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

The backyard is Xu Damao's house.

Xu Damao pushed open the door and saw Qin Jingru putting dishes on the dining table. Xu Damao slung his bag over his shoulder, went over to the table, and reached into the dish to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth.

"Did you wash your hands? Go wash your hands." Qin Jingru pushed Xu Damao out with a look of disgust, and then said, "Let's eat together when our son comes back."

After saying that, he turned and went to the kitchen.

Xu Damao washed his hands, sat down at the table, took a teacup, poured himself a glass of water, and hummed a tune.

"What's got you so happy? Are you showing movies without checking tickets again?" Qin Jingru asked, poking her head out from the kitchen.

"Hey, no. Those bastards at the movie theater just can't stand to see me doing well. They went to all that trouble to move me to the ticket gate, do you think I'd be able to easily go back to showing movies? It's Sha Zhu, I just ran into Sha Zhu outside. This guy is like a mouse seeing a cat now, he doesn't dare to meet me."

"Hmph, you guys, you start fighting the moment you meet. What's the point? Besides, we're practically family, aren't we?"

"Come on, who's related to him? He's a complete idiot." Xu Damao chuckled twice. "I can crush him with just one son." He immediately started showing off.

"By the way, is our daughter coming back this week?" Xu Damao suddenly remembered something and asked again.

"She's busy with schoolwork, so she won't be coming back to stay this week."

"If she doesn't want to come back, she doesn't have to. She's quite ambitious, managing to get into a vocational school. She'll be a proper cadre in the future, even though she's a bit less capable than me..." Xu Damao said smugly.

"Tch, she's way better than you. You're going to bring up your time at the steel mill again, aren't you? Don't forget that even though you were in charge back then, you were ultimately just a worker in place of a manager. Can you compare to our daughter?" Qin Jingru retorted, trying to put him down.

Qin Jingru wouldn't always go along with Xu Damao. Now that she has a proper job and has a son and a daughter to support her, she still has a lot of say in the family, and Xu Damao can't control her.

"By the way, speaking of work, your procurement job at the guesthouse fell through like this? Is there any hope left?" Xu Damao asked.

"Hey, after the leadership changed, they let their own people do the purchasing, so there's no part for me!" Qin Jingru said indignantly.

"Hey, we're all the same. Every new emperor brings a new court. Back when Li Jing'an was in charge, even if I got fired and relegated to the movie theater, who would dare look down on me? After all, I'd followed Li Jing'an for so many years, everyone had to treat me with respect, and he even got you a lucrative purchasing job. Ever since he resigned, things have gotten worse for us." Xu Damao sighed sadly.

Since Li Jing'an was mentioned, Qin Jingru's expression became a little unnatural, and she asked, "Hey, Da Mao, why did Li Jing'an quit and resign? Although he wasn't allowed to be the minister of the Ministry of Metallurgy anymore, they didn't punish him. They even let him be the director of the steel rolling mill, right? So why did he still resign?"

"You don't understand, do you? People like Li Jing'an, they've all been to the top, and now they've fallen down, they definitely wouldn't want to. For the sake of face, he can't continue as the factory director. Although the steel rolling mill is a big factory, compared to the Ministry of Metallurgy, isn't it worlds apart? The difference in treatment is huge. I'm not surprised at all that he resigned," Xu Damao explained to Qin Jingru with an air of seriousness.

"So what do you think he did after he resigned?" Qin Jingru continued to ask.

"How would I know? I haven't seen him since, nor have I heard of anyone seeing him in Beijing. He must be out of town. But he certainly isn't idle. I guess he went south to do business."

As Xu Damao and Qin Jingru were chatting, Qin Jingru suddenly seemed to remember something, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and prepared to get up and walk out the door.

"Hey, where are you going? Dinner's almost ready, the kids will eat after school."

"Now that you mention business, it reminds me. Didn't Liu Haizhong and I discuss going into trade? I need to ask him about the details again."

"A couple of days ago, he told me that Director Lan from the third branch of the steel rolling mill is his apprentice. I'll go ask him again if he's got it sorted out yet? Can he get the approval slip? With our lousy job, if we don't do something, our family will just stay like this forever."

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.

A Mercedes-Benz sedan with a black license plate and white lettering slowly drove through the streets of Beijing. Although the reform and opening up had been going on for several years and there were more cars on the road, Mercedes-Benz was still a rare sight, especially with a license plate that clearly indicated an international background, attracting frequent glances from passersby. Although there were many cars on the road at the moment, there was no traffic jam, and the car drove smoothly into Nanluoguxiang, finally coming to a steady stop in front of the courtyard house.

Yan Bugui was squatting by the door, intently oiling his bicycle. Suddenly, the light behind him dimmed, and a huge shadow blocked the sunlight from shining on him.

He instinctively looked up, and due to the backlighting, he initially only saw two dark figures and a pair of long, straight legs clad in black stockings. He stared at the thighs for a moment, then squinted, shielding his eyes from the light above his eyebrows, and looked more closely. Upon seeing clearly, his expression instantly turned strange, and he sprang to his feet, his legs buckling, almost causing him to fall back onto the ground.

"You...you...you..." Yan Bugui pointed at one of the men, stammering for a long time, not knowing what to say.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean'? How can you be so rude, pointing your finger at us?" A woman next to him suddenly spoke up, interrupting Yan Bugui's thoughts.

The woman had long, wavy hair, arched eyebrows, and bright red lipstick. She wore a red silk blouse and a black pencil skirt, with black stockings on her legs. Even though autumn had been in the capital for a while, her light clothing suggested she was extremely resistant to the cold.

She spoke in a high-pitched, affected voice, complaining as she affectionately wrapped her arm around the man next to her, squeezing it tightly and shaking him. Her brows furrowed slightly, her face full of displeasure: "Boss, what are you doing in a place like this? It's filthy, and the people here are so rude."

The man next to her gently patted the woman's hand to comfort her, then looked at the still-shaken Yan Bugui with a smile: "Hey, Teacher Yan."