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

Lin Yurou opened the door, with Xiao Xi and He Yushui standing behind her.

"Is everything taken care of?"

Lin Yurou glanced at him from head to toe.

"Yes, the deaf old lady has been taken away."

Li Weidong said, "She came over just now to try and drag you all down with her. From now on, just keep the gun at home."

Xiao Xi tugged at his clothes and whispered, "Brother, you were mean to me just now to protect me. My sister told me that."

Li Weidong patted her head: "My Xiaoxi is the most sensible. You stay home with your sister, and your brother goes to work."

"I might be back an hour late tonight."

Lin Yurou smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'll wait for you to eat."

When Li Weidong returned to the factory, he saw Jin Da and Jin Er at the gatehouse.

"Hello, Chief Engineer Li!"

The two quickly greeted each other.

Li Weidong asked with a smile, "So you're starting work already?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Jin Da looked smug. "Thirty-two yuan a month. I'll get familiar with things today, go home this afternoon, and start working officially tomorrow."

Li Weidong said, "Do a good job."

Kim I blinked: "We'll visit you at six o'clock tonight."

Li Weidong knew what was going on—they wanted him to appraise the antiques.

He didn't say much, and first went to take a look around the medical department. With Professor Ding there, he felt much more at ease.

Then we went to the workshop. As soon as we arrived at the entrance of Workshop 1, Director Zhou greeted us with a big smile.

"Chief Engineer Li, are Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu really spies?"

Li Weidong's tone was ambiguous: "Who can say for sure? We'll have to wait for the investigation results. By the way, where's Lao Cui? Did he slip away again?"

Director Zhou pursed his lips: "He said he took sick leave to see a doctor, acting all mysterious and strange, I don't know what he's up to."

"This guy just loves to dawdle; we'll give him more work later."

Li Weidong said calmly.

Director Zhou understood immediately and nodded with a smile: "No problem, leave it to me."

Back in his office, Li Weidong started tinkering with a radio. This one was much more complicated than the previous two.

In the afternoon, he went to the carpentry workshop and found a good piece of wood to make the outer shell. The finished product was 1.2 meters high, 80 centimeters long, and 50 centimeters wide. The four legs were 10 centimeters high, and it was also carved with flowers and words, and coated with a layer of clear varnish. It looked quite high-end.

The reason it's so big is to make it heavy enough to give it a solid feel. The internal frame is made of welded steel, and the outside is covered with a layer of wood, making it feel particularly heavy in your hand.

The internal circuit board didn't take up much space; the speaker enclosure was what really did. Li Weidong specially made the enclosure out of paulownia wood and also bought a lot of paper cone speakers.

He left a record player interface on the top of the computer case, planning to get some more parts tomorrow and assemble a record player himself.

By the time the whole job was finished, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon.

Secretary Zhang and Li Huaide arrived half an hour ago, watching as this behemoth gradually took shape.

Li Huaide clicked his tongue: "Tsk tsk, the appearance is alright, but the color is a bit too plain. If it were painted red..."

Li Weidong raised an eyebrow: "Let's listen to the sound quality first. The sound was pretty good when we tested it earlier."

The sound quality is truly exceptional, several levels better than ordinary radios. Even at maximum volume, it's clearly audible from a great distance, and crucially, the tone is clear and clean.

Li Huaide's eyes lit up: "Chief Engineer Li, get me one when you have time."

Secretary Zhang suddenly blurted out, "Wait a minute, can we mass-produce this ourselves?"

Li Weidong was taken aback: "Production is not a problem, but we are a steel rolling mill, not a radio manufacturing company."

Secretary Zhang waved his hand: "Set up a small workshop, specializing in these high-end goods. No need to produce much more, just leave..."

"Go for the high-end market!"

Li Weidong chimed in, "Then the profits will go up."

"I'm not doing this for the money; it's all to contribute to the country."

Secretary Zhang smiled and said, "With this, our factory's reputation will be established. More people will come to us seeking our services, and it will be easier to deal with suppliers."

Li Weidong nodded: "I understand. Actually, you can add a record player to this machine, and I can also make a tape recorder."

Secretary Zhang quickly replied, "There's no need for recording; as long as it can be played back, that's fine."

Li Weidong pondered for a moment and then said, "This is easy. I'll go and buy the materials tomorrow. To make it look high-end, we need to use good wood for the outer shell."

He added, "High-end items don't necessarily need to be flashy; the natural grain of the wood is enough. I plan to use jujube wood, which is called 'red gold sandalwood,' and it's incredibly hard!"

Secretary Zhang chimed in, "Just leave all the materials to Chief Engineer Li. That leaves the technical aspects..."

"The technology isn't difficult. Once the final product is ready, I'll draw up the blueprints clearly."

Li Weidong said casually, "Speakers require some craftsmanship, but I try to standardize the process, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

Secretary Zhang turned to Factory Director Li and said, "Let's go talk to Factory Director Yang and see if we can free up a workshop."

Li Weidong quickly reminded them: "Don't put up partitions in the workshop. Carpentry and electronics should be done separately, and then we can find a place to assemble them together at the end."

"Okay, you can go shopping first thing tomorrow morning."

Secretary Zhang made the decision.

"I'll have someone from the purchasing department follow me. He'll pay for whatever I need to buy; it's none of my business."

Li Weidong waved his hand.

"Okay, okay, no problem."

Secretary Zhang readily agreed.

Li Huaide, standing nearby, asked, "Can this even be called a radio?"

Li Weidong explained with a smile, "From now on, we'll call it 'Sound System'."

He didn't bring the big speaker home; he had a small one on hand, which he would bring back to Lin Yurou to listen to and relieve her boredom that night.

Li Weidong hadn't forgotten his appointment with Yu Li that evening. He first went to see Director Shan Dahai, Director Zhou of Workshop One, Deputy Section Chief Jiang of the Security Department, and Director Wang of the Personnel Department, and arranged to meet them at seven o'clock. After finishing these tasks, he strolled over to the motor transport team.

"Chief Engineer Li, you've finally arrived! You really know how to drive this car?"

Yu Li came forward, looking worried.

"Of course. By the way, put more wicker baskets in the carriage; we can't just throw the meat in directly... Oh, it's already been put in."

Li Weidong peeked out and saw that the truck bed was filled with many willow baskets.

"I've got an idea. Let's go, I'll go with you..."

Yu Li's eyes were filled with anticipation.

"I can go by myself. You wait over in the kitchen. Also, call the accountant from the finance department along, and bring the money."

Yu Li nodded somewhat dejectedly, then turned and ran off to find someone to handle her affairs.

Li Weidong felt extremely uncomfortable driving his old-fashioned truck, but he managed to get out of the city. He found a secluded spot to stop, took out a thousand catties of pork and a hundred slaughtered roosters from the system warehouse, and stuffed them all into a wicker basket.

Turn around and drive back; it only takes about forty minutes round trip.

When they got to the cold storage area, they found Director Zhang from the canteen and Li Huaide there. Yu Li and Section Chief Lin from the supply and marketing department were also waiting there.

Li Huaide leaned closer, lowered his voice and said with a smile, "Chief Engineer Li personally took charge; it seems he has some powerful backing."

Li Weidong waved his hand, his face serious: "Don't talk nonsense, I'm doing this for the sake of the workers' meals in our factory."

"Got it, got it, let's go settle the accounts."

The 1,000 jin of pork actually came from five pigs, and after weighing, it totaled 1,200 jin. The 100 roosters, after being cleaned, weighed a little over 200 jin, so they were worth 200 yuan based on that. Because they were already slaughtered, the price was naturally much higher than that of live chickens.

Pork was sold for 70 cents a pound without ration coupons, and that was with the bones, totaling 840 yuan. Adding the two items together, it came to exactly 1040 yuan.

Li Weidong stuffed ten stacks of money into his canvas bag, grinned, and said, "You guys hurry up and put it in the warehouse, I have to go."

Li Huaide turned and instructed, "Section Chief Lin, have Yu Li go out with Chief Engineer Li tomorrow to make a procurement trip. Your section should first receive 1,000 yuan as a petty fund, and then get the invoices for reimbursement when you return."

Li Weidong discreetly slipped seven black tens into Li Huaide's hand, not wanting the other man to have worked for nothing.

Li Huaide casually stuffed the money into his pocket, his movements so swift that no one noticed.

Just as Li Weidong was about to leave with his cart, Yu Li came running over.

"Brother Li, thank you."

Yu Li was beaming with excitement. "My position as team leader is secure, and I might even get promoted. I'll treat you to dinner tonight—"

She was quite clever; she immediately changed her address to "Brother Li."

"No need, I have dinner appointments with some directors tonight, I need to hurry back."

Li Weidong waved his hand and lowered his voice, "Oh, right, you take this."

He glanced around, and when no one was paying attention, he stuffed the seven large black ten bills into Yu Li's hand.

Yu Li quickly shook her head: "I can't accept it, Brother Li, you've already helped me so much, how can I take any more money—"

"Take this and buy some clothes."

Li Weidong interrupted her, "If you ever do this kind of work again, save up and buy a bicycle. Remember, don't tell anyone."

"I'm not stupid, I wouldn't say something like that."

Yu Li rolled her eyes coquettishly.

"Alright, I'm leaving now."

Li Weidong got into his car and drove off. Yu Li bit her lip, staring at his retreating figure with a sweet smile on her face.

As Li Weidong pedaled, he mentally calculated: this trip would net him nine hundred yuan. There would definitely be a next time for such a good deal; Li Huaide had tasted success and wouldn't let go.

The key is that the accounts are processed through Yu Li, which is a legitimate official procedure, and no one can find fault with it. We should continue doing this in the future. Keep all the chicken giblets and pig offal; they'll be a hit if we make them into braised dishes and sell them. We need to figure out how to do it.

When Li Weidong rode his bike to the entrance of the courtyard house, his large canvas bag now contained more chicken livers, gizzards, and a large piece of pork belly. A large rooster hung from the handlebars, along with several ribbonfish.

He pushed his cart into the courtyard, but didn't see the gatekeeper Yan Bugui today. He went around to the middle courtyard and found Yan Bugui standing there talking to Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai.

Li Weidong was taken aback; he hadn't expected these two to come out so quickly. It seemed they really weren't in any serious trouble; even if something had happened, the deaf old woman would probably have handled it all by herself.

When the people from the Intermediate People's Court saw Li Weidong, their expressions were all a bit off; they couldn't quite describe what they felt.

Qin Huairu was the first to rush over, her eyes red and her voice trembling, "Chief Engineer Li, thank you so much! You saved Huaihua's life! Huaihua, come quickly and kowtow to Engineer Li!"

Although Huaihua's complexion had improved somewhat, she was still listless, clearly frightened by what happened that morning.

Li Weidong waved his hand dismissively, saying, "No, no, no need to thank me. I was just saving someone; I would have done the same for anyone. Kowtowing isn't fashionable these days."

Huaihua stood in front of Li Weidong with her head down, clutching the hem of her clothes, at a loss for what to do.

Li Weidong shook his head, took out a few White Rabbit milk candies from his pocket, and stuffed them into Huaihua's hand.

"Alright, that's settled then."

After saying that, he pushed his bicycle and left, not giving Qin Huairu a chance to perform at all.