Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

The air conditioning was on full blast in the study on the second floor of Building A, No. 6.

Lin Yang wore a flawless white short-sleeved shirt, with the top button neatly fastened. He sat behind the large rosewood desk, a pair of frameless glasses perched on his nose for reading small print.

On the table were several macroeconomic data summary reports stamped with a red seal indicating the highest level of confidentiality.

Lin Yang held a Parker pen in his hand, his gaze like two sharp scalpels, precisely dissecting the nation's economic trajectory amidst the dense data.

four years ago.

Since its establishment, the Modern Reform and Development Association, a super machine that controls the allocation of resources and industrial upgrading across the entire continent, has been running frantically for over a thousand days and nights under his iron-fisted control.

The special economic zone in the south, which was once covered with reeds, has now been transformed into a modern behemoth made of reinforced concrete.

Foreign-invested production lines roared day and night, and various joint venture factories with advanced technologies sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Meanwhile, in the heart of the Central Plains, in Hanjiang Province, where Pei Yihong was stationed, those outdated blast furnaces had been completely phased out, and the province had successfully transformed into the country's largest hub for home appliance manufacturing and special steel supply.

Everything is progressing steadily and irreversibly according to the blueprint he outlined back then.

"Knock knock".

There was a gentle knock on the study door twice.

Lin Yang didn't look up, still staring at the report in his hand: "In."

The door opened, and Tian Yu walked in carrying a bowl of chilled plum juice. Time had etched faint lines at the corners of her eyes, but it had also given her a composed and gentle demeanor born of experience.

"Yangzi, take a break for your eyes. You've been looking at this report on the throughput of coastal ports for almost two hours." Tian Yu walked to the desk, gently put down the white porcelain bowl, and the water droplets condensed on the bowl slid down the smooth tabletop.

Lin Yang closed the document in his hand, took off his glasses, and rubbed his slightly swollen temples.

He picked up the plum juice and took a sip. The sweet and sour, icy liquid flowed down his throat, dispelling the fatigue in his brain caused by prolonged high-speed operation.

"The appetite in the south is growing bigger and bigger, and the throughput of the basic ports is almost unable to keep up with the loading and unloading speed of foreign trade ships. I need to squeeze out some more funds from the treasury to carry out the third phase of expansion of the deep-water port in the special zone." Lin Yang put down the porcelain bowl, his tone revealing a hint of strategic composure.

Tian Yu went around behind him, stretched out her hands, and massaged his stiff shoulders with moderate pressure.

"There are always important national affairs to attend to. But today is a special day. Even if you have a very important document to approve, you have to put it aside for now." Tian Yu's voice was filled with undisguised joy.

Lin Yang was slightly taken aback, then his gaze fell on the calendar on the corner of the table.

July 10, 1982.

Four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

A rare touch of gentle warmth appeared in his unfathomable eyes.

"Yes, time really flies." Lin Yang stood up, walked to the huge French windows, and looked at the towering ancient cypress in the courtyard. "It feels like just yesterday that I sent those two wild boys who were crawling around in the mud to the examination hall. Today, they should be walking out of the university gates."

Tian Yu walked to his side and stood beside him, her eyes slightly red.

"My elder brother and sister-in-law were originally going to rush back to Beijing to attend their children's graduation banquet. However, at the Southwest 101 Special Steel Plant, the new CNC rolling mill imported from the West Continent was in the final installation and commissioning stage, and my elder brother, as the chief commander, simply couldn't get away. He repeatedly told me on the phone to have a couple more drinks for him."

Lin Yang snorted coldly, but a smile played on his lips.

"He's a workaholic; machines are more important to him than his son. But that's the duty of a man in the Lin family. When it comes to national strategic importance, personal feelings must take a backseat."

Lin Yang turned to his wife and asked, "Did Zhu Zi go to the train station to pick someone up?"

"They went. They drove there early this morning. Uncle He even had someone go to the special supply market before dawn to get a whole truckload of ingredients. They're in the kitchen now, having a competition, insisting on preparing a feast of their specialties to reward these two kids who have studied hard for four years," Tian Yu said with a smile.

Lin Yang nodded slightly, his deep gaze fixed on the distant sky outside the window.

Dragons emerge from the abyss, tigers roar in the mountains.

After four years of advanced study at the highest institution of learning, what kind of sharp blades were these two rough drafts, tempered by wind, sand and saline-alkali land?

Today, he must weigh the pros and cons himself.

……

At the same time, in Beijing, at the train station.

The train station square in the early 1980s was filled with a frenzied yet chaotic atmosphere.

Young people wearing bell-bottoms and sunglasses swaggered through the crowd, carrying heavy double cassette recorders and playing popular songs from the south.

Farmers carrying loads on shoulder poles to work in the city, middlemen buying and selling goods in snakeskin bags, and travelers in old-fashioned military uniforms—all these elements intertwine to create a vibrant and colorful picture of everyday life in the city.

A black Hongqi sedan, without any special markings but with a license plate number that would make any knowledgeable person back down, was steadily parked outside the special passage at the exit.

He Yuzhu was wearing a well-made dark short-sleeved shirt, but no name tag. He leaned casually against the car door with his arms crossed.

After years of training in the Special Security Division of the Central Security Bureau, He Yuzhu's roguishness had long since vanished. In its place was a fierceness that was ingrained in his very bones. The scar running across his left cheek gleamed coldly in the sunlight. The porters and smugglers around him would instinctively keep a three-meter distance whenever they met his eyes, which were like those of a predatory cheetah.

"Ugh—!"

Accompanied by a long and piercing whistle, a green train from the south slowly pulled into the platform.

The iron gate at the exit was suddenly pushed open, and a dense flow of people surged out like a flood.

He Yuzhu straightened up, his sharp eyes quickly searching through the crowd.

Soon, two outstanding figures came into his view.

The one walking on the left is Lin Jianguo.

Lin Jianguo, now 22, is half a head taller than when he was sent to the countryside.

He wore a slightly faded plaid shirt, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. The thick lenses couldn't conceal the focus and composure in his eyes that belonged to a top-tier engineering scholar.

His left hand carried a heavy canvas travel bag, while his right hand tightly clutched several cylinders sealed with oil paper, filled with design drawings he had worked on late into the night during his four years at Tsinghua University's Department of Mechanical Engineering.