Courtyard House: The Fisherman Never Goes Sick

In the depths of winter, heavy snowflakes fell, blanketing the historic city of Beijing in a white mist. The wind felt like knives slicing across the face, and the exposed ears stung like needles.

Despite the cold, several children were building snowmen and having a snowball fight on the roadside, having a great time.

Suddenly, she stopped—a young man was walking towards her.

"Hello, Uncle Yang!" the children shouted enthusiastically, clearly showing how much they liked him.

The man's name was Yang Wei. He was in his early twenties, tall, and handsome.

Seeing that the children were well-behaved, a smile spread across his face: "You guys are so good. Uncle will buy you some melon seeds later."

"Thank you, Uncle Yang!" the children responded in unison, their faces beaming with undisguised joy—in those days, sunflower seeds were a rare treat.

"Uncle Yang is such a good person! He's the kindest person in our whole courtyard!" "We'll definitely listen to Uncle Yang from now on!" The little ones chattered excitedly. Yang Wei smiled faintly, wrapped his coat tighter, picked up a string of pork, and walked through the snow towards his own courtyard. His footsteps crunched under his feet as he drew closer to the three-courtyard compound.

Yang Wei is not from this world; he traveled to this 1960s more than a decade ago.

He initially lived in the countryside. Two years ago, his uncle died while saving someone, and he, as the only direct relative, inherited the family property and moved from the countryside to the city.

Because of his uncle's act of bravery, the steel mill made him a first-class fitter with a monthly salary of thirty-two yuan.

Fortunately, his uncle left him a 500 yuan inheritance, plus a 500 yuan award, totaling 1,000 yuan, which made him much more well-off than others.

After moving into the house left by my uncle, I discovered that the courtyard was the same one from the TV series "Full House of Love"—a courtyard full of "beasts".

Yang Wei didn't want to get involved, holding the belief that "I won't offend others unless they offend me."

Anyway, he's a time traveler, so who can bully him?

Upon entering the courtyard, I saw a man and a woman pulling and tugging at each other.

The man was He Yuzhu—everyone in the compound called him Silly Zhu.

In the drama, he is the male lead and also the number one simp of the seemingly innocent Qin Huairu, willingly letting the Qin family suck him dry.

Yang Wei knew he wasn't stupid; he was just lusting after Qin Huairu's body.

He was flirting with Qin Huairu right now, but unfortunately, he had the desire but not the courage; at most, he could only touch her hand.

The woman was Qin Huairu.

However, unlike in the TV series, her husband Jia Dongxu did not die, but his leg was crippled, and he was paralyzed at home all day.

Qin Huairu had to take care of three children, a disabled husband, and a lazy mother-in-law all by herself. Her life was even harder than in the drama.

But with Sha Zhu's occasional financial assistance, she didn't look like a haggard old woman from overwork. Her skin was fair and rosy, her eyes were sparkling, and her figure was alluring, attracting the attention of many men.

Yang Wei glanced around and walked straight towards his room.

He couldn't be bothered to argue with them, especially since he had a grudge against the widow's family. When he first arrived, Jia Zhangshi wanted to seize her uncle Yang Tieshan's property, saying that he was just a nephew living in the countryside and had no right to inherit it. On the contrary, she claimed that her family had many children and a paralyzed person, so they had more right to be shameless to the extreme.

At the time, there was a group of people in the courtyard, and even Yi Zhonghai sided with Jia Zhangshi. If it were the original Yang Wei, he might have compromised, but Yang Wei is a time traveler; how could he let the Jia family take away his uncle's home?

He argued his case to protect his family property, which naturally offended the Jia family, but he didn't take them seriously at all.

"This meat must weigh at least two pounds!" Qin Huairu glanced at the pork in Yang Wei's hand as she took the lunchbox from He Yuzhu, her eyes flashing with envy.

They envied him for enjoying a thousand dollars in inheritance, turning from a nobody to a phoenix, and being able to eat fish and meat regularly, unlike the Jia family, who could only survive by picking up leftovers from Sha Zhu.

He Yuzhu also saw the hanging meat and felt a strong urge to eat it. Although his salary was high, he was struggling to make ends meet after supporting Qin Huairu's family. If Jia Dongxu saw them like this, he would probably be furious.

As Yang Wei walked forward, he suddenly thought of Jia Dongxu and couldn't help but smile. Just then, an electronic voice sounded in his mind: [Ding, system activated, binding host Yang Wei.] [This system is the Zhu Wei Fishing System.] [Using bait, you can fish for various treasure chests from Zhu Wei every day.] [Treasure chests are divided into bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond levels.] [Opening treasure chests will grant resources and skills, such as rice, meat, money, food stamps, or skills like cooking and metalworking!]

Yang Wei's heart skipped a beat, overjoyed—a transmigrator with a system was like a tiger with wings! Who could possibly dominate him in this courtyard now? [Ding—System activated for the first time, special newbie gift pack!] [Reward: Master, one bait; a harvest is guaranteed within 24 hours.] [Reward: Master, a slippery foot talisman!] [Reward: A bronze-level treasure chest!] The system's voices rang out in succession, and Yang Wei's smile deepened. He planned to open the treasure chest at home and continued walking into the courtyard.

A few steps later, he ran into Yi Zhonghai. This "Grandpa Yi," chosen by the neighborhood committee, was in charge of handling neighborhood disputes, and he mediated all the big and small matters in the courtyard. Yang Wei, who had watched the drama, knew that Yi Zhonghai's smiling face, which seemed to be for everyone's benefit, was actually full of plans for his own retirement, which was why he always favored Sha Zhu and Jia Zhangshi's family. "Yang Wei, you're back." Yi Zhonghai greeted him with a big smile, but the smile was so fake it could be squeezed out of water, and his eyes even revealed a kind of warmth.

Yang Wei sneered inwardly—this old bastard, he's up to no good! Last time he failed to help the Jia family seize the inheritance, so he tried to mend fences with him, even listing him as a "retirement candidate." But Yang Wei had no such intentions. If he dared to shamelessly come crawling back, he'd kick him to the curb. Even before seeing through this man's true colors, when he first arrived at the compound, Jia Zhangshi wanted to seize her uncle Yang Tieshan's property, and Yi Zhonghai used the Jia family's financial difficulties as an excuse, insisting that Yang Wei wasn't his biological son and therefore unworthy of inheritance, only the Jia family deserved it. Was Yang Wei from the countryside not poor? Yi Zhonghai was clearly biased, trying to force the inheritance onto the Jia family. Yang Wei remembered this debt; he'd be doing a good job by not kicking them while they were down. "Hmm," Yang Wei responded indifferently, without stopping. Yi Zhonghai's old face immediately lost its composure.

Further on, Yang Wei saw his second uncle, Liu Haizhong, drinking tea with his hands behind his back. When Yang Wei approached, Liu Haizhong was arrogant and dismissive. Liu Haizhong was a seventh-level fitter, one level below Yi Zhonghai. Ambitious but incompetent, he had a strong desire for power, was fat and greedy, selfish, stupid, and wicked. He preached that "spare the rod and spoil the child," yet he spoiled his eldest son, Liu Guangqi, to an extreme degree, while constantly beating and scolding his second and third sons, Liu Guangwei and Liu Guangfu. The eldest son always got the best food first, and the younger ones were given the rest. If they disobeyed, they were beaten, ultimately leading to a situation where the father was unkind and the sons unfilial, and he died alone without anyone to care for him. His third uncle, Yan Bugui, was a thin, bespectacled elementary school teacher, always spouting classical phrases. He was shrewd and notoriously stingy, even scheming against his own children and daughters-in-law. In the end, he too was left without anyone to care for him in his old age.

Just then, a long-faced young man carrying two chickens walked past Yang Wei, a smug look on his face—it was Xu Damao, the notoriously wicked man in the courtyard. This man was full of evil schemes, incredibly cunning, and compared to the other "beasts," he was utterly wicked. Yang Wei felt sorry for Lou Xiao'e; the only good person in the courtyard had married such a childless wretch. Further on, a plump, pig-like old woman was sweeping snow in front of the door—it was Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu's mother-in-law. In those days of scarcity, it was quite unusual for her to be so fat; it was all thanks to Sha Zhu stealing food from the factory. Otherwise, the Jia family would barely have enough to eat, let alone have such a large frame.

Seeing Yang Wei carrying a string of pork, Jia Zhangshi's eyes immediately lit up with envy, while her teeth itched with hatred. The Jia family hadn't had fresh meat in a long time; the last few times they'd eaten leftovers brought back by Sha Zhu. Yang Wei had just bought some a couple of days ago, and now he was buying more—living so comfortably! How could she not be envious? What she hated even more was that if Yang Wei hadn't interfered, Yang Tieshan's inheritance—not just a house, but also a thousand yuan—would have long been the Jia family's. In those days, five yuan was enough for a young couple to live on for a month; how many meat meals could a thousand yuan buy? "That damned country bumpkin, all he knows is how to eat all by himself, he doesn't even help us widows, he doesn't know how to help those in need!" "Is he even human? I'll eat you to death one of these days!" Jia Zhangshi cursed under her breath. She'd only ever cursed him behind his back before; this was the first time she'd said it to his face. Being so close, Yang Wei heard everything clearly.

"Jia Zhangshi actually cursed me to my face, fine, then let me show you the power of the Slippery Foot Talisman!" Yang Wei thought to himself, as he was worried about where to use the talisman.

"System, how do I use the Slippery Foot Talisman?" he thought. He checked the system inventory and saw that the Slippery Foot Talisman looked similar to a regular talisman, except it depicted a person falling face-first into the mud. [Master, focus on the target and silently recite "Slippery Foot Talisman - Swift."]

"Slippery Foot Talisman—Swift!" Yang Wei stared at Jia Zhangshi, silently chanting in his heart.

A slippery talisman, visible only to him, flew out from his body, heading straight for Jia Zhangshi and attaching itself to her in the blink of an eye.

While sweeping snow, Jia Zhangshi slipped and fell face-first into the mud with a "thud".

Her large size caused the ground to shake when she fell, and snowflakes flew everywhere.

Everyone around turned their heads in unison. "Ouch, ouch..." Hearing that familiar scream, everyone knew what had happened.

"Jia Zhangshi, how did you fall!" Yi Zhonghai, who was closest, rushed over and put on a show of being eager to help others. If he stood by and did nothing, his hypocritical mask would be exposed.