Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

In the front yard, Zhou Jian's house shone with a warm yellow light.

Qin Huairu huddled in the shadows against the wall, her fingers clutching the collar of her cotton-padded coat.

The button she had just unbuttoned let a cold wind blow down her neck, raising goosebumps, but what felt colder than her body was her heart.

As long as she knocks on this door, even if Zhou Jianguo treats her like trash, as long as she can get Bang Geng's medical expenses and food, dignity is not even worth a cornbread at this moment.

"Cough cough! Hmm—humph!"

A series of affected coughs, accompanied by heavy footsteps that required pausing every few steps, suddenly came from the moon gate in the backyard.

Immediately afterwards, the dim yellow beam of the flashlight swung wildly on the ground like a searchlight, the edge of the beam sweeping across the remaining snow in the front yard, making Qin Huairu dizzy with its brightness.

She froze, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

This gait is unique in the entire courtyard—that of Uncle Liu Haizhong, the second oldest.

"Why is this old official so obsessed with coming out at this time..." Qin Huairu's heart pounded wildly. Her earlier attempt to exchange her body for food coupons had vanished in shock.

If Liu Haizhong were to see her standing disheveled at the door of a single young man's house, before dawn even arrives, this fat man who's obsessed with becoming an official would hold a general meeting of the entire institute and hang her on a tattered shoe to establish his official authority.

run!

Qin Huairu didn't dare to hesitate at all. She crouched down and, using the shade of the old locust tree, slipped back to the central courtyard along the wall.

Before she could even use her beauty to scare him away, he backed down.

……

"Squeak—"

Liu Haizhong walked to the door, and without even raising his hand, he simply used his elbow to push open the unlocked wooden door.

The way they were doing it was as if they were inspecting their own territory.

The cold wind, carrying the stale smell of cigarette oil from Liu Haizhong's clothes, rushed into the room.

The room was warm, and Zhou Jianguo was leaning back in his rattan chair reading a book. The plate of braised pork on the table was long gone, leaving only a little solidified red oil, which looked delicious.

Upon seeing someone arrive uninvited, Zhou Jianguo didn't even change his posture, his fingers still slowly turning the pages of the book.

With his hands behind his back and his signature beer belly protruding, Liu Haizhong wore a look that was three parts reserved and seven parts condescending.

In his other hand, he carried a bottle of bulk Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) without a label, covered only with a layer of red paper.

"Little Zhou, still not resting?"

Liu Haizhong strode over to the table, then slumped into the chair opposite him, causing the old chair to creak under the weight.

"Bang!"

The bulk Erguotou was slammed heavily on the table, the turbid liquor sloshing around, rising in a ring of grayish foam.

Zhou Jianguo finally closed the book.

He raised his head, glanced indifferently at the bottle of cheap liquor, and then looked at his greasy bangs.

Liu Haizhong, however, took this indifference as youthful arrogance.

In his opinion, it's normal for this kid to have a temper after he just took down Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu.

It's a good knife. If the leader shows even a little favor, wouldn't he immediately bow down and submit?

"You made quite a fuss about what happened today."

Liu Haizhong leaned back, adopting the standard posture for giving instructions in the workshop, and tapped his knuckles on the table with a "tap tap" sound.

"That's me, your second uncle. I'm broad-minded and magnanimous. Anyone else would have dealt with you long ago, but I'm here to see you and give you some pointers."

At this point, Liu Haizhong narrowed his beady eyes, his gaze darting back and forth between the bottle of wine and Zhou Jianguo, as if to say: Aren't you going to get a wine glass? Don't you know the rules?

Zhou Jianguo didn't move. Instead, he crossed his arms and chuckled amusedly, "Second Uncle, instead of being at home plotting how to usurp the throne and become the eldest uncle in the middle of the night, you've come here to spout official nonsense?"

In short, he accurately hit the nail on the head regarding Liu Hai's lungs, which was also his point of excitement.

Instead of being annoyed, Liu Haizhong showed an expression of admiration, as if he were a promising student.

He lowered his voice and leaned forward, making it seem like an underground rendezvous.

"Xiao Zhou, you're a smart man. Although your methods are a bit crude, I can see that you're trying to get closer to the organization."

Liu Haizhong thought he knew everything. "Old Yi is hypocritical and domineering! If you take him down and send Sha Zhu to clean the latrines, you're actually helping me and helping the new order in our compound."

He patted the bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), his tone carrying a mysterious confidence: "I know you're offering your initiation certificate. As long as you obediently follow orders and support me in managing the overall situation, this bottle of liquor tonight will be your initiation gift."

Zhou Jianguo almost burst out laughing when he heard this absurd logic.

This is like a toad jumping in front of a tiger, croaking, and saying, "You killed that wolf just now to pledge your allegiance to me, didn't you? Fine, from now on, I'll protect you."

This kind of brain circuit, marinated in the desire for power, is even more murky than a bottle of bulk wine.

Seeing that Zhou Jianguo remained silent, Liu Haizhong assumed he had intimidated him. He cleared his throat and glanced again at the empty table: "What? Does the leader have to pour the wine himself? Young man, you need to be more perceptive!"

Zhou Jianguo shook his head, his sarcasm no longer concealed.

"Second Uncle, you're overthinking it."

Zhou Jianguo slowly stood up, his tall figure looming over Liu Hai, who was sitting down, creating a powerful sense of pressure.

"I brought down Yi Zhonghai because he offended me. As for you..." Zhou Jianguo turned and walked to the cabinet next to him, his tone light and casual, "You don't have the face to ask me to pledge my allegiance."

"You!" Liu Haizhong's face stiffened, and he was about to slam his fist on the table and lash out.

Just then, Zhou Jianguo turned around and held a military green tin can in his hand, which he had just taken out of the system space.

This canned food didn't have a Chinese label, only a string of cold, hard codes, but it gleamed with a high-end metallic luster under the light, clearly not a mass-produced item from the supply and marketing cooperative.

"Click."

Zhou Jianguo's slender fingers gripped the pull ring and gently lifted it.

With the crisp sound of the sheet metal being torn open, the aroma filled the small room.

This is practically a nuclear strike to the senses!

The official words that were about to come out of Liu Haizhong's mouth were swallowed back down by the aroma.

His Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably, making a gurgling sound that was somewhat embarrassingly clear in the quiet room.

Zhou Jianguo took the canned food back to the table and sat down.

The light shone into the can.

Liu Haizhong's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, staring intently into them.

Large chunks of beef were crammed into the can, each piece with clear marbling, coated in amber-colored aspic, crystal clear, without a trace of greasy white fat that would make one feel nauseous.

This is no food; in this era of oil and salt shortages, it is a work of art!

"This...this is..." Liu Haizhong's mind went blank for a moment.

He was a level seven blacksmith and never lacked food, but he swore he had never seen beef of such high quality in his life! Even when Director Yang entertained VIPs, he never served such a delicacy!

Zhou Jianguo completely ignored the shock in Liu Haizhong's eyes.

He slowly pulled out his chopsticks, placed them neatly on the table, and then, in front of Liu Haizhong, picked up a piece of finely trimmed beef brisket that was about half the size of his palm.

The meat chunks trembled precariously, covered with glistening aspic.

Take a bite.

The rich meat juices burst in your mouth, tender yet still chewy.

Zhou Jianguo narrowed his eyes slightly, and the undisguised sense of satisfaction he exuded was the greatest cruelty to onlookers.

"Gurgle—"

A loud bang.

It wasn't thunder, it was Liu Haizhong's belly protesting.

The second uncle, who had just been giving advice to the younger generation, now had his chubby face turn a deep liver color.

His body was far more honest than his mind; faced with top-tier resources, all that remained was greed.

Zhou Jianguo swallowed the beef, even sipping the broth from the tips of his chopsticks with a satisfied air, before finally remembering that there was someone else sitting opposite him.

He pointed with the tip of his chopsticks to the bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) on the table, which had a red sticker on it:

"Second Uncle, you should keep this diluted vinegar for yourself and enjoy it slowly."

"I'm a picky eater. I can't stomach that kind of dishwater when I'm eating specially prepared, high-quality beef."

The water used to wash the pot.

These three words slapped hard across Liu Haizhong's face.

The fine wine he presented as a gift, as a welcome present, was nothing more than dishwater in other people's eyes!

The face in the bangs turned from red to white, and then from white to green.

His lips trembled, and he wanted to put on the airs of an elder and scold them for their extravagance.

Before he could even utter a word, the irresistible aroma of beef that filled his nostrils made his mouth water, preventing him from opening it.

This all-encompassing humiliation made Liu Haizhong feel an unprecedented sense of shame.

Zhou Jianguo picked up another piece of meat, this time without even raising his eyelids. He simply tilted his head slightly and made an extremely casual gesture of invitation—to see the guest out.

They're too lazy to even speak.

Liu Haizhong is neither sitting nor standing properly.

Stay?

They could only be tortured by smelling the odor.

Getting angry?

Thinking of Sha Zhu, who shoveled manure, and Yi Zhonghai, who wrote self-criticisms, even his straightened back went limp.

"snort!"

Liu Haizhong stood up and grabbed the bottle of dishwater from the table.

Because he moved too hastily, the bottle hit the corner of the table, and he almost lost his grip, making him look even more disheveled.

"Young man, don't be so arrogant! You think you're above the world just because you have something good!"

Liu Haizhong growled in a low voice, trying to regain some face, "In this courtyard, one-on-one fights won't work! You'll be begging me for help someday!"

After saying that, he turned and left as if fleeing.

That figure looked so flustered, there wasn't a trace of the official gait it had when it arrived.

Zhou Jianguo only let out a soft scoff after the footsteps disappeared at the door.

"Please?"

He picked up another piece of beef covered in aspic and put it in his mouth, his eyes fixed on the door that wasn't fully closed and on the pitch-black night.

"It's time for these beasts in the yard to understand a new truth."

Zhou Jianguo chewed on the delicious food, his voice echoing in the empty room.