Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Lou Xiao'e confirmed that Xu Damao, Shazhu, and Zhang Dabiao did indeed drink together last night.

More importantly, Lou Yufan's accident happened at 9:30 last night, while Zhang Dabiao was drinking with Xu Damao and Shazhu around 11:00.

From Beijing to Hong Kong, there are thousands of miles between them. Even by plane, it's impossible to get back in an hour and a half and still have time to drink with someone.

The timing doesn't match.

Therefore, Zhang Dabiao and Zhang Yaoyang are indeed two different people.

She couldn't very well ask Zhang Dabiao directly, "Did you tell your brother to cut off my brother's hand?"

I couldn't ask that, so I had to go back and report to Lou Bancheng.

Hey—how did the Lou family, which was doing so well, end up like this?

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Zhang Dabiao and Qin Jingru rode two bicycles to school, with Zhang Dabiao wolfing down his food as he rode.

Qin Jingru asked him, "Brother Da Biao, are you confident about the grade skipping exam?"

Recently, Zhang Dabiao has been busy with factory matters or transporting grain to Qinjiatun, and he often disappears for half a day—but Qin Jingru has become accustomed to this.

Zhang Dabiao is a temporary purchasing agent. If he doesn't go out and run around, how can he get supplies?

But then there's less time for review.

Zhang Dabiao swallowed a steamed bun, turned to Qin Jingru, and patted his chest: "It's just a grade-skipping exam, no problem!"

That's what he said, but Zhang Dabiao was a little uneasy. He thought that the content of junior high school was naturally different from that of elementary school. Chinese and arithmetic were easy to learn, but the others were not so easy to learn.

However, passing should not be a problem.

Seeing his confident demeanor, Qin Jingru couldn't help but laugh: "Don't brag! Skipping a grade and taking the final exam in the third year of junior high is really difficult!"

"Don't worry!" Zhang Dabiao grinned. "Your brother Biao is a top student!"

He talked big, but he had no confidence at all.

He killed two people last night, so he's still a bit shaken up. He also drank so much alcohol, and his head is still spinning. Forget about skipping a grade, he might not even do well on a regular final exam.

But now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

The two rode towards the school while talking.

As soon as he rode out of the alley, Zhang Dabiao felt someone watching him from behind.

He turned around abruptly, but only saw crowds of people going to work and school in the alley. The feeling of being watched suddenly disappeared.

Is it just my imagination?

Zhang Dabiao frowned, shook his head, and then ignored it.

Maybe I've been too stressed lately?

Unbeknownst to him, behind a large tree at the entrance of the alley, a man in a black trench coat—Qu San—was silently watching his back, his eyes filled with malice and malice.

After seeing Zhang Dabiao leave the alley, Qu San adjusted his hat and headed towards courtyard number 95.

At that moment, Zhang Dabiao was walking to school with Qin Jingru, chatting and laughing, completely unaware that an invisible net was quietly being cast towards him.

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At school, Zhang Dabiao was assigned to Class 3 of the third year of junior high school, and took the exam in a seat next to the podium, right in front of the proctor, making it impossible for him to cheat.

The students were a bunch of fourteen or fifteen-year-old kids. They were a little curious about the 17-year-old, 1.8-meter-tall guy who suddenly came to their class for the exam, but that was all. Because they had an exam today, they weren't really in the mood to make a new friend.

In the morning, we'll have Chinese and Math; in the afternoon, Physics. Tomorrow morning we'll have Chemistry and a Foreign Language (Russian); in the afternoon, History and Geography (some schools will have exams). Each subject will have two exam periods, and the holiday will begin after the exams are completed in two days.

In addition, Zhang Dabiao will have to undergo separate assessments in physical education, music, and art the day after tomorrow. Normally, teachers give students their grades based on regular class performance, without needing a final exam. However, Zhang Dabiao is skipping a grade, and his grades need to be filed with the Municipal Education Bureau, so he needs to take these extra exams.

My performance in Chinese was so-so; I should get around 80 points without any problem.

Zhang Dabiao is confident he can score above 90 in junior high school math.

The afternoon's test was a bit challenging, as it relied entirely on memorization. However, Zhang Dabiao was confident he would pass, estimating a score of around 70.

Physics in junior high school is generally not very difficult; I barely managed to get 80 points.

When he returned home in the afternoon, Qin Jingru had already prepared a table of food and was waiting for him to eat. Yu Shui and Mu Wanqing were also there, and the four of them hid in the stable and ate and drank heartily.

But after returning to the cabin, Zhang Dabiao noticed something was wrong.

Someone has been inside the cabin.

There were shoe prints on the fine flour under the front door, the prints of a size 43 leather shoe, a man's footprint. In the bedroom, the hair tied in the crack of the decorative wooden door on the wall had broken off.

Someone came in and searched the cabin.

Zhang Dabiao glanced at the desk drawer, where there were over 20 yuan in bills and about 50 yuan in cash, untouched.

The other party wasn't after the money.

Since Qin Jingru was in charge of the kitchen, and she didn't find anything, the kitchen supplies hadn't been stolen.

What was the other party's purpose in coming here?

Zhang Dabiao wasn't afraid of exposing the secret of the decorative wooden door. It connected to the door of his "little nest," which he had disguised to match the wood grain of the wall. Moreover, it was impossible to open it without his permission.

Zhang Dabiao had kept all his slightly valuable possessions in his small hut. Since the other party wasn't after money or food, what exactly were they looking for in his little wooden hut?

Antiques, gold, or—

The bracelet from the Lou family?

Zhang Dabiao narrowed his eyes. Was there some movement from Lou Bancheng's side?

Now that he's gone back on his word, isn't he afraid of having to go to the ministry and ask for help from higher authorities to recover the losses?

Surely a big capitalist boss wouldn't go back on his word every few days?

If Zhang Dabiao can't figure it out, then he doesn't need to think about it anymore.

Around 9 o'clock, the courtyard was quiet, as everyone was getting ready to go to sleep.

He Yushui and Qin Jingru were studying in the east wing, preparing for tomorrow's final exams. Mu Wanqing had also returned to the tenement and had been studying recently, preparing for next year's college entrance examination.

Zhang Dabiao stood at the door of the wooden house, staring blankly at the dark courtyard for a long time. It was very quiet, and there was nothing unusual.

He was pondering various possibilities. Logically speaking, since Lou Yufan's wrist was chopped off by "Zhang Yaoyang," shouldn't Lou Bancheng come over and ask him a few questions?

Or is it already planned that both sides will work together to eliminate both himself and "Roy Cheung"?

Is he really that calm?

Or should we wait for the outcome in Hong Kong before taking any action?

In the darkness, is someone watching me?

If he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Zhang Dabiao closed the door of the cabin and turned off the lights, pretending that he was already asleep.

It slipped directly from the cabin to its "little nest" and continued to stare into the cabin through the peephole. It waited for more than ten minutes, but there was no movement.

Forget it, Zhang Dabiao decided to go directly to Hong Kong. Anyway, there are electronic surveillance cameras here, so he can check again when he gets back.