Courtyard Houses: Starting with the principle of hard work paying off

Chapter 23 Yi Zhonghai was dismissed.
Li Hongbing and Li Hongmei's parents have both passed away, and now they are the only two people left to depend on each other.

Although Li Hongmei is the older sister and Li Hongbing is several years younger than her, he is her only relative in the world and the only person from her maternal family who can speak up for her.

Li Hongmei can make her own decisions about marriage, but Li Hongbing can't let her negotiate on her own. That would make it seem like she has no one from her family, and she would be laughed at by outsiders and her husband's family.

In today's new society, everything is simplified, and there are not so many formalities. Ordinary people don't care about the traditional marriage customs of "three letters and six rites" or the elaborate wedding procession. However, a formal marriage is still necessary, and the proposal process cannot be omitted.

Li Hongbing wouldn't ask for much in betrothal gifts, nor would he make things difficult for Zhao Weiguo and his parents, but they still needed to be treated with the respect due to him.

If even his own younger brother doesn't value marriage, then there's no need to mention others.

After Li Hongmei marries into the family, I will not only be her family member, but also her support and source of confidence in her family.

If Li Hongmei doesn't do these things well, she will be looked down upon or bullied in her husband's family, and even Li Hongbing himself will be ridiculed and looked down upon.

"This... let me see!"

Originally, Li Hongmei had already discussed the marriage with Zhao Weiguo, but Li Hongbing's words just now made her waver.

On the one hand, Li Hongmei was touched by Zhao Weiguo's willingness to wait for her, but she also felt guilty.

on the other hand.

That is also the most important reason.

That is Li Hongbing's growth, especially after what happened in the last two days, which made Li Hongmei realize that he no longer needs anyone to protect him and can stand on his own.

Only in this way can she feel at ease getting married and leaving the courtyard house.

The thought of getting married filled Li Hongmei with both anticipation for the future and reluctance to part with Li Hongbing; she wasn't exactly happy.

After all these years, the siblings have never been separated.

"Sister, let me make this clear first, I'm not forcing you to get married. Whether you want to get married or not, you should think it over carefully. This will always be your home, whether you get married or not, there will always be a place for you here."

Although he hoped Li Hongmei could find her happiness soon, marriage is a major life event, and Li Hongbing didn't want to put too much pressure on her to avoid future regrets.

"Hmm~"

Feeling the warmth in Li Hongbing's words, Li Hongmei felt a surge of warmth in her heart and felt incredibly happy.

Since their father, Li Fushun, passed away, she hasn't felt this sense of security and support for a long time.

My younger brother has really grown up.

Looking at Li Hongbing in front of her, Li Hongmei felt particularly moved and gratified.

For Li Hongbing, he was simply doing what he was supposed to do.

Having said everything that needed to be said and expressed, Li Hongbing immediately felt much lighter.

……

The next day.

After having breakfast at home early, Li Hongbing set off for Fengzeyuan.

Today, Li Hongbing didn't go to Beixinqiao to take the tram like he did yesterday; instead, he chose to jog there.

The purpose of doing this.

On the one hand, it is for physical exercise.
On the other hand, it's to accumulate enough running experience points as soon as possible to get the level-up rewards.

The threshold from level 0 to level 1 isn't high, and it's quite fast to max it out; I estimate it won't take more than a week.

It took me more than half an hour to run five or six kilometers, which is not a fast pace.

However, for Li Hongbing, who didn't have much experience in this area, he was still exhausted and sweating profusely. When he arrived at Fengzeyuan, before the masters arrived, Li Hongbing quickly ran to the apprentice dormitory, fetched a bucket of water, wiped himself down, and changed into a clean set of clothes he had left there.

Comfortable!

[Host: Li Hongbing]

【Age: 16】

Strength: 53, Agility: 58, Constitution: 57, Intelligence: 86 (Standard adult value is 60)

skill:
[Running: lv0 (14/100)]

[Cooking Skill: lv1 (69/500)]

Driving: lv1 (411/500)

Swimming: lv2 (967/2000)

【Eight Pieces of Brocade: Level 2 (1852/2000)】

……

I checked the system panel and saw that the running skill section had gained about six experience points, but my physical attributes hadn't changed much.

Li Hongbing also discovered that after his body recovered, the improvement of this attribute obviously slowed down and it was not so easy to increase.

After calming down, Li Hongbing returned to the kitchen, where the chefs had already started arriving.

It was still early, quite some time before lunchtime, but the apprentices and food preparation chefs in the kitchen had already started getting busy.

Some were preparing the feed, others were preparing the livestock, and still others were cutting and preparing the food—all these preparations were underway in advance for the upcoming mealtime.

As for Li Hongbing, although it wasn't his turn to help out yet, he still volunteered to do odd jobs, move things, and clean, showing his diligence.

During this period, Li Hongbing's hands were never idle, nor did his eyes stop working. He would observe the chef's knife skills and cutting techniques from time to time, and his culinary skills were slowly increasing little by little.

……

night.

When Li Hongbing returned to the courtyard, he found that another large meeting was being held there.

I was a little speechless at first, and before I could even complain, I found that Officer Yang from the police station was also there.

"Due to the events of the past few days, and Yi Zhonghai's behavior, I hereby announce that, effective today, Yi Zhonghai's position as the head of the management department is hereby revoked..."

As Officer Yang made this decision in public, Yi Zhonghai's face turned ashen, and the scene became completely silent.

Ignoring Yi Zhonghai, Officer Yang quickly turned to Xu Fugui and Liu Haizhong, speaking in a serious and solemn tone: "Xu Fugui, Liu Haizhong, I hope you two can take this as a warning. The purpose of setting up the courtyard was to have you assist our work. In addition to cooperating with epidemic prevention and control, it was also to facilitate the coordination of neighborhood relations and serve everyone well, not for you to form cliques, target others, or bully our own people."

After saying this, Officer Yang couldn't help but glare at Yi Zhonghai again, he was almost furious.

He had already given Jia Zhangshi a chance with her. Yi Zhonghai and Xu Fugui publicly apologized and admitted their mistakes that day, so the matter had already been resolved.

But then, something else went wrong last night, and it was Yi Zhonghai, that old man in charge of the management department, who caused it. This left Yang, the staff member, feeling incredibly exhausted.

This mistake compounded the error, leading Officer Yang to abandon any thought of protecting Yi Zhonghai and directly remove him from his position as the head of the management department.

"Yes, yes, Officer Yang, we will definitely take this as a warning, learn from the lesson, and never make the same mistake as Comrade Yi Zhonghai again."

Liu Haizhong nodded vigorously, fawningly stepping forward to make a guarantee in front of Officer Yang, while intentionally or unintentionally putting down Yi Zhonghai.

Seeing this, Xu Fugui also chimed in.

(End of this chapter)