I painted an aircraft carrier on the courtyard house for Dongda University.

The third aunt was still a bit unwilling to give up. "Um, Second Aunt," she said, "I think we really need to think this through. Chief Engineer Zhou is a leader, after all. What if they are technicians, or even experts? It would be really difficult to handle that way."

The second aunt's eyes widened, and she shook her head with an extremely serious expression: "Absolutely not! Technicians don't dress like demons! Let me tell you, Zhou Weiguo has made a mistake. If we ignore it and something goes wrong, none of the three of us will escape; we'll all go to jail! Anyway, I'm telling you this now: if you two insist on not reporting it, and something really happens and you end up in jail, you're not allowed to curse me behind my back!"

The two women, one older and the other younger, trembled, their hesitation deepening.

They really didn't want to offend Zhou Weiguo, but the second aunt's words touched on their concerns.

Seeing the two women looking conflicted, the second aunt knew that things were almost over. In her mind, she was already thinking about how to send Zhou Weiguo, the man who had caused her husband to go to jail, to prison. He not only didn't help but also kicked her when she was down.

The thought of living at home every day without daring to even raise her voice to her son filled her with despair: "Old Liu, I've finally got my chance. Don't worry, I'll get you out. As long as Zhou Weiguo falls, you'll definitely be able to get out."

She squinted and spoke again, "I just don't understand what you're hesitating about? If we report this, the neighborhood committee and the police station will naturally investigate. We're just fulfilling our duties as liaison officers. What's wrong with reporting problems we find? Even if it turns out to be a misunderstanding, what does that have to do with us? But if we discover something unusual and don't report it, that's protecting criminals, that's a crime! Do you really want to commit a crime and go to jail?"

These words caused the faces of the older woman and the younger woman to change several times.

After a long pause, the older woman sighed heavily: "Second Aunt, I advise you to think twice before you act. Think about my husband, Lao Yi, and then think about your husband, Lao Liu. There are some people we can't afford to offend. Zhou Weiguo dared to bring these two women into the yard so openly; do you think he's a man without any sense of propriety? To be honest, now that I have a child, I just want to live a peaceful life and really don't want to cause any more trouble."

The third aunt quickly nodded in agreement: "That's right! Second aunt, don't you even consider Zhou Weiguo's current status? If you really do that, it's like throwing an egg against a rock. We're all neighbors in the same courtyard. If you don't cause trouble, people will still have some consideration for you; but if you really make a scene, what about your two children's future?"

The second aunt's face instantly froze.

But in her heart, apart from the eldest who had run away, she hadn't really cared much about her other children. Now that the eldest was gone, all her thoughts were on Old Liu. Thinking of this, her eyes instantly hardened again.

She squinted at the two men, her tone icy: "Fine, you won't help, but from now on, if you dare to utter a single word about this to Zhou Weiguo, don't blame me for turning against you! I'm upholding justice; Zhou Weiguo is the one who's having illicit affairs and harboring enemy spies in his home! I'm a legitimate liaison officer assigned by the neighborhood committee; what's wrong with me reporting the truth?"

She waved her hand impatiently: "I'm too lazy to argue with you two cowards. I'm going to contact the police station and the neighborhood committee to report him and arrest Zhou Weiguo, this 'pest' of the compound who doesn't know how to respect the elderly or care for the young!"

Seeing that the second aunt was unyielding, the two stopped trying to stop her and just shook their heads helplessly.

On the other side, Xu Damao had been acting strangely ever since he saw Lou Xiao'e. At that moment, he was riding his bicycle at breakneck speed on the road.

In less than ten minutes, he rushed to the entrance of the Qianmen Street Cinema, hurriedly parked his car, and ran into the cinema next door.

As soon as he entered the door, Xu Damao shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mother! Mother! Mother?"

Tao Ling, who was sitting in the ticket office at that moment, quickly looked outside when she heard her son's voice.

"Hey, Damao! What brings you here so early in the morning? What happened?"

At this moment, a middle-aged man came out from inside, frowning as he asked, "Da Mao, what are you shouting about so early in the morning? What kind of behavior is this!"

Upon seeing that the person was his father, Xu Wude, Xu Damao immediately shrank back, his arrogance instantly diminishing.

"Father, I've come to ask Mother something."

He scratched his head and turned to Tao Ling, "Mother, didn't you say before that the entire Lou family had run away?"

Tao Ling paused for a moment, then casually replied, "Yes, we've been running around for quite a while. Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Xu Damao quickly grabbed Tao Ling's arm and eagerly asked, "Mother, that eldest daughter of the Lou family, is Lou Xiao'e, the one you wanted to introduce to me as a boyfriend? Do you remember her?"

"Of course I remember, how could I not remember?"

Tao Ling sighed, her tone full of regret, "It's a pity the Lou family ran away in such a hurry. They said they'd give me three days off, but by the time I got back, the place was deserted. If they hadn't suddenly disappeared, why would I be doing this temporary job as a ticket seller? It's only 18 yuan a month. I used to be the housekeeper at the Lou family's place, and I earned over a hundred yuan a month, more than a senior worker in the factory..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xu Wude covered her mouth.

"Are you out of your mind? How dare you say something like that!"

Xu Wude lowered his voice, his expression grave, "Although there aren't many people at the movie theater in the morning, can we just casually bring up the Lou family's affairs?"

Tao Ling forcefully pried his hand away, glaring at him: "Old Xu, are you stupid? The Lou family has already run away, what's wrong with me saying a few words? Besides, I've worked for them for over ten years, I've done my part, even if I haven't made any great contributions, I've still put in a lot of effort. And they just leave like that, stuffing five hundred yuan into my cabinet to get rid of me, is that fair?"

Seeing this, Xu Damao quickly stepped forward and pulled Tao Ling aside, urgently interrupting her: "Mother, don't bring up these old stories, listen to me about something important. I saw Lou Xiao'e in the yard this morning!"

"impossible!"

Tao Ling shook her head without even thinking, "The Lou family has long since disappeared. How could you possibly have seen Lou Xiao'e?"

She lowered her voice and added, "You have no idea how tough life is for those red capitalists these days. The Bai family, who used to be close to the Lou family, had their property confiscated recently. It's only because Lou Bancheng was clever and ran away early that the Lou family probably wouldn't have escaped the same fate."

Xu Damao's eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed, "Mother, have you gone mad? Knowing the Lou family's situation, why did you still want to introduce Lou Xiao'e to me?"

Xu Wude couldn't stand it any longer and slapped Xu Damao across the face: "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense!"