The Beginning of a Courtyard House: Sixty Years of Internal Strength

"Old Yan, you're right, let's do it this way."

Li Jianguo and Li Yaoyao exchanged a glance, both showing shock.

"Brother Jianguo, do you think this matter is getting more and more serious?"

Old Man Yan actually tried to frame his own son.

Good heavens, are these really father and son?

"Yaoyao, you know what, he really would do something like this for money."

There's likely to be a lot of interesting things to see next.

The next day, Yan Jiecheng excitedly carried a large oil paper package.

Two bottles of Lotus White Wine also arrived at Li Jian's home.

Place it on the table and open the oil paper package.

One pound of braised beef, peanuts, pig's head meat, and roast chicken.

No wonder the oil paper package looked so big.

There's quite a lot inside.

Xu Damao stared in disbelief and said.

"Jiecheng, you've really gone all out today."

"You look so happy, did you succeed?"

"Two older brothers, this is a must."

According to the methods you taught.

Last night I was threatening them.

They took my dad down directly, and he went home in a huff.

Next month I won't even pay for food.

We eat nothing but garbage every day.

They eat cornbread, pickled vegetables, and only once a week can they eat cabbage.

They don't even see meat once a month.

The food was absolutely terrible.

After I started the fire myself.

He eats meat every other day; I'm going to drive him crazy.

Yan Jiecheng said smugly.

"Jiecheng, your good days are really coming."

Come, to celebrate your new life.

Let's have a good drink.

Li Jianguo watched the spirited Yan Jiecheng and they began to eat and drink together.

At this moment, Xu Damao gave instructions.

"Jiecheng, you still need to be careful."

Old Yan is so stingy, he lost so much money all at once.

I will absolutely not accept this.

He will definitely find a way to get more dirt on you.

Yan Jiecheng was also taken aback.

"Brother Da Mao, I haven't done anything wrong, have I?"

Aside from the theft, everything has been covered up.

I never did anything in the factory or the yard.

Xu Damao shook his head.

"Jiecheng, even though you haven't done anything."

But your dad will definitely cause some trouble too.

Given his personality, he'd be at a disadvantage if he didn't find any money.

I gave you so much money for nothing.

Do you think he'll back down?

Yan Jiecheng put himself in Yan Jiecheng's shoes and realized that if he were in Yan Jiecheng's shoes, he wouldn't let the matter rest either.

"Brothers, what should I do now?"

Li Jianguo also gave a hint.

"It is said that one can only be a thief for a thousand days, not a thief for a thousand days."

You've really racked your brains right now.

I never imagined he would do this to you.

This is simply impossible to defend against.

There are just too many ways they can harm you.

I suggest you go away and hide for a few months.

There are only a few months left until the end of the year, aren't there?

Don't come back before the New Year.

If absolutely necessary, don't go back to the hospital during the Chinese New Year.

I'll hide for a while, as long as you're not home.

Yan Laokou will not find an opportunity to make a move against you.

Your dad still works at the school.

They couldn't even reach the steel rolling mill.

Yan Jiecheng nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

"Brother Jianguo, you're absolutely right."

I'm going to hide tomorrow, so my dad won't scheme against me.

Xu Damao came up with an idea.

"Jiecheng, if you think your classmate's house is too expensive."

You can apply for a dormitory at the factory first.

Although the conditions were a bit poor, it was cheap.

Yan Jiecheng nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, I'll go to the factory to apply tomorrow."

After the three of them had eaten and drunk their fill...

Yan Jiecheng escorted Xu Damao home.

They hurriedly returned to the back room to tidy up.

He plans to run away tomorrow.

The next day.

Li Jianguo then discovered that Yan Jiecheng had moved out of the compound.

I guess they'll stay at a friend's house first, and then wait to apply for a dormitory.

This continued until mid-to-late October.

Li Jianguo and Yao Yao started picking fruit.

Each person took an apple and tasted it.

It truly lives up to its reputation as being nourished by the sacred spring water.

Fruits contain a small amount of energy.

And it's very sweet.

"Brother Jianguo, you need to add sugar when making fruit wine."

But I tried several kinds of fruit.

They're all very sweet, so there's probably no need to add sugar.

We don't have much sugar in our space either.

It's too late to plant sugar beets now.

Li Jianguo thought about it.

"Let's steal some sugar from the sugar factory."

We'll have to take over this business again next year; stealing it once is enough.

There were still several large sugar factories in Beijing.

How about we just steal a warehouse?

"Alright, Brother Jianguo, I'm just afraid the government will start an investigation."

After all, sugar is a controlled resource, and losing a large quantity of it would be quite a problem.

"Hey, let's steal a little less from each warehouse, just enough for this production."

Next year, let's grow our own sugar beets and make our own rock sugar.

Yao Yao nodded and agreed.

The two then picked various fruits from about 30 trees.

I picked a whole bunch.

There are approximately 1 kilograms of fruit.

After removing the pits, we'll probably only have about 8000 jin left.

The yield is quite high; generally, large fruit trees yield between 150 and 400 jin (750-200 catties).

The ratio of rock sugar to sugar is usually 5:1.

Therefore, thousands of kilograms of rock sugar are still needed.

Li Jianguo got dressed up in the evening.

After being discharged from the hospital, I went straight to the sugar factory.

The factory's security personnel are quite strict.

However, it was meaningless to Li Jianguo.

They quickly found the warehouse where the rock sugar was stored.

Li Jianguo took some from each shelf.

Then they stole some from other warehouses as well.

After gathering about 1000 jin, it entered the space.

Yao Yao was calculating the amount of rock sugar and fruit in her spatial dimension.

Li Jianguo quickly asked.

"How's Yao Yao? Is the quantity enough?"

"Brother Jianguo, no problem, it's enough."

Li Jianguo then left the space and returned to the courtyard house.

The two worked until midnight and went straight to sleep.

The next day.

Following their normal routine, the two went out and began making fruit wine once inside the space.

I carefully reviewed the brewing methods for fruit wine.

I found that fruit wine is quite good; it basically doesn't need to be diluted with water.

Li Jianguo directly controlled the process, washing the fruit clean and shaking off the water.

The pit is carefully removed without even removing the skin.

Because the leather is a natural yeast starter,

This makes things even easier; you don't even need to add yeast.

Then it's about controlling it with your mind.

Crush them into a pulp.

According to the book, these fruits do not need to be mashed too finely.

Do not mash it into a paste; be sure to leave the fruit pieces.

This method of brewing fruit wine will result in a richer fruity aroma.

They took out the large wine jar that weighed 100 jin (50 catties).

Start by spreading a 5cm thick layer of fruit syrup, then add a layer of rock sugar.

Layer upon layer, it was laid down.

Keep filling these wine jars until they are about 80% full.

Li Jianguo filled 145 large wine jars.

Fortunately, he had made quite a few wine jars, otherwise there really wouldn't be enough.

Then start stirring.

Let the rock sugar and fruit syrup inside blend together fully.

There is no need to crush the rock sugar.

During the brewing process, the rock sugar will melt on its own.

The next step should be to find a weight to hold it down.

All the fruit pulp inside should be pressed down to the surface of the water.

To prevent them from getting moldy, it would be much easier if Li Jianguo could control it.

Pull the fruit pulp directly below the water surface.