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

After Lao Liu left, Xu Damao stared at the two bottles of wine on the table, still savoring the taste. Lou Xiao'e came out from the inner room and patted him on the shoulder: "What are you doing? You've been sitting here for ages."

"Come here, Ezi, look what this is!" Xu Damao pointed to the wine on the table, his face flushed.

"It's just two bottles of cheap liquor, what's so special about that?"

"What do you mean by 'broken wine'? This proves my decision was absolutely right!"

"My bracelet could buy a truckload of this kind of wine." Lou Xiao'e rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"This is just the beginning. It's like doing business. Your bracelet is the capital, and this is the profit! Don't worry, once I'm officially hired, I'll buy you not just one bracelet, but ten!"

"Where am I supposed to wear ten bracelets? You're just talking nonsense." Lou Xiao'e couldn't stand his smug look. "Go and wash the dishes right away."

Watching Lou Xiao'e return to her bedroom, Xu Damao muttered to himself as he packed his things, "Hmph, I'm about to become a cadre, and they still make me wash the dishes. Just you wait and see."

At Liu Haizhong's house, Liu Haizhong was leaning against the window, staring intently outside. His auntie came over and asked, "Old man, what are you doing, staring out the window for so long?"

"Let's go see Xu Damao's house."

"Why are you looking at him?"

"What do you know? I just saw someone go to his house carrying two bottles of wine, and they came out empty-handed. That was a gift for him!"

"Give Xu Damao a gift? Isn't he just a worker? Do you understand?"

"Of course I saw it clearly, I was watching it the whole time! He's a worker, but he's been following Li Jing'an, I don't know what kind of favors he gave to get transferred to his side. It looks like Xu Damao's future is going to be different, he might even become a cadre." Liu Haizhong sighed, "It's also our family's fault, we've been poor for three generations, we have no family wealth, otherwise how could that scoundrel Xu Damao be jumping around like that?"

"I think we're fine as we are. We don't necessarily have to curry favor with Li Jing'an. Even after you stopped going to see him, the eggs still came back, didn't they? Before, I didn't get to eat eggs for several months because I was trying to curry favor with him."

"Shut your mouth! I could go months without eggs, I could go my whole life without eggs! What's an egg anyway?" Seeing his aunt's dismissive expression, Liu Hai was furious. He slammed his hand on the table. "Go do what you're supposed to do, and don't hang around in front of me!"

……

The next day, in his office, Li Jing'an looked at the thick stack of complaint letters that had appeared on his desk again, casually flipped through them, and put them together with the ones from the previous day.

Xu Damao pushed open the door and came in, saying with a fawning expression, "Brother Li, I've found out what you asked me to inquire about."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

"Hehe, our Minister of Metallurgy doesn't have any other hobbies, he just loves playing badminton. This information is absolutely accurate, I asked four or five people, it can't be wrong."

"Okay, I understand. You've worked hard, you can go now."

"Okay, okay, Brother Li, you're busy."

After Xu Damao left, Li Jing'an leaned back in his office chair and began to ponder. The information about Xu Damao matched what he had gathered, but he was still at a loss—he couldn't just go and ask the minister to play badminton for no reason, and the minister had no reason to play with him. Unable to figure out how to approach the situation, he simply put Xu Damao out of his mind and dealt with the matter at hand.

He picked up the phone: "Secretary Yang, come over here."

A moment later, Yang Chunjuan walked into the office: "Director, what can I do for you?"

"Go, bring this receptionist here to me." Li Jing'an handed Yang Chunjuan a piece of paper. Yang Chunjuan took it and saw it was a report against one of the receptionists. "Yes, Chief, I'll go right away."

Not long after, Yang Chunjuan brought in the receptionist: "Chief, I've brought the person." She placed the letter of complaint on the desk, and the receptionist behind her trembled with nervousness. She knew what the letter said.

Li Jing'an gestured for Yang Chunjuan to leave first. After the door closed, he slowly lit a cigarette, flicked the piece of paper around making a rustling sound, and coldly asked, "Do you know what this is?"

"I...I know," the receptionist stammered, her voice trembling with fear.

"I never expected that you, a young girl, would dare to talk such nonsense, saying that you can't make ends meet."

"Director, I said that when things were tough a couple of years ago," the receptionist quickly explained, her voice already trembling with tears.

"Difficulties? When have we faced difficulties? Our country has always marched from one victory to another. You dare to spout nonsense to my face. I knew I hadn't wronged you."

"No, Director, it's not like that..." The receptionist was utterly desperate. She had only told this to her closest colleague, whom she considered a sister, and only the two of them knew. She never expected to be betrayed so soon.

Li Jing'an pressed further: "Do you admit that you said that?" The receptionist nodded, her voice choked with emotion.

"Then tell me, what should I do with you? Do you know the consequences?"

The receptionist's legs went weak, and she knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, unable to even beg for mercy.

Li Jing'an frowned: "Get up, stop crying. You're lucky. I just arrived at the guesthouse and don't want to make a big deal out of it."

The receptionist quickly stopped crying and looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Li Jing'an smirked: "But I can't just let it go like this. Go write a letter of repentance, clearly stating the reason, time, place, and people involved in saying those words, and then sign and fingerprint it."

He took out paper and pen from the drawer and handed them to her: "Think carefully, write it carefully. I won't hand this letter of repentance over to anyone else; I'll keep it with me. From now on, it depends on your behavior. If you behave well, everything will be fine; if you don't behave well, or if you have other ideas, don't blame me. Understand?"

The receptionist, holding a pen and paper, nodded, her voice choked with emotion.

Li Jing'an narrowed his eyes and suddenly roared, "Speak!"

The receptionist trembled and quickly replied, "Understood, Director."

Li Jing'an nodded in satisfaction, smoking as he watched her write a letter of repentance while she hunched over the coffee table. A short while later, the letter was finished. He took it, glanced at its contents, and nodded: "Not bad, good attitude, and it basically matches what others reported. Alright, as long as you work hard in the future, we'll pretend this never happened."

"Thank you, Director! Thank you, Director!" The receptionist kept bowing and thanking her.

Looking at her tear-streaked face, Li Jing'an had a sudden thought: "I suddenly remembered that this isn't safe enough. It won't have a deterrent effect, and I'm afraid you won't learn your lesson. Here, take this letter of repentance."

The receptionist, unaware of what was going on, obediently accepted it.

Li Jing'an opened a drawer, took out a camera, and said to the receptionist, "Come on, let's go to the lounge inside. I need to take a picture of you as evidence."

The receptionist, not daring to resist, shakily walked into the inner lounge. Li Jing'an tossed his camera aside and followed him in, then locked the lounge door from the inside.