoke, he took out the last bottle of honey from his bag—actually from his spatial storage—and stuffed it into Qin Sande's hand:

"This bottle is for you alone. I'm so grateful for your help this time. Take it, don't refuse, a true friend will accept it." Qin Sande couldn't refuse, so he gratefully accepted it, pointed out the shortcut back to the factory, and then said goodbye and left.

Watching Qin Sande's figure disappear on the horizon, Liu Jianguo quickly surveyed his surroundings. The wilderness was desolate and deserted.

His expression turned serious, and he ordered Li Cheng and the others, "Spread out and maintain order!"

Several assassins immediately took up advantageous positions, vigilantly watching all directions.

After confirming that it was absolutely safe, Liu Jianguo walked to the middle of the livestock and the pile of miscellaneous items, and with a thought...

With a slight thought, as if an invisible painter were erasing marks from a canvas, the yak and goat tethered to the withered tree, the magnificent Mongolian horse, the simple cages containing gerbils and larks, and the bundles of herbs covered in soil vanished from the real world without a trace.

The next moment, within his completely controlled little world, these new residents were safely placed.

With another thought, Liu Jianguo scattered the herbs with roots evenly and seemingly randomly along the edge of the newly cleared circular wasteland. Whether they could take root and grow in this barren land depended entirely on their own destiny.

After making the arrangements, Liu Jianguo had a thought, and his physical body entered this world that belonged only to him.

He hovered in mid-air, closed his eyes, and stopped observing with his naked eyes. Instead, he used his consciousness, like the most sophisticated radar waves, to meticulously scan every corner of the space.

A subtle sense of expansion came over me.

He saw that the ever-flowing, chaotic gray mist that separated the inside from the outside at the boundary of space had now retreated quietly like a tide, making way for a ring-shaped area about one acre wide.

But this newly formed land is completely different from the ten acres of dark, fertile fields in the center, which seem to yield oil. The soil is obviously barren, with exposed sand and gravel, and you can even see some rough pebbles. It is more like an uncultivated, primitive wilderness, faintly exuding a wild vitality.

What surprised and even instilled a sense of awe in Liu Jianguo was the almost rule-like, powerful influence of space on living things.

The yak that should have been panicked by the sudden change in environment were now quietly pacing on the wasteland, occasionally raising their heads to look at him docilely.

Several gerbils even boldly scurried up to his feet and gently sniffed his trouser leg.

Even the Mongolian horse, with its inherently unruly nature, lowered its head, nuzzled his arm affectionately with its neck, and snorted obediently.

This inexplicable, instinctive closeness and ingratiation transcends the realm of domestication. It's as if, from the moment they stepped into the space, some invisible mark of loyalty had been deeply etched into the very essence of their lives.

The soul that came from the information explosion era made countless novel and film settings flash through Liu Jianguo's mind in an instant.

"Space recognition? Soul binding? Taming domain?" He wondered to himself.

A mixture of excitement at gaining control and a barely perceptible sense of vigilance filled his heart.

"It seems that this space has absolute dominion over non-human beings, naturally making them see me as their sole master. But what is the underlying logic of this mechanism? Is it a benign symbiotic bond, or a kind of forced mental imprint?"

A bolder, and more dangerous, thought emerged: "What if...it were ordinary people? Would they retain their independent will, or would they also be branded with loyalty? If it were an enemy, would they submit, or would they suffer a mental breakdown?"

This question, like a seed full of temptation yet danger, quietly took root in his heart.