Fang Chengguang said, “Who said anything about using his connections? In this big compound, do you really think nothing can be done without him? It’s just a house.”

Jiang Lin, hearing him talk about it as if it were as simple as planting a vegetable garden, smiled and said, “We’re not related to anyone here. If you help us, we’d be really flattered.”

Fang Chengguang glanced at Dabao and Xiaobao, then suddenly made a joke, “Don’t worry, this is between me and my little brothers.”

Jiang Lin was puzzled, wondering what he meant by “little brothers.”

Dabao and Xiaobao laughed and exchanged knowing glances with Fang Chengguang, as if to say, “Don’t tell anyone our secret.”

He Liang chimed in, “Hey, Chengguang, why are you ignoring me after just two days? Now you’ve got new little brothers?”

Fang Chengguang replied, “That family upstairs, aren’t they moving? Why are they still occupying the downstairs house? Let’s ask for a place to stay there.”

He Liang said, “Chengguang! What do you mean? Are you going to take your brother’s place too? And why haven’t you gotten married yet?”

To get a house, one must be married and submit an application.

Otherwise, an unmarried young man living in such a house would be criticized. Commander Fang knew the rules well and wouldn’t approve it.

If Fang Chengguang moved out, he could only live in a dormitory shared with others, not even a single room.

Commander Fang was strict!

Fang Chengguang looked annoyed, “Stop dreaming. You know the compound near Director Di’s place? There’s a big yard with two rows of main houses, no side rooms.”

He Liang clapped his hands, “Oh, that one! But that’s the stingy guy’s place; he won’t let it go easily.”

Tie Gongji, whose real name is Tie Jiancheng, is one of the advisors in the headquarters.

Known as Tie Gongji (Iron Rooster) for his stinginess, he never lets go of anything.

Originally, his family of four (himself, his wife, and their two children) were only allocated three main rooms.

To occupy the entire large yard, he brought in his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and younger brother from his hometown.

After some turmoil, others couldn’t outmaneuver him, and he succeeded.

When new buildings were constructed in the large compound in 1974, he used the same trick to get two sets of rooms.

Even after his hometown family left, he still refused to give up the yard.

The officials in the housing management department didn’t have much power, and the few officials who did have real authority were long-time acquaintances of his, making it awkward to create conflicts over this issue.

After all, everyone had enough space, so who would bother fighting over a bit more space?

It didn’t affect them directly, so they turned a blind eye.

If anyone was unhappy, they had to fight it out themselves and then file a report if they won.

Living in that yard was undoubtedly better than living in a dormitory.

The yard had walls for privacy, was soundproof, and the houses were spacious, clean, and had running water.

He Liang, also tempted, leaned towards Jiang Lin and said, “Sister-in-law, do you want to live in that big yard?”

Of course, Jiang Lin wanted that.

She smiled and said, “Do you think it’s possible? We don’t want to cause trouble. It wouldn’t be good to stir up issues since we’re new here. We should keep a low profile.”

He Liang thought, “You say it’s possible, isn’t that pushing us to make it happen?”

Fang Chengguang told Cheng Rushan, “Just file the application. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Cheng Rushan glanced at him, “Think it through. Whatever you do, it will involve your family.”

He could guess what Fang Chengguang had in mind.

But Cheng Rushan wasn’t afraid of trouble.

If Fang Chengguang didn’t help, he would still tackle the people occupying both sides.

Some people had too many skeletons in their closets.

Finding their weak spots would be easy.

He just needed someone with authority to handle them.

Cheng Rushan considered using a gentler approach to get the house, aiming to avoid making enemies while achieving his goal.

If he did it alone, it might take him two months, but with Fang Chengguang’s help, it could be done in a week.

He didn’t know why Fang Chengguang was so eager to help, but he had learned that Fang Chengguang wasn’t a bad person.

Despite his flaws, he still had the pride of a new generation.

Fang Chengguang smiled and said, “How they feel is their business.

He Liang and I will also apply for a house. That way, we can all live in the same yard and help each other out.”

For instance, they could share meals, visit each other, and become like one big family.

Fang Chengguang found the idea amusing and became enthusiastic about it.

Cheng Rushan agreed, saying he would go after finishing the plowing.

Fang Chengguang then told Jiang Lin, “Jiang Lin, you go write the application.”

He gave her some instructions on how to write it.

Jiang Lin looked at Cheng Rushan, who smiled at her, so she went to write it.

Soon, Jiang Lin brought some writing paper and a pen and started drafting the application.

She showed a few lines to Fang Chengguang.

“Looks good,” he said.

Whether a document was acceptable depended on who submitted it.

For ordinary people, even minor mistakes required multiple revisions.

But for those with connections, even a blank sheet could be turned into a proper document by someone else.

Jiang Lin was aware of these nuances. She tried to make the application as thorough and correct as possible.

Once she was done, she asked Cheng Rushan to sign it.

After Cheng Rushan signed it, she took it to He Liang for his signature and then handed it to Fang Chengguang.

Fang Chengguang took a look, grabbed the pen from Jiang Lin, and added the names He Changjiang and Bie Dongshan.

He then handed the pen back to Jiang Lin and pointed to the section where she had listed family members. “Your family has seven or eight people, right? Write down a few more.”

Jiang Lin was puzzled.

How did he know everything?

Dabao and Xiaobao laughed.

Jiang Lin smiled at the two kids and wrote down the names Cheng Yunzhi, Yan Runzhi, and Cheng Ruzhou.

Fang Chengguang said, “You can add one more. Make it eight.”

Jiang Lin replied, “But there are only seven of us.”

Fang Chengguang gave her a sideways glance and didn’t say anything.

He Liang chuckled, “Sister-in-law, maybe you’re missing someone who’s on the way?”

Xiaobao suddenly realized, “Right, there’s also my little sister!”

Jiang Lin was shocked, thinking, “How did this become a serious matter?”

Fang Chengguang nodded, “That’s fine.”

“Fine? You can do that?” Jiang Lin was stunned.

It was clear that having an idea made a big difference.

She thought for a moment about what name to write.

Xiaobao encouraged her, “Mom, write Bao Sheng’s name.”

Jiang Lin broke out in a cold sweat.

She wrote “daughter” without a name and decided to deal with it later.

She checked the time and decided to go back to cook. “Dabao, Xiaobao, do you want to come back with me?”

Dabao replied, “We men have manly things to do. Mom, you go back by yourself.”

Jiang Lin: ……

Xiaobao: “Linlin, I’ll go home and help you cook.”

Jiang Lin took Xiaobao back to the dormitory.

As they passed the single-story houses, they saw a group of children playing.

Some of the children noticed Xiaobao, thought he looked handsome and clean, and invited him to join them.

Xiaobao said, “I can’t, I need to go help my mom cook.”

One of the boys shouted, “Nobody play with him, he’s a wild kid from the countryside!”

Then he made a face at Xiaobao and taunted, “Dirty country bumpkin! Watermelon poop!”

Jiang Lin immediately got angry, “Whose child are you? I’ll go find your parents and ask how they taught you!”

The boy, seeing an adult scolding him, wasn’t intimidated at all.

He stuck out his neck defiantly and said, “You are from the countryside. People from the countryside poop everywhere. The whole village uses one latrine, and everyone poops around a big tank, hahaha!”

Jiang Lin was furious and wanted to slap the kid but held back.

She knew she couldn’t stoop to the level of an ill-mannered child.

Xiaobao, not understanding what the boy meant by “big tank,” curiously asked, “Mom, what’s he talking about? Our brigade isn’t like that.”

Jiang Lin said, “He must be talking about his own hometown. His parents are probably embarrassed and pretend to be city people. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the countryside or the city, everyone needs to live well.”

At that moment, the gate creaked open, and a man stepped out.

The boy immediately ran over to him, complaining, “Dad, those two bumpkins called us country people!”

Bian Haitao, upon opening the gate, saw Jiang Lin and was taken aback.

He was about to speak when Jiang Lin rolled her eyes at him.

She scoffed, “I wondered whose kid was so ill-mannered. Now I know.”

She quickly took Xiaobao’s hand and hurried away, as if afraid of being tainted, loudly advising him, “Don’t ever play with such morally corrupt children. They will lead you astray. This is what they mean by ‘you become like those you associate with.’ If the parents are bad, the kids won’t be any better. It’s called setting a bad example!”

Bian Haitao’s face turned black with anger, but he couldn’t muster a single word in response.

Xiaobao cooperated and loudly declared, “Mom, I know! I won’t play with bad kids. I want to be a good kid and not embarrass my parents!”

Jiang Lin was pleased, “Exactly.”

The mother and son’s exchange made Bian Haitao frown with frustration.

He was so upset that his own son didn’t dare approach him and quickly ran off with the other kids.

Jiang Lin took Xiaobao back to the dormitory to cook.

The only vegetables available were cabbage and potatoes.

She stir-fried the cabbage in pork fat with some slices of bacon, then added water, vermicelli, and frozen tofu.

The frozen tofu was from her family and was close to thawing out, so it had to be used quickly.

She also steamed some large steamed buns, date buns, and radish and bean bun dumplings.

Date buns were steamed buns with a few small dough pieces pressed into them, where red dates were inserted.

Each bun, about the size of a fist, could hold seven or eight dates, which the kids loved.

Jiang Lin also prepared some potatoes.

She peeled and shredded them to make stir-fried potato strips with vinegar.

Her knife skills were average, so the potato strips were uneven in size, and she was careful not to cut herself.

She looked at her work and started thinking about the Yan Runzhi and Wen Sheng.

“Xiaobao, pack your school bag. You need to get ready for school tomorrow,” she reminded him when she saw Xiaobao lingering by the dormitory door.

Xiaobao ran back, looking mysterious, and said, “Mom, someone moved our urine pot.”

Jiang Lin laughed, “Xiaobao, don’t make me laugh so hard. You two need to stop focusing on the urine pot.”

Xiaobao said seriously, “Mom, it’s true. It was full of urine in the morning, and now it’s been emptied and cleaned.”

Jiang Lin was speechless, wondering who was so obsessed with the urine pot.

Around noon, Cheng Rushan and the others returned for lunch.

Fang Chengguang and He Liang had also brought some meat from the cafeteria.

On Sundays, many people in the courtyard rest and don’t eat in the cafeteria, but it was still open.

The meals were minimal—one meat dish and one vegetable dish, and they sold out quickly.

Since they went late, the meat dish was already gone. Fang Chengguang managed to buy half of the best large bowl of meat reserved by the chef.

There weren’t many pieces of meat in the bowl.

Fang Chengguang gave two pieces to each of the two young brothers, and there was only one piece left for himself.

He Liang was intensely jealous.

If he didn’t know better, he’d think those two kids were related to Fang Chengguang.

After lunch, Fang Chengguang wanted to find his friend.

Cheng Rushan stopped him at the doorway, “Don’t force him to give up the house directly. No need to make enemies.”

Fang Chengguang replied, “It’s not really making enemies. He should give up the house since he’s occupying three places.”

Cheng Rushan said, “His brother-in-law and his younger brother are involved in selling off a batch of military steel materials.”

Fang Chengguang looked at Cheng Rushan in surprise, “How do you know that?”

Cheng Rushan explained, “Our transport department handles transportation. If they’re selling off something like this, they need vehicles.

Several tons of steel can’t just be moved easily; they need shipping orders and such. I’m sharp and detail-oriented.

Sometimes, a seemingly insignificant clue, if it raises my suspicion, I check it out.

Following the trail often leads to something bigger.”

Fang Chengguang’s eyes lit up, “That’s even better. Let’s go. We can make him give up the house and still be grateful to us.”

Cheng Rushan said, “We just need to give a hint. Staff Officer Tie is a smart man; he’ll understand.”

He didn’t want to do much more.

Selling off supplies isn’t something one person can do alone; it likely involves many people.

Unless there’s a strict order from above to investigate thoroughly, it usually ends up being overlooked.

Fang Chengguang, having grown up in the compound, naturally understood this even better.

He couldn’t help but look at Cheng Rushan and smile, “Why did you join the transport team?”

Cheng Rushan replied, “My background isn’t good.”