Courtyard House: I, the eldest son of the Jia family, have returned from the battlefield.

Around one o'clock in the afternoon, Li Huaide strolled out of the small canteen with a comfortable smile on his face. He nodded to Jia Dongming and said, "Section Chief Jia, this is Officer Guo from the Logistics and Housing Construction Section. He will accompany you to the Luoguxiang Subdistrict Office to handle the housing procedures."

Jia Dongming reached out and shook hands with Li Huaide, smiling as he said, "Thank you for your trouble, Director Li."

After saying goodbye to Li Huaide, Jia Dongming followed Officer Guo all the way to the Luoguxiang Subdistrict Office.

Just as he reached the door, a middle-aged woman came out and greeted him warmly, "Little Guo, what brings you here today?"

Officer Guo quickly introduced with a smile: "Director Wang, this is Jia Dongming, the newly transferred head of the security department in the factory."

The factory allocated the small courtyard at No. 95 Luogu Lane, where Engineer Xue used to live, to Section Chief Jia. I specifically brought him here to complete the formalities.

Then he turned to Jia Dongming: "Section Chief Jia, this is Director Wang from the Subdistrict Office."

Jia Dongming stepped forward and greeted him politely, "Director Wang, hello."

Director Wang warmly shook hands with him: "Section Chief Jia, welcome to our Luogu Lane."

She paused slightly, then continued, "Number 95 is one of the most well-maintained courtyard houses in this area."

"I'll take you through the paperwork for the grain ration certificate first, then I'll show you around the compound."

After about half an hour of work, the paperwork was finally completed.

Director Wang took a set of keys from the clerk and led the two to courtyard number 95.

As she walked, she explained, "This courtyard has a three-section layout and houses more than 20 households, with about a hundred people."

The three old men in charge of the compound, the eldest, Yi Zhonghai, and the second, Liu Haizhong, are both veteran workers in your factory, while the third, Yan Bugui, teaches at Hongxing Elementary School.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

As the three entered the front yard, a woman wearing an apron saw Director Wang and immediately came forward: "Director Wang, what brings you here today?"

Director Wang smiled and said, "Auntie, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Jia Dongming from the Security Department of the Steel Rolling Mill."

The factory arranged for him to live in that small courtyard in your compound; I'm bringing him here to get acquainted with the place.

He then said to Jia Dongming, "Section Chief Jia, this is Uncle San's house. You can just call her Uncle San's Auntie."

Jia Dongming nodded politely: "Hello, Auntie."

When the three women listened to the introduction, Jia Dongming seemed to be stunned when his gaze fell on Jia Dongming's face. He only came back to his senses when the other party spoke, and quickly put on a smile: "Hello, Section Chief Jia, welcome to stay here."

Seeing this, Director Wang said to Jia Dongming, "Your courtyard is accessible from the central courtyard. I'll show you around."

Watching Director Wang lead Jia Dongming towards the Intermediate People's Court, the third aunt remained standing, muttering to herself, "Is there really someone so similar? His name is only one character different from Dongxu's... Could he be some kind of relative of the Jia family?"

Director Wang led Jia Dongming through the carved doorway to an inconspicuous wooden door next to the west wing.

He took out a bunch of brass keys from his pocket, clicked the lock open, then pushed open the door, stepped aside to let Jia Dongming in, and said in a somewhat familiar tone, "Section Chief Jia, this is the accommodation the factory has arranged for you."

"The courtyard isn't spacious, but it has five rooms, which will be enough for a family to live in when they get married and have more members."

Jia Dongming stepped over the threshold and stood in the center of the courtyard, looking around.

The courtyard was tidy, with a few flowers and plants arranged in a pleasing manner, and a pomegranate tree planted in the corner of the wall. He couldn't help but feel relaxed.

Director Wang led him through the rooms one by one, and finally handed him the bunch of keys with a smile on his face: "The keys are all here. The street office asked me to give them to you."

"Once you've settled in here, if you encounter any problems, you can first consult with the three uncles in charge of the compound; if they can't handle it, then come to the office to find us."

Jia Dongming took the keys and sincerely thanked him.

After Director Wang walked away, Xiao Guo, who had been waiting outside the door, stepped forward and said politely, "Section Chief Jia, I've finished my task here."

If you have no further instructions, I will return to the factory now.

Jia Dongming then remembered that his luggage was still at the security office, and hurriedly called out to him, "Please wait a moment, my bedding and trunk are still at the factory, I can take your car to pick them up."

After locking the gate, Jia Dongming got on the back of the bicycle.

The wheels rolled over the bluestone pavement and gradually drove away from the courtyard house.

No sooner had he left than the news of the separation of the West Wing into another courtyard spread like wildfire throughout the entire compound.

An auntie picking vegetable leaves looked up and asked the woman leaning out of the next window, "Erniu's wife, what did you just say? Was the little courtyard where Engineer Xue used to live really divided up? And only given to one family?"

The woman leaned against the window frame and nodded firmly: "Sister Li, I heard this from the third aunt in the front yard."

She said the new person who moved in was the head of the security department of the steel rolling mill, surnamed Jia.

Lady Jia had just woken up in the afternoon and was sitting on her doorstep sewing shoe soles when she happened to overhear this conversation.

Her needle and thread stopped abruptly, and her ears perked up—after Engineer Xue was transferred, she had long been eyeing the empty courtyard behind it, and had even gone to ask Yi Zhonghai, who lived in the courtyard, to help her plead with the factory to allocate an extra room to the Jia family.

Before Yi Zhonghai could even reply, the house had already been allocated.

Madam Jia Zhang couldn't sit still any longer. She threw the sole of her shoe into the basket and raised her voice, asking, "Er Niu's wife, are you telling the truth? Did they really divide up the back courtyard?"

The woman by the window turned her face and exclaimed heavily, "Oh!"

She exclaimed, "Aunt Zhang, how could this be false? Auntie San herself said it. All five rooms were given to that new section chief, who is the head of the security department."

Upon hearing this, Madam Jia's face darkened instantly. She slapped her knee and exclaimed, "Heaven has no eyes! Our family of five is crammed into this pigeon coop, while the five large rooms in the back have been given to an outsider for nothing! Is there no justice in this world?!"

Seeing her like this, several women working in the yard exchanged glances and quietly moved into their own houses.

Just then, an older woman returned from the backyard and saw Jia Zhangshi sitting at the door shouting and cursing. She quickly went up to her and pulled her arm, saying, "Sister-in-law Jia, please stop yelling."

The people allocating the housing are from the factory. If you offend them, they might make things difficult for Huairu at the factory, making your family's life even harder.

Madam Jia was furious. She flung her hand away and yelled, "Who are you to advise me? If it weren't for your Yi Zhonghai's indecisiveness, would those five rooms have fallen into someone else's hands? You're useless in your own belly, yet you meddle in other people's business!"

The older woman couldn't stand these words. Her face turned pale and then red, and her lips trembled as she replied, "My husband, Lao Yi, is just an ordinary worker, not a factory manager. How could he have the power to just allocate housing like that?"

The three women in the front yard loved to join in the fun. Hearing the commotion in the middle yard, they dropped what they were doing and rushed over, only to find Jia Zhangshi pointing at one of the women and cursing her with spittle flying everywhere.

She recalled the appearance of the new neighbor she had glimpsed at the door earlier, and a thought struck her. She interjected, advising, "Sister-in-law Jia, calm down first."

I heard that the new section chief is also surnamed Jia, named Jia Dongming, and he looks quite a bit like your Dongxu. Maybe... he really is a relative of yours?

Jia Zhangshi originally intended to retort to all three of the aunts at once, but then "Jia Dongming"...

The three words entered her ears, and she suddenly froze, her mouth agape, unable to utter a sound for a long time.

Jia Zhangshi abruptly propped herself up from the ground, grabbed the third aunt's sleeve, and said in a trembling voice, "Third aunt, say it again—is the new section chief really named Jia Dongming? And does he really look seven-tenths like Dongxu?"

The abrupt question startled the three women, who then nodded: "Director Wang of the neighborhood committee said it himself. Section Chief Jia's name is Jia Dongming."

Those eyebrows, those figure, they're a perfect replica of your Dongxu.

The names are only one character different, and I'm guessing... they might be long-lost relatives of the Jia family.

Before she could finish speaking, tears were already streaming down Jia Zhangshi's face.

Her throat tightened, and she burst into a scream: "Dongming! My son! You're still alive... I've been searching for you so desperately!"

This crying startled both the third aunt and the older aunt standing next to her, who had been keeping a straight face.

The two looked at each other in bewilderment—who in the courtyard didn't know that Jia Zhangshi only had one son, Jia Dongxu? Where on earth did this eldest son, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, come from?

Jia Zhangshi cried until her body went limp, but suddenly she snapped to attention and ran towards the next courtyard.

When I got to the door, I saw a cold iron lock hanging on it.

She paused, then turned back, clutching the old woman's clothes and sobbing, "Old woman, have you seen where my Dongming went?"

The third aunt didn't reply, but instead frowned and sized her up: "Aunt Zhang, I have to ask you this—don't you only have one son, Dongxu? What's this Jia Dongming thing all about?"

As if these words had reopened an old wound, Jia Zhangshi's expression suddenly darkened.

She raised her hand to wipe away her tears, her voice hoarse: "Dongxu Shangtou... originally had an older brother."

His name is Jia Dongming, and he's my firstborn son.

She paused for a long time before speaking again, each word as if it were being painstakingly extracted from a rusty lock: "In 43, there was a famine, and Old Jia took Dongming to buy grain."

On the way, he witnessed Japanese soldiers killing people in the street… Old Jia, that coward, clutched the sack of grain tightly to his chest and ran home for his life, abandoning the child he was holding.

"When he rushed into the house, panting, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and his face turned pale."

We went back to look... but the streets were already empty.

Dongming never returned after that.

As the old woman listened, she secretly compared the new section chief's appearance to what she had seen that morning, and exclaimed, "No doubt about it! Section Chief Jia and Dongxu are practically identical, like two bricks fired in the same kiln! Aunt Zhang, this must be the one you've lost!"

A glint suddenly appeared in Jia Zhangshi's eyes: "Where is he now? Tell me quickly!"

"I overheard him mentioning it to the clerk, Xiao Guo, that he was going to the steel mill to pick up his luggage and that he should be back in an hour or so."

Madam Jia clasped her hands together and repeatedly bowed to the sky, chanting, "May the Bodhisattva open his eyes... May our ancestors bless us... My son has finally returned."

The women watching from all around had already pricked up their ears, and now they were whispering amongst themselves, their murmurs spreading like a tide.

No one expected that this courtyard, which had been peaceful for many years, would unearth such a long-standing old story.

At that moment, Jia Dongming was sitting on the back of Xiao Guo's bicycle, retrieving two bulging luggage bags from the steel mill's guardhouse.

The wheels rolled over the uneven bluestone slabs of the alley, heading towards Luogu Lane.

Jia Zhangshi had been guarding the other side of the courtyard gate for almost an hour.

She craned her neck to look at the alley entrance, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.

As the sun began to set, a figure finally emerged at the end of the alley—the person was carrying large and small bags, their silhouette somewhat blurred in the backlight, yet it made her heart skip a beat.

Tears welled up without warning.

Madam Jia staggered forward, her cries ripping apart the evening silence: "Dongming—my son! Do you know how I've endured all these years?!"

Jia Dongming stopped and looked at the unfamiliar woman running towards him.

In Li Huaide's office that morning, he pieced together the truth from the fragmented information—he had actually transmigrated into the play called "Full House of Love" and become "Jia Zhangshi".

The eldest son who should have died young.

However, the remaining memories in this body contained not a single thing about "mother".

Traces.

He subconsciously took a half step back, his eyes filled with distant confusion: "Ma'am... you must have mistaken me for someone else? I don't remember seeing you before."

The woman's chest heaved with sorrow as she looked up at the gray sky, her voice filled with bitter lamentation: "Heavens above! What kind of injustice is this? My own flesh and blood no longer recognizes its own mother!"

Jia Dongming, carrying the heavy trunk in both hands, saw the old woman crying and wailing with tears streaming down her face. He felt a throbbing in his temples and quickly lowered his voice to persuade her, "Old lady, please quiet down."

These old sayings are no longer acceptable. If the comrades patrolling the streets heard them, they'd surely send him to a training session for a talk.

"Study Class"