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

Yan Bugui was so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged: "You...we'll go to the neighborhood committee to report this."

"This gate is everyone's property; you can't damage it at will."

People going to work or school gathered around, forming a large circle. Many women also came to watch the spectacle.

“Go to hell!” Li Xiangdong said without any politeness, “Of the three of you beasts, you, Yan Bugui, are the most disgusting of all.”

"There's a saying: 'Don't refrain from doing good because it's a small act, and don't do evil because it's a small act!' You, Yan Bugui, are not lacking in major evils, but you commit minor evils every day!"

"You're always here taking advantage of others. Apart from a few families living well, the rest of us are doing pretty badly. And you're still here taking advantage of others."

"323 once or twice is not much, but if you accumulate it, it will be a lot."

"Yan Bugui, if you can't afford to live, you can go out and beg for food. You don't need to disgust people here."

"I...I...I..." Yan Bugui was so angry he could hardly breathe.

"Get out of here! Aren't you going to work?"

Li Xiangdong pushed the cart and left.

"A hospital-wide meeting tonight? This is outrageous!" Yi Zhonghai was trembling with anger. But Liu Haizhong remained silent, lost in thought.

Once they arrived at the factory, there was nothing much to do. They drew blueprints until noon, when Li Xiangdong took Yu Li to the office for lunch.

Li Xiangdong brought three lunchboxes. Two of them contained dishes: braised pork with potatoes and boiled fish. The third lunchbox contained some cherry tomatoes. There was a stove in the office, so the lunchboxes were placed directly on it to heat up.

As for the staple food, it was steamed buns bought from the cafeteria.

Just as the two picked up their chopsticks, they saw Li Huaide walk in.

"Wow, this food is pretty good. I was thinking of inviting you to eat at the cafeteria," Li Huaide said with a smile.

"What are you eating? Can't you notice? Last time we ate together, the chicken stew with mushrooms...hehe, there was so much less left!" Li Xiangdong said.

"That idiot Zhu is really bold. He dares to snatch food from the tiger's mouth like that! He's treating us like fools!"

Li Huaide was stunned for a moment, then his face turned red, showing a look of embarrassment and anger.

"I always thought he was a good cook, so I didn't pay much attention. Now that I think about it, he really was right. He used so many ingredients and we were practically starving. That bastard!" Li Huaide squeezed out the words through gritted teeth.

"I'll let him steal it, he'll be sorry tonight."

"Why don't we sit down and eat together?" Li Xiangdong said with a smile. Those two sentences were enough to make Sha Zhu look bad.

"No, no, I don't want to be a third wheel," Li Huaide said with a smile as he left.

In the afternoon, Li Xiangdong went to the preparation workshop and saw that Yu Dajiang had finished making two coal stoves. Unable to find any discarded gas cylinders, he had simply welded square steel plates together.

There were quite a few punching bags made of that tin.

“I’ve already asked someone to prepare a tricycle, and I’ll take it back tonight,” Yu Dajiang said. “I’ve had Yu Wen and the other two buy the coal coupons you gave me this afternoon.”

"Yes, it's going to snow soon, don't let Xiaoli get cold," Li Xiangdong said, rubbing his nose.

“She won’t get cold. You gave her those two thick quilts, and now there’s a stove. We didn’t have these before, so we didn’t get by,” Yu Dajiang said. “Yu Li is living the dream now.”

When Li Xiangdong got off work in the afternoon, he and Yu Li had just arrived at the factory gate when they saw several security guards stopping Sha Zhu.

"What? Why are you stopping me, man?" Sha Zhu felt a little flustered.

"What are you doing? Inspecting. Open all three lunchboxes."

The security squad leader said seriously, "Don't talk about those irrelevant things."

He knew perfectly well what was in Sha Zhu's lunchbox. If it were opened, that would be a disaster.

"It's just some leftovers, what else could it be?" Sha Zhu forced a smile.

"Just open the leftovers," Xu Damao called out as he walked through the factory gate.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Xu Damao Stood Up (Seeking Flowers and Votes!)

Sha Zhu panicked when he saw that they were coming.

"It was Director Yang's permission for me to bring leftovers!" Sha Zhu hurriedly tried to use this as a pretext.

"Really? Then I need to ask Old Yang if this is true." Li Huaide appeared out of nowhere.

Sha Zhu shuddered when he saw Li Huaide. He had never taken this deputy factory director in charge of logistics seriously, because he felt he had Director Yang as his backer and his own superior skills!

The dishes served at the factory were almost always made with his son, Sha Zhu.

Yi Zhonghai also arrived nearby and saw Sha Zhu surrounded by a huge crowd. He knew things were going badly and was about to go up and plead for leniency when he saw Li Huaide come out. Yi Zhonghai knew this wasn't a simple matter and he couldn't get involved.

"Hey, Sha Zhu, why don't you open your lunchbox yet!"

Xu Damao jumped up excitedly and shouted, "Let's see how you escape this time, you thief who undermines society! Hurry up and open the lunchbox."

Li Xiangdong shook his head. Xu Damao seemed clever, but he was also quite stupid. His current commotion was practically telling Sha Zhu that it was Xu Damao who had reported him. Even if Xu Damao hadn't acted this way, Sha Zhu would probably have suspected him anyway.

Li Huaide waved his hand, and several guards moved closer.

Sha Zhu isn't really stupid. If he resists here, he'll suffer and incur even greater offense.

Sha Zhu could only watch helplessly as the guards took the three lunchboxes from his hands and opened them.

"Damn it! You fucking idiot Zhu, you deserve to die!"

"How much stuff does this guy steal in a year?"

"Tsk tsk, no wonder our food has been getting worse and worse, there's a thief here!"

"Beat him! Beat this brat!"

……

The workers were agitated; these days, eating meat was a luxury for everyone. They never expected that Sha Zhu could steal so much good stuff.

Of Sha Zhu's three lunchboxes, one was filled to the brim with rice, weighing about two pounds. Another lunchbox contained raw pork belly!

Another lunchbox contained half a chicken.

Li Huaide's face flushed with anger. The factory wasn't hosting any entertainment today. If Sha Zhu dared to steal so much, how much would he steal if there were entertainment and reimbursement?

"Arrest him and send him to the security department to be locked up." Li Huaide waved his hand and said, "We'll deal with any problems tomorrow."

What's the weather like now? It's the coldest time of winter in Beijing. Unlike later generations who often experience mild winters, temperatures of minus twenty degrees Celsius are quite normal in Beijing right now.

The guardhouse wasn't drafty, though. It just had long wooden plank beds with some straw on them. There weren't even blankets; if you wanted to sleep there, you'd freeze to death.

"No, no, Director Yang agreed to it!" Sha Zhu shouted.

Yi Zhonghai wanted nothing more than to slap Sha Zhu twice. By doing this, Sha Zhu was dragging Factory Director Yang down with him. If he hadn't made a scene, Factory Director Yang might have spoken up for him later. But now that he'd dragged Factory Director Yang down, Factory Director Yang would have no choice but to deal with him severely.

"I agree with you, you son of a bitch!" Factory Director Yang was furious.

He had just gotten off work when he saw the area cordoned off, so he rushed out to see what was going on. He heard that idiot Zhu yelling and shouting. Factory Director Yang was so anxious he started swearing!

Factory Director Yang walked closer and said fiercely to Sha Zhu, "What did I agree to? I agreed to you taking the leftover food that was taken off the table from the banquet!"

"I didn't say you could take these ingredients with you, this is theft!"

Of course, Director Yang had to clear himself of any wrongdoing; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to bear such a huge burden of blame!

"And there are always leftovers in the cafeteria, it's unbelievable! We're all starving, and there are still leftovers in the cafeteria!" Xu Damao shouted smugly, "Idiot Zhu is deliberately creating leftovers."

"Give this person a spoon shake, give that person a spoon shake! They're really sucking the blood out of us workers!"

Xu Damao's words stirred up the workers' emotions, and they all shouted that they wanted to beat Sha Zhu to death. More and more people gathered around.

"Don't worry, everyone, we will definitely punish Sha Zhu severely." Factory Director Li immediately shouted, "Quickly send Sha Zhu to the security department. Colleagues, go home as soon as you're done with your get off work."

"Your wife and kids are waiting for you at home."

After most of the workers had left, Li Xiangdong and Yu Li were still there. Factory Director Yang and Factory Director Li were also there. Yi Zhonghai and Xu Damao were also there.

Xu Damao was incredibly excited. He looked as if his wife had given birth to a big, healthy baby boy.

"Chief Engineer Li, Deputy Factory Director Li, what do you think we should do? I need to avoid suspicion, since Sha Zhu keeps saying that I told him to steal it..." Factory Director Yang said with a wry smile.

“That’s not true. How could a factory director like you not be capable of that?” Li Huaide shook his head and said, “This is just Sha Zhu deliberately misinterpreting your meaning so he can steal things from your home.”

This is a small matter that can't be easily handled by Director Yang, so Li Huaide will naturally try to make it look good. The main point is that this matter definitely won't be as Sha Zhu said, that Director Yang agreed to it.

It must be just as Director Yang said; Sha Zhu took the opportunity to steal things.

"That's your responsibility to handle; I can't offer my opinion. Besides, this is originally a logistical matter," said Director Yang. "Then I'll be leaving now."

“Let’s go too. We’ll deal with Sha Zhu in a meeting tomorrow morning.”

Li Huaide said decisively, "Section Chief Wang, keep an eye on him. Don't let anyone contact Sha Zhu, or give him a chance to collude with others."

Section Chief Wang immediately understood: they meant freezing Silly Pillar for one night.

They've caught them red-handed, what's the point of them colluding to give a false testimony? Section Chief Wang scurried away.

"It really should be changed!" Xu Damao said with a look of great satisfaction.

Xu Damao had been badly beaten before, but now he finally got his revenge.

"Director Li, wait, wait!" Yi Zhonghai ran to Director Li's side, and before he could say anything, Li Huaide said to Li Xiangdong, "Chief Engineer Li, would you like to have a couple of drinks tonight?"

"I'll treat you to hot pot; we can talk about work there!"

"Let me treat you then," Li Xiangdong said with a smile. "Come to my house for dinner; I managed to get some mutton and beef."

"Sure, I might be a little late! How about we meet at seven?" Director Li said with a smile.