Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

He Yuzhu pulled Lou Xiao'e down to sit, his tone becoming more serious: "Don't blame me for favoring Yushui—there might be a big storm brewing later, and there aren't many clean people in the courtyard. If they target you and resent your past good days, they might use some underhanded tricks to smear you. The more low-key we keep now, the less anyone can find fault with us."

Lou Xiao'e nodded gently: "I'll do whatever you say. By the way, when are we going to hand over the key to the mansion?"

He Yuzhu said, "I'll deliver some New Year's goods to the old lady first, and then we'll deliver them to the neighborhood office together and give them to Director Gao."

When he returned that evening, he placed the key in Lou Xiao'e's hand.

She took the soft and sticky osmanthus cake to visit the old lady. When she returned, her ears were flushed and her cheeks were slightly hot. I don't know what intimate things they talked about.

The next day, the two rode the clanging old bicycle all the way to the neighborhood office near Lou's house.

Pushing open the wooden door, Lou Xiao'e went straight to Director Gao. After standing still, she straightened her back and gently placed the key on the table: "Director Gao, Lou Huaming entrusted someone to give me this key. I have long since severed all ties with him, and I have nothing to do with his things—please let the organization handle this key."

Director Gao was taken aback, staring at the key and blinking repeatedly: "Where...is this from? What's going on?"

Lou Xiao'e's voice was clear: "The day before yesterday, I had just entered the courtyard after get off work when a stranger stopped me and said that Lou Huaming had left the capital and that this was the key to the villa, asking me to keep it for him. I refused on the spot—I don't want a single thing from his house."

Director Gao's expression turned serious: "We really don't know about this... Comrade Xiao'e, you have a high level of awareness! By the way, how's the work arrangement going?"

Lou Xiao'e turned to the side to indicate: "My boyfriend He Yuzhu and I both work at a steel rolling mill."

Director Gao looked up and sized up He Yuzhu, his gaze steady.

"Is this your partner?"

"It's me, Director Gao!"

"Excellent! Excellent! A model couple for the youth of the new era, pure in thought and upright in conduct, they are truly a perfect pair!"

The three chatted enthusiastically, and Director Gao presented Lou Xiao'e with an "Advanced Activist" certificate on the spot.

As they left, He Yuzhu silently followed beside Lou Xiao'e, his steps light and quick.

Director Gao wrote an urgent report that day, reporting the Lou family's escape to higher levels, and also wrote in great detail about Lou Xiao'e's initiative to return the key and her firm stance.

Today is the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. I have to work another day tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow I'll be busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw He Yushui standing in front of the stove steaming buns, her face beaming with joy. These days, you could count the number of people who could afford to wear leather shoes on your fingers; the slightly more presentable ones were just a pair of cloth cotton shoes with a thousand layers of soles (not actually a thousand layers, but just eleven or twelve layers of dense stitching).

In the entire courtyard, you can't find another person wearing small leather shoes.

He Yuzhu teased her with a smile, "Why don't you try it on? Let me see how handsome you look in it!"

He Yushui's eyes curved into crescents: "I'll wear it on the first day of school!" She then giggled.

As soon as He Yuzhu stepped into the courtyard, He Yushui immediately put down her needle and thread, turned around, and went back into the house to continue operating the sewing machine. She was calculating that in the ten days or so before school started, she would have to sew her tuition and pocket money herself, stitch by stitch. She had already saved two yuan, and her brother's burden would finally be lighter.

Lou Xiao'e leaned closer and asked, "Zhu Zi, will our family be able to finish the meat that's being distributed the day after tomorrow?"

He Yuzhu wiped the oil stains off his apron and said with a smile, "The rules have changed this year—Director Zhang said it himself: four steamed buns and half a pound of braised pork for everyone, all cooked in the canteen, no fried meat. Tomorrow everyone will bring their food boxes to get their food, and after that, we can go home and reunite with our families."

Lou Xiao'e's eyes lit up: "That's great! It saves us the trouble of cooking and simmering; the stove can just sit idle!"

Yi Zhonghai had visited a few days earlier, warmly inviting He Yuzhu's family to celebrate the New Year together, saying that frequent visits between the two families would make the New Year feel more like a lively celebration. However, He Yuzhu politely declined—this year he just wanted to spend the New Year peacefully with his own family and reunite for the Lantern Festival; he was also worried: if those two rascals really got together, they might even overturn the table during the New Year's Eve dinner.

And what about the others? This year, we haven't seen the usual "care" from the kind-hearted Grandpa Yi. He's afraid his own children will miss out on meat or noodles, and others might try to benefit from it? They won't even lift a finger. He has over ten kilograms of perfectly marbled pork belly and more than ten kilograms of snow-white, chewy high-gluten flour stockpiled in his house, filling jars and vats to the brim.

Qin Huairu's family has no worries about New Year's goods at all—they just bought two pounds of fresh meat from a black market butcher shop a couple of days ago. It was shiny and oily, and you could hear the sizzling sound when they sliced ​​it.

The quietest place is probably Xu Damao's house. No one knows how he managed to coax Hong Jingqiu back, but the two haven't gone to the hospital for a check-up yet. However, this morning, Hong Jingqiu boarded the bus back to her hometown, and Xu Damao will probably pick her up sometime during the Lunar New Year.

……

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, just as dawn was breaking...

The logistics department's handcart creaked and groaned as it rolled along the blue brick road, unloading a whole load of pork at the canteen entrance. Today, the kitchen was focused on one thing: stewing braised pork. The workers would all go home for lunch and afternoon meals, freeing up the canteen staff to prepare this pot of New Year's flavor.

The publicity department posted a notice early this morning: all employees will not be served lunch or afternoon today and tomorrow; everyone should go to the logistics department to collect their New Year's goods tomorrow morning; bring your own lunchbox to the canteen to collect braised pork, and you will be on holiday after collecting it—this year, no meat will be served, only cooked food.

The kitchen was already in chaos: three large iron pots were burning simultaneously, one of which was a makeshift wood-fired stove. Chunks of meat tumbled in the boiling broth, and the aroma made the window paper buzz. The chefs wielded knives to chop, debone, and portion the meat, while the temporary workers deftly ladled it into wooden bowls, each bowl containing half a pound, stacked neatly, and frozen in the storeroom—these bones would be the base for making next year's stock.

The moment the cooked meat was cooked, the workers' eyes lit up. Half a pound of raw meat shrank by nearly 30% after stewing, but now, a neat bowl of hot meat was brought home, and who wouldn't feel a warmth in their heart?

Steam rose from the stove, and even breathing carried the aroma of meat. No one complained of being tired, and no one dozed off.

After getting off work, Lou Xiao'e went straight back to the courtyard house and turned into the old lady's room with light steps.

"Grandma, please don't agree to go to anyone else's house tomorrow night! I've already told you—please don't agree to go to Uncle Yi's!"

The old lady smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Shazhu came a couple of days ago, and I promised to come to your house! You silly girl, you even made a special trip."

Lou Xiao'e took the old man's arm: "I'll carry you there tomorrow afternoon."

The old lady patted her hand: "I know you're filial." Then she murmured, "Is that girl Yushui still sewing clothes? The wind outside is so strong it hurts her face."

"She insisted on earning her own tuition, and we couldn't persuade her otherwise. Sha Zhu got her a small charcoal stove, which he placed next to the sewing machine, keeping her warm and cozy." Lou Xiao'e helped the old woman up. "Come on, I'll carry you over and chat with her for a while."

She steadily carried the old lady on her back and into He Yushui's house. Turning around, she tied on her apron and made the old lady a bowl of hot soup noodles. Tonight, she still had to prepare the New Year's dishes with He Yuzhu—if she started working after get off work tomorrow, she was afraid she wouldn't even have finished preparing the dumpling filling.

Just past noon

Taking advantage of a break, He Yuzhu slipped out of the cafeteria, carrying fish he'd bought from the black market, and delivered them door-to-door. The fish in the spatial pond had been raised for three or four months; seven old fish had produced a large brood of fry, but their size was really stifling. The largest was only about a pound, and the rest were all about the thickness of a thumb. If they didn't grow any bigger in another six months, he might as well fry them into crispy dried fish.

He smiled and handed a two-pound bighead carp into Director Zhang's office: "It was caught fresh from an ice hole, please have a taste." — If someone asks, that's the answer. It's not for sale, so who cares where it came from?

Peng Mei, Factory Director Yang, Ye Qiu, Liu Lan, Ma Hua, Liu Songgui… not one was left behind. These people all visited him during his illness, bringing eggs and pastries—small gifts but deep sentiments. Human relationships, if handled unilaterally, will eventually dissipate.

Working until the very last minute, the canteen was brightly lit. Thousands of servings of braised pork and steamed buns had to be distributed by tomorrow morning. After working overtime through the night, they tidied up again in the early morning, and at eight o'clock sharp, all twenty-four meat distribution points opened simultaneously, finishing in less than an hour.

The workday finally ended, and the clock on the wall had struck eight o'clock; the sky was as black as an inkstone.

Everyone slumped onto the bench, exhaling a long breath of white air, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from their shoulders.

Liu Lan dragged her tired body and pushed open the door, only to see her sister-in-law already busy at the stove, where hot porridge was simmering, and the child was sleeping soundly with a rosy face.

"Sister-in-law, why are you only arriving today?"

Sister-in-law Liu wiped her brow: "I barely managed to catch the bus into town around noon today. Dad asked me to come and collect your brother's salary, and also to ask if he's coming home for the New Year tomorrow?"

"The factory will be closed tomorrow and won't reopen until the third day of the Lunar New Year. We don't even know what the guesthouse will provide yet."

"They gave me half a pound of braised pork and a pound of melon seeds. Oh, and I brought a pheasant, which Gou Dan caught on the cliff behind the mountain. My parents insisted on giving it to me, saying it was for their nephew to nourish his body—you eat quickly, I'm going back with your brother tomorrow. I have to go back to my parents' house on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and my parents told you not to worry about the travel expenses, just stay home and take care of the kids."

(Gou Dan is Liu Da Sao's eldest son)

Liu Lan's nose tingled with emotion, and she turned around to take out two pounds of snow-white flour from the bottom of the box: "Take these back with you and make steamed buns for Mom and Dad. This one yuan is my New Year's money as an aunt, to buy candy for the children."

Sister-in-law Liu clutched the money and dough tightly, urging her, "Eat quickly and get some rest. I'll come every month from now on. If you have any difficulties, the whole family will lend a hand."

This was the second time that Sister-in-law Liu had stepped into Liu Lan's house. If He Yuzhu hadn't quietly changed Liu Lan's life, she probably would have been regarded as a burden by her sister-in-law who "only shows up during holidays and only asks for money on weekdays"—what sister-in-law would be happy to receive a relative who only knows how to ask for money all year round? Kinship is based on interaction, not on words.

Her older brother and parents were initially willing to help her, but they couldn't stand her daughter-in-law's constant sulking and barbed words. As her visits became less frequent, her heart grew cold; and as her heart grew cold, the road ahead seemed longer. Later, Deputy Factory Director Li bullied her, and she couldn't even find anyone to talk to. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and swallow her anger, enduring it all.