Rebirth in a Courtyard: I Am a Little Hunter

Liu Yuan was wearing faded blue overalls with patches on the elbows, the sleeves rolled up high to his forearms, and he was holding a wrench covered in black machine oil, clearly repairing something.

"Team leader? What are you doing here? I was just saying I'd left the car here and was going to find you! I've been helping out over there these past two days and haven't had time to come back to our team. Well, I just caught some fish and rushed back to hand in the task!"

"The bicycle has a minor problem, let's use their tools to fix it!" Liu Yuan said, glancing at the bucket behind Wei Chen's bike.

When his gaze fell upon the two large buckets on the ground, splashing water, thrashing fish heads, and making constant "crackling" sounds of struggle, he froze on the spot as if struck by a spell.

He tossed aside the wrench, strode forward, squatted down, and carefully parted a large grass carp struggling to move, its dark blue back gleaming with an eerie light, revealing its equally plump and robust bream huddled together beneath it.

"Little...Little Chen?!" Liu Yuan suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide open, his voice rising sharply with extreme surprise and joy, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to smooth out. "My God! Where did such a big fish come from! How many pounds does this...how many pounds does this weigh?!" He rubbed his hands excitedly, his knuckles large from years of hard work.

"Team Leader Liu," Wei Chen said with a smile, handing over a purchase order stamped with the logistics department's red seal, "Shichahai had good weather and ran into a school of fish. More than a dozen, all big fish, weighing about 70 or 80 pounds each! Let's weigh them? According to the factory's quota, it's our Group Three's." He specifically emphasized "our Group Three."

"Seventy or eighty pounds?! All of them are this size?!" Liu Yuan grabbed the purchase order, his fingers trembling as he repeatedly checked the numbers. He looked down at the lively, plump fish in the bucket, and was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

"Good lad! You're really something! You're incredibly capable! In this day and age, to be able to procure so much meat... and the fish is top-quality meat too! It's so thirst-quenching! It's really relieved our group's urgent need!"

He patted Wei Chen's shoulder hard, so hard that Wei Chen swayed slightly, his tone filled with triumphant excitement, "The security department transferred you away, it's really...it's such a waste of your talent! You should be in charge of handling these tough stuff!"

Liu Yuan immediately turned his head and shouted at the top of his lungs toward the darker part of the warehouse, his voice so loud it could shake the dust off the roof beams: "Old Ma! Little Zhao! Stop hiding! Get out here right now! We're weighing it! We've got a huge job! Wei Chen from our team has brought you some good stuff!" His voice was filled with the joy of rain after a long drought.

Two warehouse managers in overalls trotted out at the sound of their voices. Old Ma was a taciturn, dark-skinned man, while Xiao Zhao was younger, with a somewhat childish face. When they saw the two buckets of large fish still churning on the ground, they were equally stunned, their mouths agape, wide enough to fit eggs.

Working together, the three of them clumsily scooped the slippery fish out of the bucket one by one. The cold fish wriggled, their silvery scales shimmering faintly in the dim light from the warehouse ceiling bulbs. Inevitably, slime and water droplets splashed onto the three men's clothes and faces.

The heavy fish was thrown onto the massive cast-iron pan of the scale with a dull thud. The scale's thick pointer wobbled precariously before finally coming to a steady stop at the "83 jin" mark.

"Good heavens! A solid 83 jin! Every single one is top-quality!" Old Ma smacked his lips, his dark face full of amazement. Little Zhao quickly scribbled furiously on the open inventory register, the pen tip scratching rapidly across the rough paper.

Just as the warehousing work was in full swing, the light at the warehouse entrance dimmed again. A burly, stocky figure with a signature bowl cut swayed in, clutching a crumpled requisition form in his hand. It was none other than He Yuzhu, the canteen chef—Silly Zhu.

He was obviously there to collect the scallions, ginger and other seasonings for the cafeteria that evening. His gaze swept over the area casually, but it was immediately fixed on the mountain of fresh fish on the scale, which was still twitching slightly and reflexively twitching!

"Holy crap!!!" Sha Zhu gasped, his eyes widening instantly as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

He darted to the scales in a few strides, circling the gleaming mountain of fish twice, clicking his tongue in admiration as if it were a priceless treasure: "My goodness! Wei Chen?! This...this is all you brought back today?! Good heavens! Did you catch the Dragon King opening his storeroom? These fish! Every single one of them is top-notch!"

Wei Chen politely and modestly said a few words!

He crouched down and, without any hesitation, poked the bulging head of a large, fathead fish, which resembled the head of an old man, with his thick fingers. He then weighed the thick, powerful tail of a large grass carp next to him, his face showing undisguised amazement and admiration. "Impressive! Truly impressive! You're a master at hunting, and I never imagined you'd be good at fishing too!"

He gave Wei Chen a thumbs-up, grinned, revealing two rows of large, slightly yellowed teeth from smoking, and said, "You little rascal, you've got real skills! I'll have to learn a thing or two from you someday!"

"Brother Zhu, you're joking. It was just a blind cat catching a dead mouse; pure luck." Wei Chen waved his hand modestly, then, seeing Sha Zhu's excited expression like an expert spotting a good item, an idea struck him, and he extended an invitation, "By the way, Brother Zhu, are you free tonight?"

"We still have a few small fish at home. We don't eat fish often, and my mom doesn't know how to cook it! I was thinking of asking you to come over and help out, to give my mom some pointers on how to cook the fish to bring out its flavor, to reduce the fishy smell and bring out the freshness. How about coming over for a drink tonight? But if there are any rules about not revealing anything, then forget it, we can just stew it casually."

"Hey! What kind of rules are these!" Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu waved his large, fan-like hand, as forthright as a Liangshan hero, "It's just stewing a simple fish! You're not aiming to open a restaurant and compete with me, so what's the big deal about teaching your auntie! Perfect!"

As if suddenly remembering something, he slapped his broad forehead. "Hey! What a coincidence! It's raining today, my sister is on Sunday off from high school, and she just got back tonight! Nothing much to do at home. Alright! It's settled then! I'll be there on time! I'll also show off a little bit of my cooking skills, so Auntie can see the foundation she's built with the Tan family cuisine!" He deliberately pronounced the three words "Tan family cuisine" clearly and distinctly, with the pride unique to a chef.

Wei Chen immediately replied naturally, "That's perfect, Yu Shui, come along too. It'll be more lively with more people living in the same courtyard." He pictured He Yu Shui's delicate and quiet face in his mind; he remembered her as a sensible girl.

"Alright! Then I'll trouble you!" Sha Zhu readily agreed, his gaze lingering on the mountain of fish for a moment before he said, "You guys get busy, I'll go get some scallions, ginger, and garlic. We can't stew fish without these tonight!" With that, he hummed an off-key Peking opera tune, swayed his arms, and strode briskly toward the condiment area, his back view radiating joy.

Liu Yuan personally watched as Xiao Zhao meticulously completed the warehousing procedures, and saw him affix the bright red official seal to both the warehousing slip and the purchase order. Only then did he solemnly stack the two documents together and forcefully slap them into Wei Chen's hand. At the same time, he placed his other large hand heavily on Wei Chen's shoulder: "Xiao Wei, well done! The Third Group will remember this timely help! Go to the finance department to collect your money! This weighty contribution and cash cannot be delayed!" His eyes were filled with gratitude and a sense of intimacy as "one of our own."

"Team leader, that's enough, no need to thank me! I'm still one of our team three!" Wei Chen said, taking the receipt that still smelled of ink and was warm from the ink, and nodded.

As he stepped out of the warehouse, the last rays of the setting sun slanted across his face, bringing a touch of warmth. He navigated the factory area, piled high with discarded parts and debris, with practiced ease, heading towards the finance department building located in the northwest corner of the factory.

The finance department door was ajar, from which came the rapid, rhythmic clinking of abacus beads, and the air was thick with the smells of old paper, ink, and a faint scent of mothballs. Wei Chen tapped his finger on the mottled green paint of the door.

"Come in!" An elderly accountant wearing old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses, with his hair neatly combed back and revealing a broad forehead, didn't even look up. He remained buried in a pile of ledgers and forms, his abacus clattering loudly in his hands.

"Accountant Li, please submit the purchasing task and collect the payment." Wei Chen walked to the dark brown wooden counter with peeling paint and pushed the documents over smoothly.

The old accountant then slowly adjusted his glasses, which had slipped down to the middle of his nose, picked up the receipt, and brought it close to his eyes. When he saw "83 jin of fresh, live large fish" in the product name column and the unit price "0.50 yuan/jin" circled in red pen, he was immediately impressed.

His two graying eyebrows twitched in surprise as he finally looked up. Behind his glasses, his worldly-wise eyes sized Wei Chen up and down, a hint of inquiry and understanding in them. "Oh, Comrade Wei Chen. It's you again? This fish... it's quite plump! These days, even the best fish at the outside purchasing stations only fetch a little over three cents a pound at most, and you have to be incredibly lucky. In our factory... sigh..."

He sighed, pulling open a drawer to get money while habitually rambling on, "A new notice from above: supplies are tight, meat prices are rising, and even fish, which are essential for meat, are going up in price. Fifty cents a pound...tsk tsk, only a cent cheaper than regular grade two pork! But..."

He abruptly changed the subject, pushing a thick wad of banknotes in front of Wei Chen. "Getting this is a huge achievement! Here, count it carefully. Eighty-three jin, forty-one yuan and fifty cents. All brand new bills."

A thick stack of banknotes, mainly a few crisp ten-yuan notes, a few five-yuan notes, and even more stacks of one-yuan, fifty-cent, one-cent, and even a few cent notes, weighed heavily on the counter.

Forty-one yuan and fifty cents! In an era when an apprentice's monthly salary was only a dozen yuan, this was definitely a "huge sum" that could make an ordinary worker's heart race.

Wei Chen remained calm, extending his slender fingers to carefully count each banknote, feeling the unique texture of the rough paper. The weight of the money emanated from his fingertips, but also the guarantee that his spatial abilities could be safely and legally converted into cash in this harsh era, giving him a sense of solid control.

"Thank you, Accountant Li." Wei Chen counted the money correctly, signed his name on the receipt, carefully folded the money, and stuffed it into his inner jacket pocket.

"Don't be shy! Next time you have something good, remember to order from our factory! The workers are starving!" The old accountant waved his hand with a smile, then lowered his head and immersed himself in his world of abacus.

With a sense of weighty security in his pocket, Wei Chen walked briskly toward his former "old lair"—the office of Purchasing Group Three.

The office door was wide open, and the room was filled with smoke, as if it were on fire. Several familiar figures were huddled around two old desks pushed together, looking worried, puffing on reports and the pungent smell of cheap tobacco assaulting their nostrils.