Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

The woman put it in her mouth and chewed it carefully. Her eyes lit up, and she nodded, saying, "I'll take them all! How much?"

"The supply and marketing cooperative charges 2.2 yuan per jin, and you have to pay with grain coupons; I don't charge coupons for this, and it tastes even better, and it's still 2.2 yuan."

"Okay! Wrap it up and weigh it accurately."

Su Yu took out his portable scale, weighed it, and it was exactly five jin (2.5 kg). The woman borrowed a scale from a nearby stall to check it again, and then counted out eleven yuan and handed it over with satisfaction.

"Remember to come again next time? And again tomorrow?"

"Not necessarily, I'm too busy to think about it."

"Alright, we'll see when we run into each other."

Su Yu gathered all the necessary ingredients from the black market and also brought back half a pound of lean and fatty pork for Xiao Yulan before heading home.

The educated youth compound was busy drying raisins. The walls were high, and no one outside could see what was happening inside. They had lost things a few times before, which led to heated arguments with the villagers. Now, the villagers would avoid them when passing by, afraid of getting bad luck.

Liu Mei stopped him and started chatting with a smile. She said that Su Yu was the only one in the whole village who spoke to the educated youth without putting on airs and didn't mind their clumsiness or how they did farm work like they were walking on cotton.

She also mentioned wanting to send some local produce home to honor her parents—she's the second oldest in the family, her older sister has taken over her mother's role, and her two younger siblings are still in school, but she was the only one pushed out because she was "the one who should be going to the countryside." Her parents felt sorry for her and sent her many things every month, and she always remembered to reciprocate with a little something.

Su Yu asked, "Do you know how to trap pheasants? Would you dare set a wild boar trap?"

Liu Mei shook her head: "No. Can you get some for us? We'll pay for it."

"I can teach you, but I can't accept money—it'll sound bad if word gets out. Here's what we'll do: pick a few people you trust and come to the hillside where I pick grapes at six o'clock tomorrow morning. I'll teach you step by step how to set traps, smoke meat, and dry it. Packing it up and sending it back won't be a problem. Everyone's short of meat these days, right? Think it over, and don't be late tomorrow morning."

Liu Mei nodded repeatedly: "Okay! This is the flashlight we exchanged with the industrial coupons we collected. Thank you for teaching us how to make raisins."

"Alright, in a few days I'll teach you something even more practical—that skill could be a lifesaver when food is really scarce. We don't need many people, just reliable ones."

See you tomorrow morning!

See you later.

These people will go back to the city sooner or later, so it's better to befriend them now than lose out. Life is unpredictable; offering a bowl of water today might mean someone will carry a bag of rice for you someday. Connections aren't built by piling things up; they're accumulated gradually over time—those with a strong family background and strict upbringing often don't talk much, but they're reliable in their actions.

When Su Yu returned home, Su Yun was sitting on the doorstep waiting, her heart in her throat, afraid that no one would want what she made.

Seeing him enter, she jumped up and rushed to greet him: "Third Brother, how did it go? Did anyone ask?"

She didn't even dare to ask if they were sold out, hoping someone would lend a hand.

Su Yu smiled and waved the money in her hand: "They were fighting over it! But a generous guy bought it all in one go. Here, three yuan, five yuan for the cost, six yuan net profit, we'll split it evenly."

Su Yun breathed a sigh of relief and grinned, "Thank you, Third Brother! Have you bought the materials yet? I'll get started right away!"

"Everything's ready. I even bought meat for your sister-in-law. We'll have a nice meal at home tonight—to celebrate our first successful collaboration!"

"That's great! Thank you, Third Brother!"

"What are you thanking me for? We're like siblings. When I was starving, didn't you secretly slip me some cornbread?"

"Let's not talk about it anymore! From now on, my brother and I will work together to earn more money so that our lives can get better day by day."

Xiao Yulan took the meat and turned to walk towards the stove; Su Yun quickly found the ingredients, washed and cut them, and got to work as soon as the meal was on the table.

"Aunt Wang is very sick today and doesn't have money to go to the clinic... Sigh, at her age, she has to suffer like this."

"Over at the cowshed?"

Su Yun nodded silently, a layer of sorrow weighing on her brow.

Su Yu paused for a moment, then said, "I'll go check it out later. I'll lend a hand if I can."

"Be careful not to let anyone see you."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

After dinner, it was already dark. Su Yun kneaded the last piece of pastry, lit a torch, and headed home. Su Yu offered her the flashlight, but she waved it away—afraid that Wu Lanhua would see it, take it, and never return it.

Su Yu slipped out in the dark, a half-eaten pancake from the supply and marketing cooperative tucked into his pocket, and silently made his way to the cowshed. Twelve people lived there, three of them still children. In those days, right and wrong were hard to discern, and he didn't want to clash with the village; as long as he remained out of the public eye, no one would know.

He knocked gently on the door. The four thatched huts were crammed together, and it was eerily quiet inside.

The knock on the door sent a jolt through the room—aside from those coming to give a lecture, almost no one else had come. Everyone held their breath and huddled in a corner. Old Man Li sighed, then got up, leaning on his cane, and opened the door: there's no escaping it, might as well be frank.

In the dim light, he squinted at the young man in front of him, who was carrying a cloth bag and whose face he couldn't see clearly.

"Comrade, who are you looking for?"

"Grandpa, I borrowed your enamel mug to drink water the other day, have you forgotten? I brought you some food. I heard someone is sick, so this is a little money to help you out."

Old Li's lips moved, but the words stuck in his throat.

Su Yu shoved the cloth bag and ten yuan into his hand: "No need to thank me, and don't remember it. Just pretend I was never here. If you need anything, just sneak into my backyard at night and knock three times—be quiet, don't disturb anyone."

Su Yu stuffed the package into his palm, then turned and walked towards home. The people here would at most stay for another two years before gradually returning to the city—their connections were already firmly established, not to mention their strength. If they could make connections later, that would be a real bond; cultivating that bond properly was more valuable than earning any number of work points.

The noise outside startled the neighbors, who all got up, put on their clothes, and gathered around Old Man Li's door to see what was going on.

A middle-aged man, leading three children, pushed open the door and entered: "Professor Li, what just happened?"

Now that everyone is alone, they still use the titles they used to use in their old workplace.

……

Seeing that everyone was wide awake and eagerly waiting to hear the story, Professor Li felt a surge of warmth in his heart—it turned out that they truly cared about him. Living together in this small courtyard, spending every day together, helping and supporting each other, they had long since become as close as family.

He untied the cloth bag and took out the items one by one: a block of snow-white lard, a faded cold medicine box, a bottle of safflower oil that gleamed slightly, half a jar of clear vegetable oil, a neatly stacked large flatbread, several fountain pens, a stack of letter paper, and a heavy bag of cornmeal.

Wang Bin blurted out, "Where...did this come from?"

I haven't seen these objects in so long that I even held my breath.

Professor Li said in a gentle voice, "My wife was seriously ill a couple of days ago and couldn't even swallow rice porridge. I gritted my teeth and went to the house of the young man who had just separated from his family to borrow some rice—but to my surprise, he handed me a can of malted milk powder without saying a word."

Wang Bin nodded—he knew about it. After Aunt Wang felt a little better, she gave him the remaining malted milk powder so that the three children could have some nourishment.

Professor Li handed over ten yuan: "Old Xu, take this first. This is what the child asked me to pass on. Take Li Yan to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow morning. This child has a heart as soft as spring water. He gave her everything he had, even though we were complete strangers. The old saying 'sending charcoal in the snow' is really true." Ten yuan was a large sum of money that could buy half a bag of grain these days.

He looked at his old colleague's withered hands, which trembled slightly, and accepted the money.

"Everyone should share some bread to fill their stomachs. Make sure to hide the lard well; when cooking, scrape off just a tiny bit, about the size of a fingernail, and it will make the whole pot of rice smell wonderful. Also, share some pens and paper; those who want to write letters should start writing as soon as possible—I shamelessly begged that kid to help us mail them out."

The group accepted the cakes and letter paper, planning to start writing the next day and ask someone to bring back some urgently needed items. Normally, who would bother with such a thing? Now, with this young man, it felt as if a ray of light had suddenly pierced through their lives.

Su Yu set off up the mountain with a bamboo basket on his back just as dawn was breaking. Today he was going to teach the educated youth how to set a trap—he himself didn't eat wild game, but others might not mind, like the thick, fragrant wild boar meat.

On the way, we ran into the people from the educated youth compound, and they all showed up at once. There wasn't much work to do these past two days, so the brigade leader gave us permission to leave; if it were the double harvest season, even if we were delirious from the fever, we would grit our teeth, pick up our hoes, and go to the fields.

Seeing that they were united as one, Su Yu didn't pour cold water on their enthusiasm. As long as he didn't take any money, it wasn't considered a violation; if something went wrong, no one could blame him—he was only responsible for teaching, he didn't supervise anyone's handover, and he certainly didn't personally set any traps.

Carrying their newly bought hoes, the group followed him deeper into the dense forest.

"This area has the most wild boar hoof prints, so we have to be extra careful," Su Yu said as they walked. "Dig a hole, fill the bottom with sharpened bamboo skewers, cover it with fallen leaves, and put a few wild fruits as bait. Put a fresh bamboo pole next to it as a marker so that no one in our family can accidentally fall in."

Before the words were even finished, the trap had already been neatly set up.

"Don't be greedy, two or three is enough. Too many will easily hurt your own people. If there's no movement for half a month, fill it in. Now we'll set up pheasant snares—find a small, flexible tree for support, set the snare by the roadside, pheasants like to walk close to the grass, they won't fly into the middle of the road. Scatter the food around the snare, and you're done." He squatted down and gestured the moment a pheasant pounced on the food and tripped over it, his movements clean and efficient.

"Remember, only act in secluded places. Do not touch the village entrance, the field ridges, or the threshing ground."

The educated youth agreed in unison, patting their chests and promising to do so.

Before long, Su Yu finished picking the last basket of wild fruit. This year's harvest was over—too high to climb, left for the birds to survive the winter. This basket was the raw material for the last batch of jam.

In another month, the loaches will burrow into the deep mud to escape the cold and become hard to find; but right now is the prime time for hunting wild boars and trapping pheasants: it is neither the breeding season, so there is no need to worry about the young losing their parents; nor is it the gestation season, and they are busy storing up fat to survive the dry grass roots and frozen soil in the cold winter.

He stopped by the yam patch on the way and took a look. The vines were intact and hadn't been damaged. He couldn't worry about it now; he'd deal with it properly after he finished these ten days or so of work.

Suddenly, a piercing howl tore through the forest—Su Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she turned and ran towards the first trap.

The educated youth had gathered around the pit, at a loss for what to do.

"Get up the tree!" he hissed. "Wild boars live in groups!" Before he finished speaking, he was already climbing a thick branch. The others hurriedly followed.