Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

"Aunt Jia, if you have any difficulties, let's sit down and talk. If we really can't reach an agreement, we can ask Uncle San to mediate, or register for mediation at the neighborhood office. But your shouting in the courtyard is not only disruptive but also against the rules..."

Just as Jia Zhangshi was about to spit, a thunderous voice boomed: "Jia Zhangshi—put your hand down! Believe me or not, I'll break it!"

She shrank back, a shiver running through her body. Looking up, she saw He Yuzhu stride out of the house, his face so dark it looked like ink could be scraped off, and he rushed towards her in three quick steps.

"You old hag, were you trying to scold my daughter-in-law just now? Looks like that slap from last time was just a tickle to you!"

He Yuzhu clenched his fist and then released it. The movement was like a lightning bolt. Jia Zhangshi immediately sprang up from the ground, staggered and fell behind an old woman, her trouser legs covered in dust.

He Yuzhu didn't chase after her, but simply stood beside Lou Xiao'e, his voice low yet piercing like nails: "All I heard at the dinner table was you yelling. Did you really suffer a grievance? Call the police, go to the neighborhood committee, there are plenty of options—if you don't even dare to go to the neighborhood committee, what are you yelling about here?"

Jia Zhangshi choked on her breath, her face turning a deep purplish-red. She had intended to use her neighbor's words to pressure Qin Huairu and force her daughter-in-law to submit, but He Yuzhu had unexpectedly intervened, completely ruining her plans.

Worse still, she didn't dare to confront He Yuzhu directly: reason with him? She'd be confused in three sentences; throw a tantrum? A slap was already hanging over her head; in the end, she could only stare blankly, unable to utter a coherent sentence.

Just then, Xu Damao leaned against the doorframe and began to speak in a drawn-out tone: "Oh my, Director He is so powerful! Being your neighbor, I have to ask permission before I can even breathe..."

Yu Li's heart sank. She reached out to tug at his sleeve, but the words were already spilled and couldn't be taken back. She gritted her teeth and cursed inwardly: Because of this foul mouth, I haven't even dared to step out of Lou Xiao'e's house lately!

"Xu Damao, it's my turn. I'll go to the stove and eat two bowls of rice right now."

He Yuzhu didn't even lift his eyelids, but he had already made up his mind: He had to make an appointment with Section Chief Zhou tomorrow, and also bring in the purchasing heads from other factories, to give up a few nearby locations and exchange them for a few more distant areas; he would also make up for more travel expenses so that the purchasing staff could make more trips—Xu Damao was definitely going to get involved.

But if he were really forced to spend four months a year in the village, He Yuzhu would immediately have the villagers write a joint letter accusing the steel mill of not sending cadres to the countryside for propaganda purposes for a long time, clearly showing contempt for farmers!

Xu Damao scoffed, not taking it seriously at all—it was something that Deputy Factory Director Jiang had personally approved, so what trouble could a personnel and logistics director who had no authority over him possibly cause?

Just then, Qin Huairu came out carrying a basin of dirty clothes, lowered her head and walked straight to the pool, ignoring everyone.

But as soon as she appeared, a sour, rancid stench filled the air. Lou Xiao'e immediately covered her mouth and gagged, while bystanders pinched their noses and backed away as if avoiding a plague.

"This smell...it's suffocating!"

"Jia Dongxu's clothes were left out to dry in the afternoon, and the neighbor yelled at him, so Jia Zhangshi hurriedly brought them in. They weren't washed at all; she was just waiting for Qin Huairu to come back and clean them up..."

"That old man, he's incredibly lazy!"

Several neighbors who weren't at work started chattering about what had happened that afternoon. The newcomers frowned and glanced at Jia Zhangshi with disgust in their eyes.

"snort!"

Instead, Madam Jia straightened her back and curled her lips upwards—as long as Qin Huairu was willing to lower her head and wash clothes, she would consider herself the winner!

He Yuzhu gave her a cold glance, then turned to Lou Xiao'e and said, "Let's go back inside. This yard is becoming unbearable!"

"Hurry up!"

Lou Xiao'e couldn't hold on any longer. She covered her nose with one hand and grabbed He Yuzhu's arm with the other, then turned and left. The rest of the people had also mostly slipped away. Soon, only Qin Huairu was left squatting by the pool washing herself in the central garden, while Jia Zhangshi stood in the courtyard with her hands on her hips, and an old woman was pinching her nose and sighing.

"Sister-in-law, you...sigh!"

The old woman shook her head, turned around and went into the house, not even bothering to close the door properly.

"Hmph, Qin Huairu, wash me clean!"

After saying this, Jia Zhangshi swayed her hips and shuffled into the house—she remembered that Qin Huairu had brought back two lunchboxes, so there would definitely be some left.

But when they opened the door, the lunchbox was mostly empty. Banggeng and Xiaodang were licking the bottom of their spoons, and even when Jia Dongxu reached out, Qin Huairu stopped him, busy feeding the children.

Madam Jia, enraged, jumped up and down, yelling, "You slut! Make me a new pot later, or nobody's getting anything hot today!"

After washing the last load of clothes, Qin Huairu wrung them out and hung them on a bamboo pole. She didn't even lift her head, letting Qin Huairu curse her spittle flying everywhere, without adding a single piece of firewood to the stove.

The next morning, Qin Huairu finished cooking and went out. Before leaving, she squatted down in front of Banggeng and whispered, "Wait for me at the gate this afternoon. I'll take you two to the steel mill canteen for lunch." She repeatedly reminded him, "Don't tell your grandma and dad, okay?" Seeing Banggeng nod vigorously, she picked up her bag and left.

He Yuzhu stewed braised pork with green peppers and scrambled eggs for Lou Xiao'e, filled two large bowls, and then rode his bicycle to the factory.

He walked around the factory grounds, dozed off in his office for a while, and then strolled toward the conference room—the factory director and the clerk were both absent yesterday, so the meeting was delayed until today.

The meeting began with Director Yang outlining the construction schedule and highlighting key points; then each department took turns giving their reports. As usual, Secretary Wang leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest, and rarely spoke.

When it was the purchasing department's turn, Section Chief Zhou cleared his throat: "Factory Director, the amount of unplanned material purchases hasn't been large lately. My staff has made several trips to remote rural cooperatives, but the village secretaries' faces were as black as the bottom of a pot when they saw us purchasing agents. I was thinking, should we ask the publicity department for a hand to help us warm up the relationship? Just like when we received the Soviet experts a few years ago..."

Factory Director Yang slapped his forehead: "That's right! Back then, the purchasing department and the projection team worked together, one showing movies and the other negotiating business. Many villages had very strict rules—if you didn't show a movie, the village chief wouldn't even pour you a cup of tea, let alone mobilize the villagers to sell grain or oil."

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Zhao broke out in a cold sweat: This move is too ruthless. The two bottles of Moutai and two cartons of cigarettes that Xu Fugui delivered just two days ago are still under my desk.

He cleared his throat and slowly replied, "Section Chief Zhou's idea is good, but our factory workers are also looking forward to watching movies. We only have one projectionist; sending them all to the countryside might cause complaints from the factory's residential buildings..."

"What's so difficult about it?"

He Yuzhu suddenly interjected, his voice crisp and clear: "There are plenty of cinemas in Beijing. It shouldn't be difficult to borrow one cinema per month to screen one film. Sending them to the countryside? That's asking the impossible. We still have to do our own work properly."

After listening, Factory Director Yang nodded vigorously: "Director He is absolutely right! We can bring in outside help for the film, but when it comes to procurement, we can only rely on our own people!"

However, no sooner had Director Yang finished speaking than Deputy Director Jiang Shouqin slammed his hand on the armrest and sneered, "Director He, this isn't a discussion of the procurement plan, it's clearly an excuse to settle personal scores! Are you treating the factory's myriad tasks like a monkey show?"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was stunned—no one expected that such an ordinary suggestion to go to the countryside for procurement would be labeled as "retaliation" by Jiang Shouqin on the spot.

What's even more unsettling is that Jiang Shouqin is in charge of logistics, making him He Yuzhu's direct superior.

He said that in front of all the middle-level managers in the factory. Could it be that the two of them had already fallen out?

Wang Shuji raised his eyelids, his clear gaze sweeping over the two of them, no longer pretending to be half-asleep.

"Retaliation?" He Yuzhu's lips curled into a cold, hard smile. "Deputy Factory Director Jiang's mouth is truly capable of fabricating stories out of thin air."

He knew perfectly well that Xu Damao dared to speak out yesterday because he had climbed up to Jiang Shouqin's high branch; even Zhao Dingguo from the propaganda department's "inappropriate" comment just now was probably instructed to do so—otherwise, why would he have timed it so perfectly to shield Xu Damao from the attack?

But he always followed the rules, leaving traces of everything and complying with regulations in every aspect. Who could find even a single word to hold him accountable?

"Section Chief Zhou offered ideas, Section Chief Zhao presented his difficulties, and I came up with a solution—how did it all become 'harassment' in Deputy Factory Director Jiang's ears? Fine, since you're so insistent on it being revenge, then please state clearly: which of my words or actions hurt or harmed whom?"

Seeing that He Yuzhu not only wasn't intimidated but was also pressing him further with questions about the deputy factory director, Jiang Shouqin was so angry that the veins on his forehead throbbed: "You personally told Xu Damao to go to the mountain valley to show movies, and Xu Damao came to me crying yesterday! Now you're turning down this job, what is this if not revenge?"

"If this is what you call revenge," He Yuzhu's voice suddenly rose, "then you're just arbitrarily accusing us! What's wrong with organizing workers to bring culture to the countryside and enrich their spiritual lives? In your eyes, good things can turn into bad things, and good people can turn into bad people—I've heard that when your eyes are clouded, everything you see is fog; when your heart is moldy, everything you see is black."

At this moment, Section Chief Zhou also stepped forward, his tone calm: "Distinguished leaders, let me also say a few words. Right now, procurement is truly a bottleneck—the rural cooperatives around Beijing have already exhausted their unplanned supplies. The other day, we entertained..."

"The unplanned inventory in the warehouse is almost gone. I met with Director He yesterday, and I brought this up first: instead of waiting for the supply to be cut off, we should go to a more distant place. According to Deputy Factory Director Jiang, I have already 'taken revenge' on the second and third purchasing groups."

The purchasing department is divided into three groups: Group 1 is in charge of the allocation and warehousing of planned materials—the work is done without running around, but the food, oil, and salt for nearly 10,000 people in the steel mill all fall on this group, and it's like fighting a war every day; Groups 2 and 3 are in charge of tackling the toughest problems, getting goods outside the plan: sometimes they give the furnace workers an extra meal of braised pork, sometimes they prepare a special meal for the leaders who come to inspect the factory, seven parts are for hospitality and three parts are for extra meals.

Both teams work in all kinds of weather year-round. Their wages are slightly low, but their subsidies are generous. However, their responsibilities are also heavy—whether or not to provide special meals or extra meals ultimately falls on their shoulders.

"When it comes to running around to remote mountain villages, no one in our department is idle. Which team member hasn't run around there? Which one has run around less than Xu Damao? Sigh, Factory Director, Clerk, I really dare not assign any more tasks in the future—I'm afraid that if I open my mouth, it will be considered 'political persecution'."