Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

Inside the examination hall, Sister Li was distributing exam stipends to the examiners, 20 yuan per person. However, as government employees, Zhuang Zhongchen and his colleagues received nothing.

In reality, 20 yuan is not much for those chefs; what they need is prestige—the judges of all the chefs in Beijing!

That's just how men in Beijing are; they value face above all else!

Meanwhile, restaurant staff were packing the exam food into large lunchboxes, and finally bundling it into a large package...

This is also one of the benefits for the exam group. Those exam dishes can't be wasted, especially now during the three years of hardship. In the end, everyone gets a serving.

As they left, Sister Li said goodbye with a beaming smile, as if she were riding on wheels of fire; Huang Ya also left with a cheerful expression, as if he were floating on clouds.

It seems we underestimated the allure of food during this period. The contents of the package alone were enough to feed the whole family for two or three days, and they were quite oily.

Carrying his package, Zhuang Zhongchen also set off on his way home. But about a block away from his house, he suddenly spotted a beautiful figure. The woman was hiding under a secluded shady tree, and kept gesturing to him with her eyes.

Zhuang Zhongchen quickly searched his memory. He realized that he did recognize this woman; her name was Mi Cuicui, the wife of his childhood friend, Da Chan.

Before she could continue searching her memories, Mi Cuicui came running over with a mournful look on her face: "Chenzi, you promised to help me last time, have you thought of a way yet?"

"Uh... Sister-in-law."

"Oh dear, you're driving me crazy! You can't change your mind!" Mi Cuicui stomped her foot. "If you're heartless, and I can't go on living anyway, I'll just grab Xiaoxue and jump into the river! Hmph!"

(⊙_⊙)

"boom--!"

Like a thunderclap, a long stretch of memories exploded in Zhuang Zhongchen's mind.

To be fair, Da Chan is indeed my childhood friend. But his wife, Mi Cuicui... well! Weren't we once passionately in love?

However, unlike Zhuang Zhongchen's life, that "Big Shovel" was just a petty thug who frequently abused Mi Cuicui. He also developed a gambling addiction and racked up a mountain of debt.

Just a few days ago, Da Chan, having exhausted all other options, joined a theft gang and stole from their factory. He was eventually caught red-handed and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

However, even though she was imprisoned, the debts were not settled. The creditors then went looking for Mi Cuicui.

At this point, Mi Cuicui could only desperately plead with her lover, Zhuang Zhongchen...

What the hell!

Zhuang Zhongchen was shocked. Had the original owner planted a huge landmine here?

What the hell is this plot twist? First it was the vampire Qin Huairu, then the bottomless pit Mi Cuicui?

Zhuang Zhongchen nearly coughed up blood; his mind was in a mess. However, in front of so many people, he needed to calm Mi Cuicui down first.

She forced a smile: "Uh... Cui Cui, it's not convenient right now. I'll talk to you tonight."

"Then you absolutely must come!"

"Don't worry. Oh, by the way, here you go."

"What's in this package?"

"These are all food, I brought them especially for you." If you're going to try to win a woman's heart, you have to be willing to spend some money.

Sure enough, Mi Cuicui beamed, completely convinced: "Mmm. Good brother, I knew it, you're the best to me. I'll wait for you to eat together tonight."

"..."

Watching Mi Cuicui leave, seeing her happily carrying her package, Zhuang Zhongchen was once again drenched in sweat.

In such a conservative era, the original owner of this body actually acted so recklessly. Will they eventually catch him and execute him? Damn it!

Rushing home, Zhuang Zhongchen ignored everything else and immediately began searching his memories. Damn it, how many landmines did the original owner of this body have planted?

After searching through all his memories repeatedly, Zhuang Zhongchen breathed a slight sigh of relief. He received both good news and bad news.

The good news is that—aside from Qin Huairu and Mi Cuicui, there were indeed no other women. Furthermore, the original owner of this body was quite careful in her actions, never provoking those she shouldn't, and maintaining a good distance from other women.

In other words, his reputation wasn't ruined. He even kept his illicit affairs quite discreet.

The bad news is—Da Chan's debts are also over a thousand. And the original owner of this body had promised Mi Cuicui that she would take full responsibility?

Holy crap! He's going to take full responsibility?!

At this moment, Zhuang Zhongchen finally understood why the original owner of this body had completely broken down. Suddenly incurring over a thousand more debts—who could withstand that? Ultimately, it drove the original owner to the brink of despair.

Furthermore, in his memory, Zhuang Zhongchen gained another insight—the locust flower was definitely his child.

Based on the dates, Jia Dongxu was with Yi Zhonghai at the time, carrying out technological innovations at the steel rolling mill, and they lived and worked at the mill for almost a whole month.

Because of this, the frequency increased a bit, and Zhuang Zhongchen... made a mistake that all men make. Cough cough.

No matter what, what mistakes could a child possibly make? Especially since it was a mistake made by the original owner of this body.

Anyway, this is definitely not a harem novel. I'm just a pure and innocent young man! Dear readers, please don't click the "X"! Please add it to your favorites! Please keep reading!

But... why are there only two? Why didn't they cause any trouble? Thumbs down! *cough cough*

……

After thinking about this for a while, Zhuang Zhongchen finally decided to face reality.

Regardless, the karma of the original owner is already on his/her own shoulders; there's no escaping it. Isn't it just a matter of solving one problem after another?

Let's settle the newbie tasks first. Zhuang Zhongchen opened the system and pressed the "Agree" button.

"Task Settlement: SSS"

"Thanks to your help, a total of 17 candidates passed the exam, which can be counted as 17 good deeds."

"Task Rewards (Newbie Task Bonus: 5x): 17 Shopping Vouchers, 170 Experience Points."

"Open the Level 1 Food Shop. Welcome to shop at the Food Shop."

"Level 1 experience points are full. Advance to Level 2 (70/1000)"

"Open the Level 2 Intelligence Center. Welcome to the Intelligence Center to purchase intelligence."

"..."

A series of dazzling prompts filled Zhuang Zhongchen with joy. He then began to carefully study this broken system.

According to the system's calculation: doing a good deed earns 2 experience points. 10 experience points equal one shopping voucher. So, five elderly women equal one shopping voucher, and 10 experience points?

Furthermore, no new tasks appear after completing the beginner's tasks. Do I need to actively trigger them?

Okay! Let's not worry about that for now, she's just an old lady.

Currently, in addition to the level one food shop, I have also opened the level two intelligence center. To reach level three, I need to obtain 1000 experience points.

That's 500 elderly women, snatching food from the hands of Young Pioneers! Just thinking about it is terrifying!

That's enough for now! I'll focus on researching the food stalls and the intelligence center first!