Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

Pedaling hard on his tricycle, Zhuang Zhongchen hauled a load of vegetables into the kitchen. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he joined the cooks to begin preparing the meal…

After the meal, Zhuang Zhongchen and the cooks seized every spare moment to participate in militia training...

While other soldiers were resting and relaxing at night, Zhuang Zhongchen and his cooks were still training intensely...

As the militia company's political instructor and quartermaster, this was an incredibly fulfilling day for Zhuang Zhongchen. He not only had to complete the work of the cooking squad, but also all the training subjects.

A busy day was finally over. Exhausted, a group of rough-looking men lay down on the communal sleeping platform.

"Coach Zhuang, something doesn't seem right to me."

"What's wrong?"

"Why do we have to train together? We're already exhausted from feeding those bastards three meals a day, working from dawn till dusk, aren't we?"

"That reminds us—in order not to cook dinner for those bastards, our cooks might as well wipe out the enemy."

Amid the laughter, someone said, "Those bastards are truly shameless. They even dared to complain that our cooking looks like pig swill?"

"You can't please everyone, who the hell cares about their feelings?" Zhuang Zhongchen laughed. "Like me, I'm in charge of chef certification exams, not the chef. And they want me to be a cook? Who can I complain to?"

"Yeah, that's so unfair! Why doesn't the neighboring company train much?"

"They're from the health bureau. They'll be part of a medical team, all women. What kind of training will they do?"

"Fine, fine! We won't argue with women. But why are they allowed to stand by and watch when we're training? Isn't that just causing trouble?"

"Come on! The pretty girl is staring at you, and you bunch of rascals are staring at the pretty girl too."

The dormitory erupted in laughter.

"By the way, have you seen that girl with big eyes? Do you know which company she works for? Could you help introduce us?"

"Damn! You've got your eye on her too? Then I'll take the short-haired one next to her."

"Nobody can take her from me, I like the one with dimples."

"Damn it! Why should I give it to you? Let's draw lots if we dare."

"Hey, wake up. We're all in the same mess hall, but you can't treat everyone else like they're dead, can you? Those bastards are practically drooling, I've already seen quite a few of them crowding around."

"Holy crap! They dare to take advantage of the situation? We'll see how we deal with those kids; they won't even get to eat pig feed!"

"..."

Zhuang Zhongchen was too lazy to pay attention to this group of idiots; they were bursting with hormones and almost all of them had become mentally challenged.

Out of boredom, Zhuang Zhongchen opened the system. He'd gained some skill points recently, so he figured he might as well continue forging the Ten Mile Slope Sword God!

However, after looking around, I couldn't find a suitable skill.

If you raise your language skill to level 3, you won't have enough skill points; you'll need a full 100 skill points.

Activities like fishing and hunting are completely useless. It's not like a bunch of monsters will suddenly appear in Beijing.

It seems like all he has to offer is... cooking skills? The mess hall could use them, right? But why? You bunch of kids can just keep eating pig swill!

Finally, all that's left is driving. So let's start upgrading: lv1→lv2

A flood of fragmented knowledge rushed into his mind. But after fully absorbing it, Zhuang Zhongchen was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, after reaching level 2, I discovered that I could not only drive motor vehicles, but also special-purpose vehicles, military vehicles, speedboats at sea, and even propeller planes in the air...

Although these driving skills are basically just beginner level, the variety is amazing! Anyway, I'm now a land, sea, and air pilot!

And as your piloting level increases, you might be able to drive large ships, fighter jets, or even... spaceships?

Holy crap! I can fly and dive into the ground, like 007?

However, at that moment, Zhuang Zhongchen suddenly realized that even if he had these driving skills, he would still be unable to access vehicles.

Take the Labor Bureau for example. The cars are all for the leaders, and the few sidecars and motorcycles are also already taken. Although my department has a few official vehicles and bicycles that can be provided to employees who go out on fieldwork, I'm too young to use them.

This time, during the militia training, they finally provided a tricycle. Normally, you couldn't even stand up and pedal!

At this moment, Zhuang Zhongchen was like a deflated balloon. He looked up at the starry sky, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear...

……

Just then, Wen Yumei had already helped her mother clear the dishes. The mother and daughter had just returned to the outer room when her father, Wen Yongchang, put down his newspaper: "Xiaomei, have you reported for duty yet?"

"Yes, yes." Wen Yumei nodded repeatedly with a smile, "I just finished the formalities today and they told me I can start work tomorrow."

"Going to work?" The three brothers, Wen Anguo, Wen Anjun, and Wen Anmin, looked up, all puzzled. "Xiaomei went to work? Has she been assigned a job?"

"No." The most confused was Wen Anguo. "Xiaomei, aren't you going to the swimming pool anymore?"

"I'm not going. I've already started working at the district library. Hehehe."

"The district library? How is that possible? With your abilities?"

"Why not? Don't underestimate me. You don't know how outstanding I am; I'm in high demand outside. I'm practically begging for anything at the district library..."

Wen Anmin, who was standing to the side, finally couldn't help but say, "You are eager to find talented people."

"Hmph, Third Brother, don't interrupt. I know that idiom. Anyway, I'm already a full-time library employee, and a citizen of the public too. Hehehe!"

Standing to the side, Wen's mother, Su Yueying, laughed and scolded, "You're just bragging! It was all thanks to Xiao Zhuang. By the way, your father and I kept it a secret from you all before to maintain secrecy. Now you all need to keep your mouths shut and not talk nonsense outside. That's Xiao Mei's future!"

"Oh, oh!" After hesitating for a few seconds, the second brother, Wen Anjun, finally asked, "Mom, who is this Xiao Zhuang?"

"Uh... I won't say any more, I need to rest! Hehehe." Wen Yumei's eyes darted around. If she didn't escape now, when would she?

However, Wen Yongchang finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Sit down, I really need to have a serious talk with you. Girl, what's Xiao Zhuang's character like? What's his family situation like?"

"That's good! He doesn't have many family members left, so he works at the labor bureau. Your older brother knows that!"

"Cough cough cough!"

Wen Anguo, standing to the side, was nearly choked to death. The others glared angrily; could there be a traitor among us?

Wen Anguo quickly explained, "I really didn't know. That kid isn't a good person. I went to his door to teach him a lesson."

"Dad, Mom, Big Brother is talking nonsense. He just came to extort money from us. Brother Chen even treated us to barbecue. He ate the most. Humph."

"Cough cough cough!"