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

As the movie ended, the workers, shouting and yelling, carried their own stools home, but Zhou Feng was affectionately put his arm around Li Huaide's shoulder and led to the factory's small canteen without any explanation.

"Brother Zhou, don't be in such a hurry to leave! Today, I'm treating everyone to a couple of drinks at the canteen! And there are a few leaders from logistics too—these are connections you might need in the future!"

"And you wouldn't believe it, the chef at our factory canteen is absolutely amazing!"

Li Huaide grinned broadly, gave a thumbs-up, and said with a smug look, "I heard it's a proper... hey, what cuisine is it again? My memory's terrible!"

"Tan Family Cuisine".

Seeing Li Huaide deep in thought, Zhou Feng casually reminded him.

"Yes, yes, yes! Tan Family Cuisine! Eh? How did you know?"

Zhou Feng smiled and glanced towards the cafeteria: "Brother Li, the cook Sha Zhu, the guy behind him Xu Damao, and I all live in the same courtyard, No. 95 Nanluoguxiang."

"Hey! So you guys are neighbors! Well then, I'll show off to you, this is really..."

Li Huaide laughed heartily, tightened his grip on Zhou Feng's arm, and appeared even closer to him.

Following behind the two men, Xu Damao, who had originally planned to "accompany" them for drinks at the small canteen, had his eyes turn red as he listened to the fraternal conversation in front of him.

I'm so angry!

In his imagination, right now, Deputy Factory Director Li should be putting his arm around his shoulder, affectionately calling him "Brother Xu," referring to himself as "Brother," and he should be introducing Sha Zhu with a disdainful expression.

Wow, that must be so glamorous!

It's all that bastard's fault! He used my favor and then stole my backer!

Inside the small canteen, round tables were already set up, with four dishes and eight bowls of food neatly arranged.

Section Chief Zhang, Section Chief Wang, and several other leaders from the logistics department were already waiting. When they saw Li Huaide enter, they all stood up.

"Old Li, we've been waiting for you!"

"You were the one who suggested this meal, and you, as the host, are the last to arrive. You'll have to punish yourself with three drinks later!"

"Who is this...?"

Li Huaide, beaming, first seated Zhou Feng to his right before addressing the crowd with a smile: "Comrades, let me introduce you! This is Comrade Zhou Feng, my brother Zhou! He's our factory's new purchasing agent, young and promising, a capable person I specially invited!"

Who here isn't a shrewd person?

Upon hearing Li Huaide emphasize the words "specially invited" and "capable person," and seeing the seat he arranged for Zhou Feng, they immediately understood the situation. They quickly stood up to greet Zhou Feng, their faces beaming with smiles.

Li Huaide then looked up at Xu Damao by the door and casually waved his hand: "Damao, there's an empty seat over there, you can sit there. Today's main event is to welcome Comrade Zhou Feng. You're a good drinker, so have a few more drinks with the leaders!"

These words were like a bucket of cold water, completely chilling Xu Damao to the bone.

Drinking with his superiors is his forte, so why is Zhou Feng the star of this meal?

You didn't know each other before, did you? I was the one who introduced you!

But since Deputy Factory Director Li had already spoken, even though Xu Damao wanted nothing more than to tear Zhou Feng apart, he still had to force a smile that looked worse than crying and nod and bow in agreement.

"Deputy Factory Director Li, don't worry! Comrade Zhou Feng... Congratulations! I will definitely make sure you all feel comfortable with him!"

He practically forced the words "Congratulations" out from between his teeth.

Li Huaide and the others didn't pay much attention. After the banquet started, Li Huaide took the lead in raising his glass, naturally to welcome Zhou Feng's arrival.

The other leaders were all shrewd individuals. They were able to associate with Li Huaide and were masters of opportunism. They all toasted Zhou Feng, their mouths full of flattery.

Although Zhou Feng has attended many drinking parties in modern times, he mostly plays the role of Xu Damao, and is not even the main host.

This is the first time I've sat in the host's seat, and it definitely feels different.

Compared to these leaders, he, from the future, was far inferior even in his skills of flattering guests!

Indeed, this is just a limitation of the times. If some people were placed in other eras, they would have been even more successful!

Li Huaide was even more smug, putting one hand on Zhou Feng's shoulder, acting like they were good buddies.

"Don't underestimate my brother Zhou just because he's new to the factory. He's got connections! And his abilities are beyond question!"

After a few drinks, Li Huaide's face was flushed: "With him here, we won't have to worry about logistics in our factory anymore!"

"Here, this is a toast to you. Please put in the effort with the purchasing; if you need any coordination on the logistics side, just let me know, I'll take care of everything!"

As the deputy factory director in charge of logistics, Li Huaide's words essentially confirmed Zhou Feng's position in the logistics department in front of all the leaders!

Zhou Feng quickly raised his glass: "Brother Li and all the leaders are too kind to me. I'm just a newcomer, and I will definitely do my best to serve the factory from now on!"

In the first few rounds, they naturally took turns drinking and chatting, and Xu Damao had nothing to do with it. He wasn't the one to come out and drink with them in this kind of networking session.

He could only awkwardly smile at this person and fill that person's glass with wine.

It wasn't the first time anyone had met Xu Damao, and they all understood his little schemes, so while they were being polite, they didn't really take him seriously.

After several rounds of drinking, everyone's faces were flushed.

This was Xu Damao's moment to shine. Seeing that everyone had eaten and chatted enough, he stood up from the last seat and picked up his wine glass.

"It is my great honor, Xu Damao, to be able to drink with all of you factory leaders!"

"When I, Xu Damao, offer a toast, it's the old rule: one adult and three children, two to five equals ten!"

As Xu Damao said this, a hint of pride crept into his heart; this was a phrase he had only recently come up with to accompany someone while drinking.

"How come there's one big and three small, two times five equals ten?"

Sure enough, when a leader became curious about his words, Xu Damao quickly seized the opportunity.

"This 'big' refers to our leader. What is the leader? The leader is like the sky, the sky of our factory!"

"If a big shot drinks one cup, then a nobody like me has to drink three!"

Just as he was about to continue, Li Huaide suddenly interrupted, "What if I drink three cups?"

"When three times three equals nine, I get nine cups!"

Xu Damao acted as if it were perfectly natural, which made all the leaders laugh.

Only Li Huaide, noticing Zhou Feng's lack of a smile, asked curiously, "Brother Zhou, what's going on...?"

Zhou Feng slowly put down his chopsticks and glanced at Xu Damao.

Seeing that the smug expression on the other person's face, which had not yet faded from the laughter of the leaders, he suddenly chuckled.

"Da Mao is right, but there's one thing to keep in mind: leaders aren't everything; the people are. It's fine since it's just us eating together today, but what if there's an outsider..."

Zhou Feng didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present understood the weight of his words, and their expressions instantly turned ugly.

Xu Damao, who was still standing, turned pale and then flushed, and his hand holding the wine glass was trembling.

That son of a bitch... he's a real piece of trash!

Zhou Feng, however, acted as if nothing had happened, taking a sip of his drink.

Hmm, it's 35% already. Da Mao still needs to keep working hard.