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

Li Xiangdong then entered the mysterious space.

In a corner of the villa's courtyard, Li Xiangdong found five or six iron traps used for hunting rabbits and pheasants. Of course, traps can also be used to catch mice. That would be putting a lot of value to a small task.

I took these metal clips out. I placed three in front of the door and three in front of the bed. I planned to set them all up when I went to work the next day.

The next morning, Li Xiangdong still got up at 4:30. By then, the heavy snow had stopped, but the snow was about 20 centimeters thick. The world was a blanket of white.

Li Xiangdong cleared a path from the gate to the courtyard gate. Yu Li then came over to make breakfast.

"You don't need to bother, I've already cooked some congee with preserved egg and lean pork. It should be ready soon," Li Xiangdong said with a smile. "It's cooking on the coal stove. Oh, by the way, I have something to tell you."

Li Xiangdong pulled Yu Li into the main room. Yu Li blushed and pouted, saying, "Brother Dong, you're up to no good first thing in the morning, and what are you saying..."

"There is something." Li Xiangdong put his arm around Yu Li's slender waist and told her what he had heard last night.

"Ah, these people... call the police!" Yu Li said angrily.

“Calling the police now is useless. Have your three younger brothers keep watch over this area from a distance,” Li Xiangdong said. “They’ll hide in the kitchen. If anything happens, call the police immediately.”

"Okay, I'll go tell my parents right now."

Yu Li left in a hurry.

This morning, Li Xiangdong and Yu Li had to walk to work. Cycling is already uncomfortable in this weather. And with all the snow, most people would fall off their bikes.

When Li Xiangdong and Yu Li arrived at the factory, they saw Director Zhao already waiting for them in the technical department office.

"Chief Engineer Li, I've brought your assigned car, the brand-new jeep downstairs," Director Zhao said with a smile. "There are also two soldiers next door to you, keeping watch day and night."

"Um...is that really necessary?" Li Xiangdong said, touching his nose.

"Of course it's necessary. Both firearms you've developed are quite good. As long as the various test indicators are satisfactory, they should be issued to the troops," Director Zhao said excitedly.

"You're still researching rifles, of course this place needs to be protected."

After Li Xiangdong and Yu Li left, the three Yu brothers hid in Li Xiangdong's kitchen.

The three brothers, dressed very conservatively, closed the kitchen door and waited for Jia Zhangshi to arrive.

The three of them sat there cracking sunflower seeds and eating White Rabbit milk candies, and the time didn't seem to drag on.

At nine o'clock, Jia Zhangshi came over like a large rat. The three brothers saw her clearly through the crack in the door.

"Wait, wait until he picks the lock, then the two of us will hold her off. Second brother, hurry up and call the police," Yu Wen said in a low voice.

Jia Zhangshi arrived at the door of the main room and poked the lock with a wire. As she poked, she thought to herself, "Hehe, they must have a lot of good food... Never mind, Old Yi said we can't take anything from inside."

"Once we've got this little bastard under control, I can have whatever I want to eat."

At this moment, Jia Zhangshi picked the lock, and she quietly pushed open a door, entering the room herself. Even as she went in, she kept glancing outside!

Just as Jia Zhangshi stepped inside, she heard a snapping sound. It felt as if something had bitten her pig's trotter. She screamed in pain.

When Jia Zhangshi looked down, she saw that a large clamp had caught her pig's trotter.

Jia Zhangshi could no longer stand and sat down on the ground.

"Thief! Thief!" Yu Wen and Yu Bin shouted. Yu Wu rushed out of the courtyard without a word. The police station was only a five-minute walk away, which, for Yu Wu, was a three-minute run.

Huang Guihua was also startled and rushed to the front yard. She grabbed a stick and charged over aggressively.

Even the deaf old woman came over, her face filled with panic.

Chapter Seventy: Two Beasts Arrested (Seeking flowers, votes, and full subscription!)

Seeing the situation before them, and Jia Zhangshi howling and clutching her pig's trotter, everyone understood perfectly well what was going on.

"You really did something like this, Jia Zhangshi! You actually stole it!" Yan Bugui's wife, Yang Yuhua, said in surprise, "Hehe, you have some skill."

"You managed to open such a big lock!"

Liu Haizhong's wife, Zhang Cuihua, nodded in agreement, saying, "Yes, yes. We need to make Lao Liu and the others give Jia Zhangshi a good dressing down."

The deaf old woman hurriedly said, "Don't just stand there, get Zhang girl out of there quickly. Take the iron clamp off her foot first."

"I'd like to see who dares to go in!" Huang Guihua shouted angrily. "My son has already called the police. Anyone who goes in to help Jia Zhangshi is her accomplice."

"What? Who told you to call the police? Get them back right now!" the deaf old woman roared. "Let's settle things here in the compound!"

"You wait for those three old men to come back; they'll get justice for you..."

"Pah! What a bunch of idiots. What right do they have to uphold justice for me? Can't I just go to the neighborhood committee or the police station?" Huang Guihua said dismissively.

"You...you...are you planning a rebellion?" the deaf old woman stammered. "How dare you talk to me like that?"

"What's wrong with me talking to you like this?" Huang Guihua said disdainfully, "As if you have some high status."

"We'll talk about it when the police arrive."

Inside, Jia Zhangshi screamed like a pig being slaughtered, trying to get the clamps off. But she couldn't pry them open.

Luckily, she was wearing cotton shoes, otherwise Jia Zhangshi's pig's trotter would definitely have broken. Even with cotton shoes on, the pig's trotter was still bleeding profusely. The cotton shoes were almost soaked with blood.

The deaf old woman was red-faced and visibly angry after Huang Guihua's rebuke, but now was not the time to dwell on it. The police would arrive soon. If Jia Zhangshi confessed everything, they would be in deep trouble.

"Zhang girl, you're so old, why are you still so greedy?" The deaf old woman said anxiously to Jia Zhangshi, "You've sprained your ankle now, haven't you? Wait for the police to come and then tell them straight, just say you're craving something to eat."

"It's no big deal. At most, you'll be detained for a few days."

Jia Zhangshi's mind wasn't sharp; in fact, it was almost completely withered. But she could still understand what the deaf old woman meant. It meant she could only say she wanted to give the old woman some food, and couldn't say anything else.

If it were said that someone was framed, the sky would fall down that day.

"Get this open for me right now! I just want to find something to eat. He's trying to frame me and make me pay him a thousand yuan!"

"You son of a bitch! A thief like you would have had his legs broken and be hung up at the village entrance by now in the countryside," Huang Guihua said viciously. "Just you wait... for the police to come."

Yu Wu arrived with three police officers. When the police station heard that the steel mill's chief engineer's house had been burgled, they immediately took it seriously. Chief Zhang personally led the team over.

Before coming, they called the steel rolling mill and asked Li Xiangdong to come back home to check if anything important was missing.

This is the chief engineer of the steel rolling mill. If any of the blueprints he designed were lost, it would be a major scandal.

The handling of Jia Zhangshi was simple: they immediately handcuffed her. A police officer was sent to a nearby clinic to fetch a doctor to treat the wound on Jia Zhangshi's foot.

"I didn't do anything wrong, I just wanted to come to their house for breakfast," Jia Zhangshi said, trembling. Now she knew fear.

"Looking for something to eat?" Director Zhang said coldly, "Do you think this is your home? Looking for something to eat? You've got some skill in picking this lock."

The doctor arrived quickly; the police officers had already removed the metal clamps from Jia Zhangshi's feet. Now the doctor said to Jia Zhangshi, "Take off your shoes! Let me see how serious the situation is!"

Jia Zhangshi had no choice but to take off her shoes, revealing her feet that looked like pig's trotters. The stench made several people nearby stumble and fall over.

Fortunately, the doctor was wearing a mask, and he endured the pain as he used alcohol swabs to wash Jia Zhangshi's feet. Then he quickly bandaged them up.

"It's nothing serious. Just avoid getting it wet. And wash it once a day. It'll be fine after a week," the doctor said. "Who's going to pay the one yuan?"

"Mrs. Jia, hurry up and pay the money!" Director Zhang said.

"I...I don't have any money. Old lady, please lend me some." Jia Zhangshi looked at the deaf old woman, implying that she should pay for it.

The deaf old woman felt as uncomfortable as if she had eaten an Oli Gee, and could only force a smile and say, "Okay, I'll lend it to you first."

The deaf old woman gave Jia Zhangshi a dollar. She knew she wouldn't get the money back! She was certain Jia Zhangshi would demand even more compensation after she got out of prison.

Just then, Li Xiangdong walked in from outside the gate. He had driven back in a Jeep. The factory was planning to assign Li Xiangdong a driver, but he could drive himself.

"Hello, Chief Engineer Li! I am Zhang Weiguo, the head of the San Tiao Xiang Police Station!" Chief Zhang hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Do you have anything important at home? Go and check if anything is missing. This Jia Zhang must have been caught in a mousetrap as soon as he entered the gate."

"Hello, Director Zhang!" Li Xiangdong said politely, "I don't have anything valuable at home. I just have a few design drawings for a new type of rifle."

"I need to go check if anyone has touched it."

As Li Xiangdong said this, he hurriedly went into the house with a worried expression. He came out a moment later, looking relaxed, and said, "It's alright, the blueprints are still there. But I don't know if they were photographed."

"The military is waiting for the new guns to be manufactured, so let them take over."

"The military? Then you should contact..." Director Zhang felt completely overwhelmed.

“I’ll contact them… no need, they’ve already arrived,” Li Xiangdong said.

Director Zhao led six or seven soldiers in and rushed in.

"Is there a problem with Chief Engineer Li's drawings?" Director Zhao asked anxiously.

"The blueprints are still there, but I don't know if someone took pictures of them," Li Xiangdong said. "She just opened the lock and got caught in a mousetrap."

“Okay, I understand. Director Zhang, right? Hand the prisoner over to me.” Director Zhao said, “If there are no enemy agents involved, then I’ll transfer him back to you.”

"No, no! There are no enemy agents. I just had a craving. Their hot pot smelled so good last night, so I came here early to eat!" Jia Zhangshi cried out.

Jia Zhangshi was also scared. Stealing some food would only get her locked up for a few days. But being labeled an enemy spy could mean death.

The deaf old woman was trembling; she was terrified. If the military took her away and Jia Zhangshi were to reveal everything, the situation would become extremely serious.

"That still needs to be reviewed by us!" Director Zhao said sternly.

Director Zhao could also see that this old hag had no connection with enemy agents. However, Li Xiangdong clearly wanted to mess with her, and he also needed to follow proper procedures on his side.

“Li Xiangdong is from the same compound, you can’t ruin this business…” the deaf old woman said to Li Xiangdong with a gloomy face.

"You heard me now? You said I messed with her? Heh heh, you'd better worry about yourself." Li Xiangdong sneered, "Get out of here, all of you!"

"Chief Engineer Li, you can't keep the blueprints at home anymore," Director Zhao said. "Also, I'll install an iron gate here for you; no one can come into this yard."

"Okay, whatever you want." Li Xiangdong nodded and said, "Let's go then. By the way, when we get back to the factory, I need to make a lock myself. This lock that can be opened with a single poke of wire won't work."

"Yu Wen, can you watch the house for me?"