The Courtyard House: The story begins with He Yuzhu beating up the White Widow.

Li Huaide picked up the cigarette pack on the table, took out a cigarette, and handed it to He Daqing, asking directly, "Master He, what did your son say?!"

He Daqing took the cigarette, but instead of smoking it, he tucked it behind his ear and recounted He Yuzhu's words to him in detail without embellishment.

After listening to He Daqing's account, Li Huaide tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table. After about five or six minutes, Li Huaide came to his senses and said, "Master He, thank you!"

He Daqing said, "Director Li, you're too kind! If there's nothing else, I'll be going now!"

Li Huaide nodded silently.

He Daqing stood up and walked briskly out of Li Huaide's office. After a while, Li Huaide picked up the internal phone on the table and said to the switchboard operator, "Connect me to purchasing group three."

Shortly after, the call connected. Li Rongguo, the head of the third purchasing team, spoke from the other end: "Director Li, what are your instructions?"

Li Huaide said, "Come to my office immediately."

"Yes!" Li Rongguo replied, hung up the phone, and muttered to himself, "Why does Director Li want me to go to his office at this time?!" After hesitating for a few seconds, Li Rongguo left his office.

Just as He Daqing returned to the canteen kitchen, Li Rongguo knocked on Li Huaide's office door. Hearing the knock, Li Huaide stubbed out his cigarette and called out, "Come in!"

Li Rongguo pushed open the door to Li Huaide's office and called out, "Director Li!"

Li Huaide said, "Rongguo, please sit!"

Li Rongguo walked up to Li Huaide, sat down, and asked, "Director Li, what brings you here at this hour?"

Li Huaide said, "The meat supply is getting increasingly tight. The Chinese New Year is just a few months away. Our factory still hasn't figured out how to distribute year-end bonuses. The factory held a meeting this morning and is planning to send someone to Tianjin or Dalian to purchase seafood. This task is now being assigned to your group three."

Li Rongguo looked troubled and said, "Director Li, our third group is only responsible for unplanned purchases. It's probably not appropriate to assign this task to us!"

Li Huaide said, "This was a last-minute purchase, it was unplanned."

Seeing that Li Huaide had already blocked any further questions, Li Rongguo knew that he had no choice but to accept the task today. Once he accepted, all he had to do was carry it out; how much was purchased was not up to him as the section chief. Even if something went wrong, he would at most receive a disciplinary action. But if he didn't accept, his position as team leader would be over.

After weighing the pros and cons, Li Rongguo agreed, "Section Chief Li, I'll arrange it right away."

"Okay!" Li Huaide responded, then instructed, "The factory's minimum requirement is that each person should receive at least five catties of seafood."

Li Rongguo, who had never purchased seafood before, was immediately shocked when he heard the number Li Huaide quoted. With over 10,000 people in the factory, and each person needing five jin (2.5 kg), that would amount to at least 60,000 jin (30,000 kg). Where was he supposed to find that much?! Li Rongguo didn't say anything, but inwardly he gasped and planned to assign the task when he got back.

After Li Rongguo left, a bright smile spread across Li Huaide's face. The steel rolling mill's logistics department had three purchasing groups. Groups one and two were responsible for purchasing planned materials, while group three was responsible for purchasing unplanned materials. The leaders of groups one and two were currently Li Huaide's men. Only the leader of purchasing group three, Li Rongguo, was a man of the factory director. Li Huaide had already received word that after the new year, following the steel rolling mill's further expansion, he would be promoted to deputy factory director. As for his specific area of ​​responsibility within the factory, that was a matter of negotiation between his father-in-law and others. The worst-case scenario was that he would continue to be in charge of logistics. However, Li Huaide wasn't one to resign himself to fate. He planned to make some efforts before the appointment was finalized. Even if his efforts failed, he would find a way to make logistics his own domain.

It was soon 11:00 AM. Song Zhaohong rode Song Ran's bicycle to a spot not far from the Municipal Labor Bureau. Seeing that he still had time, Song Zhaohong ate a bowl of noodles with soybean paste at a nearby state-run restaurant, making do with lunch. A little after 11:30 AM, Song Zhaohong arrived at the entrance of the Municipal Labor Bureau. He waited a short while before Kong Lianqing came out. Kong Lianqing quickly walked up to Song Zhaohong and asked, "Have you been waiting long?!"

Song Zhaohong replied, "I just arrived a little while ago."

"Wait for me a moment, I'll go get my bike." With that, Kong Lianqing ran to the nearby parking shed, pushed her bicycle back to Song Zhaohong's side, and said, "Let's go!"

"Yes!" Kong Lianqing responded, got on her bicycle, and followed Song Zhaohong away.

After Kong Lianqing left, a young man in a gray Zhongshan suit walked out of the Labor Bureau. Watching Kong Lianqing's retreating figure, the young man's face turned extremely ugly. At this moment, a young man wearing glasses walked up to the one in the gray Zhongshan suit and said, "I told you a long time ago. If you like her, go for it. But you wouldn't listen. Now look what happened! She already has a boyfriend."

The young man in the gray Zhongshan suit glanced at the young man with glasses and said, "Stop making sarcastic remarks! Give me some advice!"

"What suggestions can we come up with now?!" the bespectacled young man replied, then asked, "Do you even know what she's doing right now?!"

The person wearing the gray Zhongshan suit instinctively asked, "Where are you going?!"

"I heard she went house hunting with her boyfriend today. Apparently, his workplace allocated them apartments." The bespectacled young man then pulled out a cigarette case from his pocket, took out two cigarettes, and offered one to the young man in the gray Zhongshan suit. He continued, "She's looking at houses; the next step is probably marriage. It's not appropriate for you to keep bothering her. I advise you to give up! There are plenty of fish in the sea; why be hung up on just one?"

The young man in the gray Zhongshan suit took the cigarette, put it in his mouth, took out a matchbox, took out a match, struck a match, lit the cigarette, took two puffs, then sighed and said, "I should have listened to you."

Song Zhaohong and Kong Lianqing rode their bicycles, chatting as they went. Half an hour later, they arrived at the entrance of No. 99 Nanluoguxiang. Song Zhaohong got off his bicycle and said, "The house is in the middle courtyard. Let's go in!"

"Yes!" Kong Lianqing responded and followed Song Zhaohong into the courtyard. Liaison Officer No. 99, Grandpa Bai, greeted Song Zhaohong with a smile, "Chief Song's back?!"

"Yes!" Song Zhaohong agreed, saying, "I brought my girlfriend to see the house."

Grandpa Bai looked at Kong Lianqing behind Song Zhaohong and asked, "Director Song, when are you getting married?!"

"It'll be soon! I'll treat everyone to candy then!" With that, Song Zhaohong led Kong Lianqing toward the main gate of the central courtyard.