Courtyard House: Drunk and barging into the Xu family's house, I woke up numb.

"Actually, there's another possibility. Do you think it might be that Sha Zhu taught them?"

"Sitting in the courtyard, a pot falls from the sky"—Yan Jiecheng's words instantly drew everyone's attention to He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu stood up, looking completely bewildered, and pointed at Yan Jiecheng, cursing.

"Yan Jiecheng, don't you dare spout nonsense. Which eye of yours saw that I ordered Bang Geng to do it?"

"Your father is nearsighted, so what, are your eyes not working well either?"

"If it doesn't work, hurry up and get new glasses, so you don't have nowhere to sleep at night. Who knows when that old man will be able to hold his grandson again?"

As soon as He Yuzhu finished speaking, a murmur arose from the crowd, and Yan Jiecheng's face turned red, unable to speak.

He Daqing's face darkened as he shouted at the stick not far away.

“That grandson of the Jia family, tell the truth, was this thing instigated by your mother or your grandmother?”

"I'm telling you, if you don't tell the truth, I'll have the police arrest you and lock you in a dark room."

He Daqing's words were obviously not to be taken seriously; he was just trying to scare Bang Geng and vent his anger.

Little did he know that ever since Bang Geng was released from the reformatory, he felt fear whenever he thought about it, especially the experiences of those few days, which were etched into his very bones.

Therefore, as soon as He Daqing finished speaking, Bang Geng reflexively told the truth.

"Don't arrest me, Grandma taught me all of this."

Bang Geng's unexpected confession left Jia Zhangshi dizzy. This grandson is a real swindler; he doesn't hesitate to sell out his grandmother.

Liu Hai thought to himself, "It really is this old woman." He looked at Jia Zhangshi with a serious expression and asked.

“Sister-in-law, please explain to everyone why you disobeyed the instructions of your superiors and instigated Banggeng to go door to door to offer New Year's greetings and ask for lucky money.”

After thinking for a long time, Madam Jia naturally came up with an explanation.

"Second Uncle, Third Uncle, I really didn't know that the higher-ups had given this instruction or issued this order."

"If I had known, I wouldn't have dared to do it even if you gave me two lives."

“Our whole family was sent to the hospital yesterday. We didn’t know about this. We asked our child to wish everyone a Happy New Year, which was just following the custom of previous years.”

"As the saying goes, ignorance is no excuse. I hope everyone will be understanding and forgiving of what happened today."

"We've caused you all trouble today. The most important thing is to be happy during the New Year, so I won't add to your worries."

"You all continue the meeting, I'm going back to my room to reflect on my own problems."

Jia Zhangshi's words were a fig leaf to cover up her greed, and she planned to make a run for it as soon as she finished speaking.

Upon seeing this, Yan Bugui immediately spoke up to block the way.

"Sister-in-law, don't rush off. Have you forgotten something?"

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Jia Zhangshi's face as she stepped forward and took Banggeng's hand.

"Bang Geng, quickly apologize to everyone."

Banggeng obediently apologized and turned to leave with his grandmother.

Second Aunt stepped forward and blocked Jia Zhangshi's way, shouting at her.

"Grandma Banggeng, don't play dumb. If you want to leave, no problem, just return the money to everyone!"

"You think you can just leave without a refund? You're dreaming!"

After the second aunt finished speaking, everyone echoed in agreement.

"Refund! Refund!"

Chapter 107: The Deaf Old Woman Dies After Being Stripped of Her Guarantees as a Five-Guarantee Resident! [Please Subscribe]

Jia Zhangshi's sophistry naturally did not escape everyone's notice, and after the second aunt stopped the person, she directly brought up the matter.

Liu Haizhong reached out and gestured for everyone to quiet down.

Seeing that his emotions had calmed down a bit, Liu Haizhong coughed twice.

"Ahem, sister-in-law, you heard what everyone said. I suppose the New Year's money that Banggeng brought back is for you."

"Do you think we should return the money to everyone? I estimated with Lao Yan that it should be more than twenty yuan, which is almost a person's salary."

“Everyone is struggling financially. Giving this money to everyone will settle things.”

Will Jia Zhangshi listen to what Liu Haizhong says?

Of course not, if she had listened, that scene wouldn't have happened.

Jia Zhangshi's zodiac sign is Pixiu, which only takes in and never gives out.

How could she possibly hand over the money she had painstakingly earned by kowtowing repeatedly?

However, now that her second and third uncles have joined forces to deal with her, she is isolated and helpless.

After scanning the room, she fixed her gaze on an old man who was just passing by.

"Uncle, you are the oldest man in our compound. Even though you don't manage things anymore, you are still one of us."

"Tell me, our Banggeng came back from the hospital early this morning while it was sick. It hadn't even finished its injections because it wanted to pay New Year's respects to the elders according to the old custom."

"I kowtowed to the ground in front of every household, and didn't miss a single word of blessing or auspiciousness."

"Now look what's happened. After accepting the gifts, they've found an excuse, using the guise of being leaders, to try and get the New Year's money back for the children. Do you think that's reasonable?"

"If they didn't want to give it, they shouldn't have accepted the gift or paid the money in the first place."

"They accepted the gifts and paid the money, then turned around and complained about us, demanding that we return the money. Isn't that a slap in our face?"

"Tell me, how can they do things like this!"

The third aunt leaned back in her chair and spoke to Jia Zhangshi.

"What's the point of this? Do you think we care about your family's New Year's greetings?"

"After entering the door, he knelt down on the ground without saying a word. We couldn't avoid him even if we wanted to. We don't care about this kind of New Year."

Liu Guangtian said.

“The third aunt is right. We can’t accept this kind of New Year’s greeting. After kowtowing, they ask for money. If we don’t give them money, they start banging their chopsticks on their bowls and singing a folk song in our house.”

"Those who know us will think we've been visited for the New Year, but those who don't will think beggars have come to our house. Isn't that unlucky?"

Yi Zhonghai now wishes he could hide away and has no desire to deal with the mess left by the Jia family.

　18 He was still worried about the deaf old lady, but he couldn't be bothered with Jia Zhangshi, that old hag who only cared about getting things done.

The older woman standing nearby was quite pleased to see that Yi Zhonghai remained silent; she didn't want him to get involved with the Jia family any further.

“Sister-in-law, you’ve seen what happened. I think you should ask your second uncle and third uncle.”

"They are the ones in charge of the courtyard now; Old Yi has already come down."

"Those who are not in a position should not meddle in its affairs, so we cannot comment on this matter."

"By the way, Brother Daqing is back too. He used to be the second eldest uncle in the courtyard. You can ask him for his opinion."

"But don't worry, no matter what happens, I'll save the two yuan I gave the kids for them to buy candy."

Spending money to buy peace and quiet, and losing money to avoid disaster—that's how this older woman handles things. She doesn't need those two dollars; she doesn't want to help but also doesn't want to offend anyone.

Whether things are done well or badly, they will gain favors from others. But if things are messed up, Uncle Er and Uncle San will take the blame, and it will have nothing to do with the couple.

When Jia Zhangshi saw that Yi Zhonghai didn't speak up for her, she cursed him inwardly as a coward who didn't even know how to climb back up after being ousted from the stage.

But the old woman's words, especially the part about not charging money at the end, left her speechless, as she couldn't find fault with them.

Jia Zhangshi glanced at Sha Zhu beside her as if seeking help, then turned her gaze to He Daqing.

When He Daqing saw that Jia Zhangshi was looking at him, he snorted coldly.

"Don't look at me. My opinion is the same as everyone else's: refund the money and be done with it. Let's not make things awkward over this."

Seeing Jia Zhangshi so isolated and helpless, and Bang Geng hiding to the side without saying a word, He Yuzhu felt a little sorry for her.

"My dad is right!"

He Yuzhu took the initiative, stating his stance before even stepping out.

"Aunt Zhang, in my opinion, it would be better to return the money."

When Jia Zhangshi saw that He Daqing and He Yuzhu had also joined the enemy camp, she almost fainted again.

However, before she could respond to He Yuzhu's words, He Yuzhu's voice came again.

"Dear neighbors, uncles, aunts and grandmas, please calm down and stop getting angry."

"It's not worth getting angry over something like this, and besides, arguing won't solve anything."

"As Aunt Zhang just said, she kowtowed with her forehead on the ground."

"How about this, we can compromise and let Aunt Zhang refund half of your money, how about that?"

After He Yuzhu finished speaking, the room erupted in discussion, with some in favor and others against; there was no consensus.

Seeing everyone whispering and discussing among themselves, He Yuzhu leaned close to Jia Zhangshi and whispered something.