I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

dong dong dong.

"Who is it?"

dong dong dong.

With a click, the door opened. Li Jing'an stood outside and saw half a body leaning out—a middle-aged man wearing glasses, around forty years old, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"May I ask who you are...?"

"Oh, you mean Teacher Su?"

"Yes, yes, that's me. And you are?" Teacher Su nodded repeatedly, her gaze still sweeping back and forth over Li Jing'an.

Li Jing'an forced a smile, carrying some things in his hands, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry to bother you at this time, Professor Su. My surname is Li, my name is Li Jing'an, and I work in the Ministry of Metallurgy."

Upon hearing the words "Ministry of Metallurgy," Teacher Su still looked blank, clearly not understanding Li Jing'an's purpose. Seeing this, Li Jing'an simply stated his intentions clearly:

"Here's the thing—my son, Li Shuo, and your daughter are students at the same school. A few days ago, the two children had a little disagreement, so I brought him here today specifically to apologize to you and your daughter."

"Oh—it's you! You're the student's parent!" Teacher Su suddenly realized, then seemed to remember something, a hint of surprise in his expression—he had heard from the school teachers that Li Shuo's father was the Minister of Metallurgy. But he never expected that the head of the Ministry of Metallurgy would personally come to his door over a minor dispute between children.

"Come in quickly!" Teacher Su hurriedly opened the door and shoved her into the room.

Li Jing'an nodded, carrying the things, "Thank you for your trouble." He started to walk inside, but after taking two steps, he turned back and saw Li Shuo still hunched over behind him. He immediately became furious, "Hurry up and come in!"

Li Shuo was so frightened that he shuddered and followed them into the house, his head hunched and trembling, not daring to look up the whole time.

Li Jing'an placed his things on the table. Teacher Su hurriedly greeted him, "Please sit down, please sit down!"

Li Jing'an sat down on the sofa, and Li Shuo stood beside him with his hands at his sides, head down and silent. Professor Su sat somewhat awkwardly opposite him—after all, the person in front of him was a minister, while he was just an ordinary researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Teacher Su," Li Jing'an sighed, "I'm so sorry. I'm too busy with work and spend very little time at home—sometimes they're already asleep when I get home at night, and they're still asleep when I leave in the morning. I've been neglecting my child's education. His mother usually takes care of him, and she spoils him terribly, which has led to him becoming like this."

He sighed in distress.

"I understand, I understand," Teacher Su quickly waved her hand. "Minister Li, you hold a high position and have to take care of the entire metallurgical system. It's inevitable that you're very busy. I can understand that."

"Oh, thank you so much, Teacher Su! It's so good that you understand." Li Jing'an patted his knee. "You don't know, when I first heard about this, my head was about to explode. You don't know, I'm a former soldier, and if I had a gun back then, I would have shot this good-for-nothing! At such a young age, he doesn't study hard and hangs out with a bunch of hooligans all day..."

"This is too serious," Teacher Su quickly tried to smooth things over. "Minister Li, Li Shuo is still young and doesn't understand things yet. He'll understand everything as he grows up."

"Teacher Su, please stop flattering this little brat!" Li Jing'an glanced at Li Shuo beside him and said resentfully, "I'll be thankful if he grows up to be a decent person."

Just then, the sound of a lock being opened came from outside the door, followed by a click as the door was pushed open. A young girl entered first, and she was taken aback by the scene inside. Her expression clearly stiffened, especially when she glanced at Li Shuo.

Li Shuo raised his eyelids slightly to glance at it, then lowered his head even further—thinking about how he had boasted and bullied others a few days ago, but today his father had dragged him to apologize, he was utterly humiliated and wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into, lamenting how he would ever be able to get along at school again.

"Tingting, come here," Teacher Su greeted. "Your classmate Li Shuo and his parents have come to our house specifically to apologize to you."

Li Jing'an glanced at the girl named Tingting, his eyes lighting up. He cursed inwardly, "This little brat has good taste." The girl had developed early; at thirteen or fourteen, she was already a graceful young woman with delicate features—a true beauty in the making, perhaps even halfway there.

"Hmm, good taste, finally a redeeming quality," Li Jing'an thought to himself indifferently.

However, before she could look away, another person appeared behind the girl—a woman wearing a faded Lenin suit, with short hair to her ears, dressed extremely simply, yet she couldn't hide her scholarly air, exuding an aura of intellectualism.

Li Jing'an's eyes widened again. Not bad, really not bad... What a pity, such a pity. If I had encountered this a few years earlier, I would have definitely tried it. Now that I'm older, my appetite has become more discerning, and I just want to eat something tender.

"Old Su, do we have guests?" the woman asked gently.

"Yes, yes, yes," Teacher Su quickly introduced, "This is Li Shuo, our daughter's classmate, and his parents. They came specifically to apologize." She then turned to Li Jing'an, "Minister Li, this is my wife, and this is my daughter."

"Minister Li." The woman nodded politely.

Li Jing'an was staring at the person in a daze when Teacher Su noticed he didn't react and called out again, "Minister Li?"

"Oh, okay, okay, hello everyone." Li Jing'an suddenly came to his senses, quickly looked away and nodded, realizing that he had been a little out of line.

To cover his embarrassment, he jumped up and slapped Li Shuo on the back of the head. Li Shuo, who was looking down at the concrete ground, was caught off guard and stumbled forward, almost falling to the ground.

"You little brat!" Li Jing'an roared, "What did you say to him when you saw him? Why didn't you apologize? I've been waiting for you here for ages! What kind of upbringing did you receive? Are you mute?"

"No, no, no—" Teacher Su hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, "Minister Li, please don't hit him! Children will inevitably bump and bruise themselves."

Teacher Su's husband and daughter were also startled by the scene and stood at the door, unsure whether to go in or out. Li Jing'an also stood up and invited them into the house, which eased the atmosphere a little.

---

As dusk fell, downstairs at the family quarters.

The Su family saw Li Jing'an and his son off at the building entrance. In front of the car, Li Jing'an held Ms. Su's hands tightly.

"Comrade Su, let's stop here. Thank you for forgiving this little brat and not holding it against him. Otherwise, how am I supposed to go out and work? Wouldn't people talk behind my back? I can't even manage my own child, how am I supposed to manage so many people in the Ministry of Metallurgy?"

He frowned and sighed, looking guilty.

"Minister Li, please don't say that," Teacher Su replied earnestly. "You've devoted all your energy to serving the people, which has led you to neglect your family and Li Shuo's upbringing. It's not your fault, nor is it entirely the child's. I just hope you can spend more time with your family in the future and take better care of your health."

Li Jing'an was deeply moved by these words. He patted Teacher Su's shoulder heavily, then shook hands with Teacher Su's partner, exchanged a few pleasantries, and finally got into the car. He rolled down the window, waved to Teacher Su's family, and the car slowly drove away.

He deliberately chose to come at the end of the workday so that people would see him and then spread the news.

Inside the car, Li Jing'an leaned back in his seat, unconsciously rubbing his fingers together and bringing them to his nose to smell—a faint scent of face cream still lingered on his fingertips. A strange feeling welled up inside him, and then his thoughts shifted to Xiao Liu in the office. He hadn't reported on the progress of recruiting a new secretary for so long. It seemed he needed to give him a good talking-to—he didn't seem to care about something so important, unable to prioritize.

---