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

On the opposite bed, the old man frowned, and the old woman couldn't help but sigh, "Sigh, this husband of hers..." Before she could finish speaking, the old man gently tapped the edge of the bed with his cane, "Shh—listen carefully before you speak."

The older woman pursed her lips, but her heart still softened. As soon as Sha Zhu turned his head, she couldn't help but interject, "Young man, the child is young and confused for a moment. Just educate him, and he'll correct his mistake..."

"Please don't speak yet, sir."

The old man raised his hand to stop her, his tone not harsh, but carrying the weight of decades of experience as a local resident who knew people well. "The fire is really burned, the money is really gone, 200,000—enough to support a family of five for ten years. Whether it's a small or large sum depends on the accounts, not just on age."

Sha Zhu ignored the old man, staring intently at the old woman, and said, word by word, "Auntie, twenty-nine years old, is that considered young?"

The woman was startled, and her face flushed instantly.

Twenty-nine? When her husband was twenty-nine, their three children squeezed onto one earthen bed. He carried cement, pulled carts, and single-handedly provided for the entire family. This "child" before her, his birth year clearly printed on his ID card was 1954—a full twelve years older than her eldest grandson!

Her sympathy shattered instantly. She turned her head away and didn't say another word.

"Silly Zhu! Where are you going?!"

Lin Meili lunged forward and grabbed his wrist, her nails almost digging into his flesh.

"Go to the police station—report the incident!"

Sha Zhu gritted his teeth, his cheeks bulging out in a hard line. "He set the fire, I reported it to the police. It's all in black and white, no one can erase it!"

Actually, he had been harboring resentment for a long time—Bang Geng was lazy, cunning, and opportunistic, and Sha Zhu was well aware of it. But he remembered how many times Lin Meili had cried, how he had received several bowls of hot porridge when the Jia family was in trouble, and how Li Guotao trusted him like a brother, so he had been holding back and hadn't turned against him.

But once the fire started, the bond was completely destroyed.

"Silly Zhu, I beg you... I'm really begging you!"

Lin Meili's knees didn't leave the ground. She gripped his arm tightly with one hand and wiped away her tears with the other, her back hunched over from crying. "He's immature, he's confused. You can scold him, hit him, anything, just don't push him to his death..."

Sha Zhu abruptly shook off her hand, his voice slicing through the air: "His surname is Jia, mine is He—there's no such thing as father and son!"

He paused, staring into Lin Meili's red eyes, and said slowly and deliberately, "Remember this: from now on, the matter of Bang Geng has absolutely nothing to do with me, He Yuzhu."

Lin Meili slumped to the ground, her lips trembling, still wanting to speak again.

Sha Zhu stopped looking at her, grabbed his coat from the back of the chair, and turned to leave. The door shook three times as he slammed it shut.

In the corridor, he walked faster and faster until he was almost running.

It's not about hating Korean jokes—it's about hating yourself.

She regretted saying "we're family" but pushing her brother-in-law Li Guotao into a fire pit;

I hate myself for being soft-hearted and showing mercy, which resulted in the other person losing everything;

Li Guotao regretted not even having a chance to say "I'm sorry" in person; he had already squatted outside the police station smoking half a pack of cigarettes, his hands shaking so badly he couldn't light a match...

—I can't swallow this insult.

This person cannot be spared.

This debt must be repaid with prison bars and a court judgment.

Sha Zhu slumped his wrist, breaking free from Lin Meili's fingers.

Without stopping, he walked straight towards the door of the ward.

"Silly Zhu! I beg you... please spare Bang Geng this time! I'll kowtow to you!"

"Thump—!"

"Thump—!"

"Thump—!"

Seeing him about to leave, Lin Meili steeled her heart, bent her knees, and knelt down, slamming her forehead hard against the terrazzo floor. Each slam was heavier and more muffled than the last. She was really putting in her best effort; a couple more slams and her forehead would surely be bleeding.

Sha Zhu hesitated, but ultimately didn't take the step.

He wasn't made of iron. Over the years, Lin Meili had done the laundry, cooked, made the bed, stayed with him at night, and taken care of the family during the day. Even He Xiao was her child—she had earned her all the credit, though she hadn't done anything particularly remarkable. Watching her bang her forehead against the wall, leaving a mark, his throat tightened, and his chest felt like it was weighed down by a damp wad of cotton.

He can't get around the "Kebang" meme.

On one side was Li Guotao—his own brother-in-law, whom he had sworn an oath to when he entrusted the restaurant to him years ago; on the other side was Shuxiangxuan, the restaurant that dozens of people relied on for their meals. The black smoke from the day the restaurant burned down hadn't even cleared yet, how could he dare to nod and say "let it go"?

As for why Bang Geng lit that fire, Sha Zhu knew perfectly well: he had lost money gambling and was being chased by debt collectors. Panicked, he wanted to burn the ledgers and get rid of the trouble as well.

He whirled around, his gaze fixed on Lin Meili: "Lin Meili, did you spoil Bang Geng like this yourself?"

"Do you have to wait until he stabs someone, goes to jail, and is sentenced to death before you feel 'enough'? Before you feel 'it was worth it'?"

A crowd had already gathered at the entrance. Nurses carrying medicine trays passed by, family members of patients peeked in, and several old neighbors recognized Sha Zhu and whispered among themselves, "Tsk, isn't that Chef He from Shu Xiang Xuan? How did things get to this point with Lin Meili?"

Lin Meili finally raised her face. Three purplish-red marks had appeared on her forehead, their edges tinged with blue; they burned terribly to the touch, and she saw stars. But she couldn't care less about the pain. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her mouth moved first: "Silly Zhu, please... just this once, okay?"

"He's a piece of my own flesh and blood! You'd be better off letting him go to jail than letting me lie in the morgue first!"

"Waaah—" A long, heart-wrenching cry.

Sha Zhu stared at her, his voice lower but harder still: "Lin Meili, why aren't you awake yet? Bang Geng has gotten to where he is today because of your repeated soft hearts, your repeated cover-ups, and your repeated cleaning up his messes! How long do you plan to keep doing this?"

"I'm telling you this—I can't forgive you for this. If you keep kneeling like this, I'll sign the divorce papers."

His face showed no hesitation, like a frozen stone.

He couldn't betray Li Guotao. Not even a single word.

"Lin Meili, think it over carefully, are you going to get a divorce or not?"

With a "plop".

Her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, her hands bracing against the cold tiles. Her shoulders trembled like withered branches in the wind, and a wail burst from her lips:

"What terrible things did I do in my past life?!"

"God, are you trying to drive me to my death?!"

"You good-for-nothing, short-lived brat, are you only satisfied when you've driven your mother to her death?!"

"Old Jia... why didn't you take the stalks with you when you left?!"

Sha Zhu didn't look at her again, turned around and left.

In the end, he still bowed his head.

He returned the 20% of Shuxiangxuan's shares to Li Guotao intact, and personally went to the court, pulled strings, and submitted materials to request that Banggeng's death sentence be changed to life imprisonment—a person can live, be imprisoned for life, but can still see each other.

Lin Meili was allowed to visit him in prison once a month, bringing him a bowl of hot soup and stuffing him with thick socks. At least he had something to look forward to and wouldn't go crazy from the suffocation.

Having done all that, Sha Zhu has a clear conscience.

That matter concerning Bang Geng is now closed.

Li Guotao knew perfectly well that Sha Zhu was also a victim dragged into this mess. He absolutely refused to accept those 20% shares. But Sha Zhu was too ashamed to ever set foot in his sister's house again—he was the one who managed the restaurant, audited the accounts, and trusted the people, yet his brother-in-law had ended up losing everything and almost facing a lawsuit. He forced the shares back, submitted his resignation, and left without looking back.

Li Guotao couldn't dissuade him, so He Yushui finally stepped in and transferred the shares to her nephew He Xiao. Then, holding her brother's hand, she said, "Brother, Xiao'er is only in his early twenties. He can't handle such a big business. You teach him how to cook, how to serve guests, how to follow the rules... You'll have to take charge of the kitchen at Shuxiangxuan."

These words struck a nerve with Sha Zhu.

To be honest, Shuxiangxuan's popularity in half of Beijing isn't due to its storefront, but rather Shazhu's culinary skills. The tender and flavorful Tan family cuisine, and the spicy and fragrant Sichuan dishes, are all served to garner praise even from octogenarian diners: "I haven't seen this level of cooking in decades!" Once a customer eats there, they inevitably bring three or five friends for the second time; for weddings, birthday banquets, and baby showers, people specifically request "Chef He in charge of the cooking," and orders are booked up for three months in advance.

Li Guotao wasn't stupid. Letting go of such a valuable asset would be like exchanging a golden rice bowl for a coarse pottery bowl—it ​​wasn't that he was unwilling to part with the money, but rather that he was unwilling to give up his livelihood.

In Shanghai, Xiao Zhi has already settled down.

As Li Jiacheng's most trusted right-hand man, and with his younger sister Yuanyuan being Li Jiacheng's wife and having just given birth to a son before the new year, he naturally became Li Jiacheng's favorite. At the beginning of the year, he was sent to Shanghai to build a cassette tape factory. After three months, the factory was erected and the production line was running.

The Earth Magnetic Tape Factory is located in Pudong District.

The land was acquired by Li Jiacheng through a company under his uncle's name in Hong Kong—ostensibly a Hong Kong-funded factory, but in reality, it was a foreshadowing laid by Li Wenguo in advance: he had predicted early on that "real estate is a gold mine," and now, taking advantage of his father's position as mayor, he acquired 10,000 acres in one go.

Of course, you can't just get it for free. Buy land at a low price, develop in phases, build a few factory buildings in the first phase to pass inspections... complete the process within three years, and the permits will naturally be in your hands.

How much will this 10,000-acre land be worth in twenty years? Nobody's done the math. They're afraid that if they said it, it would scare the accountant at the factory next door.

When the factory was completed, Li Guoman and Li Jiacheng flew over to inspect it. They also brought Li Guoshu, Xiaoju's son, who was born in 1960 and is now 23 years old, the same age as Li Guoman.

The business in the north had long been completely dominated by his brothers: Li Guohang was in building materials, Li Guoxian was in transportation, Li Guozhui was dealing in electrical appliances... After thinking for a long time, Li Guoshu decided to head south. Shanghai was once the leading commercial port in the Far East, and now it is the bridgehead of reform and opening up. Skyscrapers are rising from the ground, and neon lights are on all night long. It is exactly what needs a young man like him who dares to venture out.

After touring the factory, the two bosses returned to Beijing that same day.

With the help of his brother Li Guofu, Li Guoshu acquired a piece of industrial land to assemble refrigerators; he also partnered with his nephew Li Jiayu—Li Guofu's third son—to develop residential buildings.

On this day, a new Holiday Inn opened in Shanghai. Over thirty stories high, with each floor covering several thousand square meters, it encompassed twenty acres including a garden, swimming pool, and children's playground. Li Guoshu and Li Jiayu stood side-by-side in front of the revolving door, gazing up at the blue sky and white clouds reflected in the glass curtain wall.

"Wow, this building is really spacious!" Li Guoshu shook his head with a smile. "This lobby alone is probably worth three shops back in my hometown."

Li Jiayu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the marble floor, crystal chandelier, and automatic sensor doors: "That's right. Uncle Guoji's skills are getting more and more formidable with age. I heard that just building this hotel cost tens of millions."

He paused, then lowered his voice: "I heard they installed eighteen elevators..."

The tens of millions I had in 1983 would later amount to billions or even tens of billions of yuan—real, substantial cash.

Li Guoshu listened and kept nodding, one after another, as if he were weighing the reality of the numbers.