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

Factory Director Yang sighed deeply. He knew that even if he gave up on Yi Zhonghai, Sha Zhu, and the others, the rift between him and Li Xiangdong would still remain.

Around 10:00 PM, Li Xiangdong finished making all the parts of the pistol. While waiting for the barrel to arrive, he also made a leather holster and a leather strap.

It was four o'clock when the guns were loaded. Li Xiangdong and Director Zhao arrived at the security section's training area. There was a small shooting range there.

Director Zhao tested the gun first, firing all fifteen bullets from the magazine. He then exclaimed with delight, "Excellent, very good. The accuracy is excellent, and the operation is smooth."

"Next, we will conduct various tests on this gun."

Li Xiangdong also fired a magazine of bullets, and the target at fifty meters was consistently on the nine or ten rings. The first few shots hit the nine rings, then all the way to the ten rings. The last five shots even hit the same point.

Li Xiangdong took a box of bullets and two magazines, then said goodbye and left. He simply fastened the holster to his belt.

In this kind of weather, with so many clothes on, it's really inconvenient to draw a gun if you're wearing them under your armpits.

Li Xiangdong arrived at the office building around five o'clock. Yu Li was still waiting for him in the hallway.

"Li Dong is so busy?" Yu Li asked coquettishly as she came over.

"Yes, something came up and I was held up for a bit," Li Xiangdong said with a smile. "Let's go back and cook."

Li Xiangdong rode his bicycle back with Yu Li in tow. By the time they arrived at the courtyard house, the sky was already covered with dark clouds.

"Looks like it's going to snow heavily," Yu Li said, jumping off her bicycle.

"Almost there. Xiaoli, is your room still cold?" Li Xiangdong asked with concern. "I was so busy today that I forgot. I should get a stove for your room too."

"I'm not cold, thanks to the thick blanket you gave me," Yu Li said, her face flushed. "And the thermos is really nice too."

"Okay, I'll make you a stove tomorrow. Don't worry about the coal, I'll get you a ton." Li Xiangdong said, carrying his bicycle into the courtyard.

"Okay, I'll go home and check, then I'll come right over and cook for you," Yu Li said sweetly.

At the entrance of Yan Bugui's house, Yan Jiecheng and Yan Jiefang were unloading coal briquettes from a flatbed cart. They had just bought them.

Seeing Yu Li's beautiful face and her slender figure that even her cotton coat couldn't hide, Yan Jiecheng felt an urge to chop Li Xiangdong into seventeen or eighteen pieces.

"That bastard! If it weren't for him, Yu Li would be my wife!" Yan Jiecheng thought angrily. "What are you, a deputy factory director, doing competing with me for a country girl?"

The news of Li Xiangdong's promotion was announced over the factory's loudspeaker. Every worker in the steel rolling mill who wasn't deaf knew about it. They also knew that Li Xiangdong had received a 500 yuan bonus for his outstanding contributions.

The five hundred yuan is already in Yu Li's hands.

Li Xiangdong was pushing his cart past Yan Bugui's house through the screen door. Two coal-laden flatbed carts took up half the space, so Li Xiangdong had to push his cart forward.

Yan Bugui gritted his teeth upon seeing Li Xiangdong and hurriedly ran out of the house, repeatedly calling out to Li Xiangdong, "Factory Director Li, Factory Director Li..."

"Is there something you need?" Li Xiangdong asked calmly.

"It's like this, what happened before was my fault! I apologize to you..." Yan Bugui said cautiously.

This position of deputy factory director means he has administrative power in the steel rolling mill. This is a completely different matter from his previous role as head of the technical department.

"No need, I know what you're thinking, Yan Bugui." Li Xiangdong raised an eyebrow and said, "Let's take it slow, hehe, I don't know who gave you the guts to try and scheme against me."

"Your schemes are so paltry. Heh heh, you think an apology can erase the past? Say a few nice words and then offer to get a workstation for your family?"

"Yan Bugui, what are you thinking! Get out of here right now."

Li Xiangdong pushed the cart through the screen door, leaving Yan Bugui behind with a face full of resentment.

"I'm a teacher, after all. I've already apologized to you, what more do you want?" Yan Bugui muttered.

Yan Jiecheng was carrying coal briquettes, his anger growing with each passing moment. Before he knew it, the dozen or so briquettes he was carrying had fallen to the ground.

These are freshly made coal briquettes, damp and sticky. They shattered instantly when dropped on the ground.

"Oh dear, Yan Jiecheng, what are you good for?" Yan Bugui exclaimed with heartache, "These dozen or so coal briquettes are breaking my heart!"

"It's not that it can't be burned, it's just a bit of a hassle," Yan Jiecheng said, rolling his eyes.

"A little trouble? You make it sound so easy. Think of all the waste this will cause!" Yan Bugui's face twisted with anger. "None of you know what's going on... Old Liu? What's the matter?"

As Yan Bugui spoke, he saw Liu Haizhong walking over. Yan Bugui's gaze fell on the small basket in Liu Haizhong's hand. It was full of eggs, about thirty or so.

"Um, I've come to pay a visit to Deputy Factory Director Li," Liu Haizhong said with an awkward smile. "And also to congratulate him on his promotion."

"Don't bother with this. Do you think he'll accept an apology? I just got humiliated!" Yan Bugui said with a wry smile. "Let's go see Lao Yi. Things can't stay like this."

Liu Haizhong could only follow Yan Bugui to Yi Zhonghai's house with a dejected look on his face. However, Liu Haizhong took the eggs home first.

The deaf old woman and Yi Zhonghai and his wife are talking.

Before leaving get off work that evening, Yi Zhonghai went to see Director Yang to inquire about the progress of Li Xiangdong's matter.

In Yi Zhonghai's mind, Li Xiangdong is now the deputy factory director... so setting up a staff dormitory is a piece of cake.

“No, Chief Engineer Li won’t go anywhere. He wants to stay in the courtyard house. His partner’s family has moved there too,” Factory Director Yang said with a wry smile.

"Then get rid of his partner and his family too," Yi Zhonghai said urgently. Yi Zhonghai wasn't thinking about controlling Li Xiangdong or anything like that; he just wanted Li Xiangdong to leave.

Li Xiangdong is now the deputy factory director, which makes him even more uncontrollable by Yi Zhonghai. The only solution is to get Li Xiangdong out of the courtyard house. Otherwise, it won't be long before the courtyard house, which Yi Zhonghai has meticulously built and is suitable for retirement, undergoes a complete transformation.

"Yi Zhonghai, how dare you speak like that?" Factory Director Yang said angrily.

Yi Zhonghai spoke as if he were instructing his apprentice.

"Uh, I'm so sorry!" Yi Zhonghai hurriedly apologized. In his haste, he had forgotten that he was facing Factory Director Yang.

"You're off work now. Go back and tell the old lady that the favor I had with her is gone." Factory Director Yang said calmly, "And the favor you, Yi Zhonghai, did for me, you've also worn it all away. How many messes have I had to clean up for you, damn it?"

"You'd better be careful from now on, Li Xiangdong will definitely come after you."

"I don't know how you offended him. He's been targeting you relentlessly!"

What else could Yi Zhonghai say but hurriedly go home?

Because they had to wait for Director Yang, a lot of time was wasted. Yi Zhonghai had just arrived home and hadn't even had a chance to talk to the deaf old lady when Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui came to their door.

The matter hadn't been resolved, so keeping it a secret was pointless now. After Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui sat down, Yi Zhonghai gave a bitter smile and said to the deaf old woman, "Grandma, that didn't work out!"

"How could it not have worked? Xiao Yang promised to help!" the deaf old woman said anxiously.

"I helped out, I found Li Xiangdong a nearly 90-square-meter apartment in the cadre building. But Li Xiangdong won't leave. He wants to stay here." Yi Zhonghai said bitterly, "He said his girlfriend is here."

"Then let Xiao Yang take his girlfriend's family away too!" the deaf old woman said anxiously.

Li Xiangdong lives in the compound. How can this deaf old woman still act as the matriarch? Now that everyone is cooking delicious food, no one brings her a bowl anymore.

"That's what I said too. But Director Yang said that the favors we have with you, old lady, have been exhausted," Yi Zhonghai said dejectedly, "including mine!"

"This...this...how could Xiao Yang do this? If I hadn't saved him back then, he would be dead." The deaf old woman murmured.

Although the deaf old woman said this, she knew that she could no longer go to see Director Yang.

"What do we do next?" Yan Bugui asked, frowning.

"What else can we do? Is there any way we can deal with Li Xiangdong?" Liu Haizhong said fearfully. "He has a lot of power now. I reckon we'll be put to the test soon."

"With him around, it's impossible for you, Lao Yi, to get back to your level eight worker position next year."

"I couldn't do anything to him, so how is it the same as killing his father?" Yi Zhonghai asked, puzzled.

"Why? It's because she saw through you. She knew you'd keep causing him trouble. So she created trouble for you, keeping you constantly dealing with it. That way, you wouldn't have anything to cause him trouble." The deaf old woman said quietly, "These young men really know how to do things!"

　2.1 “Then what should we do?” Yi Zhonghai asked, frowning.

"Since we've already torn off all pretense, let's do things the way we do when we've torn off pretense," the deaf old woman said quietly. "I have plenty of ways."

"It just requires the three of you to work together. Let that vixen throw her underwear into Li Xiangdong's room. Then you two show up just in time and find the stolen underwear in his room." The deaf old woman said quietly, "Then I don't need to teach you what to do next, huh?"

"The three of you just need to work together well. I'm going back now." The deaf old woman stood up and walked away.

Li Xiangdong took out two boxes of beef hot pot cans, dropped them into a copper basin, and placed them on a red-hot iron plate.

"We're going to eat like this every day? We should save some money." Yu Li said cautiously, "Brother Dong, what do you think..."

"Don't worry, I've earned more than enough to live on." Li Xiangdong raised an eyebrow and said, "By the way, didn't you say you wanted to get a pig? I'll send it over tomorrow afternoon."

Li Xiangdong wants to rest for now and wait until after the New Year to formally produce new blueprints.

"Sure, sure. Then I'll have ten catties of pork before the New Year," Yu Li said sweetly. "How about we keep half here and send the other half to my dad's family?"

"Send them all to my father-in-law. I can get him meat if he wants some," Li Xiangdong said.

The two chatted and laughed as they finished their meal.

"Yes, the kids are almost on holiday. My cousin, Yu Haitang, wants to come visit." Yu Li stuffed a piece of beef into her mouth: "It's so delicious! I wonder where you bought it, Dong-ge."

Sha Zhu came home very late tonight; he just entered the gatehouse.

It was Uncle Yan Bugui who found Sha Zhu. The old man came out to close the gate and saw Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu arguing and pulling at each other at the gatehouse.

Qin Huairu knew that Sha Zhu was out preparing a banquet for someone tonight, which is why she had been waiting for him until now. Seeing Qin Huairu waiting for him, Sha Zhu felt incredibly happy.

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Silly Pillar is Going to Have Bad Luck (Seeking flowers, votes, and full subscriptions!!)

"Silly Zhu, if you have any good food, give some to your third uncle too."

As Yan Bugui closed the door, he spoke with a mocking tone.

"Get lost! What business is it of yours, Old Man Yan?" Sha Zhu said angrily.

He was having a romantic moment with Sister Qin when that clueless Yan Bugui ruined it. Sha Zhu was naturally furious and started speaking very rudely.

"You... you... Sha Zhu, how dare you speak like that? I am your third uncle..." Yan Bugui said angrily.

"Pah! What third uncle? Who the hell are you, third uncle?"