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

"By the way, Brother Li," Zhou Yufei suddenly turned back and asked before leaving, "Was the cost of today's meal charged to the Ministry of Metallurgy's account or the steel mill's account?"

"Of course it's under the Ministry of Metallurgy, isn't that only natural?" Li Jing'an said matter-of-factly.

In his heart, this was something the Ministry of Metallurgy owed him. After all, the ministry's leaders had all taken a step forward because of him. Especially the current minister, who was the "big boss" he had met with Sha Zhu back then. Li Jing'an always felt that if he hadn't helped out, this minister would never have been able to rise to the position so quickly.

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became, muttering to himself: "This minister has absolutely no gratitude. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to toil for three years just to get to the level of a full-fledged department head. He doesn't even understand the principle of remembering the source of one's blessings. His mindset is clearly flawed."

In fact, Li Jing'an's impression of that minister was completely different from what was circulating outside. Although the original drama portrayed him as an upright and honest good cadre, and many fan fictions were happy to whitewash him, Li Jing'an had his own set of standards for judgment.

In his view, the fact that "the factory manager brought a cook to his home to cook" alone was enough to expose the man's true character, and he was by no means a gentleman.

But what he looked down on the most, and even secretly despised, was something else entirely—this big leader, who was portrayed as a positive figure in the original drama, actually made an exception for a cook named Sha Zhu, and for his own gluttony, and ultimately let go of a big capitalist like the Lou family.

In Li Jing'an's logic, this was utterly absurd and without any moral bottom line. He believed in equivalent exchange and always weighed the pros and cons. If it were him, he would never do something like letting a class enemy go and undermining the very foundation of the nation for the sake of personal feelings.

In that particular era, such behavior, in his view, was tantamount to betraying the working class and peasantry, and standing against the people. So when he saw that the minister was ultimately only "sidelined" and not subjected to public criticism, Li Jing'an felt that fate had been turned upside down, and he was filled with rage. "Damn it, God is blind! These kinds of traitors to the class are the ones who deserve to be overthrown!"

After Zhou Yufei left, Li Jing'an sat in his chair, his thoughts drifting elsewhere. As for why Zhou Yufei was able to give birth so smoothly, ultimately, it was the former minister's affair that played a role. Because of the former minister's scandal, Li Jing'an was investigated and had to be much more cautious in his actions, daring not to act rashly again. That's how Zhou Yufei narrowly escaped disaster and safely gave birth. Li Jing'an, fearing further trouble, could only accept this fact—after all, Zhou Yufei had always understood his thoughts and suited him perfectly.

Li Jing'an stubbed out the remaining cigarette butt in the ashtray, picked up the phone, dialed the number of the person in charge of a branch factory under the steel rolling mill, and asked for a job opening.

In the afternoon, Li Jing'an saw his two friends from the government out of the guesthouse and happened to run into Xu Damao, who was rushing back from outside.

Xu Damao immediately saw the government car drive out of the guesthouse. He quickly stood by the roadside, craned his neck to look inside, and then bowed and greeted the people in the car. After all, he had come here twice with these two people before and they were somewhat familiar with each other.

After the car drove away, Li Jing'an looked at Xu Damao and asked, "Damao, you're back? How did it go? Did you get things done?"

Xu Damao immediately chuckled, his face full of pride: "All done, Brother Li! Don't you trust me to handle things?" He patted the briefcase tucked under his arm with a smile, then leaned forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Everything's settled, Brother Li. What was due to the factory, they kept for themselves."

Li Jing'an nodded slightly and patted Xu Damao on the shoulder: "Okay, thank you for your hard work. How about this, let's invite our own people to a private room for a get-together and have a drink tonight?"

Xu Damao looked embarrassed and said with a forced smile, "Brother Li, this is unfortunate! I just came back from the factory, and the people from the finance department insisted on taking me to the steel rolling mill canteen for dinner tonight, and I agreed."

"Hehe, okay." Li Jing'an smiled. "What's there to worry about? We can eat whenever we want. Building good relations with them will only benefit us. Go ahead, we'll talk about our business in a couple of days."

"Thank you, Brother Li! Thank you for understanding, Brother Li!" Xu Damao quickly thanked him and turned to leave.

As Li Jing'an was leaving get off work by car, he suddenly saw a young girl talking to Qin Huairu through the car window. He was startled and thought to himself: Could this be Qin Jingru?

Haha, this is interesting. This girl is really good-looking. It's not easy for two pretty girls to come from the same village as her sister.

Then, a thought crossed his mind, and he remembered Qin Huairu. He'd relegated that woman to the laundry room for over three years; shouldn't he get her out and "use" her again? He'd almost forgotten what she used to taste like.

Qin Jingru stood in front of the guesthouse building, looking up at it with envy in her eyes.

"I'm talking to you, can't you hear me?" Qin Huairu nudged the dazed Qin Jingru.

"I heard you, sis." Qin Jingru quickly looked away and obediently replied.

"I'm telling you something, and you have to take it seriously," Qin Huairu said earnestly, pulling her arm. "Think about it, he's the head chef at our factory. Forget his salary, the factory leaders all rely on him to cook for them, and he even brings food home. If this works out, you can just wait and see how good it is."

"Thank you, sister, I understand." Qin Jingru nodded in agreement with everything Qin Huairu said. She still remembered the scene three years ago when Qin Huairu returned to her parents' home, carrying large and small bags, and the whole village gathered around to watch. From that moment on, she made up her mind to marry into the city like her sister.

The original plan was to let the two of them get to know each other while the steel mill was showing a movie today. However, since the mill had its own special kitchen, Sha Zhu couldn't come. So, Qin Huairu would take Qin Jingru to see the movie first, and then they would go back to the courtyard to introduce them.

Unexpectedly, the two were bumped into by Xu Damao, who had come to the steel mill for a banquet, just as they reached the door.

Xu Damao spotted the young and beautiful Qin Jingru at a glance. His eyes darted around, and a greasy smile immediately appeared on his face as he swaggered over.

Xu Damao deliberately probed from the side, calling Qin Jingru "Silly Pillar" repeatedly and making sarcastic remarks. After a few words, Qin Jingru began to have doubts.

Just then, Lou Xiao'e also came to the steel mill to watch a movie and happened to witness this scene.

"What are you doing here?"

Xu Damao panicked and quickly put on a smile: "No, nothing, I just ran into Sister Qin and her sister and chatted for a bit."

Lou Xiao'e gave him a cold glare, her face full of disdain. Xu Damao didn't dare say anything more, and quickly turned around and slunk away to the private room in the cafeteria for the banquet.

This scene was still witnessed by others, who then told Shazhu.