Courtyard House: Starting with handing over the keys, the state helps me abuse birds.

Chapter 3: One punch stunned the entire hospital

In the courtyard, Sha Zhu lay on the ground like a lump of rotten mud with its bones drained, his body still twitching uncontrollably.

Intermittent gagging sounds came from his throat, each inhalation felt like knives being poured into his lungs, his face quickly turned from flushed to pale, and cold sweat poured out of his forehead layer after layer.

But even more "stiff" than him was the entire courtyard.

There were no curses, no discussions, not even a gasp of surprise.

A night breeze swept through the courtyard, causing several faded old clothes hanging on the clothesline to sway gently. The fabric rubbed together, producing a soft, rustling sound that was amplified in the deathly silence, sounding particularly jarring.

Faces peeked out cautiously from behind paper windows, cracks in doors, and shadows in corners, only to shrink back abruptly the moment Xie Weihong's gaze swept over them, as if they were being watched by something dangerous.

Is this Xie Weihong?

Almost at the same time, the idea popped into everyone's mind.

Yan Bugui stood behind his own door, half of his body hidden in the shadows, his hands gripping the door frame tightly, his knuckles white, his palms covered in cold sweat.

He saw it all too clearly, so clearly that there was no room for self-deception.

He saw how Sha Zhu rushed into the backyard.

He also saw how Sha Zhu's fist was grabbed.

Then, he was thrown over the shoulder and punched flying all the way from the backyard to the middle yard, where he crashed to the ground like a tattered sack.

The whole process was ridiculously fast.

It happened so fast that even he, who always prided himself on being "shrewd," didn't have time to react.

"This...this isn't right..."

Yan Bugui's throat was dry.

In his mind, Xie Weihong was always the kind of person who was "easiest to handle"—she had no parents, was soft-hearted, always yielding, and would swallow her losses in silence.

These are the safest "resources" in the yard.

And who is Sha Zhu?

He was a notorious bully in the factory, the unofficial "muscle man" of the courtyard, and the kind of guy who could settle even neighborhood squabbles with a single punch.

The results of it?

They didn't even have a chance to fight back.

He was beaten like this in public.

Sha Zhu did put up a fight.

There was simply no chance to resist.

"This isn't just being ruthless, it's... crushing them."

The moment the thought crossed his mind, a chill ran down his spine.

Yan Bugui quickly made a judgment in his mind:

It seems I can no longer take advantage of Xie Weihong in the future.

Behind the window at the Jia family's house.

Jia Zhangshi was practically pressed against the window frame, her thick face contorted in pain, her triangular eyes fixed on Sha Zhu in the center of the courtyard, her face deathly pale, and her lips trembling uncontrollably.

The spot on her buttock that had just been bruised from the fall now felt like it had been kicked hard again, burning with pain.

It's not physical pain.

I feel guilty.

Xie Weihong's words kept echoing in her mind—

"Take your dogs."

The more I think about it, the less it sounds like the kind of harsh words a young person would utter when they're being aggressive.

It's more like a... declaration.

What are you announcing?

This is to declare that, starting today, some people in this courtyard can no longer be ordered around or trampled on at will as before.

What chilled her to the bone even more was that she suddenly realized a fact:

Sha Zhu was someone she and Yi Zhonghai pushed forward to take the blows.

The knife is broken now.

The person who took the blow is also crippled.

For the first time in this courtyard, someone dared to trample both Yi Zhonghai's "authority" and Sha Zhu's "fists" underfoot.

And they stepped on it without hesitation.

Qin Huairu stood at the doorway of the inner room, her fingers tightly gripping the edge of her apron, her expression more complicated than anyone else's.

She knew Sha Zhu's abilities better than anyone else, and she also knew better than anyone else who allowed Sha Zhu to act so arrogantly in this courtyard.

But now, that chain has been forcibly broken.

Looking at Xie Weihong standing in the courtyard, she realized for the first time that there was no trace of "being easy to manipulate" about this person.

The feeling of him standing there steadily without making a fuss or being hysterical made her instinctively wary.

"This person... can no longer be dealt with using the old methods."

As for Yi Zhonghai...

He stood at his own doorway, half his body hidden in the shadows, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.

This scene was completely unexpected.

In his mind, things should have gone differently: Sha Zhu would have stepped in, used force to subdue Xie Weihong, made her submit, made her afraid, and made her feel intimidated, and ideally, she would have been branded as "mentally unstable."

But reality slapped him hard in the face.

Sha Zhu was lying on the ground; things were completely out of control.

The people in the courtyard no longer looked at him with simple awe, but began to waver.

Xie Weihong simply stood there.

No shouting, no fussing, no explanations.

But it was this silence that made Yi Zhonghai feel truly uneasy for the first time.

This is the feeling of authority being challenged.

Moreover, he was dealing with a "soft target" whom he had personally suppressed for over a decade.

Time passed little by little.

Sha Zhu's groans grew weaker and weaker, as if he might faint at any moment.

Finally, Yi Zhonghai took a deep breath, as if making some kind of concession, and slowly emerged from the shadows.

He walked slowly, but deliberately steadily, and his face once again wore that "concerned about everyone" expression.

"Wei Hong".

He spoke, his voice not loud, but loud enough for everyone in the courtyard to hear.

"You have too much of a temper."

Xie Weihong merely glanced at him indifferently.

Just one glance.

Yi Zhonghai's heart tightened suddenly, and he subconsciously avoided that gaze.

"Zhu Zi... acted on impulse."

"This situation is bad for everyone."

As he spoke, he bent down to drag Sha Zhu away.

His movements seemed natural, but only he knew that his palms were soaked with cold sweat.

He dared not say another word.

They dared not provoke Xie Weihong in the slightest.

Sha Zhu was being dragged along, making muffled whimpering sounds, as if he were pleading for help or wailing.

The people in the courtyard seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. They just watched as Yi Zhonghai dragged the man who was once "the most capable fighter" back into the house, bit by bit.

Xie Weihong stood there until the door closed before slowly turning around.

He didn't say anything.

He simply went back inside, closed the door, and bolted it.

"Click".

That soft sound shut out the entire courtyard.

In the room.

Xie Weihong leaned against the door and exhaled a breath of stale air.

That fight just now was nothing to him.

There's still a long way to go; he has plenty of time to spend having fun with them.

As for now.

He raised his hand and took out the [Spirit-Eroding Strengthening Potion].

The reddish-gold liquid swayed gently in the bottle.