Courtyard House: My Time Travel is a Bit Too Strong

"With your skills, you're sure to have a good day today; you'll bring up at least a dozen kilograms," Lin Quan said with a smile, flattering him.

The old man quickly calculated in his mind—if the fish sold well, this little bit of money wouldn't be a loss—and then reluctantly took out a dollar.

"Uncle, if you only use bait but don't create a feeding area, the fish won't bite. Here's five cents for you." Lin Quan waved the fried dough in his hand.

The old man sighed and took out another five cents.

The bait, with its secret medicinal powder added, was indeed potent; in less than two hours, the bamboo basket was overflowing.

Fishing with earthworms in winter often results in empty hooks for half a day; but this river is so fertile that it has no shortage of crucian carp, carp, silver carp, and bighead carp.

We use a well-established brand of bait that has been proven in the market for many years, and add a few spoonfuls of our unique additives. Fish will be eager to bite the hook, which goes without saying.

Seeing the old man approaching with his basket, Lin Quan looked up and smiled, "What's up?"

The old man rubbed his hands together, stammering, "Ah Quan, I need to discuss something with you..."

"Speak your mind." Lin Quan's smile remained unchanged.

"Could I borrow your nylon bag?"

"Uncle, this is the only bag I have. Live, jumping fish are twice as expensive as dead fish with their bellies up," Lin Quan said tactfully, declining the offer.

The old man had no choice but to leave dejectedly, carrying his basket full of spoils.

Lin Quan fished until 11:30 a.m. before leisurely packing up his rod and loading it into his car.

Sixty-two catties of fresh fish sold for nineteen yuan and forty cents—that's about the monthly wage for the lowest-level worker at the Third Machinery Factory.

When I got home, I stopped by Earth for lunch and casually picked up a live grass carp weighing a little over five pounds.

As he was tidying up, he suddenly heard a burst of cheerful laughter coming from outside the courtyard. Lin Quan pushed open the door and strolled out.

Qin Huairu was standing at the Jia family's door chatting with a country girl of about eighteen or nineteen.

"Sister Qin, who is this?" Lin Quan approached with a smile.

"My cousin, Qin Jingru." Qin Huairu pointed to the girl beside her, then gestured with her chin toward Lin Quan, "She lives in the courtyard, Lin Quan."

"Hello!" Qin Jingru's eyes curved into crescent moons, and her voice was crisp and clear.

"Hello." Lin Quan nodded and smiled. The girl was wearing a faded coarse cotton-padded jacket. She was plump, but her face was extremely beautiful—her eyebrows and eyes were bright, and her skin was as delicate as a freshly peeled egg. She was definitely a beautiful girl raised in a mountain valley.

"Yuzhu is back, shall we go and see him?" Qin Huairu clapped her hands.

"Sister Qin, Jingru, you're busy, I won't bother you." Lin Quan tactfully stepped back a few paces.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Qin Jingru had just come out of the Jia family's courtyard when Xu Damao suddenly intercepted her from the side.

Seeing this, Lin Quan walked over unhurriedly, his tone light: "Jingru, don't believe his nonsense. Yuzhu is a very honest person."

"Ah Quan, you should think carefully before you say that—who in the Siheyuan doesn't know him? Behind his back, they all call him 'Silly Pillar'?" Xu Damao said with a forced smile.

"Da Mao, I've never called him that. You and Yu Zhu have been at odds for a long time, it would be really strange if you didn't say anything bad about him." Lin Quan didn't even blink.

Qin Jingru grew up in the village and had little experience of the world. She was easily confused by Xu Damao's words.

Lin Quan knew in his heart that if he could win this girl's heart, he would live a comfortable life from now on—someone would wash his clothes, cook his meals, and listen to him, making his heart warm and cozy.

This girl is not only outstanding in appearance, but also quick and agile. Growing up in the countryside, she has honed her skills by the stove, pigsty, and field ridges.

Seeing Lin Quan standing there motionless, Xu Damao frowned, snorted, and had no choice but to turn around and leave dejectedly.

"Brother Quan, I'm going to my sister's place now." Qin Jingru tiptoed, her voice soft.

"Don't listen to him, he and Yuzhu have a long-standing feud..." Lin Quan whispered a warning.

If Qin Jingru really gets together with He Yuzhu, he will never interfere.

His predecessor and Yuzhu were like brothers, so he couldn't bring himself to steal someone else's wife.

But if the two don't end up together, Lin Quan doesn't intend to give the opportunity to someone else.

What men dream of in a wife is someone honest, kind-hearted, and easy to control, right? Qin Jingru is exactly that kind of person—naive, unguarded, and always speaking the truth.

At twenty-five, with a strong and healthy physique and a strikingly beautiful appearance, who could possibly sit still in the face of such a girl?

For the next few days, Lin Quan simply stopped touching his fishing rod and spent his days staking out the Jia family's house.

Whenever Xu Damao leaned close to Qin Jingru to whisper something, he would immediately sway over and subtly expose her flaws.

"Brother Quan, I heard you can catch fifty or sixty catties of fish a day?" Qin Jingru looked up, her eyes shining.

"Who spread it?" Lin Quan raised an eyebrow.

"Yuzhu said it! He said all the fish you caught were sent to their factory canteen." She nodded seriously.

"It was just a coincidence those two days; everyone was in the same group, and we bumped into each other," Lin Quan said with a smile.

"Can you take me fishing tomorrow?" she asked, clutching the hem of her clothes, her voice growing softer and softer.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you at the entrance at six o'clock tomorrow morning," Lin Quan readily agreed.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Qin Huairu accompanied Qin Jingru over.

Lin Quan had already prepared several handfuls of fragrant bait. He carried a bamboo basket on his back, a nylon bag on his shoulder, two fishing rods on his shoulder, and pushed his bicycle with Qin Jingru on the back, heading straight to the riverbank.

"Brother Quan, you...don't you have to go to work?" she asked softly from the back seat.

"My job is fishing—as long as there are enough fish, life is stable," Lin Quan said with a smile as he turned around.

"That's true." She nodded, believing it to be true.

Upon reaching the riverbank, the two sat down, spaced two or three steps apart.

Lin Quan used an iron spade to break the ice and made two holes. He handed her a pole and cast one out himself.

"Brother Quan! I've hooked it!" She pulled hard, and the tip of the rod trembled.

"Wow, a carp, weighing just over two pounds, that's impressive!"

Before 10:30, the bamboo baskets were piled up to overflowing, and no more could be stuffed in.

She rode her bike to the machinery factory, sold the fish, and counted out nineteen yuan and fifty cents. Lin Quan immediately took out five yuan and stuffed it into her hand.

For him, this amount of money was nothing.

But for Qin Jingru, five yuan was half a year's worth of oil and salt money for her family.

She had earned such a large sum of money in just half a day. She held the money in a daze for a while, then lowered her head and chuckled to herself, her ears turning bright red.

Lin Quan paused for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke up: "Jingru, if you don't have feelings for Yuzhu, then talk to him face to face. He's not stupid, he's just clumsy with words and too passionate. If you don't point it out... he might stay clueless for the rest of his life."

"Brother Quan," she tilted her head, looking completely bewildered, "what's 'IQ'? And what's 'EQ'?"

"The higher your IQ, the sharper your mind; as for EQ, it's basically your ability to handle emotions," Lin Quan explained casually.

"Oh, I'll talk to Yuzhu about it when he gets back." Qin Jingru smiled.

The two walked back to the courtyard house and parted ways once they entered the central courtyard.

As Lin Quan lay down on the bed, images of Qin Huairu's tall and shapely figure would float into his mind, followed by Qin Jingru's lively and bright smiling face.