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

"No, no, no! It's Huai Ru who's unlucky and unworthy of Master Li!"

Old Qin shuddered, fearing he might anger Li Wenguo, and quickly waved his hands, hastily changing his tune.

"That settles it! If Mr. Li doesn't care about your daughter, what are you still complaining about?"

Matchmaker Aunt Zhang pressed on relentlessly, her loud voice and imposing presence making it hard to breathe.

"I...I...I..."

Old Qin's tongue was tied, his face turned bright red, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Qin Huairu, standing to the side, was so anxious that her heart was burning. She wished she could interrupt and personally agree to the marriage—marrying Li Wenguo was her dream! But how could a young lady propose marriage herself? She could only clench the hem of her clothes, her fingertips turning white.

Seeing that the time was right, Li Wenguo stepped forward, his tone gentle yet firm: "Brother Qin, why don't we let Huairu make her own decision?"

He paused, his smile fading slightly, and added, "Furthermore, if you agree, I'll offer a dowry of one thousand yuan."

Before he finished speaking, he reached into his pocket and casually pulled out a stack of brand-new, crisp "Big Unity" bills, neatly arranged, with one hundred bills stacked with sharp edges.

hiss--!

The room was filled with gasps, as if someone had been choked, and everyone's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets, glued to the stack of banknotes.

These days, one yuan can buy seven or eight catties of eggs, rice and wheat flour are only ten cents a catty, and cornmeal is even cheaper; to build three tiled houses, the bricks, tiles and wood cost no more than two hundred yuan. If the strong laborers in the village lend a hand, the host family will provide a full meal.

A thousand yuan? That's an amount I never dared to dream of in ten lifetimes. It's enough to rebuild five large brick and tile houses, and there's still money left over to buy cattle and land!

Ah!

Become!

Li Wenguo glanced at the stunned faces of the crowd, and his heart settled down.

He has always believed in one saying: If money can solve a problem, then don't beat around the bush.

"Brother Qin, what do you think—ask Huai Ru if she's willing?"

He spoke again, his tone calm, yet carrying an undeniable weight.

He had long seen through Qin Huairu: the way her ears turned pink when she lowered her head, the excitement that couldn't be hidden in her evasive eyes, and the way she would secretly stare blankly at the city at night... She longed to go to the city, she longed to go so long that her bones were itching, how could she refuse?

But no sooner had he finished speaking than an alarm bell rang in his mind—the system notification suddenly sounded: "Host, you only need to ensure that Qin Huairu moves into the courtyard house. The world's will will arrange for Jia Dongxu to marry someone else and have the three children from the original story."

Li Wenguo felt a sense of relief and quickly sorted out the plot: none of the main characters could be missing, but the marriage storylines didn't have to follow the script exactly. Sha Zhu was supposed to be entangled with Qin Huairu? Then it would be fine to replace it with Jia Dongxu's future wife and Sha Zhu being involved; Xu Damao's wife, who hadn't appeared yet, raising Sha Zhu's child in the future wouldn't be out of place either.

Then, a thought crossed his mind, and he remembered Lou Xiao'e—the key to his status as a daughter-in-law, who would inevitably have to move into the courtyard house. If he were to take in a few more "daughters-in-law" in the future, wouldn't his sons eventually have to settle down as well?

But the courtyard houses were already so crowded that there was no room left for the younger generation.

Just as I was worrying, the system popped up again: "As long as the core characters are in place."

Oh--

He suddenly realized: the unimportant residents could simply be moved out. Making room for his sons to settle down would be a logical next step.

While he was lost in thought, Old Man Qin was already completely dizzy from the thought of that thousand yuan, and his mind had completely gone astray.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, forcing his gaze away from the banknotes. He turned tremblingly to his daughter, "Huai Ru... are you... are you willing?"

Qin Huairu's cheeks burned, her eyelashes fluttered, and her voice, barely a whisper, was resolute: "I do!!!"

"Okay! It's settled then!"

Aunt Zhang slapped her thigh, decisive and without leaving any room for compromise.

Li Wenguo's lips curled slightly, remaining expressionless.

He raised an eyebrow slightly at Aunt Zhang, who immediately understood and replied loudly, "The eighth of next month is an auspicious day, suitable for marriage—we'll get married on that day!"

"Oh, okay, okay! I'll do whatever Aunt Zhang says!"

Old Qin nodded repeatedly, nodding like a pecking at rice.

If you throw a thousand dollars at someone, their bones will be limp from the impact.

To put it bluntly, if someone were truly selling their daughter, ten or eight yuan would be considered generous; three or five yuan would be enough to stuff her in a sack and take her away. This thousand yuan? It's not a dowry, it's a lifeline, it's her chance to turn her life around!

After settling the remaining trivial matters in a few words, Li Wenguo and Aunt Zhang got up to say goodbye.

Before leaving, he handed the thousand yuan to Old Man Qin in person as a "betrothal deposit".

Qin Huairu stood by the door, watching Li Wenguo's departing figure, her heart pounding with a mixture of excitement and trepidation—she had finally stepped into the city.

Unexpectedly, this future son-in-law is so generous, leaving my expectations far behind.

With his calm and sharp aura, coupled with his composed and experienced demeanor, who would care how old he was? Besides, Li Wenguo looked to be no more than thirty years old, with not a trace of fatigue between his brows, and his spirit was as sharp as a blade that had just been tempered.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Li Wenguo remembered the pretty young girl who had been following behind Qin Huairu earlier—her cousin, Qin Jingru.

"Aunt Zhang, after Qin Huairu is married, could you also help me find another match, the one with Qin Jingru in the red cotton-padded jacket from earlier? This time, she's betrothed to my sixteen-year-old eldest son. Let's settle the status first, and when the child turns eighteen, we'll welcome him into the family in style."

"Mr. Li, you'd better make up your mind. Don't change your mind halfway through. My old face can't take any more rubbing!"

Last time, he suddenly quit, almost making her lose face in the alley. This time, she's putting all her effort into keeping a close eye on Li Wenguo.

"Never waver."

Qin Jingru's face was pretty, but her figure was as thin as a tender bamboo shoot that hadn't yet sprouted. How could she compare to her cousin Qin Huairu's voluptuous figure? He didn't take it to heart at all.

"By the way, Aunt Zhang, you know I have many sons. From now on, I'll leave all the arrangements for my daughters-in-law to you—once a match is made, I'll pay you one hundred yuan in cash on the spot."

"Make sure you choose someone young and good-looking; those with crooked noses and slanted eyes are best avoided."

"If any girl's parents are officials and she's also beautiful, add another hundred!"

I gasped!

Matchmaker Zhang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets—one hundred to two hundred? More than forty sons… She dared not count any further, feeling as if she were holding a mountain of gold in her hands, her feet burning hot.

In the blink of an eye, there were only three or four days left until the day he was to marry Qin Huairu.

That morning.

A gleaming car turned into the entrance of Nanluoguxiang, its wheels crunching over the snow with a soft, crisp sound.

Last night, the first snow of the winter fell in Beijing. It fell like goose feathers all night, covering the streets and alleys in a thick layer of white.

At the entrance of courtyard house number 95, a dozen or so men were busy clearing snow with brooms and shovels.

"The snow scene is beautiful, but the road is so slippery you could fall eight feet into the air!"

"I heard the neighborhood committee is going to evaluate 'Advanced Courtyard Houses' at the end of this year. If we don't give it our all, how can we prove ourselves?"

The speaker was a middle-aged man with a square face, slightly furrowed brows, and a crisp tone. He was none other than Yi Zhonghai, the old man in charge of the courtyard.

"Old Yi is right! The year-end evaluation is just around the corner. Everyone, give it your all! If we really win, I'll personally go to the neighborhood committee and get an award certificate for everyone!"

"Guangqi! I told you to take a headcount! Why is there still no one here?"

With his round belly and hands behind his back, Uncle Liu Haizhong, with his nose in the air, strutted around, putting on airs and giving orders early in the morning, looking every bit like a cadre.

In his eyes, who was obsessed with officialdom, this was what he considered respectable.

"Dad, Jia Dongxu and Xu Damao haven't shown up yet."

"snort!"

Upon hearing that someone dared to ignore him, Liu Haizhong's face instantly darkened. He snorted coldly, "Go and call them! Snow shoveling is a major collective task, it concerns whether we can wear the 'Advanced' hat, and they're just pretending to be deaf and dumb?"

Before he finished speaking, he secretly glanced at Yi Zhonghai out of the corner of his eye.

This second uncle was determined to dethrone Old Yi and take the first uncle's place himself. Now that even Old Yi's apprentice dared to be absent, wasn't that a blatant slap in his face?

"Beep beep—!"

The piercing yet clear sound of a horn suddenly tore through the morning mist.

A brand-new car slowly pulled up at the gate of the courtyard, drawing everyone's attention. Even Liu Guangqi forgot to look for someone and stared blankly at the car door.

"Hey, isn't this Factory Director Li's car?"

Having worked in the factory for many years, Liu Haizhong was adept at reading people and recognized the license plate and car model at a glance.

Factory Director Li? What's he doing here?

Yi Zhonghai, Uncle Yan Bugui, He Daqing, Sha Zhu and the others looked at each other, their hearts pounding.

At this time, He Daqing had not yet eloped with the widow, but that thought had already quietly sprouted in his eyes and brows.

Haozi got out of the car first, quickly walked around to the back seat, and respectfully opened the shiny black car door.

Li Wenguo strode down—his dark blue shirt was pressed like a mirror, his pure white suit was as sharp as a blade, his coffee-colored leather shoes were so shiny they reflected his image, and he wore a sleek mink coat over his coat.

This outfit, as if it stepped out of a magazine, is completely out of place in this gray-walled, blue-tiled courtyard house, yet it somehow makes one feel suffocated.

Everyone in the courtyard unconsciously shrank their shoulders, and even the brothers Sha Zhu, Liu Guangqi, and Yan Jiecheng couldn't take their eyes off him.

That's real style!

This is real pomp and circumstance!

This is what a truly respectable person is like!

"Everyone, you're all here!"

Li Wenguo, with his shiny slicked-back hair, was the first to raise a warm smile and nod to the crowd.

"Oh my, Factory Manager Li is here!"

"Good day, Director Li! You've finally arrived!"

"Did the factory manager come here specifically to see what's going on in our yard?"

Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and He Daqing immediately straightened their backs and then quickly bent down, their faces full of warm smiles.

Although Uncle Yan Bugui didn't work at the steel rolling mill and didn't approach him to chat, he still craned his neck and looked all eager to please.

Upon hearing the name "Director Li," who wouldn't feel a jolt of fear? — He was a truly powerful figure.

"Haha, don't be so serious. It's a day off today, so there's no need to be superior or inferior. You guys just go about your lives as usual, I'm just taking a walk around."

Li Wenguo spoke in a light tone and with a gentle expression.

But these old hands, nearing fifty, aren't they all shrewd and calculating? Take that talk with a grain of salt; they bowed and smiled as always, without missing a single detail.

"Director Li's temperament is truly like a gentle breeze!"

"It's a blessing for the entire steel rolling mill to have someone like you as its leader!"

"The person I admire most in my life is Factory Director Li—he has both courage and approachable manners!"

A few flattering words were repeated over and over, growing louder and louder like a snowball rolling downhill.

After a few rounds of pleasantries, a hint of weariness flashed across Li Wenguo's eyes, and he simply got straight to the point: "I've come today to settle a concubine. She wants to live in that small courtyard in the east wing, with five rooms, all of which are for her use."

Before the words were even finished, the air suddenly tightened.

Everyone's expression changed instantly—not because they were surprised that he had a concubine, but because their hearts sank: the five rooms in the east courtyard had long been broken into and occupied!

It was originally locked tightly, but some people couldn't resist the temptation of the empty house that had been left unattended for so long, so they broke the padlock and moved in with their families.

The Jia family was the ones who did this.

In the corner, someone was quietly pursing their lips, their eyes slightly raised, unable to hide a hint of schadenfreude.

After all, the Jia family was used to running rampant in the courtyard, which had long annoyed everyone.

Li Wenguo glanced at the various expressions on the faces and chuckled coldly to himself.

In the courtyard, nothing escaped his notice. He knew all too well that the Jia family had usurped his place—he was here today to uncover the truth.