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

That evening, He Yuzhu silently apologized to Qin Huairu again, and resolutely carried his lunchbox into Gao Xiaosheng's house.

Sun Youtian had already run off to get more wine with the empty bottles in his arms, no matter how much Gao Xiaosheng called out to him.

Honest people are like that; they feel bad about showing up empty-handed for a meal, so they always bring something.

"Old Sun, I have a question for you."

"Do the fitters in the logistics workshop have scrap materials to collect every day?"

After drinking half a jin of wine and finishing all the food, Gao Xiaosheng got down to business.

"A fitter?" Sun Youtian frowned and thought for a moment. "They don't usually do much work."

"If the equipment doesn't malfunction, the daily routine involves grinding spare rolls. There will definitely be some waste, but it should be minimal."

"Oh, right." Sun Youtian slapped his forehead, "Apprentice fitters and low-level workers who can't work independently will have their masters ask the steel rolling workshop for scrap materials to hone their skills."

"For example, an apprentice makes a hammer head according to the dimensions given by the master, and a junior worker manually grinds bolts and nuts. These are the kinds of small things."

"Once it's done, hand it over to the master, or... take it home and nobody will care."

Gao Xiaosheng clenched his right fist and gently pounded it on his left palm.

The last piece of the puzzle is complete.

Yi Zhonghai stepped in to ask for scrap materials to help Jia Dongxu refine his craft.

Because he had no money and his craving for cigarettes was unbearable, Jia Dongxu took a risk and took some finished or semi-finished products with him to sell to a scrap yard to get money to buy cigarettes.

The logical chain is flawless. After monitoring and verifying it, we can swiftly and decisively eliminate the weakling Jia Dongxu in front of all the workers.

"Old Sun, did Jia Dongxu come back with you these past few days? Did he leave along the way?"

Before Sun Youtian could answer, He Yuzhu refused to comply.

"Hey, Gao Xiaosheng, why didn't you ask me about this?"

"What does Lao Sun know? He's not with us; he's more than ten meters away."

Gao Xiaosheng smiled helplessly. It doesn't matter if someone is not smart; even a slow bird can achieve results if it starts flying early. The key is to be not aware of one's own stupidity, then there's really nothing that can be done.

It's obvious that Sha Zhu is someone who doesn't know his own limitations.

"Okay, then tell me, is there anything wrong with Jia Dongxu?"

"Of course not," He Yuzhu answered confidently. "He was with Uncle Yi and Uncle Er the whole way."

"No?" Gao Xiaosheng continued, "What kind of cigarettes has he been smoking lately?"

"What else could it be? Economy cigarettes, I guess. Oh, he took out a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes yesterday. I guess an old man gave them to him to show off." He Yuzhu said nonchalantly.

Sun Youtian paused for a moment, then turned to look at Gao Xiaosheng, seemingly lost in thought.

"Hey, brother, just shut up already." He Yushui couldn't stand it anymore. Her own brother was so stupid, she, as his sister, felt ashamed.

"Hey, Rain, how can you talk to your brother like that? You have no manners at all."

"..."

The brother and sister started another verbal battle, which left room for Gao Xiaosheng and Sun Youtian to chat.

"Old Sun, you probably guessed it already, right? Keep an eye on things for me these next few days, especially whether Jia Dongxu goes to the scrap yard," Gao Xiaosheng whispered to Sun Youtian.

"Yes, I know." Sun Youtian nodded, then thought for a moment and asked, "Won't it cause too much of a fuss? After all, we're neighbors living in the same courtyard."

"Don't worry, it'll be a minor punishment to serve as a warning. At most, they'll just fine us a little money and that'll be it," Gao Xiaosheng assured him, patting his chest.

"That's good, that's good."

After finishing his meal and seeing off the He siblings and Sun Youtian, Gao Xiaosheng sat by the window, keeping a close eye on the west wing of the central courtyard until it was completely dark before going back to his room to sleep.

The next day, when he arrived at the factory, he found Li Shuguo again and gave him instructions.

"Huh? Jia Dongxu? Really?"

Li Shuguo's expression was hard for Gao Xiaosheng to understand. He had finally caught the thread, so why was he still so happy and worried? Was he a helper or someone who was deliberately dragging him down?

Seeing Gao Xiaosheng's determined look, Li Shuguo sighed regretfully, "Sigh, this kid got off easy."

"Xiao Gao, you don't know, militia selection doesn't just look at age, it also looks at whether they have a criminal record."

"If we really arrested Jia Dongxu, he definitely wouldn't be able to join the militia in winter. Let's just let him escape this time."

Gao Xiaosheng's face instantly turned into a "囧" (a Chinese character meaning awkward or embarrassed).

What should have been a happy occasion suddenly left him feeling inexplicably disappointed after hearing Li Shuguo's explanation.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that what Lao Li said makes a lot of sense.

Did Jia Dongxu turn misfortune into blessing?

If we catch him stealing scrap, he'll at most be detained for two days, fined a little money, and incidentally give Gao Xiaosheng more chances to win the lottery.

Even if we calculate based on the daily cap of five times, it's only enough for one ten-pull.

If this hadn't happened, Jia Dongxu would have been in real trouble when the militia training started.

For a whole month, two hours a day, Gao Xiaosheng and Li Shuguo were at their mercy, manipulating and disposing of him as they pleased.

"Well, he's lucky. We didn't find anyone else."

Sighing is contagious. If it weren't for Section Chief Zhou setting a strict time, Gao Xiaosheng would have really let Jia Dongxu off the hook and chosen a different chicken.

Two more days passed in a flash. After getting off work, Sun Youtian went straight to Gao Xiaosheng's house.

"Xiao Gao, I just saw that Jia Dongxu's pockets were bulging, and the stuff was quite heavy. His pants were hanging down to his ankles."

"And he was taking out cigarettes on the street, and the cigarette pack looked almost empty, with at most two cigarettes left."

Gao Xiaosheng's eyes lit up. It had been seven days already, and if Jia Dongxu didn't cooperate more, he wasn't sure if half a month would be enough.

"Okay, I got it. Thank you, Lao Sun."

Sun Youtian waved his hand, "Don't mention it, you've helped me even more."

Ten minutes later, just as He Yushui finished cooking and was setting the dishes on the table, Gao Xiaosheng saw through the window that Jia Dongxu was walking through the hanging flower gate of the central courtyard to the front yard.

"Rain, you eat first. Jia Dongxu is going out; I have to go with him to check on him."

Gao Xiaosheng ran back to his bedroom, quickly took off his uniform, changed into a regular T-shirt, and then put the "Economic Police" armband and work ID into his pocket.

"Brother Sheng, I'm not hungry. I'll wait for you to come back so we can eat together."

Gao Xiaosheng nodded. Seeing that Jia Dongxu had disappeared into the front yard, he slowly opened the door, holding two bills in his hand, pretending to go out to buy something.

There are Yan Bugui and his wife living in the front yard, so we have to be careful.

If the tracking fails today, and these two remind Jia Dongxu later, wouldn't that be troublesome?

As they exited the courtyard, Gao Xiaosheng saw Jia Dongxu's back in the distance and followed behind, keeping a safe distance.

Fortunately, this guy had absolutely no counter-surveillance awareness; he was probably preoccupied with nicotine and was rushing on his way.

But it wouldn't be accurate to say there were absolutely no precautions.

At least they know they can't sell stolen goods at their own doorstep.

There was a scrap yard near Mao'er Hutong, but Jia Dongxu was determined to head towards Gulou.

After walking for about a kilometer, we finally arrived at our destination.

Gao Xiaosheng saw Jia Dongxu enter a scrap metal shop and found a perfect spot at a corner of an alley, where he could see Jia Dongxu's back but wouldn't be easily spotted.

Next, Gao Xiaosheng witnessed a miracle.

Jia Dongxu first took out six hammerheads from his two trouser pockets, and then took out two more from his shirt pocket.

If Gao Xiaosheng wasn't mistaken, these hammers should be the small hammers commonly used by fitters, each weighing about one pound.

But no matter how small they are, putting three in one pocket is a bit exaggerated, isn't it? They would have to be arranged very neatly to fit them in.

After witnessing the scrap yard manager weighing and paying, Gao Xiaosheng followed Jia Dongxu to the Gulou Sugar and Tobacco Store.

He handed all his money to the teller, took back a box of Daqianmen cigarettes, eagerly tore open the packaging, popped one out and put it in his mouth, before slowly walking to the street to strike a match and light it.

Without further hesitation, Gao Xiaosheng turned around and returned to the scrap yard.