Fusion System: Rebirth in a Courtyard - Bird Fighting Chronicles

Chapter 56: Secret Lessons on a Cold Night Reveal Custody; Account Book Scandal Exposes Greed

In November, a few snowflakes were already falling in Beijing, and tiny icicles formed under the eaves of the Red Star Courtyard. Lin Chen had just finished integrating the "Advanced Mechanical Manufacturing Skill" when a new side quest popped up on the system panel: "Expose Yan Bugui's paid tutoring activities to make money, and crack down on his 'cultured persona' disguise. Reward: 5000 points." He was pondering how to get started when he heard Yan Bugui's hushed voice coming from the middle courtyard, mixed with the sound of children reciting arithmetic problems.

Lin Chen put on a thick cotton-padded coat and walked to the courtyard gate, looking towards the Yan family's house by the light of the snow. He saw that the windows of the Yan family's house were covered with thick plastic sheeting, from which the dim light of a kerosene lamp shone. He could vaguely see Yan Bugui sitting at a table, surrounded by three children with schoolbags, writing and drawing in their arithmetic notebooks. On the corner of the table was a rough porcelain bowl filled halfway with roasted peanuts and a few sugar cubes wrapped in oil paper—a rare treat that ordinary families couldn't bear to part with in those times of scarcity.

"Three plus five equals eight, eight plus seven equals fifteen, remember that!" Yan Bugui's voice was stern, yet deliberately soft. "Bring the two jin of cornmeal your mother prepared tomorrow; that's the 'tuition fee' we agreed on. If you forget, don't come to class next time." A thin boy nodded hurriedly, "Teacher Yan, I remember, I'll definitely bring it tomorrow!"

Lin Chen's lips curled into a cold smile. He had long heard that Yan Bugui was secretly tutoring students at school and collecting food coupons, but he didn't expect him to dare to do it again back in the courtyard. Following the system prompts, he turned and went back into the house, using the newly unlocked "skill fusion" function to combine "old cassette tape + radio parts + miniature battery" into a palm-sized "hidden recording device"—the outer shell was disguised as an ink bottle, the switch was hidden in the stopper, and the battery life was three hours.

The following evening, Lin Chen deliberately chopped firewood in the courtyard, waiting for Yan Bugui's "students" to arrive. Sure enough, before six o'clock, the three children arrived one after another, each carrying a cloth bag. They looked around carefully as they entered, clearly knowing that this was something shady. Lin Chen pretended not to see them and continued chopping wood, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Yan Bugui personally opening the door, taking the cloth bags from the children, weighing them in his hand, and a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

After the children went inside, Lin Chen, under the pretext of taking out the trash, went around to the Yan family's window. Old cotton was stuffed in the window crack; he gently pried it open a little and placed a recording device disguised as an ink bottle on the windowsill, pointing the nozzle towards the inside. Having done all this, he casually returned home and, using the system's "remote monitoring" function, clearly heard the conversation inside.

"Today we're learning multiplication tables: three times seven is twenty-one, four times seven is twenty-eight..." Yan Bugui's voice rang out. "You three, Zhang's boy brought one and a half jin of millet, Li's girl brought two jin of dried sweet potatoes, and Wang's boy brought one jin of cornmeal and five eggs—remember that, I'll check the accounts later." Then came the rustling sound of flipping through an account book. "Last time Wang's boy brought three liang less cornmeal, but he made up for it this time, not bad."

A child whispered, "Teacher Yan, doesn't the school forbid charging for tutoring?" Yan Bugui snorted, "Silly child, the school forbids charging openly, but this is 'voluntary tutoring,' it's different. Besides, I'm teaching you real skills, what's wrong with charging a little 'service fee'? Your parents are begging me to teach them, they even have to pull strings!"

Lin Chen heard it clearly and put away the recording equipment. He knew that a recording alone was not enough; he needed to obtain Yan Bugui's account book as irrefutable evidence. Yan Bugui was a notorious "calculator," remembering every single income transaction meticulously; this account book was definitely hidden in his secret place.

Over the next few days, Lin Chen was busy promoting the stamping equipment in the workshop while secretly observing Yan Bugui's movements. He discovered that every morning, Yan Bugui would lock a wooden box in a cabinet under his bed. After tutoring the children in the evening, he would open the box, sort through the received grain coupons and cornmeal, and record them in a ledger. This wooden box was clearly his "treasure trove."

The opportunity soon arrived. On Friday afternoon, the neighborhood committee notified all residents to attend a snow-clearing event. Yan Bugui, as a teacher at the neighborhood primary school, was assigned to lead his students in snow clearing and was required to attend. Lin Chen used the excuse of "feeling unwell" to ask for leave from the neighborhood committee and stayed in the courtyard. He knew this was the best opportunity to obtain the account books.

After everyone in the courtyard had left, Lin Chen used the "thin iron wire + magnet" combination he had fused with the system to create a simple lock-picking tool and gently opened the lock on the Yan family's door. The room was filled with a mixture of ink and kerosene. Lin Chen went straight to Yan Bugui's bedroom and found the cabinet under the bed. A small brass lock was hanging on the cabinet. He gently turned the lock-picking tool, and the lock opened.

Sure enough, there was a dark red wooden box in the cabinet. When opened, several stacks of grain coupons were neatly stacked inside, some of which were valid nationwide and some of which were issued locally, as well as a small bag of silver dollars—which were contraband at the time. Hidden in a compartment of the wooden box was an account book with a blue cloth cover, on which the four characters "Income and Expenditure Details" were written in brush.

Lin Chen opened the ledger, which was filled with dense records, with every tutoring income clearly written down: "November 5th, Zhang's boy, 1.5 jin of millet; November 6th, Li's girl, 2 jin of dried sweet potatoes; November 7th, Wang's boy, 1 jin of cornmeal + 5 eggs..." There was even income he "calculated" for the factory accountant: "November 10th, helped Li Hui of the steel rolling mill calculate the family account, received half a jin of grain coupons." What was most shocking was that the last page of the ledger read "Total for this semester: 30 jin of grain coupons, 25 jin of cornmeal, 30 eggs, 3 silver dollars."

Lin Chen used the system's "photo" function (an additional function unlocked after skill fusion) to photograph every page of the ledger, then put the ledger and wooden box back in their original places, locked the cabinet, and quietly left the Yan family's house. Just as he returned home, he heard footsteps at the courtyard gate—the snow-sweeping event was over.

As soon as Yan Bugui entered the courtyard, he went straight to his own home, clearly worried about his "treasure trove." Lin Chen stood at the door and greeted him with a smile: "Teacher Yan, you've worked hard shoveling snow. Officer Li from the neighborhood committee just came to inform us that there will be a residents' meeting in the courtyard tomorrow morning to emphasize the matter of 'strictly prohibiting public officials from engaging in side businesses to amass wealth.'"

Yan Bugui's face turned pale instantly, and the broom in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud": "Wh...what meeting? What else did Officer Li say?" Lin Chen pretended to be puzzled: "He didn't say anything else, just that recently some people have reported that some public officials are engaging in side businesses and accepting bribes, so everyone should be vigilant. By the way, Teacher Yan, you are a teacher, which is a public official, so you should be careful."

Yan Bugui forced a smile: "I know, I'm just a teacher, how could I dare to do a side job?" After saying that, he hurriedly went into the house. Lin Chen watched his back and knew that he must be panicking, and might even move the account books and food coupons overnight. He didn't make a fuss, but went to Liu Haizhong's house and told him about how he had "accidentally" discovered that Yan Bugui was collecting food coupons for tutoring.

Liu Haizhong, still furious about his demotion, immediately brightened up upon hearing this: "Really? That old Yan always acts so respectable, I never imagined he'd be so greedy behind the scenes! I'm going to expose him at the meeting tomorrow!" Lin Chen quickly stopped him: "Master Liu, don't rush. Without evidence, he definitely won't admit it and might even turn around and accuse us. How about we 'casually' mention the tutoring at the meeting tomorrow, let the other neighbors talk about it, and then we can bring out the account books when the evidence is conclusive?"

The residents' meeting was held as scheduled the following morning. Standing on the stone mill in the courtyard, Officer Li from the subdistrict office said sternly, "Recently, we have received reports from the public that some public officials are abusing their positions to provide paid services and extort money from the people. This is a serious violation of regulations! We are calling this meeting today to emphasize discipline, and we welcome everyone to report any violations."

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Haizhong stood up: "Officer Li, I have something to say! Yan Bugui from our compound is a teacher at the neighborhood primary school. Lately, he's been tutoring children at home every night, collecting grain coupons and eggs. The whole neighborhood knows about it!" Yan Bugui's face changed, and he quickly stood up to retort: ​​"You're talking nonsense! I'm just tutoring the neighbors' children for free. What grain coupons? Don't make false accusations!"

"Free tutoring?" Liu Haizhong sneered. "I saw several kids who weren't from our compound carrying cloth bags to your house. They went in empty and came out full. What else could it be but collecting grain coupons?" At this moment, Grandpa Zhang, who lived in the front yard, also stood up: "I saw it too. Last week, my grandson saw his classmate carrying a pound of millet to Yan's house after school, saying it was a 'thank you gift' for Teacher Yan."

Cold sweat beaded on Yan Bugui's forehead, but he still stubbornly argued, "Those were gifts from the parents voluntarily; I couldn't refuse them. It wasn't something I wanted! Besides, I spent so much time and effort tutoring the children; what's wrong with accepting a small token of appreciation?" Officer Li frowned: "Comrade Yan Bugui, according to regulations, public officials are strictly prohibited from providing paid tutoring, even for 'voluntary' gifts!"

Seeing that the time was right, Lin Chen took out several photos from his pocket—photos of the account book he had taken, and an audio recording (which he had converted to a format that could be played aloud beforehand). "Officer Li, everyone, please take a look. This is a photo of Teacher Yan's account book, which clearly records the 'tuition fees' paid by each child, including grain coupons, eggs, and silver dollars. This is an audio recording, which contains Teacher Yan's conversation with the children asking for their 'tuition fees'."

The photos were circulated and Yan Bugui's voice was clearly audible in the recording. Yan Bugui panicked completely, his legs went weak, and he almost fell. His third son, Yan Jiecheng, stood in the crowd, looking at the records in the ledger, trembling with anger—the last time he borrowed money to pay a deposit, his father wanted to calculate interest, but hid the grain coupons and silver dollars he had received, and didn't even give the family's children a single piece of candy.

"Father, you've gone too far!" Yan Jiecheng rushed out, pointing at Yan Bugui's nose. "Last time I borrowed five yuan, you demanded interest, yet you hid so many grain coupons and silver dollars! We eat pickled vegetables every meal, but you fry the eggs you collect and give them to outsiders. Do you even care about this family?" Yan Bugui's eldest son, Yan Jiefang, also stood up: "That's right, Father! Last time I asked you for half a jin of grain coupons to make porridge for the children, you said you didn't have any. Turns out they were all hidden here!"

The sons of the Yan family became increasingly agitated, accusing Yan Bugui of selfishness and greed. Yan Bugui's wife, wiping away tears, said, "I warned you not to do these things, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened, your reputation is completely ruined!" Officer Li, his face ashen, said to the officers beside him, "Take Yan Bugui back to the street office for investigation! Confiscate all his account books and illegal gains!"

Two officers stepped forward, helped the limp Yan Bugui up, and carried him outside. Yan Bugui cried out, "I was wrong! I'll never do it again! Please forgive me!" But it was too late. The neighbors, watching his retreating figure, gossiped, "You can never judge a book by its cover. He always acted like a cultured man, but who knew he was so greedy!" "Serves him right. Who told him to be so calculating? Now he's done for!"

After Yan Bugui was taken away, the Yan family was thrown into chaos. His sons ransacked the place and found the grain coupons and silver dollars Yan Bugui had hidden, clamoring to divide them. Yan Jiecheng said, "These are all our father's illegal gains; they should have been confiscated. You still want a share?" Yan Jiefang retorted, "Why can't we share? He didn't think of us when he hid them. Now that he's in trouble, what's wrong with us taking some to supplement our household income?" The brothers argued heatedly, almost coming to blows.

Lin Chen stood aside, coldly watching the scene. He knew that Yan Bugui's calculating nature had long since alienated his sons; this incident was merely the fuse. Just then, he saw a familiar figure flash past the courtyard gate—it was the man who had been peeking around there last time, holding a piece of paper, seemingly inquiring about something. Lin Chen's heart skipped a beat; it seemed Yi Zhonghai's son and daughter-in-law had already begun their operation.

In the afternoon, Lin Chen had just arrived at the workshop when Director Zhou called him over. "Lin, good news! After your improved stamping equipment was promoted throughout the factory, production efficiency increased by 60% and the scrap rate decreased by 80%. The factory has decided to award you a second-class merit and a bonus of three hundred yuan!" Director Zhou said with a smile. "Also, Engineer Wang from the Municipal Machinery Research Institute heard about your achievements and called specifically to invite you to do a technical exchange."

Lin Chen was overjoyed: "Thank you, Director Zhou! Engineer Wang? Is it Engineer Wang Jianguo from the Municipal Mechanical Research Institute?" Director Zhou nodded: "That's him. You know him?" Lin Chen smiled: "I helped his wife out at the black market last time, I didn't expect him to remember." It turned out that the middle-aged woman whose money was stolen at the black market last time was Engineer Wang's wife.

The technical exchange with Engineer Wang went very smoothly. Engineer Wang praised Lin Chen's improved stamping equipment highly, especially the design of the automatic feeding device and the buffer device, which impressed him greatly. "Comrade Lin, your technical ideas are very novel and you have a great spirit of innovation!" Engineer Wang said, shaking Lin Chen's hand. "Our research institute is developing a new type of machine tool. If you are interested, you are welcome to come and provide part-time guidance. The compensation is excellent."

Lin Chen quickly thanked him, "Thank you for your recognition, Engineer Wang. I'd be happy to help. However, I'm quite busy at the steel rolling mill, so I might only be able to come during my spare time." Engineer Wang smiled and said, "No problem, you're welcome anytime." This technical exchange not only allowed Lin Chen to meet experts in the industry, but also laid the groundwork for his future development.

When Lin Chen got home from get off work that evening, he had just entered the courtyard when he saw Yan Jiecheng standing at his door, holding a cloth bag. "Director Lin," Yan Jiecheng said somewhat awkwardly, "These are two jin of grain coupons that my father hid. They were deducted from my salary when I lent him money last time. I'm returning them to you now. Also, thank you for reminding me last time to apologize to my father, otherwise our father-son relationship would have been completely over."

Lin Chen took the cloth bag, which contained two jin of grain coupons and a note that read "Thank you." He smiled and said, "Brother Jiecheng, don't be so polite. Your father's matter was his own fault, it has nothing to do with you. From now on, working hard and living a good life is more important than anything else." Yan Jiecheng nodded, his eyes full of gratitude: "I understand, Director Lin. If you need anything in the future, just let me know, I'll definitely help."

After Yan Jiecheng left, Lin Chen opened the system panel, which displayed: "Side quest 'Exposing Yan Bugui's paid tutoring for profit' completed, reward 5000 points, current points: 102500. New feature unlocked: Material Synthesis." The material synthesis function can combine ordinary materials into rare materials, which will be of great help to his future equipment improvements and business development.

Just then, there was a knock at the gate. Lin Chen opened the door and saw Officer Li from the neighborhood committee, followed by two policemen. "Comrade Lin Chen, sorry to bother you," Officer Li said. "We received a report that Yi Zhonghai's son, Yi Xiaofeng, has been inquiring about you recently and has even tried to contact Yi Zhonghai in prison, which may be detrimental to you. We're here to remind you to be careful, and to contact us immediately if anything unusual happens."

Lin Chen's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, Yi Zhonghai's son had returned, and his intentions were clearly hostile. He quickly thanked him, "Thank you, Officer Li, thank you, police officer. I'll be careful, and I'll report any incidents immediately." The police officer handed Lin Chen a business card: "This is my contact information. It's available 24/7. Call me anytime if you encounter any danger."

After seeing off Officer Li and the police, Lin Chen returned to the house, his expression turning serious. Yi Xiaofeng was Yi Zhonghai's only son, a technician at a machinery factory in another city. He was said to be quite skilled and also known for his vindictive nature. His return this time was undoubtedly to avenge his father, and he might even sabotage the technical aspects of his stamping equipment improvement project.

Lin Chen opened the system panel and began to study the newly unlocked "Material Synthesis" function. He decided to prepare in advance by replacing the key parts in the workshop with those synthesized from rare materials to improve the stability and safety of the equipment. At the same time, he also used the system to integrate "monitoring parts + alarm" to create a simple monitoring system, which was installed in key locations in the workshop. If anyone damages the equipment, an alarm will be sounded immediately.

After finishing all this, Lin Chen walked to the window and looked at the snow scene outside. The snowflakes were falling heavier and heavier, covering the roof and ground of the courtyard house, turning everything into a silver-white world. Lin Chen knew that a new storm was about to break. Yi Xiaofeng's revenge, Xu Damao's release from prison, and other potential troubles were all waiting for him. But he wasn't afraid. He had the system at his disposal, his own wisdom and hard work, and the people around him who were gradually accepting him. No matter what difficulties he encountered, he was confident he could overcome them.

His gaze fell on the snow at the courtyard gate, where a string of fresh footprints pointed in the direction of Yi Zhonghai's house—clearly, Yi Xiaofeng had already been to the courtyard. Lin Chen's lips curled into a cold smile. He turned and went back into the house, carefully organizing the recording equipment and account book photos, placing them in a hidden box. He knew that to deal with a technically skilled opponent like Yi Xiaofeng, he needed to present even stronger evidence and more advanced technical capabilities to completely thwart his plot.

The snow outside the window was falling heavier and heavier. Lin Chen opened the system panel and began planning his next move. He decided to first consolidate his position in the workshop, complete the full-scale promotion of the stamping equipment, then collect evidence against Yi Xiaofeng, while also keeping an eye on Xu Damao's movements. He believed that as long as he proceeded cautiously step by step, he would definitely be able to gain a firm foothold in this struggle within the courtyard and pave the way for future development.