Sha Zhu's Rebirth in the Courtyard: Starting with Hitting Someone in the Head

Chapter 8 Plundering Beasts

It was completely dark, and the courtyard fell silent. He Yuzhu lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), his eyes closed, waiting for everyone to fall asleep.

The wind picked up outside, and the tree branches rustled. He estimated it was almost ten o'clock, got up, put on his shoes, and pushed open the door.

The courtyard was pitch black; the moon was obscured by clouds, and one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face. He activated his spatial perception and walked confidently towards the backyard.

Liu Haizhong's family lived in the east wing of the backyard, which had two rooms. The larger room was for the couple, with a dining room and living room partitioned off from it. The smaller room was for their three sons.

He Yuzhu scanned the area and found an earthenware jar under the floor tiles in the corner, containing a cloth bag. With a thought, he sent the money into his spatial storage. He didn't look at it immediately; he scanned it again. That was all.

Inside the room, Liu Haizhong was still awake. He leaned against the headboard, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking like he had just finished with his wife and was talking to Wang Caifeng. Wang Caifeng had her back to him and was only giving half-hearted replies.

"You know, that kid Shazhu, he's been acting like he's on fire these past few days." Liu Haizhong exhaled a puff of smoke. "Before, his dad was like a mouse before a cat, but now that He Daqing's run away, he's become all high and mighty."

Wang Caifeng rolled over, facing him. "Mind your own business. Sha Zhu is a mad dog now, without his father to keep him in check, he's lawless. Didn't you see how hard he beat Yi Zhonghai? Be careful he doesn't retaliate against you."

Liu Haizhong snorted. "He wouldn't dare. I'm a worker, a proper blacksmith. What can some fatherless brat do to me?"

"Anyway, don't provoke him," Wang Caifeng said. "Why are you dragging Yi Zhonghai into this? The military control commission is here; can't you just stay put?"

"I was just saying it offhand," Liu Haizhong said, putting out his cigarette. "Besides, I was just telling the truth."

"You saw it? Yi Zhonghai was beaten in the alley. What makes you think it was him?"

"Even if he didn't do it himself, he must have hired someone to do it." Liu Haizhong's voice rose. "That kid is weird. Look at him these past two days, he's like a completely different person. He used to be so quiet you couldn't hear a word, but now he talks a good game. There's definitely something fishy going on."

"Even if there are ghosts, it's none of your business." Wang Caifeng pulled the blanket up a little higher. "Just mind your own business. You have three sons to support, so don't cause any trouble."

Liu Haizhong remained silent. After a while, he muttered something again.

"I just can't stand his attitude. He's just a cooking apprentice, what's with all the arrogance?"

He Yuzhu stood in the courtyard and heard everything clearly.

The fire in his heart flared up again. In his past life, Liu Haizhong was just like that—gossiping behind people's backs, saying one thing to their face and another behind their back. Later, when he became the second uncle, he became even more arrogant and domineering in the courtyard. In this life, before he'd even become an official, he'd already started cursing him.

He Yuzhu took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. No rush, let's pack up first.

He mentally checked the space and found more than three hundred yuan, neatly folded.

He extended his spatial awareness to the old deaf man's room, and those two back rooms needed to be searched carefully.

Within 30 meters, every corner was clearly visible.

The old deaf man lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), covered with two cotton quilts, his face turned towards the wall, his breathing slow and long, fast asleep.

There were none in the cracks in the walls, none on the ground, none on the roof beams.

It was in the wardrobe. There was a hidden compartment inside, containing six large yellow croakers, twelve small yellow croakers, and a wad of cash. I counted it; it was over eight hundred yuan.

There is another photo of a young, deaf old woman and a Kuomintang officer, who appears to be her son.

He Yuzhu didn't think much of it, staring at the gold bars, his hands began to tremble.

In his past life, the old deaf man gave all these things to Yi Zhonghai. After Yi Zhonghai died, they fell into Qin Huairu's hands. And what about him? He cared for her in her old age, saw her off in her final days, wore mourning clothes, and in the end, he only received two rooms in the back courtyard, which were unwanted even by someone without an heir.

He must have been a fool in his past life.

He Yuzhu stored the money in his spatial storage, a surge of anger rising in his chest, his eyes burning. He stood outside the window, staring at the deaf old woman's back for a long while, before turning and walking towards the front yard.

Since we've already done this, we might as well wipe out all these beasts.

Yan Bugui's family lived in the west wing of the front yard, which had three rooms. He Yuzhu walked to the window and activated his senses. Yan Bugui, his wife, and Yan Jiedi slept in the main room, while their three sons slept in the smaller room.

There was an iron box on the ground floor of the big house, and inside that was a wooden box.

He Yuzhu's thoughts penetrated the wooden box, and he was stunned.

Eight small yellow croakers, over three hundred silver dollars, all wrapped in oiled paper. There was also a stack of money, which, after counting, amounted to one thousand two hundred dollars.

His hands started trembling again as he looked at these things.

Yan Bugui, a primary school teacher, earns only thirty or forty yuan a month. Where did he get so much money hidden at home?

In his past life, after the reform and opening up, he was caught smuggling televisions and lost everything. He even paid for Yang Ruihua's surgery. He thought the Yan family was poor, but it turned out they were much richer than him.

Damn it, they're all treating him like a fool.

He Yuzhu put all the money into his spatial storage and then went to Yi Zhonghai's house again.

Yi Zhonghai is hospitalized, and Tan Xiulan is not at home.

He Yuzhu had visited the Yi family a few days ago and only had a little over three hundred yuan. After Yi Zhonghai compensated him with a thousand yuan, that was all the money the family had left.

Received.

The Jia family slept in the west wing, with Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu each sleeping separately. He Yuzhu sensed an iron can under the floor tiles, containing over six hundred pieces.

All the money hidden in the courtyard houses is the same; it must be Old Jia's pension and savings from the past few years.

He Yuzhu hesitated for a moment, then didn't move.

Jia Dongxu hasn't married Qin Huairu yet, and Banggeng hasn't even been born. If he takes the money now, Jia Dongxu won't be able to get a wife, and everything will fall apart.

If Qin Huairu doesn't come, and Banggeng isn't born, who will he seek revenge on?

Let's leave the money for now. We'll talk about it later.

He Yuzhu returned to his room, closed the door, and sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

The space contained a pile of things: over three hundred from Liu Haizhong, over eight hundred from the old deaf man plus gold bars, one thousand two hundred from Yan Bugui plus gold bars and silver dollars, and over three hundred from Yi Zhonghai. He roughly calculated that there were two thousand seven or eight thousand in cash alone, as well as more than twenty large and small yellow croakers and several hundred silver dollars.

In his past life, he shamelessly begged Ma Hua for two thousand dollars. These people were all incredibly wealthy, and for 51 years they watched him scavenge for garbage and go hungry, but none of them gave him a single penny.

He Yuzhu sat in the darkness, the resentment deep within his soul beginning to erupt, his eyes starting to turn black. The whites of his eyes dwindled, his pupils becoming like two black holes.

His mind kept replaying Liu Haizhong's words. "What's with all the swagger from a cook's apprentice?" "I just can't stand his attitude."

Then there's Yan Bugui, who's usually very stingy, always trying to save every penny. He has so many gold bars hidden in his house, but he never gave one of them away in his past life.

There was also the old deaf woman who gave all her gold bars to Yi Zhonghai in her past life, and he took care of her in her old age and saw her off in death, wearing mourning clothes for her. In the end, all she got were two rooms in the back building.

He Yuzhu clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.

He stood up and walked around the room twice.

Thinking back to how Liu Haizhong used to gesticulate wildly in the courtyard in his past life, and then thinking of Liu Haizhong's eldest son, Liu Guangqi, who is now eleven or twelve years old, fair-skinned, Liu Haizhong's favorite, he would praise him to everyone he met, "My Guangqi is smart, he will go to college in the future."

Isn't Liu Haizhong's eldest son his favorite? Isn't Liu Guangqi his lifeblood? If Liu Guangqi were gone, how would Liu Haizhong feel? Wouldn't he be even more heartbroken than if he were dead?

He Yuzhu felt more and more at ease as he thought about it. The black in his eyes gradually faded, revealing the whites of his eyes.

He lay down and pulled the blanket over himself. He closed his eyes, a slight smile still lingering on his lips.