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

Each person had a cot, separated by a half-meter aisle. The room contained only a table and a chair, with two unwashed enamel bowls on the table, leftover soup condensed into a layer of white oil. The fluorescent light bulb hummed, illuminating the fatigue and irritability on their faces.

"Hey Xu Damao, Lou Xiao'e's family suddenly moved away, is that related to you?"

Xu Damao was leaning against the wall by the headboard, resting with his eyes closed. Upon hearing this, he suddenly opened his eyes and almost jumped out of bed: "What does this have to do with me? I'm Sha Zhu, don't make false accusations! I've long since severed ties with capitalist families like the Lou family, don't try to pin this on me!"

"Can you even draw a line between the lines?" Sha Zhu sneered, tilting his head to look at him.

"Hey Shazhu, clean up the shit under your ass first!" Xu Damao sat up straight, glaring at Shazhu, his eyes bloodshot. "If you hadn't gotten the Lou family's parents out by asking the big boss, would we be in this mess today? I wouldn't be stuck here with you! Are you out of your mind? You had to plead for the capitalists and drag me down with you."

"How dare you say that?" Sha Zhu's voice rose as well. "No matter what, you were married to Lou Xiao'e for several years! As soon as the wind blew, you immediately turned your back on her, ransacked her house, and arrested her parents. I just can't stand people like you, that's why I asked someone for help."

"Give me a break!" Xu Damao scoffed, his smile full of malice and mockery. "You've never seen a woman before. You want to eat my leftovers, you want to wash the pots I've used. How about that? You've got a screw loose, haven't you? The capitalists can just throw you away like that, and you think you're doing pretty well! You idiot Zhu, that nickname really suits you!"

Sha Zhu's face flushed red, and he opened his mouth to retort—

With a loud bang, the door opened from the outside.

The two of them jolted awake at the same time, almost reflexively jumping out of bed. They didn't even have time to put on their shoes, standing barefoot on the cement floor with their backs ramrod straight.

The newcomer was dressed in military uniform, with a red badge pinned to his chest and a folder tucked under his arm. He glanced at the two men expressionlessly, opened the folder, and read aloud, "He Yuzhu, Xu Damao."

"Here!" "Here!" the two replied in unison.

"The matter between you two has been investigated." The person closed the folder, his tone indifferent. "Go back on your own tomorrow. Although this matter doesn't concern you much, learn from it and be more vigilant when you get back."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Xu Damao is back."

Li Jing'an was hunched over his desk, writing and drawing, not even lifting his head, too lazy to look at him at all.

"Brother Li! I'm perfectly fine!" Xu Damao stepped forward, his face beaming with relief. "The investigation finally ended these past two days, and they released me. It was all an innocent disaster, I was dragged into this for no reason! Luckily, I divorced Lou Xiao'e early on, otherwise, I would have been seriously injured, if not killed!"

Li Jing'an then looked up, casually tossed the pen aside, leaned back, and glanced at him sideways, his tone icy:

"Da Mao, I know perfectly well whether you're alright."

Xu Damao was taken aback: "Huh?"

"Then let me ask you, why did Lou Xiao'e's family suddenly move out? Overnight, the house was empty, all their belongings were packed away, and they disappeared without a trace? Isn't that suspicious?"

Xu Damao hurriedly waved his hands: "Brother Li, I really don't know! I cut all ties with that family a long time ago! It must have been those capitalists from the Lou family who sensed something was wrong, knew something bad was going to happen, and ran away in advance!"

"You're talking nonsense!"

Li Jing'an frowned and slammed his hand on the table.

"How do you think you got out?! If I hadn't pulled strings and protected you inside, would you have escaped unscathed from the investigation?!"

Xu Damao trembled with fright, and his head drooped instantly.

"You still dare to lie to me even now?" Li Jing'an stared at him, his tone growing increasingly stern. "The people interrogating you have already investigated thoroughly—it was you who went to see Lou Xiao'e, and then they fled overnight! Isn't that right?"

Xu Damao's face paled, and he quickly protested, "Brother Li, I really didn't mean anything by it! I was just furious! Lou Xiao'e insisted on staying in the courtyard to marry Sha Zhu, wasn't that a blatant slap in my face? I just wanted to force her to move out, I really didn't mean to force her whole family to run away! If they ran away secretly, it really has nothing to do with me!"

Li Jing'an sneered and pressed forward step by step:

"You think a few words of intimidation will make that whole family pack up and run away? It's not that simple. What dirty secrets do you have about the Lou family? What are you hiding from them?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao was instantly speechless, muttering to himself but unable to utter a single word, completely deflated.

Li Jing'an scoffed at his guilty and pathetic appearance:

"I knew it the moment I saw it. You definitely knew Lou Xiao'e's family was hiding assets, and you used that to blackmail them, didn't you? You really think you're so clever? You think you can get away with it? Let me tell you this—if I hadn't suppressed this matter, you wouldn't be back now, and you would have been completely framed!"

"It's not that the people interrogating you didn't ask questions; I just told them not to investigate any further!"

Xu Damao hadn't expected Li Jing'an to know. Li Jing'an's words made his crotch a little wet.

He thought that threatening Lou Xiao'e would never be exposed, but he didn't expect that no one was stupid and a little clue would pull him out.

He felt only bitterness in his heart, unsure how to explain it to Li Jing'an. After all, he was the one who led the raid on Lou Xiao'e's house, and he knew that Lou Xiao'e might be hiding a huge amount of wealth. He had failed to report this, and what good would come of it?

Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and Xu Damao's voice trembled: "Brother Li... I... I really don't know the specifics... I was just saying it to scare her, I really didn't mean anything by it..."

Seeing his disheveled appearance, Li Jing'an was furious. He lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Xu Damao, you can fool outsiders, but if you want to fool me, you'd better think twice about the consequences."

Xu Damao quickly bowed and pleaded his loyalty: "Brother Li! I was so wrong! I was just blinded by Sha Zhu and Lou Xiao'e! I am absolutely loyal to you, without the slightest disloyalty! Please believe me!"

"Words are no good, no matter how nice they sound," Li Jing'an said calmly. "What I want are concrete actions, not your two-faced words."

"I wouldn't dare! I'll never dare again!" Xu Damao nodded and bowed repeatedly.

Li Jing'an was too lazy to look at him anymore. He casually picked up a file from the table and threw it on the ground.

"Pick it up and see for yourself."

Xu Damao quickly bent down to pick up the file, glanced at it, and looked completely bewildered: "Brother Li, this is the file of a vice minister of the Ministry of Metallurgy... What do you mean by this?"

"Lou Xiao'e's matter involves people from the Ministry of Metallurgy." Li Jing'an slowly said, "The original minister has been removed, and the higher-ups no longer trust the entire Ministry of Metallurgy. Everyone in the Ministry of Metallurgy has been sent down to do manual labor, and cadres above the section level have been assigned to our steel rolling mill."

"The deputy minister in this file is a key target for investigation."

"He has a very close relationship with Li Huaide, who used to work at our factory. Li Huaide was able to become the deputy factory director entirely because of his support. What kind of person is Li Huaide? A complete and utter embezzler! What kind of clean people could be associated with him?"

Li Jing'an looked up at Xu Damao, his tone commanding:

"Once he's sent down to the factory, you keep a close eye on him, follow up on the whole process, dig deep into his background, and don't let a single thing slip by."

Xu Damao glanced at the file in his hand and knew that if he didn't handle it well and couldn't salvage his image in Li Jing'an's eyes, then forget about his future, he might not even be able to keep his current position.

"Brother Li, don't worry, I definitely won't let you down. I'll stay up all night and keep an eye on him 24/7 to get to the bottom of this. I'll find out exactly where he peed and played in the mud when he was a kid." Xu Damao said fiercely.

"Don't talk to me about these things. I only care about the results." Li Jing'an said helplessly. "I had already submitted the proposal to promote you to deputy director, intending to bring it up at the Revolutionary Committee meeting. But you've let me down and caused this mess. So don't even think about it anymore. Let's see how you perform in the future."

Xu Damao's heart was bleeding, but he could only bow respectfully and thank him, saying, "Thank you, Brother Li, thank you for protecting me. I unintentionally caused such a big disaster, and you still came to my rescue without holding a grudge. Don't worry, I understand. Just watch my performance."

Xu Damao was filled with regret. If he had known it would turn out this way, he wouldn't have threatened Lou Xiao'e at all; he should have directly reported Lou Xiao'e's hidden assets to Li Jing'an. This caused Li Jing'an to also hold a grudge against him, and he lost his deputy director position—it was truly a terrible loss.