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

This time, she finally managed to shake off Cao Ying and arrange a private meeting. She had it all planned out: first dinner, then a movie, and then, in the dark and amidst the noise, she would slowly approach and probe—no rush, she was looking for a long-term relationship, not just a momentary thrill.

As Li Guojiang approached, she secretly dug her fingertips into her palm, her heart skipping a beat.

Fortunately, it was just a greeting. Li Guojiang nodded hurriedly and left with Sun Qiang and the others. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and smiled as she took Li Guoxuan's arm: "Come on, the movie is about to start."

Li Guoxuan didn't refuse, only saying, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

The movie theater was pitch black, the screen light so bright it made your eyes dizzy. The air was filled with the sweet smell of popcorn, the smell of sweat, and the faint scent of face cream on young people. Almost no one in the back row sat upright; shadows overlapped, and there was a constant rustling sound—some people laughed softly, some breathed heavily, and some rustled their clothes.

Su Leilei deliberately chose a seat in the last row, near the edge. She placed the popcorn bucket between the two of them and, under the guise of handing over sunflower seeds, adjusting her glasses, and straightening her scarf, repeatedly moved closer to Li Guoxuan. But he remained seated upright, hands on his knees, eyes fixed on the screen, not even glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

Two-thirds of the way through the movie, the surroundings gradually quieted down, leaving only intermittent kisses and suppressed sighs. Su Leilei finally couldn't hold back any longer and gently reached out to envelop Li Guoxuan's left hand, which was resting on the armrest, in her palm.

She clearly felt his body stiffen, his fingers twitch, but he didn't pull them away.

A warmth welled up in her heart, and she tightened her grip on his hand slightly with her fingertips—

It's done. We're one step closer to the next step.

Two months later.

It was evening again.

Sun Qiang and Lü Weigang had just finished hauling a load of old fabric scraps from the recycling station and were pedaling their old bicycles back home, the wheels crunching over the thin ice.

Suddenly, two dark green jeeps screeched to a halt by the roadside, their doors swung open, and five or four uniformed men jumped out. The leader pulled out his badge, flashed it, and shouted, "Workers' Safety Bureau! Come with us!"

Sun Qiang's hand trembled, and the handlebars veered to the side of the road; Lü Wei's face turned deathly pale, his throat bobbed, and he couldn't utter a single word.

It’s over.

This time it wasn't the police station, it was the branch office.

The police station is a subordinate unit of the branch bureau, and even the station chief has to obey the branch bureau's orders. This time, it seems even Gu Aimin can't be kept in check.

They were filled with regret—if only they had stopped when they were released last time, they should have honestly worked on the sewing machine and collected their wages, and they wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

What they didn't know was that the whistleblower was the same old face.

The man was detained for two months, but after his release, he didn't calm down; instead, he became even more persistent. He refused to believe in bad luck, thinking: if the police station is protecting its own, the branch office can't just follow suit, can it? So, carrying the new evidence, he skipped the police station and barged into the branch office.

Inside the interrogation room, the fluorescent lights hissed and emitted a stark white light.

Sun Qiang and Lü Wei were led in with their heads down, their steps slow and their shoes making a soft rustling sound as they shuffled on the ground.

Their faces were ashen, like cabbage leaves that had just been touched by frost—not from fear, but from regret. They regretted being too greedy and too wild. They hadn't even recovered from the ordeal of being taken to the police station last time, and now they had crashed headfirst into the big iron gate of the Public Security Bureau without even fastening their belts.

"Squeak—"

The door hinges clicked, and a rusty smell mixed with the disinfectant fumes from the corridor rushed in.

The two looked up and saw a young man in a police uniform standing in the doorway. He was a few years younger than them, with a handsome face and a straight nose. Standing there motionless, he exuded a quiet, resolute air, a perfect image of a "model worker." A silver star was pinned to his shoulder, indicating he was a first-class police superintendent—a section-level cadre in charge of a whole range of duties.

Sun Qiang and Lü Wei's hearts skipped a beat, their palms went cold, and their legs trembled slightly. But before the other man could speak, he had already pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning forward, his tone flat: "Where did you get your goods from?"

"What?"

Lü Wei almost bit his tongue.

Sun Qiang was suddenly startled, his eyelids twitching.

This question... how come it's exactly the same as the one Director Gu asked?

The two exchanged a quick glance, and a small flame suddenly burst forth from beneath the ashes in their eyes.

Lü Wei quickly answered, "Li Guojiang! It was all given by Li Guojiang!"

Li Guolei nodded, not replying, but lowering his voice slightly, he added, "Bite down, don't let go."

Sun Qiang and Lü Wei felt two "thump" sounds in their chests, like someone had struck a drum twice.

It worked! It worked again!

This isn't an interrogation; it's handing someone a ladder!

They didn't need any instruction; they nodded vigorously, like pecking at rice. They already knew perfectly well—Li Guojiang had definitely gotten in through connections. But then they couldn't help but be bewildered: in a place like the branch office, the threshold was so high it could trip a mule; how could Li Guojiang have managed to place someone in the section chief position? It was truly unfathomable!

Cattle!

That afternoon, once the statements were taken, the evidence "just happened" to be missing, and the surveillance "just happened" to malfunction. The two were politely seen out the door.

What happened to the person who reported him? He was convicted of "false accusation" and sentenced to one year in prison. This time, there was no room for negotiation; he was back in jail, in prison clothes, and with a simple steamed bun—he got everything.

"Are you still going to work?" Lu Wei asked, squatting on the street corner, munching on an ice pop with the stick in his mouth.

"I quit! I quit!" Sun Qiang waved his hand, his hand still trembling. "This is the second time! If this gets reported to the city bureau again, we'll both be reduced to dust!"

Lü Wei scoffed and stuck the popsicle stick into a crack in the wall: "The Municipal Bureau? Do you think this is a vegetable market? You think you can just hand over materials like that? The branch bureaus take cases, the police stations handle the rest, and it's a chain of screenings. Do you think we're supposed to be able to reach them by standing on tiptoe?"

Sun Qiang was taken aback, touched the back of his neck, and laughed, "Oops, I panicked too much..."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Lü Wei leaned closer, lowering his voice. "If Liu Laosan goes to jail for a year, that'll be a peaceful year! Why not take the free money? Are those tens of thousands of yuan burning your hand in your pocket?"

Sun Qiang's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh: "Alright! We'll talk about it after this year!"

Seven or eight years ago, the summer heat was intense. Little did they know, the winds of change were about to rise at the end of the year—a single document would loosen all the reins. By then, not only would Liu Laosan be out of the woods, but even Liu Laosi would have to consider whether his old bones could withstand the new regulations.

"Let's go find Guojiang!"

It was still that state-run restaurant, still that small private room on the second floor corner, the wooden door tightly closed, and thin white steam rising from the spout of a white porcelain teapot.

"We've been reported again?" Li Guojiang picked up a piece of braised pork knuckle with his chopsticks, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly.

He never expected that these two people would have such bad luck, like stepping in a pile of dog poop.

Sun Qiang licked his chapped lips and tentatively asked, "Brother Guojiang... about the branch office, you..."

Li Guojiang swallowed the meat.

Li Guozhui and Ye Xiuli were two of the educated youth who returned to the city.

Ye Xiuli knew that Li Guozhui and Shen Shanshan were already engaged.

Before returning to Beijing, she secretly timed her most fertile period and took the initiative to get close to Li Guozhui. The two of them made love in the earthen house under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.

What she was after wasn't affection, but the tiny chance of her child being born—once pregnant, she would have leverage to force Li Guozhui to reject Shen Shanshan and marry her.

Otherwise, how could a girl with no family background, no education, and who had only managed the warehouse in the production team for a few days compete with top students from Peking University?

Just before boarding the old green train, she felt a slight bloating in her lower abdomen, a tightness in her chest, and her period was late. Touching her still-flat stomach, she smiled and said, "It's done."

Oh……

Shen Shanshan, oh Shen Shanshan—

What are you going to use to take it from me this time?

Back in Beijing, the wave of educated youth returning to the city surged like a tidal wave, with long queues forming for three days just to register. Li Guozhui's father, Li Wenguo, was still seething with anger—his son hadn't listened to advice and insisted on going to the countryside, missing out on job opportunities; now, with all this trouble, how could he possibly have the heart to pave the way for him? So, the two were hastily assigned to the popsicle factory in the East District, one making popsicles and the other labeling them; even the workshop director couldn't be bothered to remember their names.

That's right, it's the kind of job where you're drenched in sweat in the summer and your hands crack from the cold in the winter, and you can't get promoted even after ten years.

That evening, Li Guozhui changed out of his blue overalls, washed his face, and rode his jingling old bicycle straight to the south gate of Peking University. He needed to find Shen Shanshan and clear things up. She was already pregnant; Ye Xiuli's belly was growing bigger every day. He couldn't delay, and he dared not deceive her. The engagement had to be broken off.

Just as I arrived at the ginkgo grove by Weiming Lake, I saw Shen Shanshan walking side by side with two female classmates. One of them, wearing a beige turtleneck sweater, was speaking softly, but every word was sharp and penetrating:

"Shanshan, I really urge you to think this through. Your fiancé is now a worker in an ice cream factory, working three shifts, pushing ice carts and scraping ice shavings, his palms are covered in calluses. And what about us? We're from the Chinese Department of Peking University, and we'll be working in ministries, compiling textbooks, and writing editorials. We'll start as clerks, three years as deputy section chiefs, five years as section chiefs. The difference between us isn't just a few streets, it's an entire mountain."

It was Zhang Ruoxuan who spoke. What she said made sense.

To the average person, popsicle factory workers are hardworking and reliable, but on the Peking University campus? They are more respectable than even the cafeteria chefs.

Every student knows that when it comes to job assignments after graduation, the school directly liaises with the Organization Department; outstanding graduates' files are sealed on the same day, and transfer orders are issued the next day. But what about the popsicle factory? The factory manager's office wall still displays safety production award certificates from the early 1970s.

Zhang Ruoxuan wasn't just speaking up for justice. She had another agenda—she was helping her classmate Chen Zhiyuan pursue Shen Shanshan. Chen Zhiyuan's father was a section chief in the Municipal Transportation Bureau, and people who came to visit during holidays, even if they brought Moutai, were not allowed to enter the house.

She cleared the obstacles for him, naturally doing her best. Besides, Shen Shanshan was too eye-catching; her smile revealed two dimples, and her jet-black hair reached her waist. Even several lecturers from the physics department who had returned from studying in the Soviet Union couldn't help but take a second look. If they didn't break up this couple soon, she might not even get a chance after graduation and job placement.

Shen Shanshan slowed her pace, didn't reply, and just lowered her head to kick away a small pebble at her feet.