Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

He Yuzhu caught a glimpse of an old woman with snow-white hair, a bamboo basket in front of her, and six fluffy little chicks huddled in a grass nest pecking at food.

"Auntie, how much are the chicks?" he asked, bending down.

"Seven cents each, no ticket required." The old lady didn't even lift her eyelids.

"Six of them, four dollars and two jiao, all of them." He counted out the bills and handed them over. "Please count them."

After buying chicks, I picked out corn seeds and potato tubers, but I couldn't find any ducklings.

He slipped into a secluded corner deep within the black market, his fingertips lightly touching his watch—the item vanished in the blink of an eye, having landed steadily in the space.

He turned and left the hospital, walking briskly home.

Just as I arrived at the blue brick archway of the courtyard, I bumped into Uncle Yan Bugui.

The courtyard is divided into three sections: front, middle, and back. Each section has a leader who is in charge of trivial matters and family affairs.

Yan Bugui, who runs the front yard, is extremely frugal. He earns his salary to support eight people, so he dares not relax even for a moment.

Liu Haizhong, a judge at the Intermediate People's Court, is more addicted to officialdom than to smoking. He likes to say "Attention, comrades" when he speaks and walks with a reporting tone.

Yi Zhonghai, the son of the man in the backyard, was originally a decent person, but after his wife passed away, he placed all his hopes for his old age on his son, and his personality gradually became stubborn.

"Silly Zhu's off work? I heard he got promoted and became a team leader? Did his salary go up? When are you going to treat me to a couple of drinks?" Yan Bugui said with a smile, but his fingers were already secretly twisting the hem of his clothes.

"It just got approved, and my first month's salary hasn't arrived yet. Are you taking a break too? I'm waiting for you to cook, I'll come over another day to chat!" He Yuzhu smiled and stepped aside to make way.

He Yushui had just started high school when her mother passed away and her father ran away—the siblings chased him all the way to Baoding, but they didn't even get close to his house. After that, her gaze towards her father became indifferent.

Her brother's marriage became a major worry. Seeing that he was approaching thirty and still single, she put all her effort into bringing the original owner of this body and Qin Huairu together.

But how could she understand the intricacies of the several marriages that the original owner had ruined back then?

Because her father passed away, her brother was busy doing temporary jobs to make ends meet and couldn't take care of her at all. It was the neighbors who helped take care of her.

She noticed that Qin Huairu often came to help with laundry and tidying up the house, so she assumed it was just a friendly neighborly relationship and nothing more.

Back in the courtyard, He Yuzhu ran into Jia Zhangshi squatting by the pool, washing clothes and muttering to herself, spittle flying everywhere as she spoke. He Yuzhu lowered his eyelids, walked straight past her, and went home.

At this time, Jia Weiguo had only been gone for a short time, and the factory had provided a funeral allowance, so life was relatively stable.

Back then, once you became a permanent employee, the factory would take care of everything from birth to death—housing, medical care, children's schooling, and even funeral expenses were written into the regulations.

The Women's Federation keeps a close eye on things: if any man hits his wife, they immediately go to the door to mediate; if the proportion of female workers in a factory is not enough, the performance evaluation will be immediately downgraded—the number of men and women must be equal, not even one less is acceptable;

For those who are not married, the Women's Federation takes the initiative to act as a matchmaker.

But why was no one introduced to a potential partner for the original owner?

Just because he was close to the widow Qin Huairu, and their relationship was ambiguous, who would dare push their own daughter into such a predicament? If she married him and suffered mistreatment, wouldn't her whole family be scolded?

"Brother, what are we having for dinner today?" He Yushui asked, leaning against the kitchen door frame.

"Is the school not too busy? There are no reception duties at the factory. I got a big pot of stew from the canteen. You can heat it up and eat it." He Yuzhu said as he walked towards his room.

Close the door, and with a thought, you step into the space—grain seeds are sown into the soft black soil, chicks flutter their wings and emerge from the bamboo basket, rice husks are scattered, and fish fry glide lightly into the pond.

The factory offers one day off per month in lieu of leave, and you can also take leave if needed, so you still have some breathing room.

He leaned against the door frame, quietly pondering what to do next.

In the drama, Qin Huairu's family truly repaid kindness with enmity.

When Xiao Dang and Huaihua grew up, they always protected their mother first in everything. No one remembered the nights the original owner stayed up, the money she paid, or the hardships she endured.

Bang Geng treated him with hostility. When he was a child, Xu Damao instigated Liu Guangtian and his brother to publicly humiliate him. The original owner's words, "I'll be your father," became a scar in his heart.

But what about Xiao Dang and Huaihua? They didn't suffer that humiliation, nor did they hear those words, and they still kept their distance from him and were wary of him.

They finally saved up enough money to buy a TV, only to have it snatched away the next day, with the excuse of "easing tensions between brothers".

Has anyone asked him if he feels depressed or in pain?

The reason I initially helped Qin Huairu was because of Jia Weiguo—just after He Daqing left, Jia Weiguo quietly slipped him five yuan and asked him to take his sister to find someone.

Five yuan back then was enough for a round-trip train ticket and seven or eight days' worth of food. The original owner always remembered this kindness.

Later, when he couldn't find a wife, he probably really fell in love and slowly mistook his gratitude for affection.

The only people who truly treat him like family and protect him are probably the deaf old lady and the sister in front of him who calls him "brother".

Lou Xiao'e... is probably still drifting somewhere right now.

"System, sign in," he muttered to himself.

"Sign-in successful, reward of one yuan."

The preceding paragraph clarifies the current state of the world, the characters' personalities, and the underlying undercurrents.

The next morning, he opened his eyes and sat up. The first thing he did was to explore the space carefully.

The dark field, about two acres, or a thousand square meters, had tender sprouts of corn and potatoes pushing through the soil, their green tinged with white, and they were growing straight up, glistening with dew.

Based on the flow of time within this space, plant growth is frighteningly fast—twenty times faster than outside. Crops that normally take six months to mature can be harvested in nine days.

But the animals don't have this privilege. The chicks squat by the fence pecking at food, their plumage, size, and chirping almost exactly the same as they were three days ago.

Are the carp in the fishpond swimming happily? We can't be sure yet.

Just harvesting these two acres of land is enough to keep one person busy non-stop. Not to mention that they also have to go up the mountain to cut wood, go into the village to dig up bamboo, build chicken coops, and build pigsties.

We can't buy pigs right now, so let's get the foundation ready first.

Just as I finished washing up and was about to leave for work, I bumped into Qin Huairu, who was also walking out with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder.

The factory's policies have loosened recently, allowing family members to fill in for their husbands. Her husband has only recently passed away, and the compensation is pitifully small; living off their savings is not a long-term solution.

If he wants to avoid this woman in the future, he needs to act quickly—getting married is the strongest shield. Besides, Qin Huairu is still far from her "ultimate form."

He Yuzhu nodded to her in greeting and turned to leave. Just as he stepped out of the gate, he was suddenly blocked by a tall figure—Xu Damao, with slicked-back hair, a shiny new perm, and a collar so crisp it could be used to slice vegetables.

"Hey, all dressed up like a proper gentleman, where are you headed, you silly goose?"

"I'm in a good mood today, I can't be bothered with you. Where I am is none of your business to interrogate me."

He Yuzhu stepped aside to let him pass, sneering inwardly: This bastard is probably going to the state-run restaurant to meet Lou Xiao'e on a blind date!

Hey, in the original story, this guy was always breaking up the original owner's marriages. Now that we've run into him, how can I just stand by and do nothing?

He turned around, rode his bike back to the factory, took half a day off, and chased after them on his old bicycle.

If we're talking about the entire city of Beijing, there were only two people who were truly devoted to the original owner: the deaf old lady and Lou Xiao'e.

The latter even bore him a son; without her, the original owner would have been living on welfare long ago.

He Yuzhu straightened the collar of his faded work clothes, then leaned closer to the window to look at his face. He raised his hand to smooth down a few stray hairs sticking up from his forehead, spat out the grass clippings in his mouth with a "pui" sound, and then ruffled his hair back.

Humming a tune from "Nanniwan," he followed Xu Damao leisurely towards the center of the street.

If it were the old Sha Zhu, even if he hated Xu Damao to the bone, he would never have interfered with someone's blind date.

But now he is neither a saint nor a villain; he just wants to find a wife who suits his taste and live a stable life—where is this idea wrong?

He knew perfectly well: Ran Yeqiu's family background was unclear, and he couldn't find a trace of her; Yu Haitang's temperament was restless and impossible to control.

Only Lou Xiao'e, like a swan just leaving the nest, insisted on swooping down on Xu Damao, that fat, infertile toad—

Marry her? She'll be treated like a decoration by her in-laws. Once things get tense, Xu Damao can turn around and expose her family, using her as a stepping stone to climb up the social ladder!

Not to mention, the Xu family is a shrewd and calculating bunch. They climbed up to the Lou family to gain influence; when they really run into danger, they can shift the blame faster than turning the pages of a book, and then they'll kick them while they're down—just thinking about these kinds of people makes me sick.

(Of course, he genuinely craved her.)

Upon arriving at the busiest part of Beijing, Xu Damao walked briskly into the state-run restaurant at the street corner.

He Yuzhu waited outside, lit a cigarette, and checked his watch. More than an hour had passed, and the restaurant curtain was lifted and lowered again, but Lou Xiao'e still hadn't appeared. Xu Damao started pacing back and forth, anxiously stubbing out his third cigarette.

Meanwhile, under the sycamore tree diagonally opposite the restaurant, He Yuzhu was chatting naturally with a girl of about seventeen or eighteen.

If it were the old Sha Zhu, he wouldn't even be able to come up with a witty remark.

In fact, He Yuzhu had been wandering around nearby even before Xu Damao entered the store.

Before long, a girl wearing a blue cloth shirt and with two black braids came gracefully from the west stone path—her eyebrows and eyes were exactly like a young version of Lou Xiao'e.

He calmly went to meet them, and after a few steps, he "accidentally" stumbled.

"Sorry, comrade, did I hurt you?"

"It's alright, comrade."

He leaned down slightly, his gaze gently sweeping over her shoulders and wrists, his tone slightly probing: "Comrade, you...you're not surnamed Lou, are you?"

Lou Xiao'e's eyes narrowed, and her fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on the cloth bag strap: "You know me?"

"I really don't know you." He laughed frankly. "When I was little, my dad often cooked for a wealthy family surnamed Lou. I was picking vegetables in the backyard when I saw a little girl with braids feeding cats under the grape trellis—she looked just like you. I asked casually, and it turns out it really is you."

Lou Xiao'e relaxed slightly: "Oh, you're from Uncle He's family? Uncle He hasn't cooked at my house in years, I really miss his cooking. My name is Lou Xiao'e, don't keep calling me 'comrade,' it's too formal."

"What a coincidence!" His eyes lit up. "I've learned all of my dad's skills. If you don't mind, let me show off my skills sometime? My name is He Yuzhu, everyone in the factory calls me Master He, but you can call me 'Brother He' if you like."

"Shall we exchange addresses?" She pulled out a small notebook. "My dad's birthday is next month, and you can come help with the cooking, just to show your support. But it's really unfortunate today, my mom set me up with someone and is urging me to go over right away."