Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

When Zhuang Zhongchen left, he casually took a fishing net from the storeroom.

You know what, back then, Dachan often used to steal chickens and dogs, and there were a lot of similar random tools.

People in Beijing have a particular fondness for raising pigeons. Remember when tens of thousands of pigeons were released during the military parade? So, using fishing nets to catch pigeons became a way for many petty thieves to make money. Good pigeons could be sold for high prices, while ordinary pigeons could be eaten by themselves.

Since we don't know if we'll catch any fish, it's always good to bring a fishing net.

However, as soon as he stepped outside, he was greeted by a torrential downpour, which made Zhuang Zhongchen shiver.

Holy crap! In this awful weather, I still have to catch fish?

Wrapping his raincoat tighter, Zhuang Zhongchen walked forward against the wind and rain. Now that he had set out, he figured he should at least catch three, four... seven, eight... a dozen fish, right?

The journey was arduous, and Zhuang Zhongchen's mind wandered: He wondered if the fish tonight would be polite enough to give him a generous beginner's gift. If he had known, he should have used his skill points on fishing. At least that would have increased his chances of catching fish…

But just then, a loud shout came from afar: "Help! The building has collapsed!"

Holy crap!

Zhuang Zhongchen immediately took off running towards the direction of the cries for help.

When Zhuang Zhongchen arrived, he found that several mud houses had collapsed. Braving the heavy rain, a group of people were conducting rescue operations in the ruins, and they were pulling a child out of the rubble.

But just as the group moved aside, a sudden surge of water rushed over, knocking them and the child to the ground. The child, in particular, was swept further and further away by the current.

Without hesitation, Zhuang Zhongchen put down the fishing net and threw it out with all his might. "Whoosh—!" The fishing net luckily caught the child, who was pulled to Zhuang Zhongchen's side.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Damn, this place is too low-lying; it floods every year. Thank you, comrade!"

"Don't be so polite. Send someone to watch the child. Let's work together. How many people are inside?"

"There should be two more... Holy crap! That's some strength, comrade, you're as strong as Zhang Fei!"

"Quickly check if anyone is injured. If they are, take them to the hospital!"

"Yes, yes!"

Fortunately, after a busy rescue effort, everyone in the rubble was pulled out. They suffered only minor injuries and were not in life-threatening danger.

Zhuang Zhongchen let out a long sigh of relief: "It's good that you're alright. I'm leaving now."

"No, no, comrade, may I ask your name?"

"Don't mention it, it's my pleasure."

"Then have a bowl of ginger soup, it's freshly made."

"You're welcome. I have to rush to my shift. See you later!"

"See you later, friend!" "Thank you, big brother!"

"hehe."

Zhuang Zhongchen was in a very good mood when he left. Being able to help others gave him a special sense of satisfaction.

The only regret is that even if I did a lot, it was still a good deed. But with this one thing, I finally have one shopping coupon. I now have eight shopping coupons.

That said, with this delay, there's no way I can go fishing now. I need to get back to work for my shift. After all, there's been a rainstorm in Beijing; I need to see if there's anything I can help with.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhuang Zhongchen arrived at the Labor Bureau, he was conscripted by Director Zhou, the leader on duty that night.

"Xiao Zhuang, not bad. You've come at the right time. The higher-ups have already called, telling us to prepare for disaster relief... Hey? What's that on your shoulder?"

"Fishing nets".

"Fishing net?"

"When I rushed back to the office, I saw a child being swept away by the flood. I grabbed at the net and pulled the child out of the water."

Director Zhou and the others burst into laughter. Is this even acceptable?

"Alright. Go back to your office and be on duty. Be ready to issue notifications at any time, and make sure to keep the rescue personnel's information organized."

"Yes, Director Zhou."

See? Vocational skills stocks may not seem useful most of the time, but they can play a huge role in crucial moments.

In emergency rescues like this, it's relatively easy to find able-bodied laborers, but what about skilled workers? What if we need 100 welders, 50 drivers, 20 doctors, and 10 cooks? Are we just going to run around to different units like headless flies?

At this point, you can find the Vocational Skills Section of the Labor Bureau. Through their internal records, they can quickly notify enterprises and institutions, allowing them to allocate manpower and assemble a rescue team in no time.

And so, Zhuang Zhongchen stayed on duty for the entire night. The next day, when he returned to work, he joined the youth volunteer team of the government office and rushed to various parts of Beijing for disaster relief…

[Task Settlement: A Fishing Man's Perk]

Because you did nothing, you unfortunately missed out on catching the fish.

Reward: 0 shopping vouchers.

By this time, Zhuang Zhongchen had become increasingly familiar with his broken system.

Zhuang Zhongchen discovered that those intelligence missions were all somewhat fraught with risks. The rewards might be good, but the risks were immense. It was easy to lose everything.

On the contrary, the rewards for tasks that are triggered voluntarily are relatively more generous.

This shows that opportunism is not encouraged; one must actively strive for what one wants.

Sure enough, when I got home from get off work that day, a postman came to the gate of my courtyard: "Zhuang Zhongchen, registered mail. Make sure you have the signature and stamp!"

"Oh! Here it comes!"

……

"Dear Comrade Zhuang Zhongchen, your translation has been approved by the editorial department of *Mechanical Engineering* and will be published in the next issue..."

"ha?"

Upon seeing the letter, Zhuang Zhongchen chuckled to himself. He hadn't expected things to be so efficient these days. Especially since the letter also included a postal money order for 41 yuan as payment for the manuscript.

[Task Settlement: Contributing to Domestic Industrial Development]

Your translation submission has inspired many technicians, making a small contribution to the field of hydraulics…

Reward: 3 skill points

Zhuang Zhongchen was overjoyed. After all that fuss, it turned out this was the correct way to do it.

He happily flipped through the remittance slip, knowing he would have a stable income from now on. He didn't need to translate many papers each month; one or two would suffice. More would be unnecessary and would only arouse suspicion.

I'm not one of those future amateur writers who have to write 10,000 words a day. In this day and age, being able to write a few hundred words a day is already considered prolific. The same goes for translating academic papers; a few hundred words a day is about right.

That would add about 50 yuan to your monthly income. That's 600 yuan a year, and roughly 2500 yuan in four years. Wouldn't that pay off your debt?

With the added income from skill points, there's absolutely no need to worry about making a living. To put it bluntly, in an emergency, 1 skill point can be exchanged for 50 shopping vouchers.

And with this increase in experience points, the system successfully advanced to the third level...