Fusion System: Rebirth in a Courtyard - Bird Fighting Chronicles

Chapter 191 Preparations for Returning Home: Longing for the Old Garden

Just after the autumnal equinox in 1990, the morning mist in Zhangcheng still carried a sticky dampness, but the office building of Chenqing Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was already lit up. Lin Chen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, holding a yellowed envelope in his hand. The edges of the letter were frayed from repeated handling. It was a letter from his old neighbor, Grandpa Wang, sent through a third party. The letter was full of emotion about the upcoming protective renovation of the Hongxing Courtyard, and he added at the end, "The old folks in the courtyard all miss you. When are you going to come back and visit?"

The office door was gently pushed open, and Su Qing walked in carrying a cup of warm chrysanthemum tea. The gold lettering of "Chenqing Fine Craftsmanship" on the cup shimmered softly in the morning light. She placed the teacup beside Lin Chen, her gaze falling on the letter. Without asking, she knew what her husband was thinking at that moment—ever since he had learned about the courtyard house renovation from a client who came from Beijing last month, Lin Chen had often looked through old photos late at night. Those black and white images, pressed at the bottom of the drawer, recorded the most difficult and unforgettable years since his rebirth.

"Go back if you want. Xiaoyu's on autumn break anyway, it's time for him to see that courtyard house you always talk about." Su Qing picked up a photo frame on the table. In the photo, her 7-year-old son, Lin Xiaoyu, was holding up a mini forging mold developed by his father, smiling and showing his two little tiger teeth. She gently wiped the edge of the frame. "I've already made arrangements with the finance department. The work for the next two weeks is all set up. We can stay a few more days and spend some quality time with our old neighbors."

Lin Chen turned around, took his wife's hand, and felt the familiar warmth at her fingertips. From their first meeting at the Zhangcheng Agricultural Implements Factory in 1978 to their current partnership in building Chenqing Company into an industry leader, Su Qing had always been his strongest support. Back then, when he faced pressure to transform into precision manufacturing, it was Su Qing who convinced the skeptical veteran employees with precise financial data; later, when expanding into overseas markets encountered a quality crisis, it was Su Qing who stabilized the supply chain from behind the scenes. The understanding and support in his wife's eyes at this moment strengthened his resolve to return home.

"I want to prepare some gifts for all the old neighbors, so I need to choose carefully." Lin Chen pulled Su Qing to sit down on the sofa and pulled out a thick notebook from the bookshelf. It was filled with notes about the preferences and current situations of everyone in the courtyard. It was compiled from letters he had received from clients in Beijing over the years, including the Liu Guangtian brothers. "Liu Guangtian is now the deputy technical director of the steel rolling mill. He's obsessed with precision forging. I'll bring him a set of our newly developed miniature testing tools, and also prepare some oolong tea, a specialty of Zhangcheng. His father, Liu Haizhong, loved it when he was alive. Guangfu opened a hardware store, so I had the workshop foreman make a set of high-strength wrenches that are ten times more durable than the ordinary ones in his store."

Su Qing took the notebook and looked at the details marked on it, and couldn't help but laugh: "It's amazing that you remember so clearly, even noting that Grandpa Wang's favorite jasmine tea must be scented three times. Aunt Qin Huairu's sewing shop is doing very well, so I asked a friend in Guangzhou to order a set of imported overlock machine parts. They are much more precise than the domestic parts she's currently using, and they will definitely be of help." She turned to the last page of the notebook, where a simple sketch of a courtyard house was drawn. The locations of the central courtyard, the corridor of the east wing, and the north side room were all clearly marked, and next to it was written "Xiaoyu's Little Gift: Mini Courtyard House Model".

During the gift-giving preparations, the family study became a temporary "gift-packing station." Lin Chen personally led veteran technicians from the workshop to forge a set of miniature forging tools using aerospace-grade alloy materials. Small and exquisite yet highly practical, the handles were even engraved with the words "Respectfully presented to my esteemed younger brother, Guangtian." Meanwhile, Su Qing, along with her son Xiaoyu, made a model of a traditional courtyard house using colored cardstock and wood. Holding his father's sketches, Xiaoyu earnestly asked, "Dad, did you invent things in this little side room back then? It's even smaller than our school's lab!"

Lin Chen crouched down and gently patted his son's head, gazing out the window as if he had traveled back thirty years to that cold winter solstice morning in 1960. The north wing room was only 12 square meters then, drafty in winter and leaky in summer. It was in that cramped space that he completed the system's first fusion using two pieces of scrap iron, surviving his first winter thanks to the windproof insoles he created. The piles of scrap copper and iron in the storage room, the gossip among neighbors in the courtyard, Liu Haizhong's irritable shouts in the forging workshop, Yi Zhonghai's seemingly fair mediation, Qin Huai's hands covered in frostbite… all those past hardships and calculations are now etched into his very bones.

"It's small, but it holds my most important life lessons." Lin Chen picked up the small side chamber component from the model. "Back then, I learned from there that no matter how bad the conditions are, as long as you're willing to study the technology and be a down-to-earth person, you can stand firm. Just like you're learning arithmetic now, even if you get it wrong at first, if you think about it more and practice more, you'll eventually understand it." Xiao Yu nodded as if he understood, inserted the small wooden plaque with "Lin Chen" engraved on it into the doorway of the side chamber of the model, and carefully smoothed the edges of the cardboard.

The day before their departure, Liu Guangtian's younger brother, Liu Guangfu, called from Beijing, his voice filled with excitement: "Brother Lin, my brother and I were overjoyed to hear you were coming back! The steel mill is doing well this year, and my brother was promoted to deputy technical director. He specially approved his leave to show you around the plantation. By the way, the old locust tree in the plantation has produced a lot of locust flowers this year. Grandpa Wang has already dried them and said he'll make locust flower cakes for Xiaoyu."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chen went to the balcony, where the thermos cups he had made for his old neighbors were drying. The cups were embossed with the five gold characters "Red Star Neighborhood Affection," and each person's name was engraved on the inside of the lid. He picked up the cup engraved with "Qin Huairu" and thought of the woman who had deliberately played the victim by the public water fountain years ago. Now, she supported her family with her sewing skills and became a "strong woman" praised by everyone in the neighborhood. The wonder of fate lies in the fact that past scheming and disputes, with the passage of time, eventually transform into the warmth of everyday life.

The next morning, the family, carrying suitcases full of gifts, boarded the train to Beijing. The green train slowly pulled out of Zhangcheng Station. Xiaoyu leaned against the window, curiously watching the fields and villages flash by. Lin Chen took out a yellowed photo album from his backpack, opening to the first page. It was a picture taken in 1960, shortly after he returned to the city. He was wearing patched, coarse cloth clothes, standing at the entrance of a courtyard house, his eyes filled with the vigilance and determination that came with his rebirth.

"Dad, is that you, Uncle?" Xiaoyu pointed at the young man in the photo and couldn't help but laugh. "Why are there so many patches on your clothes?" Lin Chen held his son's little hand and slowly recounted the story from back then: "Life was hard back then, and everyone wore patched clothes. When Dad first returned to the courtyard house, he lived in that small side room. It was especially cold in winter, and the wind would seep in through the cracks in the window, making it impossible to sleep. Later, Dad improved his life little by little with his skills."

Su Qing, sitting to the side, added, "Your dad was amazing back then. He made a durable wrench out of just two pieces of scrap iron and solved a huge problem for the factory." She picked up a photo of Lin Chen and Liu Guangtian, the three young men in work clothes, holding forged parts, their smiles full of youthful vigor. "These are your Uncle Guangtian and Uncle Guangfu. Your dad taught them forging techniques by hand back then, and they are now experts in their respective fields."

The train sped along the tracks, and Lin Chen's thoughts drifted back to the courtyard house of those years. He remembered the excitement of first using the system to create windproof and warm insoles, the decisiveness of using talcum powder to fight back against Jia Geng's theft, the pride of repairing the forging press in the workshop with a homemade wrench, and even more so, the neighborly affection that supported each other during those difficult years—Grandpa Wang secretly slipping him half a bag of sweet potatoes, Aunt Liu secretly giving him two white steamed buns, He Yushui's secret handwriting identification channel… These small acts of warmth, like starlight in the dark night, illuminated his path forward after his rebirth.

As Xiaoyu listened to her father's story, her eyes widened, and she kept asking questions: "Dad, what happened to Jia Geng, the guy who used to steal?" "Did Uncle Guangtian really become the factory manager because of the skills you taught him?" "Is the old locust tree in the courtyard really that thick?" Lin Chen patiently answered each question, each one filled with relief and gratitude for the past: "Jia Geng later became an apprentice in the factory, earning a living with his own skills, and he never stole again; your Uncle Guangtian became the factory manager through his own efforts, and he deserved it; the old locust tree was really thick, and in the summer, everyone in the courtyard would gather under it to cool off and chat, it was so lively."

Halfway through the train journey, Lin Chen got up to get some hot water. As he passed a carriage, he overheard two elderly people discussing the renovation of the Hongxing Courtyard. "I heard that this renovation is based on the original layout, and even the pillars of the east wing are being replaced with the same old pine wood." "That's right," Lin Chen replied. "My old friend lives in the front yard and said they've already started removing the old tiles. He even saved a few old tiles for me as a souvenir." Lin Chen stopped and chatted with the two elderly people. He learned that the renovation project was led by the district's cultural relics bureau, the construction team consisted of experienced old craftsmen, and the opinions of the long-time residents were being solicited to preserve the original appearance of the courtyard as much as possible.

Back in his seat, Lin Chen told Su Qing and Xiao Yu the news. Xiao Yu clapped his hands excitedly, "Great! Now I can see the courtyard house Daddy talked about, and I can even eat locust rice cakes under the old locust tree!" Su Qing smiled and patted her son's head, then looked at Lin Chen, "Look, we came back at just the right time. Maybe we can even catch the crucial part of the renovation and give our old neighbors some advice."

It was already evening when the train arrived at Beijing Station. The setting sun bathed the glass curtain wall of the platform in a warm orange-red hue. Liu Guangtian and his son Liu Jianjun were already waiting at the exit. Liu Jianjun was a few years older than Xiaoyu, wearing a clean school uniform, and holding a sign that read "Uncle Lin Chen." Upon seeing Lin Chen's family, he immediately waved excitedly.

"Brother Lin, sister-in-law, we've been waiting for you!" Liu Guangtian strode forward and tightly grasped Lin Chen's hand. He was a bit heavier than a few years ago, wearing a crisp Zhongshan suit with the steel mill's badge pinned to his chest. His eyes were filled with the joy of reunion. "If my father were still alive, he would definitely have come to pick you up in person. He always said that without you, Guangfu and I wouldn't be where we are today."

Lin Chen patted Liu Guangtian on the shoulder, looking at Liu Jianjun behind him. He recalled the little boy who used to follow his older brother around, now a young man in his late teens, and couldn't help but sigh, "Time flies! Jianjun's so tall already. Your dad would be so proud of you if he saw your achievements." He took out a gift for Liu Guangtian from his suitcase. "This is a new miniature testing tool developed by our company. Its accuracy is much higher than others on the market. You'll definitely find it useful working in the factory."

Liu Guangtian accepted the gift, carefully put it into his bag, and said excitedly, "Thank you so much, Brother Lin! Our factory is currently undergoing technological innovation and needs this kind of high-precision testing tool. I've already arranged with Guangfu that we'll go back to the courtyard house together first thing tomorrow morning. He specially closed the hardware store so he could have a good chat with you."

Sitting in the car on the way to the city, Xiaoyu and Liu Jianjun quickly became acquainted. The two children huddled together, chattering excitedly about the interesting things that happened in the courtyard house. Lin Chen looked out the window at the street scene passing by. The familiar alley was gradually being replaced by high-rise buildings, but the landmarks etched in his memory remained clear—the chimney of the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill still stood in the distance, though no longer emitting smoke; the old building of the street office had been renovated, and the signboard at the entrance had been replaced with brand-new red-painted characters; even the scrap yard he used to frequent had become a small hardware store.

"Brother Lin, look over there." Liu Guangtian pointed to a cluster of buildings outside the window. "That's the newly built commercial center. The old forging workshop was right here. Our factory also underwent restructuring last year and introduced a lot of new equipment. I'll take you to see it next time. It's much more impressive than the old workshop." Lin Chen looked in the direction he was pointing, his heart filled with emotion. Times were changing, and cities were developing, but the technology and beliefs that had supported him all the way had never changed.

That evening, Liu Guangtian arranged for Lin Chen's family to stay at the steel mill's guesthouse. Before going to sleep, Xiaoyu, holding the model of the courtyard house his father had been telling him about all the way, excitedly said, "Dad, tomorrow I must take a picture under the old locust tree, and I also want to give gifts to Grandpa Wang and Aunt Qin Huairu." Lin Chen sat by his son's bed, gently tucking him in. Looking at the moonlight outside the window, he seemed to already see the gray bricks and tiles of the courtyard house, hear the familiar greetings from the neighbors, and feel the warmth of his hometown that spanned thirty years.

Night deepened, and the lights in the guesthouse gradually went out, but Lin Chen was wide awake. He walked to the window, took out the letter from Grandpa Wang, and read it again. "The old locust tree in the courtyard is still there, waiting for you to come back and pick its blossoms," these words, like a gentle thread, pulled his heart back to that warm, lived-in courtyard. He knew that this return home was not only to see his familiar hometown, but also to relive the warmth and faith that had settled in during those difficult years, and to pass on the principle of "being down-to-earth and making a living through skills" to the next generation.