Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

Should I cover it? But I'm afraid it'll burn my hands.

Let alone Director Yang being furious, anyone in his shoes would be unwilling to accept it. But the reality was there—the steel rolling mill couldn't manufacture electrical appliances at all; even something as simple as the plastic inner and outer tubs was a major obstacle.

The meeting lasted for more than an hour, and it was all just empty talk that had nothing to do with He Yuzhu. It was just a waste of time.

The final decision was made: we need to report the situation to the Ministry of Industry, and he will have to go with us tomorrow.

The factory leaders knew perfectly well that they were most likely planning to start a new washing machine factory. The initial scale wouldn't be too large—most households in Beijing still didn't have electricity, and the widespread adoption of energy-intensive appliances like washing machines would have to be gradual.

But even a small factory is still a factory, starting with a few hundred people, and eventually it will have a thousand employees.

What does this mean?

Nearly a thousand workers' jobs, plus a bunch of cadre positions—the benefits are obvious.

These veterans naturally wouldn't get involved in the mess at the new factory, but who doesn't have relatives and comrades-in-arms? Take Li Huaide's father-in-law's group of old buddies' descendants, for example; they've been eagerly waiting for their chance.

"This is awful, even more tiring than flipping a ladle."

After the meeting, He Yuzhu shrugged and couldn't help but complain.

Section Chief Zhou rubbed his sore eyes, deeply agreeing: "That's right, people like us who do the work really aren't suited for meetings. Director He, I'm going back to the technical department now, I've missed a lot of things today."

He Yuzhu smiled and nodded: "It's almost time to get off work... Alright, busy as you are, you have to stay healthy. If you're hungry, just come to the cafeteria, and I'll have my nephew cook you a couple of hearty dishes. He's a really good cook, I've already told him."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, Director He!"

Before he finished speaking, Section Chief Zhou turned and left. He'd spent the entire afternoon in the meeting room, and it was a certainty that he'd be working overtime until after nine o'clock tonight.

He Yuzhu didn't rush home; he had other things to do. After get off work, he went straight to the place he had arranged to meet Li Wangcai.

Before he even arrived, Li Wangcai was already waiting. As soon as he saw him, he immediately came to greet him.

"Junior Brother He, you've finally arrived! Take a look at that payment for the last shipment—"

As he spoke, he snapped open the wooden box he carried with him, revealing a dazzling array of gold, jade, Hetian jade, and a pile of antique jewelry from the Qing Dynasty.

"I sold all those medicinal herbs last time, especially the cordyceps; a lot of people have been asking about them. There are 936 grams of gold, two pieces of high-quality jadeite, three Hetian jade plaques, and the rest are said to be antiques from the Qing Dynasty... I don't know if they're real or fake, but I remember the addresses of the families who gave me the items. If things go wrong, we have plenty of ways to get them back."

He Yuzhu glanced at it briefly, and to be honest, he couldn't understand it either. He silently thought to himself: I really need to learn some antique appraisal later, otherwise I'll suffer losses sooner or later.

"Alright, you can take this batch of Chinese medicine. I don't have much cash on hand, so I'll use ginseng to pay your share."

Upon hearing this, Li Wangcai quickly nodded, "Alright, alright, we trust Junior Brother He to handle things!"

He Yuzhu then asked, "How's the business in Beijing lately?"

Li Wangcai understood immediately; this was an inquiry about the sales channels for precious medicinal herbs. He lowered his voice and said, "Our regular customers have almost exhausted their supplies, so we need to explore new avenues. However—I've run into a medicine merchant from Shanghai who wants to buy in large quantities; he's aiming to consume quite a lot at once."

"He didn't bring enough goods this time, so he went back to get more. He'll probably be back in about two weeks."

He Yuzhu narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment: "Come find me then. But you must thoroughly investigate everything he brings. If you don't recognize something, find a knowledgeable master craftsman to take a look."

"Understood! Don't worry, Junior Brother He!"

During this time, Li Wangcai made a fortune by dealing in medicinal herbs with He Yuzhu, and his men were all rolling in money. If it weren't for the difficulty in obtaining bicycle tickets, the brothers would have already been riding around town on their Phoenix brand bicycles.

After inspecting the package brought by He Yuzhu, Li Wangcai quickly packed up and left.

As soon as he left, He Yuzhu immediately stuffed the wooden box into his system space. Now he had accumulated more than three kilograms of gold, plus a pile of jewelry.

He pondered that he would pick out a few good-quality items to give to Lou Xiao'e and Chen Xueru, and as for He Yushui? He would wait until her wedding day.

Just as I was thinking about it, Bai Danyu's face suddenly popped into my mind.

Should I get her one too?

On second thought, Sister Bai is a particular person; it would be awkward if she thought it was too valuable and refused to accept it. So I decided to put it aside for now and deal with it later.

Putting aside his distractions, He Yuzhu turned and went home to cook. After eating, he did nothing but dive into the skill panel and frantically grinded experience points—whether it was Bagua Palm or any other skill, he maxed them all out.

He had a premonition: once Baguazhang reached its maximum level, the internal strength would undergo a complete transformation, becoming as solid as steel and as strong as iron. At that time, blocking bullets with bare hands would not be an exaggeration.

Once he sets foot on Hong Kong Island, who will still want to play dirty tricks?

At that time, He Yuzhu didn't need to threaten others at all—he himself was the threat.

Xu Damao rested for a whole day in the courtyard. The next evening, he carried a bottle of liquor, a bag of cooked food, and a handful of peanuts, and went straight to the Jia family's house to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" a voice came from inside the house.

"Brother Jia, it's me! Da Mao!" He grinned, "Just got back from the countryside, and you were the first person I wanted to see!"

As soon as the door opened, Jia Dongxu saw him and immediately smiled, stepping aside to let him in: "Da Mao? Come in, come in!"

His eyes lit up slightly when they saw the bottle of wine.

"You're here, so what? You're not going to go hungry!" she said, but her hands deftly took the food and drinks, her movements more eager than anyone else's.

"Dongxu!" Qin Huairu called out to him from the kitchen, tossing the wok. She lowered her voice during a break in cooking, "Didn't we agree not to get too close to Xu Damao? Even Mom... you still dare to get involved?"

"When He Yuzhu sent my mother to a labor camp, why didn't you say a word for me? Stop talking nonsense and go cook your dishes!" Jia Dongxu retorted in a low voice, his eyes turning cold. "My affairs are none of your business. Just mind your own business."

Qin Huairu felt a lump in her throat, a surge of grievance welling up inside her, but he had already turned and walked away, giving her no chance to react.

At the dinner table, Bang Geng was gnawing on his food, his mouth glistening with oil, while he smacked his lips, savoring the delicious aroma of duck necks and chicken feet. Although he had eaten cured meat yesterday, the scene of Sha Zhu suddenly rushing in and slapping Jia Zhangshi was so frightening that he didn't even taste the meat.

After Xu Damao sat down, he smiled and raised his glass: "Brother Jia, why don't you and your wife have a drink together?"

"Hey, we men are drinking, she's looking after Xiao Dang, so she won't join in." Jia Dongxu had been itching to drink for a while, so he poured himself a glass, clinked glasses with Xu Damao, and downed it in one gulp.

Xu Damao finished his drink in one gulp, then sighed, "Brother Jia, although I wasn't there yesterday, I heard something happened in the yard... Sigh, to be fair, Sha Zhu really went too far this time. Even though I've had a few meals at his house, I can still tell right from wrong—"

Xu Damao had long since mastered the skill of speaking human language to human beings and ghost language to ghosts.

"No matter what, they're neighbors. Sending Aunt Jia to a labor camp? Would that be appropriate if word got out? It's too much..."

Jia Dongxu's face instantly darkened.

These past two days, his mother's affair has caused quite a stir. The whole compound is gossiping about it, and even Nanluoguxiang knows that the old lady of the Jia family was singled out by the neighborhood committee for engaging in feudal superstition and was taken back to her hometown for "re-education."

This morning, Qin Huairu went to the outskirts of the city to take a look—her mother was shoveling cow dung, and she couldn't even get close enough to speak to her.

"I'm going to kill Sha Zhu no matter what," Jia Dongxu gritted his teeth.

Xu Damao sneered inwardly: Who do you think you are? A third-level fitter dares to utter such threats? You're really courting death.

But he remained outwardly calm, instead raising his glass: "Brother Jia, I'm on your side! You did nothing wrong, cheers!"

"Cheers, brother!" Jia Dongxu was in high spirits, drinking one glass after another like he was chugging water.

By the time Banggeng finished his homework and went to bed, the two of them were already completely drunk. Jia Dongxu was the most intoxicated, slumped over the table without uttering a sound.

Qin Huairu looked at him in a really bad state, sighed, and stepped forward to nudge Xu Damao: "Brother Damao? Damao?"

"Oh... Sister Qin?" He opened his eyes groggily. "What's wrong?"

"It's getting late, how about we call it a night?"

"Too late? Fine... then..." Xu Damao swayed as he got up, and with a flick of his hand, he brushed against Qin Huairu's soft chest.

"Ah!" She took a step back abruptly, her face flushed red, staring at him without being able to say a word.

Xu Damao seemed oblivious, his eyelids drooping, and he mumbled, "Brother Jia, Sister Qin, I'm leaving now..." before staggering toward the door.

Qin Huairu's chest heaved, but she ultimately didn't react—it was so late, and making a scene wouldn't look good; she'd just assume he was drunk and did it unintentionally.

She gritted her teeth and dragged Jia Dongxu to bed. It took her a long time to settle him down. She was so exhausted that she collapsed and fell asleep.

Before closing her eyes, she made a solemn vow in her heart: Tomorrow she would definitely persuade Dongxu to stay away from Xu Damao, because that man is inherently corrupt.

On a weekend morning, after finishing breakfast, He Yuzhu took He Yushui's hand and went out.

The day before yesterday, he blurted out that he would take Lou Xiao'e hunting over the weekend, and He Yushui immediately became attached to it, insisting on going along. Last night, she was even more disruptive, refusing to sleep unless he agreed, and in the end, He Yuzhu had no choice but to give in.

His planned romantic getaway for two was instantly ruined. He had even envisioned letting Lou Xiao'e experience his massage skills, but now it was all for naught.

There are plenty of wild animals in the mountains right now, and some of them are not to be trifled with. Even experienced hunters wouldn't dare venture deep into the mountains without some tough gear and a companion. Wolves roam in packs, wild boars rampage, and leopards appear and disappear unpredictably. In a while, we'll have to organize a "wolf hunt."

But none of this mattered to He Yuzhu. If you threw him into the mountains alone, he would be a true apex predator. Even if a thousand-pound black bear charged at him, he could smash it with a single punch and take it down on the spot.

So he dared to bring Lou Xiao'e and He Yushui out hunting, purely for fun. Whether they could catch anything or not was unimportant; the important thing was to keep the two girls company and help them relax.