Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

The train stopped at Beijing Station at six o'clock the next morning.

Lee Jin-young leaned against the train window, looking at the unfamiliar platform outside.

After a bumpy night's journey, my body was a little sore, but no one complained. Being able to eat a full meal and have a place to sit and sleep was already a blessing. Last night's meal was satisfying; I wasn't hungry, so I felt at ease.

Gradually, activity began to stir inside the carriage. Some people spoke in hushed tones, while others peered out. People came and went on the platform, and staff in clean uniforms moved about, all in perfect order, just like on the border.

Lee Jin-young watched for a while, then looked away. Across from her, Kim Hee was still asleep, a little drool at the corner of her mouth, sleeping soundly. She had eaten two steamed buns and drunk hot water last night, and had slept until now.

Liu Jie, the train attendant with a round face, walked over from the other end of the carriage, carrying a small cloth bag in her hand.

"Awake?" she asked Lee Jin-young with a smile.

Li Zhenying nodded: "Good morning, train attendant Sister Liu."

Train attendant Sister Liu called Li Zhenying to the train attendant's room, took something out of a small cloth bag and handed it to her: "Take this, I'm afraid you'll go hungry."

When Li Zhenying opened it, she found several eggs, which were brownish in color and had a peculiar aroma.

"This is……"

"Tea eggs," said Sister Liu, the train attendant. "They're boiled with tea leaves and soy sauce. Try some."

Li Zhenying picked one up, peeled off the shell, and took a bite. The egg white was flavorful, and the yolk was soft and fragrant, completely different from the boiled eggs she made at home.

Looking at the eggs in her hand, she suddenly asked, "Train conductor Liu, isn't tea a very expensive thing?"

Train attendant Sister Liu was taken aback.

Li Zhenying said softly, "When my father was alive, he had some tea leaves that he cherished. He would only use a little each time he drank tea. He said it was a good thing."

Train attendant Sister Liu laughed and patted her on the shoulder: "That was in the past. Now this kind of thing is very common here. Just eat it, it's not expensive."

Li Zhenying didn't say anything more. She looked down at the tea egg in her hand, feeling a mix of emotions.

What I consider precious is quite ordinary here.

The train has been stopped for a long time and hasn't started moving.

Lee Jin-young glanced out the window, then at the clock in the carriage. It was almost seven o'clock.

Train attendant Sister Liu came over from the other end of the carriage and quickly asked, "Train attendant Sister Liu, wasn't the train supposed to depart at six o'clock? Shouldn't meals be served at this time?"

Train attendant Sister Liu waved her hand: "There are temporary carriages that need to be attached, so you'll have to wait a bit. The meals have been prepared long ago, and they'll be served as soon as the train departs."

Ten minutes later, the train finally started moving again.

Train attendant Sister Liu pushed the cart over. The large bucket contained steaming hot corn porridge, the basket held two kinds of steamed buns, and there was also a bowl of pickled vegetables and shredded pork, along with some pickled radish.

"Come on, eat while it's hot." Train attendant Sister Liu instructed Li Zhenying to help her serve meals to the female workers, calling out as she served, "One serving per person, come and get more if you need more."

After serving everyone their meals, Li Zhenying returned to her seat. At the company commander's call, "Let's eat!"

Li Zhenying held her lunchbox, drank corn porridge, and ate a steamed bun, feeling a little more at ease.

While we were eating, we suddenly heard a noise from the front of the carriage.

Li Zhenying looked up and saw several people walking over from the other end of the carriage.

Leading the group was a young woman in military uniform, standing ramrod straight. Behind her were two soldiers, dressed in uniforms with mottled patterns and wearing unusual armor belts, their hands gripping guns in front of their chests, their expressions serious.

The carriage fell silent.

The female officer walked from the train conductor to the company commander, said something, and then the company commander asked in Korean, "Is there anyone here named Lee Jin-young?"

No one dared to answer.

Lee Jin-young was curious, but didn't raise her hand immediately because there are too many people with the same name in Korean.

The translator continued to ask the question, alternating between Korean and Chinese.

Lee Jin-young raised her hand and said, "Reporting, my name is Lee Jin-young."

Train attendant Sister Liu quickly inquired of the female officer, "This girl is very diligent, she's helped me with a lot of things, and she's also very kind..."

The female officer smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's good news. It seems to be related to one of the commander's old subordinates. The commander sent me to look for him."

Only then did the train attendant, Sister Liu, feel relieved.

Lee Jin-young was taken to the back carriage.

This carriage is different from the ones before it; it's much quieter and has fewer people.

Two guards stood at the door, and the female officer walked ahead, pushed open a door, and gestured for her to go in.

Inside sat a young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, dressed casually, with a teacup in front of him.

A middle-aged man in uniform sat next to her, looking somewhat reserved. Li Zhenying recognized the man as the commander of her regiment; he was the one who had spoken and read out the rules before she boarded the truck.

Lee Jin-young stood at the door, unsure whether she should go in.

The young man looked up at her, smiled, and waved, "Come in, have a seat."

She went inside and sat down on a chair nearby.

The young man spoke up, and what he said surprised her:

Do you understand Chinese?

Lee Jin-young nodded. "My father taught me some things, but I'm not very proficient."

"Your father was quite familiar with one of my subordinates back then."

I saw it while researching, and the report was sent to me asking me to take care of it. Do you have any requests or needs right now?

Li Zhenying was stunned. Her father... her father was gone. During the war, everything was gone.

She lowered her head and said softly, "The country arranged for us to come here, so I don't have any particular thoughts about it."

The young man nodded, didn't ask her any more questions, but turned to look at the middle-aged man next to him.

"Your junior company commanders," the young man said calmly, "are indeed a bit harsh on your employees. Some train conductors have already complained to their superiors. Coincidentally, the train conductor of this train was a soldier in my guard battalion back then, so when I saw him before boarding the train today, he reported it to me."

The regimental commander's expression changed, but he didn't dare to reply.

The young man continued, "But I can understand—it's only right that working abroad involves strict, militarized management."

He paused for a moment.

"However, there are some things you may not have noticed."

"Several female workers had diarrhea last night and tried to endure it. It was only after the train staff noticed that they were given medicine. They wouldn't dare tell you about this, and you wouldn't have found out anyway."

The regimental commander's face darkened further.

The young man waved his hand: "I need to arrange a worker representative to specifically collect these needs. For example, whether there are enough toilets, whether it's possible to get medicine in time when feeling unwell—these are small things that you can't manage, but the representative can."

The regimental commander nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes."

Lee Jin-young listened quietly from the side, feeling a little curious.

The young man turned to her,

"This train will be organized into a regiment, and Li Zhenying, you will be the worker representative for this regiment. You will be responsible for collecting the female workers' true thoughts and needs and reporting directly to Ye Juan."

He pointed to the female officer standing at the door—it turned out her name was Ye Juan.

"Ye Juan will show you around the work. Your team leader is here too; you can contact him if you need anything, or you can contact Ye Juan directly."

Then the young man said to the regimental commander, "When you arrive at your destination, you need to be careful. The northwest area is an agricultural reclamation area, a desolate wilderness. We are still in the construction phase, with a small population and no cities yet. It is absolutely safe inside the camp, but it is uncertain once you leave the camp."

The middle-aged man immediately replied, "Understood. If Comrade Li Zhenying needs to go out on business, I will send guards to accompany her."

As Li Zhenying stepped out of the carriage, she was still somewhat dazed.

Ye Juan walked beside her, her tone calm: "If anything happens in the future, just tell me. Don't be afraid, take it slow."

Lee Jin-young nodded.

Back in her compartment, Jinxi was still sitting there. Seeing her return, she quickly asked, "What happened?"

Lee Jin-young shook her head and didn't say anything more.

Outside the window, the train continued westward. The sun had risen high, casting a golden glow over the wilderness.

She recalled what the young man had said earlier—"workers' representative."

She didn't know what this "representative" was supposed to do. But she knew that from today onward, she and her sisters might really be different from before.

Meanwhile, Zhao Ping'an saw the system notification that the task was completed and subconsciously twitched the corner of his mouth. "As expected of the multiverse world," he thought, "I even ran into a main character from a TV series here. But this reward... well, it's better than nothing."

Rewind to an hour earlier, just as Zhao Ping'an's special train carriage and the carriage where his guards were attached to this train, Zhao Ping'an saw a sudden system notification.

[Ding, detected that the host is about to encounter Lee Jin-young, the main character of the TV series "The 38th Parallel". Temporary mission issued]

[Arranging work for Lee Jin-young earned her her gratitude.]

[Reward: Integration of the system's multilingual translation module]

[Note: After the multilingual translation module is integrated, the system can translate any language content heard by the host with an accuracy rate of 99.99%.]

Lee Jin-young's information is as follows...

So, Zhao Ping'an, thinking of the free mission reward—though somewhat useless, but perhaps useful someday—quickly created a subordinate based on the information.

Ye Juan was asked to ask Li Zhenying to come and, in front of the head of the Republic's delegation on the train, arrange a job for her.

Although the assignment was given casually, Zhao Ping'an realized it might prove useful later, given that it was under the command of a regimental commander appointed by the Republic.

They were already somewhat harsh on female workers, let alone the other two factions. This could be a good breakthrough point in the future.

It's a pity that Hsu Chung-yi had just gone to the Far East and hadn't returned yet; otherwise, he might have been able to make some gains as soon as the laborers arrived.

After all, the current train conductor and former bodyguard reported more than just those things to him; there was also a conflict that Zhao Ping'an hadn't mentioned.

Many of the female factory commanders in North Crea, despite being women themselves, also committed the "evil act" of randomly drawing their guns and shooting female workers. A conflict arose just after crossing the border when Republic soldiers tried to stop them from shooting female workers.

Zhao Ping'an was genuinely surprised by their disregard for human life. The other party's bottom line was clearly lower than he had imagined, which meant that they might be able to execute his plan more quickly.