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

Liu Guangfu tried to pick up a piece of stir-fried green peppers and dried tofu with his chopsticks, but was glared at by Liu Haizhong and stopped himself. He had no choice but to withdraw his hand and eat cornbread and pickled vegetables with Liu Guangtian.

Liu Guangtian was seething with anger and was just waiting to report to the steel rolling mill on Monday.

He'll be allocated housing as soon as he registers, and with that, he'll have the confidence to turn against Liu Haizhong. This family absolutely has to be broken up! Isn't it better to earn your own money and eat your own food?

After get off work, I can still do some bamboo weaving and make money. If I want to eat something nice, it's effortless.

As soon as Yan Jiefang returned to the Intermediate People's Court, he saw Qin Huairu, Sha Zhu, and Yi Zhonghai standing under the paulownia tree, whispering to each other.

Yi Zhonghai spotted him immediately and called out, "Yan Jiefang, come here!"

"Uncle, what can I do for you? I'm in a hurry to get home for dinner."

Yan Jiefang's face was full of disdain.

Sha Zhu's temper flared: "I told you to come over, so come over! What nonsense are you spouting? Are you looking for a fight? Why are you so foul-mouthed, telling Li Weidong about the stick incident!"

Yan Jiefang stood his ground this time: "Shazhu, what I said wasn't the truth? You want to hit me? Try touching me and I'll send you to jail right now!"

Yi Zhonghai's temples throbbed, and he felt uneasy.

He used to be the one who called the shots in this courtyard; it was like an iron barrel, he was the local tyrant.

When Li Weidong returned, he messed everything up. His ironclad rule was shattered into pieces.

Looking at Yan Jiefang, who was acting like a thorn in his side, Yi Zhonghai was at his wit's end. He knew that Yan Jiefang had definitely been led astray by Li Weidong.

Sha Zhu was speechless, his face instantly darkening as his anger flared: "Yan Jiefang, who do you think you are, to talk to me like that?"

He clenched his fist and shook it like a sandbag. Before, whenever he made that gesture, Yan Jiefang would have already tucked his tail between his legs and run far away.

This time, Yan Jiefang stood still, sneered, and didn't move an inch, just waiting for Sha Zhu to actually make a move.

Both Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai understood that if Sha Zhu dared to touch Yan Jiefang, the kid would immediately turn around and report it to the police. The old adage that "matters in the yard should be resolved in the yard" wouldn't sway him at all.

"Pillar, stop throwing punches all the time!"

Yi Zhonghai quickly grabbed Sha Zhu's arm, verbally stopping him, but his eyes conveyed a message—it's okay to take action, but there needs to be a reason.

"We're not playing anymore, are we? I'll be going then."

Yan Jiefang turned around and wanted to leave.

"Liberate my brothers..."

Qin Huairu's eyes reddened, tears welling up in them, her voice soft and sweet, "Our Jia family has never offended you, why do you insist on harming our Banggeng?"

"I'm just telling the truth."

Yan Jiefang turned around, his tone indifferent, "How did I harm him?"

"Jiefang, you used to be a good child. Don't follow outsiders and learn bad habits."

Yi Zhonghai first served a bowl of hot soup, his words carrying the air of a kind old man, "What's wrong? Tell me the truth, and the three of us old men will be able to help you sort things out..."

"Okay, okay, I'll be more careful next time."

Yan Jiefang gave a casual reply with a perfunctory smile on his face.

He already knew what was going on: once he got the housing allocation on Monday, he would treat what the old man said as nothing.

After Yan Jiefang finished speaking, he turned and left. Sha Zhu stood there, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Sir, what should we do now...?"

Qin Huairu bit her lip, her voice trembling with tears, "We can't let Bang Geng have a criminal record! We can't let Li Weidong report it to the police!"

"No, no."

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand, his tone still somewhat confident, "We'll hold a hospital-wide meeting later, at worst we'll just pay him for two chickens."

"That kid surnamed Yan needs to be taught a lesson."

Sha Zhu gritted his teeth, "Always calling the police, do they even respect the rules of this compound?"

He felt incredibly frustrated. If everyone learned Yan Jiefang's ways, how could he, a simpleton, continue to boss people around in the yard?

"I'll go talk to Lao Yan after the meeting."

Yi Zhonghai's eyes held a gloomy look.

Li Weidong was eating at home and poured himself a glass of Wuliangye liquor.

"Brother Dong, what are your plans to do about this?"

Lin Yurou asked in a low voice.

Xiao Xi tilted her head, while Xiaomi was biting hard on a crab leg, drool dripping down the corner of her mouth.

"deal with?"

Li Weidong took a sip of his drink and said slowly, "No rush to make a move. Those guys are under a lot of pressure right now. I bet they'll have a big meeting tonight to try and smooth things over."

Lin Yurou was silent for a few seconds before speaking: "Why don't we just make them pay compensation? It's just about a chicken; making a big fuss won't do you any good."

"That's true. It's a small matter. They're willing to admit their mistake, but I'm determined to hold it against them. I don't care what people in the yard think of me, but I need to leave some room for maneuver for the factory."

Li Weidong thought for a moment, "Let that ingrate off this time, it's too easy for him."

"He'll definitely do it again. We'll settle all the old scores then."

He Yushui peeled open a crab leg and held the meat to Xiao Xi's mouth: "Bang Geng steals things, it's all because of Sha Zhu's spoiling. It will only get more and more outrageous in the future."

"Rain, you're really clear-headed."

Li Weidong's casual remark left Lin Yurou and He Yushui stunned for several seconds before they reacted.

"Xiaorou, get me a pair of scissors. Xiaoxi's teeth can't take it chewing on such hard shells."

With the scissors handed to him, Li Weidong cut off both ends of the crab legs in front of Xiaoxi, then poked them in with chopsticks, and the snow-white crab meat fell out.

"Brother, that's a great idea!"

Xiao Xi grinned foolishly, grabbed her chopsticks, poked out a piece of meat, and stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes full of satisfaction.

Just as Li Weidong finished his meal and was about to write something, a loud shout, like a broken gong, came from the middle courtyard.

He picked up a stool, took Xiaoxi's hand, and walked outside. Xiaoxi was still clutching two hawthorns in her hand, her little belly round and full, and she insisted on coming along to see the excitement.

The general assembly of the entire court is, frankly speaking, a place for children to run wild and for idle middle-aged women to join in the fun. Otherwise, if each family only sent one representative, how could the court be so full?

"Xiao Xi, come here!"

Lou Xiao'e waved in this direction.

Xiao Xi pulled Li Weidong over, sat down next to Lou Xiao'e, stuffed a hawthorn into her hand, and leaned against Lou Xiao'e, refusing to let go.

"Xu Damao hasn't returned from his rural assignment?"

Li Weidong asked casually.

"Yeah, I'm not going back tonight."

Lou Xiao'e answered casually, but as soon as she said it, she felt something was off—it sounded like she was implying something.

The thought made Lou Xiao'e's cheeks flush. She stole a glance at Li Weidong and found him staring at Yi Zhonghai.

Lou Xiao'e felt a little more at ease, but when she caught a glimpse of Li Weidong's well-defined profile out of the corner of her eye, a strange and indescribable feeling welled up inside her.

"The meeting has started, everyone be quiet."

Yi Zhonghai tapped the table. "Today we're going to talk about the 'stick joke' thing."

"He stole Li Weidong's chicken, roasted it, and ate it. Don't be naughty like that again, understand?"

"Qin Huairu, take the chicken to Li Weidong and apologize, and give him the money back."

Yi Zhonghai preemptively laid things out to shut Li Weidong up and see how he could continue to harp on it.

Bang Geng initially wanted to remain stubborn, but then he realized that he wouldn't be able to hide it when the police arrived, and they would find out the truth in just a few questions, so he decided to just admit it.

"Brother Weidong, I'm so sorry, the child is really hungry..."

Qin Huairu's eyes reddened, tears welled up, and looked like they were about to fall.

Li Weidong stood up and coldly interrupted her: "Who's your brother? Watch your mouth."

He glanced at Banggeng and scoffed, "You say the child is hungry? Look at his physique, what starving child grows up like that?"

Only then did the people in the courtyard turn their attention back to Banggeng.

Yes, what child doesn't get enough to eat and can get this fat?

Back then, all the other kids were as skinny as bamboo poles, but he was chubby-cheeked and had a round face.

"Xiao Wei, Qin Huairu has already apologized to you. How much was the chicken? Let her pay you back. You're neighbors in the same courtyard, let's just let this go."

Yi Zhonghai stepped in to smooth things over.

"Yi Zhonghai, you think you're so great?"

Li Weidong sneered, "You think you can decide what's going on with me? Who gave you that right?"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Weidong, at our age, isn't it inappropriate for you to call people by their first names? Back at the factory, didn't you still call him Engineer Yi?"

Yan Bugui chimed in, "We're all neighbors, there's no need to make a scene. Just make them pay compensation and that's it."

He wanted to give Yi Zhonghai face so that he could put in a good word for him when it came to job openings.

"Yan Bugui, who do you think you are?"

Li Weidong curled his lip. "You lost a penny and turned the whole yard upside down. Now that it's someone else's business, you suddenly want to talk about neighborly affection?"

Yan Bugui was so choked up that he couldn't say a word.

"So what exactly do you want?"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned ashen. "Is this all you want to do? Send Bang Geng to a juvenile detention center?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi immediately exploded, threw herself to the ground, kicked her legs wildly, and began to sing while crying and howling.

"Old Jia! Come up here! Someone's trying to bully your grandson! Take him away right away! Dongxu, my son, come up here too—"

She rolled on the ground like a donkey, and everyone around her kept their distance.

Yi Zhonghai, his head throbbing from her nagging, slammed his hand on the table: "Jia Zhangshi! If you keep promoting feudal superstitions, I'll call the neighborhood committee over right now!"

Jia Zhangshi shuddered, scrambled to her feet, and sat back down on the stool, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Li Weidong, you can't call the police."

Yi Zhonghai adopted a righteous tone, "If we call the police, we'll lose our 'Advanced Unit' plaque. We rely on this plaque to distribute meat coupons at the end of the year."

He paused, then emphasized, "If you insist on calling the police, I won't stop you, but if the car gets lost, you'll be responsible."

Li Weidong clapped his hands, a smile on his face: "Well done, you guys really know how to do it. Yi Zhonghai, are you using the whole hospital to put pressure on me? But you've all got one thing wrong—did you lose the key to the advanced evaluation because of me? You're just trying to steal a chicken!"

"They stole my chickens. Master Yi, you're really good at twisting the facts."

"Taking something without asking is stealing. Bang Geng is a thief!"

Li Weidong made the final decision, sealing the deal on this matter.

Qin Huairu cried, her face streaked with tears: "How can you scold a child like that? He's just naughty, are you trying to drive us, a widow and her child, to our deaths?"

"Li Weidong, if this really results in someone dying, you won't get away with it!"

Sha Zhu trembled with heartache when he saw Qin Huairu crying like this.