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

Yu Dajiang was referring to Yu Li's three younger brothers.

Yu Li brought back a bamboo basket from Li Xiangdong, which contained ten jin (approximately 5 kg) of dried noodles. These were the kind of bottled noodles sold in buckets in later generations; there were over twenty tons of them in the mysterious space warehouse.

"Wow, these noodles are so white! You can tell they're very fine just by looking at them." Huang Guihua exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the dried noodles, "This is high-quality stuff! Yu Li, why did you bring back so many?"

"Luckily, the bamboo basket had a lid, otherwise people would be green with envy if they saw it."

Yu Dajiang then said, "Honey, hurry up and make the noodles. Where's Yu Lixiang? Come and eat noodles with us."

Yu Li said sweetly, "He's preparing the ingredients at home, he'll be over soon."

Li Xiangdong was indeed preparing the side dishes. He poured bottled beef sauce into a small enamel basin, then chopped some cucumber and scallions, and peeled some garlic cloves. He placed them on a plate and carried it to the back of the table.

Yan Bugui had just gotten up and gone to the outhouse; he came back with sleep in his eyes. Li Xiangdong passed by him, and the fresh scent of cucumber made Yan Bugui's eyes widen.

"Wait a minute, why does he still have cucumbers?" Yan Bugui muttered to himself, "That bastard still has cucumbers, but he won't even give me two!"

Yan Jiecheng came out of his house with a gloomy face. He had no choice. He had to go to work odd jobs today, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pay the rent and food expenses for this month, and he could forget about celebrating the New Year.

"By the way, don't go to do odd jobs anymore. Go with Lao Yi to the steel mill later and become his apprentice. Be smart! Learn Lao Yi's skills," Yan Bugui instructed.

"Great! Great! Then I'll be a worker at the steel rolling mill!" Yan Jiecheng said with delight.

"Yes, but if you want to become a full-time apprentice, you have to study hard," Yan Bugui instructed. "Get a full-time job as soon as possible, and you'll earn twenty-seven yuan and fifty cents a month!"

Yan Jiecheng was thrilled; he had a job now. He should be able to compete with Li Xiangdong for Yu Li.

"Yes, yes, I will study hard." Yan Jiecheng said fiercely, "Now that I have a job, I will definitely be able to get Yu Li back from Li Xiangdong."

Yan Bugui trembled with anger upon hearing this: "Yan Jiecheng, are you a pig-brain? You weren't this stupid before. What makes you think you can compete with others for Yu Li?"

"You're just an eighteen-yuan apprentice, while he's an engineer and technical section chief earning over a hundred yuan a month. You're miles away from looking like him!"

"You better behave yourself and try to get a permanent position as soon as possible. Find a girlfriend. Forget about Yu Li."

"Otherwise, you'll be sent in there again."

Li Xiangdong brought the dishes to Yu Dajiang's house. He ate a large bowl of noodles there.

Yu Li's three younger brothers ate just as much as Li Xiangdong. They even pressed on, asking, "Brother-in-law, this beef sauce is delicious! Did you make it yourself?"

"And these cucumbers! Cucumbers smell so good at this time of year..."

Li Xiangdong could only smile and shake his head, saying, "This was a gift from someone; once it's eaten, that's it."

It's not that I'm reluctant to part with them, but taking out too many things would definitely cause me trouble. These things are just for me and Yu Li to eat.

On their way to work, Li Xiangdong rode his bicycle with Yu Li as a passenger. On the way, they encountered some other residents of the compound who walked to work.

Liu Haizhong, with a large pregnant belly, walked along, panting heavily. Liu Guangqi followed behind her!

Liu Guangqi's eyes practically popped out of his head as he watched Li Xiangdong riding a bicycle with a beautiful woman on the back. His large head kept shaking.

"Yu Li is much prettier than Xiao Juan. Why don't I have such good luck?"

Liu Da Nao muttered to himself.

"Good luck? That's what he got from studying so hard. He's only twenty and already an eighth-level engineer," Liu Haizhong said. "He skipped three levels in his studies!"

“I heard from Deputy Section Chief Zhang that the ministry specifically transferred him from Guangzhou to help our steel rolling mill.”

This was directed at Liu Guangqi; if Liu Guangtian had said those words, Liu Haizhong would have slapped him across the face long ago.

"It's nothing special. He graduated from university, and I only graduated from high school," Liu Guangqi said. "It's just a small difference."

Liu Guangqi graduated from high school in the spring and should have been assigned a job. However, some of the jobs were simply not worth Liu Guangqi's attention.

Liu Guangqi's job was easy and required little physical exertion, yet he seemed to have a very high social standing.

Instead of choosing, Liu Haizhong managed to get an opportunity. He sent Liu Guangqi to the technical department as a trainee. If he studied hard, he could become a full-fledged technician in a year or two.

Currently, trainees only earn 18 yuan a month, but if they become level 9 technicians, they'll earn 37 yuan. That's a much higher starting salary than factory workers.

“Shut up. When you go to the technical department, don’t fawn over Li Xiangdong. But don’t offend him either.” Liu Haizhong said, “This time I’ve found you a level 5 technician as your mentor. This old guy took a lot of money from me, so he’ll definitely teach you diligently.”

"I understand. I'm only a high school graduate, so I'll be promoted soon. But wait, you offended Li Xiangdong before, won't that get in my way..." Liu Guangqi asked worriedly.

Chapter Sixty-Two: Li Xiangdong Makes an Example (Seeking flowers, votes, and full subscriptions!)

"Why would he try to stop you? You're not at the factory when you're taking the technician exam. He can't really stop you." Liu Haizhong said nonchalantly, "As for when you're at the factory, he'll give you more work to train you. Besides, he wouldn't dare to go too far."

Liu Guangqi moved his lips but didn't say anything, meaning it wasn't you who was being made difficult. I don't want to do extra work.

Li Xiangdong rode his bicycle with Yu Li for a while, and then they saw Yi Zhonghai walking with Yan Jiecheng by the roadside.

Yan Jiecheng's eyes were not on Li Xiangdong; he was staring intently at Yu Li, who was sitting in the car.

Yu Li's slender, full, and rounded figure cannot be concealed by a cotton coat.

Seeing Yan Jiecheng's fixed gaze, Yi Zhonghai shook his head and said, "Jiecheng, you can't go on like this. Put Yu Li out of your mind for now, and wait until you've made something of yourself!"

"Yes, yes, I will definitely learn your skills from you, Uncle." Yan Jiecheng gritted his teeth.

Yi Zhonghai smiled smugly to himself. He would definitely teach Yan Jiecheng, but at most, he'd only teach him to level three or four workers; anything higher was impossible. Yi Zhonghai was very experienced with these kinds of situations.

Yi Zhonghai would never do something like teaching his apprentice to starve him.

Li Xiangdong escorted Yu Li to the logistics department before returning to his office in the technical section. He immediately took out blueprints from his bag.

That's right, these are the blueprints Li Xiangdong drew himself. He originally planned to bring out the blueprints for the Type 81 rifle. But then he thought that he should bring that out later, and for now, he should bring out something more impressive.

The rabbit has always suffered from a fear of insufficient firepower, and it has never been cured since it was diagnosed. The weapon it's pulling out now is quite eye-catching.

Li Xiangdong pulled out a sniper grenade launcher. The blueprints for this thing were detailed blueprints of the Bald Eagle grenade launcher that he collected online, and rough blueprints of the Rabbit sniper grenade launcher that he could only find online. Combining the two, Li Xiangdong created this contraption.

Li Xiangdong was about to head to the machine tool trial production workshop with a stack of blueprints when there was a knock on the door. Of course, before leaving, he needed to hold a morning meeting in the lobby to assign tasks.

Only the head and deputy head of the technical department have separate offices; the rest are in the technical department lobby.

Li Xiangdong folded the blueprints and placed them on the table, then said, "Please come in."

The deputy section chief, Zhang, entered, followed by a man around fifty years old. Li Xiangdong recognized this man; he was a level five technician.

"Section Chief Li, I have something to report to you," Deputy Section Chief Zhang said respectfully.

Deputy Section Chief Zhang knew how capable Li Xiangdong was and how powerful his backing was.

"Please sit down, Section Chief Zhang and Master Miao, please sit here."

Li Xiangdong invited the two to sit on the wooden sofa: "Just say what you need to say."

"Old Miao, you can tell Section Chief Li yourself," Deputy Section Chief Zhang said to Old Miao.

"Here's the thing," Old Miao said. "I want to take on an apprentice. According to the previous rules, a level 5 technician can have one apprenticeship." "Now Liu Guangqi wants to learn from me."

“Master Miao, you know that was the old rule!” Li Xiangdong said calmly, “Now it’s going to be standardized. We have to obey the factory’s unified arrangements.”

"Of course, I won't stop you from doing this. Everyone has relatives and friends."

"You can handle the specifics yourself."

Old Miao smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you, Section Chief Li. You can sign this note then."

Li Xiangdong was secretly furious. Whether he signed or not was none of this's your business! And the tone was so insistent on his signature. And Liu Guangqi wanted to join the technical department? Absolutely not!

This guy clearly didn't take Li Xiangdong seriously, probably because he was young. He didn't treat Li Xiangdong like a section chief.

Li Xiangdong also noticed this trend in Corey, and estimated that if he hadn't offered such a large slice of the pie, these people's behavior would have been even more obvious.

That would be a perfect opportunity to kill Lao Miao like a chicken.

"No need for Master Miao's signature. I'm not taking the blame for this!" Li Xiangdong said calmly, "You should go directly to the relevant department."

"By the way, Lao Zhang, didn't the machine repair branch request support? Let Master Miao go over there. We've been too busy these past few days to decide on a candidate."

Old Miao was completely dumbfounded, just sitting there doing nothing. If the machine tool was successfully prototyped, he would be rewarded, both spiritually and materially.

If he gets reassigned to the machine repair branch for support, he's doomed. The treatment and working conditions there are nowhere near as good as those in the lower-level machine repair division.

"Section Chief Li, how could you transfer me to the machine repair branch?" Old Miao exclaimed, getting agitated. "Isn't that a place for young people?"

"Who made that rule? I'm in charge of the technical department now. As a veteran, I should be more mindful of my position." Li Xiangdong said calmly, "By the way, I'll suggest to the factory later that a technician be permanently stationed at the machine repair branch."

Old Miao was stunned. This meant he was being exiled.

"No, I didn't..." Old Miao jumped up.

"Old Miao is gone, gone." Section Chief Zhang hurriedly pulled Old Miao out.

"Tch, what a piece of trash. Does he really think I have no temper?" Li Xiangdong sneered.

Old Miao was pulled out of the office by Deputy Section Chief Zhang. Old Miao said angrily, "Old Zhang, what does he mean by this? He's clearly targeting me..."

"Yes, it's targeting you." Deputy Section Chief Zhang said calmly, "Old Miao, is this how you talk to your superiors? If they can do something but the 310 won't, of course they won't do it for you."

"Even if it's something you can do, you'll drag it out. You don't treat people like leaders at all. Look at the tone you used when you talked to Section Chief Li... tsk tsk!"

"You think you're talking to me? We're old brothers, so you can be so disrespectful."

Old Miao panicked a little: "Old Zhang, what should I do? I can't..."

“It’s no use for you to carry this out. Let’s get over there first. I’ll put in a good word for you when I get the chance.” Deputy Section Chief Zhang said helplessly, “You really are something. Why did Liu Guangqi get himself into this situation?”

"You don't know that Section Chief Li has been holding back to deal with Liu Haizhong, he just hasn't had the chance yet." Deputy Section Chief Zhang shook his head and said, "Yi Zhonghai has already been dealt with by him."

"If I had known it was Liu Haizhong's son, I wouldn't have let you stand up for him."

As the two were talking, Li Xiangdong left the office and walked towards the lobby across the street. The morning meeting had begun, and at its end, Li Xiangdong announced that Lao Miao had gone out to support the machine repair branch.