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

The next day, Lao Huang carried a file folder into Li Jing'an's office, placed it on the table, and said, "Chief, this is some material from the security department."

Li Jing'an casually opened the bag and pulled out several statements from the steel rolling mill, including those of the person involved in the case. The top one was that of the head chef's apprentice. He picked it up and looked through it, then suddenly chuckled, threw the documents on the table, and pointed at Lao Huang, cursing, "That's fucking bullshit! Shameless! Chiang Kai-shek personally ordered him to infiltrate our guesthouse and carry out subversive activities? They can even make up such an absurd story. The security department is a bunch of useless idiots."

Old Huang stood outside the desk, just smiling awkwardly, not daring to say a word. Li Jing'an picked up the other materials and flipped through them one by one, then waved his hand at him: "Alright, let's leave it at that."

He secretly calculated that the reorganization over the past few days was almost complete, the necessary personnel adjustments were in place, and all the power he needed to control was firmly in his grasp. The guesthouse should be back to normal operation. Li Jing'an lightly tapped his fingers on the table, looked at Lao Huang, and said, "Lao Huang, I plan to deal with these people leniently. After all, they are all veterans of the institute, and if things get out of hand, it won't look good for us. That young man is the head chef's apprentice, and I still want to use his master, so I'll treat him leniently as well. I'll tell you my specific opinion in a bit, and you can pass it on to the security department and have them report it to the factory."

"Please speak, I'm listening." Old Huang quickly stood up straight, his face full of respect.

Li Jing'an pondered for a moment, then said, "The head chef's apprentice is foul-mouthed and a petty thief; he needs to be taught a lesson. My suggestion is to transfer him to the steel rolling mill's sanitation team. As for the rest, they're not a big deal; let them go to the workshop for labor reform."

Li Jing'an never intended to destroy anyone; his goal had already been achieved—he now had complete control of the guesthouse, and he was very satisfied with the fire of this rectification.

After Lao Huang left with his orders, Qin Huairu arrived. She rarely sought out Li Jing'an, so her sudden visit was somewhat unexpected.

"Brother Jing'an, did I disturb you?" Qin Huairu walked in with a smile.

Li Jing'an looked up, a friendly expression on his face, and gestured, "Oh, Huairu, come, have a seat." He pointed to the chair opposite the desk, "Is there something you need?"

"I have something I'd like to trouble you with, Brother Li," Qin Huairu said somewhat shyly.

"Hey, don't be so polite. What's our relationship?" Li Jing'an waved his hand. "You're always coming to our house to clean and tidy up, helping us a lot. Why are you being so polite with me? Just tell your brother Li if you need anything."

Although Li Jing'an hadn't privately contacted Qin Huairu lately, he knew in his heart that Qin Huairu was still useful to him. This woman was diligent and sensible, coming to his house every day to clean, do laundry, and cook, managing everything perfectly. Even Wei Jialing was extremely satisfied with this subordinate. Naturally, he was willing to give such a useful person some face.

Seeing his kind attitude, Qin Huairu felt relieved and said, "Brother Jing'an, it's like this. My family's hometown has always been poor. This time when I went back, I heard that they've been allocated private plots again. I was thinking of having my family grow some vegetables there and bring them directly to our guesthouse when they're ripe, without going through the official vegetable station. This way, we can supply the guesthouse and my family can earn a little more to supplement our household income." After saying this, she looked up at Li Jing'an with hopeful eyes, her gaze full of pleading, afraid that he wouldn't agree.

Li Jing'an didn't take it to heart at all; it was nothing to him. Buying groceries was a regular expense for the guesthouse, and it didn't matter whose groceries they bought, since he didn't have to pay out of his own pocket. He was happy to do a favor.

He immediately agreed with a smile, saying readily, "Hey, you should have said so earlier, Huairu. It's no big deal. Since you asked, your brother Li will definitely take care of it for you. Just bring the vegetables over when your family has harvested them. Just let me know in advance, or tell Zhou Yufei from the catering department, it's no problem."

Changing the subject slightly, Li Jing'an added, "It's best not to plant those ordinary cabbages and radishes; try to plant some fine, high-quality vegetables instead."

"Brother Jing'an, I've also talked to my dad. I'll have him grow some good, high-quality vegetables so they can earn more money." Qin Huairu quickly responded, her smile widening as she repeatedly thanked him. "Thank you so much, Brother Jing'an. I'll go back to work now, so as not to keep you from getting any more busy." She didn't mention the household registration issue, thinking it would be better to bring it up a few days later when she was tidying up at Li Jing'an's house. After all, bringing up both issues at once might offend people and make her seem like she was taking advantage of them.

Li Jing'an casually waved his hand, indicating that she could leave.

In the afternoon, based on Li Jing'an's suggestion, the steel rolling mill officially issued the disciplinary decisions against those individuals. Deputy Director Huang first conveyed the decisions to the heads of each department, who then relayed them to the ordinary employees.

The staff at the guesthouse felt no sense of sympathy or resentment towards those who had been punished; instead, they all breathed a sigh of relief. In their minds, the punishment meant the storm was finally over, the shoe had finally dropped, and a weight had been lifted from their hearts. The ordeal of the past few days had left them physically and mentally exhausted. They lived in constant fear, afraid to speak loudly or act timidly, lest someone find fault with them and implicate them. Some even woke up in terror at night, living in perpetual anxiety.

After the penalty notice was issued, the atmosphere in the guesthouse changed instantly, and the dull and oppressive air became lighter. The stiff and wooden expressions on the employees' faces gradually revealed a bit of life, their steps became much lighter, and the tone of their conversations became less cautious and more relaxed, making the whole building more lively.

In the afternoon, there was a knock on the office door. Looking up, I saw Zhang Mingde, the head of the personnel department of the steel rolling mill.

Li Jing'an was taken aback for a moment, then stood up with a smile: "Oh, what a rare guest! What brings Section Chief Zhang here?" He casually took out a cigarette from the drawer and offered him one.

Section Chief Zhang chuckled and quickly took the item, then hurriedly pulled out a lighter to light it for Li Jing'an, his face bearing just the right amount of flattery: "Director Li is so busy, how could I dare to bother you? You're my superior now, half a rank higher than me, how can I be as casual as before?"

"Don't give me that!" Li Jing'an flicked his cigarette ash, laughing and scolding, "Trying to distract me? Are you making fun of me?"

The two exchanged a glance and then burst into laughter, instantly easing the tension in the office.

After laughing, Zhang Mingde composed himself and said seriously, "It's like this, I was originally going to call you today. But I figured I had nothing better to do, so I came over in person. The factory has reviewed the vacancies for cadres that your guesthouse reported this time, and as you requested, we've filled them all. They're all new people, all new hires from our steel rolling mill. We thought you wouldn't want the older ones, fearing you'd find them too slick and difficult to manage, so we specifically picked out clean ones."

"You understand me best," Li Jing'an waved his hand, his tone straightforward. "I'm just afraid the factory will send some old people over here. They're all very shrewd, and there are factions involved behind them. I won't be able to carry out any follow-up work at all."

"Don't worry, it will be done exactly as you wish," Zhang Mingde assured, patting his chest. "The factory also respects your opinion. They didn't add an extra deputy director for you, but just assigned you a section-level cadre, an accountant, and two clerks, a total of four people, all of whom are easy to manage and have no connections."

"Oh? Then tell me all about these four people." Li Jing'an immediately became interested and leaned forward slightly.

"This section chief is the wife of a new engineer in our factory. She just moved here from another place and settled down with her husband. She doesn't have any connections, so she was assigned to this position in the institute," Zhang Mingde explained in detail. "The remaining three are: the accountant is a vocational school graduate in accounting who was just recruited this year and was assigned here right after graduation. She hasn't worked in any other unit before; the two clerks are also recent college graduates who have just joined the company. They are clean and have no background whatsoever."

Li Jing'an nodded repeatedly after listening, extremely satisfied. These were the people he could use most easily; they could fill vacancies without posing a threat to his power, and they were all his own people whom he could directly control.

Zhang Mingde glanced at his watch, stood up, and said, "It's almost time. Our department should have finished processing their documents by now, and we'll send them over soon. Let's go to the entrance to greet them; it'll show our guesthouse that they're important."

Li Jing'an immediately agreed, and as he stood up, he added, "Wait a moment, I'll go and call Lao Huang. It would be more important if Deputy Director Huang came along too."

After saying that, Li Jing'an sent someone to call Deputy Director Huang. The three of them went to the entrance of the guesthouse, smoking and chatting while waiting for the new employees to arrive. After a few minutes, they saw a group of people walking towards them from a distance. The person leading the way was a staff member from the personnel department of the steel rolling mill, followed by two men and two women. Their steps were restrained, and they were obviously the newly transferred employees.

Li Jing'an subconsciously looked up, and when his gaze fell on the four people behind him, he suddenly froze. His calm expression vanished instantly, and a smile uncontrollably spread across his face. He couldn't suppress it, and a surge of joy welled up in his heart. He couldn't help but mutter to himself: "It's truly... no... it's fate that brought us together from a thousand miles away, hahaha!"