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

He took the letter and casually handed it forward. Guan Yan turned her head and saw it was him. Her brows furrowed slightly, her gaze fell on the envelope, and her ears suddenly turned red. Her fingertips subconsciously pinched the corner of her exercise book.

Li Guoman remained calm, flicking her thumb backward—she glanced in that direction and saw Hua Chengfeng still standing there. The blush on her face immediately faded, and with a slight purse of her lips, she pinched the middle of the letter between two fingers in front of him, tearing it in half with a "rip," then folding it again, tearing it again, and finally crumpling it into a ball before throwing it into the wastebasket at her feet.

Hua Chengfeng, oh Hua Chengfeng… Li Guoman sighed inwardly, shook his head and smiled, not thinking about it any further. These kinds of things are best left unsaid; anyone who takes them seriously is a fool.

When the self-study period ended, the clock on the wall had just struck nine times.

Li Guoman, Hu Dawei, Wei Aimin, and Kuai Tieren huddled together at the corner of the stairs, whispering amongst themselves.

The three of them had already tasted the benefits: sneaking out for two hours after school every day, they would come back with tens or even hundreds of yuan in their pockets. This money was enough to send two bags of wheat back home, enough for the children to buy a pair of rubber shoes, and enough for the wives to buy three doses of traditional Chinese medicine to treat their coughs.

They were all quite old: Hu Dawei was twenty-seven, Wei Aimin thirty, and Kuai Tieren thirty-two. Their youngest son was already in elementary school, and their eldest could already help his father fetch water and chop wood. They were able to sit in university classrooms not because they were young, but because they were born at the right time—when the college entrance examination opened, even fifty-year-old farmers could enter the examination hall with their "Barefoot Doctor's Manual" in hand. Thirty-two? Considered young.

They send all of their monthly school allowance home; for their own meals, they eat steamed buns with pickled vegetables, and in winter, a bowl of rice soaked in hot water—a steaming bowl that warms their stomachs and puts their hearts at ease. Now that a way to make a living is right in front of them, how could they possibly let go?

"Li Guoman! Hu Dawei! Wei Aimin! Kuai Tieren!"

A shout, like a gong striking one's eardrums, made all four of them shudder and nearly jump up.

Guan Yan was blocking the stairwell, hands on her hips, her hair fluttering slightly in the night breeze, her eyes sharp enough to scrape rust off iron: "Trying to sneak away again? Going back to that kind of business?"

She stared at Li Guoman, her voice lower but deeper: "Did you just let what I said this morning go in one ear and out the other?"

-

Xiushui Street.

Li Guoman walked at the far east end, a bulging snakeskin bag slung across his shoulder.

Guan Yan followed closely behind, her cloth shoes stepping steadily on the bluestone slabs. She didn't utter a sound, but she carried the bag more firmly than anyone else.

Hu Dawei was walking slightly west of the middle, rubbing his hands together as he went, his breath swirling in the white mist under the streetlights.

Wei Aimin had a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips, not lit, just sipping it, while his eyes scanned the stalls on both sides with alertness.

Kuai Tieren, the tallest of the group, was at the very back. The bag was digging into his shoulder, and he didn't fall behind at all.

Each person received fifty pairs of bell-bottoms, all sourced from Li Guojiang; the size, stitching, and pocket trim were identical. The only difference was the price—five yuan cheaper than Xiao Fo's group.

The vendors are discerning and shrewd: they don't need to move their stalls, run errands, or tie up capital; they can sell and settle accounts immediately, earning an extra five yuan in profit—why not?

In less than two hours, the five people had cleared out their stock faster than the cafeteria bell rang.

That's what you call quick in and quick out.

Li Guoman distributed the money on the spot: two yuan for each person, ten ten-yuan bills, one for each person, neatly arranged.

Guan Yan looked down at the stack of bills in her palm, her fingertips tracing the ink stains, and said nothing.

This was the first time she had ever touched so much cash. It wasn't a student grant, nor was it coarse grains exchanged for food coupons. It was real, warm "unity money."

When she stopped them at the school gate, she really intended to take them back to the dormitory to write a self-criticism. But Li Guoman didn't plead for them. She just squatted in the shade of the sycamore tree and pointed out the crooked little figure that Hu Dawei's daughter had drawn next to her homework to her, saying, "Her mother coughed up blood yesterday. This money was for cough syrup, not bell-bottoms."

She didn't say anything more.

Later, he handed her the first pair of pants, which she accepted.

He shoved the snakeskin bag into her hands, and she picked it up.

As he walked, he said, "Sister Yan, it's better to be precise than to meddle too much—controlling the supply of goods on this street is worse than controlling the four of us."

She didn't respond, but she didn't stop walking.

What Li Guoman wanted was never to bypass her.

It means having her stand beside me and walk forward together.

It was the day before the weekend, and the streets were bustling with activity. The vendors were doing exceptionally well. Fifty pairs of padded bell-bottoms each were sold out before noon. "Come on, it's my treat tonight, let's go for a late-night snack!"

Li Guoman waved his hand, his voice clear and bright, without the slightest hesitation.

The group then headed toward the small privately owned restaurant on the street corner.

Hu Dawei, Wei Aimin, and Kuai Tieren, along with class monitor Guan Yan, all followed behind.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, he slapped a ten-yuan bill neatly onto the center of the greasy wooden table.

"Boss, what's your specialty? Bring it up quickly!"

He had a loud voice and a confident demeanor—only when the money was right there and he was open and honest would the shopkeeper be willing to show off his best stuff.

Sure enough, the middle-aged shop owner, whose apron was slick with oil and whose forehead was damp with sweat, brightened up. He immediately rubbed his hands together and came over, his eyes crinkling with a smile: "Perfect timing! There's only half a lamb left, perfect for hot pot; I'll also stir-fry the scraps over high heat, they'll be delicious!"

"Alright! Open two more bottles of Moutai, and stir-fry three kinds of vegetables to make it light and refreshing."

Li Guoman nodded in agreement, his tone crisp and decisive, as if he were ordering food at his own stove.

Before long, the copper pot was bubbling and steaming, and the aroma of fresh mutton, wrapped in white steam, wafted over; the mutton in the iron pot was charred and fragrant, and the green vegetable leaves were still glistening with moisture, and they were all placed on the table together.

As they were talking, the curtain at the door was lifted, and a man and a woman entered.

"Shen Shanshan!"

Guan Yan blurted it out, her voice not loud, but clear and distinct.

Everyone looked up at the same time.

"Brother Guozhui!"

Li Guoman frowned slightly and blurted out.

The visitors were Li Guozhui and Shen Shanshan. They had just returned from outside the school and stopped by to grab a bite to eat.

Ever since that time she impulsively got closer to Li Guozhui, Shen Shanshan finally felt relieved—Ye Xiuli ultimately failed to get a marriage certificate, the child was born but couldn't be registered, and their legal status was stuck in limbo. Outsiders only saw them as a cohabiting couple, and no one knew the underlying tension. Only a few people in their circle knew about this.

But as the days went by, a genuine warmth began to develop between them. Before, they approached each other tentatively, but now even holding hands is warm, and their eyes crinkle when they speak, their smiles shining.

She loved this solid yet passionate feeling: it prevented Ye Xiuli from gaining any advantage, while she herself was truly cherished. Lately, she looked radiant, walked with a spring in her step, and even the ends of her hair seemed light and airy.

"Oh, it's Guan Yan! And everyone else is here too!"

Shen Shanshan greeted them with a smile. Coincidentally, they were classmates in the same year.

"Guoman? So you're in the same class as Shanshan!"

Li Guozhui sounded slightly hesitant, and his voice lowered by half a syllable.

He knew perfectly well that Li Guoman knew he was married and had a child. Yet here he was, arm in arm with another woman, appearing before acquaintances—it was incredibly awkward.

"We're all old classmates, let's squeeze in and sit at one table."

After the introductions, everyone quickly understood the relationships: Li Guozhui and Shen Shanshan were dating; and Li Guoman was his younger brother.

Both of them were twenty-seven years old that year, and they had already shouldered the weight that comes with age.

At the dinner table, Li Guoman tried to speak several times, but swallowed his words back. He wanted to ask his brother: "You clearly have a family, how can you be so intimate with someone else?" He also wanted to say to Shen Shanshan: "My brother is already married, don't rush headlong into it and end up hurting yourself."

He picked up his chopsticks and put them down, raised his wine glass and put it down again, but ultimately said nothing.

When the party ended, he simply said, "I'm going home. Tomorrow's a holiday, so it's fine if I don't go back to the dormitory."

Guan Yan watched his retreating figure and immediately noticed the hesitation in his eyes, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. But she didn't ask anything and silently walked towards the school gate with Shen Shanshan and the three male classmates.

……

"Brother Guozhui!"

"Guoman, I know what you want to say."

The two brothers walked side by side on the street as the streetlights began to illuminate the scene. Li Guozhui sighed deeply and recounted the whole story.

After listening, Li Guoman finally understood that his brother was entangled in such a complicated and unresolved old relationship.

But he still looked straight at his brother and asked, "Guozhui, are you really going to let the three of us stay like this forever?"

"Sigh..." Li Guozhui shook his head with a wry smile, "I want to extricate myself, but Shanshan won't let go, and I owe her too much—what can I do?"

He spread his hands, his shoulders slumped slightly, as if he were being pressed down by something unseen.

Li Guoman's heart tightened; he was worried for his brother, and his mind raced. Suddenly, he remembered Liu Wu—the senior who had just received an exchange program to an American university. An idea popped into his head.

"Brother Guozhui, I have an idea, but I don't know if you'd be willing to listen?"

"Tell me about it," Li Guozhui said casually, as if he were just giving a perfunctory reply.

"Studying abroad is all the rage at Peking University these days, it's really getting popular. Why don't you ask Shen Shanshan if she'd be willing to apply to study in the US?"

"If she really has feelings for him, she'll probably stay and develop her career there—then you'll be free."

"what?"

Li Guozhui paused, his eyes lighting up.

He knew perfectly well that dragging things out was not a solution. If the three of them stayed in this stalemate, none of them would maintain their dignity, and everyone would be held back.

He always had Ye Xiuli on his mind—he already had his son in his arms, blood was thicker than water, and he had a responsibility on his shoulders, so he could only choose her.

In the end, Ye Xiuli was indeed shrewd and didn't make a single wrong move.

"That's a good idea." He nodded, then waved his hand. "But I can't bring it up. If I do, Shanshan will think I'm in a hurry to get rid of her so I can get back together with Xiuli—she's strong-willed, and that will only make her more unwilling to leave."

"It's more effective for you to find a reliable classmate to persuade them than for me to do it myself."

Li Guoman readily agreed: "Okay, I'll take care of it."

The next evening, the four of them went out together as usual. Li Guoman quietly landed beside Guan Yan, and waited for the other three to take a few steps forward before speaking in a low voice:

"Class monitor, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it? Just say it."

"Please, could you persuade Shen Shanshan to consider studying abroad?"

"ha?"

Guan Yan abruptly stopped in her tracks, her face filled with astonishment, and her voice rose a half-octave: "Huh? Your brother is seeing someone, and you want me to go and persuade her to leave?"

She couldn't help herself and blurted it out.