The Courtyard House: Xu Damao's Aunt is the Queen of Women

Evening, courtyard house number 95.

Yan Fugui, unusually, did not leave early today. He walked dejectedly to the gate of the courtyard and immediately spotted Feng Yong, an officer from the school office, riding his bicycle from the opposite side.

His heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively wanted to dodge, but Feng Yong had already gripped the brakes, jumped out of the car, and parked it against the courtyard wall by the gate.

"Yan Fugui, the Education Bureau's punishment has been issued. It was approved by Director Kong: dismissal from public office, revocation of teaching qualification, city-wide notification, and confiscation of public property. Sign it."

After Feng Yong finished speaking, he took out the disciplinary notice from his bag and handed it to Yan Fugui.

Yan Fugui was struck dumb. He instinctively reached out to take it, but the moment his eyes fell on the words "dismissed from public office," he felt as if his spine had been pulled out, and he froze on the spot. His hand trembled, and the paper with the official seal fluttered to the ground.

"Fire...fire me? I've already admitted my mistake, how can you fire me?"

"The evidence is conclusive, there's nothing more to say."

Feng Yong bent down, picked up the paper, and handed it to Yan Fugui.

"Sign it quickly, I still need to go back to school to report."

"I won't sign!"

Yan Fugui's gaunt face flushed a deep liver color. He snatched the disciplinary notice, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at Feng Yong's chest. His eyes red, he jumped up and down, shouting, "I don't accept it! This is deliberately targeting me! It was just a small thing, is it necessary to go to such extremes?"

His hysterical shouts instantly attracted a large crowd of onlookers.

Hearing the commotion, Yang Ruihua, who was living in the courtyard, ran out and quickly asked, "Old Yan, what's wrong?"

Feng Yong said in a deep voice: "Yan Fugui embezzled public property, extorted money and gifts from students, spread fallacies, corrupted teachers' ethics, concealed his true salary, and pretended to be poor to take advantage of others... The director of the Education Bureau personally approved his dismissal!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. Had Yan Fugui really been reported?

Moreover, the punishment is so severe—direct dismissal.

Yang Ruihua's face turned ashen. She hurriedly picked up the crumpled paper from the ground, unfolded it, glanced at it, took two steps back, plopped down on the steps, and burst into tears, slapping her thighs.

"Damn it! We're completely finished! You bastard, how could you not handle this? How are we going to live now?!"

"Stop crying!"

Yan Fugui turned and yelled at her, his eyes bloodshot, like a wild dog driven to the brink of despair.

"What good will crying do? I was just confused for a moment, what right did they have to fire me!"

"A moment of confusion?"

Yang Ruihua cried out while wiping away her tears, "I told you to be careful not to bring school stuff home, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened, you've lost your job, how are you going to live?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the onlookers began to criticize and ridicule her.

"How are you supposed to live? You deserve it! Everyone in this alley knows Yan Fugui's despicable character!"

"Exactly! You're always guarding the gate like a watchdog. Whenever someone buys a few scallions or a bottle of soy sauce, you'll linger there, trying to steal anything you can. Last time, you even stole half a plate of the dried radishes we were drying! When we asked you to write a couplet for the New Year, you immediately asked for a dime for grinding the ink, and you even charged an extra two cents for writing the character '福' (good fortune). You're so stingy, you're obsessed with money!"

"Yan Fugui is still pretending to be poor. He clearly earns a good monthly salary, but he insists on crying poor in the yard, saying that he can't make ends meet and that he eats bran and wild vegetables every day."

"That's right! Hiding his salary and pretending to be poor is one thing, but he even schemes against his own son. His son lives at home, yet he demands lodging fees; he demands food fees for every meal he eats; he even divides the pickled vegetables by the piece, not allowing an extra single one. He's stingy to the bone!"

"That Yan Laokou is so annoying! He's only interested in scheming and taking advantage of others. Now he's fallen, it's just karma!"

The onlookers, one after another, dug up all of Yan Fugui's secrets: concealing his wages, loitering at the door to take advantage of others, demanding money for writing couplets, scheming against his son, and dividing pickled vegetables by the root. Every single thing was true, making Yan Fugui blush and turn pale with embarrassment.

He wanted to refute, but his mouth was open and he couldn't utter a single word.

When Yang Ruihua heard the neighbors cursing Yan Fugui, she slapped her thigh and cried even harder.

"Our family is struggling! How can we survive if we don't save money and be frugal? He's just a teacher, earning so little. What if something happens if he doesn't hoard it? What's wrong with taking a little advantage? Who doesn't try to be thrifty these days?"

Her words, though seemingly a defense, were actually an admission of what everyone was saying, which only made the onlookers despise her even more.

"Frugal? You two are shameless!"

An older woman retorted, "Scheming against your own son, taking advantage of the neighbors, hiding your wages and pretending to be poor—that's despicable!"

These words struck a nerve with Yan Fugui, causing him to completely break down. He squatted on the ground, grabbing his hair and pulling at it violently, screaming hysterically, "So what if I'm calculating? So what if I'm stingy? So what if I hide my salary? Who doesn't want to save more money these days? I just wanted to make life better, was I wrong? Why did they fire me? I admitted my mistake! Why won't they give me a chance?"

He cried and shouted, tears dripping onto the ground, looking quite pitiful, but no one sympathized with him.

"Officer Feng, I was wrong... Please, give me another chance..."

Seeing his appearance, Yang Ruihua stopped crying, stood up, put her hands on her hips, and started scolding him.

"Now you know you were wrong? Where were you before? I told you to stop taking advantage of the neighbors and stop bringing school stuff home, but you wouldn't listen. Now you've lost your job, and you're crying! How can your brain be so useless?"

As the saying goes, two kinds of people can't sleep in the same bed. Yang Ruihua didn't think there was anything wrong with Yan Fugui concealing his real salary, taking bribes, and trying to get small advantages.

"It's all your fault!"

Yan Fugui, his eyes red, suddenly lunged at Yang Ruihua, roaring, "When I took advantage of others, weren't you happy too? When I schemed against our son, weren't you counting the money along with me? When I hid my salary and pretended to be poor, weren't you crying in the yard with me? Now that something's happened, you blame me? You were involved too! You're just like me!"

"So what if I got a share?"

Yang Ruihua was not to be outdone, and rushed up to fight him, punching and cursing at the same time.

"I told you to be careful, but you wouldn't listen. If you had stopped sooner, would you be in this mess? You useless piece of trash, you can't even keep a job!"

The couple wrestled on the ground, tearing at each other's clothes, grabbing each other's faces, and cursing and blaming each other. They showed no remorse for their actions, like two chickens fighting with bloodshot eyes, only knowing how to shift the blame onto each other.

The onlookers watched with great interest, pointing, laughing, and discussing.

"They're cut from the same cloth, stingy and calculating to the bone, and now they're blaming each other."

"Birds of a feather flock together; Yang Ruihua and Yan Fugui are cut from the same cloth."

"With that kind of character, losing his job is the least of his worries; he brought it on himself!"

Feng Yong stood aside, watching the chaotic scene, and frowned as he scolded, "Yan Fugui, stop throwing a tantrum here. This is an official decision from the Education Bureau. You can't change it by making a scene. Sign it now, or the consequences will be the same!"

Yan Fugui was beaten to the ground by Yang Ruihua, his hair was disheveled, his clothes were torn, his face was covered with scratches, and his mouth was bleeding.

Hearing Feng Yong's words, seeing the disdainful looks from the neighbors around him, and feeling the overwhelming ridicule and accusations, the last bit of support in his heart completely collapsed.

He knew it was all over; no matter how much he made a scene or cried, the expulsion was inevitable.

Behind the crowd, Liu Hao and Ye Juan, who were on their way home from get off work, came over to watch the excitement.

Ye Juan clapped her hands with a beaming smile, praising Ye Zhen's competence.

"Haha, not bad, Ye Zhen finally did something good. Yan Fugui can't pretend to be poor anymore, he really is poor!"