Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

After leaving the forging workshop, Li Yu didn't go back to his office; instead, he went to the security department.

"Is your section chief here?" Li Yu asked a security guard.

The man glanced at Li Yu, and seeing that Li Yu was dressed as a cadre, he turned around and went to call Chang Shengli.

"Section Chief, someone is looking for you."

Chang Shengli put down his newspaper and asked, "Who is it?"

"I don't know him, but he seems to be an official."

"A cadre?" Chang Shengli said as he and the security guard arrived outside the security section.

Upon seeing that it was Li Yu, Chang Shengli hurriedly came to Li Yu and said, "Brother Li, it's you! Come in and sit down."

Li Yu looked at the man in front of him; his square face with thick eyebrows and big eyes exuded righteousness.

This person was a distant relative of Li Huaide, and he had eaten with Li Yu a few times, so they were quite familiar with each other.

"Brother Chang, there's something I need to tell you."

"Oh? What's going on, bro? Tell me about it."

Li Yu said, "Today, when I was inspecting the machines in the workshop, I discovered that Liu Haizhong from the forging workshop had secretly put a blueprint into his shirt pocket."

"You know we've been manufacturing machine tools lately, and I'm worried he stole the blueprints for those machines."

Upon hearing Li Yu's words, Chang Shengli immediately tensed up: "This is no joke, Brother Li, did you really see it?"

Li Yu nodded and said, "I'm sure I saw it with my own eyes."

"Okay, I'll organize a few people today and I'll personally guard the gate of the steel rolling mill."

After saying that, Chang Shengli went to make the arrangements, because it was almost time to get off work.

As the steel rolling mill's closing bell rang, Liu Haizhong followed the flow of people toward the mill's gate.

Li Yu spotted Liu Haizhong, who had his head wrapped up, in the crowd at a glance.

Li Yu pointed at Liu Haizhong and said, "That one with bandages wrapped around his head is Liu Haizhong."

Chang Shengli called two people to stop Liu Haizhong, who was about to leave.

Liu Haizhong frowned impatiently at the two people blocking his way and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you stopping me?"

"Routine check! Please cooperate!"

Liu Haizhong said impatiently, "Do you know who I am? I'm the foreman of the forging workshop!"

Chang Shengli grabbed Liu Haizhong and said, "I don't care who you are! It's a routine check!"

The surrounding crowd stopped and looked at Liu Haizhong, who had been stopped.

"Did they commit a crime?"

"Who knows? The security department said it was a routine inspection."

"Oh dear, this doesn't seem like a routine check."

Chang Shengli reached into Liu Haizhong's shirt pocket and took out the blueprints.

Chang Shengli, having unfolded the blueprints, asked Liu Haizhong, "What is this?"

Looking at Chang Shengli's angry face, Liu Haizhong swallowed hard and said, "I...I don't know."

"This isn't mine!"

"Of course this isn't yours, because it belongs to the steel mill," Li Yu's voice rang out from Chang Shengli.

Liu Haizhong stared at Li Yu in shock and said, "You, it must be you!"

Zheng Qiushi, who was about to leave the steel rolling mill by car, saw that the factory gate was blocked by a group of people and said to Ma Wude:

"What's going on? Come down with me and take a look."

Zheng Qiushi and Ma Wude got off the car and went to the back of the crowd.

Upon seeing that it was the factory manager, everyone consciously made way for him.

As soon as the two reached Liu Haizhong's back, they heard Li Yu say, "What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, '! Tell me why you took your blueprints out!'"

Ma Wude shouted, "What's all the noise about! What's going on?"

Chang Shengli, seeing that it was Zheng Qiushi and Ma Wude, briefly explained the situation.

Zheng Qiushi knew immediately that Liu Haizhong was finished. Although he wanted to protect him, he didn't dare to be too obvious in this situation, since several hundred workers were watching.

"Liu Haizhong! What are you going to do with those important blueprints from the steel rolling mill?" Zheng Qiushi asked.

Liu Haizhong said with a distressed expression, "Factory manager, I really don't know how this blueprint ended up in my pocket."

Li Yu quickly retorted, "You don't know? You didn't know it was found in your pocket?"

Seeing this, Chang Shengli said, "You'd better confess honestly! Otherwise, you know what the security department can do!"

Seeing that more and more people were gathering at the factory gate, Zheng Qiushi instructed Chang Shengli to take the people to the security department for interrogation.

Liu Haizhong soon admitted that he had taken it, saying that he only wanted to take it back to study.

Liu Haizhong was originally going to be expelled, but Zheng Qiushi intervened and protected him.

He felt it was more appropriate to keep Liu Haizhong around to disgust Li Yu.

In the end, Liu Haizhong was fined two months' salary and removed from his position as team leader.

Liu Haizhong didn't seem to mind being fined two months' salary.

When he heard that he had been removed from his position as team leader, he was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

Back in the courtyard house, Li Yu planned to cook for himself tonight, since Bai Ling had been sent on a mission.

That evening, when Aunt Erda noticed that Liu Haizhong hadn't returned, she went to inquire at the other workers' homes in the courtyard.

I found out after asking around that I had been arrested by the security department.

The second aunt quickly brought a quilt to the security department of the steel rolling mill.

The security guards on duty only let her in after they heard that she was Liu Haizhong's wife.

"What's wrong, sir? Are you alright?" Auntie asked anxiously when she saw Liu Haizhong.

"It's nothing, I'm just locked up for one night, I'll go back tomorrow."

"How did you end up locked up here, sir?" the second aunt asked.

"Ugh! It's all Li Yu's doing!"

Liu Haizhong then told his second aunt what had happened that afternoon.

"Could it be that Li Yu has found out we're spreading rumors?" the second aunt said worriedly.

Liu Haizhong said with absolute certainty, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

The next day, the announcer's voice came over the steel rolling mill's loudspeaker.

"Regarding the recent rumors circulating in the steel rolling mill about Li Yu's alleged embezzlement in the research workshop, the steel rolling mill has conducted an in-depth investigation and proven that Comrade Li Yu did not engage in any embezzlement or corruption."

"Yesterday, Liu Haizhong, from the forging workshop of the steel rolling mill, stole important information from the steel rolling mill. As this was his first offense, he was fined two months' salary and removed from his position as team leader."

Upon hearing the announcement from the steel rolling mill, Liu Haizhong, who was working in the workshop, slammed the workpiece in his hand onto the ground.

"Liu Haizhong! What's wrong with you?!"

"You are damaging public property."

Liu Haizhong looked in the direction of the voice and saw Li Yu looking at him with dissatisfaction.

"Hmph!" Liu Haizhong ignored Li Yu.

Then Li Yu approached Liu Haizhong and whispered, "Since you want to play so much, let's play slowly."

After saying that, Li Yu left without looking back.

Liu Haizhong remained motionless, as if he had been frozen in place.

A few drops of sweat slid down Liu Haizhong's face.

"So he knew."

Watching Li Yu's departing figure, Liu Haizhong felt not only a little scared, but also mostly angry and resentful.

It was Li Yu who made him lose the team leader position he had worked so hard to obtain.