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

Lin Yang turned his head and stared intently at Lin Jianguo.

"You want to go into business, that's fine. You want to create your own Chinese appliance brand and squeeze foreign products out of department stores, that's very ambitious."

Lin Yang's eyes instantly turned incredibly cold, like an insurmountable iceberg.

"But! If you choose this path, you will be completely cut off from the protection of the system. You cannot use any of my connections in the Modern Reform and Development Association, and you cannot use the name of the Ministry of Heavy Industry to obtain approvals or loans."

"The business world is like a battlefield, full of ruthless tycoons and vicious wolves. If you go bankrupt, starve to death, or are schemed against and lose everything, the Lin family will absolutely not step in to pay off a single penny of your debts! Do you dare to go?"

Looking into his second uncle's emotionless eyes, Lin Jianguo felt a chill run down his spine, but the tenacity in his bones was completely ignited at that moment.

He abruptly removed his black-rimmed glasses and answered, word by word, "Second Uncle, I'm going to the Southern Special Economic Zone! I don't need a single penny from home. I have the skills, and I have the blueprints in my head. I'll start from a street stall and repair radios! If I can't build a national electrical appliance company with an annual output value of over ten million yuan in the Special Economic Zone within five years, I, Lin Jianguo, will never return to the city in my life!"

"good!"

A dazzling light flashed in Lin Yang's eyes, and he slapped Lin Jianguo hard on the shoulder.

"Only with this kind of ruthlessness do you have the right to make money off capitalists! Tomorrow morning, buy a hard-seat train ticket to the Southern Special Economic Zone and get out of this house!"

The future of the two sons was completely decided in this clash of swords and grand strategies.

One is a political spearhead that penetrates deep into impoverished grassroots communities, and the other is a business madman who plunges into the bloody sea of ​​capital.

In this era about to undergo earth-shattering changes, the Lin family's influence has penetrated deep into the very core of this nation in a secretive way that is completely imperceptible to ordinary people.

As night deepened, the grandfather clock in the living room struck eleven.

Lin Weidong and Lin Jianguo respectfully left the restaurant and went upstairs to pack their meager belongings. Tomorrow morning, they would be heading to their respective brutal battlefields.

Only Lin Yang and Lin Fan remained in the spacious restaurant.

The dishes on the table had gone cold, and the rich aroma had gradually dissipated.

Lin Yang took a clean white porcelain cup, picked up the bottle of special-supply Moutai on the table, and personally poured his elder brother a full cup.

"Brother, have a drink to calm your nerves." Lin Yang pushed the glass in front of Lin Fan, his tone becoming much gentler. He was no longer the aloof president of the association, but an ordinary younger brother.

Lin Fan looked at the clear wine in front of him and sighed deeply.

Those calloused hands, which had once opened countless special steel furnace gates, were trembling slightly at this moment.

He picked up his glass and drank it all in one gulp. The spicy liquor flowed down his throat, as if burning away the last bit of stubbornness in his heart.

"Yangzi, am I really getting old?" Lin Fan gave a bitter smile, his weathered face filled with loneliness and exhaustion.

"Listening to what Jian Guo and Wei Dong were saying today—about the macro market, about combined arms battalions, about the impact of foreign capital—I suddenly realized that all the knowledge I have is insufficient."

Lin Fan looked at his rough hands, his voice choked with emotion.

Lin Fan closed his eyes in pain, and two murky tears slid down his cheeks.

"Every night I stay up late looking up words in the dictionary, desperately trying to understand those foreign codes. But my brain just can't remember them! I feel like a rusty piece of iron stuck in a gear. The young people in the factory know the technology, but because I'm the factory manager, they don't dare to make drastic changes. Yangzi, I can't stay in this position any longer; I've become a stumbling block to the country's industrial development."

Listening to his elder brother's heartfelt and even desperate and self-reproachful confession, Lin Yang felt a sudden pang of sadness.

Lin Fan had no great ambitions in his life. He rose from an apprentice who suffered humiliation in a courtyard house to the position of factory director of a large factory with tens of thousands of employees, all thanks to Lin Yang's support. With his loyalty and steadfastness, he protected the special steel base in Southwest China for Lin Yang.

He shed blood and sweat; he dedicated the best years of his life to those blazing blast furnaces.

But the generational gap in industry is brutal. The older generation of skilled workers, when faced with the wave of digitalization and automation, felt a profound sense of powerlessness that could destroy all a person's pride.

Lin Yang stood up, walked to Lin Fan's side, and placed his hands heavily on his older brother's broad shoulders.

"Brother, you've never been a stumbling block. You're the cornerstone of this country's heavy industry. Without the special steel you and the workers dug out of the mountain gullies back then, how would we have exchanged foreign exchange with foreigners? How would we have built these modern machines?"

Lin Yang's voice was deep and full of emotion.

He walked back to his seat and took out an internal transfer order, which he had prepared beforehand and was stamped with the official red seal, from his inner pocket.

"Brother, you really should take a break. I've already arranged for young, capable graduates from Tsinghua University to take over things in the southwest. It's time for you to put down your burden."

Lin Yang gently pushed the transfer order in front of Lin Fan.

"I established a semi-official 'National Heavy Industry Retired Workers and Technology Transfer Mutual Assistance Foundation' in the name of the National Development and Reform Commission and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions."

Lin Yang looked at Lin Fan with gentle eyes.

"This foundation controls a massive amount of special funds allocated by the state."

Its mission is to address the medical, housing, and pension issues of millions of retired heavy industry workers nationwide. Simultaneously, it will establish various advanced vocational training schools to pass on the hard-working spirit and fundamental skills of the older generation of workers to the next.

Lin Yang reached out and patted the document.

"Brother, you should be the director-general of this foundation. Your rank should be at the vice-ministerial level."

"You no longer need to deal with those incomprehensible foreign clock dials. I want you to return to Beijing and use the prestige and kindness you've accumulated over most of your life to provide a protective umbrella for those old workers who shed blood and sweat for the country. Let them have access to medical care and be cared for in their old age."

Lin Fan stared at the official document, at the familiar signature of "Lin Yang," and his hands trembled violently.

He had originally thought that his resignation would only disappoint and anger his younger brother. He had even prepared himself to return to Beijing and live the life of an ordinary retired old man.

But he never expected that his younger brother would not only see through his exhaustion, but also tailor-make such a warm and admirable way out for him!