Courtyard House: A Carefree Life Begins with a Lottery of Wish Power

Upon hearing the notification sound in his mind, Lin Zhuo paused in his steps, overjoyed.

Although it's based on knowledge that's decades ahead of its time, as long as it survives for another ten years or so, becoming a wealthy man in the future is definitely not a problem.

However, if you have a system, you will have more possibilities.

"System binding successful."

As soon as Lin Zhuo had a thought, a system interface appeared in his mind.

The interface is very simple, with a lottery button in the middle and the words "Each draw consumes 100 wish points" written below it.

The screen displays "Current Wish Power: 0".

At this moment, a string of information flashed through Lin Zhuo's mind.

"This system is formed from the wishes and power of all the people of China."

"Acquire wish power, participate in the lottery, and you can win various generous rewards."

Lin Zhuo couldn't help but ask himself:

"What is the power of will, and how can one obtain it?"

At this point, the system stopped responding to Lin Zhuo's question, so it seemed he would have to figure it out himself.

The system voice continued to sound:

"Gain 1 cubic meter of personal space."

Portable storage is a great thing; it's convenient, but most importantly, it's secure.

"First-time binding successful, you will be rewarded with one chance to win a prize."

"Would you like to participate in the lucky draw?"

Lin Zhuo chose yes without hesitation.

Congratulations on acquiring the skill [Master Woodworking].

"Should I learn a skill?"

Lin Zhuo chose "Yes".

A flood of information rushed into Lin Zhuo's mind.

Lin Zhuo felt a little dazed.

Fortunately, that feeling passed quickly.

Lin Zhuo discovered that he had mastered a great deal of woodworking knowledge.

For something simpler, you could make a regular table, chair, or bench.

For more precise designs, even complex mortise and tenon joints and bracket sets are no problem at all.

Having a system is really awesome.

Putting everything else aside, this newbie gift pack alone is absolutely worth it.

With this skill, you'll never have to worry about food or drink in any era.

Lin Zhuo was eager to go inside and study the matter properly, so he quickly went into the front yard.

The west wing of the front yard belonged to the family of Yan Bugui, the third uncle in charge of the front yard, while the east wing was Lin Zhuo's home.

It was still dark, and the courtyard was quiet.

Lin Zhuo took out his key to unlock the door, but found that he couldn't open it no matter what he did.

Lin Zhuo confirmed that he had not taken the wrong key. Using the dim light of day, he carefully examined the door lock and discovered that it had been changed!

In Lin Zhuo's memories, he clearly remembered that the original lock was a brass padlock, but now it had become a black padlock.

Lin Zhuo sneered inwardly. It really was a bunch of scoundrels in the courtyard, trying to intimidate him right from the start.

I want to see for myself who is so shameless.

Based on his memory, Lin Zhuo found an axe with a blade on one side and a hammer on the other outside his house, and then found a stone in the yard.

He propped up the padlock with a brick, then swung the axe and smashed it down.

The loud "bang" sounded particularly jarring in the quiet courtyard.

Just after the two blows, the light in Uncle Yan Bugui's house came on, and the curtains were pulled open a crack on the side. Uncle Yan and his wife peered out of the window.

But the yard was pitch black, and you couldn't see anything at all. You could only vaguely make out a figure, which looked like it was breaking the lock on Old Lin's door.

The couple felt a chill run down their spines; they had been robbed.

The third aunt looked at the third aunt and said nervously:

"Old Yan, the Lin family has been robbed."

As she spoke, the three women took a deep breath and shouted, "Grab..."

Before the word "grab" could be uttered even halfway, Yan Bugui tightly covered the mouth of the third aunt.

Yan Bugui glared at the Third Aunt, who looked completely bewildered.

Yan Bugui lowered his voice and said:

"Don't make a sound."

Seeing that the third aunt nodded, the third uncle finally let go.

The three aunties asked:

"Old Yan, why are you covering my mouth? You're the old man in the front yard. The Lin family lives across the street from us. If they get robbed, even if they don't say anything, the neighborhood committee will blame you for dereliction of duty."

Yan Bugui lectured the three aunts, saying:

"Do you think I didn't know I was responsible for attracting thieves?"

"But this thief is so easy to catch; if we try and catch him, we'll offend him anyway."

"These troublemakers aren't so easy to offend. Just scare them away. You watch me."

Yan Bugui cleared his throat and shouted out the window:

"Who starts working so early in the morning? Don't they let people get any sleep?"

The old man thought the "thief" would slink away in disgrace.

But then, with another "bang," the "thief" pushed the door open and entered the house, even turning on the light.

Yan Bugui was just about to show off his brilliance to the third aunt, but this "thief" who didn't play by the rules of the discussion also stumped the third uncle.

Yan Bugui pointed to the house opposite and said angrily:

"This is blatant arson, blatant arson!"

The third woman didn't understand what "openly arson" meant either. After hesitating for a moment, she asked:

"So what should we do?"

The third uncle said angrily:

"What else can we do? Let's turn off the lights first and see clearly later."

When Lin Zhuo entered the house and turned on the light, he almost thought he had entered the wrong house.

The once spacious outer room was now filled with odds and ends from who-knows-where.

Broken tables, rotten chairs, tattered quilts, and other odds and ends that are useless to keep but a pity to throw away.

It seems some beast has turned my house into a warehouse and moved things in while I was away.

The first step is to use it as a warehouse; the next step will probably be to gradually take it over for ourselves.

In those days, housing ownership was quite complicated. A small number of houses were privately owned, but in big cities, most housing was public housing without individual ownership.

At that time, the management of public housing was not very standardized. Sometimes, whoever occupied it owned it, and there was no reason to argue about it.

Lin Zhuo sneered inwardly. If they dare to change my locks and occupy my room, then they shouldn't blame me.

Lin Zhuo looked at the original items in the house again, and nothing was missing.

It's so cold inside, this pile of junk is perfect for starting a stove.

Lin Zhuo stuffed some tattered clothes into the stove and lit them, then pulled over a small, broken table, intending to chop them into wooden strips.

But when the table was pulled over, Lin Zhuo's pupils shrank slightly.

Something's not right with this table!

Lin Zhuo, possessing master-level woodworking skills, quickly noticed the clues.

The tabletop was dark and looked old, but the four legs didn't look very old; they must have been added later.

Lin Zhuo glanced at the table legs casually; they were made of ordinary pine wood.

But the tabletop was no ordinary piece; it was actually a single plank of huanghuali wood.

It seems the Jia family somehow acquired this plank, didn't consider it anything special, and simply attached four legs to it to make a table.

Lin Zhuo couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking how treasures were everywhere in this era, that even a random table was made of huanghuali wood.

In later generations, just this tabletop alone could easily fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars in raw materials.

I looked at the other few pieces of old furniture, all made of ordinary wood.

Lin Zhuo quickly disassembled the table legs, stored the tabletop in his space, and moved the broken furniture to his front door.