I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

On a winter's day, the cold wind swept across Wangfujing Street in Beijing, carrying wisps of snow. Li Jing'an hunched his shoulders and followed behind Wei Jialing, a hint of helplessness on his face.

"Sigh, I've been accompanying you shopping every day for the past two days, and I've almost neglected my work at the guesthouse." Li Jing'an tugged at his Zhongshan suit, his tone tinged with complaint.

Wei Jialing, who was walking ahead, turned around and glanced at him upon hearing this, a hint of disdain on her lips. She grabbed his arm tightly and said, "Tch, your shabby guesthouse, you call that a job? It's just a small inn that manages accommodations. Besides sweeping the floor and registering names, what important things can you do?"

"You can't say that," Li Jing'an quickly tried to pull his arm away, but didn't dare to use too much force. He could only smile wryly and explain, "The guesthouse is an important department of the steel rolling mill. It receives the factory's employees. Serving them well is also contributing to the country's development, isn't it?"

"Alright, alright, you've got plenty of fallacies." Wei Jialing waved her hand impatiently, pouting and glaring at him. "If you really don't want to shop, then let's go back to your place now, so you won't be here distracted and spoil my fun!"

"No, no, no, you've come all this way, it would be such a waste to leave now." As soon as Li Jing'an saw that she wanted to go back to his house, he immediately softened and quickly changed the subject.

Wei Jialing glanced at Li Jing'an sideways, then remembered something and said, "Let's go to the Overseas Chinese Store up ahead. I heard they just received a batch of imported perfumes and new lipsticks. Let's go take a look!"

Before she finished speaking, she took Li Jing'an's arm and walked briskly toward the Overseas Chinese Store.

The Overseas Chinese Store was quite different from ordinary state-run stores. Its facade was much more imposing, with vermilion doorframes adorned with the four large, gilded characters "Overseas Chinese Store," and two potted holly bushes at the entrance adding a touch of refinement. Pushing open the door, a wave of warmth washed over you, instantly dispelling the chill. The store's floor was paved with light gray tiles, spotlessly clean, and the shelves were filled with a dazzling array of imported goods: French perfumes, Soviet chocolates, Swiss watches, Cuban cigars, as well as exquisitely packaged caviar and colorful glass candy wrappers—all rare and precious items seldom seen on the market. The store wasn't crowded; most customers were well-dressed family members of officials or returned overseas Chinese. The staff wore uniform blue uniforms, their manner respectful and cautious.

As soon as Wei Jialing entered the room, she went straight to the cosmetics counter, picked up bottle after bottle of perfume and smelled them one by one. Her fingers were pinching the perfume bottles, her eyes were sparkling, and she was muttering to herself, "This one smells sweet" and "That one is too strong."

Li Jing'an strolled leisurely through the store, his hands in his pockets, his eyes scanning the merchandise on the shelves. He nodded to himself: "As expected of an overseas Chinese store, all the goods are hard currency, all imported from abroad, and all require foreign exchange certificates."

"Jing'an, come here and smell this!" Wei Jialing suddenly beckoned to him, holding up a beautifully packaged bottle of perfume with the bottle pointed at him. Her tone was excited. "This is imported from France. It has a light and refreshing scent with a hint of floral notes. Do you think it smells good?"

Li Jing'an walked over quickly, glanced at the perfume casually, and nodded perfunctorily: "It smells good, really good, it suits you perfectly." His mind wasn't on the perfume at all.

"I think it smells amazing too!" Wei Jialing smiled, her eyes crinkling, and turned to the shop assistant next to her, her tone casual and matter-of-fact, "Here, wrap up this perfume, and the three bottles I just tried, pack them all up too. Also, two of each of the two lipstick shades I just tried, pack them all up!"

The shop assistant quickly agreed, a fawning smile on her face, and deftly took out the gift boxes to start packing, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Just then, a middle-aged man dressed in a crisp dark gray Zhongshan suit, with his hair neatly combed, walked over with a warm and respectful smile on his face. He greeted him from afar, "Comrade Wei, what a pleasure to have you here today! See if there's anything you like. We just received a new batch of goods and reserved them especially for you!"

Wei Jialing looked up, a smile playing on her lips, and nodded slightly: "Oh, Manager Cui, I just picked out some perfumes and lipsticks, and a few that are pretty good."

"Hehe, please take your time choosing, no rush." ​​Manager Cui bowed, his tone becoming increasingly solicitous. "You don't need to carry what you've chosen yourself; I'll arrange for someone to deliver it to your home later, making sure it won't delay your schedule at all!"

"Okay, then I'll trouble Manager Cui." Wei Jialing replied casually, as if she was already used to such special treatment and didn't even bother to say a few polite words.

Li Jing'an stood aside, taking in the whole scene. He knew perfectly well that these things were obviously given away for free, and Wei Jialing didn't need to spend a single penny.

He glanced at Wei Jialing subconsciously, inwardly cursing: "This girl is so short-sighted! She doesn't understand how dangerous it is to do something so small! She's bound to be indebted to others, and she's short-sighted. She'll be finished sooner or later!"

"Jing'an, what are you standing there daydreaming about?" Wei Jialing finished choosing cosmetics, turned around and saw Li Jing'an standing there with a slight frown. She walked over and tugged at his arm. "There are so many good things in the store, didn't you see anything you liked?"

"Oh, yes, I have two bottles of that imported caviar. Oh, and I saw some Cuban cigars over there, get me two boxes of those too."

As they left the Overseas Chinese Store, the cold wind blew in again. Li Jing'an carried a heavy bag filled with caviar and cigars, while Wei Jialing was empty-handed and looked relaxed. Manager Cui would naturally arrange for the cosmetics she had chosen to be delivered to the Wei family.

Li Jing'an tightened his collar, then suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Wei Jialing, "Jialing, this Overseas Chinese Store is quite special; it shouldn't be under the city's jurisdiction, right?"

Wei Jialing pulled her coat tighter and casually replied, "It's under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce. Of course, it's a municipal unit. How could the Ministry of Commerce have such detailed jurisdiction?"

"The First Commercial Bureau?" Li Jing'an's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly realized that he had always thought that such commercial units were directly under the Ministry of Commerce.

A thought flashed through my mind: introduce Sun Mingyuan, the deputy director of the Second Bureau of Commerce, to Wei Jialing's father.