Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

He Yuzhu lazily lifted his eyelids: "Who told you to arrange to pick up the kid yourself? I didn't agree to help you take care of him. You should handle your own child; I'm too lazy to bother with this."

Lou Xiao'e grabbed He Aijun's eldest son, poked He Yuzhu's nose, and said, "Look, this is your grandfather—he lies around all day, even taking you all for a walk in the alleys is too tiring. I must have sold myself to your He family in my past life!"

He Yuzhu rolled her eyes: "Fine, fine, you're happy to be a 'child slave,' why do you have to drag me down with you?"

Before he finished speaking, he actually sat up straight, picked up his two granddaughters in each arm, and followed Lou Xiao'e, swaying as they headed towards the kindergarten.

As Lou Xiao'e walked, she grumbled, "A woman in her fifties, spending all her time lounging in a recliner waiting for sugar to fall from the sky?"

He Yuzhu chuckled: "I have a pension to support me, I can lie down comfortably, not wait for a windfall—that's enjoying life."

Lou Xiao'e glanced at him sideways: "Now, I'm inviting you to experience life. Before, you were at work, and I took care of the kids; now it's your turn to taste it, isn't that a bit much?"

He Yuzhu shrugged: "Yes, yes, you're absolutely right."

Ever since the fourth son sent his firstborn to Beijing, He Yuzhu's leisurely days came to an abrupt end—from then on, he spent every day at the kindergarten, leading a group of kids to climb slides, roll in the mud, and fight over balls, becoming a silver-haired version of the "King of Kids."

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was 1995.

The Ho Group has long since transformed into a business behemoth, with its tentacles extending to hotels, business plazas, automobile manufacturing, home appliance production and sales, real estate development, film and television production, chain restaurants, chip design, smartphone research and development... encompassing almost everything.

One afternoon, He Yuzhu rummaged through the rice in his bowl and sighed to Lou Xiao'e, "These past few years have felt like I've gone back to my childhood. Even being a referee has become my main job—if the fourth child has another one, you can take care of him yourself. I really don't care anymore."

Lou Xiao'e picked up a piece of green vegetable with her chopsticks: "Children grow up fast, they'll be in school in the blink of an eye, what's the rush?"

He Yuzhu waved his hand: "Hurry? Fourth brother is already on his fifth child! If you have another one, you can sleep with it yourself; Fifth brother's second child has also been born, and the couple has time to take care of it, but you insist on taking over—I admire you, I really admire you!" He paused, lowered his voice, "From now on, I'm determined to stand by and do nothing."

Lou Xiao'e raised an eyebrow and smiled: "You have to keep your word. Don't let your granddaughter rush over to hug you and then immediately give in."

Now, when the dining table is set up, nearly twenty people sit around it: He Aijun's family of four, He Aidang's family of four, the fourth child with five children, the fifth child with two children, He Yuzhu and his wife, plus Lou's parents—just preparing the food is hard physical work. If it weren't for Aunt Li's generous salary, this pillar of the kitchen would probably have quit long ago.

After more than a decade of hard work and struggle in local government, He Aijun was finally transferred to Beijing, stepping into the inner circle.

In the winter of 2010, He Yuzhu lay on a hospital bed, his body covered in tubes, his eyes closed, completely unconscious. Only Lou Xiao'e's choked voice, each word clearly piercing his ears.

She grabbed her phone and dialed a number, her voice trembling: "Yushui, hurry... hurry and come see your brother, he might not make it. I called him, but he didn't respond at all. The doctor said they did their best."

Before the words were even finished, the doorway to the ward was already crowded with people. Suddenly, the monitor emitted a long, piercing beep—and the room erupted in a cacophony of sobs. He Yushui threw herself against her brother's chest, her throat bobbing as she called his name again and again in a hoarse voice.

脑海深处，系统冷冰冰响起：「本次人生体验终结，评分：不合格。即将启动新一轮时空投送。连续差评将执行宿主清除程序。解释权归本系统所有。倒计时启动——5、4、3、2、1。祝您旅途愉快。」

……

"Screw you!" A furious roar exploded, and the young man sat up abruptly, looking around as a wave of sorrow washed over him.

The peeling paint on the walls was crumbling, and a cold wind whistled in through the cracks; the quilt covering him was as stiff as cardboard, with more holes than patches. He rolled out of bed, staggered to the water vat, scooped up a basin of water, and stared at his reflection in the water, speechless for a long time.

He looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, dressed in tattered clothes as if he had been dragged through the mud, his hair dry, yellow, and tangled, resembling a pile of weeds that hadn't been wet for three days. If he stood on the street dressed like that, someone would surely slip him a few coins.

The young man stared at the water, gritting his teeth: "System, I know you're here. Come out, let's talk this out calmly—aren't you just targeting honest people?"

An internal alarm suddenly blared: "Warning! Warning! Insulting the system, electric shock punishment!"

In an instant, he convulsed and collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth, his limbs twitching and twisting uncontrollably. A few minutes later, panting heavily, he struggled to his feet and hissed, "Why did you give me a bad review? Why did you leave me here? I want to go home!"

The system responded indifferently: "Negative review? You still have the nerve to ask? I gave you a golden finger, a chance to change your fate, and what did you do? You took lying down to an art form, becoming a model of lazy bliss. Other hosts in that era would have leveraged a few pigs to tap into a market worth hundreds of billions, casually making billions. And you? You make me unable to hold my head up in the entire system world."

Young man: "Blame me? Did you even consider the value of those 'rewards' you gave out? A meat coupon is worth at most ten pounds; where am I supposed to conjure up thousands of pounds of meat to sell? The most you'll give me is five yuan—you'd be lucky to earn two hundred yuan!"

System: "Sorry, I really didn't mean it, but since you asked, I'll make an exception: 150 yuan starting capital is credited to your account; the 2,500 jin of grain you originally stored in your space, along with cloth coupons and non-staple food coupons, are all here for you; the space is also reset to its initial state—two acres of barren land and a small fishpond. No sign-in gift pack this time, and don't even think about relying on me to win. Let's set a hard goal: earn 100 million within fifty years. If you don't achieve it? One bad review, and it's all reset to zero."

The young man said, "Are you out of your mind? What's wrong with being a kept man?" Before he finished speaking, he swayed to the side and convulsed as if struck by lightning.

Young man: "I was wrong! I was wrong! Brother, have mercy! I'll change! I really will! One hundred million, I'll risk it all!"

System: "That's a warm-up. If you dare to speak recklessly again, the follow-up will be even more intense. By the way: you're currently in an alternate timeline, in 1974, playing out simultaneously with your original timeline. I still have to rush to the chat group to chime in. You live your life well, and I'll come back to check on you in fifty years. Earned a hundred million? Stay in the limelight for a few more years; still the same old way? Hmph, I've saved up thirty-seven sets of ways to deal with you."

The words fell silent.

The young man slumped to the ground, looking completely bewildered—he had just casually complained about a show, and now he was involved?

He calmed himself down and began to sort through the memories of this body: Su Yu, the third son of the Su family in the Dongfeng Brigade. As soon as his father left, his mother, Wang Guifen, turned on him on the spot, forced him to sign a letter of disownment at the brigade headquarters, and kicked him out of the house.

Su Yu's heart skipped a beat: This setting... how come it's exactly the same as the opening of a certain novel? He is actually the cousin of the female lead, Su Yun! The original was weak and sickly, and Su Yun lent him money to save him; later, he followed her to do small business and slowly saved up some money; but Wang Guifen turned around and swindled all the money to pay for the weddings of his two sons; when his younger son was arrested for possessing foreign books, Wang Guifen actually knelt in front of him and begged him to take the blame - three years of farm reform, leaving him with a lifelong disability.

After returning to the village, Wang Guifen told everyone that he had been crooked since childhood and deserved to be lame; while Su Yun had long since left, settled down in the city, and never looked back. With no one to help him and dragging his crippled leg, the original owner spent the rest of his life as a lonely ghost.

Su Yu jumped up and rushed to the bedside, lifting the covers—the letter of severance was still there! The edges of the paper weren't curled, and the ink was still clearly visible. He breathed a sigh of relief: thank goodness he hadn't torn it up in anger; this was his lifesaver!

Su Yu whispered to the void, "Go in peace. I'll remember this debt for you."

Later in the book, it was mentioned that Wang Guifen's youngest daughter gossiped to others, saying that Su Yu was actually the biological son of her eldest brother, Su Shan. When Su Qiang was critically ill, he asked Qi Wentai, who had returned to his hometown after being demobilized, to send the newborn baby to him, along with 270 yuan for child support. While her second uncle was alive, Wang Guifen dared not act recklessly, but as soon as Su Shan breathed his last, she immediately turned on him and kicked him out of the house overnight.

His stomach suddenly rumbled. Su Yu rummaged through drawers and cupboards looking for food, but the stove was cold and the pots were empty; he couldn't even find a grain of rice. His heart skipped a beat: Could it be that the original owner of this body really starved to death?

Just as they were pondering whether to retrieve some food from their spatial storage to cook, the curtain was lifted, and a pretty young woman entered the room carrying a bowl of steaming potatoes.

Su Yun: "Third brother, you didn't even have time to eat today when you were dividing the family property, did you? Second aunt is too heartless, she didn't even give us a single grain of rice! We should have less contact with her in the future, what kind of mother is she? Eat it while it's hot, you still have to go to work tomorrow!" The girl's brows were full of indignation.

Su Yu: "Little sister, you're giving me your food rations? Aren't you afraid Auntie will skin you alive?"

He knew very well that this third aunt was not Su Yun's biological mother at all. Her stepmother was mean-spirited, but her father, Captain Su, turned a blind eye. Later, Su Yun went out to do business and never set foot back in Dongfeng Brigade.

Su Yun: "Don't worry about eating. At most you'll get a scolding, it's worth it! I'm going back now, here's the bowl for you." She turned and left, her steps light and quick, without the slightest hesitation.

Su Yu didn't refuse, which saved her the trouble of starting a fire. While picking at the piping hot potatoes, she pondered her future: starting a business was too risky right now, but it wasn't impossible—if she could really establish herself in the future, she would definitely help this girl out; she couldn't let the kindness of a bowl of hot food go to waste.

It was still early, so he grabbed a bamboo basket and headed towards the back mountain he remembered. There was plenty of wild game there, and nobody cared about the weeds and wild fruits; picking them for personal use was fine. But what if he encountered wild boars or pheasants? If he caught them and didn't hand them over to the collective, he'd be labeled and paraded through the streets.

As Su Yu climbed up the back mountain, he became increasingly puzzled: his legs felt as light as if he were walking on cotton, and he wasn't out of breath at all. Too lazy to think about it, he went straight to the wild grapevines, picking only the big, purple ones to pick. In the blink of an eye, his bamboo basket was full, so heavy that it bent his back, and he hurried down the mountain.