Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Lin Yang suddenly let out a loud shout, his voice like a thunderclap from a clear sky, making the windows of the entire courtyard vibrate.

Jia Zhangshi trembled with fright and froze on the spot. Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong also immediately shut their mouths, looking at Lin Yang with terrified expressions.

Lin Yang ignored the group of clowns and turned around to look at his older brother, who was trembling beside him, with heartache.

"Brother," Lin Yang's voice softened as he reached out and grasped Lin Fan's calloused, cracked hands, "Is what He Daqing said true?"

Lin Fan looked at his younger brother, and tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.

He was a young man in his early twenties, but at that moment he was crying like a child who had suffered all kinds of grievances.

"Yangzi... I'm sorry... I failed to protect the house our parents left us..." Lin Fan choked up, his voice filled with endless heartache and despair.

"That winter, I had a high fever and was unconscious. I really didn't intend to borrow the Jia family's grain; it was Jia Zhangshi who forced a bowl of gruel into my mouth. When I woke up, my first and second uncles rushed into the house with some people, saying that I had eaten the Jia family's life-saving grain and owed them a huge debt of gratitude. They said that in these times of war and chaos, that bowl of grain was more valuable than gold..."

Lin Fan trembled all over, his eyes filled with fear as he recalled that nightmarish past.

"I refused to sign, so my second uncle had a few young men hold me down. My first uncle grabbed my thumb, dipped it in ink, and forced it onto the paper. Yangzi... I'm useless, I can't beat them... They took all our furniture and kicked me out of the house. These past few years, every month I've earned doing hard labor at the factory, half of it has been taken by Jia Zhangshi under the guise of interest..."

Hearing this, Tian Yu, who was standing next to Lin Yang, had tears welling up in her eyes.

Born into a scholarly family and later participating in the revolution, she was filled with hatred for exploitation and oppression. She never imagined that, right under the emperor's nose, during the War of Resistance and the Liberation War, her brother-in-law would be oppressed like a slave by these so-called neighbors for so many years!

"You...you're all a bunch of beasts!" Tian Yu pointed at Yi Zhonghai and the others, her voice trembling with rage. "This is the behavior of bullies from the old society! You're eating human food and then shirking your responsibilities!"

Lin Yang closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the earth-shattering rage surging within his chest. But when he opened his eyes again, they had become two bottomless pools of ice.

He slowly released his elder brother's hand and walked step by step toward Madam Jia.

The leather boots pounded heavily on the bluestone slabs, each step seeming to pound on everyone's hearts.

Seeing Lin Yang approaching, radiating an aura of death, Jia Zhangshi was terrified and retreated hastily, saying, "You... what do you want to do? Let me tell you, this is a new society now. You officials can't beat ordinary people!"

"Ordinary people?"

Lin Yang sneered, then suddenly took a step forward, swung his right hand in a wide arc, and lashed down hard with a sharp gust of wind!

"Snapped!"

Lin Yang used the inch-force technique he had honed on the battlefield to deliver this slap.

Jia Zhangshi's nearly 200-pound obese body was actually slapped so hard that her feet left the ground, and she tumbled halfway through the air before crashing heavily to the ground!

"puff!"

Jia Zhangshi spat out a mouthful of blood, mixed with four or five broken, charred teeth. Half of her face instantly swelled up like a purplish-black steamed bun, and her eyes were squeezed into slits.

"Ah—! Murder! Soldiers are killing people!" Jia Zhangshi rolled on the ground in pain, letting out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"Yangzi! Stop it!" Yi Zhonghai shouted anxiously upon seeing this. "This is against the rules! How could you beat someone like this!"

Lin Yang suddenly turned his head, his gaze piercing Yi Zhonghai like a sharp sword.

Before Lin Yang could speak, Xiao Li, the bodyguard standing behind him, could no longer contain his anger.

In Xiao Li's view, the commander's elder brother was his family. These thugs bullying the commander's family was an insult to the honor of the entire Fourth Field Army!

"Whoosh!"

Li moved with lightning speed, yanking open his military jacket and pulling a dark Browning pistol directly from its holster at his waist.

"Click!"

The crisp sound of a bullet being chambered was incredibly jarring in the quiet courtyard.

Li held the gun in one hand, and the dark muzzle was pressed directly against the forehead of Jia Zhangshi, who was still rolling on the ground.

"Old man, if you dare to howl again, I'll shoot you right now! Consider it a bandit suppression!" Little Li's eyes widened, and his murderous aura was released without reservation.

These are elite soldiers who have actually been on the battlefield and killed Japanese devils and enemy troops! The murderous aura they exude, which comes from crawling out of piles of corpses, is something that ordinary people like these cannot withstand.

The moment the gun was pressed against her forehead, Jia Zhangshi's screams came to an abrupt halt.

Her triangular eyes widened as she stared intently at the Browning sword, which gleamed with a cold light, her pupils contracting sharply.

A pungent smell of urine instantly filled the air.

Jia Zhangshi, the old shrew who had been domineering in the courtyard for ten years, was so frightened that she wet her pants in public.

The entire courtyard was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden action of drawing a gun.

Yi Zhonghai's face instantly turned deathly pale, his legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground with a thud.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Haizhong, Yan Bugui, and Xu Damao's parents, who were watching the commotion in the crowd, were all so frightened that they collapsed to the ground. Some of the more timid ones even knelt down and prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling like leaves.

In 1949, during that special period immediately following liberation, the army's deterrent power was unimaginable. They had no doubt that if this guard had actually shot and killed Jia Zhangshi, they could have easily been accused of being a spy or a bandit, and they wouldn't even have a place to seek justice!

"Commander...Commander, spare me! Don't shoot! Please don't shoot!" Yi Zhonghai knelt on the ground, pleading in a hoarse voice, his former arrogance completely gone.

Liu Haizhong was so frightened that tears and snot streamed down his face: "Commander Lin, we were wrong! We were blind! Please, have mercy!"

Lin Yang looked down at the group of beasts kneeling and begging for mercy, his eyes filled with no pity, only deep disgust.

He knew that killing someone now would be satisfying, but since he had just transferred to civilian work, causing a death would be detrimental to his career and future plans.

Killing these beasts with a single shot would be too lenient. He wanted them to taste despair little by little in the years to come!

"Xiao Li, put the gun away," Lin Yang said coldly.

"Yes!" Xiao Li glared at Jia Zhangshi, deftly engaged the safety, and put the gun back in its holster.