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

Old Li quickly explained, "No, Officer Zhang, that's not what I meant. This is way too far off. Besides, this is a tenement courtyard." He pointed at the agreement, his face full of embarrassment.

"What's wrong with the tenement?" Officer Zhang's eyes widened, and his voice rose. "The tenement is great! What? Don't you want to live with us working people? Huh? I thought you'd been reformed by us after so long, but I didn't expect you to still be so stubborn, still unable to let go of your capitalist airs. You look down on us working people?" His eyes turned dangerous, and the corners of his mouth turned down.

Old Li's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly waved his hands: "Officer Zhang, that's not what I meant—you see, our family has always actively cooperated with national policies. We donated all our extra properties to the public, and only kept this small courtyard..."

"Let me tell you!" Officer Zhang interrupted him abruptly, raising his voice even higher, "That guy is a model worker in the factory, a veteran worker for many years! Plus his son, who joined the revolution at a young age and is now a cadre in the company—a division-level cadre, a high-ranking cadre! He's got impeccable revolutionary credentials!" With each sentence, he took a step forward, "You need to think clearly about your identity. Your identity is that our Party is lenient and generous towards you, and still harbors illusions about capitalists like you. If it were before, before liberation, would you dare say 'no'? Huh? I don't want to hear your reasons now, I'm just asking you—are you going to exchange it or not? I'll give you half an hour. If you don't sign, I'll leave immediately and won't make things difficult for you. But the consequences… I hope you can bear them yourself."

After saying that, he plopped back down, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a deep drag. A barely perceptible smile played on his lips amidst the swirling smoke, a surge of indescribable pleasure welling up inside him: "Damn it, your family's finally in my hands. You capitalist, what are you so smug about? Your daughter doesn't even look at me… The tables have turned, haven't they? I'll show you what's what."

He remembered what had happened that morning—at the meeting at the institute, the director said that a task had come down from above: to find a family in the Xicheng subway demolition area to exchange for a house, preferably one with a bad class background. The first family that popped into his mind was Old Li's family.

He volunteered for the job. Why was he so eager? A few years ago, before he was married, he had his eye on Old Li's daughter, who was still in school. He pursued her relentlessly, even asking people to act as matchmakers, but it didn't work out—the girl didn't like him, finding him too old and unattractive, with a sleazy look. He held a grudge about it and hadn't found an opportunity until today. Finally, his chance had come.

Half an hour later, Officer Zhang emerged from Old Li's house with a beaming smile, his briefcase bulging—the two signed agreements lay securely inside. He hummed a little tune, his steps light and quick, without even turning his head.

As soon as the door closed at Old Li's house, Old Li seemed to have been drained of all his energy. He walked back into the house with unsteady steps, plopped down in a chair, and didn't say a word for a long time.

"His father..." His wife followed him in, and seeing his expression, she already understood most of what was going on. "Did we really change it for him?"

Old Li gave a bitter laugh, reached for a cigarette, his fingers trembling slightly. It took him a while to light it, and he took a deep drag before slumping down. "What else can we do but change it? Sigh... how can our weak arms twist the thigh?"

His wife stood there for a while, bit her lip, and suddenly said, "Dad, how about... we find our daughter's boyfriend? He's an official, and works for the procuratorate, he should be able to put in a good word for us, right?"

Old Li shook his head and took another drag of his cigarette: "How do we bring it up? Our daughter is just dating him, not married yet."

"Give it a try," his wife said, squatting down and placing her hands on his knees. "After all, they're like this now... you see, it shouldn't be long before they're together. Just today, her boyfriend took her away, saying he wanted to meet an elder in our family. I didn't expect they had an elder in their family here!"

Old Li was taken aback: "His family isn't from Beijing, so why do they have elders here?"

"I don't know about that," his wife sighed. "When our daughter comes back, we'll ask her and tell her about it, see if she can help find a boyfriend..."

Old Li remained silent for a long time before finally stubbing out his cigarette and letting out a long sigh: "It's tough... after all, we've already signed the papers." He looked up at the clock on the wall, then at the gray sky outside the window, "Fine... let's just try anything, even if it's a long shot."