Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

Just then, the canteen director Liu Dayou and Liu Lan came to Li Huaide, and Li Huaide pointed to Li Yu's lunchbox on the table.

"Director Liu, look at this! Is this the kind of food your cafeteria serves? Is this what you manage in a cafeteria?"

Director Liu's palms instantly sweated upon seeing Li Huaide's expression, and he immediately responded:

"Director Li, this was my mistake. It was due to my poor management. I will definitely strengthen management in the future."

At the same time, he quickly said to the many steel mill workers in the canteen:

"From now on, we hope all workers will work together to supervise the food service in the canteen to ensure both quality and quantity."

Li Huaide's expression softened a little upon hearing this.

"How does Director Liu plan to handle this matter today?" Li Huaide asked calmly.

Director Liu said to Sha Zhu, "He Yuzhu's bonus for this month will be deducted, and he will have to clean toilets for a month. His cleaning salary for this month will be 17.5 yuan, the same as a cleaner."

He Yuzhu stammered as he was about to say something, but Yi Zhonghai quickly pulled him back. He just stared fiercely at Li Yu, Li Huaide, and the canteen director Liu Dayou, thinking that these three people were ganging up on him.

He was just making a fuss over a spoon, why was he punished like this? He's thinking about what opportunities he can get revenge on one by one.

Just when everyone thought the matter was settled, Yi Zhonghai stepped forward.

"Hello, Deputy Factory Director Li, I am Yi Zhonghai, the only Grade 8 fitter in Workshop 1. Now that He Yuzhu's matter has been resolved, shouldn't we also talk about Li Yu's assault?"

Looking at the upright-looking guy in front of him, Li Huaide felt resentful. Everyone else called him Factory Director Li, but this guy always called him Deputy Factory Director Li.

"What are you talking about? Li Yu hit He Yuzhu, but He Yuzhu started by swearing and shaking his ladle. What did Li Yu do wrong? Let's leave it at that and everyone go eat."

After finishing his sentence, Li Huaide turned and left without even glancing at Yi Zhonghai.

Meanwhile, the workers in the canteen were either getting their food or eating, and no one paid any attention to Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu.

As the two of them stood there at a loss, whispers occasionally reached Yi Zhonghai's ears.

Yi Zhonghai pulled Sha Zhu out of the cafeteria. As soon as they stepped out of the cafeteria, Sha Zhu couldn't help but say:

"I can't swallow this insult from the old man. Why are they punishing me? What did I do wrong? What kind of cafeteria doesn't shake the ladle? What are we supposed to bring to dinner if they don't shake the ladle?"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai quickly covered Sha Zhu's mouth.

"What are you doing? How dare you say such things? If anyone hears you, they'll be in big trouble. We'll talk about it when we get back to the courtyard tonight. We'll have a courtyard-wide meeting tonight and discuss it properly. Okay, I let you out here to tell you not to cause trouble. We'll discuss this further."

After saying that, Yi Zhonghai turned around and went back to the workshop. Sha Zhu also went back to the canteen. He didn't dare to go to the food window but went to the kitchen to sit and sulk.

In the afternoon, Li Yu was called over by Deputy Section Chief Wang to inquire in detail about the repair ideas for each machine he had worked on that morning, and he was asked to supplement the report.

During this time, the other technicians in the department also became noticeably kinder to him; at least they were willing to exchange technical information with each other.

Near the end of the workday, Li Yu went to the factory's library and archives.

He wanted to find out if there was any information about the commonly used equipment in the various workshops of the steel rolling mill. He planned to make a maintenance manual so that he could fix any problems with the machinery by referring to the manual.

At the same time, he wanted to see where the steel rolling mill could start its upgrade. Yes, he was planning to carry out industrial upgrades at the steel rolling mill, so he needed to have a general understanding of the mill's current machinery.

As I was flipping through an old mechanical manual, the archives manager, a tall, thin old man surnamed Wu, approached and lowered his voice:

"Hey Technician Li, I heard you showed off your skills in Workshop Three today?"

Li Yu looked up: "Master Wu, you're really well-informed. It was just a coincidence, nothing more. I was just guessing."

"By chance? That's not easy to happen."

Old Wu lowered his voice even further, looked around, and said:

"It's good to have skills, but you have to be careful in your courtyard. Xu Damao, Yi Zhonghai, and especially the deaf old lady in the backyard, they are not simple."

Li Yu's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that this old man Wu knew something, so he gave him a friendly reminder out of good intentions.

"Thank you, Master Wu. I will be careful," Li Yu said sincerely.

Old Wu waved his hand, turned around, and strolled back to his seat.

[Ding! Received 88 points of goodwill from Old Wu]

After an afternoon of research, Li Yu finally figured out what kind of machinery the current steel rolling mill has.

The machinery currently used by Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill is too outdated, resulting in extremely low production capacity and a particularly high loss rate.

"The road ahead is still long," Li Yu sighed. He planned to spend more time in libraries and at various industrial universities auditing classes to find a reason to develop his technology later.

He needed a pass to go to university, so he planned to ask Li Huaide to get one. He decided to do it right away and went to find Li Huaide the next day.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the workday. Li Yu followed the flow of people out of the steel rolling mill gate.

The setting sun bathed the streets in a golden-red hue.

He felt the few loose grain coupons and the remaining wages for the month in his pocket, then went into the supply and marketing cooperative and bought some eggs, cornbread, fruit, and candy.

If you just stay home eating and don't buy anything, you'll definitely run into problems, so you have to buy things from time to time.

When we returned to the courtyard house, it was still dark, and the atmosphere in the courtyard was subtle.

At the entrance of the compound, Banggeng was playing with pebbles, limping along.

Upon seeing Li Yu, he was so frightened that he scrambled back into the house.

Qin Huairu's eyes met Li Yu's briefly as she was putting away the clothes, then she quickly lowered her head.

Sha Zhu was squatting at his doorway, smoking, his expression obscured by the swirling smoke.

The doors and windows of Xu Damao's house in the backyard were tightly closed, but Lou Xiao'e could be heard complaining about how difficult it was to wash the bedding.

When the old man Yi Zhonghai saw Li Yu pause for a moment, he turned around, went back into the house, and closed the door in one smooth motion.

Li Yu walked straight to his own door without looking to the side, unlocked the door, went inside, and then closed it with his foot.

【叮检测到情绪值10、20、15、15、15……】

He lit a fire and boiled water, then cooked some porridge with an egg and some greens, sprinkled some salt, and covered it with some cornmeal.

These are difficult times; if we ate rice, white flour, and steamed buns every day, we would definitely run into problems. Soon, the aroma wafted out.

He had just filled a bowl when he heard Jia Zhangshi's deliberately exaggerated, veiled insults coming from outside:

"Some people are so heartless and despicable. They live a life of luxury while ignoring the neighbor's hungry child crying for food. They are utterly wicked and will get their comeuppance sooner or later!"

Qin Huairu quickly advised, "Mom, please say less."

Li Yu chuckled, picked up a large bowl of porridge, walked to the door, and opened it.

He placed a small stool facing the Jia family and sat down. At this moment, Jia Zhangshi was directly facing him, hands on her hips, spitting as she spoke.

Upon seeing Li Yu emerge, his voice abruptly ceased, and his gaze became somewhat evasive.

She was terrified at the thought of being beaten yesterday, but she forced herself to glare at Li Yu.

Li Yu sat on the stool without saying a word, slowly drinking his porridge, making particularly loud slurping sounds.

The aroma of eggs mingled with the fragrance of grains, filling the air.

Banggeng peeked half its head out from the crack in the door, staring longingly at the bowl in Li Yu's hand, and swallowed hard.

Madam Jia's face turned pale and then red. She wanted to curse but didn't dare. In the end, she spat fiercely, grabbed the stick, and went back into the house, slamming the door shut.

As soon as Jia Zhangshi entered the door, she heard Bang Geng howling.

"Grandma, I want to eat eggs and drink porridge. Go buy them for me."

Madam Jia looked at Qin Huairu and said, "Go get some for my dear grandson. Can he, a childless man, finish all that food?"

Qin Huairu quickly said:

"Mom, you know what kind of relationship our family has with the Li family. I'll go see if Shazhu brought a lunchbox today and ask him for some, so he can have a little something."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi immediately pushed Qin Huairu outside.

"Go now, but I'm telling you, you can take the lunchbox, but if you do anything that would be disrespectful to my Dongxu, I won't forgive you."

Qin Huairu did not respond and went straight to Sha Zhu's house. Sha Zhu and He Yushui were heating up their lunch boxes at that time.

Since they were all aluminum lunchboxes, I just put them directly on the fire to heat them. They were filled with today's large pot of vegetables from the cafeteria. Although there wasn't much meat, there were plenty of vegetables.

Just as He Yushui was looking at the lunchbox and swallowing her saliva, there was a knock on the door, followed by Qin Huairu's voice.

"Zhu Zi, it's your sister Qin. Open the door, I have something to tell you."

Upon hearing that it was Qin Huairu, He Yuzhu quickly went to open the door.

Seeing Qin Huairu standing at the door with tears in her eyes, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her and quickly invited her inside.

As soon as Qin Huairu entered the room, she saw four cornbread buns on the table and three boxes of leftover food on the stove, and said in a tearful voice:

"Zhu Zi, you know my family is struggling financially. Today, Li Yu across the street was eating egg porridge and I kept asking for some. I'm really desperate, so I'm asking if you could spare some vegetables and a couple of eggs for me. We're just starving."

As she spoke, tears began to fall.

Upon seeing Qin Huairu cry, He Yuzhu quickly said:

"Sister Qin, I'll get it for you right away."

Then, handing the last two eggs to her, he said, "Sister Qin, go get a box of vegetables from the stove to nourish the children."

Who would have thought that as soon as Sha Zhu finished speaking, Qin Huairu turned around and grabbed two boxes of vegetables, along with two steamed buns.

"Thank you, Sister Zhu, I'll head back now," Qin Huairu said before leaving.

He Yushui saw that the remaining box of vegetables, two steamed buns, and the eggs she had planned to have for lunch the next day were all gone, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Brother, are you just going to watch her take so much stuff? What are we going to eat now?" He Yushui cried out, her voice trembling with tears.

He Yuzhu was initially a little guilty, but when he heard He Yushui dare to call him that, he immediately replied:

"Sister Qin's family is in such a difficult situation, why not help them? Besides, it's not like they have nothing left, they can just eat something to fill their stomachs."

After saying that, He Yuzhu sat down, grabbed a cornbread bun, and started eating it without even glancing at He Yushui.