Courtyard House: In this life, I have a new home!

He gritted his teeth and muttered, "What kind of neighbors are these? They have no consideration whatsoever. I must have stepped in dog poop today."

Yan Bugui was still muttering to himself when he saw the fishing rod in Li Weidong's hand suddenly bend into a crescent shape.

In no time, a large silver carp was pulled up, weighing about seven or eight pounds.

"This fish won't do; it has too many bones and a very strong fishy smell."

Li Weidong looked disgusted, but still stuffed the fish into the nylon rope fish basket he had woven himself.

"I've taken the bait too!"

Old Li shouted at the top of his lungs, and two guards rushed over to help, pulling up a grass carp weighing around thirty pounds.

"Look at me, I'm better than you, aren't I?"

Old Li looked smug. "This fish is delicious whether it's used to make meatballs or braised."

"Uncle Li, keep fishing."

Li Weidong smiled and said, "Put it here with me, your little bucket can't hold it."

"I'm done fishing, I'm heading home now. The old guys probably just woke up, I need to go show off a bit."

As he spoke, Old Li handed the remaining bait back to the fish. "By the way, how about coming over for lunch?"

"I'm busy, but I'll bring something nice to show my respect next time."

Li Weidong waved his hand.

"Okay, I'll wait."

Old Li tossed the bait to someone next to him, "Old Zheng, this bait is for you, come here."

Old Zheng, who was seven or eight meters away, chuckled and carried his stool over as soon as he heard this.

Yan Bugui had already picked up his fishing rod and stool, intending to take Old Man Li's spot, but he was intercepted halfway there and could only sit back down with a dark face.

Next, Li Weidong pulled up one strip after another as if he had a cheat code.

Yan Bugui's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

In about an hour, Li Weidong caught five or six big fish weighing seven or eight pounds each, including silver carp, grass carp, and bighead carp.

There were also a few large crucian carp, plus seven or eight catfish weighing half a pound each, those are very precious. The large crucian carp must weigh about eight ounces each.

Li Weidong happened to see an old man carrying a bag of screws passing by and quickly called out to him.

"Sir, wait a minute, this screw of yours..."

Li Weidong spoke up.

"Just touched it, going back to feed the chickens."

The old man said with a smile, "Chickens that eat some meat lay more eggs, which saves on grain."

"How about I trade you this fish?"

Li Weidong picked up a silver carp weighing seven or eight pounds.

The old man looked at the screws in his hand, which weighed about ten pounds: "Young man, if you want them, you can go down and look for them yourself for an hour..."

"Even an hour is precious."

Li Weidong smiled and handed over the fish, "It's settled then."

The old man was overjoyed and left with the big fish.

Yan Bugui's eyes were bloodshot with anxiety, and his voice became shrill and distorted: "Li Weidong, you should have said you wanted this thing earlier! I'd go down and let you touch it, how about we trade it for one of your fish?"

Li Weidong ignored him completely, put away his fishing rod, and poured the fish into the bucket using the fish basket.

The two large buckets were full, and the fish were still thrashing about. We need to hurry back; they should all survive.

As he was tidying up, Yan Bugui rushed over as if his pants were on fire, grabbed his fishing rod, and immediately took over the spot that Li Weidong had prepared.

This old bastard has been waiting for this opportunity.

He wasn't greedy; he just wanted to get a decent job, without having to go through all that trouble like Li Weidong.

So far, Yan Bugui has caught seven or eight whitebait and one small carp, estimated to weigh about seven or eight ounces.

Looking at his blissful expression, Li Weidong's eyes lit up and an idea popped into his head.

Teasing him.

Give him a dead fish mouth!

Li Weidong remembered that there was a large, dead crucian carp lying in the system's warehouse.

The fish was kept in a water tank. It died during the night, and when Li Weidong found it in the morning, it was already stiff and hard, with its eyes rolled back, looking quite eerie.

He was afraid that Lin Yurou would see it and be reluctant to throw it away, and even wanted to use it to make soup, so he directly put it into the system space, preparing to go out and feed the stray cats.

As a result, I got busy and forgot about it.

This is exactly what I need now.

Li Weidong quietly tossed the dead fish into the water, continuing to clean the fish basket with his hands. His movements were so natural that no one noticed.

With a thought, the dead fish floated past on the bottom of the water and swam precisely to Yan Bugui's fishhook, opening its mouth and biting the hook.

"The fish is on the plate!"

Yan Bugui suddenly pulled up the fishing rod, his voice changing with excitement.

Less than three minutes after I arrived, I caught a fish.

The feel of the fish told him that it wasn't big, but it was definitely not the kind of small whitebait.

Yan Bugui leaped the fish out of the water, and upon seeing it was a large crucian carp, his mouth dropped open in a wide grin. He caught the fish with one hand, tucked the fishing rod under his arm, and prepared to remove the hook.

But as soon as he got the fish, he felt something was wrong.

Why isn't this fish moving?

There was not a single struggle that a live fish would have.

Yan Bugui looked down and met the dead fish's rolled-back eyes.

Those eyes stared straight at him, their pupils dilated.

Yan Bugui's eyes widened suddenly, almost shattering his glasses.

He noticed that the fishhook was hooked squarely on the fish's upper lip.

Another dead fish in the mouth!

The dead fish stared at him with its pale eyes, and Yan Bugui felt a chill run down his spine. His vision went black, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

Seeing that Yan Bugui was dizzy, Li Weidong had an idea. He nudged the dead fish with his foot and quietly put it back into the system warehouse.

People these days are honest and straightforward. When they saw someone lying on the ground, the fishermen immediately surrounded him.

"What happened? What's going on?"

"Could it be a sudden illness? We need to call an ambulance right away."

"Wake him up first, then we'll talk about other things."

"Isn't this Teacher Yan? I've never heard of him having any health problems..."

Li Weidong had already slipped to the side, but then interjected, "Pressing the philtrum will wake him up immediately."

"Yes, yes, press the philtrum!"

Old Zheng stretched out his thumb and pressed it hard against Yan Bu's philtrum.

"Ouch!"

Yan Bugui screamed and opened his eyes, his face full of shock.

Old Zheng leaned closer and asked, "Awake? Old Yan, how are you feeling?"

When Yan Bugui saw that everyone around him was a familiar face, his fear subsided a little.

"Fish...that fish...a dead fish is the best!"

His voice trembled.

Old Zheng chuckled: "What kind of fish is this? Are you dreaming? A fish can scare you like this?"

As soon as he said that, everyone around him laughed. No one lingered any longer and quickly dispersed to get back to their own work—who had the time to watch the excitement at this point? Everyone wanted to catch a couple more fish to take home and add to their family's meal.

As soon as Yan Bugui collapsed, they surrounded him, but they didn't even see the dead fish he was talking about. They guessed that the incident last time had scared him so much that he was traumatized.

As the crowd dispersed, Yan Bugui felt a chill run through him. He quickly called out to Li Weidong, who was pushing his cart away, "Li Weidong! Did you see me catch one just now...?"

"Get lost! Who do you think you are? Do you think I'm going to keep staring at you like that?"

Li Weidong snorted coldly, got on his bike, and drove off.

Yan Bugui steadied himself, quickly moved far away from the riverbank, grabbed his fishing rod and bucket, got into the car, and drove off.

He vowed never to touch a fishing rod again in his life, and he would even avoid the riverbank.

Li Weidong rode his bike to a spot not far from his home, casually tossed the dead fish aside by the roadside, and then pushed his bike through the gate of the courtyard house.

It's such a hassle to lift the car over the threshold to get in and out, especially when it's loaded with stuff. Just then, Yan Jiefang was all dressed and about to leave, so I helped him lift the back wheel and get the car over the threshold.

Yan Bugui arrived at the gate on his bicycle at this time. As soon as he got off, he saw the dead fish not far away.

He froze on the spot, staring intently at the fish five meters away.

The fish's eyes were wide open, staring straight at him.

Yan Bugui felt like he was about to run out of breath.

Just then, a pure black wildcat darted over, snatched the dead fish, and ran away quickly.

Yan Bugui seemed to wake up from a nightmare, letting out a howl and collapsing to the ground. The bicycle fell over with a thud; in the past, he would have been heartbroken.

He was trembling all over and couldn't utter a coherent sentence.

The bucket overturned, and several small white strips bounced around on the ground.

Yan Jiefang grabbed the old man and pulled him up, muttering, "What are you doing? How old are you..."

Yang Yuhua ran out of the house, intending to check on Yan Bugui's condition, but when she looked down, she saw a small white fish hopping on the ground, so she quickly bent down and scooped the fish back into the bucket.

"Who knows what's wrong with him?"

Yan Jiefang pursed his lips, "I have something to do, I'm not going to chat with you guys anymore."

He rushed to find Ding Xiaojuan.

"Hey, Jiefang, are you going on a date today too?"

Liu Guangtian came closer, his hair was combed so neatly that it looked like it had been licked by a dog.

"Yes, let's go together."

Yan Jiefang responded, "If only I had a bicycle, I could take my girlfriend for a ride around."

"Let's help Brother Dong carry the fish back."

Liu Guangtian gave Yan Jiefang a wink, and the two quickly caught up with Li Weidong, standing guard on either side of the car like bodyguards.

Walking into the courtyard, I saw Sha Zhu squatting there building a stove with bricks. These days, all cooks know this skill.

The stove was set up, coal was burned, and flames roared and leaped.

Yu Mei, Aunt Zhang Cuihua, and Qin Huairu were squatting on the ground picking vegetables. Next to them, a basin was piled high with chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

"Yi Zhonghai invited everyone from the entire courtyard to his birthday party."

Yan Jiefang lowered his voice and said.

"Hmph, who cares?"

Liu Guangtian curled his lip.

Judging from their tone, Li Weidong understood—Yi Zhonghai hadn't invited them.

"Is there something you need?"

Li Weidong asked.

"This morning, we went to the flea market and found a piece of spice, which they said was some kind of agarwood."

Liu Guangtian said, "I thought it was medicinal material, so I brought it back for you."

"You two actually managed to get your hands on agarwood?"

Li Weidong looked surprised.

"Really, I bought it for five dollars."

Yan Jiefang quickly responded.

"99% of the time, they were scammed."

Li Weidong shook his head. "Let's go see what this thing is."

Just as the three were about to leave the central courtyard, Yi Zhonghai's enthusiastic voice called out from behind, "Chief Engineer Li! Wait a minute!"

Li Weidong stopped and turned to look. Yi Zhonghai approached him with a grin.

"Chief Engineer Li, it's my birthday today. Each family in the compound is inviting one person over for a feast. Would you do me the honor of joining us?"

Yi Zhonghai smiled broadly, "I told everyone that no one is allowed to bring anything. Just open your mouths and eat meat and drink alcohol."

"Jiefang, Guangtian, you two have started your own business too. Come over together tonight."

"I'm busy."

Li Weidong uttered two words.

"Yes, yes, we're not free either."

Liu Guangtian and Yan Jiefang shook their heads in agreement.