I Have a Lake as I Walk Through the Courtyard

Director Wang looked at the messy courtyard and smelled the faint odor in the air. "Look at the state of things you've created! Do you even deserve to call yourselves civilized courtyards? Who piled all this up here? It's so dangerous! What if a child trips and falls on this clutter and hurts their eyes?"

The more Director Wang looked, the more problems he found. "Liu Haizhong! Is this the courtyard house you're managing?"

"Director Wang, I have to go to work during the day, and this yard is so big, I really can't manage it all by myself..."

Director Wang glanced at Yan Bugui, who smiled at him, indicating that this was none of his business.

"Director Wang, it's so late! Let's deal with the fight first," a member of the joint defense team said quietly as he stepped forward.

Director Wang glanced at the disheveled men in the courtyard. "Tell me what happened? You've worked all day, and you're still up so late? You still have the energy to fight?"

When Zhou Long was questioned by Director Wang, he was timid and stammered for a long time without being able to give a coherent answer.

Just as Director Wang was about to lose his temper, Xu Damao walked up with a grin. "Director Wang, I know what happened today! It all started with Sha Zhu stirring things up, and then somehow, more and more people started fighting, and things got increasingly chaotic!"

"It's you again, Sha Zhu."

"Director Wang, you can't blame me. This girl peed in front of my house first, and then piled up junk in front of my house. I tried to talk to her nicely, but she wouldn't listen and even yelled at me!"

"is that so?"

Zhang Zhen panicked upon hearing this. "Director Wang, the urine at Sha Zhu's door was my youngest son's urine; we didn't steal it on purpose!"

"Don't you know that after your son peed, you should clean up? Just smell the mess this yard looks like now!"

"Isn't it normal for a child to pee? The smell will be gone by night..."

"Heh, then I'll pee in front of your house from now on! Let's see if you're normal then!"

"Enough!" Director Wang slammed his fist on the table in anger. "I think you all have too much energy! Everyone who got into the fight today, come back to the subdistrict office with me to write a self-criticism! You won't be back until you've finished!"

Sha Zhu has a hard time all day. "Director Wang, it's almost 9 pm now. We were just joking, don't you think..."

"You know it's 9 pm now. You guys were just fooling around, keeping the neighbors up all night. Everyone come with me to the neighborhood office! Everyone who was involved in the physical altercation, every single one of you has to write a 500-word self-criticism, and the two of you each have to write 1000! If you don't finish, nobody's coming back to sleep!"

Standing beside him, Lin Feng gave Director Wang a thumbs-up. "That was a ruthless move! It instantly reminded Lin Feng of the fear of being controlled by his homeroom teacher when he was a kid... These underachievers want to write a 1000-word self-criticism? Heh heh, they probably won't be able to finish it without pulling an all-nighter!"

Liu Haizhong gloated from the sidelines. His son had gone too, but what did it matter? These troublemakers needed to be taught a lesson. "Director Wang handled it well! We all support your approach. Such a black sheep must write a self-criticism!"

Director Wang rolled his eyes. "Don't be too happy yet. If the courtyard continues like this, you might as well quit being the second uncle! If you can't manage it, then don't bother!"

The smile in Liu Haizhong's face vanished instantly, and the comical way he looked made Lin Feng burst out laughing. It was so damn funny!

Xu Damao didn't care at all; it was just a 500-word self-criticism. "Wife, wait for me, I promise I'll be back in an hour!"

Lin Xiujuan rolled her eyes at Xu Damao, annoyed. "You always love to get involved in things, I couldn't stop you, and now look what's happened!" She had helped Xu Damao tidy his clothes last night. "Come back soon, I'm waiting for you!"

Sha Zhu, standing to the side, felt a pang of sadness watching the young couple, and unconsciously shifted his feet to the side. Qin Huairu, having witnessed all of this, quietly approached.

"Pillar! Come back soon!"

Sha Zhu looked at Qin Huairu with a complicated expression, but finally smiled. "Okay, it's alright!"

Director Wang and several members of the joint defense team, along with residents of courtyard houses seven and eight, arrived at the street office in a grand procession. The two officers on duty threw them into an empty room, gave them a few sheets of paper and pens, and then left them there.

After finishing all this, Director Wang sat in his office and fell into deep thought. What he saw and heard in Courtyard No. 95 today shocked him. He never imagined that in just one month, the courtyard would be in such a mess!

Although that's how it is in a tenement, there are always conflicts. But if no one mediates these conflicts, they will just accumulate and develop unchecked. Who knows what kind of trouble will arise in the long run?

Director Wang rubbed her temples in frustration. The incident with Yi Zhonghai still haunted her, and fearing a repeat of the same mistake, she hadn't appointed any new personnel after dismissing Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui. Unfortunately, Liu Haizhong was utterly incompetent! But today's events served as a wake-up call: these managers were truly indispensable, especially at No. 95 Courtyard!

"Who should I choose?" Director Wang thought and thought but couldn't think of a suitable candidate. He glanced at his watch, carefully put the pen back in the drawer, and got up to leave the office.

Looking out the window at the group of men, and seeing them painfully writing their self-criticisms, Director Wang finally felt a little better.

Even more frustrated than Director Wang was Li Huaide. Ever since Sha Zhu left, he had considered quitting the logistics work several times! Hosting dinners at state-run restaurants meant he had to pay out of his own pocket every time, and hosting dinners at the factory... well, let's not even talk about it!

Factory Director Yang wasn't much better off. The steel rolling mill, a supposedly all-purpose factory, only had three Grade 8 workers in total. Now, with Yi Zhonghai gone, the number of Grade 8 workers was even fewer than the number of senior engineers! And Grade 8 fitters were absolutely essential! Almost all the parts required the skills of a fitter!

After reporting to the ministry, Director Yang could only see that all the military orders had been transferred to other factories. If this continued, forget about political achievements; in time, he would be completely forgotten by his superiors.

The difficult night finally passed, and the difficult day began. Everyone in the No. 95 compound, except for Xu Damao who finished writing his self-criticism, stayed up until dawn!

Two officers opened the door. "You can leave now! Remember not to fight next time, or we won't be so accommodating this time! Go to work."

The group was overjoyed; making them write self-criticisms was worse than sending them to lift weights! "Director Wang isn't going to punish us anymore?"

"What? You're only happy when Director Wang punishes you?"

"No, no, no! We're leaving now, we're leaving now!"

Watching the group's retreating figures, the street office clerk laughed. These guys were treating writing a self-criticism like it was their life. They wasted a lot of paper all night, but barely managed to write a few decent sentences!