Courtyard House: The Chef's Intelligence System

During dinner at the Liu family's house, Liu Haizhong asked, "Why were you suddenly allocated a house?"

Liu Guangqi said he had performed well and had given the section chief some cigarettes and alcohol, etc.

Liu Haizhong believed it.

Of course, there were also people who didn't believe it, such as Yi Zhonghai. He saw Liu Guangqi in the family compound yesterday, but he didn't go up to greet him.

Later, Liu Guangqi followed Sha Zhu to Li Jiuzhou's No. 4 courtyard. If you said there was nothing fishy going on, Yi Zhonghai would never believe it even if you beat him to death.

Then there's Yan Bugui, who also knew that Liu Guangqi had gone to the family compound, carrying cigarettes and alcohol.

Anyone who has given gifts knows that you can tell at a glance that it's meant for Li Jiuzhou's house.

Yan Bugui has no idea what they're talking about. He went there yesterday, and the house is ready today. He wouldn't believe it even if you beat him to death if there wasn't something fishy going on.

Yan Bugui wanted to go to Li Jiuzhou and ask him to give him a house.

But damn it, I'm not from the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, why would I give you a tiny house?

So, giving the house to his son Yan Jiecheng is even more impossible. A junior fitter shouldn't even think about it.

With his improved status, Yan Bugui wanted even more. He felt that as the vice principal, he should at least have his own courtyard to be worthy of his position.

Li Jiuzhou could only tell him that he was delusional and should get lost.

The Li family also had another piece of good news: their younger brother, Li Shanhe, officially graduated from Peking University and was assigned a job.

Staff member (deputy section chief) of the Economic Commission, General Affairs Office, a subordinate unit of Beiping City!

Graduating as a deputy section chief is an exceptionally high starting point.

It is worth celebrating.

The new job is a good fit for my brother's major, so let him gain experience there.

Li Jiuzhou didn't need to help him with this. The higher-ups value talent, especially a top student who graduated from Peking University. They must make the best use of his talents.

Because Li Jiuzhou copied the Russian blueprints and textbooks, the factory became very lively.

Many machinery factories across the country sent technicians and engineers to come and learn.

The technology at Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill is now very advanced; it lacks nothing.

Li Jiuzhou also became very busy, having to receive those people every day.

At the same time, security at the factory was also tightened.

You have to be aware that there are still spies around, so Li Jiuzhou has to be on guard.

The higher the position, the greater the risks he needs to take.

If the factory were to be targeted, the uncle and nephew would be in deep trouble.

So while others may see the factory director and party secretary as incredibly successful, they carry a heavy burden on their shoulders, and a single misstep could lead to their downfall.

Since Li Jiuzhou took office, the Security Department has increased its manpower, now a full-strength battalion with 580 people.

This completely satisfied Li Jiuzhou's fear of insufficient firepower.

You see, ever since he became the factory manager, he's been a bit anxious and worried that the factory might be blown up in the middle of the night.

After all, he had experienced it firsthand once, and it almost caused an explosion.

The security department operates in two shifts, patrolling day and night.

There's no way around it; steel mills are just too important right now.

Seeing Li Jiuzhou doing this, other factories in Beiping were terrified and increased their security personnel, especially at night, as they were also afraid of being bombed.

The expanded factories are all very large, and dozens or even hundreds of people are simply not enough to keep up with demand.

The walls were also raised; Li Jiuzhou was willing to spend money to install lights in the dark corners of the walls, which stayed lit all night.

You can't even crawl in here unless you grow wings and fly in!

The heads of the Ministry of Metallurgy all laughed when they saw Li Jiuzhou's actions.

This kind of laughter is not mockery, but rather a laugh of approval.

With the elder brother gone, they had to become self-reliant, and Li Jiuzhou happened to intercept the life-saving information.

Will someone sabotage us at this time?

No one dares to say no, and no one dares to guarantee it.

They were very satisfied with Li Jiuzhou's proactive approach.

That's how you have to do things.

If we do nothing, sooner or later someone with ulterior motives will take advantage of the situation.

Since you did it, and did it so thoroughly, if it still couldn't be prevented, then it's not Li Jiuzhou's fault.

Li Jiuzhou thought so too. "I've done everything I can. If something else goes wrong, there's nothing I can do. It's impossible to guard against everything."

Sure enough, in mid-December, on a day when it was snowing lightly, someone came to cause damage at around 12 a.m.

There were six people in total. They had scouted the location during the day, but when they arrived at night, they were all dumbfounded.

The lights were on all day, and if I went in, I'd be dead.

So the leader gritted his teeth and decided to disgust them by throwing more than a dozen grenades over the wall before running away!

Holy crap, this scared the whole group of security guards so much their faces turned white.

When they went over to take a look, nothing had happened, except for a few broken kang beds on the ground, and traces of gunpowder.

A soldier said:

"Captain, the grenade was thrown in from outside the wall. The person hasn't gone far. Should we give chase?"

The captain waved his hand:

"Don't chase them. What if they use this as a diversionary tactic? Protecting the factory is the most important thing. Call the police station immediately and have them dispatch officers."

"Damn it, that's disgusting."

Upon returning to the command center, I immediately called the factory director and the party secretary.

This was the first time Li Jiuzhou had received a call from the factory in the middle of the night. He breathed a sigh of relief after learning what had happened.

He also told the security department not to let their guard down and that he would come back to deal with it first thing tomorrow morning.

Li Jiuzhou dared not drive to the factory alone now; who knew if there were any snipers shooting at him?

However, he couldn't sleep either, and soon after he got up, his second uncle knocked on the door and came in.

Both uncle and nephew had cold sweat on their foreheads. After exchanging a glance, they both smiled helplessly.

Li Jiuzhou brewed tea in his study, and the uncle and nephew lit cigarettes.

Li Huaide took a deep drag on his cigarette, smoke slowly flowing from his mouth and nose, his tone filled with the relief of surviving a disaster:

"Jiuzhou, thank goodness you made preparations in advance, otherwise we uncle and nephew would probably both be finished..."

Li Jiuzhou also took a deep drag on his cigarette, his eyes filled with deep thought:

"Uncle, let's not talk about this anymore. Doing this alone is not enough. The factory needs to be under martial law, and I don't even trust the workers."

"I am not doubting the workers, but I am afraid of the families of those unscrupulous coercers who are exploiting the workers."

"What if a coerced worker comes to work carrying a grenade?"

"I wake up from nightmares every night."

Upon hearing this, Li Huaide's lips twitched. His nephew was absolutely right. He was no different. Those who had no conscience were capable of doing such things.

It happened naturally in Beiping, and it was even more common in the south, where spies were heavily hidden.

They just didn't make it public, but the uncle and nephew had heard about it.

At this time, the leaders of the Ministry of Metallurgy also received the news, and fortunately nothing bad happened.

But we have to fight them tonight; these bastards are just too damn arrogant.

Seeing that things were hopeless, he actually threw a grenade?

Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You've completely disgraced the bald guy, fuck him!