Courtyard House: A Carefree Life Begins with a Lottery of Wish Power

Lin Zhuo immediately thought of Qin Jingru's name, and couldn't help but picture Qin Jingru's beautiful face and curvaceous figure from the drama.

However, it's still early, and Qin Jingru is still at the age where she's just beginning to blossom.

It's still a bit small.

Lin Zhuo didn't want to approach Qin Jingru right now; he wanted her to develop on her own.

The family chatted happily for a long time. After lunch, Lin Zhuo embarked on his journey back to the city.

As Lin Zhuo boarded the bus into the city and watched his relatives waving to him from the roadside, a sense of warmth welled up in his heart. In this strange yet familiar world, having so many relatives who truly cared about him and wished him well filled him with warmth.

Lin Zhuo secretly made up his mind that he must make sure his family lives a good life.

As his loved ones slowly disappeared from sight, Lin Zhuo leaned back in his chair and began to review his gains over the past two days.

Although he hadn't met many people during the two days he was home, Lin Zhuo still gained a lot of spiritual energy from his observations.

On one hand, it came from my family members—my grandmother, my two older sisters, and everyone contributed a lot.

The amount is small each time, but the frequency is quite high.

This once again confirmed Lin Zhuo's guess: receiving positive emotions from others can also generate willpower, although the amount seems to be less than that of negative emotions.

As for whether these wishes are the result of negative emotions from family members.

Lin Zhuo didn't even consider it; he did have that much foresight.

It's easy to tell whether that gratitude and joy are genuine or not.

Besides family members, many neighbors also contributed their wishes.

Lin Zhuo couldn't help but smile; this was mostly thanks to his grandmother.

Grandma went out for a stroll this morning, showing off her grandson everywhere. She really made a name for herself among the relatives and neighbors, and also reaped a lot of goodwill for herself.

It seems that, whether in this era or in the future, showing off one's own children is a sure way to incite hatred.

Not only do adults who hear the boasting feel resentful, but when the adults go home and tell their own children, the children experience even more negative emotions.

Besides older neighbors, the list of those who contributed their efforts included mostly young people of similar age.

After all, nobody wants their parents constantly nagging in their ear about how great other people's children are.

Lin Zhuo saw that he had enough wish power to draw a prize again, so he directly clicked to draw a prize.

Congratulations on acquiring the [Advanced Electronics Repair Technician] skill.

Lin Zhuo suddenly felt a lot of electronic repair technology knowledge enter his mind.

Lin Zhuo felt that as long as it was electric, there was nothing his family couldn't fix.

Let alone home appliances, computers, and mobile phones, even radar and sonar are within my grasp.

Lin Zhuo couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself.

Isn't this skill awesome?

That's awesome!

If this technology had been available in the 1980s or 1990s, it would have been an absolute money-making machine.

A monthly income of one or two hundred yuan, but a TV and a VCR can cost several thousand yuan.

They dare to charge hundreds for a simple repair.

However, for Lin Zhuo at present, its practicality has been greatly reduced.

After all, in this day and age, many households don't even have electricity.

Even with electricity, most households only have one appliance: a light bulb.

Well-off families might have a radio.

As for television, television sets and television stations did exist at that time, but ordinary people had never seen one.

After a bumpy journey, Lin Zhuo finally returned to the courtyard house.

As soon as we entered the courtyard, we saw the three siblings, Yan Jiecheng, Yan Jiefang, and Yan Jiedi, excitedly running towards the central courtyard.

Yan Bugui and his wife came out of the house with their stools in their hands. Yan Bugui scolded them:

"You guys slow down, don't be reckless."

As he was speaking, seeing Lin Zhuo come in, the Third Uncle greeted him and was about to walk towards the central courtyard with the Third Aunt.

Lin Zhuo couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Uncle, where are you going? Are you going to hold a company-wide meeting?"

Yan Bugui continued walking, turning back to Lin Zhuo and saying:

"Uncle Er's family just bought a new radio, and all the neighbors in the courtyard have gone over to listen to it. I'll talk to you later."

With that, Yan Bugui and the three aunts walked quickly toward the central courtyard without looking back.

It turned out that Uncle Er had bought a radio, which surprised Lin Zhuo.

These days, radios are a luxury item.

Even a simple radio costs one or two hundred yuan, which is a huge sum for an ordinary family.

For an elderly worker who earns over 100 yuan a month and has no children, this is nothing.

However, since the second uncle had several children and his burden was much heavier than that of the first uncle, Lin Zhuo was truly impressed that he could still afford to buy a radio.

Actually, given the old man's financial resources, he could have bought it long ago, but he hasn't. Lin Zhuo guesses that the old man doesn't want to be too flashy.

Lin Zhuo pondered for a moment and guessed pretty much what his second uncle was thinking.

The second uncle, who has always been overshadowed by the first uncle, always wants to show off and make his presence felt.

I bought a radio before the old man did.

Lin Zhuo put down his things and went to the Central Court to see what was going on.

Upon entering the Intermediate People's Court, Lin Zhuo was startled.

The once spacious courtyard was now packed with people, more than when a general meeting was held.

Not only were there people from his own courtyard, but Lin Zhuo also saw many neighbors from other courtyards in the alley. Li Kuiyong squeezed to the front to watch the excitement.

In the middle of the courtyard, there was a table, behind which Liu Haizhong and Aunt Er sat smiling. On the table was a radio.

Liu Guangfu, Liu Guangtian, He Yuzhu, and Xu Damao were frantically unpacking the packages.

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong sat on either side of the table, blocking those who wanted to come closer, especially keeping an eye on the naughty children to prevent them from breaking the radio.

He Yuzhu carefully took the radio out of the box.

Liu Haizhong watched nervously from the side, muttering to himself:

"Slow down, slow down."

The large radio with its wooden casing was placed on the table, eliciting gasps of surprise.

"It's so beautiful."

"That must have cost a lot of money."

"This is the latest model of the Feile brand. I saw it in a department store, and it cost more than 150 yuan."

The crowd gasped in surprise again.

150 yuan is a huge sum of money for an ordinary rural family.

But for dual-income couples with a lighter financial burden, they can manage to save up and come up with the money.

A radio, however, has no other function besides entertainment, making it far less practical than a bicycle.

Therefore, ordinary families with this money would prioritize buying a bicycle.

Unless it's for their child's wedding, only families with good financial conditions would grit their teeth and buy one.

Just like in later generations, it's common for ordinary families to buy a car for 10 yuan, but very few people would spend 10 yuan on a sound system.

Yan Bugui stared at the beautiful radio with his small eyes, his gaze full of envy.

But if you actually let him buy it, he absolutely wouldn't be willing to part with it.

Hearing the exclamations of the crowd and feeling their envious gazes, Liu Hai felt immense satisfaction.

He was always outdone by Yi Zhonghai, but today he became the first family in the compound to buy a radio, finally putting Yi Zhonghai ahead of him.

He Yuzhu took out the radio, but didn't know how to operate it.

After fiddling with it for a long time, nothing came out.

Liu Haizhong was also a little anxious, and said:

"Silly Zhu, are you even capable?"

The two brothers, Liu Guangfu and Liu Guangtian, also gathered around, eager to try it out.

The second uncle stopped them both, saying:

"Get out of here, you're going to break something so precious."

Xu Damao had used a radio in the propaganda department, so naturally he wouldn't miss this opportunity to show off.

"Silly Zhu, if you don't know how to use it, move aside and don't get in my way. Watch me."

He Yuzhu had seen others use it before, but he didn't really know the detailed operating process.

He was also afraid of damaging Liu Haizhong's new radio, so although reluctant, he gave up the space, but he still wouldn't let it go, saying:

"It's just that I haven't used it for a long time, so I can't quite remember it now."

Xu Damao picked up a few size D batteries from the table and said with a mocking expression:

"Silly Zhu, the battery isn't even installed, no wonder it can't make a sound."

The neighbors in the courtyard burst into laughter.

He Yuzhu, however, was thick-skinned. He glared at Xu Damao and then stood aside to watch.

Xu Damao put the battery into the battery compartment and turned on the switch. Sure enough, a hissing sound came from the speaker.

Xu Damao looked at He Yuzhu smugly and said:

"How's it going, you silly Zhu?"

"If we're talking about flipping food in a pan, you're really good at it."

"But when it comes to handling these sophisticated gadgets, you're nowhere near as good as me."

How could He Yuzhu possibly lose face in front of Xu Damao? He shouted:

"Alright, Xu Damao, what are you so smug about? Your stuff is just noise, you don't even have a program. Watch me."

Without saying a word, he pushed Xu Damao, who was just about to change the channel, aside.

Pull out the antenna, turn the knob a few times, and a sound comes from the speaker:

"Tomorrow's weather will be cloudy turning overcast, with temperatures ranging from -5 to -6 degrees Celsius."

As soon as the sound came from the loudspeaker, the entire courtyard became much quieter.

Some curious children even ran to the back of the radio to see if someone was hiding there.

"Silly Zhu is amazing, he can even use a radio."

When He Yuzhu heard that his second uncle wanted to buy a radio, he specifically asked someone how to use it.

He even memorized the frequencies of two radio stations, just to show off his skills in front of the entire institute.

He was flattered and felt quite pleased with himself for being praised so highly and for putting Xu Damao down.

He Yuzhu looked at Xu Damao smugly and said:

"Xu Damao, I'm naturally better than you at cooking, and I'm also better at tinkering with these new gadgets."

Xu Damao had originally planned to switch to a TV channel, show his face in the courtyard, and incidentally disgust Sha Zhu.

Little did they know, before they even made a move, they suffered a loss they couldn't speak of.

He Yuzhu squeezed him aside and brought up the channel first.

He Yuzhu dialed the Beijing Radio Station, which had the strongest signal and was the easiest to find. Xu Damao had originally planned to dial this station as well.

It's infuriating that Sha Zhu beat me to it, and then Sha Zhu's foul mouth went on and berated me.

Xu Damao was not about to swallow this insult.

Xu Damao glared with his bull-like eyes and said angrily:

"Hey, don't smug. It's just changing a channel, anyone can do that."

He Yuzhu continued to turn the knob, and the sound of news broadcasting came out again.

Xu Damao was furious when he saw this.

Sha Zhu deliberately brought out those two channels with good signal, he's just trying to make himself look bad.

However, Xu Damao was not in a hurry and said:

"Silly Zhu, is that all you're capable of?"

"Can I switch to another channel?"

"If you're so capable, why don't you find someone who can sing opera or tell jokes?"