Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Having no other choice, Zhang Dabiao had to leave his "little den," open the small compartment in the stable, and go outside.

"I just suddenly had a new idea and I'm drawing it now. What's up?"

When Zhang Dabiao goes back to his room to paint, people should knock or call out beforehand if they need to talk to him, so as not to startle him by suddenly pushing the door open and disrupting his train of thought. This is the rule in the small courtyard.

Seeing Zhang Dabiao say this, Mu Wanqing didn't ask any more questions.

"I'm going home now, my mom should be getting off work soon."

"Okay, I'll see you off."

Before Mu Wanqing and Zhang Dabiao's relationship was semi-public, Mu Wanqing had already started cooking together with a fixed amount of food.

Zhang Dabiao, He Yushui, and Mu Wanqing share a fixed amount of food, while Qin Jingru's share is paid separately by Zhang Dabiao. The four of them eat together every afternoon, while Zhang Dabiao, He Yushui, and Qin Jingru eat together in the morning. Everyone is used to it.

Anyway, Zhang Dabiao has money and food, and he's too lazy to cook, so it's his freedom to choose who he partners with, and no one else can interfere.

The food processing plant is quite busy, especially when people go there to buy snacks after get off work. This is the busiest time for the plant, so Aunt Mu gets off work an hour or two later than the regular employees. Therefore, Mu Wanqing simply ate at Zhang Dabiao's place.

As they left the courtyard, He Yushui's door suddenly opened. Seeing the two walking together, He Yushui suddenly said something to Mu Wanqing.

"I will not give up!"

Then, with a bang, the door was slammed shut again.

……

Zhang Dabiao was completely bewildered—[Is this girl crazy? Why is she talking so incoherently?]

Is that guy here again?

[I'm such a jerk, always thinking about when girls get their period.]

He shook his head and went for a walk with Mu Wanqing.

------------

When it was late at night, Qin Jingru and Yushui had already fallen asleep.

Zhang Dabiao was the only one in the courtyard. It was still very hot in Beijing in August and September, but there was nothing he could do because he couldn't get a ticket for an electric fan.

Moreover, the side room had electricity, but the stable did not. Zhang Dabiao used the excuse that sleeping in the stable was more spacious and cooler, but in reality he crawled into his "little nest," where the temperature was a constant 26 degrees Celsius, neither too hot nor too cold, and very comfortable.

He wants to study that little courtyard house in Hong Kong carefully.

Upon entering the small apartment, he lit a cigarette, then, after thinking for a moment, picked up the envelope and examined it. Inside, besides the land deed and house deed, there was another document—

ID card?

Zhang Dabiao was stunned.

Holy crap!

That old scoundrel Lou has ruined me!

A black and white card with a hint of light green, with black and white squares around the edges and black squares at the four corners.

HONG KONG IDENTITY CARD NO: B9527……

The fingerprint is on the left side of the middle, the photo is in the very center, and there are numbers behind it—is that a height of 75? 175?

Was this thing behind you when the photo was taken?

Is that an official seal on the right?

The back has my name in both Chinese and English, along with my date of birth—Zhang Yaoyang, born in 1941. Did they change my name and make me 19 years old?

It was even slightly distressed and sealed in plastic.

Zhang Dabiao stared at the identity card for a long time, feeling it was too surreal.

They gave me an apartment in Hong Kong and conveniently got me an ID card...

That's understandable. How can you transfer ownership of a Hong Kong property to someone without a Hong Kong ID card?

Wait, Zhang Yaoyang… isn't that Brother Crow? Why did he give me such a name? It sounds kind of gangster-ish…

And because of the rules of the "little nest," this house was "attached" to the "little nest"... inexplicably becoming a teleportation array...

Zhang Dabiao was left wondering how to thank Lou Bancheng.

You're a really nice person, aren't you?

As for whether having a Hong Kong ID card would lead to investigation, Zhang Dabiao wasn't worried about that at all. There are plenty of people in the world who look alike. With an ID card, it's clear that Zhang Yaoyang from Hong Kong and Zhang Dabiao from the mainland are not the same person, and they're even different ages!

And since you can't connect to the internet, how can you check?

Zhang Dabiao shook his head. Forget about it for now.

After tidying himself up a bit, Zhang Dabiao put on his fisherman's vest and yellow rubber boots, tied them up, grabbed his fruit knife, Swiss Army knife set, and flashlight, and prepared to go and take a look.

He opened the balcony window, and in front of him was a dark wall with several wooden windows. Although they were a bit old, the glass was not broken, which showed that the Lou family had sent people to maintain them regularly.

Zhang Dabiao pushed open the window with a little force. It was dark inside, but the light from the small room shone through, allowing him to see the general area.

This is the main room of an old Chinese house, with a few chairs and a pull-cord light overhead. The front door is closed, and it's very quiet, but you can hear a faint sound of wind, as well as dogs barking and birds chirping, though the sounds are muffled and faint.

The light is coming through, but the sound is so quiet, could it be because the vibration of the wall is conducting the sound?

Zhang Dabiao cautiously lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke near the window.

The smoke can't get through, and the air isn't circulating?

To be on the safe side, Zhang Dabiao left his small nest again, went to the pond in the adjacent courtyard, and caught two live fish. Then he slipped back into the small nest and experimented again.

It had already been confirmed that he could bring the big fish into the small nest, even if he was just pulling on a rope to hook the big fish, he could still bring the living creature in and it could survive.

He first threw the fish over, and then the fish hit an invisible barrier and bounced back...

It was writhing on the ground, but it wasn't dead.

Then Zhang Dabiao took the fish in his hand and shoved it over, successfully sending it through. However, just as his fingers were about to touch the center of the barrier, Zhang Dabiao pulled back.

Good, the fish wasn't cut in half and is still alive.

Then Zhang Dabiao held the fish again, and let it go when it was halfway across the fish—

The fish bounced back intact and continued to thrash about on the ground.

In other words, even if Zhang Dabiao were to lose control midway, the objects or living beings he was carrying would be "rejected" from entering; they would be bounced back rather than cut in half, which would make it very safe.

Why test it this way?

To avoid accidentally letting go halfway through while carrying someone, and ending up like Black Dwarf in Avengers: Infinity War, with his hand severed by the closed portal, would be truly disastrous.

Imagine this: you're taking a girl to Hong Kong for some fun, and when you're passing her there, you accidentally let go, and she's cut in half right in front of you, all bloody...

Even being cut in half at the waist couldn't be more cruel!

Finally, Zhang Dabiao tried putting the fish in a bucket and handing it over while holding the bucket, or letting go halfway through.

The fish was neither dead nor cut in half.

Zhang Dabiao was finally completely relieved—the passage was safe.

Finally, Zhang Dabiao mustered his courage and stepped through the balcony window.

The temperature is slightly different; it's colder here because the air doesn't circulate well, and there's no breeze near the window.

I felt relieved after landing. I looked around with my flashlight and saw that it was just an old house with a slightly eerie feel to it.

that……

Is this a haunted house?

Zhang Dabiao looked back at the window and could see the bright lights inside the small apartment.

He threw the fish he was holding back—but it wouldn't go through.

Then you can hold it in your hand and hand it over; no problem. Even if you let go halfway and it bounces back, it's the same.

Therefore, only the individual and their belongings can travel back and forth.

Safety.

But the fish thrashing about on the ground...

What did I do to you? Why are you throwing things around like that?

"Can't you give me some water? I'm just asking you, you've been experimenting on me for so long, can't you give me some water?"

Just as Zhang Dabiao was about to go up to the second floor or into the yard, he suddenly heard voices outside.

"Hey... Ah Bing, did you see that earlier? It looked like a flashlight beam flashed."