Siheyuan (courtyard house): My father, Li Yunlong!

When Yi Zhonghai saw that the two men had stood up for him, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. However, upon hearing Li Zhenhua's words, and especially seeing the surprised, uncertain, and even somewhat enlightened and amused expressions on the faces of his neighbors, he knew that he had to turn the situation around immediately, otherwise his prestige, which he had built up over the years, would completely collapse.

He quickly gave his wife a wink amidst the chaos. The older woman, who had been with Yi Zhonghai and his wife for many years, understood immediately. She quietly slipped out of the crowd and hurried towards the deaf old woman's house in the backyard.

In the current situation, perhaps only this ancestor can keep things in order.

Looking at the furious Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu, Li Zhenhua not only didn't panic, but instead curled up a more sarcastic sneer.

He immediately turned his attention to Sha Zhu.

"He Yuzhu!"

Li Zhenhua's voice suddenly rose, filled with undisguised contempt.

"What are you pretending to be, acting all high and mighty? Whether Yi Zhonghai is a hypocrite or not, everyone knows the truth! I want to ask you, you orphan, what are you thinking about all day? Bringing lunchboxes to Qin Huairu every day, what are you up to? Do you think everyone is blind?"

Sha Zhu was hit where it hurt, especially by the words "no parents to discipline him," which struck a nerve. He immediately blushed and stammered in rebuttal.

"You...you're talking nonsense! I...I saw that Sister Qin's family was having difficulties, so what's wrong with helping them out? I...I was just doing it out of a sense of helping others!"

"Helping others is a pleasure?"

Li Zhenhua chuckled, his gaze sweeping over Qin Huairu, whose face had turned pale in an instant, before returning to Sha Zhu's face, his tone full of malicious mockery.

"You're so happy you're thinking about touching her hand every day, aren't you? Come on, in front of the whole hospital, tell everyone how many times Qin Huairu has let you touch her hand? How many times has she held your arm? Isn't this feeling of 'being helpful' especially wonderful?"

"You're talking nonsense!"

Sha Zhu panicked completely, his face turning as red as if it were about to bleed, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked, but he didn't dare to actually rush forward, after all, he had experienced Li Zhenhua's skills firsthand.

To everyone else, his reaction seemed more like that of someone who had been exposed and was now furious and embarrassed.

Jia Dongxu, who was standing to the side, was still angry that Li Zhenhua had slandered his master, but upon hearing this, his attention was instantly diverted!

He suddenly turned his head to look at Sha Zhu, then at his wife Qin Huairu. Seeing Qin Huairu with her head down, her body trembling slightly, looking ashamed, a huge sense of humiliation and overwhelming anger surged to his head!

"You idiot Zhu! I'll fuck your grandpa!"

Jia Dongxu's eyes were bloodshot, and he turned his gun to pounce on Sha Zhu.

"Dongxu! Don't listen to his nonsense! It's not true!"

Qin Huairu was so frightened that she quickly grabbed her husband and cried out.

Before Jia Dongxu could react, Li Zhenhua immediately turned his attention to him, his tone full of sarcasm.

"Jia Dongxu! You still have the nerve to fight someone? If I were you, I would have smashed my head against a block of tofu long ago! For a bite to eat, you let your wife go to great lengths to swindle food from other men, tacitly allowing her to flirt with Sha Zhu in exchange for a few lucrative deals! Are you even a man? If your father, Old Jia, knew this in the afterlife, he'd be turning in his grave seeing his son living such a pathetic life!"

Jia Dongxu trembled all over from the scolding, his face turning from red to green. He wanted to refute, but found that every word Li Zhenhua said was piercing to the heart. He was powerless to argue and could only pant heavily, like a trapped wild beast.

Just then, Li Zhenhua seemed to realize something. His gaze swept back and forth between Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhangshi, and Jia Dongxu. An extremely exaggerated expression of sudden realization appeared on his face, and his voice suddenly became high-pitched and clear, ensuring that every word reached the ears of everyone present.

"Oh!! I see! No wonder, no wonder!"

He deliberately dragged out the tone to attract everyone's attention.

"Yi Zhonghai, you've really done a good job for the Jia family all these years! Not long after Old Jia died, you hurriedly took Jia Dongxu as your apprentice, personally teaching him the skills, supporting the widow and orphan both inside and outside the courtyard, treating Jia Zhangshi like an ancestor, and raising this whole family to be plump and healthy..."

Li Zhenhua paused, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing Yi Zhonghai's face, which had instantly turned terrified, and dropped the final bombshell, word by word.

"Could it be... that Jia Dongxu isn't actually Old Jia's son? Could it be that Old Jia's death wasn't an accident at all? Could it be that you, Yi Zhonghai, had an affair with Jia Zhangshi all along and conspired to kill Old Jia, and Jia Dongxu is actually your biological son! Is that why you've been raising them so devotedly?"

These words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky, exploding throughout the entire Central Court!

Everyone was stunned by this earth-shattering speculation!

The entire courtyard was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.

All eyes were focused on Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhangshi, and Jia Dongxu!

The deathly silence lasted only a moment before the entire courtyard erupted into a tremendous uproar and commotion.

The neighbors were initially shocked, but their expressions became incredibly complex and eerie. Whispers spread like a tide, growing louder and more unrestrained.

"My goodness! You can't say things like that!"

"Hiss... You know what, if you look closely, Jia Dongxu's eyebrows and eyes really do resemble Lao Yi's!"

"That's right! The more you look at Bang Geng's face, the more he resembles Yi Zhonghai; he doesn't look like the Jia family's pointed-mouthed, monkey-faced type at all!"

"No wonder! No wonder Yi Zhonghai has treated the Jia family like royalty for so many years, giving them whatever they wanted and even holding large meetings to force them to donate. So that's the root of the problem!"

"Oh my! I remember now! A few days before Old Jia died, I think I really saw Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi arguing behind the warehouse. Old Jia's face turned green!"

"My God! If that's really the case, then Old Jia's death... wasn't an accident? Was it a setup?"

"The accident in the workshop... Yi Zhonghai and Lao Jia were nearby at the time..."

Rumors and gossip, like venomous snakes, quickly coiled around and devoured the key figures in the arena.

The neighbors looked at Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi with disdain, fear, and an excitement at discovering a shocking secret. They unconsciously backed away, as if trying to stay away from this filth.

Jia Dongxu was struck dumb, frozen in place, his face deathly pale and his eyes vacant.

He looked at Yi Zhonghai, who seemed to have gone mad, then at Jia Zhangshi, who was lying on the ground, pale-faced, her lips trembling, unable to utter a complete explanation. Recalling the extraordinary "care" and favoritism Yi Zhonghai had shown him over the years, a terrible thought began to grow uncontrollably.

Could it be... could it be that I really am Yi Zhonghai's son? Then how did my father, Lao Jia, die?

The thought chilled him to the bone, as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and his eyes as he looked at Yi Zhonghai were filled with confusion and incredulous fear.