Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Quiet.

The living room fell into a deathly silence.

Li Yunlong held the unlit cigarette in his hand, his mouth agape enough to fit a fist.

Zhao Gang's hand, which was pushing up his glasses, froze in mid-air.

Ding Wei and Kong Jie looked at each other in disbelief, as if they had heard some unbelievable news.

A full five seconds passed.

"boom!"

Li Yunlong suddenly sprang up from the sofa, his massive body nearly overturning the coffee table in front of him.

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!"

Li Yunlong was so excited that he became incoherent, grabbed Lin Yang's shoulder, and shook him violently.

"You little rascal! You've quietly accomplished something earth-shattering! Even more impressive than capturing MacArthur alive!"

Li Yunlong turned to Tian Yu, rubbing his hands together, and shouted, "Sister-in-law! Well done! Our Fourth Field Army's top-class hero finally has an heir!"

Zhao Gang, his face beaming with joy, quickly picked up his teacup and stood up: "Yangzi, Comrade Tian Yu, this is truly a joyous occasion. I offer this tea in lieu of wine, wishing you and your child a safe and healthy pregnancy!"

Ding Wei and Kong Jie also joined in to offer their congratulations.

"Yangzi, whether this child is a boy or a girl, I have to be its godfather!"

Li Yunlong declared domineeringly, "I'm going to train him to be the best soldier in the entire army! When he grows up, I'll personally teach him bayonet fighting and pistol shooting!"

Zhao Gang immediately retorted, "Old Li, stop misleading people. Yangzi's child must study hard. When he's older, I'll personally teach him to read and write, and to read military strategy!"

"What's the point of reading books! Scholars are utterly useless!"

"Li Yunlong, you're utterly unreasonable!"

Watching Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang bicker again, vying for the "right to education" of their future child,

At that moment, bursts of hearty laughter erupted in the living room.

Lin Yang leaned back on the sofa, feeling the strong brotherhood and looking at his wife's happy smile.

outside the window.

The heavy snow is still falling.

The pure white snowflakes fell silently onto the windowpane.

It gradually melted into a crystal-clear droplet, which slowly slid down the glass.

All the noise was shut out from this warm light.

·······

Jiaodaokou Police Station.

The cold wind blew in through the cracks in the window, making the old newspapers on the table rustle.

He Yuzhu, dressed in a crisp police uniform with the insignia of a deputy director on his shoulder, sat imposingly behind his desk. He held an enamel mug in his hand, listening to his subordinates report on the security situation in their jurisdiction.

With a "bang," the office door was pushed open.

A young clerk rushed in, his face flushed, waving a newly printed internal document for reference.

"What?! Huge news! Absolutely incredible news!"

The young officer was so excited he could hardly breathe, and slammed the document onto He Yuzhu's desk.

"Look! A personnel transfer notice just came out from above! Your old commander, Division Commander Lin! He's been transferred to the Central Committee!"

He Yuzhu slammed down his teacup, oblivious to the scalding tea splashing onto the back of his hand. He grabbed the official document and scanned it quickly.

When his gaze fell on the line "Appointing Comrade Lin Yang as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Heavy Industry of the Central People's Government, and concurrently Director of the Iron and Steel Industry Administration Bureau," He Yuzhu's eyes, which were as big as copper bells, widened instantly.

"My dear mother, my fourth maternal great-aunt..."

He Yuzhu gasped, his hands holding the documents trembling slightly.

Although he wasn't well-educated, he was now a deputy director within the system, so how could he not know the weight of the seven words "Deputy Minister of Heavy Industry"?

Those were true high-ranking state officials! They were powerful regional governors who controlled the industrial lifeline of the new China!

What excited him even more was that an internal notice was attached to the bottom of the document—Comrade Lin Yang's wife, Comrade Tian Yu, was pregnant.

"Chief Minister Lin has become a Deputy Minister! Chief Minister Lin is going to have an heir!"

He Yuzhu suddenly stood up, slapped his thigh, and burst into a thunderous laugh.

"To hell with the reports! I'm not listening to them today! I'm going home! I'm going to drink!"

He Yuzhu grabbed his coat from the hanger and rushed out of the police station. Passing by the supply and marketing cooperative, he bought five catties of high-quality pork belly, two fat chickens, and four bottles of authentic Niulanshan Erguotou liquor.

He carried his bags and purses, hopped on the assigned sidecar motorcycle, and sped off towards Nanluoguxiang.

……

Courtyard No. 95.

Inside the He family's house in the middle courtyard, the stove fire was burning brightly.

He Daqing was wearing an apron and chopping a large cabbage on the cutting board. Ever since He Yuzhu became the deputy director of the police station, the He family's status in the courtyard had risen dramatically, and He Daqing walked with an air of superiority.

"Bang!"

He Yuzhu kicked the door open, and a cold wind mixed with snowflakes swept in.

"Dad! Stop chopping that wretched cabbage! Today we're having meat and drinking heavily!"

He Yuzhu slammed the pork and liquor he was holding onto the octagonal table, his scarred face flushed red with extreme excitement.

He Daqing was startled, put down the cleaver, and walked over, scolding him irritably, "You brat, even as deputy director you're still so impulsive! Why are you buying so much meat at a time like this, not during the holidays? Trying to make a fortune?"

"It's a million times happier than winning the lottery!"

He Yuzhu leaned close to He Daqing and lowered his voice, but the fervor in his tone was impossible to conceal.

"Dad! Commander Lin has been transferred! Guess where he went?"

He Daqing was taken aback: "Isn't Commander Lin a division commander? Where else could he be transferred to? To become a corps commander?"

"A corps commander is nothing!" He Yuzhu waved his hand with an air of arrogance. "The Central Committee has issued an official document! Commander Lin is being transferred to civilian work, but he's taking up his military post! He's appointed Vice Minister of Heavy Industry of the Central People's Government, and concurrently Director of the Iron and Steel Industry Administration Bureau!"

Clang!

The half-cut cabbage stalk in He Daqing's hand fell directly to the ground.

The old chef, who had spent most of his life working in the hutongs of Beijing, was completely frozen in place, as if he had been put on a trance.

"Ministry of Heavy Industry...? Vice Minister?"

He Daqing swallowed hard, his voice trembling like a broken erhu being played in the cold wind.

"My goodness... that's a top-tier government agency that oversees all the steel mills, coal mines, and machinery factories in the country! Our Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill is just a tiny, insignificant unit under their control!"

He Daqing was trembling with excitement, and grabbed He Yuzhu's arm: "Zhuzi! Is this true?!"

"Absolutely true! The internal documents have all been sent to our office!" He Yuzhu grinned, looking like a two-hundred-pound idiot. "And there's some incredibly good news! Sister-in-law Tian Yu is pregnant! Chief Lin is going to be a father!"

"Double happiness! This is an incredible double celebration!"