Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 10 The Abacus Master

hiss!
Is there such a good thing?
Originally, Li Hongbing thought that this system could only help him gain experience, improve his abilities, and grow quickly.

I never expected that leveling up my skills would unlock rewards.

This is great.

It truly is a case of Heaven rewarding diligence!

What surprised Li Hongbing the most was the system space that was unlocked along with the rewards.

Upon inspection, Li Hongbing discovered that the system space was as large as a football field, containing a bag of rice and one hundred RMB notes worth 10,000 each, which the system had just rewarded him with.

One million yuan sounds like a huge sum of money, and it certainly is a huge sum of money for Li Hongbing now, but it is definitely not the one million yuan in the concept of later generations.

At that time, the first set of RMB banknotes was still in use.

Affected by the hyperinflation caused by the war, this set of RMB has a very wide range of denominations, from one yuan to fifty thousand yuan, and is the only set of RMB that includes a denomination of ten thousand yuan.

However, the 50,000 RMB denomination had not yet been issued in 1952. It wasn't until around the end of 1953 that the largest denomination was 10,000 RMB.

These days, a bag of rice can cost tens of thousands of yuan, which sounds incredibly extravagant.

In reality, 10,000 yuan today is equivalent to one yuan in the second edition of RMB issued in 1955.

even so.

This million yuan is more than half a year's total income for him, after all, Li Hongbing's current monthly apprentice salary is only 150,000 yuan.

"The chicken soup is ready. You can have some first. I'll stir-fry the vegetables right away and reheat the steamed buns we made this morning. Then we can eat."

Just as Li Hongbing was immersed in joy, Li Hongmei's voice rang out, pulling him back to reality.

Li Hongmei is very diligent and a skilled worker. In the past, in order to allow Li Hongbing to focus on his studies, she took care of almost all the housework and rarely let him lift a finger. She still does the same now.

have to say.

Although he was born into an ordinary family, Li Hongbing had been sheltered from the wind and rain by Li Fushun in the past, and now he has his older sister Li Hongmei taking care of everything, so he has hardly suffered any hardship.

After taking the bowl of chicken soup, Li Hongbing didn't rush to pick up his chopsticks. Instead, he said, "I'm not hungry right now. Let's drink it together later."

In this era, meat was rarely seen on the dinner table. Li Hongbing knew the value of this bowl of chicken soup and did not intend to enjoy it all by himself.

Li Hongmei understood what her younger brother meant, but reminded him, "Hongbing, you are a patient now and need nutrition. This chicken soup is specially made for you to help you recover."

"Sister, I'm working now and I get a salary every month. It's not as much as yours, but our lives will get better and better. We'll share the good times together, so you don't need to shortchange yourself."

Putting yourself in someone else's shoes and treating them with sincerity, Li Hongbing is not an ungrateful person.

He will treat those who are good to him even better.

Just as he said.

With his arrival, their lives will only go up, not down.

In the end, Li Hongmei couldn't persuade him otherwise, and the two of them drank chicken soup together, feeling very sweet inside.

Not long after the meal, Xu Damao came over to announce that a general meeting of the entire court would be held at the Intermediate People's Court.

"Another big meeting? What's going on?"

In the afternoon, Yi Zhonghai failed to start the meeting. Li Hongbing thought it was over, but he didn't expect this to happen, so he directly expressed his dissatisfaction.

"I don't know, just go, why ask so many questions?"

Xu Damao glanced at Li Hongbing, said this, and ran off to notify the next household.

Xu Damao is only fifteen years old now, a year younger than Li Hongbing, and a bit rebellious.

Xu Damao was naturally dissatisfied with Li Hongbing.

After all, his father, Xu Fugui, was one of the caretakers of the compound.

Today, Li Hongbing's outburst, whether intentional or unintentional, has implicated Xu Fugui, bringing trouble to their home.

Having clearly considered these points, Li Hongbing didn't pay much attention to Xu Damao's attitude. However, Li Hongbing wasn't particularly worried either.

After what happened this afternoon, he didn't believe that Yi Zhonghai was so stubborn as to dare to do anything else.

As for Xu Fugui...

This matter actually has little to do with him.

Moreover, Li Hongbing wasn't targeting him personally, so he didn't need to make enemies by deliberately going against Li Hongbing.

"Sis, I'll go later, you can rest at home."

To attend the hospital-wide meeting, each household only needs to send one person as a representative; not the entire household needs to participate. So Li Hongbing said this directly to Li Hongmei.

"I'll go with you!"

Li Hongmei is really worried because Li Hongbing offended Jia Dongxu and Yi Zhonghai today.

Seeing this, Li Hongbing didn't say anything more.

While preparing to go to the Intermediate People's Court for a meeting, Li Hongbing ran into Yan Bugui, who lived across the hall and was to become the future Third Uncle.

"Hongbing, I heard about what happened this afternoon. Well done!"

Yan Bugui stepped forward, gave Li Hongbing a thumbs up, and said, "Jia Zhangshi is acting strangely all the time, and she's always cursing and making a mess of our courtyard. If you hadn't beaten me to it, I would have reported her."

As Yan Bugui spoke, a look of regret appeared on his face.

He went fishing early this morning and missed the afternoon's good show because he wasn't in the yard.

The problem is that I fished all day but didn't catch anything, which was a complete waste of time.

Li Hongbing smiled when he heard Yan Bugui's words, not taking them seriously at all.

Would Yan Bugui, who is always fond of scheming, do something like this?

It's just hindsight.

"The three old men in the courtyard were very negligent in what happened today!"

"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't let Jia Zhangshi become a black sheep in our courtyard."

"I heard that Officer Yang was very angry and even yelled at them?"

"Hongbing, do you think Secretary Yang might remove the position of their Dean of the School of Management and hold a new election for Dean of the School of Management?"

"If that's really the case..."

"..."

After listening for a while, Li Hongbing finally understood Yan Bugui's intention in taking the initiative to get close to him; that was exactly what he was thinking.

Not surprising.

Yan Bugui has had this idea for quite some time.

If Li Hongbing remembered correctly, when He Daqing ran away to Baocheng with the widow Bai, the courtyard re-elected a new elder, and Yan Bugui stood up to compete with Liu Haizhong.

However, Yan Bugui was stingy and unlike Liu Haizhong, he was willing to spend money to win people over, and in the end, he was not selected.

Today's events have clearly given him renewed hope.

"Uncle Yan, I'm not quite sure about this. Why don't you ask Officer Yang?"

Li Hongbing was too lazy to get involved in these things. He didn't care who was in charge of the courtyard; as long as they didn't bother him, it was fine.

Don't be fooled by Yan Bugui's nice words now; once he actually takes power, things might not be any better.

In the original drama, Yan Bugui became the third uncle, spending his days guarding the front yard like a doorman, and would often steal some of other people's cabbage leaves and scallions. Although he wasn't as cunning as Yi Zhonghai, he was still quite annoying.

A person who is selfish and self-serving at heart will even scheme against his own son. How can you expect him to work for the benefit of everyone in the compound?

(End of this chapter)