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

"Damn it! You shameless bitch, you're trying to pin this on me even though it's not mine? Your skin is thicker than a city wall!"

Li Guojiang was so angry that he trembled all over. He raised his right hand with a "whoosh" and spread his five fingers, about to slap him.

"Go ahead and hit me! If you dare touch me and cause an abortion, you'll be ruined for the rest of your life!"

She leaned against the door frame with her pregnant belly sticking out, and ended up lying sideways.

Li Guojiang's hand froze in mid-air, ultimately not falling. If he really struck and something happened, he couldn't bear the responsibility.

He slammed his hand on his thigh, his voice hoarse: "I'll say it again—this child isn't mine! I will never acknowledge him! If you want someone to acknowledge him, go find Liao Zhihua! He's the real father!"

After saying that, neither of them looked at the other again and they turned and walked away.

Liu Shujuan clutched her handbag tightly and headed straight for Liao Zhihua's workplace—she had to tell him quickly that Li Guojiang was already suspicious, and they needed to come up with a plan together on how to cover it up.

the other side.

In the mixed-use courtyard where Li Guoxiong lived, grass grew in the cracks between the bricks and the paint on the iron gate was peeling.

A young man in his late twenties walked in, wearing a faded blue cotton shirt, with handsome features and neatly combed hair. After asking which room Zhao Ziying lived in, he went straight to the wooden door with peeling paint.

"Ziying!"

He raised his hand and tapped twice, the sound clear and bright.

Hearing this, Zhao Ziying, who was inside sewing shoe soles with her head down, stopped, put down the awl, got up and opened the door.

"Brother? What brings you here?"

The person who came was her own brother, Zhao Ziping.

"You're just going to live like this, holed up in this doghouse?"

He stepped across the threshold, glanced at the man, and frowned deeply. "My parents said you married a penniless man, and I thought they were exaggerating. I never imagined... he really was this poor."

His gaze fell on the coarse linen spread out on the table and the half-stitched shoe sole. He curled his lip and said, "Little sister, you've really taken up this kind of handicraft to make a living?"

"Come on, come home with me."

He reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

"I'm not leaving. I married Guoxiong, and I'll live here."

Zhao Ziying shrank back and pulled her sleeve out.

"Are you out of your mind? Why don't you leave your perfectly good tile-roofed house and instead stay in this drafty ten-square-meter room? And you're even sewing shoe soles for people stitch by stitch? How did I, Zhao Ziping, end up with such a stupid sister like you!"

He was disappointed in him, and his tone was urgent and heavy.

"Brother, if you want to start a fight, the door's over there, go ahead."

She raised her hand and pointed to the door, her face expressionless.

"I'm not here to cause trouble." He took a breath. "I've found you a better family. Come with me now, and I'll take you to meet them."

"Ha..." she sneered, "I've already got my marriage certificate and I'm married, why would I need to go on blind dates?"

"Do you think they're blind?"

She almost burst out laughing—getting married and then going on blind dates, what kind of logic is that?

"It's alright. The other party is Section Chief Shi from my factory. His wife passed away two years ago. He doesn't care that you've been married before. As long as you're willing to get a divorce, we can complete the procedures on the spot."

Zhao Ziping made it sound so easy.

"Widowed?"

"Section Chief?"

"The forty-year-old one?"

She stared into her brother's eyes and suddenly understood: "Brother, you're trying to push me onto Section Chief Shi so you can climb the ladder yourself, aren't you?"

She wasn't stupid. She had heard that Section Chief Shi intended to promote Zhao Ziping, but he thought she was unmarried and not a good match; now that she was divorced, she was "worthy" of him—this was the day her brother had been waiting for.

He was willing to sacrifice his own sister's future so that he could become the deputy section chief.

"When you were with that Section Chief Shi, you had a house to live in, meat to eat, and decent clothes. Unlike now, you're squatting here stitching hemp thread!"

Zhao Ziping spoke with righteous indignation.

That's true. Compared to this drafty little house, the Shi family's place was like another world.

"I'm not going."

After she finished speaking, she turned around, sat back on the small stool, picked up the awl, and continued threading the needle.

Zhao Ziping was still opening his mouth when familiar footsteps came from outside the door—

Li Guoxiong returned carrying a gleaming snakeskin bag and a pair of long pliers slung over his shoulder.

The burlap sack contained several old items, which he had picked up along the way after exchanging money at the scrap yard—use them if they're usable, don't throw them away.

"Guoxiong, you're back."

Zhao Ziying smiled as soon as she saw him, turned around, poured a glass of water and handed it to him.

Zhao Ziping leaned against the doorframe, lifted his eyelids, and sized up his "brother-in-law," his expression revealing three parts disdain and seven parts scrutiny...

When his gaze fell on that clean and neat face, his eyelids twitched slightly, and he was taken aback for a moment—he hadn't expected this person to be so handsome; but when his gaze fell on the dusty jacket, the bamboo rake leaning against the corner of the wall, and the hemp rope, he immediately let out a cold laugh.

Ha, a ragpicker!

"Yes, Ziying, and who is this?"

Li Guoxiong nodded to Zhao Ziping in a calm tone.

"I'm her brother."

He eagerly agreed, not even bothering to give her a proper look.

"Oh, brother-in-law, hello, my name is—"

Before he could finish speaking, his words were cut off.

"Stop. Who cares who you are? Besides, I don't have any poor relatives like you who pick up trash. Stop trying to get close to me, it's disgusting."

Zhao Ziping raised his chin, his eyes full of contempt.

Li Guoxiong's Adam's apple bobbed, and his knuckles silently tightened on his trouser seams. He wasn't without temper, but he suppressed his anger because he was worried about Zhao Ziying being caught in the middle. He only said in a deep voice, "I'll report to the instrument factory in a few days and officially start working there. Things will gradually get better."

"Brother!" Zhao Ziying stabbed the awl into the sole of her shoe, her voice hard and strained. "Guoxiong has a job and a position; he's not the 'poor loser' you're talking about. Don't say that again."

Her fingertips turned white with anger—having been influenced by her parents since childhood, her brother had long since ingrained snobbery into his very bones.

But none of his family knew anything about Li Guoxiong's background. If they did, they probably wouldn't even be able to hold their teacups steady.

Speaking of the instrument factory: the office director is his third sister, the deputy factory director in charge of production, Zhang, is his brother-in-law, and the factory director, Lao Pang, is his future father-in-law's old comrade-in-arms and also a family friend. The three most important people in the factory are two relatives and one in-law. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they are half the masters of the factory.

What will the Zhao family's reaction be when they finally figure it out?

Will you recall this scene today, and feel your palms sweating and your legs going weak?

"So what? He's just a clerk who just joined the factory. He's not even as good as Section Chief Shi, let alone me, not to mention my dad."

That wasn't an exaggeration. Zhao's father was a veteran technician with twenty years of experience, earning a little over sixty yuan a month; Zhao himself had worked for eight years and was promoted to intermediate clerk, earning a little over forty yuan a month. Li Guoxiong had just started out, and his salary might not even be a fraction of Zhao's.

He glanced again at the low, cramped room, his gaze lingering on the scraps of cloth spread out on the table and Zhao Ziying's needlework: "Whether someone is poor or not can be seen in their living conditions and their skills—living in this drafty room, and you still have to sew shoe soles? Isn't that clear enough?"

"Brother, please go back."

"snort!!!"

Seeing that Li Guoxiong had already entered and taken a seat, and knowing that it was pointless to persuade him, Zhao Ziping turned and left, his back view clean and decisive.

He had already mentally planned out how to handle things afterward.

After everyone left, Li Guoxiong stood in the center of the room, quietly gazing at the small, dilapidated house, and at Zhao Ziying's hands as she bent over, stitching the hemp thread tightly. A heavy weight pressed against his chest, as if a stone were pressing down on him.

He was born in a courtyard with blue bricks and gray tiles, and grew up under the care of his mother, the vice dean of Peking University. He had two aunts, one a department-level cadre and the other the only daughter of an industrialist. His eldest aunt, who doted on him the most, still sends him supplements every month.

Born into a noble family, he was also stubborn and never bowed his head.

But now, the people he cherishes are sleeping on hard beds, wearing patched clothes, and working late into the night making shoe soles, while being humiliated in front of his own siblings—his throat tightened, and he tasted the bitterness of "suffocation" for the first time.

All I have to do is go back and say a few kind words to my father, and a new public housing unit, a house with a yard, plus enough money to last ten years will be in my account immediately. From then on, I won't have to worry about daily necessities anymore.

"What's wrong, Guoxiong?"

Zhao Ziying cut the last thread, looked up at him, and saw that his brows were furrowed and his face was as dark as the sky before a rainstorm, so she asked softly.

"I'm thinking... should I go back and apologize to my dad? If he's willing to back down, you won't have to suffer like this with me."

He didn't beat around the bush and just said it directly.

"So, do you really want to admit your mistake?"

She smiled, her question soft but precise.

"this……"

He paused, his lips parted slightly, but ultimately he didn't continue.

That hesitation was clearly written on his face.

"No need to say anything more." She put the needle back into the cloth bag, her voice calm and steady. "We don't need to ask anyone for help; we can manage on our own. You'll be starting work soon, and you still have the money you saved from exchanging recyclables. That should be more than enough to last until payday. Guoxiong, you really don't need to make yourself suffer for my sake."

She meant it sincerely.

She just didn't know that the "home" house the Li family owned was actually a whole detached house; nor did she know that the two thousand yuan dowry was not even a fraction of the Li family's accounts.

If she knew all this, she probably wouldn't have been able to say it—

To leave a golden nest untouched and choose to squat in a mud pit and freeze is foolish, not resilient.

"Ziying, it's so good that you understand me."

"I specially saved this White Rabbit milk candy because I remember you loved it when you were little."

Li Guoxiong handed it over with a smile, and casually slipped three more into her palm.

Zhao Ziying had just put one in her mouth and tasted the sweetness on her tongue when her stomach suddenly churned—she felt like vomiting.

The stove in the courtyard was burning brightly.

Li Guoyu and Gao Zhiyuan entered the house just as they were leaving get off work and headed straight for Li Wenguo's house.

Gao Zhiyuan is Li Guoyu's brother-in-law. He calls Li Wenguo "Dad" and respectfully addresses him as "Father-in-law".

"Dad, Liao Daqiao and his son have both lost their party membership and their public office."

"Father-in-law, the matter concerning Liu Youtian that you entrusted to me has been taken care of. He has been sent back and is awaiting further instructions."

Li Wenguo nodded slowly: "Hmm, well done. The Liao family's son and the Liu family's daughter conspired to scheme against Guojiang? Do they think the Li family is toothless?" He picked up his enamel mug and blew on it to warm it. "If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll really think we're made of clay."

Gao Zhiyuan chuckled inwardly—that was a really smooth way of putting it!

Neither of the two families had any idea how powerful or influential the Li family was. If they had known, they wouldn't have dared to lay a finger on Li Guojiang, even if they had a hundred lives.

But you didn't reveal a word of it. Isn't that just blatantly leading people into a trap?