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

Old Sun was riding his bicycle on the street in the mine's residential area.

As he pedaled his bike, he greeted the workers who were passing by in twos and threes on the road.

"Old Sun, where have you been? You're not wearing your work clothes today."

"Hehe, there hasn't been much going on at the factory these past few days, so I thought I'd take a break and go fishing." As he spoke, he proudly patted the fishing rod tied to the back of his bicycle.

He told his coworker to stop, put one foot on the ground, and shouted at Old Sun, "Well, you're doing well, going fishing again? How's the catch?"

Another coworker peeked over and peered at the bag and bucket hanging on the handlebars: "Hey, haven't seen you fishing in half a year, have you? Are there more fish in the river now?"

"It weighs about two jin (1 kg), but it's a bit small." Old Sun patted the bucket hanging on the handlebars with a smug look.

"Wow, it's all crucian carp!" A coworker leaned closer to take a look and joked, "You don't have any breast milk or anyone in postpartum confinement, why don't you give them to me?"

"Give it to you? Dream on! Get lost!" Old Sun retorted with a chuckle. "This is the first time in six months I've had time to go fishing, and I can't possibly give you my catch. Gotta go!"

After showing off, Old Sun stomped on his pedal and hurried home. He couldn't resist bragging to his fellow workers on the way. "This is what a good life is!" he boasted. "I can go to work whenever I want, and I don't have to when I don't want to. I even have time to go fishing. What a comfortable life!"

Old Sun entered a courtyard and braked the car.

A woman wearing an apron came out of the house with a smile: "You're back."

"Ah, take the bucket to the kitchen," Old Sun commanded casually.

Seeing his expression, the woman knew he must have gotten something, but he was still pretending to be calm. She picked up the bucket she had taken off the handlebars and exclaimed, "Wow, quite a lot!"

"How do you want to eat?" the woman asked, looking up.

"How can we cook it? Stew it, and add some glass noodles," Old Sun said while washing his hands.

"Alright, go back inside and wait. If I had known, I would have gone to buy some tofu and stewed it." The woman said as she walked towards the kitchen.

As night fell, darkness descended outside, and the lights inside the house came on. The streets gradually quieted down, and Old Sun's family was gathered around the table eating dinner. Watching his children enthusiastically devour the fish he had caught, he wore a proud expression.

Suddenly, everything went dark and the lights went out.

Old Sun looked up at the light bulb and muttered subconsciously, "The power's out?"

"Um?"

"Did it thunder?"

Just then, trucks roared through the streets of the residential area.

Two of the vehicles broke away from the convoy and parked on the side of the road. A group of armed men got out and quickly dispersed to various intersections in the street.

"Oh dear, why is there a power outage?" A resident near the road opened their door halfway and looked outside while muttering to themselves.

A man had just opened the door halfway when he froze. Staring at the scene outside, his mind went blank: "What's going on?"

"Bang!"

A rifle butt slammed into his half-open door, startling him. A man stood there, gun in hand, staring intently at him. The man slammed the door shut, rolled over, pressed his back against the door, swallowed hard, and muttered repeatedly, "What's going on...what's going on..."

Lightning flashed across the sky intermittently, tearing through the thick clouds in an instant. Immediately afterward, large raindrops began to fall slowly.

At the mine entrance, about 100 meters from the gate, a group of people hid in a newly constructed fortification, staring at the situation outside with panicked expressions.

About two hundred meters from the mine entrance, a row of trucks came to a stop in an orderly fashion. With each truck that stopped, a group of soldiers jumped out of the back. Carrying their guns, they assembled on the spot in the rainy night.

"Second row, come over here! Get together right now!"

"Everyone in the row, follow me to the side!"

There were people being called out in attendance, people already lined up and moving to the side, and people who had just gotten off the bus. The slogans were deafening.

On the other side, several jeeps were parked nearby. Li Jing'an was calmly observing the scene inside the factory area through binoculars. The factory area was in complete chaos due to the sudden power outage and the commotion at the gate.

The factory area was indeed in complete chaos. The office building was filled with the rumble of hurried footsteps. Fires had been lit in some places, apparently with torches, and people were running around the factory grounds, shouting and yelling.

Old Hu stood beside Li Jing'an, holding an umbrella over him while he himself stood outside the umbrella. Leaders from the prefectural committee and military sub-district were also gathered behind Li Jing'an, pointing and whispering about the situation in the factory area.

Suddenly, a car screeched to a halt beside them. The door opened, and a man ran over, saluted, and reported: "Reporting to the commanders, my unit has taken up combat positions, occupied the high ground around the mine, and formed an encirclement of the mine. Requesting further instructions!"

Everyone turned their attention to Li Jing'an; here, he was the most important person.

Li Jing'an nodded and said in a deep voice, "Very good. Now that the power's out, has the phone line been cut?"

"Reporting to the commander, all communication lines around the mining area have been cut off!" the man replied crisply.

"Okay, let's wait for orders." After saying that, Li Jing'an raised his binoculars and looked into the factory area again.

The familiar office door was suddenly pushed open.

"Director, something terrible has happened! The area is completely surrounded!"

"What's the panic!" Director Fei stood by the window, his face grim, staring at the faint line of car lights outside the gate. He turned and snapped, "Why isn't the power back on yet?"

"Director Fei, it's a power outage. We've checked, and it's not a problem within our mining area," the visitor replied.

"Useless! Do you think I don't know what's going on?" Director Fei snapped, annoyed. "Don't we have generators? Get the power back to the office building and the outer bunkers!"

Director Fei frowned, his expression growing increasingly gloomy. Watching the man frantically run out again, he cursed inwardly: None of them are any good.

"Director, it seems we've been tricked," Committee Member He said, leaning closer. "That guy surnamed Hu came today, claiming to be representing the Minister of Metallurgy for negotiations. But he had no good intentions; he was just stalling us to lower our guard."

"Could you tell me something I don't know?" Director Fei replied irritably. "What's the point of saying this at a time like this?"

"So what do you suggest we do? Our mining area's security department, plus the militia remaining there, only has a little over a hundred people. Even if we have weapons, look at the situation outside... I think we're in deep trouble." Committee Member He's face was grim. Although he said we were in deep trouble, what he really thought was that if the other side launched an attack, they would definitely be finished. He knew what kind of people the mining area's security department and militia were. They could bully ordinary people because of their status, but when they encountered a regular army, they wouldn't even flinch, let alone fire a gun.