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

"I'm moving the eight-immortal table, as well as my old desk, wardrobe, and boxes from my bedroom tomorrow at noon."

"Clean up the house properly and go find Xiaojuan. She's willing to settle down with Liu Guangqi, so you're even more of a good match."

"You two will definitely be promoted to the next level after the assessment next Monday. Twenty-seven yuan and fifty cents a month is more than enough to support two people."

Yan Jiefang perked up: "Yes, yes, no problem."

"You guys drink slowly, I'm going to sleep."

Li Weidong finished speaking and left.

Only Yan Jiefang and Liu Guangtian remained in the room.

"Old Liu, Brother Dong is trying to turn the Liu family and the Yan family against each other."

Yan Jiefang lowered his voice.

Liu Guangtian clicked his tongue, his face full of confidence: "Is there any need to say more? If it weren't for Brother Dong's help, where would we find such a bargain? No matter where Brother Dong got his goods, they're a real bargain in our hands."

Yan Jiefang nodded in agreement, his eyes shining: "I don't just want to take the benefits; I also want to hone my skills under Brother Dong's guidance. I hope to get rid of the second-level worker title by the end of this year."

At 7:30 a.m. sharp, Li Weidong pushed open the door and went out. Old Qian was already waiting in the yard with his men, busy moving things out.

Lin Yurou picked up Xiaoxi from the house. The little one was still asleep. She gently placed the child on Li Weidong's bed, then glanced back at the yard. The furniture from the three rooms was neatly arranged on the open ground. Before leaving, Li Weidong had instructed that Yan Jiefang would be back at noon, and that he could take whatever he wanted.

Li Weidong pushed his bicycle onto the bike and silently said, "System, sign in."

A mechanical female voice, devoid of any emotion, announced: "Check-in successful! Host has received thirty large yellow croakers and one hundred large black eleven cards!"

The voice was simple and direct, but the content left Li Weidong's mind reeling.

One large yellow croaker weighs 321.5 grams. With gold currently priced at six yuan per gram, one large yellow croaker is worth over 1,900 yuan. Thirty of them would amount to nearly 60,000 yuan.

If this were in later generations, based solely on the price of gold, it would be worth close to four million. If you also consider the collectible value of the artifacts, the figure would be even more staggering.

In those days of scarcity, thirty large yellow croakers were a windfall. As for the thousand yuan note, Li Weidong didn't care at all.

He walked to the gate and saw a black sedan parked by the roadside in the distance. Lou Hongyi was standing next to the car, waving at him.

Lou Xiao'e and Tan Yumei climbed out of the back seat.

"Mr. Li, we'll be on our way now."

Lou Hongyi nodded to Li Weidong, "See you in Hong Kong sometime."

"Wei Dong, you absolutely have to come."

Lou Xiao'e couldn't hide the reluctance in her eyes.

Standing to the side, Tan Yumei watched her daughter's expression and sighed inwardly. As a mother, how could she not see that her daughter had her eye on that handsome young man? But the thought of Xiao'e's divorce brought a pang of bitterness to Tan Yumei's heart. She knew that her daughter's little crush was likely to be unsuccessful.

After Li Weidong pulled Lou Xiao'e out of the mud, his image was etched in her heart, and now that image is becoming clearer and heavier.

Li Weidong raised his eyebrows, his smile revealing a hearty spirit: "Don't worry, Sister E, I might go there within a month."

That smile was as pure as the sunlight on a face, and Lou Xiao'e felt her heart light up instantly.

"Let's go, Xiao'e!"

Lou Hongyi urged, "If we dawdle any longer, we'll miss our flight."

"Huh, you're traveling by plane?"

Li Weidong was a little surprised.

"It was arranged by the top leader."

Lou Hongyi said, "It's fast; we'll get to Guangzhou very soon."

"Alright, then I wish you all the best on your journey!"

Li Weidong added with a smile, "There are different rules when flying; a tailwind can actually make it less stable."

Why do we have to go against the wind?

Lou Xiao'e looked puzzled.

Since her divorce and return to her parents' home, she's been like a different person, suddenly reverting to her former naive self. But some things are simply different from what they were a year ago.

"Stop dawdling, get in the car."

Lou Hongyi pulled her and shoved her into the car.

Just then, Xu Damao came out of the courtyard gate. As soon as he saw Lou Xiao'e, he rushed over, trembling violently with excitement.

"Moth! Moth! Are you reluctant to part with me...?"

Xu Damao shouted urgently.

Lou Xiao'e didn't even glance at him before getting into the car.

The car sped away, leaving Xu Damao standing there, inhaling a mouthful of exhaust fumes.

"That damned bastard!"

Sitting in the car, Lou Xiao'e gritted her teeth and cursed, "Letting him go like this is too easy on him."

"Just thinking about that long face makes me nauseous!"

She went through the materials Lou Hongyi had previously investigated about Xu Damao, and had thoroughly investigated the guy's background. This man was a gambler, a womanizer, and a womanizer; he was no good at anything.

"I've already arranged for someone to take one of his legs."

Lou Hongyi spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if commenting on the nice weather, "Trying to bully my daughter like this, do you really think the Lou family has no temper?"

Li Weidong rode his bicycle at a leisurely pace toward the factory. Xu Damao, on the other hand, floored the accelerator and sped toward the factory in his car. He habitually took the old road, a narrow dirt road lined with groves of trees on both sides, barely a meter wide.

He was preoccupied, as if half of his soul had left his body. A log, as thick as a bowl, lay across the roadside; by the time he noticed it, he was already right in front of it.

"Holy shit..."

Xu Damao frantically tried to stop the car, but the front wheel still ran over a piece of wood, causing the car to lurch violently and him to veer to the side.

"Oh dear..."

Xu Damao grimaced and yelled. Bicycles in those days were very heavy. Just as he was about to push the bike off him and get up, he saw two masked men, each carrying an iron pipe, rush out of the grove.

"Brother! Brother! Don't do it! I have over fifty yuan on me..."

Xu Damao reacted quickly, thinking he had been robbed. He immediately stopped moving and lay obediently on the ground.

He figured it must be that cunning old man Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman's doing. They gave them the money, and now they're trying to steal the five thousand five hundred back. But who would carry such a large sum of money on their person?

A masked man reached into Xu Damao's shirt pocket and pulled out fifty yuan. This was no small sum; a first-class fitter only earned twenty-seven yuan and fifty cents a month, and an apprentice earned even less, only eighteen yuan and fifty cents.

In the sweltering summer, when clothes are thin, it's easy to tell whether someone has something in their pockets.

Xu Damao always carried a full bag of money when he went out; it was an old habit. If he saw a pretty girl and wanted to flirt with her, how could he do it without money? He couldn't rely solely on his good looks.

Seeing the masked man take the money away, Xu Damao curled up in pain. He knew in his heart that he was no longer the person who relied on Lou Xiao'e for support and didn't have to worry about money.

He only earns about thirty yuan a month, and the only extra money he can make is by showing movies. But he has big expenses; he has to spend money to seduce those young widows and such.

Although he was heartbroken, Xu Damao still breathed a sigh of relief. He thought that once the two people took the money and left, they wouldn't bother him anymore.

At that moment, Xu Damao still had one leg dangling from the bicycle when he suddenly saw a masked man raise an iron pipe and smash it hard into his kneecap.

"Awooo—!"

Xu Damao's face flushed instantly, his eyes nearly popping out. His mouth gaped open, letting out a pig-like scream. But he only managed a few screams before the excruciating pain caused him to faint.

The two masked men disappeared into the roadside grove of trees in the blink of an eye.

When Li Weidong arrived at the steel rolling mill, the first thing he did was go to the infirmary. That was where his real work was. In his mind, the title of chief engineer was just a bonus.

The office had been tidied up spotlessly by the nurse. Li Weidong poured himself a cup of jasmine tea and had just sat down when he saw Ding Qiunan knocking on the open door.

"Dr. Ding."

Li Weidong asked with a smile, "Did you need something?"

"I'd like to ask you something."

A blush rose on Ding Qiunan's delicate face. "Do you think I'm capable of getting into university? I'd like to ask you for some tutoring..."

Ding Qiunan attended a nursing school after graduating from junior high school, but she always had a dream—to go to medical school.

"Study? Medical school?"

Li Weidong thought for a moment, "Then we'll need to prepare for another year."

"Well... my family background isn't very good."

Ding Qiunan was a little frustrated. "We need someone to vouch for us."

Li Weidong immediately understood. The tutoring was just a pretext; what Ding Qiunan really wanted was for him to vouch for her.

Ding Qiunan's father was a medical university professor, and her mother was also a highly educated intellectual. Unfortunately, their family background ruined their lives.

"Don't worry."

Li Weidong smiled and said, "Study hard, and I'll make arrangements for you to go to university. It'll definitely be no problem."

"By the way, how's your English? Many medical books are..."

Ding Qiunan's face lit up with surprise: "My English is pretty good, don't worry. I'll study hard, and I'm sure I'll pass the exam."

"Alright, get back to work."

Li Weidong nodded.

"Thank you, Section Chief Li!"

Ding Qiunan's clear, cool eyes were filled with gratitude. "Then I'll be going."

Li Weidong watched Ding Qiunan walk away, then picked up his enamel mug and took a sip of tea.

He thought to himself: I absolutely cannot let her stay here to study at university. In four years, it will be right around the corner for that major political movement. Tomorrow I have to send her to Hong Kong to study.

They sent her father away too. Once they get there, Old Ding can open a clinic; with his skills, he'll definitely have long lines of patients. He could also work at a big hospital.

When Li Weidong watched that TV series before, he felt it was a pity about Ding Qiunan. Such a good person, and in the end, she fell for Cui Dake.

He thought for a moment, then muttered again: "That bastard Cui Dake is still plotting something bad, he's going to make a move on Professor Ding and his wife. Fine, I'll meddle in this one more time."

Just as they were making plans, a series of ghostly wails suddenly came from ahead.

This commotion is all too familiar—Xu Damao.

"Oh, something happened?"

Li Weidong lifted the curtain and walked into the hall.

Then I saw Xu Damao lying on the examination bed, howling louder than a pig being slaughtered.

Four or five security guards stood around. The squad leader quickly came forward: "Chief Engineer Li, we found him during our patrol. This guy was unconscious on a path about a kilometer outside the factory, and his leg was broken, so we carried him here."

Xu Damao screamed at the top of his lungs, "I didn't fall! I was beaten! Someone did it dirty!"

"Give me a painkiller injection first."

Li Weidong frowned. "They scream like pigs being slaughtered."

He went over and examined the leg, clicking his tongue as he said, "If it was really from being beaten, then we'll have to call the police. Let me see the injury..."