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

In the morning, Yi Zhonghai went directly to the steel rolling mill. After sitting at his workstation for a short while, he began preparing his plans.

Yi Zhonghai has worked at the steel rolling mill for many years and is considered a master craftsman there.

He then found another apprentice of his and brought him to his workstation. After giving him a few pointers, he said, "Little Song, there's a troublemaker in our department who's always picking on me. Look, he even broke my finger; it's been hurting for days."

His apprentice immediately flew into a rage: "Who is it? Master, how dare he treat you like this? Does he even respect us? Tell me who it is, and I'll go and smother him in the next couple of days."

"Sigh, Xiao Song, I know you're loyal to your master and good to me, but how can I let you take such a risk?"

"Here's a deal, I have a million here. Go out and find a few thugs to break his leg for me, how about that?" Yi Zhonghai looked at him with an expression that said, "I'm doing this for your own good."

"Oh, Master, is that all? Don't worry, I'll definitely handle it perfectly for you," Xiao Song promised, patting his chest.

"Okay, that's good." Yi Zhonghai handed the money he had prepared in advance to Xiao Song and whispered.

"Xiao Song, remember to look for them on the black market. Make sure they change hands several times, and absolutely don't arouse suspicion, understand?"

"Understood, Master, don't worry." Xiao Song thought to himself, "Nonsense, how can I go directly to someone? If they arrest me, wouldn't I be in jail? I'll take 200,000 yuan and then secretly hand this matter over to someone else."

"Okay, that's good. Come on, let me teach you a few more moves." With that, Yi Zhonghai patiently taught Xiao Song a few moves before leaving.

"Master, what were you whispering about with Xiao Song just now?" Jia Dongxu asked as soon as Yi Zhonghai returned.

He was genuinely afraid that Yi Zhonghai would change his retirement plans to someone else. If that happened, wouldn't Yi Zhonghai's assets be seized by someone else? He was still waiting to exploit Yi Zhonghai's remaining wealth.

"It's nothing. I just had a little conflict with Li Jianguo and wanted to teach him a lesson with my apprentice. You can focus on your work. I won't bother you any further." Yi Zhonghai was actually a little dissatisfied with Jia Dongxu.

He'd been bullied by Li Jianguo, and this apprentice hadn't even bothered to visit him at home. That's why he deliberately taught his other apprentices a few moves, just to give this Jia Dongxu a little pointer.

"Master, about Li Jianguo, that day I was going to take a knife and go out to chop that bastard Li Jianguo up. Alas, my mother stopped me and caused a scene at home."

I wanted to visit you again. But my mom was afraid I'd go after Li Jianguo and fight him, so she wouldn't let me go out.

"Master, you can leave this to me. I'll go and put a sack over his head tonight and give him a good beating." Jia Dongxu knew Yi Zhonghai was unhappy as soon as he heard this, so he quickly pledged his loyalty.

"Dongxu, no need. I've already made arrangements. You don't need to go. If you get caught, you'll have to go in jail."

"Your mother and wife are still waiting for you to support the family, aren't they?" Yi Zhonghai feigned concern, seeing that his apprentice was still on his side, but he didn't know if it was genuine or not. It seemed he still needed to manipulate him a bit.

As for his annoying old mother, there will be plenty of opportunities to deal with her later.

Afterwards, Yi Zhonghai taught Jia Dongxu a few more moves. After all, Jia was his old man, and seeing that he had given in, he rewarded him.

After all, training a person is like training a dog. If they disobey and dare to bare their teeth, give them a few whacks. If they obey, feed them and train them slowly. Eventually, you'll train an obedient person to care for you in your old age.

After teaching him a little, Yi Zhonghai returned to his workstation and got busy, since he couldn't possibly teach all of his skills to Jia Dongxu.

Wouldn't that allow him to ride roughshod over her? What a pity for Qin Huairu.

Thinking back to those nights, he realized that if it weren't for Jia Dongxu's obedience, he wouldn't have married Qin Huairu to him.

With Qin Huairu firmly in his grasp, he was quite at ease knowing that this apprentice would take care of him in his old age.

Li Jianguo transformed into a street hustler in Beijing.

In his previous life, he had always worked hard to buy a house and had never been to the capital.

In the afternoon, Li Jianguo went to the Forbidden City alone. The ticket price was only 1000 yuan at that time, which was really cheap.

Li Jianguo strolled around inside, wondering if he'd ever have the chance to be an emperor and experience the thrill of being one. He was determined to find enough concubines for his harem.

As expected of the Forbidden City built during the Ming Dynasty, it is truly magnificent! It's a pity that it was occupied by the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty for over 270 years. What a waste of such a beautiful place!

Alas, what a pity. This era is far too lenient with these remnants of the Manchu Qing dynasty. They're even allowed to play basketball. In my opinion, these remnants should have been executed 800 times over. During their invasion of the Central Plains, how many people did they kill, how many cities did they massacre? It far exceeded the scale of the Han Chinese civil war.

The former Manchu nobles haven't been purged. Their homes should have been ransacked long ago, and they should all have been executed. They even dared to treat Han Chinese like slaves.

The policies implemented by the Qing Dynasty still infuriate him when he thinks about them. The eight-legged essay, literary inquisitions, the 33 taels of silver, and even foot binding—weren't they all shackles imposed on the Han people by these remnants of the Manchu Qing dynasty?

And then there's the Industrial Revolution in Britain. I don't believe Emperor Kangxi was unaware that Britain became powerful through the Industrial Revolution.

But he refused to learn from them and even destroyed the policy of isolationism. He was absolutely afraid that the Han people would rise up and overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty. This is true; these Manchus were truly wicked.

After his shopping trip, Li Jianguo went to Quanjude for an authentic Peking duck dinner that evening. It wasn't too expensive; a whole duck only cost 50,000 yuan.

The duck-slicing master's skills are truly impressive! He's even slicing the duck right in front of the customers, using his exquisite skills to cut it piece by piece. The neatly sliced ​​duck is quite a sight to behold.

I also ordered a bottle of white wine. I actually finished it all! This body can really eat! A whole roast duck, including the broth. Looks like I'm still lacking in oil and fat; I need to replenish myself.

Li Jianguo strolled back to the courtyard. He had just reached the gate when he ran into Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui sniffed the air and smelled the aroma of roast duck. His eyes immediately lit up, but when he saw that Li Jianguo's hands were empty, he sighed in disappointment.

"Jianguo, did you go eat roast duck? Why didn't you bring back the duck carcass? You could have made soup with it and it would have lasted for several days." Yan Bugui sighed and complained to Li Jianguo.

"Wow, Teacher Yan, you have a really good nose. I was just really craving something delicious, it's been so long since I've had any meat, so I went and treated myself to some."

Oh, I was so hungry, I finished it all in no time.

"Alright, I'm not going to chat with you anymore. It's probably time to get off work now. You'd better hurry up and keep watch, or you'll miss it and affect your harvest today." Li Jianguo joked before going home.