Courtyard House: Is Xu Damao a childless man? Let me help.

Chapter 249 A Year Has Passed

With Jia Zhangshi and Xu Damao gone, and with Second Uncle and First Uncle secretly vying for power, Ye Jianchuan could finally relax and properly consider his future.

It's almost March now, and with students starting school, that wind will soon be blowing across the country.

During this period, Ye Jianchuan had no intention of showing his face again; he just hoped to get through this time peacefully.

Although as a time traveler, Ye Jianchuan could foresee various events that were about to happen, he didn't dare to be too reckless.

There's nothing I can do; the oppressive feeling brought by this gust of wind is just too strong. So many big shots have fallen during this period, so I, a nobody, might as well just obediently bury my head in the sand like an ostrich.

. . . . . .

More than a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and Ye Jianchuan's life has not been affected too much during this time.

Although that gust of wind changed many things around him, it didn't have much of an impact on Ye Jianchuan.

The only thing affected is probably Ye Jianchuan and He Yushui's marriage.

After Xu Damao and Jia Zhangshi, both troublemakers, were arrested, Ye Jianchuan was already preparing to discuss marriage with He Yushui.

However, to Ye Jianchuan's surprise, the wind came suddenly. While Ye Jianchuan was unaffected, He Yushui was somewhat affected.

Well, to be honest, this is also Ye Jianchuan's fault. In the original series, the He family was not affected at all. After all, the He family had been hired farmers for three generations, which was the standard unshovelless class!

However... after Ye Jianchuan brought Ran Qiuye and Sha Zhu together, the situation changed a little.

While Sha Zhu's composition is perfectly fine, Ran Qiuye's composition is not so ideal.

First of all, Ran Qiuye herself is a teacher. In the future, the teaching profession will be highly regarded and respected. However, at this time, teachers have another name: "stinking intellectuals".

Yes, the stinking ninth! The ninth is the ninth, why add the word "stinking"? Cough cough, no, no, it should be, why is it the ninth?

Of course, it's because this trend mentioned eight bad examples, which are... You can look them up yourselves; writing them out would be considered a prohibited word.

Teachers, or intellectuals, are not actually among these eight bad examples, but some radical leftists still categorize intellectuals as a group that needs to be suppressed.

Since there were eight typical examples before, you intellectuals naturally became the ninth type. That's how the nickname "stinking intellectual" came about.

Not only Ran Qiuye, but also Uncle San was greatly affected by this trend. Now, the two teachers in the courtyard have become street sweepers.

Oh, no, it's Third Uncle who became a street sweeper, and Ran Qiuye was originally supposed to be forcibly assigned to sweep the streets, but because Ran Qiuye is pregnant, she ended up having to guard the warehouse instead.

As for what kind of warehouse it is, it's the school's warehouse! The school used to store quite a few literary collections and the like, but now all of those things have become garbage thrown into the warehouse.

Moreover, it wasn't just things from schools; most similar items from society were also stored in warehouses. Of course, many more were likely destroyed on the spot.

Then... all these things ended up benefiting Ye Jianchuan. With Ran Qiuye as an 'insider,' Ye Jianchuan was able to easily enter the warehouse and conduct a 'raid.'

Of course, to others, Ye Jianchuan looked exactly the same when he came out as when he went in, and he didn't take anything from the warehouse.

Little did they know that Ye Jianchuan went into the warehouse and stuffed most of the valuable 'ancient books' into his own storage space.

Now Ye Jianchuan understood why these ancient books would be so expensive in the future. It turned out that most of them were probably 'disposed of' in this way during that era!

However, now that I've managed to salvage so many, I wonder if bringing them out later will affect the price of these ancient books?

Of course, if it were just because of the label of "stinking intellectual," then the He family wouldn't actually be affected...

After all, Uncle San was also a "stinking intellectual" in his family, but Yan Jiefang was still the leader of the "little soldiers" in school.

The reason why Sha Zhu and He Yushui were implicated was mainly because Ran Qiuye's parents' identities were not entirely correct.

Ran Qiuye was a "stinking intellectual," and since her family was a scholarly family, her parents must have been at least "stinking intellectuals" as well, right?

But that's not all. Her parents were not only intellectuals, but also "returnees" who had studied abroad. In the eyes of this era, they could at least be considered traitors.

If we go a step further, we could even label them as spies. Fortunately, no one was specifically targeting the elderly couple, so they weren't labeled as spies. However, their experience studying abroad did make their social class somewhat questionable.

It was for this reason that, after this trend started, not only was Ran Qiuye changed from a teacher to a warehouse keeper, but even Sha Zhu was temporarily suspended from his position as deputy director.

As for He Yushui, because she was further away from Ran Qiuye, her work performance was not affected by the 2.5 rating, but she was still 'investigated'.

For this reason, in order not to 'implicate' the promising Ye Jianchuan, He Yushui took the initiative to suggest postponing the wedding.

Ran Qiuye felt guilty towards Ye Jianchuan because of this, but in reality, the impact of this matter on Ye Jianchuan was not that significant.

On the contrary, because of Ran Qiuye's 'guilt', when Ye Jianchuan suggested going to the warehouse to broaden his horizons, Ran Qiuye agreed without hesitation.

So, all things considered, Ye Jianchuan actually made a huge profit. After all, those ancient books that Ye Jianchuan collected would be worth at least tens of thousands of yuan each in later generations.

Ye Jianchuan's side has collected at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, books, which amounts to tens of millions!

Chapter 250 Second Master Starts to Make Trouble

Of course, all of these things happened during the period when that wind had just begun to blow.

Now, more than a year has passed, and the investigation into Sha Zhu and He Yushui has ended. Sha Zhu has been successfully reinstated as deputy director.

As for Ran Qiuye, things were rather awkward because her parents were directly 'exiled'—well, actually, they were just sent to a farm.

However, Ran's parents were quite principled. In order not to implicate their daughter and her newborn grandson, they simply unilaterally announced that they were severing ties with Ran Qiuye.

In this way, Ran Qiuye, who was simply labeled as a "stinking intellectual," would naturally no longer be targeted by anyone.

Moreover... Ran Qiuye's reputation as a "stinking intellectual" was quickly shed, because she later went home to have and raise her child.

Now that you've all gone home to be a housewife, who cares if you used to be a teacher? So, the impact of Ran Qiuye basically ends here at age 27.

In the past year or so, some changes have taken place in the courtyard house, the first being the status of the old man in the courtyard.

Uncle Yi, naturally, is still Liu Haizhong, and that hasn't changed at all.

However, the position of Second Uncle was no longer held by Yan Bugui, the original Third Uncle, because the Third Uncle was affected by the reputation of being a "stinking intellectual," so Second Uncle decisively "laid off" the Third Uncle.

At the time, Ye Jianchuan was quite puzzled. Why did Second Uncle suddenly turn against Third Uncle? He should know that Third Uncle was someone Ye Jianchuan was protecting!

However, before Ye Jianchuan could study it carefully, Uncle Er's "second fire" was already burning on Ye Jianchuan's head.

It was at this moment that Ye Jianchuan finally understood that this Second Uncle had obtained a higher official position in the steel rolling mill and had become the leader of some investigation team.

Of course, this story begins with the change in the leadership of the steel rolling mill. Shortly after this wave of change began, Director Yang of the steel rolling mill was laid off.

He wasn't actually overthrown, but rather due to some power struggles, he was transferred to a low-level government office. Meanwhile, the original deputy factory director, Li, with the support of his backers, successfully rose to become the director of the steel rolling mill.

This factory director, Mr. Li, is not exactly a good person, so naturally, he wanted to take advantage of this trend to do some bad things.

However, the newly appointed factory director, Mr. Li, was also very clever. He knew that this trend would eventually pass, and if he did too many bad things now, he would be in big trouble when he was purged later.

So when he was doing bad things, he certainly couldn't do it himself. In fact, to protect his family, he directly transferred his younger brother, the deputy director of the security office, to the workshop as the director.

But during this period, there are still some things that need to be done by people you trust! So what to do? The answer is simple: arrange for a 'lackey' to do these bad things and take the blame.

And so Uncle Er made his grand entrance, and the first thing he did was to teach Uncle Yi a lesson.

It's because many of the factory workers are Uncle Yi's "disciples and grand-disciples," and these "disciples and grand-disciples" are usually quite polite to Uncle Yi.

So Uncle Er forcibly labeled Uncle Yi as "forming cliques and factions" in an attempt to suppress him.

Unfortunately, while Uncle Er's idea was good, he didn't think things through when he put it into practice. He went so far as to openly try to arrest someone in the workshop, and what's more, he arrested someone who was considered 'highly respected' at work. Wouldn't the workers immediately rebel?

In the end, the matter naturally ended with Uncle Yi being safe and sound. However, because of this, Director Li saw one of Uncle Er's 'advantages': he was very brave.

This guy has only been in office for one day, and he's already taking the initiative to cause trouble. Although he's a bit brainless, this kind of person is what makes a good dog!

So in the following period of time, under the instructions of this Factory Director Li, Uncle Er also committed a lot of bad things, including ransacking houses many times.

Of course, since he had become Director Li's dog, he was able to get some scraps. Director Li had amassed a lot of wealth through methods like "confiscation of property," and as the person who directly carried out these actions, Uncle Er naturally got a share as well.

Then... Uncle Er got arrogant, thinking that since he was rich and powerful, he should be the boss of this courtyard house, right?

Back when I was the second-in-command, I always dreamed of making the first-in-command step down so I could become the first-in-command myself. Now that I'm the first-in-command, who knows if the second-in-command might still have the same idea!

Then... Uncle San was successfully ousted from his position by Uncle Er using the excuse that "this lowly intellectual is unfit to be the head of the household."

With Third Uncle no longer vying for power, who will be the next target? The answer is naturally Sha Zhu, who is currently in the position of Third Uncle.

At that time, Sha Zhu's family was under investigation because of Ran Qiuye's 257 connection, and Sha Zhu's position as deputy director was also suspended. So, with another wave of his hand, Second Uncle also removed Sha Zhu's title of Third Uncle.

Logically speaking, there was only one Uncle Yi in the entire courtyard. Now that Uncle Er and Uncle San are gone, Liu Haizhong should be satisfied, right?

But this guy was still a bit too arrogant. Since he was already the person in charge of the courtyard in terms of 'official position', shouldn't he also be the spiritual leader of the courtyard?

And so, Uncle Er set his sights on Ye Jianchuan. There was no other way; several families in the courtyard all followed Ye Jianchuan's lead.

Since you, Ye Jianchuan, have such a strong influence, you naturally threaten my position in the courtyard! So it's only reasonable for me to 'arrange' you as well, right?

Then... Uncle Er ran into a tough nut to crack again, bringing a group of people to Ye Jianchuan's house and staging another 'search' scene.

As a result, Ye Jianchuan immediately summoned the food factory's "inspection team" and launched a counterattack. However, Uncle Er failed to find any respectable evidence at Ye Jianchuan's house.

On the contrary, Ye Jianchuan successfully found some ill-gotten gains that Second Uncle had obtained during his previous 'confiscation' of the house.

Chapter 251 Liu Guangtian: The Serfs Have Turned Over and Sing a Song

After this counterattack, although Director Li really wanted to protect Uncle Er, this good dog, there was no way to stop him because of the overwhelming evidence!

Besides, why did this guy have to mess with someone he couldn't afford to offend? Now look what happened, he's run into a brick wall.

In the end, although Uncle Er did not end up like Xu Damao and Jia Zhangshi, he was not much better off, because he had lost his status as the 'group leader'.

Not only could they no longer be 'team leaders,' but the team leaders who came from afar were also no longer in office, and even... the original welders were no longer in office; they were simply relegated to cleaning toilets.

I forgot to mention that although the steel rolling mill has undergone significant changes in the past year or so, the food processing plant has not changed much.

On the one hand, it's because Director Zhou is indeed upright and honest, with no faults that others can exploit, unlike Director Yang of the steel rolling mill, who was previously close to the Lou family and was later found to have accepted gifts from them.

Under such circumstances, being able to be transferred to a low-level government office to retire is already a very good result for Director Yang.

Since the food factory was not affected, Ye Jianchuan's connections there could be put to good use.

Although the food factory formed an 'investigation team' in response to the call, the team did not go out to do anything wrong; they simply stayed to guard the food factory.

In Director Zhou's words, this investigation team is like a knife; it can be used to stab people or to defend oneself.

The "investigation team" that Ye Jianchuan called to deal with Second Uncle was actually this investigation group, which was used for self-defense.

. . . . . .