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

At the entrance to the duty room, the dim light of the kerosene lamp shone on Sha Zhu, whose face was swollen like a pig's head. The old wound on the back of his head, combined with the new baton marks on his forehead, made him look like a pitiful sight.

Officer Wang squatted down to check and found that his breathing was still even; he wouldn't die.

"Wake him up." Officer Wang stood up, took the water bottle off his belt, unscrewed the cap, and poured half of the bottle onto Sha Zhu's face.

The cold water jolted Sha Zhu, causing him to twitch violently, his eyelids to flutter, and then he slowly opened them.

My vision was still blurry. The first thing I saw was Officer Wang's dark face, with the lantern above his head casting two halos of light in his eye sockets.

"Wang...Officer Wang..." Sha Zhu's voice was hoarse, as if it had been ground from sandpaper.

"Awake?" Officer Wang squatted down, staring into his eyes. "Do you know what you just did?"

Sha Zhu's consciousness gradually returned, and the scene in the women's prison cell pieced together like fragments—he rushed in, grabbed a person's hair, kicked and stomped, and then Jia Zhangshi's voice came from outside the door... He shuddered, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

"Officer Wang, I... I went to settle scores with Jia Zhangshi! She threw excrement at me today and pushed me into the reservoir. I... I just wanted to teach her a lesson, I didn't mean to kill her! I really didn't mean to kill her!"

"Didn't intend to kill anyone?" Officer Wang's voice wasn't loud, but every word pierced Sha Zhu's ears like nails. "You rushed into the women's cell and beat a female inmate until her face was covered in blood. You call that not intending to kill anyone? Sha Zhu, what do you think this place is? This is a labor camp! Not your No. 95 courtyard!"

Sha Zhu opened his mouth, making a hoarse sound as if he wanted to say something in his defense, but his mind was a complete mess, and he couldn't make sense of anything. He remembered the moment he heard Jia Zhangshi talking outside, and that chilling fear that had gripped him from head to toe surged up again.

"Officer Wang, that...that person, is he alright?"

"She's not dead yet." Officer Wang stood up. "But you'd better pray she's alright. If anything happens to her, you're done for."

Sha Zhu's face turned deathly pale, paler than the light of a lantern. His lips trembled, and he tried to say something, but Officer Wang had already turned and left, leaving behind the words, "Stay put and wait for the secretary to deal with you tomorrow."

The door to the duty room was closed. Sha Zhu, bound tightly with hemp rope, leaned against the wall. The night wind blew in, and his soaked clothes clung to his body, making him shiver with cold. He looked up at the full moon in the sky. The moon was big and white, making the whole farm look as if it were covered with a layer of frost.

He wanted to cry, but his eyes were so dry they ached, and he couldn't squeeze out a single tear.

In the women's cell, the light was on; it was half a candle that Jia Zhangshi had obtained from the duty room.

The dim candlelight flickered, illuminating the faces of the room filled with lingering fear.

Yu Li huddled in the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed), clutching her quilt, her face deathly pale and her lips trembling. Lou Xiao'e wasn't much better off; she was curled up in a ball, her hands covering her chest, her heart pounding as if it would burst. Yu Haitang sat on the edge of the kang, her hands gripping the corners of the quilt tightly, her knuckles white from the effort.

There was a pool of blood on the ground, a shockingly dark sight.

"Why...why did he rush in?" Yu Li's voice trembled. "Is he crazy?"

No one answered.

Lou Xiao'e suddenly raised her head, her gaze sweeping around the room before landing on an empty bed—Jia Zhangshi's spot, the quilt was up, and her shoes were gone.

"Where is Jia Zhangshi?"

Only then did everyone notice that Madam Jia had slipped away at some point.

The words had barely left her lips when the door was pushed open. Jia Zhangshi followed Old Ma in, her face bearing an indescribable expression—a mixture of lingering fear and smugness. Her lips were downturned, but her eyes rolled upwards as she looked around at everyone in the room before finally fixing her gaze on the pool of blood on the floor.

"Tsk, Yang Ruihua has really suffered this time." There was no sympathy in Jia Zhangshi's tone; it was as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

Yu Li stared at her, then suddenly understood: "Jia Zhangshi, Sha Zhu came to see you, right? He mistook you for Yang Ruihua, didn't he?"

Jia Zhangshi rolled her eyes and walked towards her stall, saying as she went, "Looking for me? What does he want? I didn't do anything to him. He's just acting like a rabid dog, biting anyone he can get his hands on. What does that have to do with me?"

"You threw manure at him this evening and pushed him into the reservoir! Everyone on the farm knows!" Lou Xiao'e couldn't hold back anymore, her voice shrill. "He's looking for you! Yang Ruihua took the beating for you!"

Jia Zhangshi threw off the covers, crawled into bed, and with her back to everyone, her voice muffled: "He deserved it. Who told him to be dishonest? Besides, it wasn't me who told him to hit the wrong person. He's blind, is it my fault?"

Yu Haitang trembled with anger, wanting to say something, but Lou Xiao'e stopped her. Lou Xiao'e shook her head, signaling her to stop talking—reasoning with someone like Jia Zhangshi was like casting pearls before swine.

The room fell silent, with only the faint crackling of the burning candle wick.

Old Ma lifted the lantern, said "Go to sleep early," and turned to leave. The door was closed again, but the door that Sha Zhu had kicked in was no longer completely closed, leaving a small crack. Moonlight squeezed in through the crack, drawing a pale line on the ground.

Jia Zhangshi turned over in bed, facing the wall, and slowly the corners of her mouth turned up.

Yang Ruihua will be badly injured, even if he doesn't die this time; Sha Zhu will also be severely injured, even if he doesn't die this time.

Both of them were her enemies, and taking care of both of them at once was a worthwhile deal.

But... she touched her waist, which had become thinner, and felt a little scared. If she hadn't run fast, she would be the one lying on the ground.

Tsk, that old bastard Yang Ruihua is really unlucky. I bet when Sha Zhu pulled her hair from behind, the feel was similar to hers, otherwise he wouldn't have mistaken her for someone else.

In the infirmary, Yang Ruihua lay on a wooden bed, groaning incoherently.

The medic was a female doctor in her forties surnamed Zhou. She was very efficient and had already wiped the blood off her face. She was now stitching up the cut on her lip.

Yang Ruihua's lip was badly injured by her own teeth; a piece of skin was torn off her upper lip, exposing her gums, a shocking sight. Dr. Zhou stitched her up with six stitches and treated several other wounds on her face—a bruise on her forehead, a contusion on her cheekbone, and a bump on the back of her head.

The most serious injury was to her ribs. Dr. Zhou pressed on Yang Ruihua's chest and heard her let out a pig-like scream. His brows furrowed.

"Your ribs might be fractured. You need to go to the main hospital for an X-ray," Dr. Zhou said to Old Ma, who was standing at the door.

Old Ma nodded: "Send it over first thing tomorrow morning. Let's stop the pain for her now."