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

Li Jianguo ate quite a lot and drank three bottles of alcohol. He didn't use his internal energy to evaporate the alcohol, and fell asleep while he was still dizzy.

The next day, I woke up with a bit of a headache; the quality of this wine was rather poor.

In this era, annual leave is even shorter. The steel mill only gives employees three days off: Lunar New Year's Eve, the first day of the new year, and the second day. It's less than what they used to get in their previous lives. Li Jianguo finds it hard to adjust.

Since he had nothing else to do in the yard, Li Jianguo carried a bucket and his homemade fishing rod and went out fishing.

Actually, he was too lazy to catch one or two fish. The main thing was to find a suitable reason to go out. He just wanted to go into his space to cultivate. If he stayed in the courtyard, it would be troublesome if someone came looking for him.

After finding a secluded alley, Li Jianguo entered the space and began to cultivate. This time, he planned to practice his internal strength more. After drinking a sip of spiritual spring water, I sat cross-legged beside him and slowly digested it.

Time flies, and it really does pass quickly when you're practicing your internal energy. He took out his pocket watch and saw that four or five hours had already gone by.

Li Jianguo then cooked a meal in the space, ate and drank his fill, and continued his cultivation.

It wasn't until evening, when he emerged from his spatial dimension, that he specifically used his mental power to scan the alley. Only after confirming that no one was around did he leave.

When I got home, I ran into Yan Bugui again, who was watering flowers at the door on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

"Jianguo's back! He went fishing. How was the catch today?" Yan Bugui quickly ran to Li Jianguo's side and peeked into the bucket, but there wasn't a single fish.

"No way, Jianguo, I saw you carrying a bucket out this morning. You fished all day and didn't catch a single fish? You came back empty-handed." Yan Bugui looked at Li Jianguo with schadenfreude.

"Sigh, Teacher Yan only caught tiny fish, which aren't very interesting to eat, so I just released them. I was hoping to catch a big one, but after fishing all day, I didn't catch a single big one." Li Jianguo spread his hands, feigning helplessness.

"Oh, you went to Shichahai, didn't you? There are big fish there. Every year the government pulls nets to catch fish, and they've basically caught all the big ones, especially the fish near Shichahai."

If you want to catch big fish in the future, you'll have to go to the Yongding River. There might be big fish there, possibly swimming from upstream or downstream. Anyway, I've never heard of catching big fish at Shichahai.

"But the Yongding River is too far away; I have to take the bus. If I don't catch anything, I'll lose the bus fare. It would be so much better if I had a bicycle." Yan Bugui went on and on about fishing.

"Oh, I see. It seems Teacher Yan is quite the expert. How long have you been fishing? You know so much about it."

"Of course, with so many people in my family, how could I not want to make some extra money?"

Moreover, most of the meat in the house comes from my fishing skills. If you want to learn, I can give you a discount. How about three thousand?" Yan Bugui's small eyes darted around, and he started scheming against Li Jianguo again.

"Alright, Teacher Yan, you can continue guarding the gate. I won't bother you anymore. I'm tired after a long day. I want to go home, wash up, and go to sleep." After saying that, Li Jianguo picked up the bucket and strolled home. Yan Bugui never stops talking about money.

I closed the door, heated up the leftovers and made do. Just as I finished heating them up, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to see Xu Damao carrying an oil paper bag and two bottles of wine.

I never expected it to be Xu Damao, the master of first blood. What's this bastard doing here? I wonder what he wants?

"You must be Li Jianguo. I'm Xu Damao, who lives in the backyard. We're neighbors in the same courtyard. I'd like to be friends and get to know you." As he spoke, Xu Damao held up what he was holding.

"Oh, Damao, come in quickly!" Li Jianguo said, stepping aside to welcome Xu Damao inside.

Li Jianguo also wanted to hear what Xu Damao meant, as he had never dealt with Xu Damao before, according to his memory from the original trial.

Xu Damao opened the oil paper package directly, which contained sliced ​​braised beef and some peanuts, and placed the wine on the table.

"Brother Jianguo, I'm currently learning projection technology from my dad at the steel rolling mill. We'll be colleagues from now on."

Li Jianguo was genuinely surprised that Xu Damao had started preparing to take over the business so early; he thought Xu Damao was still in school.

"Da Mao, being a projectionist is a good job. I'll have to rely on you to take care of me in the future," Li Jianguo complimented.

"Brother Jianguo is fine, and the purchasing agent is good too. We can go to the countryside together then." The two sat down and started drinking.

"Brother Jianguo, I heard you taught Yi Zhonghai a lesson the other day." Before he'd even had two drinks, Xu Damao couldn't wait to ask.

"Well, this is all because Yi Zhonghai didn't want me to deal with Sha Zhu, and he was quite forceful about it. I got angry immediately and couldn't hold back."

"Hey, who says otherwise? Let me tell you, don't be fooled by Yi Zhonghai's respectable appearance. He's actually wicked inside, and Sha Zhu isn't any better."

"That idiot can't even tell. I tried to warn him a few months ago, and he beat me up. Isn't that ridiculous?" Xu Damao quickly changed the subject, talking badly about the two of them.

Li Jianguo was surprised to learn that Xu Damao had actually kindly reminded Shazhu at the beginning.

"Oh, Da Mao, you're absolutely right. They say there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names."

This Sha Zhu is truly stupid. A couple of days ago, his father came back and beat Yi Zhonghai up for stealing his job and money.

"Look, it's only been a few days, and yesterday at the New Year's Eve dinner, Sha Zhu was happily eating with them again. He's really silly." Li Jianguo couldn't help but complain to Xu Damao.

"That's right. I came back a few days ago and heard about this. I wanted to go and comfort him, but he beat me up instead. You weren't there at the time, and he chased me for eight blocks."

"You wouldn't believe it, this silly Zhu has been the bully of the neighborhood since he was a kid. He beats up anyone he doesn't like. We kids his age have been beaten up by him since we were little." Xu Damao angrily downed a glass of wine.

"Da Mao, I noticed that the old lady in the backyard is getting quite close to Yi Zhonghai's family. I know that Jia Dongxu from the Jia family is Yi Zhonghai's apprentice."

"How can he be so close to this old lady in the backyard?" Li Jianguo asked quickly, seeing that Xu Damao was a little tipsy.

Xu Damao's alcohol tolerance is really not that great; no wonder he often slips under the table when drinking in the back.

The two of them had only drunk one bottle, and their faces were already flushed red, and they were slurring their words.

"Sigh, what does it have to do with anything? I heard my dad talk about that old lady behind the house. She was the concubine of some official, or some old man's mistress."

"It seems he couldn't win against the wife, so someone gave him sterilization drugs, and then he was kicked out of the house." Xu Damao took another drink before continuing.