Siheyuan, my new life

It's said that a single punch can prevent a hundred more. Since Hao Aiguo has taken the initiative to provoke him, showing audacity in trying to scheme against him, Guo Yongping has secretly resolved to retaliate fiercely, making an example of him to deter others. Otherwise, given the nature of those beasts in this courtyard, who knows what kind of schemes they might devise in the future? You must know that this year is only the first year of the three-year natural disaster. The current situation in courtyard number 95 is a microcosm of the entire capital city, and other places may not even be able to compare with courtyard number 95. After all, most of the residents in this courtyard have working family members, and they are basically all urban residents with state-supplied grain. Although the grain supply has decreased by 10% at present, as long as each household is careful with their money and tries to buy some high-priced grain, they can completely guarantee the basic survival of their family.

However, with the drought continuing, and the share of grain supply further decreasing next year, especially the year after, a lot of straw, sweet potato vines, tree bark, and other materials will be processed and mixed into cornmeal as a substitute for grain. Eating these cornbreads mixed with substitute grains for a long time has caused many people to suffer from constipation, making daily trips to the toilet extremely difficult. It's conceivable that even the residents of courtyard house number 95 will have to tighten their belts. It's likely that at that point, some people will start to have wicked ideas again; if they are truly on the verge of starvation, it's hard to guarantee that some won't choose to take desperate measures.

Guo Yongping sighed softly. There's always a way out, and things will work themselves out. He should just focus on living his life well in the present.

Guo Yongping casually tossed his cigarette butt into the stove, his brows furrowing slightly. He was carefully recalling what He Daqing had said at the door. The information revealed in those few words left him speechless: the three stewards of "Qinman Siheyuan"—the First Uncle Yi Zhonghai, the Moral Celestial Venerable; the Second Uncle Liu Haizhong, the Filial Piety Father; and the Third Uncle Yan Bugui, the Abacus Master—had all been sent to prison for labor reform.

In the original storyline, the three stewards of Courtyard No. 95, also known as the Red Star Courtyard, eventually retired and relied on Sha Zhu for their old age. Ironically, these three villains all managed to die peacefully in their old age, which is truly unsatisfying.

The first thought that popped into Guo Yongping's mind was that there were other time travelers in the No. 95 courtyard. Only a time traveler from the future could change the plot and send these three bastards to prison for labor reform.

In fact, Guo Yongping's biggest suspicion at this time was that of He Daqing and his son He Yuzhu, perhaps one of them was a time traveler.

In the original drama, He Daqing, a widow enthusiast, had already followed the White Widow to Baocheng to join her scheme after 1951. Moreover, he was blind to the value of his children and entrusted them to the care of the seemingly righteous but actually destitute old man, Yi Zhonghai. This seemingly righteous and morally upright man not only embezzled the two million yuan living expenses that He Daqing left for the Silly Zhu siblings, but also sold the job that He Daqing had arranged for Silly Zhu in the kitchen of the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill to someone else. This directly caused Silly Zhu and his sister a lot of hardship. It is said that in the first two years, the siblings were so hungry that they even rummaged through garbage dumps.

But now Guo Yongping has seen He Daqing, a living widow enthusiast, and He Daqing has even become the director of the canteen at the training base of the security department of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, a proper deputy section-level state cadre.

Of course, Guo Yongping also noticed some other differences. For example, He Yuzhu's age now is different from that in the original drama. According to the original plot, He Yuzhu should be around twenty-three or twenty-four years old at this time. However, Guo Yongping paid special attention to the silly Zhu in the original drama tonight. Although the light bulb hanging on the branch of the big locust tree in the middle courtyard was not very bright, Guo Yongping had now undergone gene modification, and all his physical functions had been greatly improved, including his eyesight. He could see clearly that He Yuzhu was at most twenty years old now, and most likely even younger.

Guo Yongping lit another cigarette, frowned, and pondered for a long time before letting out a long sigh. Perhaps the timeline of this parallel world differed somewhat from the original plot. Besides, "Full House of Love" was just a controversial TV series from later generations. As for the various time-travel novels about courtyard houses on Tomato.com, they were just fan fiction. There was no need for him to waste his brain on such things. He should deal with his own affairs first. However, he still needed to be extra careful with He Daqing and his son and maintain a certain distance. After all, in those fan fictions, almost every time traveler had their own system, and each system had all sorts of strange functions. Even though he had the "Heaven Rewards Diligence System" and had obtained many high-tech products through daily check-ins, he couldn't guarantee absolute safety. He had to be cautious in everything he did in the future.

After figuring things out, Guo Yongping glanced at his watch. It was almost nine o'clock at night. He got up and went back to his bedroom. Without taking off his clothes, he leaned against the headboard, closed his eyes, and rested for a while. He had to go out again tonight and buy as much meat as possible. He hadn't had the chance to go to the countryside recently, so he couldn't get grain seeds and livestock seedlings from the communes and production brigades. He planned to try his luck at the black market tonight. Even if he couldn't buy grain seeds and livestock seedlings, he had to buy as much meat as possible, since his body needed to replenish its energy with various nutritious high-protein foods.

Just as Guo Yongping closed his eyes, he vaguely heard the sound of things being smashed coming from the side room in the front yard, followed by a low, angry curse. However, after listening carefully to the content of the curse, he ignored it and continued to rest with his eyes closed.

At this moment, in the side room of the front yard, Hao Aiguo was angrily scolding his wife: "Niu Sanya, you're just a stupid pig who only knows how to eat and sleep, and sleep and eat. All you do is gossip about your wife, and you haven't noticed anything you should have. There's a 'Family of Glory' sign hanging at the door of the east wing of the front yard. How could you not see something so important? What's the use of your eyes? If I had known beforehand that the Guo kid's house had a 'Family of Glory' sign hanging at the door, I would have been out of my mind to even think of plotting against him! Now look what's happened, we've tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead, and we've been scolded by He Daqing and his son, and even been severely berated by that Guo kid."