Courtyard House: Starting as an engineer, crushing a yard full of poultry

As Li Xiangdong spoke, he secretly sneered to himself, "Xu Damao, you really are a despicable person. You're trying to use me as a pawn! Bah!"

"Don't you even know who you are? If it weren't for getting to know Lou Hongyi, would you have the right to talk nonsense in front of me!"

Lou Xiao'e, drinking red wine alone, looked at the foreign-sounding labels on the bottle and asked, "Section Chief Li, where is this wine from?"

Li Xiangdong took out this bottle of red wine from the mysterious space. There was no production date on it; he would spray it on when he needed to use it.

These are the products Li Xiangdong promoted during his livestream. They're large barrels of red wine imported from France, bottled and shipped by him. He wanted his fans to clearly see what they were buying.

"This is French red wine! I don't like it, and there's some left."

Li Xiangdong said with a smile.

Lou Xiao'e stopped asking questions and picked up the small bowl to drink.

After the meal was finished, half a bottle of red wine remained. Li Xiangdong, saying he didn't drink it, had Lou Xiao'e take it away.

Xu Damao drank as much as if he were walking through a pile of cotton, and stumbled back home.

Li Xiangdong was busy all afternoon, setting up a writing desk, an eight-immortal table, and a small table.

The old eight-immortal tables and small tables were just waiting to be smashed and used as firewood.

There's still plenty of timber left, enough for Li Xiangdong to make a lot of furniture. He can take his time and work on it later.

The next morning, Li Xiangdong locked the door and went to work. As for the big fish, they were all thrown into the mysterious space warehouse.

Li Xiangdong walked to the factory and, accompanied by Factory Director Yang, toured each workshop. Finally, he arrived at Workshop One and made a point of checking on the machine tools that had been repaired earlier.

“With proper maintenance, it can last a long time,” Li Xiangdong said. “However, it hasn’t been maintained at all, so this is something we need to take seriously.”

Factory Director Yang hurriedly said, "Yes, yes. We need to take this matter seriously."

Factory Director Yang is somewhat capable, but in Li Xiangdong's eyes, he's not a good person. He's cut from the same cloth as Li Huaide.

He would endlessly protect Sha Zhu just for a good meal. How could he be completely unaware of a fraud like Yi Zhonghai?

"Therefore, we need to reassess those senior technicians," Li Xiangdong said. "Especially those who haven't been assessed in recent years. We need to prevent them from resting on their laurels!"

"This...this needs to be discussed in a small meeting, right?" Director Yang said, frowning.

This assessment will definitely expose the true colors of many people, and most of them will be his people.

"Okay, I'll write out a detailed plan tonight and submit it for your review tomorrow." Li Xiangdong smiled slightly and said, "Then I'll go back to my office to draw up some plans."

"The blueprints for the new machine tool are already in my head."

Watching Li Xiangdong and Factory Director Yang leave, Yi Zhonghai's hands trembled. He was furious.

Now Yi Zhonghai has earned the nickname "fake goods." He can only endure it. Before he can even think of a way to retaliate against Li Xiangdong, Li Xiangdong strikes a fatal blow, stabbing straight into Yi Zhonghai's heart.

"Damn it, as soon as there's an assessment, they'll definitely demote me to level seven." Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth: "No way, we have to unite some people to oppose this."

Li Xiangdong draws in the office with such speed that it's like he's photocopying. He doesn't need rulers or other tools; he just draws with a pen. His straight lines and curves are so precise, as if he'd used a tool.

At ten o'clock, the doorman's door was suddenly pushed open. Deputy Section Chief Zhang rushed in.

"Huh, is something wrong?" Li Xiangdong asked in surprise.

"Something's happened in Workshop One. It looks like someone died." Old Zhang said urgently, "Director Yang told us to go there right away."

"I'll put these drawings away and go right away."

Li Xiangdong raised an eyebrow, put the blueprints in the filing cabinet and locked them away. He and Lao Zhang then hurriedly rushed to Workshop One.

They arrived too late; they saw half of Jia Dongxu's body on the ground, the other half missing. There was a pool of blood near the machine, its gears stained with blood. There were also some bone fragments, like pieces of wood.

Jia Dongxu, lying on the ground, was already dead. Needless to say, death was caused by bleeding.

Factory Director Yang, Li Huaide, and Secretary Zhang were all there. They all wore bitter expressions. With this incident, they were all going to suffer the consequences. The workshop director was also going to be replaced.

Yi Zhonghai wept uncontrollably, his carefully nurtured caregiver passing away. He wondered if it would be too late to train another one.

"Dongxu, Dongxu, how are you?"

Sha Zhu ran over at that moment. It seemed he had just received the news.

"Shazhu, don't go any further," a security guard said. "Stand outside the circle. Jia Dongxu has already left."

Li Xiangdong looked at Sha Zhu and noticed that the corner of his mouth twitched, as if he wanted to laugh, but perhaps sensing that laughing was inappropriate, he forcibly suppressed it.

Chapter Twenty-One: Silly Pillar's Smugness (Seeking flowers and votes!)

"Sha Zhu must be feeling incredibly smug," Li Xiangdong thought to himself, shaking his head.

"Section Chief Li, come and take a look. Can this machine still be repaired?" Factory Director Yang said bitterly, "It was only bought less than half a month ago, and it's already been ruined like this."

"Quickly cover the face and carry them out. Clean up all the blood and other contaminants. Disassemble the machine and clean it thoroughly. Leave the repairs to me," Li Xiangdong said in a low voice.

"The most important thing now is to settle the deceased."

Before Director Yang could speak, Li Huaide had already called people over. They covered Jia Dongxu with a cloth, placed him on a door panel, and carried him out.

The unfortunate ones are the cleaners; they have to clean up the bloodstains. There's also blood and bone fragments visible on the machines.

"Keep an eye out for these bone fragments and bits of flesh; collect them. We'll have to take them to the deceased later," Li Huaide sighed. "Try not to leave anything behind!"

No matter the circumstances, the people of China still hold a certain reverence in their hearts.

There used to be a saying that people who died a violent death were missing a bone, and they would be reincarnated with that missing bone. For example, if someone was missing a finger bone, they would be reincarnated with a missing finger.

Yi Zhonghai cried so hard he almost fainted, and had to be carried out by two workers.

Secretary Zhang led Factory Director Yang, Li Huaide, and Li Xiangdong out of the workshop. He said...

"We absolutely must prioritize workplace safety. What kind of mess is this?" Secretary Zhang muttered sullenly.

Li Huaide was the least concerned; he was in charge of logistics anyway. Production was the responsibility of Deputy Factory Director Ding. That guy was away on a business trip. He'll probably be in deep trouble when he gets back.

Deputy Factory Director Ding is one of Factory Director Yang's men.

"Have someone notify their family to come and take the body back," Li Huaide said. "Section Chief Li originally wanted to host a welcome-back dinner for you, but that's not appropriate now. You'll have to wait a couple of days."

Li Xiangdong chuckled inwardly. If it weren't for this matter, he wouldn't know how he would have refused. Yu Li was supposed to be looking for him at the factory gate at eleven o'clock.

"No rush, no rush. Once my house is tidied up, I'll invite a few leaders over for a couple of drinks. No need for a welcome dinner or anything like that," Li Xiangdong said with a smile. "Also, I need to ask for leave to go to the library to find some materials..."

"This is work, it can't be considered taking leave," Li Huaide said with a smile. "Go on ahead. But I'll be waiting for you to treat me to dinner, okay?"

Secretary Zhang and the other two knew that this "checking documents" was just an excuse Li Xiangdong was using. But what's the problem with that?

Li Xiangdong was an engineer specially transferred from the south, and he demonstrated his abilities. Even if he was absent from work, no one would say anything.

Sometimes rules are only made for ordinary people. 5

Li Xiangdong arrived at the factory gate promptly at 11:00 AM. He saw Yu Li shivering at the gate. The weather was really unpredictable!

Yu Li's cotton-padded coat was a bit old and probably not very warm. There were many kinds of clothes available in that era that were not something ordinary people could afford.

Leaving aside money, you need cloth coupons to buy cloth and cotton coupons to buy cotton!

Li Xiangdong was wearing an old-fashioned yellow cotton-padded coat, which looked quite bulky. But it was really warm. There were probably several thousand of these coats in the labor protection warehouse.

This thing would look incredibly outdated in later generations. But in this era, it looked incredibly trendy.

Li Xiangdong held the cotton-padded coat in his hands and walked towards Yu Li with a smile on his face.

Yu Li had already spotted Li Xiangdong, and a blush immediately spread across her beautiful face. Her bright eyes were filled with tenderness.

“Engineer Li…” Yu Li said, her face flushed.

“What Engineer Li? Call me Brother Dong!” Li Xiangdong said with a smile, “Come on, put on your cotton-padded coat.”

Li Xiangdong handed the cotton-padded coat to Yu Li. He had originally intended to give it to her, but then thought it was a bit premature. This wasn't the future, where people could play cards together on the very day they met.

"I'm not cold, Dong... Dong-ge, you put it on..."

Yu Li said shyly.

“My cotton-padded coat is very thick,” Li Xiangdong said. “Put it on quickly, let’s get in the car and leave. I’ll take you to eat.”

Yu Li lowered her head and put on the yellow coat. She immediately stopped shivering!

Li Xiangdong rode away with Yu Li on his bicycle. Sitting on the back rack, Yu Li looked at Li Xiangdong's retreating figure, still feeling like she was dreaming.

The driver and the two of them got into the car and left. A middle-aged man hiding behind the gatehouse was grinning from ear to ear.

This middle-aged man is Yu Li's father, Yu Dajiang. Yesterday, Sunday, he was at home when he learned that Yu Li had gone on a blind date with the son of a teacher. The matchmaker said it seemed to be a good match.

To everyone's surprise, Yu Li returned on her bicycle at one o'clock in the afternoon. On the bicycle were four large fish, each weighing over ten kilograms.

"Yu Li, what's this?" Yu Li's mother, Huang Guihua, asked in surprise when she saw Yu Li return. "You went on a blind date, and this is the betrothal gift they gave you?"

"This teacher's family is really something..."

"What? I didn't like their family at all," Yu Li said indignantly. "They seem incredibly mean."

"No, where did you get these things?"

Yu Dajiang asked in surprise.

Yu Dajiang also works at the steel rolling mill and lives in the factory's dormitory. He goes home on Sundays, and borrowed a colleague's car to get back.

Yu Dajiang had a daughter, Yu Li, and three sons, aged fifteen, fourteen, and thirteen, exactly three in total.

Even a half-grown boy can eat his father alive, let alone these three. They wanted to marry Yu Li off so that the burden would be lighter.