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

Jia Dongming immediately replied, "Just open a small door that's easy to get in and out of."

My job is so special that I often don't get home until late at night.

It's fine to bother the old man in the courtyard to open the door once or twice, but I feel bad about always making him get up in the middle of the night, so I thought of opening another door.

Master Lei nodded after listening: "Dong family, you have all the cement materials here. As long as you buy a door, I can cut a doorway in the wall according to the dimensions."

Jia Dongming then asked, "Master Lei, do you have this door for sale?"

Master Lei nodded subconsciously: "Dong family, you can go to the trust store to take a look."

If the trust shop doesn't have it, then you can only go to Tongxinghe Wood Shop, but you need timber coupons to buy wooden doors there.

After listening to Master Lei's explanation, Jia Dongming nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go to the trust store during my lunch break."

As dawn broke, around 7:30 a.m., Yi Zhonghai was about to leave for work.

As soon as I stepped over the threshold, I saw Jia Dongming pushing his bicycle, with Qin Huairu and Bang Geng beside him. The three of them came out of the side courtyard, their steps revealing a familiar and friendly atmosphere.

Yi Zhonghai hadn't forgotten what the deaf old woman had said earlier—Jia Dongming probably couldn't be relied on for old age.

But the effort he had put into the Jia family over the years still left him feeling resentful.

Moreover, Jia Dongming's salary is generous, and if one can get his help, life will be much more secure in the future.

Ever since Jia Dongming moved into this courtyard, Yi Zhonghai has been secretly observing his behavior and conduct.

Seeing Jia Dongming pushing the cart over, Yi Zhonghai, recalling the commotion in the courtyard last night, put on a warm smile and greeted him, "Section Chief Jia, good morning!"

Although Jia Dongming disliked this seemingly composed but actually calculating old man, he still returned the greeting out of courtesy: "Good morning, sir."

Qin Huairu, who was standing to the side, greeted Yi Zhonghai warmly.

Remembering Jia Zhangshi's usual nagging, Jia Dongming turned to Bang Geng and reminded him, "What should you do when you see your elders? Aren't you going to greet them?"

Bang Geng immediately looked up and respectfully greeted, "Good morning, Grandpa!"

Yi Zhonghai was taken aback when Jia Dongming specifically asked the child to greet him. He was startled at first, then beamed with joy and replied repeatedly, "Hey, Bang Geng is such a good boy, good morning to you too!"

After exchanging pleasantries, Yi Zhonghai brought up the events of the previous night: "Section Chief Jia, Teacher Yan came to see you so late last night, was there something wrong at the factory?"

Jia Dongming didn't try to hide anything, and smiled as he said, "Someone tried to sneak into the scrap yard to steal steel under the cover of darkness, but was caught by the night patrol."

"I fear it's enemy agents causing trouble, that's why they came to report to me overnight."

Yi Zhonghai hurriedly asked, "Have they caught him yet?"

"Gotcha!"

Jia Dongming nodded, "That cripple Qian from the boiler room."

Following the trail he spewed, they also raided an underground gambling den, arresting more than a dozen people—including over a dozen workers from our factory, who are currently being held in solitary confinement.

"What?!"

Uncle Liu Haizhong, his belly bulging, strolled out of the backyard and happened to hear this. His eyes widened immediately. "Section Chief Jia, you said you busted the gambling den... and more than a dozen people from our factory too? Really?"

Jia Dongming turned to him, still smiling, "Good morning, Second Uncle."

"It's true, of course. Three of them are from your forging workshop."

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong's belly tensed up: "Which three?"

"Zhang Bin, Cui Ergou, and a guy named Chen Hua."

"Chen Hua?!"

Liu Haizhong's face suddenly darkened, and he spat out the words through gritted teeth, "So that's why this kid's been dozing off at work these past few days—he's been gambling himself to death last night!"

Judging from his expression, Jia Dongming had already guessed most of what was going on, but he pretended not to know: "This Chen Hua... is your apprentice?"

Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth and said resentfully, "That's right! When I get to the workshop today, I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongming gently reminded him, "Second Uncle, those old ways are no longer in fashion."

Although master and disciple are close, physical punishment can easily give others cause for criticism; you must be careful in your actions.

When Jia Dongming pointed at him, Liu Haizhong remembered what the other party had told him a couple of days ago. The anger on his face instantly turned into an embarrassed expression. He quickly bowed and said with a smile, "Section Chief Jia, don't worry, I've been much more restrained lately. I absolutely won't take action under normal circumstances."

"Chen Hua doesn't rest at night, but he has the energy to run around outside. Once he starts work, I'll assign him some heavy and tiring work to see if he still has the energy to mess around like this."

Jia Dongming agreed with Liu Haizhong's idea. Seeing that it was almost time for him to go to work, he politely nodded to Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong: "Uncle, Uncle, it's getting late, Huairu and I will be leaving now."

After saying that, he pushed his bicycle toward the hanging flower gate.

Liu Haizhong wanted to say a few more words, but seeing that Jia Dongming had already pushed the cart towards the front yard, he could only smile and say to Yi Zhonghai, "Old Yi, let's hurry up and get going."

As Yi Zhonghai watched Jia Dongming and Qin Huairu disappear by the hanging flower gate, an inexplicable strange feeling welled up in his heart, as if something had swept over him, but he couldn't quite grasp what was so strange about it.

***

At 9:00 a.m., in front of the security building of the steel rolling mill, Jia Dongming saw a middle-aged man getting out of a jeep and immediately led the two captains of the department to greet him.

He warmly extended both hands, firmly grasped the wrists of the leader, shook them vigorously, and said with a broad smile, "Welcome! Welcome to the leaders of the General Administration of Customs' Publicity Department to guide our steel rolling mill's security department!"

The middle-aged man's name is Zheng Weimin, and he is the deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Faced with Jia Dongming's warm greeting, Zheng Weimin shook hands with him in a friendly yet solemn manner and responded in a gentle tone: "Section Chief Jia, I am Zheng Weimin."

We've come on behalf of the General Administration to present you and the steel rolling mill's security department with honorary plaques, not to inspect your work.

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongming immediately greeted him warmly: "Director Zheng, hello! Let me introduce you—this is Guo Jianguo, the captain of our Security Section's First Brigade, and this is Li Aijun, the captain of the Third Brigade."

Guo Jianguo quickly extended both hands to shake Zheng Weimin's hands, saying repeatedly, "Hello, Director Zheng! I am Guo Jianguo, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Director Zheng, welcome to our office."

After Guo Jianguo finished exchanging pleasantries, Li Aijun quickly stepped forward to shake hands, speaking respectfully.

"Section Chief Jia, the leaders from the General Administration came to the factory to present you with honorary plaques, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

Just then, Li Huaide arrived at the security department upon hearing the news. Upon seeing Zheng Weimin in uniform, he immediately began to complain about Jia Dongming.

Jia Dongming then realized that he had been so busy that he forgot to report it to the factory, and quickly explained to Li Huaide, "Director Li, I was busy with a case until the early hours of the morning yesterday and ended up forgetting about this matter."

As he spoke, he turned to Zheng Weimin and introduced, "Director Zheng, this is Comrade Li Huaide, the deputy director of our steel rolling mill in charge of security and logistics."

Then he said to Li Huaide, "Director Li, this is Comrade Zheng Weimin, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the General Administration."

Li Huaide immediately shook hands warmly with Zheng Weimin, saying with a beaming smile, "Director Zheng, on behalf of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, I welcome you!"

Zheng Weimin shook hands with him and said warmly, "Director Li, hello, it's a pleasure to meet you."

After a brief pause, Zheng Weimin continued speaking to Li Huaide: "Director Li, here's the situation—through the enemy spy cases previously cracked by your steel rolling mill, and the clues provided by Comrade Jia Dongming, the General Administration successfully dismantled a small enemy spy gang of dozens of people, seized a large number of weapons and supplies, and effectively dealt a blow to the rampant arrogance of the enemy spies."

"After deliberation by the leadership of the General Administration, Comrade Jia Dongming is awarded a second-class merit, promoted from section chief to deputy division chief, and concurrently appointed as deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Dongcheng Public Security Bureau. He is also awarded a bonus of 300 yuan."

After Zheng Weimin finished speaking, he turned to the side and took a wooden box from his attendant.

He gently opened the box, picked up a second-class merit medal from the velvet lining, and carefully and steadily pinned it to Jia Dongming's chest.

The security guards lined up around the medallion, their eyes filled with undisguised admiration.

It's unclear who clapped first, but the applause spread like a tide, echoing between the courtyard walls.

As the applause subsided, Zheng Weimin took a bronze medal from someone and announced loudly: "All comrades of the Security Department of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill—after review by the General Administration, your department is hereby awarded the collective third-class merit honor."

A complimentary enamel mug will be provided, and each person will receive an additional 20 yuan bonus.

As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Jianguo and Li Aijun stepped forward in unison, saluted Zheng Weimin respectfully, and then, holding the Third-Class Merit Medal together, turned to face the crowd.

In this era where honor is of paramount importance, every upturned face was flushed with excitement, and the applause erupted once again, even more enthusiastically than before.

Li Huaide stood to the side, having already heard that Jia Dongming had not only been awarded a second-class merit but had also been promoted from section chief to deputy director, which secretly surprised him.

He stepped forward, beaming, "Section Chief Jia—look at my memory, I should call you Director Jia now! Congratulations on your promotion, your achievements are truly commendable!"

Jia Dongming's brows relaxed, and he waved his hand repeatedly: "Director Li is too kind."

I'm hosting a casual dinner tonight; please do me the honor of having a couple of drinks.

Li Huaide laughed and said, "Director Jia, please attend to your business first."

"Director Zheng, we'll need your help here. We've got a long road ahead of us."

Jia Dongming suddenly realized what was happening and quickly turned to Zheng Weimin: "Director Zheng, please come in and have a seat—"

Zheng Weimin smiled and shook his head: "No need."

A colleague from the General Administration's Personnel Department will arrive shortly to take you to the Dongcheng Branch Office to report for duty.

I won't delay any longer."

Jia Dongming shook hands with him again, speaking earnestly: "Since that's the case, I dare not force you to stay today."

I will definitely extend a special invitation in a couple of days, and I hope Director Zheng can spare the time.

Yesterday, outside the General Administration's conference room, Zheng Weimin witnessed firsthand the way General Chen treated Jia Dongming, and the closeness between them was extraordinary.

At this moment, Jia Dongming took the initiative to show goodwill, so he naturally went along with it: "Since Director Jia said so, I will keep it in mind."

We await good news.

After seeing Zheng Weimin off, Jia Dongming turned around and patted Li Huaide on the shoulder: "Director Li, you can't escape this drinking session tonight."

Li Huaide readily agreed: "Alright, let's drink until we drop."

Jia Dongming suddenly remembered something and lowered his voice: "By the way, last night when the Third Brigade was patrolling the factory, they caught someone smuggling steel in the scrap warehouse."

Following the clues, they caught Qian the Cripple, who worked at the boiler room, and seized a lot of stolen goods from his home.

This guy wasn't exactly tough; he revealed a secret gambling den in Baochao Hutong, leading to the arrest of dozens of gamblers, several of whom were workers from our factory.

The people are currently being held in the detention room, and the security department is proposing to fine each of them fifty yuan.

As for how the factory will handle it, that's up to you to decide.

Li Huaide nodded after hearing this: "I have no objection to the Security Department's handling of the matter."

In the factory, adhering to the principle of treating the sick and saving lives, half a month's salary was deducted from each person's pay as a warning to observe their performance.

Jia Dongming smiled and said, "You can decide how the factory should handle it."

Just then, the loudspeaker suddenly hummed with electricity, followed by the announcer's clear voice: "Attention all workers, we are about to broadcast some good news: Comrade Jia Dongming, the head of our factory's security department, has been diligent and conscientious in his duties since taking office. He recently led his team to crack a case of sabotage by enemy agents, effectively safeguarding state property."

The Public Security Bureau has decided to award Comrade Jia Dongming a second-class merit, promote him to the administrative rank of deputy division chief, and award him a bonus of 300 yuan. The factory committee will also award him an additional 200 yuan as a commendation.

After a brief pause, the broadcast continued: "Furthermore, after deliberation by the General Administration, the Security Section of the Steel Rolling Mill is awarded a collective third-class merit, with each member receiving an enamel mug and 20 yuan in cash. The Factory Committee will add an additional 10 yuan to each member's award."

The broadcast echoed over the factory area for a long time.

The sound from the factory loudspeaker still reverberated in the air, like a cold chisel carving the news into everyone's ears: Qian San, a worker in the boiler room, sneaked into the scrap yard at night and was pinned down on rusty steel by the security guards.

Fired, house taken back.

In the following broadcast, the voice carried a hint of almost condescending leniency: following the thread Qian San had uttered, a group of people were pulled out from the shadows of Baochao Hutong.

Fines and salary deductions are considered "treatment to save lives."

.