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

"So... Ya-ling, is it really alright for you to stay?"

"Don't worry." Li Wenguo pointed to the banner on the wall. "The Guo family delivered it personally this morning. As long as the Guo family doesn't fall, the Li family won't collapse."

He paused, then added, "Once a daughter-in-law enters the Li family, the Guo family will naturally protect her."

Li Guofang looked up and the weight on his heart finally lifted.

"Sir, it's time for dinner!"

Qin Huairu, wearing an apron, peeked out from the kitchen, still holding a spatula in her hand.

"I...I think I'd better not eat, Dad, Aunt Qin, I'll go back first."

He felt extremely awkward eating at the same table as Qin Huairu.

Not to mention her, apart from his biological parents Xiaoxue, he felt like he was standing on hot coals every time he sat at a table with his other aunts.

"Sit down and eat. You've never eaten with your younger siblings before."

Li Wenguo's voice was not loud, but it left no room for argument.

When his father spoke, Li Guofang had no choice but to obediently sit down.

At the dinner table, six-year-old Li Guoman shoveled rice into his bowl, then looked up at his mother and asked, "Brother Guofang, which brother are you?"

Li Guofang was taken aback, counted on his fingers, and then answered, "The thirty-second one."

Li Wenguo was busy all day and never bothered to count the birth order; but the women at home, who were idle, had long since memorized the order.

Upon hearing this, Qin Huairu paused slightly with the tip of her chopsticks, and the corner of her mouth twitched gently.

A thirty-second son? Adding the three already in his belly, the old man has at least thirty-five sons…

My daughter isn't included yet.

It seems that he has far more women around him than he thought.

Wow—I have so many older brothers!

Twelve-year-old Li Guoxuan opened his eyes wide.

In ordinary families, there are at most one or two older brothers. He originally thought that having ten older brothers was already amazing, but who knew that there were more than twenty others he had never met!

"Father, please take me to see them?"

His eyes shone with anticipation.

Qin Huairu quietly raised her eyes and looked at her husband.

She also hoped—hoped to be known and accepted by the other rooms.

Otherwise, it's like she's hanging in mid-air, not a wife married through proper channels, but someone kept outside.

"Heh, Guoxuan, you won't be able to get together with your brothers until you turn eighteen!"

Li Wenguo smiled and rubbed his son's head.

"Why, Dad?"

"I've set a rule—once our children turn eighteen, the whole family gets together once a month on their day off, just to be close and to make it easier for you brothers to visit each other."

"Oh, is that so?"

Li Guoxuan nodded slightly, his eyes showing a thoughtful look.

"National Defense, has Hsu Ya-ling treated you well?"

Li Wenguo asked again.

This child is honest. He is always afraid that Xu Yaling will take advantage of him, so he can't help but ask her a lot of questions when they meet.

"That's good, she's very good at managing the household."

Li Guofang smiled.

Xu Yaling had already warned him: if he dared to say a bad word about her in front of the old man, he could forget about entering the house that night.

Not going to bed? How could he fulfill his father's strict requirement of "five kids"? He dared not disobey, much less anger his wife.

Li Wenguo never imagined that the family rules he set would become a soft whip for his daughter-in-law to suppress her son.

After the meal.

Li Guofang took his leave in a hurry, not wanting to stay a moment longer.

As soon as I arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, the commotion from Sha Zhu's house reached my ears—

"Just let him do whatever he wants; you'll regret it sooner or later!"

"Even if it's crying, it's my own child, it's none of your business to tell it what to do!"

"Fine, let's get a divorce! This marriage is off!"

"Fine, let's get a divorce! I'm a widow raising a child alone, and you think you can trample on me?"

Li Guofang paused slightly, but ultimately didn't stop and walked away.

He couldn't interfere in other people's business; given his status as a relative, he felt awkward about offering advice or not, so he simply pretended not to hear...

……

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Qin Huairu saw her husband lock the door as soon as he entered the kitchen, then hug her from behind and turned around to scold her.

"You do your thing, I'll do mine."

Just now, when she bent down to collect the bowls, her collar was slightly open, which Li Wenguo noticed unintentionally while drinking tea, so he quietly followed her in.

"What about Guoqian?"

Li Guoqian is the youngest son, born in 1962, and is only four years old.

"Let Guoxuan take care of things, you don't need to worry about this or that—come on, relax a bit."

Living life as it comes has always been Li Wenguo's way of life.

Not long after.

Li Guofang returned home and told Xu Yaling everything her father had said.

"My dad told me privately: 'Your family should go to Hong Kong first. There aren't as many restrictions on doing business there, which is perfect for you to start. Our Li family also has connections in Hong Kong, so we can lend a hand. If you persevere for another twenty years, the situation in China will definitely change, and you can come back then, and you'll be all set.'"

"Really...really?"

Xu Yaling was skeptical.

"Absolutely true. My dad just received a national award for his contributions this morning. He also specifically said: 'As long as she is a daughter-in-law of the Li family, the Guo family's side will be wiped clean.'"

"Okay, then I'll discuss it with my dad tomorrow."

downstairs.

He Yushui looked weary, holding her child in her arms, and entered the room with Li Guotao, looking travel-worn.

They went to Baoding and found He Daqing.

But He Daqing was unwilling to return to the capital, which is why she looked so defeated.

"Rain, since Dad has started a new family in Baoding, let's not force it."

Li Guotao advised.

"No, you don't understand. He saw that I was stammering and dodging, so he must be hiding something he can't say—I have to find out."

He Yushui shook her head.

"What good would it do to figure it out?"

"He still refuses to go with you, doesn't he?"

Li Guotao's tone was somewhat urgent.

"Never mind, let's not talk about it anymore. Give me the baby, you go and wash up."

She took the child from him, and seeing her husband about to speak again, she added, "Don't worry, I won't look for anyone else these next few years."

Li Guotao then turned around to wash up.

He Yushui had already secretly made up her mind:

You need to climb up, stand high enough, and then go find your father.

She could tell that her father didn't not want to come back, but he couldn't—only when she gained influence would she have the confidence to break the deadlock for him and the ability to reunite the family.

The next morning.

"Yaling, I'm going to work. I'll pick you up on my way home."

Li Guofang escorted his wife to the Xu family's door and then turned to leave.

Be careful on the road.

Xu Yaling stroked her prominently pregnant belly, waved to him, and then slowly entered the Xu family home.

"Yaling, you really don't need to come every day. You can come tomorrow. Your belly is almost touching the door frame. You need to rest well and not disturb the baby."

When Xu's mother saw her daughter come to visit again with a big belly, she felt both sorry for her and resentful.

"Mom, at this critical juncture, how can I possibly think about these things?"

Is my dad home?

Xu Yaling walked quickly, her skirt catching the wind.

"Yes, yes, I'm talking to your two older brothers in the study."

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the door of the study.

As soon as the door opened, I heard my second brother say, "Dad, my younger sister and brother-in-law have to go to Hong Kong together—look at Li Guofang, he's a decent man, but he's too soft-hearted and lacks backbone. I really don't feel at ease leaving my younger sister in the country with him."

"You're absolutely right. My brother-in-law's honest nature is making me increasingly worried. It would be safer to just take him along."

The eldest brother nodded in agreement.

His words clearly showed that he was not very convinced of his brother-in-law, Li Guofang.

To be honest, although Li Guofang was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his birth mother had no official status or confidence in the family and was suppressed from a young age, which is why she developed such a cautious and timid temperament.

However, Xu Jianwei's two sons, along with Xu Yaling herself, were all born of the first wife and were pampered and taught from a young age. They had an inherent arrogance in their bones, so it's not surprising that they looked down on Li Guofang.

If it weren't for the circumstances, they would never have agreed to let their sister marry into that family.

"Little sister's here?"

As soon as the door opened, Xu Jianwei and his two older brothers looked up at the same time. When they saw that it was Xu Yaling, none of them stopped talking or tried to hide it.

In their eyes, she should have heard these words—Li Guofang was indeed not good enough for her.

"I won't stop you from saying it in front of me; but please don't say it in front of my husband." Xu Yaling raised an eyebrow. "He may be dull-witted, but my father-in-law is not. If the old man comes to complain to my father, I'll be the one who suffers."

Whenever she saw Li Wenguo during holidays, she would hold her breath—the moment he sat there, even the sound of a teacup lid tapping against the rim of a bowl felt like a blow to her heart. She was always meek and obedient, afraid that if she gave the wrong look, she would be scolded for something she shouldn't have.

"Little sister, don't worry. Once we leave, the emperor will be far away, and no matter how powerful he is, he won't be able to reach us."

The second brother shrugged, completely unconcerned.

"Can't reach it? I'm not leaving—I'll stay in the capital."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a stone thrown into water.

"what?"

"Are you staying?"

"Lingling, aren't you afraid of being exposed and arrested?"

The second brother was stunned.

"Yeah, silly kid, if you don't leave, you'll just get punished."

Xu Jianwei also frowned.

Xu Yaling then recounted in detail how Li Guofang went to find Li Wenguo.

"Oh? My father-in-law has this ability?"

"Didn't you say he was a factory worker before Liberation?"

Xu Jianwei was clearly stunned when he heard "Guo family presented the banner".

At the time, Xu Yaling was afraid that her father would object to the marriage, so she only said that Li Wenguo had worked as a shop assistant in a foreign company in his early years.

"It's true that he worked as a laborer, but he also worked in a foreign firm purchasing military supplies and provisions for the Guo family, and he even married a local woman as his second wife. After liberation, he switched to business, and a couple of years ago he donated most of his assets to the Guo family—that's how the banner came about."

These words were specially taught to Li Guofang by Li Guoxian after their marriage, and then he relayed them to Xu Yaling.

Before marriage, he only mentioned the word "work".

"I see."

"Given this relationship, and with the help of party members, it makes sense for the Guo family to give him a formal title."

Xu Jianwei nodded slowly.

If you give everything you have to find a way to survive, you might get a special treatment.

But who would really be willing to give it up? A businessman's lifelong reputation, built up through scheming, can be wiped out overnight, leaving him with nothing but plain clothes and a bowl of coarse food—it would be better to pack up and go overseas, where at least he could sleep in a soft bed and drink foreign liquor.

So these days, any merchant with connections is going abroad.

No one wants to jump from a high-rise building back into the mud to make a living.

"Almost all of it was donated?"

"My God, this guy is really ruthless! Our family? We wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing."

The older brother clicked his tongue, his tone a mixture of surprise and chill.

"I can't stand living on cornbread."

The second brother shook his head and shrugged.

They felt ashamed of even the meager monthly wages of their workers.