Courtyard house: Just the right amount of pressure, leaving you bewildered but not brain-damaged.

After seeing He Yuzhu and his sister off, Gao Xiaosheng sat in a chair, propping his elbows on the table and mimicking a fly rubbing its hands, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, muttering incoherently.

"Past, present, and future Buddhas, the Three Pure Ones and the Daoist Ancestors, I pay my respects, Amen."

"System, activate 10-pull!"

"The host has 10 draws available, reaching the 10-draw tier."

"The 10-pull system guarantees at least one high-value item."

"Congratulations, host. You have accumulated 50 jin of wheat flour, 50 jin of rice, 1 jin of ABC Mickey Mouse candy, 20 jin of pork, and one Flying Pigeon brand 28-inch heavy-duty bicycle."

Gao Xiaosheng paused for a few seconds, then pursed his lips and shook his head with a complicated expression. "A system without brains is really useless."

Winning a bicycle worth over a million yuan is usually a good thing, but knowing beforehand that there's a guaranteed minimum win makes the experience completely different.

Isn't this clearly telling Gao Xiaosheng that he's unlucky?

If it were someone with exceptional luck, even if all ten prizes weren't high-value, they would at least have three or four.

"Damn it, I knew bald guys, Taoist priests, and crosses were unreliable. Next time, let's try something different and see if weeping monster and stinky fart king are any good."

Gao Xiaosheng vented his resentment by cursing and swearing, then frowned and fell into deep thought.

"Remove the bicycle, nine draws."

"One hundred catties of rice and wheat flour together would cost approximately two hundred thousand yuan."

"Twenty catties of pork, 150,000 to 160,000?"

"Is a pound of milk candy 80,000 or 100,000?"

"The total is approximately 450,000."

"Damn, so one lottery draw costs 50,000 yuan? That'll be five yuan after exchanging it for new currency?"

Gao Xiaosheng became more and more frustrated as he calculated. He said that this broken system was not up to par, and the prizes were all lousy.

Despite today's bountiful harvest—twelve draws since entering the hospital—this windfall is purely a fluke, the result of Gao Xiaosheng actively seeking out opportunities to stage accidents, coupled with the active cooperation of Jia Zhangshi and Yan Bugui.

Having learned their lesson today, those old fogies will have to keep quiet for at least seven or eight days. Gao Xiaosheng might not even be able to save up enough for ten consecutive draws in the next half month.

So, if we calculate it this way, each ten-pull would be worth about two million in cash.

It seems... alright.

Gao Xiaosheng smacked his lips, reluctantly accepting this mediocre and incompetent system.

To say the system is useless is certainly not true; it can at least improve Gao Xiaosheng's life from basic subsistence to a comfortable standard of living.

But to say it's of great use is pure nonsense; those awesome systems give newbie rewards like "fat guy" and "little boy".

Silent all night.

"Comrade Gao, Gao Xiaosheng? Let's go, it's time to go to work."

The next morning, Gao Xiaosheng, who had been suffering from insomnia for most of the night, was just in the middle of a dream when he was woken up by a knock on the door and Sun Youtian’s loud voice.

"Coming right away, wait for me in three minutes."

Gao Xiaosheng took ten seconds to regain his senses and stood up nimbly.

Twenty seconds later, dressed neatly, he opened the gate and, without waiting for Sun Youtian to speak, ran into the central courtyard with a washbasin in his hand.

After two thirty-second intervals, Gao Xiaosheng patted the dumbfounded Sun Youtian on the shoulder, "Let's go, Sun Youtian, let's go to work."

"You...you just woke up?"

Sun Youtian's admiration was like a surging river, never-ending.

People need to be trained in the military; the militia are far inferior.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night. I kept thinking about whether those old Dengs would cause me trouble."

Gao Xiaosheng was being sarcastic. He had stayed up most of the night but couldn't figure out how to stage an accident in a reasonable and legal way. He could only vent all his anger on Zhou Gong's daughter, whose appearance he couldn't even see clearly.

"They dare!" Sun Youtian's face turned bright red as he patted his chest and declared, "Comrade Gao, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. I'm not a real man if I even flinch."

Gao Xiaosheng didn't sleep well, and Sun Youtian also tossed and turned in bed for a while last night.

Yan Bugui had been pondering for a long time whether or not Gao Xiaosheng should receive a share of the 180,000 yuan he had to pay.

If I don't give it to him, I'll look stingy. Without Gao Xiaosheng, I wouldn't even get 18,000, let alone 180,000.

If I give it to him, I'm afraid Gao Xiaosheng will misunderstand, as if I want the money and goods to be settled and there will be no further connection.

Moreover, Comrade Gao came from the military and has a very high level of awareness; helping him wasn't about sharing the money.

After much thought, Sun Youtian still felt that giving money directly would be too abrupt. He decided to express his sincere gratitude first, chat for a while, and then consider other things once their relationship had improved.

Now, before I could even express my gratitude, Gao Xiaosheng extended an olive branch.

"Haha, okay, I'll call you when we fight. If you need anything, just let me know. Let's have a good fight with those old bastards."

"Hmm, hehe, hehe." Sun Youtian nodded vigorously, occasionally letting out a few silly laughs.

The two walked and talked along the way. Gao Xiaosheng was eager to win over Sun Youtian, and Sun Youtian was also willing to get along well with Gao Xiaosheng. It was a mutual attraction between the two.

"Old Gao, you still don't have a girlfriend, right?" Sun Youtian asked, as if something had occurred to him.

"No, I'm not planning to look for one right now. What's wrong, Lao Sun? Are you in a hurry to get married?" Gao Xiaosheng teased.

Sun Youtian is a year older than him, 21 this year. In this day and age, it's time for him to start looking for a partner.

"Me? Why should I be in such a hurry? My wife is already engaged. When she turns eighteen next year, I'll take leave and bring her to the city to get our marriage certificate."

Unexpectedly, the honest and simple Sun Youtian also has a taste for Versailles. He's been in Beijing for half a year now, and he even has a lover in his village. He's definitely a winner in life.

"It's mainly you. I've been in the compound for half a year and I've gotten along well with a few young people from the surrounding alleys. I heard from them that a few old women in our compound often spread bad rumors about He Yuzhu."

"I reckon it's because they don't want him to find a partner so easily."

"You've offended them so badly..."

Sun Youtian didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was already quite clear.

Gao Xiaosheng frowned slightly. These people made their move early. He Yuzhu is only 19, and they've already started building momentum. No wonder he's still single in his 30s.

"What did they say?" Gao Xiaosheng asked.

"It's all that shady stuff He Daqing did, forming cliques and backstabbing. Like father, like son."

"And what's this about becoming a mother as soon as you enter the family? Not only do you have to serve He Yuzhu, but you also have to take care of He Yushui."

"Old Gao, don't take this lightly. Those old women don't work, they have nothing to do all day, and they always get together to gossip."

"If word gets out that you disrespect your elders and beat up Yan Bugui and Jia Zhangshi on your first day at the hospital, matchmakers won't be willing to help you find partners anymore," Sun Youtian warned with concern.

Gao Xiaosheng grinned. That's great! You beasts better give it your all and don't let me down.

"Don't worry, Lao Sun, I have no plans to get married before I'm thirty."

"Huh?" Sun Youtian looked Gao Xiaosheng up and down in surprise, wanting to ask why, but after thinking about it for a while, he swallowed his words back.

There are some things it's better not to ask, because it might touch a sore spot and be too embarrassing.

Suppressing bandits is bound to involve some bumps and bruises; Gao Xiaosheng might have suffered serious injuries in vital areas.

Marry a widow with a child in your thirties – buy one, get one free! Wouldn't that solve the problem?

Gao Xiaosheng ignored Sun Youtian's gaze and walked into the factory on his own.

People from the 1950s could never understand the thoughts of people from later generations.

Marriage? What a load of crap! Isn't it better to live alone? Why do you have to put a rope over your head?