Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

The Zhang family's small house was burned black, with the wooden doors and window frames completely blackened.

The woodshed in the corner of the courtyard was also mostly burned down, and the ground was covered with water stains, ashes and charred debris.

The entire courtyard was filled with the pungent smell of smoke and a faint odor of kerosene.

Zhang, who slowly woke up, had disheveled hair, a pale face, and was coughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. She was unable to speak for a long time.

The entire hospital staff gathered around, discussing the scene, their faces filled with lingering fear as they looked at the chaotic mess.

Just then, Yi Zhonghai suddenly threw away the broken washbasin in his hand.

He rushed forward in two strides, pointed at He Daqing, and roared at the top of his lungs, his voice so sharp it pierced the night sky:

"It was you! He Daqing! You started the fire!"

These words were like a thunderclap, instantly silencing the entire room. Everyone's eyes turned to He Daqing, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.

Seeing that everyone was stunned, Yi Zhonghai immediately pressed his advantage, speaking with great enthusiasm:

"Everyone can see it! Ever since my divorce from Zhang, He Daqing has been clinging to her every day, fawning over her and trying to get close to her. It's obvious he wants to marry her!"

"I bet Zhang didn't agree to live with him immediately, so he got angry and set fire to her house in the middle of the night, trying to force her to live with him!"

"This is absolutely outrageous! Arson is a capital offense punishable by death!"

Seeing Yi Zhonghai's outburst, Jia Zhangshi immediately chimed in, twisting her waist and pointing at He Daqing, shouting, "That's right! I knew this old bastard was no good!"

"She's always hanging around the Zhang family, full of bad intentions! Now that she's burned down their house, she still has the nerve to pretend to be a good person and put out the fire. Bah!"

Liu Haizhong stood to the side with his arms crossed, a smug smile playing on his lips, and sarcastically chimed in, "Oh, you can really know a person's face but not their heart!"

"He Daqing, I thought you were an honest man, but I never imagined you'd do something as despicable as arson for a woman!"

He had long harbored resentment towards Lin Weidong's faction, and he didn't care whether He Daqing was responsible for what happened today.

He will definitely follow up if anyone makes things difficult for them.

Yan Bugui huddled at the back of the crowd, afraid of getting into trouble. He nodded and muttered under his breath, "What a terrible thing to do. Arson is a serious crime. If this gets to the neighborhood committee, our whole courtyard will be implicated..."

The three of them, working in unison, effectively cemented He Daqing's place on the pillar of shame as an "arsonist."

He Daqing trembled with rage, his face flushed a dark red, and he pointed at Yi Zhonghai, his voice shaking: "Yi Zhonghai! You're slandering me! You're talking nonsense! I risked my life to put out the fire, and you turn around and frame me? Are you even human?"

Zhang recovered and slowly stood up.

Her eyes widened in fury as she glared at Yi Zhonghai, her voice hoarse yet each word resounding: "Yi Zhonghai, don't cry wolf! The fire just went out and you're already trying to frame me. You started it all! You hate me for the divorce, you hate my relationship with He Daqing, so you wanted to burn me alive!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Yi Zhonghai immediately jumped up, feigning grievance and righteousness, patting his chest and shouting, "I kindly called for help to put out the fire at the first opportunity, and you're slandering me instead?"

"Zhang, you've been having an affair with He Daqing! Do you really think everyone in the hospital is blind?!"

As he spoke, he suddenly leaned forward, grabbed He Daqing's sleeve, and shouted to the crowd, "Everyone, smell this! He Daqing reeks of kerosene!"

"If he didn't set the fire, how could he have kerosene on him? This is irrefutable evidence!"

Upon hearing this, everyone crowded forward to take a sniff, and sure enough, He Daqing reeked of a strong kerosene smell.

The neighbors who had been watching were instantly swayed, and murmurs arose again. Their gazes toward He Daqing shifted from sympathy to suspicion.

"It really does smell of kerosene. Could it really have been He Daqing who started the fire?"

"How could someone who seems so honest do something like this..."

"Zhang, too, got involved with someone improperly right after her divorce, and now she's gotten herself into big trouble!"

Yi Zhonghai was overjoyed to see that everyone believed him.

His face remained impassive with righteous indignation as he raised his voice and shouted, "Arson is a serious crime! We cannot let this scourge go unpunished!"

"We'll report this to the police right now, arrest He Daqing, get justice for the Zhang family, and give everyone in the hospital an explanation!"

After saying that, he turned to leave.

He appeared eager to uphold justice, but a sinister smile lurked in his eyes.

Once He Daqing is sent to the police station, Zhang will be left with no one to rely on.

Even if they don't die, they will never be able to turn things around.

"You dare!" Sha Zhu suddenly rushed up and blocked Yi Zhonghai, who was about to walk out of the courtyard.

"My dad would never have set fire to this place! Yi Zhonghai, you framed me! I'm not finished with you!"

Qin Huairu quickly helped Zhang up, saying, "Yi Zhonghai, don't frame people. We all came out after the fire started."

"And we saw you in the yard when we came out. I suspect you were the one who set it there. You wanted to burn Aunt Zhang to death and frame my dad."

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat; he hadn't expected Qin Huairu to have guessed almost everything about his plan.

"Was I the first to notice the problem? If I hadn't, I would have burned to death."

At this moment, Zhang looked at Yi Zhonghai through gritted teeth and said, "Yi Zhonghai, stop trying to deny it. I know it was you who did it."

"After so many years of marriage, I know you all too well. You are ruthless, selfish, and heartless."

"I never expected that you would completely disregard our years of marriage."

Yi Zhonghai looked coldly at Zhang Shi, then pretended to be aggrieved.

"How could I have started the fire? Look everyone, my house has been burned quite a bit too. Who would start a fire and burn down their own house as well?"

After faking wiping away tears, she continued, "I know you hate me for the domestic violence I caused you before, but let everyone in the neighborhood be the judge. Are you really not involved with He Daqing at all?"

"You spent the New Year at the He family's house yesterday, right? And you also ate dumplings there this morning. Besides that, even now you're still defending He Daqing."

"Look at this, everyone! Is this even fair? Would they have developed these feelings for each other if they hadn't been hooking up before?"

The people in the courtyard were talking about it.

"Yi Zhonghai is right, those two have been getting very close lately."

"I also saw He Daqing carrying water for Zhang every day," a neighbor said in a low voice.

He Daqing pointed at Yi Zhonghai, his finger trembling: "You, Yi Zhonghai, you're talking complete nonsense."

"You're distorting the truth!"

"We invited Aunt Zhang to our house for dinner because we felt sorry for her spending the New Year alone, and I also appreciate Aunt Zhang's care for me and Yushui in the past."

He Yuzhu chimed in from the side.

At some point, Jia Zhangshi stood next to Yi Zhonghai, and she even secretly patted his hand.

As if saying, "Leave it to me," Jia Zhangshi shouted, "Who doesn't know that He Daqing likes someone else's wife? Who knows if this is just a ploy he came up with because he can't win over Zhangshi?"

She then added, "He had previously had designs on both me and Widow Li."

Jia Zhangshi directly claimed that her past act of giving money to He Daqing was because He Daqing had designs on her.

Just as He Daqing was about to angrily berate Jia Zhangshi, the roar of an engine came from outside the courtyard.