The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

With so many eyes watching, Zhu Xiaohua's legs trembled even more violently.

Everyone noticed that something was wrong with her.

Aunt Ye put on a stern face and said in a serious tone, "Zhu Xiaohua, hurry up! Everyone's waiting!"

Seeing that she still didn't move, Aunt Ye gave Yu Guifen and another aunt in the courtyard a wink.

The two men understood each other and went straight to Zhu Xiaohua's side, one on each side, to help her inside.

"Ouch!" Zhu Xiaohua suddenly clutched her stomach and bent over. "Sister Ye, my stomach hurts terribly, I need to go to the outhouse right away!"

As he spoke, he turned and tried to slip away.

But before she could run two steps, Yu Guifen and another older woman grabbed her arms tightly.

"Zhu Xiaohua, go after you're done. It won't take long." Yu Guifen exerted force with her hands.

She realized that Zhu Xiaohua was most likely the one who did it. She'd almost been bitten by her earlier, and now was the time to get her revenge.

And so, Zhu Xiaohua was half-carried and half-dragged into the house by the two men.

The two men led her to a clear set of footprints before letting go of her.

Comrade Sun, who was standing to the side, spoke up: "Comrade, please step up."

Zhu Xiaohua knew that she had no choice but to stand on it, so after hesitating for a long time, she slowly stepped onto it.

People outside the room were all peering inside.

However, the size of the footprint didn't match Zhu Xiaohua's foot, and she immediately shouted, "Comrades from the neighborhood committee, it wasn't me! It wasn't me!"

As he spoke, he repeatedly pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

"Don't shout, there's still one more footprint to compare." Officer Xu stepped forward, his tone indifferent.

He was already convinced that this person was responsible and had no intention of giving her a friendly look.

"Huh? There's more!" Zhu Xiaohua, who thought he had escaped a disaster, was stunned for a moment.

Then, Officer Sun pointed to another footprint: "Comrade, come up here again."

They had already spotted more than one person during their initial observations.

When Zhu Xiaohua stood on another footprint, the result was as expected: her foot perfectly matched the footprint on the ground.

Sun couldn't help but glance at her, then directed Zhu Xiaohua to compare the fingerprints on the wall one by one.

Similarly, unsurprisingly, several handprints overlapped.

"Comrade, is there anything else you want to say?" Officer Sun looked at her, his tone serious.

Zhu Xiaohua's eyes darted around, and he began to make excuses: "Comrades from the neighborhood office, I... I just saw that the door to this house had been open for several days, so I came in to take a look."

Standing to the side, Li Kaixin immediately adopted a victim's posture, her voice tinged with grievance:

"Aunt Zhu, you've made such a mess of my room, what did I do to offend you?"

The crowd peeking out from outside, seeing Li Kaixin's appearance, was immediately filled with indignation and began pointing and whispering about Zhu Xiaohua:

"Zhu Xiaohua, you're really something, bullying even a good person like Comrade Li!"

"Exactly! I saw Comrade Li give her family beef jerky and walnuts; what an ingrate!"

Another reason for speaking up for Li Kaixin is that everyone remembers the beef jerky and walnuts he gave everyone last time.

As the scene grew lively, Li Kaixin's lips curled into a barely perceptible smile. His behavior just now was intentional, designed to subject Zhu Xiaohua to a barrage of criticism.

Upon seeing the scene before him, Zhu Xiaohua plopped down on the ground and started acting like a rogue: "So what if I did it? I didn't steal anything, what can you do to me?"

As he spoke, he didn't forget to glare fiercely at Li Kaixin.

Her previous fear was only of the embarrassment of having her bad deeds exposed in public, but now that things have come to this, she's just given up.

The moment these words were spoken, the faces of the two officers in the room instantly darkened.

"Comrade Zhu, please watch your attitude."

Officer Xu's voice suddenly turned stern, "This is intentional damage to other people's property. If it's serious, you'll go to jail!"

"What?" Zhu Xiaohua's face changed instantly, and she tried to argue her way out of it:

"Comrade from the neighborhood office, I...I'm just a woman and I don't know anything about these things. You can't just think I'm easy to fool and then...scare me like that!"

However, his voice trembled uncontrollably, clearly indicating that he was panicked.

"Trying to fool you? I don't have time for that." Officer Xu's tone was icy. "As soon as Comrade Li goes to the police station to report the case, you'll be going in immediately."

Zhu Xiaohua was genuinely scared this time; his lips were trembling.

Officer Xu ignored her on the ground and turned to look at Li Kaixin, his tone suggesting a discussion:

"Comrade Li, do you think we should report this to the police, or handle it through internal mediation within our neighborhood committee?"

The moment the words "report to the police" were uttered, the indignant crowd outside the door fell silent, and even Aunt Ye couldn't help but look at Li Kaixin.

The entire room fell silent, awaiting his answer.

Li Kaixin walked up to Zhu Xiaohua, squatted down, and said calmly, "Aunt Zhu, you reported me to the police last time. Do you think I should do it again this time?"

"I...I..." Zhu Xiaohua was completely terrified and could not even speak properly.

When the people outside the door heard Li Kaixin say this, they looked at him with a hint of apprehension.

The expressions on the faces of Officer Xu and Officer Sun also changed slightly. They were actually worried that Li Kaixin would actually report the case to the police.

Ultimately, this incident reflects the inadequacy of the street's usual publicity and education efforts. If it had been brought to the forefront, the two of them would have been subject to criticism.

Li Kaixin didn't really intend to make a big fuss, and got up to turn to Officer Xu:

"Officer Xu, I think we should settle this privately. However, she has to pay me two hundred yuan, plus clean this yard for a year."

Both Officer Xu and Officer Sun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Comrade Li, rest assured, we will definitely uphold justice for you in this matter," Officer Xu immediately stated.

"No way!" Zhu Xiaohua shouted excitedly upon hearing the price of two hundred yuan. "At most, I'll repaint the walls; don't even think about paying me!"

Officer Xu hadn't expected her to be so tactless: "Comrade Zhu, do you really want to go to jail?"

"I won't let him go to jail! Let him sue me if he dares!" Zhu Xiaohua decided to go all out.

Officer Xu was speechless for a moment. He hadn't expected that Zhu Xiaohua would rather go to jail than pay compensation.

"Officer Xu, let me say a few more words to her," Li Kaixin said, then leaned close to Zhu Xiaohua's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Zhu Xiaohua, don't forget, there are other people's hand and footprints in the house. He'll go to jail too. Can you really bear to see that?"

After saying that, he stood up and stepped back, returning to stand next to Secretary Xu.

Zhu Xiaohua's attitude changed drastically, her voice trembling: "Don't...don't call the police! I'll pay! I'll pay, okay?"

Seeing that she had relented, Officer Xu, fearing that there might be further changes, immediately made the decision: "Alright! Since Comrade Zhu agrees, let's do as Comrade Li says."

Upon hearing the outcome, the neighbors watching from outside the door breathed a sigh of relief, and when they looked at Li Kaixin again, their eyes regained their previous warmth and sympathy.