Courtyard House: A Start with Black Gold Swallowing 100,000 Silver Dollars

"Sir, why did you rush here in such a hurry? Has something terrible happened?"

He Shuting noticed the sweat on his forehead and the slight wrinkles in his clothes, and her expression immediately became serious.

"Quickly! Send an urgent telegram to Yang Yuerong—tell them that a regiment is setting off this morning with the objective of wiping out the Communists. Tell them to be on high alert immediately and, if possible, to evacuate the village and go into hiding!"

He quickly handed over the coded telegram.

Without saying a word, He Shuting turned and ran to the radio station, her fingers flying across the keyboard, the ticking sound as urgent as raindrops.

A moment later, the telegram was sent.

"Finished sending?"

"Did Yue Rong receive it?"

Li Wenguo pressed for an answer.

"Wait a moment and see if she replies."

She paused, then looked up and asked, "Where did you get this information? Is the Nationalist army really going to make a move?"

"Well, I happened to overhear a familiar officer mention it casually, and I took it to heart."

He gave a perfunctory reply, but his mind was on edge—if Xu Wanqing truly rose to power, He Shuting would inevitably lose control sooner or later. The later this matter was brought up, the better; otherwise, if jealousy took hold, another storm would break out at home.

He Shuting nodded and stopped asking questions, focusing only on the radio indicator light, but a thought suddenly struck her: her master had even made connections with people in the military?

At the same time.

Chenjia Village.

"Instructor Yang! Instructor Yang! There's an echo on the radio!"

The young soldier guarding the platform clung to the door frame of the courtyard, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Yang Yuerong was standing in the courtyard of blue bricks, teaching the soldiers to recognize the characters for "worker" and "farmer".

In her spare time, Yang Yuerong would teach the soldiers to read, which was part of the instructor's duties.

The moment the telegram was translated, her fingertips trembled, her expression changed slightly, and she immediately sent someone to frantically search for Chen Jiang.

"Who sent this telegram?"

Before Chen Jiang could finish speaking, he called out to the scouts outside the door: "Go check immediately, see if there's any movement outside the village!"

"It was issued by the Red Hawk of Beijing."

Yang Yuerong answered decisively.

"Regardless of whether the Nationalist army is coming for us or not, pack your bags immediately and head into the mountains to avoid trouble!"

Chen Jiang gave the order decisively.

Yang Yuerong replied with a secret message, then turned around and rolled up her bedding and tied up her food bag.

Fortunately, Li Wenguo had warned them beforehand—they had just crossed the low slope at the village entrance and entered the woods when Tong Jinyi led his entire army into Chenjia Village.

As the sun began to set in the west.

"Sir, you guessed right. The anti-communist campaign was indeed targeting them. Fortunately, everyone has been evacuated, and now only a few wisps of smoke remain in Chenjia Village."

He Shuting pointed to the message that Yang Yurong had just sent and said softly.

After Chen Jiang and his men left, they sent in lookouts to keep watch, as usual. Sure enough, in less than half an hour, a group with gleaming guns and shiny belt buckles surrounded the village.

"Oh...that's good, that's good."

Li Wenguo let out a long sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxing.

"Sir, Chenjia Village is too close to the capital. If you hadn't warned them in advance, they probably would have been blocked before they even reached the mountain path. They may have escaped this time, but they might not be so lucky next time."

He Shuting frowned slightly, her tone becoming a bit somber.

"Then let's move it!"

He blurted it out, with complete confidence.

"Where to move to? Do you think moving is as easy as changing shoes? What if some gossipy villager tells on us? We'll be surrounded and attacked again!"

His wife glared at him, showing no politeness whatsoever.

Uh--

Li Wenguo was stunned and speechless for a moment.

"This guy's really tough!"

Although most villagers in the suburbs of Beijing genuinely supported the underground Communist Party, human nature is unpredictable—there are always a few local bullies and idle thugs who would sell their own fathers into brothels and betray the Communist Party for a few dollars. To them, it's just a matter of a word.

Therefore, even if you hide in the most honest village, you are still walking on thin ice.

He sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought, while He Shuting silently circled around behind him, knelt on the mattress, and pressed her ten fingers into the gaps between his stiff shoulder blades.

Lunch was eaten indoors. The old cook's stewed beef with radish smelled delicious, so Li Wenguo simply didn't let Chef Gu into the house.

During his lunch break, he rested in Wen Keren's room for an hour before strolling into He Shuting's room.

"Shuting, where do you think is the safest place to hide?"

When all else fails, you might as well pass the problem on to your partner.

He makes the decisions on important family matters, but when it comes to things that require brainstorming, the couple has to work together to figure them out.

"Right now, the Nationalist army is casting a wide net to hunt down and annihilate the Red Army..."

"Stop!" Li Wenguo raised his hand to interrupt, "It's your Red Army, not mine. I wasn't wearing that gray uniform."

"Is it really necessary to be so serious?"

His wife rolled her eyes, complaining, but her hands didn't stop.

He continued, "They knew the Red Army usually camped out in villages, so they kept a close watch on every village entrance, ancestral hall, and mill. There was no way to hide there unless you went into the mountains and became a bandit—otherwise, which village entrance didn't have sentries hidden there?"

bandit?

Mountain gully?

A sudden thought flashed through Li Wenguo's mind.

Hey!

The old village at Wang'er Mountain!

The Nationalist army was now focused on suppressing the Red Army, so they had no time to spare for the bandits on the mountain. If it weren't for Sai Honglian holding them back, Wang'er Mountain would have been wiped out long ago.

"Haha, I've thought of a perfect spot—both secluded and secure!"

He turned around abruptly, pulled He Shuting into his arms, and kissed her forehead deeply.

"In broad daylight, how embarrassing!"

Her ears turned red, and she twisted her body in a reproachful manner.

He then pressed further, "Where do you plan to settle Yang Yuerong?"

She knew in her heart that her husband was so attentive because of Yang Yuerong.

"Hehe, I recently dispatched a team to wipe out the bandits' stronghold on Wang'er Mountain. Now that the stronghold is empty, it's just what I need."

He explained with a smile.

"Sir, what's wrong with those bandits?"

"I remember that female chieftain, her name was Xi Shi?"

His wife tilted her head and asked curiously.

"Yes, it's her..."

As Li Wenguo spoke, his hand slid down the back of her neck.

"Well, you've got some nerve! You dare marry a bandit leader! What if she sneaks into your bed in the middle of the night and stabs you? Don't come crying to me then!"

When He Shuting heard that he had taken another concubine, who was a ruthless bandit leader, she was both angry and afraid—the lives taken by bandits were real, bloody marks.

"Hey, don't worry, it's really nothing! As for Sai Honglian, I've already got her in my grasp, I can mold her however I want—and let me tell you a secret, she also has another identity, guess what it is?"

Li Wenguo, fearing his wife would worry, tried to comfort her while bringing up a topic of conversation.

"Could it be... an underground Communist Party member?"

He Shuting blurted it out, her mind blank.

"That's right! She's a member of the local Communist Party! Tell me, how could someone like that indiscriminately injure and kill innocent people?"

"Did you remind her that Dong Haitang is a spy?"

"Don't worry, we've already warned them."

"What's even more incredible is—she's also Red Owl!"

"An informant specifically tasked with delivering intelligence to you."

Li Wenguo smiled, his hand already quietly unbuttoning the buttons on her clothes.

"What?! She's actually Red Owl?!"

He Shuting's heart skipped a beat, and she forgot to dodge even when his fingertips slipped into her collar.

She never expected that the organization would entrust such a confidential task to a woman who came from a mountain bandit background.

It was a last resort: the Party and the State were ruthless in their purges, and the organization had long been spies within its ranks. Multiple liaison points and comrades' identities in Beijing had been exposed one after another, leaving the organization short-handed; and personnel sent abroad were extremely vulnerable to betrayal by internal spies. Sai Honglian, on the other hand, was already well-connected and had a strong network of connections outside the Party. She was discreet, knew the area well, was bold, and trustworthy—so she was exceptionally promoted.

"Oh dear! Sir, this can't be done in broad daylight—!"

She only snapped back to reality when her body trembled.

Unfortunately, it was too late; she could only bite her lip and let him do as he pleased.

The secret telegram was quietly sent out by her just before dinner.

the other side.

At the foot of the barren mountain, hundreds of people huddled in the wild, eating cold steamed buns and drinking cold water.

A gust of cold wind swept by, and everyone shivered and shrank back.

They retreated in such a hurry that they only managed to grab a few bags of dry rations, leaving their cotton-padded coats and quilts behind—carrying them would only slow them down and cost them their lives.

"Battalion Commander Chen, Red Owl just sent a message, telling us to detour to Wang'er Mountain and take over that bandit stronghold as our new base."

As soon as Yang Yuerong finished speaking, Chen Jiang frowned: "Isn't that Comrade Sai's stronghold? It was taken over by the second-in-command, Zhang Xiong'an, a long time ago."

"Red Owl said that the bandits in the village have been wiped out, and now the mountain is empty, which is just right for us to settle down."

Yang Yuerong spoke with certainty.

"It's all cleaned up? Great! Let's leave tomorrow morning!"

At least there are existing houses on Wang'er Mountain; they can be tidied up and people can live there.

Chen Jiang was overjoyed, unaware that the mountain village had been bombed to the point of collapsing by 60-70%, leaving only broken beams and tiles leaning precariously in the wind.

However, compared to sleeping in the wilderness, it's like heaven and earth.

The next day, when Chen Jiang arrived at Wang'er Mountain, he was dumbfounded—Liu Erkui's men were already lined up and waiting, with rice, flour, oil, salt, straw mats, and bedding neatly piled up at the entrance of the village.

His eyes welled up with tears of excitement, and he almost knelt down to kowtow. He rushed forward in three steps and reached out to shake hands with the leader.

The other party merely raised his eyes indifferently: "Excuse me, is Miss Yang here? These supplies were prepared by Master Li specifically for Miss Yang Yuerong."

Chen Jiang's smile froze instantly, his face tightened, and his throat went dry—it turned out that this battalion commander was not as effective as the political instructor.

Two months later.

The Xu family finally reached an agreement with Song Qingzhi.

After weighing the pros and cons and negotiating, both parties signed a contract, and everyone was happy.

"Wen Guo, when are you going to come and propose marriage?"

"If this drags on any longer, my belly will start to swell up."

Xu Wanqing kept a straight face, her voice soft yet sharp.

As she spoke, her slender fingers gently touched her still flat abdomen—though there was no visible trace at the moment, a small life was quietly stirring inside.

Yes, Li Wenguo got her pregnant.

Ever since he won over Xu Wanqing, he has been meeting her secretly every few days, and they have been very intimate. Since she is healthy, it's only a matter of time before she gets pregnant.

Now she is restless and uneasy. Being pregnant out of wedlock is a crime that the older generation would consider punishable by drowning.

But Li Wenguo is doing well, taking it easy and not even showing any sign of proposing marriage in these two months, which is driving her crazy.

Needless to say, Xu Wanqing had long been completely under his control.

He glanced sideways at the beauty nestled in his arm and said slowly, "You're not showing yet, what's the rush? Don't worry, I, Li Wenguo, am determined to marry you."

"I can't let my son be born without a father, or have to recognize someone else as his father, can I?"

"But...but usually, it can't be hidden for more than three months!"

His voice was still panicked and he couldn't steady himself at all.

"Isn't there still a month left?"

"Wen Guo, my lord, please hurry! I'll bow to you, okay?"

Xu Wanqing's words were half pleading and half coquettish, her eyes sparkling, her fingertips already subtly digging into his arm.

I was so angry and frustrated. He got her pregnant and then just abandoned her. What kind of man is that? Does he think she's just a decoration to be bossed around?

Li Wenguo secretly grinned and gloated, feeling quite pleased with himself—look, he had it all figured out perfectly. Look, his father-in-law and future mother-in-law had both made a personal appearance.