Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

After a long while, Yan Ziqiang finally removed his hand from his face.

His eyes were red, but there were no tears.

After a long while, he took a deep breath, stood up, and patted the dirt off his knees.

"Old Zhao, you're right. We should do what needs to be done. I'll go back and write a self-criticism, and I'll confess everything. I'll accept whatever the organization decides to do."

Director Zhao looked at him, opened his mouth, and finally only said, "Okay, I'll be going then. If there's anything... just tell me."

Yan Ziqiang nodded and said nothing more.

When it comes to Yan Ziqiang's personal awareness, there is absolutely no doubt about it. The army selects its soldiers rigorously, so how could there be any inferior products?

However, he was indeed a failure in educating his son.

This matter may seem to be resolved, but the follow-up actions are far from over!

Zhou Feng and his two companions naturally continued to Donglaishun. After having their meal, it was already getting dark on their way back.

Qin Jingru and Yu Li walked hand in hand behind Zhou Feng, their minds in turmoil.

What a lively day!

Looking down at the new watch on my wrist, its dial gleamed in the dim light of the streetlamp.

That's over 100 yuan! She wouldn't have dared to dream of that before.

It has to be said that Zhou Feng is really good to her.

But Comrade Bai Ling seems to have a very bad attitude towards her!

Qin Jingru bit her lip.

She's not stupid; if she wants to be with Zhou Feng, Bai Ling is an obstacle she has to overcome.

"Jingru, what are you thinking about?" Yu Li asked from the side.

"I wasn't thinking about anything." Qin Jingru shook her head, then after a while whispered, "Sis, do you think... Brother Zhou Feng and that Comrade Bai Ling, could they be...?"

"Why do you care if other people can or can't?" Yu Li rolled her eyes at her. "You should think about yourself first."

"Myself? What am I thinking?"

Yu Li glanced at Zhou Feng walking ahead and lowered her voice, saying, "Do you think your thoughts are hard to guess? You came from the countryside and stayed in Beiping, constantly trying to get close to Zhou Feng, isn't it all just to follow him?"

"Sister!" Qin Jingru's face flushed instantly, and she stomped her foot. "Don't talk nonsense!"

"I'm talking nonsense?" Yu Li laughed. "Don't you know your own limits? You spent the whole day with Zhou Feng, buying clothes and watches, spending at least several months' salary for an average person. What are you to him? A relative? Or your brother and sister? What kind of brother spends so much money on his adopted sister?"

Qin Jingru was speechless after hearing what she said, and her face turned even redder.

Yu Li had no idea about the steaks she ate at Zhou Feng's house!

Seeing that Qin Jingru just blushed and lowered her head in silence, Yu Li added from the side, "I see you don't object, so is it because you already...?"

"Alright, alright!" Qin Jingru interrupted her, muttering softly, "I just... I just think Zhou Feng is a really good guy. Much better than the other guys in our village."

"That's obvious! Zhou Feng's status is like heaven and earth compared to the status of those young men in your village. You should really think about it."

Qin Jingru didn't reply, walking with her head down, her mind churning over the words Jia Zhangshi and Yu Li had said to her.

Stay in Beiping and work for Brother Zhou Feng...

She used to think this was unreliable. Why should she, a virgin, become someone else's mistress?

But within a day, her mindset changed to that of a country girl like her, wondering why anyone would be interested in her.

Today I spent another day with Zhou Feng, watching him spend money without batting an eye, seeing how polite the leaders were to him, and how imposing he looked when he pulled out his gun…

Qin Jingru's heart was filled with longing again, and she wanted to get closer to Zhou Feng.

Whether I want to or not, whether I'm a good match or not, none of that matters anymore. All the resistance in my heart has disappeared without me even realizing it.

If Zhou Feng is really willing, she... she definitely won't object.

Yu Li secretly glanced at Qin Jingru and saw that she was still glancing at Zhou Feng out of the corner of her eye, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up.

When people have bad thoughts in their hearts, they want to drag others down with them.

In this way, she will feel much less guilty.

Bai Ling walked quickly down the corridor of the Special Operations Unit, her leather shoes clicking on the terrazzo floor.

Sun Yue followed behind, carrying the interrogation record book in his arms, and had to jog to keep up with her pace.

He tried to say something several times, but when he saw Bai Ling's face, which was as cold as ice in the twelfth lunar month, he swallowed his words back.

Yan Yan, who was being held captive, was behaving himself at this moment.

He hung his head, his hands were handcuffed behind his back, and he swayed three steps with every step he took.

"Comrade Bai Ling," Sun Yue finally couldn't help but lean closer and whisper, "Why don't you go back and rest first? Leave the interrogation of this kid to me. You've had a long day..."

Bai Ling kept walking without turning her head: "No need."

"Well...why don't you go check on Zhou Feng? It's so late at night, those two women..."

Bai Ling suddenly stopped and looked back at him.

The look wasn't fierce, and it wasn't even very expressive, but Sun Yue felt a chill run down his spine, and all the words he was about to say were swallowed back down.

"I'm going to the interrogation room," Bai Ling said, turning and continuing to walk forward.

Sun Yue touched his nose and muttered to himself: Well, my good intentions have been wasted.

Zhou Feng, Zhou Feng, you got yourself into this mess, I can't help you anymore. You can't force things, can you?

The incandescent light bulbs hummed in the interrogation room.

Yan Yan was forced to sit on a chair, and the handcuffs were replaced with iron hoops fixed to the chair, tightly gripping his wrists.

He twisted and turned a couple of times, but found he couldn't break free, so he simply stopped moving and just stood there with his head down.

"Name."

"Don't you already know?"

Bai Ling raised her eyelids to look at him, but didn't say anything. She tapped the pen in her hand lightly twice on the table.

The sound wasn't loud, but in the empty interrogation room, each tap sent chills down one's spine.

Yan Yan immediately swallowed and became obedient: "Yan Yan."

"age."

"Twenty-one."

"What's your relationship with Yan Ziqiang?"

"Father and son."

Bai Ling asked questions one by one, unhurriedly, having already thought of most of them beforehand, while Sun Yue scribbled notes beside her.

When asked for the third time, Yan Yan finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"How many times have I told you! I just wanted to make some money to spend. I didn't even know Zhou Feng before, and I never intended to do anything serious! What more do you want? Do you have to find some excuse to execute me?"

Bai Ling put down her pen, leaned back in her chair, and stared at him for a long while.

"Yan Yan," she began, her voice soft but each word clear, "do you know what the rules would classify your actions today?"

Yan Yan was stunned for a moment.

"Carrying weapons and threatening the personal safety of national security personnel... if it really comes down to it, robbery is nothing!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Yan's expression immediately changed.

"I...I didn't..."

"You didn't?" Bai Ling suddenly stood up, the chair leg scraping loudly on the floor. "Your father is Yan Ziqiang, and you think it's no big deal to rob people out there? You think you can just point weapons at ordinary people?"

"Like father, like son! You've completely disgraced your father! Let me tell you, if it weren't for Comrade Yan Ziqiang's sake, this wouldn't be so simple today!"

Yan Yan's lips trembled twice, but he couldn't utter a word.

Bai Ling sat down again, her tone softening, but the weight of her words remained undiminished: "How many years your father served in the army, how many merits he earned, that's his business. It has nothing to do with you. If you think you can get away with anything just because of your father's name, then this time you'll see if he can protect you!"

Although Bai Ling and Zhou Feng are currently in a cold war, the fact that this guy pointed his weapon at Zhou Feng still infuriated her.

The interrogation lasted for another half hour.

Bai Ling finished asking all the questions she needed to, and finally had Yan Yan put his fingerprint on the statement.

"Take him away." Bai Ling closed the notebook and called out to the door.

Two soldiers came in, took Yan Yan off the chair, and led him out.

When Yan Yan reached the door, he suddenly turned around and looked back. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything and was pushed out the door.

Sun Yue tidied up the things on the table, stealing glances at Bai Ling's expression.

She remained indifferent, revealing no emotion, but Sun Yue always felt that the girl hadn't gotten over her anger.

Bai Ling stood up, took two steps outside, then suddenly stopped. "By the way, where is Yan Jiecheng, the one we captured before, being held?"

Sun Yue was taken aback: "Yan Jiecheng? The one... who was following Zhou Feng?"

"Um."

"He's locked up in one of those small rooms on the west side. What, you want to interrogate him? That kid's a coward; he confessed everything the day he was brought back. After being locked up for a few days, he's probably learned his lesson."

The row of small rooms on the west side was even colder than the interrogation room.

All the rooms were locked with iron doors, and there was a small window in the door so that people inside could pass food and water to each other.

Sun Yue took the key, stopped at the innermost room, turned it twice, and the iron door creaked open.

There was a person crouching inside, curled up in the corner. Hearing the door open, they suddenly raised their head.

It was Yan Jiecheng.

He looked noticeably thinner than a few days ago, with a stubble beard and sunken eyes, a stark contrast to his previous slicked-back appearance on the street.

The half-new cotton-padded jacket he was wearing was wrinkled, with the collar askew to one side, revealing the old cotton inside.

"I've said everything I need to say, do you still want to torture me?" Yan Jiecheng saw someone standing at the door, jumped up, his legs went numb from squatting, staggered, and had to hold onto the wall to steady himself.

"What are you thinking about?" Sun Yue said irritably. "Comrade Bai Ling has something to ask you."

Yan Jiecheng's expression changed several times upon seeing Bai Ling.

"Comrade Bai Ling, we're from the same compound, please believe me, I really didn't mean to do anything to Zhou Feng!"

He was almost in tears. If he had known that even tracking Zhou Feng would come at such a high price, he would never have dared to do it!

Bai Ling didn't reply, but looked him up and down a few times before pulling up a chair and sitting down.

"Yan Jiecheng," she said, flipping through the file Sun Yue had handed her, "if you didn't intend to do anything to Zhou Feng, why were you stalking him?"

Yan Jiecheng lowered his head and remained silent.

The records from her previous interrogation are all in that file!

This included things like him saying bad things about Zhou Feng and wanting to follow Zhou Feng to find evidence of his mistakes and violations of rules.

Now that Bai Ling has seen it, what can he say?

Just thinking about how much suffering he had endured and how long he had been imprisoned, and now seeing someone he knew, Yan Jiecheng's eyes suddenly reddened.

Even though Bai Ling's attitude towards him was terrible, she was still an acquaintance!

A few seconds later, Yan Jiecheng raised his handcuffed hands, wiped his face, and rubbed his face with his sleeve, leaving two gray marks.

Bai Ling looked at him and remained silent for a while.

"Yan Jiecheng," she stood up, "I can let you out. But you have to promise me a few things."

Yan Jiecheng suddenly looked up, his eyes lighting up: "Please tell me! Please tell me!"

"First, you must sign a confidentiality agreement regarding everything here. You know the consequences if you leak it out."

"I promise! I promise I won't tell!" Yan Jiecheng nodded repeatedly.

"Secondly, you are not allowed to follow Comrade Zhou Feng anymore, nor are you allowed to speak ill of him. If you provoke him again, things will not be so simple."

"Don't worry, I promise to be careful with my words and actions!"

Hearing that Bai Ling's tone suggested she was going to let him go, Yan Jiecheng hurriedly patted his chest and assured her.

"Third," Bai Ling paused, "after you go back, keep your family quiet and don't cause trouble for Comrade Zhou Feng."

Yan Jiecheng nodded vigorously, like a chicken pecking at rice.

Bai Ling then took out a piece of paper and handed it to Yan Jiecheng: "Look, can you read? You can understand everything written on it. Sign your name and put your fingerprint on it."

Yan Jiecheng took the paper, his hands trembling violently.

He leaned closer to look and read it word by word. Halfway through, he looked up at Bai Ling, then looked down again to continue reading.

After reading it, he didn't say a word and tried to bite his index finger, but he didn't dare to bite it too hard after a couple of bites.

"We have ink pads here, so you don't need to bite your fingers."

Sun Yue couldn't stand it anymore, so he handed him a pen and gave him a disgruntled look.

Yan Jiecheng awkwardly took the pen, signed his name, and pressed his fingerprint on it.

Sun Yue nodded and gestured to the comrade next to him to remove Yan Jiecheng's handcuffs.

The latter rubbed his wrist, ignoring the pain from the two red marks left on it, and bowed to Bai Ling and Sun Yue.

"Thank you, comrade! Thank you, comrade!"

"Alright, alright, no need to thank me. Go out and behave yourself, and don't cause any more trouble."

Led out of the Special Operations Unit by a comrade, Yan Jiecheng stood by the roadside and shivered as the cold wind blew through him.

There wasn't a soul in sight on the street, and the streetlights were sparse.

At this hour, the buses have long since stopped running, and you can't even find a pedicab.

Yan Jiecheng patted his pocket; he had only a few cents left, but he had nowhere to spend the money!

Where can I hire a car at this hour?

He sighed, wrapped his cotton-padded coat tighter, hunched his shoulders, and started walking towards Nanluoguxiang.

The road is really not short.

The soles of my shoes were almost worn out, and walking on the gravel road made my feet ache.

Yan Jiecheng walked for a while and then rested, his mind in turmoil.

Why is he so unlucky!

Knowing that Zhou Feng was so capable, he would have avoided him!

As he thought about it, Yan Jiecheng's nose started to sting again. He took a deep breath and quickened his pace.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, when he saw the familiar courtyard house, a tear rolled down Yan Jiecheng's cheek.

But when he entered the outer courtyard, reached the door of his own back room, and pushed the door, he found that it was locked from the outside!

It's so late, why isn't Yu Li home?