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

In the open space behind the guesthouse, a bustling scene unfolded.

The backyard, which used to be a large flower bed filled with flowers, trees, and shrubs, has now been completely cleared away and turned into a construction site. Many workers, armed with shovels and picks, are digging and excavating, creating a wide and deep pit.

The exterior walls of the main building and the auxiliary building next to it have been newly painted with bright red slogans: Prepare for war and famine for the people, dig deep tunnels, store up grain, and never seek hegemony. The words are clear and particularly eye-catching.

Beside the mound of earth, Li Jing'an stood with a gloomy expression, staring intently at the young man standing in front of him.

"What's wrong with you? I held a general meeting yesterday and emphasized the content of the speech repeatedly, and you didn't memorize a single word? What are you thinking about all day? What are you doing all day?"

The young man was at a loss after being scolded, and he hurriedly began to explain, stammering.

"Chief, I really did memorize it. I kept memorizing until the early hours of the morning, and I was so tired that I couldn't stay awake any longer before I finally closed my eyes and went to sleep."

"If you can't remember what you've memorized, how can you even think about sleeping?"

Li Jing'an's tone suddenly rose, his face full of disappointment, and he reprimanded him sternly.

"If everyone were as lazy, slack, and perfunctory as you, what would happen to the country? Wouldn't our revolutionary cause all be wasted? Who would work diligently and take responsibility? This is a sign of ideological decline, openly dragging the collective down!"

"I only briefly mentioned two core points at yesterday's meeting, and you can't even remember those? I think you didn't take them to heart at all; you haven't truly taken the important matter of preparing for war and famine to heart!"

He stared at the young man with sharp eyes, and continued to speak.

"I can tell you've only just gotten married, and your mind isn't on work at all. You're only focused on your relationship with your spouse, indulging in all sorts of romantic pleasures, aren't you?"

Li Jing'an's words became increasingly harsh and direct. The young employees stood there, only able to lower their heads and repeatedly plead for mercy, but Li Jing'an wouldn't listen to a word he said.

The young man felt deeply aggrieved, secretly groaning and muttering to himself:

I must have had the worst luck imaginable, I'm so wronged. It's true I just got married, but I haven't even had a proper wedding night yet, how could I possibly have the time or energy for anything? These past few days I've been digging air-raid shelters here every day, my whole body aches and my back aches, even if I wanted to, I simply don't have the strength.

Besides, you said yesterday that you would only talk about two points, but then you went on and on and added seven or eight more points, repeating yourself over and over again. How could I possibly memorize all of that in just one night?

He was filled with resentment and sighs, but he dared not utter a single word on his face.

Li Jing'an didn't give him a chance to explain further, and directly shouted at Deputy Director Huang, who was supervising the work on site:

"Old Huang, come here."

Deputy Director Huang quickly stepped forward, and Li Jing'an pointed at the young employee and spoke in a cold voice.

"That's him. He doesn't need to switch shifts with anyone today. He'll stay here all day digging air-raid shelters."

"Come on over tomorrow as usual and keep digging. Only when he can recite everything I will say in the meeting perfectly, word for word, will he be allowed to take turns with the others."

Li Jing'an snorted coldly, his face full of dissatisfaction.

"It's outrageous. I just randomly checked one person and this kind of mistake happened. These employees are so lax. They don't even take my repeated reminders in the meeting to heart."

Deputy Director Huang, standing nearby, hurriedly nodded and bowed, repeatedly indicating that he understood, but inwardly he was fretting: Why are they starting to do spot checks and questioning now? Luckily, it was this young employee who was caught today, not me. No, I have to go back and quickly and diligently memorize all this material. I can't be careless, lest one day I'm the one who gets questioned and reprimanded by the director in public.

Li Jing'an was completely unaware of Deputy Director Huang's inner thoughts. He simply frowned and coldly watched the young man in front of him, whose face was full of bitterness and who hung his head, not daring to speak.

The young man was a staff member in the guesthouse's logistics department. He had just gotten married two days ago, and his wife was a female attendant in the guesthouse's housekeeping department.

This couple was the first pair of employees from within the institute to get married since Li Jing'an took office. Both young people worked at the guesthouse, which was a good thing, and logically speaking, Li Jing'an, as the director, should have shown some appreciation and consideration.

Just yesterday, Li Jing'an specially called the bride to his office. Under the pretext of congratulating the newlyweds, he spent time alone with her and had a private conversation that was both purposeful and insightful.

But the girl in the guest room department was simple and reserved, honest and taciturn, clumsy with words and not good at socializing, yet she was also very quick-witted.

Yesterday in the office, I accidentally injured Li Jing'an during a few back-and-forths. Although there was no broken skin or bleeding, it completely enraged him, leaving him with a belly full of resentment that he had nowhere to vent.

That's why he made a special trip to the construction site where they were digging an air-raid shelter in the backyard today. He seized on this young man's minor mistake in public, using the pretext of reciting his speech to publicly reprimand and harass him, venting the anger he felt from being hurt by the bride yesterday.

Li Jing'an still had no intention of letting him off the hook. He took half a step forward, lowered his voice, and spoke with a strong sense of pressure.

"Fine, I see you're not putting in the effort to memorize anything. You just slack off and go to bed early when you can't remember the content. If you're this lazy, then your wife probably didn't really understand what I said in the meeting or memorize the plans for preparing for war and famine, right?"

"When you get home today, tell your wife to come directly to my office to report for duty first thing tomorrow morning."

I want her to prepare well in advance, as I will check her recitation individually.

If she stumbles and hesitates, and fails to satisfy me, then you'd better consider the consequences.

"I'll let you spend the entire construction period of the air-raid shelter digging on this site every day, without having to take shifts with anyone else."

After saying that, he completely ignored the young man's pale face and bitter pleading expression, as if he hadn't seen it at all, and casually waved his hand to send him back to work.

Not far away, many workers squatting nearby, digging with picks, heard every word of the conversation clearly.

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, and they subconsciously softened their movements. They all secretly prayed that they wouldn't be the ones to be drawn and questioned or harassed by the director.

Li Jing'an's gaze swept across the entire construction site. Looking at the few scattered workers, his brows furrowed tightly. He turned to look at Deputy Director Huang, who had been waiting respectfully to the side, and spoke in a deep voice.

"Old Huang, why are there only a few people working here today?"

I remember the same few people coming and going a couple of days ago, right?

"This progress is too slow. We must speed up the air-raid shelter project at our guesthouse; we absolutely cannot fall behind other units."

Deputy Director Huang, with a wry smile on his face, quickly stepped forward to explain.

"Director, here's the thing. Our guesthouse has a lot of staff, but most of them are women, and there are very few young and strong men."

This kind of heavy physical labor, digging holes and shoveling soil, is too strenuous for women, whose bodies are weaker. We have to arrange for male employees to work in shifts, taking turns to rest. That's all the manpower we have; we simply can't spare any extra people.

Upon hearing this, Li Jing'an's face immediately darkened, and his tone was filled with dissatisfaction and rebuke.

"Huh? What are you saying? Why do we have to use only male employees? Why can't we bring in female employees to help with the work?"

"Hey Lao Huang, your thinking is completely out of touch with the times. What are you thinking about all day long? You can't even figure this out. Don't you know that women hold up half the sky? Huh? Are you discriminating against us female employees? I didn't expect that after all this time of teaching and guiding you, you haven't improved at all. You still have those outdated ideas about gender differences in your head."

"Let me tell you, our new China has liberated women. You go and make arrangements right now. Gather all the staff in our institute, regardless of gender, and set a uniform workload for everyone. Anyone who fails to complete their work or drags their feet, or anyone who uses their gender as an excuse to whine and refuse to work, just give me their name. I will punish them according to the specific circumstances and their physical condition."

"Yes, yes, Director, it's my lack of awareness and my thinking not keeping up with the times. I'll arrange and implement it right away."

Li Jing'an gave a cold snort, then called out to him again.

"Wait, don't rush off. I'll go back to my office in a bit and write you a list. It's full of key personnel in our institute, and they'll be exempt from digging. We need to keep people here to maintain the guesthouse's normal operation."

"Okay, okay, I've got it all."

Li Jing'an waved his hand dismissively, his face full of impatience and disdain: "Alright, go on, hurry up and get on with your business."

Deputy Director Huang felt as if he had been granted a pardon, and breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly bowed and stepped back, then hurried off to make arrangements.