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

Chapter 98 Night Interrogation of Yang Honglin

Late at night, He Yuzhu changed into dark clothes and climbed over the wall of the courtyard. He channeled his inner strength from the soles of his feet to his waist and hips, and with a burst of power from his feet, he silently darted out, hugging the shadow of the wall, heading straight for the government staff compound.

Reaching the base of the back wall of the residential complex, he lightly pushed off with his feet, silently vaulting over the wall and landing inside the courtyard. He walked to the back of the building where Yang Honglin lived, stood close to the wall, and activated his spatial awareness.

The outlines of every room in the building, the positions of the furniture, and the people lying in the beds all came to mind. Yang Honglin's family of four were all asleep; Yang Honglin was in the master bedroom on the far east side, while his wife and two children slept in another room.

Wow, at this age they're sleeping in separate rooms. It seems Yang Honglin has someone else on the side.

He Yuzhu skillfully manipulated sewing and embroidery needles, precisely inserting them into the acupoints of each sleeping person. Yang Honglin's breathing deepened as he drifted into a deep sleep. In the next room, his wife tilted her head, and the two children's breathing became profound.

The residents upstairs and downstairs all fell silent, and He Yuzhu entered the Yang family's house with a confident and unhurried demeanor.

He walked straight into Yang Honglin's bedroom. Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating Yang Honglin's face; his mouth was slightly open, and he lay sprawled on the bed like a lump of mud. He Yuzhu reached out and placed his hand on Yang Honglin's shoulder, then vanished into thin air.

He sensed the space in every corner of the room. There were many tickets and a bankbook in the desk drawer, two thick stacks of money at the bottom of the bedside table, and several sealed tea canisters under the bed, filled with banknotes and gold bars.

The kitchen cabinets were piled high with rice, flour, and cooking oil; cured meat and salted fish hung on the wall; and a dozen packs of cigarettes and several bottles of Moutai were stacked in a wooden box in the corner.

That old bastard is no good either; I was fooled in my past life. I thought he was a good cadre, incorruptible. I didn't blame him for all his talk and no action; he never gave me any real benefits. Turns out, a barking dog doesn't bite; he pretends to be honest all the time, but he's rolling in money behind the scenes.

He Yuzhu stored the money from the bottom of the cabinet and the tea canister into his spatial storage. He also stored half of the receipts in the drawer, leaving large items like bicycle receipts untouched. He left the tobacco, alcohol, tea, rice, flour, and cooking oil untouched, and left the bankbooks for his wife and children.

He packed Yang Honglin's suitcase, several sets of clothes and shoes, work ID and briefcase into his storage space.

After finishing, he stood in the center of the room and scanned it again. The wardrobe doors were open, and the drawers were half-open; it looked as if someone had rushed to pack for a business trip or fled.

He Yuzhu checked carefully one last time and found no trace left. He left the bedroom, gently closed the door, climbed over the wall along the same route, and disappeared into the night.

Back in the courtyard, we entered the main room.

The space was pitch black. Yang Honglin was suspended in mid-air, maintaining the posture he had been in when he was brought in, with his limbs outstretched and his mouth slightly open, like a wax figure.

He Yuzhu stood in front of him, holding the old actor's wooden stick, and began practicing the Madman Stick Technique.

Yang Honglin was jolted awake. Endless darkness enveloped him; he couldn't move his hands or feet, couldn't see or hear anything, only felt a burning pain all over his body.

The sound of his shouts echoed around him, it was so eerie that his hair stood on end and fear poured down his head like ice water.

"Yang Honglin, who told you to deal with He Yuzhu?" The voice seeped out from the darkness, indistinguishable by gender or distance, as if it were squeezing into his ears from all directions at once.

"Who...who are you? Where am I?"

The wooden stick fell again, striking his back. Yang Honglin trembled with pain, his voice broken and fragmented. "No one ordered me to do it! It was me! I resent him for humiliating me in public back then... for breaking my legs... He's close to Li Huaide, I wanted to establish my authority!"

"Go on."

"I paid ten women to spread rumors in Jiaodaokou, ruining He Yuzhu's reputation and making life difficult for his entire family. Finally, I wrote a report and sent it to the Municipal Supply and Marketing Cooperative, accusing him of hoarding supplies and colluding with Lou Bancheng, and demanding the cooperative investigate his accounts… I wanted to suspend him, give him a criminal record, and ensure he could never be promoted… I didn't intend to kill him, I just wanted to make his life miserable… Let me go, and I'll give you whatever money you want…"

The wooden stick fell again. He Yuzhu, in a high-pitched voice, asked several more questions. Were there any accomplices? No. Who else from the steel rolling mill was involved in the whistleblowing? No, I did it all by myself. Did Vice Minister Bi know? No, I didn't dare let my old leader know.

He Yuzhu straightened up, holding the wooden stick in his hand, and looked at Yang Honglin, who was frozen in mid-air. From the time he broke Yang Honglin's leg until now, he had given Yang Honglin several years. As long as Yang Honglin behaved himself and stopped causing trouble, he would not touch this person again.

But Yang Honglin chose precisely the time when He Xiaogang was born and Xiao'e needed him most to write the whistleblower letter, intending to ruin him. He was suspended from his duties pending investigation, and his personnel file was kept on file.

They wanted to harm his family, to make his son unable to hold his head high in front of his classmates, and to make Xiao'e live in fear because of her family background. They could tolerate everything else, but not this.

He reverted to his original voice. "Yang Honglin, you've messed with the wrong person. I'm He Yuzhu, and today I'm sending you on your way. Now you can die knowing why."

Yang Honglin's eyes were practically bulging out. In the darkness, he desperately begged for mercy, wanting to kneel down and admit his mistake, but he couldn't move; only his pupils were contracting wildly.

These were the last words he heard in his life.

He Yuzhu raised the wooden stick and struck Yang Honglin on the temple. Yang Honglin's body twitched a few times and then went still.

He Yuzhu stood in the space, looking down at Yang Honglin's corpse, and sighed. Death absolves all debts. He waved his hand and placed Yang Honglin's body in the far corner of the space, covering it with a cloth. The suitcase and clothes he had taken from the Yang family were also placed beside the body.

Back then, when I showed him a photo of the elderly deaf man and his son at the high-ranking leader's house, I let him off the hook. But he didn't learn his lesson; he forgot the pain as soon as his leg healed.

He recalled that night when Xiao'e asked him, "Brother He, will there be a record after the investigation? Will my family's status affect you?" Her eyes were red, and she spoke very softly, afraid of waking He Xiao, who had just fallen asleep next door.

He will never forget that look.

When he married Xiao'e, he secretly swore that he would never let her live in fear again. Yang Honglin's letter of denunciation has caused her to start worrying about her class background again, making it possible for He Xiao to be unable to hold her head high in public in the future.

Yang Honglin, you deserve to die.

After washing his hands outside the room, He Yuzhu brewed a pot of Longjing tea, sat in the armchair in the main room, and lit a cigarette.

I'll have to wait a few days before going to see the higher-ups. Yang Honglin was, after all, the higher-ups' old subordinate, and I couldn't hide the emotion on my face after just killing him.

Take a few days to calm down before going to the big boss to cook for you. Play chess as usual, chat about everyday things, and act like nothing happened.

He stubbed out his cigarette, picked up his teacup, and slowly took a sip. The tea was fragrant and steaming in the quiet night.