Chapter 1

In a parallel universe, it was the spring of 1983 in the capital city, in the DC District, Nanluoguxiang.

A young man dressed in a simple blue worker's uniform was pushing a rusty old bicycle slowly through the streets, heading straight for the gate of a somewhat old quadrangle courtyard.

The reason he was pushing the bike instead of riding it was mainly because the bike was too old and the things on it were too valuable.

The bicycle basket was filled with fresh vegetables and glass bottles of canned beer.

On the handlebars hung a piece of pork weighing two or three pounds.

On the back seat, a radio cassette player was tied with a rope—its cardboard packaging box.

As he walked, passersby, men and women, old and young, would glance at the young man pushing the bicycle, unable to hide their envious looks.

However, they were not envious of the rusty old bicycle.

Nor were they envious of the canned beer in the basket or the pork on the handlebars.

It wasn't even because the man was tall, fair, and handsome.

What they envied was the radio cassette player packaging box tied to the back seat.

The box clearly looked like a new, unopened package, likely containing a real radio cassette player.

In those days, a radio cassette player was one of the new four major items, a symbol of luxury and taste!

Those who didn't know much about it would only see from the picture on the box that it was a four-speaker radio, very high-end and fashionable.

But those in the know recognized it as the Shanghai brand L-400 portable radio cassette player.

It won the first prize in the national radio quality competition last year, a true national treasure.

It was said that this model of radio had better sound quality than many imported radios.

This radio cassette player was not only famous but also expensive and scarce.

If you went to a store to buy one, it would cost 340 yuan, and you would need an industrial voucher.

But due to limited production and high demand, it was almost impossible to get one through normal means.

The most reliable way was to buy it from private scalpers at the Drum Tower or Longfu Temple, at a higher price.

The average market price for a private transaction was around 400 yuan, and you still needed an industrial voucher.

In an era when the average monthly salary was only 40 yuan, that was nearly a year's salary for an ordinary person!

Therefore, it was no wonder people were envious when they saw someone with such a radio cassette player tied to the back of their bicycle, parading through the streets.

The young man pushing the bicycle, however, remained calm and composed, not showing any arrogance or pride despite the envious glances.

This wasn't an act; to him, these things were nothing special.

After all, he had seen and played with many more advanced and high-end gadgets, so he didn't find them particularly valuable.

The young man's name was Cao Zhiqiang.

He was 19 years old, Han ethnicity, 1.85 meters tall, and weighed 69 kilograms.

He had straight eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, a high nose, and skin so fair it could make the sun jealous.

By the standards of that era, he was a classic pretty boy, or what some might call a "cream puff."

If you were to judge by his appearance, he had a typical "peach blossom" face.

He was handsome, but his behavior and mannerisms always seemed a bit frivolous, not quite the image of a good person.

For example, he often squinted and smiled with a tilted mouth, and his eyebrows would move involuntarily.

He would often shrug his shoulders and spread his hands, and frequently use strange interjections like "hehe," "ah oh," "wow," "hmm," and "oh dear."

It gave the impression that he was always mocking others or trying to flirt with them.

He seemed very unprofessional.

Even when he said he didn't mean it and that people were overthinking, many still felt an urge to punch him when they saw his laid-back attitude.

It wasn't because the women around them couldn't help but sneak glances at him.

Actually, these were all minor issues.

The real problem was that he was a time traveler.

Yes, the current Cao Zhiqiang was no longer the original Cao Zhiqiang.

He was a traveler from a parallel universe, his soul coming from the 21st century Earth of a parallel universe, not a native of this universe.

By now, he had been in this world for almost three months.

At first, he was a bit confused.

But he soon understood.

He wasn't reborn into the past of the universe he remembered, but into a parallel world of "Qing Man Si He Yuan."

However, the world he arrived in was not the 1960s but the early 1980s.

To be precise, it was the beginning of 1983.

At this time, Qin Huiru and Dumb Pillar had already gotten married and were living together.

Bànggěng, Xiaodang, and Huaihua had all grown up.

Huaihua was currently unemployed, while Xiaodang had become an elementary school teacher.

As for Bànggěng, who had both the traits of a thief and a wolf, he now had a good job driving for a leader, making him the best-off young man in the courtyard, aged 20 to 30.

On the other hand, Xu Damao, due to his behavior during the turbulent decade, had been demoted.

He was now just a regular ticket checker at a cinema, no longer able to work as a projectionist and earn extra money in the countryside, though he still had some old connections and savings.

Meanwhile, Qin Huiru, Xu Damao's wife, had long been in a cold war with him due to her accidental public confession of a fake pregnancy.

Their marital relationship had been broken for years, with minor arguments every three days and major ones every five, often talking about divorce but never actually doing so due to various practical reasons.

Fortunately, Qin Huiru had her brother-in-law Dumb Pillar to protect her, and Xu Damao didn't dare to lay a hand on her anymore.

The three uncles in the courtyard were all getting older, and with the reforms, the old ways were no longer in vogue, so the three uncles were no longer the ones who made the decisions in the courtyard.

However, they still had some influence and their words still carried some weight for many people.

The deaf old lady had already passed away, and as expected, her house was left to Dumb Pillar, also known as He Yuzhu.

Currently, He Yuzhu and Qin Huiru were living in this house.

Additionally, due to the earthquake, the courtyard had seen a lot of unauthorized construction initiated by the three uncles, and others quickly followed suit, making the courtyard much more crowded and cluttered.

However, with the changing times, many residents' units had gradually allocated new housing, so some people had moved out of the courtyard.

After all, in this period, a courtyard where everyone shared a single water tap, had no private bathrooms, and had to use public toilets and empty chamber pots, was not a place people liked.

What people preferred were apartment buildings with individual water supplies and bathrooms.

Not everyone had the foresight to know that the value of the courtyard would skyrocket in the future; most people only looked at the present.

So now, although the courtyard had more houses, it had fewer people, no longer the 20-plus households and 100-plus residents it once had, but only about 10 households and 60-odd people, still living in a crowded manner.

Now, let's return to Cao Zhiqiang.