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

In the guesthouse director's office, Li Jing'an was busy with something, his head down. Xu Damao pushed the door open and came in with a grin.

"Brother Li, are you busy?"

Li Jing'an looked up at him, then looked down again and continued flipping through the newspaper: "You're back? Finished?"

"Hehe, Brother Li, it's all done." Xu Damao put his briefcase on the table, took out a few envelopes from it, one of which was obviously thicker. "Brother Li, take a look."

Li Jing'an then put down the newspaper and glanced at the stack of envelopes: "Is it settled?"

"It's all settled, Brother Li. The accommodations, banquet, and all kinds of meals for that meeting at the Ministry of Metallurgy last time—not a penny was missing." Xu Damao then took out a large file folder from his bag. "The Ministry of Metallurgy kept the rest of the money and receipts. Please take a look."

Li Jing'an waved his hand: "You can take it to your tent later." He then pointed to the envelopes on the table, "Are they all there?"

"Oh, yes, I have them all!" Xu Damao leaned forward, his tone extremely obsequious. "I've packed them all separately for Deputy Director Huang, Comrade Zhou, and the head chef. And you, as..." He paused, "could you perhaps distribute them when you have some free time?"

Li Jing'an nodded, pondered for a moment, and said, "Never mind, just distribute them directly later." He picked up the thickest envelope on top, opened it, looked at it, nodded in satisfaction, and casually put it in the drawer. The remaining envelopes were addressed to individuals with surnames such as Zhou, Huang, and Xu. Only Xu Damao from the external liaison department, Zhou Yufei from the catering department, the head chef of the kitchen, and Deputy Director Huang were among those who received envelopes. After all, this had nothing to do with other departments.

He was forced into this situation—other units were in charge, and their guesthouse was only passively accepting the offer. If he didn't accept it, he would offend everyone, and how could he proceed with his work? Hehehe…

Xu Damao quickly put the envelope back into his briefcase. Li Jing'an then instructed, "Go and do the accounting. Find Deputy Director Huang. Isn't the accounting office still vacant? Deputy Director Huang is handling the accounting now, so just ask him to do it."

"Okay, I'll go right away." Xu Damao replied, but didn't move. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Um... Brother Li, I have something I want to tell you."

"Say whatever you want, what's wrong with saying it?"

"Hehe, Brother Li, is that so?" Xu Damao lowered his voice, "Do you think our guesthouse should treat the comrades from the General Office of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry to a meal? To strengthen our relationship."

Li Jing'an thought about it and felt that it was indeed appropriate to treat them. At the recent Ministry of Metallurgical meeting, they had overreported the number of attendees to the guesthouse by 10%, and the cost of their meals and ration coupons... Although it was an unspoken agreement, they were ultimately relying on the guesthouse, and the guesthouse only received a small share. "Okay, that's only right. And don't do it at our guesthouse; there are too many people and too much attention. Go find a nice restaurant outside and treat them to a good meal. I won't go; please represent me and our guesthouse in thanking them for their support of our work."

"Okay, okay, Brother Li! I will definitely pass on your message." Xu Damao nodded repeatedly.

"Okay, you can report back how much it costs later." Li Jing'an changed the subject and shook his head again, "Forget it, it's hard to say how to report these things."

Xu Damao understood immediately: "That's true. Although the hospitality is for the institute's benefit, it's really not easy to say it outright."

"Alright, I'll pay for this meal." Li Jing'an said, reaching for the envelope, then put it down after thinking for a moment and took out a few bills from his pocket and handed them over.

"Oh dear, how can I let you pay for this? Brother Li, I'll take care of it!"

"Just take it," Li Jing'an waved his hand. "Public matters are public, and private matters are private. How can I let you pay for the guesthouse? For the sake of the institute, I'll take the loss."

"Oh, how can I accept this?" Xu Damao said, looking deeply moved. "Who would believe this? Having to pay out of my own pocket for public affairs. Your actions are truly..."

"Alright, alright, go ahead." Li Jing'an interrupted him. "If you don't have enough money, come ask me for more. Oh, and go to the store and grab two bottles of good wine. Don't buy them at the restaurant; they're too expensive. We should save every penny we can."

"Alright! Brother Li, I'll go out and contact them now."

Li Jing'an also went out a little later and headed towards the banquet hall, wanting to see how the waiters were doing with their badminton practice and whether they had made any progress.

---

That evening, Xu Damao, reeking of alcohol and humming a tune, pushed his bicycle into the courtyard. He wandered around the front yard first, glancing at Yan Bugui's house. Seeing that no one was outside, he felt a little disappointed—he had hoped to run into them and give them a piece of his mind. Not finding anyone, he continued walking in. Just as he passed the Jia family's house, Qin Huairu happened to come out of the house carrying a basin of water.

Qin Huairu looked up and saw him, greeting him with a smile, "Hey, Xu Damao, you're back so late?"

"Oh, Sister Qin." Xu Damao was full of energy. "Hey, I had a business dinner tonight! Our Brother Li couldn't show up in person, so he asked me to treat a few colleagues from the department to dinner on his behalf, and also to coordinate business dealings between the guesthouse and the department."

Qin Huairu laughed and joked, "I think our director values ​​you more and more."

"Oh, not at all, it's just Brother Li thinking too highly of me." Xu Damao chuckled, then asked, "By the way, Sister Qin, how was your trip to your parents' home today? How's it going?"

"Everything is fine at home, thank you for your concern."

"Okay, that's good. I'll be going now, Sister Qin."

Xu Damao pushed his cart into the backyard, intending to go straight into the house. He glanced at Liu Haizhong's house, then deliberately raised his voice and hummed a few lines of a tune, clearly wanting Liu Haizhong to hear and provoke him. When he saw a figure appear at Liu Haizhong's window, he chuckled, picked up his bag and a lunchbox, and went into his own house.

"E'er, E'er, I'm back!"

Xu Damao's voice, tinged with alcohol, rang out, and Lou Xiao'e peeked out from the inner room, frowning: "Why have you drunk so much again?"

"Hey, I'm doing this for work, isn't I? It's all important business." Xu Damao leaned back in his chair and loosened his collar. "You know how busy I am right now, always running between departments and factories, my feet are never on the ground."

Lou Xiao'e muttered, "To be honest, it's not as good as before. When you were a projectionist at the steel mill, you did go out drinking often, but not like you do now, drinking every day."

"This is different!" Xu Damao perked up, sitting up straight. "What was that before? Before, I was just a supporting character, someone to make up the numbers, someone to drink for the boss. Now it's different, this is real work, for myself! You should be happy for me—the busier I am with social engagements, the better I am doing, right, E'zi?"

Lou Xiao'e was too lazy to argue with him and turned to go back to the inner room: "Alright, stop talking."

"Hey, don't go!" Xu Damao grabbed her and magically produced a lunchbox from behind his back, waving it triumphantly. "Look what I brought you."

Lou Xiao'e took the lunchbox, opened it, and exclaimed, "Oh, isn't this fried shrimp?"

"It's not leftovers! This is a freshly cooked dish that I specially asked the restaurant to make for you." Xu Damao leaned closer. "I didn't order anything else, I just thought you like this kind of food, so what do you think? Don't say I didn't think of you."

He slapped the table, becoming increasingly smug as he spoke: "See? I didn't drink for free, did I? The food here is so much better than before, isn't it? The other day, the institute had a treat, and I brought you snacks and fruit every day. Tell me, who in our institute can match our lifestyle?"

Lou Xiao'e didn't reply, but lowered her head and picked up some vegetables from the lunchbox and put them in her mouth.

Xu Damao leaned closer and chuckled, "E'zi, I'll bring you a couple more dishes next time. If you don't mind the lateness, just wait for me. The dishes we bring aren't like those mediocre ones from Sha Zhu; these are cooked by a professional chef from a state-run restaurant, all famous dishes! Sha Zhu's cooking, humph, can it compare to this?"

His tone was full of smugness, and his eyes were brimming with the satisfaction of triumph.