Courtyard House: A Prosperous and Joyful Life

Follow Wang Jun

future,

Absolutely!

Wang Jun slammed the antenna parts he was holding onto the table: "Let me make this clear again, you're paid by the piece for working here. Eighty cents for each antenna assembled. The more you do, the more you earn. Whether you can earn ten yuan a day and eat big fish and meat every day depends entirely on your own skills!"

Upon hearing this, the four teenagers felt a surge of energy and were eager to take action on the spot.

Guo Hongbing leaned closer: "Wang Jun, hurry up and show me how to do it! I can't wait!"

Luo Xuenong chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, we want to make money right away!"

Li Xiangdong rubbed his hands together, "Hurry up and teach me how to assemble it!"

Tang Xiaoshan's blood boiled: "Comrade Wang Jun, teach me quickly! I want to earn ten yuan a day and eat meat every day!"

Wang Jun didn't dawdle. He demonstrated the assembly steps twice on the spot, and then took out a piece of paper: "These are the dimensions of the Yagi antenna. Just follow them."

Guo Hongbing, Li Xiangdong, Luo Xuenong, and Tang Xiaoshan were all quick-witted and soon figured it out, each picking up parts and getting to work. Wang Jun stood by and watched for a while, nodding in approval. These four were efficient; assembling one or two hundred antennas a day was no problem for them.

As Wang Jun was pondering this, he suddenly remembered something: what to do about meals? Cooking was troublesome, and he didn't want to get his hands dirty. He immediately thought of Huaihua; that girl stayed home all day, so why not ask her to come over and buy groceries and cook? Actually, any woman in her fifties or sixties could do it, but Huaihua was pretty and lively; compared to an old woman, who wouldn't choose her?

Wang Jun approached Huaihua and said bluntly, "Huaihua, you'll buy groceries and cook for the five of us, and I'll give you three yuan a day. Want to do it?"

Huaihua's eyes widened in surprise. Three yuan a day, that's ninety yuan a month! That's more than her mother Qin Huairu earns! Ninety yuan! How much face cream could you buy? How much floral fabric could you buy? You could eat street food as much as you want, and even eat meat every day!

"Dry!"

"We have to do it!"

"Brother Jun, I'll take care of the cooking!"

Huaihua's face flushed with excitement, her fists clenched tightly. She was determined to take this job; no one could take it away from her, not even her mother!

Wang Jun asked with a smile, "Won't your family object?"

Huaihua was envisioning a bright future when she heard the question. She pumped her fist and shouted, "Don't worry! They won't dare object! Besides, I'm determined to do this job. Anyone who tries to stop me is going against me!" As soon as she said this, she thought of her brother, Banggeng. If Banggeng found out, he would definitely cause a scene. But she wasn't afraid. If Banggeng dared to object, she would beat him up! Right now, she had only one thought in her mind: making money! No one could stand in her way!

Wang Jun was amused by her: "Okay, this job is yours."

Huaihua jumped up excitedly: "Great! I'll definitely do my best! I learned cooking from my silly dad, I'm really good at it!"

Wang Jun took out five yuan and handed it over: "Then you can start work today. Take this five yuan to buy groceries, and cook when you get back."

Huaihua was stunned and quickly reminded him, "Brother Jun, didn't you give me too much? You don't need five yuan to buy vegetables!"

Wang Jun waved his hand: "That's plenty. Buy more meat, and bring fish and eggs too. I'll give you five yuan every day to buy groceries from now on."

Assembling antennas is physically demanding work; you need to eat a lot of meat to have the strength.

Huaihua took the money, her hands trembling. With meat coupons, a pound of pork cost only 80 cents; without coupons, it would only cost a little over 1.2 yuan on the black market.

Five yuan can buy four jin of pork! If you buy eggs instead, you can eat until you're stuffed and save on rice. Wang Jun gives you five yuan to buy vegetables, which means you can eat several jin of meat a day. Huaihua never dared to dream of such a life before!

After a busy morning, Guo Hongbing and his three colleagues installed a total of 34 antennas.

Wang Jun was quite satisfied with the speed. This level of efficiency was impressive even for a beginner. Once he became more skilled, assembling two or three hundred machines a day would be no problem.

When lunch was served, Huaihua laid out a large bowl of egg drop soup, a large bowl of green vegetables, and a large bowl of fatty pork. The scene left the four boys stunned.

"There's way too much meat!"

"My God, it's all pork fat, just what I wanted!"

"There's a layer of lard floating in the basin; I want to scoop out a spoonful and drink it right now!"

"Hehe, pork rice is the best!"

"This pot of meat must weigh at least three or four pounds!"

"This is the real deal! My family only eats meat once a week, and it's always just stir-fried vegetables with meat, hardly any oil."

"Yes, yes, this is the real hearty dish! Every piece is full of fat, sizzling with oil, it looks so satisfying!"

"If I could eat this kind of fatty pork every day, I'd do it for free!"

Guo Hongbing, Li Xiangdong, Luo Xuenong, and Tang Xiaoshan's eyes were fixed on the bowl of meat, unable to look away. The plump, fatty pork was, in the eyes of these growing teenagers, an absolute delight.

Wang Jun waved his hand dismissively: "Let's eat, then get back to work. As long as you're willing to work, I guarantee you'll have fatty pork to eat every day!"

The four boys felt a surge of warmth in their hearts and almost shed tears. A big bowl of fatty meat every day—what's the difference between this life and being an emperor!

"Very good!"

"Thanks, boss!"

"Thanks, boss!"

"Thanks, boss! I'll definitely work my hardest!"

Of the four, Tang Xiaoshan had seen Hong Kong martial arts films, so he was the first to call Wang Jun "boss," and the other three followed suit.

Luo Xuenong picked up a piece of fatty meat, took a small bite, and the oil gushed out; the taste was simply heavenly. Guo Hongbing and the others quickly picked up pieces of fatty meat and stuffed them into their mouths as well.

"It's so delicious!"

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever eaten such a big piece of meat! It's so satisfying!"

"This is the most delicious thing in the world!"

"One bite, and the oil oozes out—it's so satisfying! I feel like I could do this for two days and two nights straight!"

"If my parents knew I ate a whole bowl of fatty meat, they'd be green with envy."

"We haven't seen any fatty meat in my house for half a month. My sister even said that if we don't eat it soon, we'll starve to death."

Wang Jun smiled at their excitement. Right now, they think fatty meat is juicy and tastes good, but after eating it for a few meals, they'll get tired of it and won't be able to eat a whole bowl of fatty meat.

He said to the locust flowers, "Locust flowers, you can eat some too."

Huaihua's eyes lit up. She had thought she was only in charge of cooking and wouldn't get any meat, but Wang Jun was being incredibly generous. Getting paid and eating meat at the same time—life was too good to be true!

"Thank you, Brother Jun, you're even better than my own brother!" After saying that, she started eating. The first bite was still pork fat. These days, pork fat is a recognized delicacy. It's oily, delicious, and can't be compared to chicken, duck, or fish. It's also more expensive.

Wang Jun wasn't interested in the fatty meat, so he picked up a small piece of lean meat and chewed it slowly. This pig was slowly fed by the farmers, and the meat was very fragrant.

Seeing this, Tang Xiaoshan reminded him, "Boss, don't eat lean meat, fatty meat tastes better!" Huaihua nodded repeatedly and even tried to put a piece on Wang Jun's plate.

Wang Jun waved his hand: "Don't take it, I don't like fatty meat, you guys eat it yourselves."

Wang Jun ate two bowls of rice and drank a bowl of egg drop soup, and he was full. Guo Hongbing, Li Xiangdong, Luo Xuenong, Tang Xiaoshan, and Huaihua finished off a large bowl of fatty pork, and they were all stuffed.

"I'm so full, I think I ate more than half a pound of meat."

"This is the first time I've ever eaten so much meat that I'm stuffed."

"I didn't know eating meat could really fill me up, that's so satisfying."

Several people patted their bellies, their faces full of satisfaction.

After the group left, Wang Jun remembered that some neighbors had mentioned wanting to install antennas, so he took a few TV antennas and headed to the courtyard.

In the evening, when there were many people in the courtyard after get off work, they all gathered around to see the antenna in his hand.

"What is this?"

"TV antenna! Grandpa San got one installed, now he can watch Huo Yuanjia!"

"Is it really that amazing?"

"I'd be a fool to lie to you, I saw it with my own eyes!"

Wang Jun arrived at Aunt Zhou's house and set it up in about ten minutes. He turned on the TV, and the picture was crystal clear, with six channels. The neighbors who had been watching were all stunned; they never imagined a television could be so clear.

"My God, this effect is amazing!"

"Six channels! My TV is so blurry, I can't get a clear picture no matter how hard I try!"

"How did you get this antenna? It's amazing!"

Some people were interested and gathered around to ask the price. Wang Juntong replied, "Forty-five each, installation included."

Some people thought it was too expensive, while others made their decision on the spot. Wang Jun laughed, "The sooner you install it, the sooner you can enjoy it." In the end, four neighbors placed orders, and he spent more than an hour installing them. He sold a total of eight, earning 360 yuan. Now, half of the neighbors in the courtyard had antennas.

Wang Jun had barely entered the house and hadn't even sat down when Yan Bugui and Xu Damao came to his door. They had come to buy an antenna and a radio.

During the day, while Guo Hongbing and his team installed antennas, Wang Jun wasn't idle either; he also installed sixty-five radios. Xu Damao stared at the room full of goods, his eyes wide like saucers: "Wang Jun, you guys are incredibly fast! Installing over a hundred antennas and sixty or seventy radios a day, how much money do you make?"

Yan Bugui clicked his tongue in amazement: "These young men are really capable!"

The room was filled with hot-selling items, and Yan Bugui was itching to buy them all. Radios would sell out even on the street, and antennas were being snapped up in the yard. He wanted to buy them all, but he didn't have enough money, so he could only take a few for now. He patted his pockets: "Jun, I want forty radios first! I'll come back for the antennas after they're sold out; I've already ordered the antennas!"

Xu Damao got anxious: "Uncle San, I want one too! You can't buy them all!" He had made a lot of money reselling radios, so he became bolder and thought the same thing as Yan Bugui: they both wanted to buy them all and then resell them at a higher price.

Yan Bugui advised, "Da Mao, you two have money from your jobs, let me earn some money for my retirement."

Xu Damao wouldn't listen: "You have three sons and a daughter, you can just stay home and wait for them to be filial! Leave this work to me, you can rest!"

After discussing it for a long time, Yan Bugui took thirty-five radios and Xu Damao took thirty. They agreed that after selling all the radios the next day, they would come back to divide the TV antennas, splitting the cost equally between them.

On the other side, Tang Xiaoshan returned home with thirty yuan in his pocket and an antenna in his hand.

Tang Yanling was watching TV in the living room when her younger brother came in. She casually asked, "Brother, how's that job? Is it tiring?" To be honest, she didn't have high hopes for the job; she just wanted to find something for her brother to do.

Tang Xiaoshan beamed, "Sis, it's a little tiring, but I'm very satisfied! Do you know how much I earned today?"

Tang Yanling was stunned. These days, wages are paid monthly, and often delayed by ten days or half a month. Paying on the very first day of work? She wondered, "Did Wang Jun give you fifty cents or a dollar?"

Tang Xiaoshan held up three fingers: "Thirty yuan!"

Tang Yanling's eyes widened instantly: "Impossible! Thirty a day, even scientists don't get that much!"

"Really!" Tang Xiaoshan took out the money, three ten-yuan bills, which made her eyes widen.

Tang Xiaoshan explained the situation and said proudly, "The boss said it's 80 cents to install one antenna, the more you do, the more you earn, and you get paid the same day. I installed thirty-eight today, so I'll get over thirty yuan! Tomorrow I'll be even faster, forty or fifty won't be a problem!"

Tang Yanling's mind went blank for a moment, unable to process what was happening. Her brother was thirty today, forty tomorrow—that'd be over a thousand a month! Her monthly salary was only fifty, a little over six hundred a year. Her brother's monthly salary was equivalent to two years' worth of hers! Suddenly, her job didn't seem so appealing anymore, and she said sourly, "Wang Jun is really generous!"

"Of course!" Tang Xiaoshan nodded. "I ate so much meat at noon today, I'm full!" He patted his stomach, savoring the delicious aroma.

Tang Yanling felt even more bitter as she listened; she dreamed of eating meat to her heart's content!

At this moment, Tang's parents came out from the inner room. After learning the reason, they were also shocked. Thirty yuan a day, more than a thousand yuan a month—this was outrageous! Tang's father instructed, "Xiaoshan, you have to do this job well, don't slack off!"

"I know!" Tang Xiaoshan said. "I wanted to work until eleven o'clock, but the boss wouldn't let me and made me come back." Tang's father felt a little uncomfortable when he heard his son call him "boss," but Wang Jun had given him so much that he didn't say much.

Tang Xiaoshan remembered something and took out the antenna: "Sis, the boss asked me to bring an antenna back."

The whole family gathered around to look. "Is this what you installed today?"

"right!"

"I heard that installing this on a TV can receive several channels, and the picture is super clear. Do you know how to install it?"

"No problem!"

Tang Xiaoshan had spent a whole day installing the antenna, so he was very skilled and finished in just over ten minutes. When they turned on the TV, the crystal-clear picture without any ghosting stunned all four of them.

Tang Yanling's eyes lit up: "This antenna is amazing! The picture is so clear, there's not a single shadow!" This old TV always had double images, but after installing the antenna, they all disappeared.

Tang's father nodded repeatedly, "Great, it works really well!" He immediately had an idea in his mind: who wants to go out on a winter night? His superior also loves watching TV, so he would definitely like this antenna as a gift.

Tang Xiaoshan stared at the TV, surprised himself. He hadn’t expected the antenna he installed to be so powerful!

Inside the courtyard house, the television was on in Qin Huairu's room.

Huaihua stared at the screen, then turned to Qin Huairu and said, "Mom, the TV picture is terrible. Let's install an antenna too. Uncle San's family installed one, and the picture quality is amazing."

Huaihua used to think her own TV was okay, but ever since she saw the clear picture at Uncle San's house, she felt that her own TV was unwatchable.

Qin Huairu was also somewhat tempted. She made a point of peeking at Uncle San's house after get off work, and wow, the image was incredibly clear, without a single speck of snow. She nodded, "Okay, let's install one then."

Sha Zhu chimed in from the side, "Yeah, a lot of people in the yard have installed antennas now, and they really work well, so we'll install one too."

Upon hearing this, Huaihua laughed: "Then I'll go call Wang Jun! He has quite a few TV antennas at home, and he can install them in about ten minutes."

Beside him, Bang Geng listened, his face darkening again. Lately, he felt nauseous whenever he heard the name "Wang Jun"—but Wang Jun was the most attention-seeking person in the courtyard, always causing trouble: first he tinkered with a radio, and now he's made a TV antenna. The whole courtyard was talking about it, and he couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to, so he could only suppress his anger.

Seeing that Huaihua was going to find Wang Jun to install an antenna, Banggeng became even more displeased and shouted, "Huaihua, you're not allowed to go!"