Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

The only one secretly pleased was probably Qin Huairu. Jia Zhangshi did absolutely no housework at home, except for endlessly sewing shoe soles; she ate like two people, but was utterly useless. Now, with one less mouth to feed, she had one less chore to do—it seemed like a pretty good deal.

But how could she dare say such a thing to Jia Dongxu's face? Last year he was a decent husband, but ever since Yi Zhonghai left, he's been like a runaway horse. Just a couple of days ago, he even slapped her.

After returning to his room, Jia Dongxu's face was so dark it could drip water, and he didn't utter a single word. He had truly lost face today—his own mother had been taken away for labor reform, thankfully it was just an internal matter handled by the neighborhood committee and didn't leave a criminal record, otherwise his job would have been in jeopardy; now, although he was only being gossiped about, he had been pointed at and cursed by He Yuzhu in the yard, and he didn't dare to utter a sound, slinking back home in disgrace. This incident had long since festered in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more painful it became.

Not to mention that his wife had knelt before He Yuzhu before... All these humiliations piled up together, and he couldn't forget them even when he was drunk.

After everyone finished eating, just as dusk was falling, Yan Bugui leisurely strolled out to close the door when he suddenly heard a shout from afar: "Uncle Yan! Don't close it! Don't close it—hey, Third Uncle, wait for me, I'm back!"

Upon hearing Xu Damao's voice, Yan Bugui immediately grinned and opened the door again. Although he had been dismissed from his post, he firmly believed that he would eventually regain his position as the "master of the house."

Look at Liu Haizhong, that semi-literate guy. He goes to a meeting at the neighborhood office, and when he comes back, he can't remember half of it, and he can't explain the other half clearly. He'd be lucky if he could explain 30% of it.

"Hey, Damao, you've got a good harvest in the countryside, huh?" Yan Bugui, with his sharp eyes, immediately spotted the pile of mountain produce hanging on Xu Damao's bicycle—mushrooms, garlic, dried sweet potatoes, and most eye-catching of all, a whole wild rabbit.

The projectionist job was incredibly lucrative! These things were worth at least three yuan each, and with four trips a month, he'd earn twelve yuan just from the extra income. The steel mill even gave him subsidies, and all his meals in the countryside were reimbursed—the savings were all real money!

Yan Bugui's mind worked incredibly fast; he almost immediately considered having Jie Cheng snatch the position, but unfortunately, he had no connections. Besides, Jie Cheng was the same age as Xu Damao, so he wouldn't even be considered for a disciple position.

Xu Damao knew what Yan Bugui was up to the moment he saw the look in his eyes. But he had no intention of giving it away for nothing, so his tone immediately turned cold: "Alright, Uncle, are you planning to block the door and chat all night? I'm exhausted after a long day and need to go home and rest."

"Oh, Da Mao, don't panic! I have some big news for you—the courtyard was in an uproar just now! Jia Zhangshi has been sent back to her hometown!"

As he said this, his eyes kept glancing at the mountain goods on the bicycle, his meaning clear.

But Xu Damao actually fell for it. He loved joining in the fun, and when he heard there was some juicy gossip, how could he resist? Asking others might not be clear, so he figured he might as well listen to Yan Bugui, this "professional lecturer," give his presentation.

He simply tore off a bunch of mushrooms and stuffed them over, laughing as he said, "Third Uncle, take these back and make some nourishing soup. And please give me the complete story about Jia Zhangshi."

"Oh my, Da Mao is so sensible!" Yan Bugui took it and immediately started talking excitedly.

Although he wasn't in Zhongyuan when the incident happened, Aunt Wang gave a detailed account after returning from the street office. He had also been a teacher, and his vivid description made Xu Damao feel as if he had witnessed it himself.

"So, Jia Zhangshi will have to go back to the countryside to earn work points in a month. Da Mao, you should take this as a warning and never touch feudal superstition. I think the neighborhood committee is really going all out this time."

Xu Damao was immediately displeased: "Third Uncle, what are you saying? I'm a formally employed projectionist at the steel mill. How can my moral character compare to that of Jia Zhangshi?"

"Yes, yes, Da Mao, you're so promising, so promising..."

As Yan Bugui spoke, his eyes were glued to the fat rabbit on the back of Xu Damao's bicycle. The chubby rabbit must have weighed at least seven or eight pounds. A stew of it would fill the whole yard with its aroma and be enough for the Yan family to eat for three days straight.

Xu Damao could easily see through the old man's scheme. He frowned and cursed inwardly: "Old fox, a bunch of mushrooms weren't enough to satisfy you, and now you're even eyeing the game I hunted?"

"Alright, sir, I understand what's going on. Please make way, I'm in a hurry to get back and rest."

His tone was crisp and left no room for negotiation. He had originally thought that this trip to the countryside would only take three or four days to visit two villages and communities, but the head of the propaganda department had unexpectedly added six more locations, stretching it into six or seven days, leaving him exhausted.

Squeezing past the eager Yan Bugui, Xu Damao pedaled his bicycle home. As he passed Zhongyuan, the wheels jerked—the image of Qin Huairu's plump face suddenly popped into his mind.

Previously, with Jia Zhangshi keeping an eye on him and Jia Dongxu never leaving his side, he dared not act rashly. Now that Jia Zhangshi is gone and the tea has turned cold, all that's left is a spineless good-for-nothing Jia Dongxu? Ha, when it comes to playing mind games, even ten of him couldn't withstand his scheme.

Tonight won't do. Someone just got arrested; showing up now would be too conspicuous. Besides, he's exhausted and his eyelids are drooping; he'll get some sleep first.

On the other side, He Yuzhu finally got revenge for He Yushui. He slapped him and sent him straight to the labor camp for a month before sending him back to the countryside to dig in the dirt; before leaving, he slapped him a dozen times and kicked him until he was crawling on the ground looking for his teeth.

After He Yushui finished her meal and left in a huff, He Yuzhu closed the door and calmly summoned the system.

【system!】

[Proficiency System Activated]

[Host: He Yuzhu]

[Skill Bar Refresh]

Culinary Skills (Level 1: 1600000/1600000)

Household chores, Russian, English, fishing, Xingyi Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts), carpentry, medicine, agronomy, Tai Chi, mechanical repair, Go, Bajiquan (another style of Chinese martial arts) – all at level 5 with full marks!

Baguazhang (Level 4: 623/800)

Electrician (Level 3: 124/400)

Mechanical Design (Level 4: 512/800)

Massage (Level 3: 62/400)

[Vitality Acceleration Space: 4600×4600×4600 cubic meters]

Progress is encouraging. The Baguazhang (Eight Trigrams Palm) and mechanical design are just one step away from completion; once upgraded, the space will definitely expand again. However, the current four thousand cubic meters is already a bit stretched thin.

He thought to himself: If only the system could have a "feature upgrade" option.

With his mechanical design skills reaching Level 4 and his electrical engineering certification at Level 3, all those long-dormant ideas in his head suddenly resurfaced. Having lived two thousand years in the future, how many cutting-edge technologies had he witnessed? In this era, any one of them would be a game-changer.

He rummaged through drawers and found a few old papers, spread out his pen and ink, and pondered for a moment—it's 1957 now, what do ordinary people lack most?

"That's it, those two!"

Once the idea was made up, the hands worked without stopping. More than an hour later, a well-structured and detailed design drawing of a semi-automatic washing machine was completed.

As for whether people will question: How could a cafeteria chef come up with such high-end foreign gadgets?

Don't worry, someone's taking the blame—Sherif, who had already run away, is the perfect scapegoat.

To make it more realistic, He Yuzhu also filled the corners of the drawings with Russian terminology, the handwriting was messy, and it had a "Soviet industrial style".

"It's almost done. I'll take it to the boss tomorrow and see how it goes."

However, he quickly shook his head – the steel mill's current equipment simply couldn't produce it, unless a new production line was built specifically for it.

Moreover, the reality is that there are very few villages in the country with electricity, making it extremely difficult to promote this technology domestically.

But exports? That's another story.

The model he drew is a complete replica of the old-fashioned twin-tub washing machine used in the 1990s, with washing and spin-drying functions in one. It would be the undisputed king if it were around today.

The optimal solution would actually be to wait until he moves to Hong Kong with Lou's father, and then build a factory to export to the West. But that would take at least a few years…

Why not take action now? Start with small-batch trial production, which can supply high-end domestic units and pave the way for the future—when he moves south, we can directly transform into a transshipment agent and sell domestically produced washing machines abroad under our brand.

If Lou's father could truly take the top spot in shipping and monopolize one-third of Hong Kong Island's shipping capacity, it would be easy to deceive the local government.

He Yuzhu's thoughts wandered further and further, and before he knew it, the night was deep. He hadn't even practiced his boxing today, so he simply turned off the light and went to sleep, dreaming about the washing machine's first foreign exchange transaction.

The next morning, He Yuzhu prepared breakfast and pulled He Yushui out of bed. The brother and sister ate a hot meal and then went out together.

Apart from the Wang family, who continued their lives as usual, no one else in the courtyard dared to acknowledge the He siblings. It was peaceful enough—He Yuzhu had no intention of getting involved with these people anyway. Once He Yushui entered high school, she would be able to live on campus, and once she went to university, she would rarely need to return. Even if she occasionally returned to the courtyard, it would be to the house near Zhengyangmen, completely separate from this place.

After dropping his younger sister off at school, He Yuzhu went straight to the steel rolling mill. He first checked the greenhouse and canteen, and after confirming everything was in order, he called over his two apprentices, his face darkening: "You know about Jia Dongxu's matter, right?"

……

This time, even if Jia Dongxu brings up Director Yang, it won't work. He can forget about having a peaceful life in the factory unless he kicks He Yuzhu out of the steel rolling mill first.

The two junior disciples were still basking in the joy of the lavish wedding gift from their master when they heard that this Jia fellow dared to touch their master. The hot-tempered Qian Shih-hu immediately exploded, gritting his teeth and saying, "Should we find someone outside to teach him a lesson? Let him remember this!"

He Yuzhu waved his hand, directly rejecting the idea. It wasn't that he lacked connections, but it wasn't worth getting into trouble for a good-for-nothing who was destined to never recover.

After leaving the cafeteria, he took the blueprints and went to the technical department.

By this time, all the technical staff were on duty, their keyboards clattering loudly. Upon seeing He Yuzhu enter, Section Chief Zhou immediately put down his work and stood up to greet him.

Although He Yuzhu's position was half a rank lower than his, his influence in the factory was by no means insignificant. Half the credit for the technical department's current status should be attributed to him—a fact that Section Chief Zhou was well aware of.

"Director He, what brings you here today?" Section Chief Zhou asked with a smile.

He Yuzhu handed over the blueprints in his hand, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Take a look at this, a home appliance, based on the foundation left by Sharif, which I've filled in a bit more."

"You filled it in?" Section Chief Zhou was taken aback.

He wasn't surprised by what Sharif left behind, but He Yuzhu was the canteen director, a head chef. When did he get to touch circuit diagrams?