Courtyard Check-in: Starting with a Small World of Cultivation

On Monday morning, Chen Yu stood outside the office of the steel rolling mill's production department, straightening his brand-new Zhongshan suit—the one Qin Huairu had made by hand. The dark blue fabric was crisp, the four pockets were neat and symmetrical, and the top button was fastened, making him look exceptionally smart.

The Shanghai watch on his left wrist showed 7:40, twenty minutes before his shift started. The production department was on the third floor, and people were already walking in the corridor, mostly technicians wearing glasses and carrying documents.

"System, check-in for today," Chen Yu silently recited in his mind, while adjusting his breathing.

[Ding! Japanese visa successfully obtained]

[Received: 3 jin of grain coupons, 1 soap coupon, a small basic mechanical design skills experience pack, and 2 yuan in cash]

Mechanical design skills? Chen Yu's eyes lit up, and he immediately put them to use. Knowledge of gear transmission, tolerance fit, and simple mechanism design flooded his mind. Although basic, it was perfectly suited to the position he was about to begin.

"Comrade Chen Yu?" A voice came from behind.

Turning around, I saw a woman in her thirties, with short, ear-length hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a grey Lenin suit, carrying a thick stack of documents. She had delicate features, a capable look in her eyes, and a pen clipped to her chest.

"I am Chen Yu, and you are...?"

"Liu Yuhua, production technician. Section Chief Li asked me to pick you up." The woman smiled slightly, offering one hand. "Welcome to the production department."

Chen Yu quickly took some of the documents from her arms: "Hello, Technician Liu, I've come to get some."

"Thank you." Liu Yuhua looked him over. "Section Chief Li said your waste utilization plan is very innovative, and we'll be discussing it at this morning's meeting. Come with me, let's get familiar with the environment first."

The two entered the production department office. It was a large, open room with seven or eight desks and a row of metal filing cabinets against the wall. Several technicians were already working at their desks and looked up when they heard the noise.

"Everyone, this is our new technical assistant, Comrade Chen Yu," Liu Yuhua introduced.

"Hello everyone, please take care of me in the future," Chen Yu said politely.

The technicians nodded in response, their eyes filled with curiosity—the production department rarely transferred people directly from the workshop, let alone someone so young.

Liu Yuhua led Chen Yu to an empty table by the window: "This is your seat. Section Chief Li will be holding a morning meeting at eight o'clock. Take a look at these documents first; they show our factory's current production process and waste disposal situation."

A stack of documents was already laid out on the table. Chen Yu sat down and began to peruse them. His intermediate-level Traditional Chinese Medicine skills made his thinking clear, his mechanical design knowledge helped him quickly understand the blueprints, and although his Spiritual Eye Technique couldn't be directly used for work, the enhanced observation skills allowed him to quickly grasp key data.

At 7:55, Section Chief Li walked into the office. He was an engineer in his fifties, with gray hair and thick glasses, but he walked with a steady gait.

"Is everyone here? Let's start the meeting," Section Chief Li said succinctly.

There were nine people at the conference table, including Chen Yu. Section Chief Li got straight to the point: "Today we'll mainly discuss plans to improve waste utilization. Comrade Chen Yu, why don't you share your thoughts first?"

All eyes were on Chen Yu.

Chen Yu was prepared and took out the notes he had organized in the small world last night: "Section Chief Li, colleagues, I have observed the situation in the three workshops of the factory, and there are currently a few problems with waste disposal..."

He clearly pointed out that: inadequate classification led to high-value waste being treated as ordinary waste; unreasonable transportation processes caused secondary losses; and some scraps could actually be reprocessed into small parts...

"To be specific," Chen Yu said, taking out a simple blueprint, "for example, the steel plate scraps from Workshop 3 that are more than five centimeters wide can be collected and processed again using this simple stamping machine to make standard parts such as gaskets and washers, which will then be supplied to the machine repair workshop."

The drawing is a simple schematic diagram of a stamping machine drawn by Chen Yu based on his knowledge of mechanical design. The structure is simple, and most of the parts can be made using the existing waste materials in the factory.

"The estimated cost of this machine is no more than fifty yuan, but the value of the standard parts it produces each month can reach more than one hundred yuan. Moreover, it can also solve some of the waste accumulation problem." Chen Yu finished speaking and looked at everyone.

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Liu Yuhua spoke first: "That's a good idea. But how do we solve the stamping die problem? The precision requirements are quite high."

"The molds can be modified from scrapped rolling mill rolls," Chen Yu had already considered this. "I talked to Master Wang in the machine repair workshop, and he said that the scrapped rolling mill rolls are hard enough, so modifying two sets of molds shouldn't be a problem."

Another veteran technician adjusted his glasses: "Waste sorting requires more manpower, and the labor costs..."

"There's no need to add extra staff," Chen Yu said. "We can set up a part-time sorter in each workshop, who can spend half an hour sorting waste before leaving get off work each day, and give them a small subsidy. Compared to the added value from waste, the subsidy cost is negligible."

Section Chief Li, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke slowly: "Any other suggestions?"

"There's one more thing," Chen Yu turned to another page, "The current scrap steel recycling ratio can be optimized. Mixing scrap steel of different materials in the recycling process affects the quality of the finished product. If we can sort the scrap steel at the source and recycle it according to its material, the yield rate can be increased by at least two percentage points."

Upon hearing this, several veteran technicians sat up straight. Two percentage points might not seem like much, but for a factory with tens of thousands of employees, that translates to several thousand yuan in saved raw material costs each month!

"Is there any data to support this?" Section Chief Li asked.

Chen Yu handed over a table: "This is a statistical report on scrap steel recycling and a comparison of the yield over the past three months. I've done a preliminary analysis. Although the sample size is limited, the trend is very clear."

The spreadsheet was compiled last night by Pseudo-Man No. 1, and the data came from the factory's production records—Chen Yu accessed some of the data through Director Li's access privileges.

Section Chief Li carefully examined the form, and after a while, looked up and said, "Xiao Chen, put these ideas into a written plan and hand it to me before you leave work today. Yu Hua, you'll cooperate with him."

"Yes," Liu Yuhua replied.

After the morning meeting, Chen Yu clearly felt a change in his colleagues' gazes—from curiosity to respect. In this technology-driven department, capable people naturally earn respect.

Back in her seat, Liu Yuhua pulled up a chair and sat down: "Chen Yu, let's refine the plan first. You'll be in charge of drafting it, and I'll help you supplement it with information about the actual situation in the factory."

The two began working. Chen Yu discovered that although Liu Yuhua was young, she was very familiar with the production process of the steel rolling mill, and Liu Yuhua could point out many details that he had overlooked.

"Here, the turnaround time for transport vehicles needs to be taken into account..."

"The machine repair shop is very busy lately; mold modifications are scheduled..."

"The finance department's approval process takes at least three days..."

Before they knew it, the morning had passed. At lunchtime in the canteen, Chen Yu and Liu Yuhua continued their discussion while eating. The surrounding workers cast curious glances their way—technicians in the production department rarely ate with ordinary workers, let alone discussed work so intently.

"Comrade Chen Yu!" Zhou Xiaomei came over with a lunchbox, paused when she saw Liu Yuhua, and then said, "Sister Liu is here too."

"Xiaomei, sit down." Liu Yuhua clearly recognized her.

Zhou Xiaomei sat down, looked at Chen Yu and then at Liu Yuhua: "Are you talking about work?"

"Yes, a waste utilization plan," Chen Yu said. "Technician Zhou, does your statistics department have detailed data on waste generation from each workshop? I'd like to refer to it."

"Yes, I'll bring it to you this afternoon." Zhou Xiaomei said, then hesitated for a moment, "Comrade Chen Yu, I heard you... are getting married next month?"

These words made Liu Yuhua look up: "Oh? Congratulations! And who is the bride?"

"She's from Qin Family Village, her name is Qin Huairu," Chen Yu said frankly.

Zhou Xiaomei's eyes darkened slightly, but she quickly smiled again: "Congratulations! Remember to give out wedding candy!"

"must."

Back in the office after lunch, Liu Yuhua suddenly said, "Chen Yu, your spouse has a rural household registration, right? Have you considered the household registration issue after you got married?"

Chen Yu was taken aback. This was indeed a problem. In this era, the difference between urban and rural household registration was huge, and it was very difficult for people with rural household registration to move to the city.

"I haven't thought about it in detail yet..."

"You need to hurry," Liu Yuhua whispered. "The factory has a few quotas for converting agricultural workers to non-agricultural workers every year, but the competition is fierce. If you can achieve good results this time, you can try to apply to the factory."

Chen Yu was grateful: "Thank you for reminding me, Sister Liu."

"Don't mention it, we're all colleagues." Liu Yuhua smiled and continued working.

At 3 PM, the first draft of the plan was completed. Chen Yu handed it to Section Chief Li, who, after reviewing it, simply said three words: "Not bad, revise it."

However, Chen Yu noticed that Section Chief Li had written the words "Urgent" on the cover of the proposal, indicating that it should be given priority.

Before leaving get off work, the fake man reported in his mind: "Master, there's been progress in Xu Damao's case. He admitted to trafficking in cultural relics, but said it was orchestrated by Liu Haizhong. Hong Kong businessman Boss Li has been released after paying a fine because he had all the necessary paperwork, but he's restricted from leaving the country."

"Where's Liu Haizhong?"

"Liu Haizhong is stubborn, but the evidence is conclusive. His son, Liu Guangtian, is trying to pull strings everywhere today to get his father out."

"Over there with Scarface?"

"He showed up again last night, wandering around Houhai, seemingly looking for something. We followed him for a while, but he was very wary and didn't dare get too close."

Chen Yu had a plan in mind. Xu Damao and Liu Haizhong wouldn't be able to come out anytime soon, so the courtyard would be quiet for a while. Scarface was still moving around, which meant he hadn't found what he was looking for yet.

When Chen Yu returned to the courtyard house after get off work, he found that the atmosphere had changed again.

At the entrance of the Jia family home, Jia Dongxu was struggling with a middle-aged woman. The woman was in her forties, dressed simply but neatly; she was Banggeng's mother.

"Mom, please come back with me! Banggeng can't live without his mother!" Jia Dongxu pleaded.

"Go back? Go back to put up with your mother's temper again?" The woman shook off his hand. "Dongxu, it's not that I'm heartless, it's just that I can't live like this anymore! Look at our family, we're dirt poor, we can't even afford to pay for Banggeng's school fees, and your mother still finds fault with everything!"

Inside the house, Madam Jia cursed, "Get out! Let her get out! Once she leaves the Jia family, let's see what good family she can find!"

A crowd had gathered in the courtyard, but no one offered any advice—even an upright official finds it difficult to settle family disputes.

Just as Chen Yu was about to return to the house, the woman suddenly saw him and paused for a moment: "You are... Chen Yu?"

Chen Yu recognized her: "Aunt Zhang? What brings you here..."

This woman was named Zhang Xiulan, and she was a close friend of the original owner's mother. After the original owner's parents passed away, Zhang Xiulan visited the original owner a few times, but later married and moved to the city, and their contact decreased.

"Xiaoyu! It really is you!" Zhang Xiulan exclaimed in surprise. "I heard from the neighborhood committee that you went to Beijing, but I didn't expect you to be staying in this compound!"

Jia Dongxu was stunned: "Mom, you two know each other?"

"We know each other more than just acquaintances!" Zhang Xiulan grabbed Chen Yu's arm. "Xiao Yu's parents saved my life back then! Xiao Yu, you've suffered so much all these years!"

Chen Yu unearthed this past event from the original owner's memories: Zhang Xiulan was a militia member in Northeast China. She was injured during a mission, and the original owner's parents risked their lives to save her. Later, Zhang Xiulan married into the city of Beijing, and her marriage to Jia Dongxu's father was her second marriage.

"Aunt Zhang, I'm fine," Chen Yu said.

Zhang Xiulan looked at Chen Yu, then at Jia Dongxu, and suddenly said, "Dongxu, look at Xiaoyu! He's about your age, and he's already a technician in the steel rolling mill! And you? You've been in the factory for so many years, and you're still just a level two worker!"

Jia Dongxu's face flushed red.

Zhang Xiulan continued, "Xiaoyu, Aunt Zhang is so sorry. I promised your mother I'd take care of you, but...sigh, all these years I've barely been able to take care of myself, and I haven't been able to help you much."

"Aunt Zhang, please don't say that. You have your own difficulties."

Zhang Xiulan wiped her eyes, then suddenly made up her mind: "Dongxu, I'll go back, but you have to agree to three conditions: First, your mother can no longer interfere in our family's affairs; second, I'll have the final say in Banggeng's education; third, you have to be ambitious like Xiaoyu! Work hard!"

Jia Dongxu nodded repeatedly: "I agree! I agree to everything!"

Jia Zhangshi screamed from inside the house, "I disagree!"

"Mom! If you keep making a fuss, I'll really get a divorce!" Jia Dongxu rarely showed such toughness.

Jia Zhangshi fell silent.

Zhang Xiulan then said to Chen Yu, "Xiao Yu, from now on, Aunt Zhang will be staying in this courtyard. If you need anything, just come to me."

"Thank you, Aunt Zhang."

This unexpected turn of events caught Chen Yu completely off guard. The original owner's connections actually came in handy here.

After dinner, Chen Yu entered the small world. The buds of the Purple Gold Grass had fully bloomed, and the three pale golden flowers emitted a rich, refreshing spiritual fragrance. According to alchemy knowledge, the medicinal effect is best three days after the flowers bloom, and now is the time to harvest them.

Chen Yu carefully cut off three flowers and a few tender leaves, leaving the roots to continue growing. Then he took out the bronze alchemy furnace and the Earth Fire Talisman, preparing to refine the first batch of true pills since arriving in this world—the Qi Nourishing Pill.

The formula for Nourishing Qi Pill is much more complex than that for Clearing Heart Powder: Purple Gold Grass is the main ingredient, supplemented with common medicinal materials such as ginseng, astragalus, and wolfberry, and it also requires a "Spirit-Guiding Grass" to harmonize the medicinal properties. Chen Yu did not have Spirit-Guiding Grass, but he had Spirit Spring Water—Spirit Spring Water contains a faint spiritual energy and can be used as a substitute.

Having prepared the medicinal herbs, Chen Yu lit the Earth Fire Talisman. The orange flame burned steadily at the bottom of the alchemy furnace, with an even temperature. He added the herbs one by one, activating his Spiritual Eye Technique to carefully observe the process of the medicinal properties fusing together.

Alchemy is a delicate art; a slight miscalculation of the heat or timing can ruin everything. Chen Yu was completely focused, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

An hour later, the medicinal herbs inside the alchemy furnace transformed into a pale golden paste. Chen Yu timed it perfectly and dripped in three drops of spiritual spring water.

"Hiss—" The ointment reacted violently, emitting white mist. Chen Yu quickly reduced the heat and slowly baked it over a low flame.

Another half hour passed, and the ointment solidified into twelve golden pills the size of soybeans. The moment the furnace was opened, a refreshing medicinal fragrance filled the entire small world, and inhaling it made one feel refreshed.

[Successfully Refined: Qi Nourishing Pill (Common)]

[Effects: Aids cultivation, accelerates spiritual energy absorption, and slightly improves physical constitution]

[Quality: Ordinary (First attempt at refining, clumsy technique, 60% of medicinal efficacy retained)]

[Additional effect: lasts for twelve hours]

It's done! Although it's only of ordinary quality, it's a genuine elixir for cultivating immortality!

Chen Yu couldn't wait to swallow one. The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, transforming into a warm torrent that flowed into his meridians. He immediately sat cross-legged and began to circulate his inner energy, fully engaging the "Tai Xuan Zhen Jing" mental cultivation method.

One cycle, two cycles... With the aid of the Qi Nourishing Pill, the cultivation speed increased more than three times! What used to take two hours to accumulate spiritual energy can now be achieved in half an hour.

After finishing his cultivation, Chen Yu clearly felt that the spiritual energy in his body had grown stronger, bringing him one step closer to the second level of the Qi Refining stage.

"These pills are truly miraculous." Chen Yu carefully put away the remaining eleven Qi-Nourishing Pills. These pills should not be taken in large quantities; one every three days is the limit, otherwise the body cannot withstand it.

When Chen Yu exited the small world, it was already late at night. Just as he was preparing to rest, his spiritual senses detected something unusual—someone was outside his window!

It wasn't a scarred face, but an unfamiliar aura.

Chen Yu moved silently to the window and activated his Spiritual Eye Technique. A small, thin figure was crouching outside the window, trying to pry open the window latch with a knife.

A thief? Or...

Chen Yu remained calm and waited until the person unfastened the latch and gently pushed open the window before suddenly striking!

"Ah!" the newcomer exclaimed as Chen Yu firmly grabbed his wrist.

Under the moonlight, Chen Yu could see the other person's face clearly—a young man in his early twenties, with an unfamiliar face and a flustered look in his eyes.

"Who sent you?" Chen Yu asked coldly, increasing the pressure on his hand.

"No...no one sent me! I just wanted to steal something!" The young man cried out in pain and quickly begged for mercy, "Big brother, spare me! I was wrong! I'll never do it again!"

Chen Yu stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly pulled something out of his pocket—a pocket watch, with an antique style and strange patterns engraved on the back.

"What is this?"

"This...this is what I bought at the ghost market..."

"Tell the truth!" Chen Yu increased the pressure on his hand.

The young man winced in pain: "I'll talk, I'll talk! It was...it was Boss Li who sent me! He said you have something that could harm him, and he wanted me to find it!"

Hong Kong businessman Boss Li! Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat. Revenge had indeed come.

"What else did he ask you to do?"

"I...I was just looking for something, and I gave it to him when I found it...I didn't say anything else...Brother, I'm just doing this for money, please spare me!"

Chen Yu hesitated for a moment, then released his grip: "Get lost. Tell Boss Li that I have the stuff, but he'd better not mess around. Otherwise, none of us will be happy."

The young man scrambled away.

Chen Yu closed the window, gripping the pocket watch, his eyes cold. Boss Li's actions were both a test and a warning.

It seems the tranquility of the courtyard house is about to be broken once again.

But Chen Yu wasn't afraid. He had a system, a small world, elixirs, and fake people.

Since the opponent has made a move, then we should respond.

Outside the window, the night was deep.

Chen Yu's eyes were deeper than the night.