Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Yi Zhonghai trembled with rage as he looked at Xu Damao, who had stood up to speak for Wei Chen. Pointing at Xu Damao, he couldn't utter a single word for a long time: "You, you, Xu Damao, what nonsense are you spouting! I'm doing this for the compound, for everyone!"

"For everyone? I think it's for yourself!" Xu Damao retorted without backing down, "Everyone knows what you're thinking. You're just after Wei Chen's wild boar meat, aren't you? You want to use everyone in the hospital to force Wei Chen to hand it over so you can get a piece and gain a good reputation. Do you really think no one can see through you?"

"You!" Yi Zhonghai was red-faced and furious at Xu Damao's words, but he was helpless.

The people present weren't fools. After hearing Wei Chen's words and seeing Xu Damao's righteous indignation, they all understood. Yi Zhonghai was using his position for personal gain, trying to morally blackmail Wei Chen and take advantage of him.

For a moment, the people in the courtyard were talking about it, and their gazes toward Yi Zhonghai became somewhat strange, no longer showing the same level of trust as before.

When Jia Zhangshi saw that things were not going well, she tried to throw a tantrum and demand that Wei Chen divide the meat among himself. However, Wei Chen gave her a cold glance, his sharp and icy gaze carrying a sense of intimidation. Jia Zhangshi immediately cowered and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue, no longer daring to utter a sound.

Qin Huairu also pulled Jia Zhangshi back a step, not daring to get involved anymore.

Looking at Yi Zhonghai, whose face was ashen and who had lost all face, Wei Chen said in a calm tone, "Uncle, if there's nothing else at the meeting, you can call it a day. I have things to do at home, so I won't stay any longer."

After speaking, Wei Chen stopped looking at Yi Zhonghai and ignored the gazes of everyone present. He turned and walked towards the east courtyard with an upright posture and a composed gait.

Xu Damao watched Wei Chen's departing figure, snorted coldly at Yi Zhonghai, and then turned and went back to his room.

Yi Zhonghai stood there, surrounded by the crowd, utterly humiliated and speechless. His meticulously planned college-wide meeting had ended in complete defeat, making him a laughingstock of the entire college.

Seeing that there was no excitement to watch and no hope of getting any wild game, the people in the middle courtyard could only disperse dejectedly. Although they still craved the meat from Wei Chen's family, they knew that Wei Chen was not someone to be trifled with and dared not try to take advantage of him again.

Wang Xiulan and Wei Ran had been watching from the entrance of the east courtyard. Seeing that Wei Chen had calmly resolved Yi Zhonghai's difficulties, they both breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Wei Chen walked into the courtyard, looking at the abundance of New Year's goods and smelling the aroma of meat wafting from the kitchen, and felt a sense of peace.

He knew that after this incident, the people in the courtyard would no longer dare to provoke him easily, nor would they dare to morally blackmail him again.

In this day and age, being soft-hearted and yielding will not earn you respect, but only endless greed and bullying. Only by upholding your bottom line and standing up for yourself can you protect yourself and your family, and safeguard this hard-won peaceful life.

With Chinese New Year just two days away, he wouldn't let these unpleasant people and things affect his and his family's New Year's mood.

Wei Chen looked up at the sky. Sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone warmly into the courtyard.

This year, he, his mother, and his sister will surely have a peaceful and prosperous New Year. As for those evil spirits in the courtyard, he will never again give them any chance to bully him.

The thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Lunar New Year's Eve.

Before dawn, the biting wind, carrying fine snowflakes, swept through the streets and alleys of the capital, howling as it lashed against the blue brick walls. Remnants of last night's snow still lingered under the eaves and at the base of the walls, exuding the unique chill of midwinter.

Even in the coldest weather, the festive atmosphere of the New Year permeated the city. It was a lively atmosphere that emanated from the cooking fires in every household, filled with anticipation and joy, a rare bright spot in the midst of poverty.

As dawn broke and the sky began to lighten, the streets and alleys of Beijing gradually came to life.

In the distance, the shouts of vendors hawking their wares echoed from the alleyways. Selling candied hawthorns, Spring Festival couplets, and firecrackers and incense, their voices rose and fell, thick with Beijing accents and filled with the festive joy of the New Year.

Smoke curled from the chimneys of every household, the aroma of firewood and flour mingling with the faint scent of meat wafting through the air; children, dressed in patched but clean cotton-padded jackets, chased and played in the alleyways with only a few candies in their pockets, occasionally lighting a small firecracker, the crisp pop eliciting a burst of joyful laughter.

The courtyard houses had long since shed their usual dullness and gained a lively atmosphere for the Lunar New Year.

In the front and middle courtyards, every household was busy with the final preparations for the New Year. Some people were squatting at the door chopping firewood, while others were kneading dough and making dumplings inside the house. The women's instructions, the men's voices, and the children's cries were all mixed together.

Behind this festive atmosphere, however, lay the unique hardship of that era—food coupons and meat coupons were scarce. For most families, their New Year's goods consisted of only a few pounds of coarse grains and a small bag of white flour. Those who were better off could pull strings to get half a pound of fatty pork, which was considered the best year. For most families, they could only afford to make a meal of vegetarian dumplings as an excuse for family reunion. Having two meat dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner was a luxury.

Only those whose families have jobs at steel mills received a pound of meat this year, making it a rare opportunity to have a good New Year.

In the courtyard, Jia Zhangshi was squatting at the door, drinking thin porridge from a chipped porcelain bowl. Her eyes kept glancing towards the east side of the courtyard, and she was sniffing the air. Her face was full of jealousy and resentment.

The night before last, Yi Zhonghai tried to force Wei Chen to share the wild game, but he was rebuffed and lost face. No one in the courtyard dared to make a move on Wei Chen's family anymore. However, the aroma of meat wafting from the east courtyard every day made Jia Zhangshi feel like she was being scratched by a cat. She kept muttering unpleasant words, but she only dared to vent her frustrations in private.

Yi Zhonghai paced around the courtyard early in the morning, his face gloomy. He was filled with anger as he recalled the embarrassing moment at the hospital-wide meeting a few days ago, Wei Chen's firm refusal, and Xu Damao's public sabotage. He had nowhere to vent his anger.

Looking at the tightly closed gate of the east courtyard, he knew that Wei Chen's family must be celebrating the New Year in a lively manner, with plenty of New Year's goods in their hands. He felt increasingly uneasy, but he no longer had the courage to go to their door to cause trouble.

Sha Zhu was called away by Qin Huairu early on to help chop the few cabbages he could find. He sighed from time to time. His family didn't have much food to eat this year, and they were still struggling to make ends meet.

Xu Damao's family was slightly better off, but it was still worlds apart from the East Wing. He had tidied up early and, thinking of his friendship with Wei Chen, he wanted to visit and wish Wei Chen a Happy New Year. However, he was afraid of disturbing Wei Chen's family reunion, so he decided against it and just silently wished Wei Chen a prosperous New Year.

Of all the courtyard houses, only the east wing on the east side is uniquely affluent and peaceful, isolated from the outside world's hardships and schemes, forming its own warm and cozy world.

This is Wei Chen's first New Year since he transmigrated to this world, and also the first family reunion after he, his mother Wang Xiulan, and his sister Wei Ran truly settled down in the capital.

Since transmigrating, Wei Chen has gone from a poor boy in Baoyuquan Village who never had enough to eat or wear and had to fight for a living to someone who now owns a house in the capital and has established himself in the purchasing department of a steel rolling mill. It only took him a few short months.

All of this is inseparable from the Hunter game world he carries with him—it is the foundation of his livelihood and the source of his confidence in protecting his family.

For this New Year, Wei Chen began preparations as early as mid-December. Relying on the inexhaustible resources in the game world, he stocked up on New Year's goods for his home, filling an entire storage room with goods that were so abundant that it was unbelievable.

In the storage room, bags of fine rice and flour, packed in coarse burlap sacks, were neatly stacked. The rice grains were plump and translucent, and the flour was snow-white and delicate. There were seven or eight bags in total, enough to feed the whole family for more than half a year.

Golden millet, plump soybeans, red beans and other grains are neatly packed in porcelain jars, filling them to the brim; two large jars of fragrant peanut oil and rapeseed oil are sealed and placed heavily in the corner, so that cooking and stir-frying no longer requires the same frugality as other households.

The amount of meat consumed was staggering.

The wild boar meat hunted in the game world is marbled with fat and lean meat, firm in texture, and without any fishy smell. It is hung in a well-ventilated place, along with cleaned pheasants, rabbits, and pigeons, stacked in bamboo baskets and frozen solid.

In addition, there were live pigs and fresh sheep from the game world, as well as tender pork belly, ribs, lean meat, and pig's trotters, all neatly categorized, cut, and packed. The pork alone weighed dozens of kilograms. In this era when meat was rationed and ordinary people could only afford to eat meat a few times a year, Wei Chen's family's meat reserves were enough to make everyone in the capital envious.

In addition to staple foods and meats, all kinds of New Year's goods are also available.

Sweet apples, pears, and oranges are top-quality fresh fruits that are rarely seen on the market. They are packed in bamboo baskets, and the aroma of the fruits is overwhelming. Crispy peanuts and melon seeds are roasted until fragrant, filling a whole sack.

There were also the rarest fruit candies, milk candies, and shortbreads of that era, wrapped in colorful candy wrappers and packaged in exquisite wooden boxes, emitting a sweet aroma; dried fruits such as red dates, longans, walnuts, and chestnuts were also present, filling an entire drawer.

In addition, Wei Chen had prepared new clothes, shoes and socks in advance. He made a dark blue pure cotton cotton-padded jacket and pants for his mother, which were soft and thick. He picked out a pink floral cotton-padded jacket for his younger sister Wei Ran, paired with a pair of brand-new cotton shoes. The little girl looked particularly smart in it. He also changed into a clean and neat black cotton-padded jacket, which made him look tall and energetic.

Spring Festival couplets, the character "福" (good fortune), firecrackers, and incense were all prepared well in advance. The bright red couplets were full of vibrant ink, and the auspicious "福" characters were exquisitely cut. Firecrackers and fireworks of all sizes, some written by the Third Uncle and some bought from outside, were all piled up in the corner, ready for a lively celebration on New Year's Eve.

Such a large stock of New Year's goods would be considered extremely generous, not only in this ordinary courtyard house, but even in a wealthy family in the capital. With no worries about food and clothing, and an abundance of New Year's goods, there would be no more embarrassment of lacking food or clothing, and no more worrying about having enough to eat. This was the most reassuring sense of security that Wei Chen could give his family.