Courtyard House: Ten-year-old Master Zhu reorganizes the entire courtyard

As Jia Zhangshi sneaked into the main room of the He family, her heart pounded with excitement.

By the faint moonlight streaming through the window, she looked around. The furnishings had changed; clearly, the new occupants had settled in. But she didn't care about any of that; her only goal was the cellar!

She remembered that there was a loose floor tile in the corner of the house, and below it was the entrance to the cellar.

She threw down the shovel, lay down on the ground, and started knocking on the bricks one by one.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

The hollow sound was particularly clear in the silent room.

"Found it!" Jia Zhangshi exclaimed with delight. She used the edge of a shovel to pry open the floor tiles, revealing a dark hole. A musty smell wafted out.

She lit the matches she had brought with her and peered inside. Below were a few steps. Gold bars! She could almost see the gold bars beckoning to her!

She threw down the shovel and eagerly climbed down the steps.

The moment her feet touched the ground, the lights in the room suddenly turned on with a "snap".

The glaring light made it difficult for Jia Zhangshi to open her eyes for a moment.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house in the middle of the night?" A cold voice came from above.

When Jia Zhangshi looked up, she saw a middle-aged man with glasses, who looked refined and looked down at her from the cellar entrance. Behind him stood his wife, who had been awakened.

This person was the primary school teacher who had been assigned to live here by the organization; his code name was "Green Pine."

Jia Zhangshi was startled, but greed quickly overcame her fear. She scrambled to her feet, hands on her hips, and shouted, "What am I doing? This is the He family's house! I'm here to reclaim what belongs to our courtyard! The He family hid gold bars here, and I'm going to dig them up!"

"Gold bars?" Qing Song frowned, then understood, a mocking smile appearing on his face. "Auntie, I think you're money-mad! Breaking into a private residence and trying to rob someone?"

"You're talking nonsense! Who robbed us! These gold bars belong to all of us!" Jia Zhangshi started to throw a tantrum.

"Alright, since you say there are gold bars, then dig them up. I'll let you dig as much as you want today." Qingsong wasn't angry at all; instead, he leisurely crossed his arms. "But I'm warning you, I've already had my lover call the police. Once you dig them up, you can hand them over to the police station and see whose gold bars they are."

"Call the police?" Jia Zhangshi's heart skipped a beat. She only wanted to keep it all to herself and didn't want to alarm the authorities.

Just then, a series of noisy footsteps came from the courtyard.

"What's going on? What's all the noise about in the middle of the night?" It was Yi Zhonghai's voice.

It turned out that as soon as he saw Jia Zhangshi enter the house, he immediately woke everyone in the courtyard. He wasn't trying to uphold justice, but rather to see if Jia Zhangshi could actually find any gold bars. If she did, he, as an old man, would certainly get a share.

Soon, the room was packed with people. Xu Fugui, Xu Damao, and several other families had come to see what was going on.

Seeing that there were more people, Jia Zhangshi became bolder and pointed at Qingsong's nose, cursing, "Look at this newcomer! He wants to take all the He family's gold bars for himself! Everyone come and help dig out the gold bars, and we'll split them equally!"

The crowd looked at each other, half believing and half doubting.

Just as chaos erupted in the courtyard, two policemen walked in.

"Who called the police? What happened?"

Qingsong stepped forward and said calmly, "Officer, this woman broke into my house late at night, claiming she was going to dig up some gold bars, and she even damaged my floor. This is burglary. You can handle it as you see fit."

The police were at their wits' end when they saw this. They recognized Jia Zhangshi; this shrew was a regular at the station.

"Jia Zhangshi! It's you again!" a policeman shouted. "What are you doing here in someone's house in the middle of the night instead of sleeping!"

"I...I've come to dig for gold bars!" Jia Zhangshi still clung to her last glimmer of hope.

"Gold bars? I think you're daydreaming!" The policeman, not wanting to waste any more words with her, said, "Come with us!"

As they spoke, two policemen stepped forward, grabbed Jia Zhangshi from both sides, and dragged her outside.

"I didn't steal anything! Let me go! There are gold bars! There really are gold bars!" Jia Zhangshi was still struggling in vain, crying and shouting.

The people in the courtyard watched this farce and whispered among themselves. Yi Zhonghai's face was ashen; he hadn't expected to get himself into this mess instead of finding the gold bars. Xu Fugui, on the other hand, hid behind the crowd, secretly laughing.

On the rooftop, Watanabe's two agents watched everything through binoculars, exchanging bewildered glances.

"Captain, what... what do we do?"

"What else can we do? Report the truth!" The lead agent shook his head. "That Jia Zhangshi is a complete idiot who's good for nothing and good for making things worse! She's ruined the section chief's entire plan!"

……

Special Higher Police Headquarters.

After hearing the report, Watanabe Ichiro was so angry that he smashed the teacup in his hand on the ground.

"Baka yarou!"

His carefully planned test, the "ghost" he wanted to see, turned out to be a farce staged by a greedy and foolish shrew!

Jia Zhangshi's attempt to lure people in failed; instead, she became a household name. Now, everyone in Nanluoguxiang knows that a woman named Jia Zhangshi was arrested by the police for breaking into her neighbor's house in the middle of the night because she coveted her neighbor's "gold bars."

How can someone with ties to the police department be an informant for the Special Higher Police? What use is a pawn that has already been exposed to the light of day?

Keeping her around will only become a stain and a laughing stock for the Special Higher Police.

"This woman cannot be allowed to live." A murderous glint flashed in Watanabe Ichiro's eyes. "Clean her up, just pretend she accidentally fell into the moat."

"Hai!"

Ichiro Watanabe felt a deep sense of frustration. He felt like a doctor preparing to perform a precise dissection with a scalpel, only to have the patient grab a butcher's knife and stab around randomly, shredding all the clues.

That brat named He Yuzhu didn't appear at all.

The gold bar rumor now seems more like a clever prank, a prank that precisely hit Jia Zhangshi's Achilles' heel.

Ichiro Watanabe had to reassess. Perhaps, the child really was just a child? Or perhaps, it was all just a coincidence?

Continuing to monitor them seems pointless.

"Bring the people from Rongxian Hutong back as well." He waved his hand wearily. "This case is temporarily shelved."

……

Three days later, at Moxianzhai.

The "shopkeeper" and Lin Wanqiu sat facing each other.

"That's what happened," Lin Wanqiu reported, her face still showing a hint of disbelief. "'The Apprentice' simply spread a rumor about gold bars through an outsider, which ruined Watanabe's entire investigation plan. She even used Watanabe's influence to get rid of the neighbor who informed on her. That woman named Jia Zhangshi was found drowned in the moat the day before yesterday."

"Killing three birds with one stone." The shopkeeper's gaze was deep, his fingers lightly tapping the table. "The first bird is Jia Zhangshi. He killed greed with greed, letting the enemy eliminate the threat himself. The second bird is Watanabe's investigation. He used an absurd farce to taint all the clues, making even Watanabe, a professional spy, doubt himself and voluntarily withdraw his surveillance. The third bird is demonstrating his abilities to us."

The shopkeeper looked up at Lin Wanqiu and said, word by word, "This 'apprentice' is far more valuable than we imagine. He is not a knife, but a chess player who can wield it."

Lin Wanqiu nodded in deep agreement. That ten-year-old child was calm, decisive, and ruthless; the depth of his schemes was enough to frighten even an adult like herself.

"Pass the word," the manager decided, "raise the 'apprentice's' security level to the highest. I will be directly responsible for all his actions. We must protect this promising talent; he will be our sharpest sword in Beiping in the future!"

In the courtyard of Rongxian Hutong.

He Yuzhu was sitting at the table, teaching his younger sister, He Yushui, to read. The sun was shining brightly, and the scene was peaceful and serene.

He Daqing and Chen Lanxiang watched from the side, their faces beaming with happiness. They were completely unaware of the bloodshed happening outside, only feeling that their lives were becoming more and more peaceful each day.

At that moment, the system's voice quietly sounded in He Yuzhu's mind.

[Ding! You have successfully averted a deadly crisis by using cunning and a second party to eliminate the direct threat.]

[Rewards being processed...]

[Reward Obtained: Trait "Strategist" (Beginner). Effect: Increases mental clarity by 20% and slightly enhances insight into human weaknesses when devising strategies.]

[Congratulations! You have completed the hidden achievement "The Silent Hunt". System points +50.]

He Yuzhu's lips curled into a smile that only he could understand.

He knew this was just the beginning. In this ancient city battered by storms, he, a mere "apprentice," still had a long way to go.