Era: A college student came to the courtyard house

After passing through the cart shop, we walked through a hanging flower gate.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a detached small courtyard house.

The bicycle shop's storefront was converted from a traditional house, and besides this entrance, there is another small door on the west side of the courtyard for entry and exit.

It can be considered a unique world.

Fang Yuan hadn't looked closely from outside and hadn't noticed it.

As he looked back and forth,

A woman in her forties suddenly came out of the house and stood at the door, calling out, "Xiao Fang, over here."

Fang Yuan looked closely and immediately called out softly, "Director Ye, what are you doing here?"

The visitor was Ye Xinying, the deputy director of their Jiaodaokou Subdistrict Office.

When the original owner was admitted to the Iron and Steel Institute, she was the one who led the people to her door when the neighborhood committee came to promote and report on her admission.

Since that first encounter, Ye Xinying would bring her high school daughter to Fang Yuan for help with her homework every winter and summer vacation.

She even invited the original owner to her house for dinner, but unfortunately, the original owner was introverted and didn't like socializing, so she never agreed.

Fang Yuan called out as he followed Ye Xinying into the room.

Upon entering the room, they found that Ye Xinying was not alone. Sun Daxing was also sitting calmly at the octagonal table, holding a teacup in his hands despite the hot weather.

On the octagonal table, three account books were prominently displayed.

Upon seeing Fang Yuan enter the room, Sun Daxing took a sip of tea and said, "You all know each other, right?"

Ye Xinying patted Fang Yuan's arm with a smile and praised him, "Fang and I are old acquaintances. The young man is well-known in our neighborhood for his intelligence, filial piety and good manners since childhood. When he was admitted to university, our neighborhood office even reported on it."

Ye Xinying had already learned Fang Yuan's position from Sun Daxing, and her tone was naturally more amiable and friendly than usual.

Is this talking about me?

Fang Yuan thought to himself, but laughed heartily and replied, "I'm just responding to your and the neighborhood's call. You've taught me since I was little that I should study hard so that I can contribute to the construction of our country in the future."

Ye Xinying glanced at Fang Yuan with a hint of surprise.

Smart people speak in a way that makes a difference.

She remembered the few times she had visited Fang Yuan before. Apart from helping her daughter with her homework, Fang Yuan either nodded or shook her head, her mouth as if it had been sewn shut.

Sun Daxing coughed, interrupting their business spiel, and said, "Sister, why don't we get down to business first?"

Hearing the title "elder sister" surprised Fang Yuan.

Normally, it's fine for neighbors to call each other "big sister," and it's also normal for strangers to greet each other with the same greeting. But knowing that Ye Xinying is the director of the street office and that Sun Daxing himself is the head of the supervision section, he still insisted on calling her "big sister."

Then there's a high probability that this woman is indeed a "big sister".

Ye Xinying nodded, and said as a last sentence, "Xiao Fang, you can come visit me more often when you have time."

Fang Yuan readily nodded.

This connection must not be broken. Putting aside everything else, if he buys a house in the future, he will have to go through the procedures with Ye Xinying.

Sun Daxing picked up the three account books and said to Fang Yuan, "Take a look at them yourself first."

Fang Yuan took the ledger, sat down in the chair, and immediately began to flip through the pages one by one.

Although they were called account books, Fang Yuan saw these three items more like diaries.

The contents are all about time, names, and types of goods sold.

Moreover, judging from the contents recorded inside, this is definitely not just one bicycle shop outside, but rather the sum of several shops.

At this point, Master Gong's identity became obvious; he was indeed an unofficial staff member of their inspection department.

"Don't worry about these names that aren't checked. They've all been verified by our neighborhood office. They're indeed having a tough time and often go hungry."

After seeing that Fang Yuan had finished looking through the materials, Ye Xinying took the initiative to explain: "Besides, what we sell are mostly steel scraps and waste materials, which are just leftovers. At most, we can only make a dollar or so a month."

Fang Yuan understood somewhat after hearing this.

Ultimately, these are the children and grandchildren of steel mill workers. As long as they don't undermine Zheng Ce's policies, the steel mill will turn a blind eye. This way, the vulnerable groups are taken care of, and the overall situation is maintained.

After a moment of silence, Fang Yuan followed up with, "What about those with red checkmarks?"

This time, it was Sun Daxing who spoke up. The old man's tone was extremely sinister: "There's no need to look anymore. You won't see these people again."

Ye Xinying added from the side: "These few people were simply throwing away their good life to sell gear parts or brand-new steel blocks, trying to take crooked paths to steal state property and undermine socialism. They're all already in jail."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yuan gasped in shock.

These unlucky fellows stole from the steel mill, then sold it back to the steel mill's headquarters. Now they're completely under their thumb.

Moreover, this car shop is probably not that simple; it may have arrested quite a few spies in the past.

Sun Daxing then continued, "I brought you here so that Master Wei would get to know you. This place only recognizes people, not people."

Fang Yuan understood.

That's why Sun Daxing went to see Wang Qingling before he left. Otherwise, a bicycle would have been a simple matter of him asking the logistics department for permission.

This means that Fang Yuan now has an additional source of information, allowing him to leverage this information gap to fully mobilize the people in his company.

This is indeed a common tactic used by leaders: leveraging information asymmetry to create their own authority.

"From now on, you need to pay special attention to newly emerging individuals, especially those that your older sister has confirmed are not on the list of people in need. Once you find them, do you know what to do?"

Fang Yuan glanced at Ye Xinying, then thought of his responsibilities in the inspection department.

With an even colder tone than Sun Daxing had just used, he said firmly and decisively, "Let's follow the clues and first investigate whether anyone is secretly taking care of us."

Upon hearing this, Sun Daxing glanced at Fang Yuan.

good boy.

The reaction was quite quick.

Seeing that Fang Yuan had grasped the meaning on his own, Sun Daxing did not offer any further reminders.

After taking the roster, Sun Daxing pointed to one of the people on it: Niu Dazhuang.

"Make a note of the dates he recently came here, and keep a close eye on him when you get back."

Fang Yuan nodded, and then began to check the number of times Niu Dazhuang had come to sell recently.

According to the records, Niu Dazhuang started selling in June, and did so three times in total. Twice of those sales, he even sold gear parts.

Each time, it adds up to ten or twenty yuan.

This is no small sum of money. Sun Daxing specifically asked him to keep an eye on Niu Dazhuang, probably because he realized that Niu Dazhuang had someone backing him up. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to leave the gate so easily once or twice. Did those security personnel really not check him even once?

Or perhaps someone suggested or made arrangements to deliberately avoid checking Niu Dazhuang.

These are the key points that Fang Yuan needs to investigate next.

After instructing Fang Yuan to stay inside for a while, Sun Daxing and Ye Qunfang went outside.

About half an hour passed.

Just as Fang Yuan was feeling utterly bored, Sun Daxing returned alone through the small west gate.

After greeting him upon entering the house, Fang Yuan didn't ask where he had gone and simply followed Sun Daxing out of the bicycle shop.

Outside the car shop, Mr. Gong had already returned from the police station.

After getting their work permits back, the two didn't waste any more time. They each got on a bicycle and sped away.

After riding a few dozen meters, Sun Daxing suddenly asked, "Xiao Fang, why don't you ask me and Sister Ye what we went out to do?"

Fang Yuan chuckled and said, "I know these rules. When the leader goes out on business, just listen to what the leader says, and never ask questions if the leader doesn't say anything."

"You little rascal, you're really clever." Sun Daxing chuckled and scolded, but he was actually quite satisfied.

On the way, Sun Daxing, in a good mood, introduced Ye Qunfang's identity to Fang Yuan.

He was right; this female director was the one who had taken a photo with Deng's mother.

She had previously served as a support worker in the front lines, and her husband was the deputy district head of their Dongcheng District.

Fang Yuan listened quietly as he rode his bicycle, but secretly made a mental note of what he heard.

Suddenly, Fang Yuan caught sight of a grocery store by the roadside.

He immediately slammed on the brakes, braced himself with one foot on the ground, and called out to Sun Daxing beside him, "Section Chief, please wait a moment, I'll go buy some oranges."

It's working hours now, and there are hardly any people in the grocery store, except for a few sales clerks chatting and joking around.

As Fang Yuan entered the door, a female sales clerk immediately broke away from the chattering crowd, quickly walked to the counter in front of Fang Yuan, and stared intently at him.

Fang Yuan took out the fruit coupon and one yuan that Sun Daxing had given him and bought two jin of oranges. Since he didn't bring a bag, he spent an extra fen to buy two net bags.

"You little rascal, you're acting like I'm trying to take advantage of you," Sun Daxing said chuckled as he saw Fang Yuan hang a pound of oranges on his handlebars.

"No way, I'm just taking advantage of you. Consider it my way of showing respect to you, and it's a way for me to indulge in my cravings when I'm not smoking," Fang Yuan said, gripping the handlebars with both hands and without turning his head.

Seeing how efficiently Fang Yuan handled things, Sun Daxing decided not to stand on ceremony.