Siheyuan: At the beginning, I can integrate everything!

That wail was like a tattered rag being torn apart in the icy wind.

Yan Bugui slipped and only managed to avoid a hard fall by grabbing the door frame.

His gold-rimmed glasses slipped down half an inch, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he swallowed hard.

From the direction of the Intermediate People's Court, cries of agony and wailing had become a continuous chorus.

"Master, this...this is something wrong with the Jia family?" The third aunt clutched a rag, poked half her body out of the house, and shivered from the cold.

Yan Bugui ignored him, slipped on his cloth shoes, and walked along the wall toward the moon gate in the front yard.

At this moment, the Intermediate People's Court was in complete chaos, like a pot of boiling water.

The smell of burnt, cheap yellow paper mixed with the pungent smell of dry tobacco wafted through the wind and into people's nostrils.

The choking caused several middle-aged women watching to cough repeatedly.

Half a pale white banner hung crookedly on the drafty wooden door of the Jia family's house, tied with a few tattered hemp ropes.

When the wind blew, the white cloth strips fluttered wildly.

Jia Zhangshi slumped down in the mud like a sack of flour.

Her two thick legs were spread apart, and the soles of her shoes were still covered with rotten vegetable leaves from yesterday's swill bucket.

He slapped his frozen thighs with all his might, making a loud "slap slap" sound.

"Dongxu! My son!"

She screamed in a hoarse voice, her tears and snot all mixed together.

"How could you be so heartless as to abandon your blind mother?!"

"God, are you blind?! Why didn't you take away those orphaned bastards, but instead took my son?!"

Qin Huairu knelt beside her, her head wrapped in a white cloth, her shoulders trembling.

She bit her lower lip, her eyes vacant, and kept throwing stacks of yellow paper into the brazier.

The flames leaped up, illuminating her bloodless face.

Sha Zhu stood under the eaves of his house, his hands tucked into his pockets.

He looked at Qin Huairu, who was crying so hard she had passed out, and his brows furrowed into a knot.

He took a half-inch step forward, and Zhang Huaimin's words, "a perfect match with no descendants," flashed through his mind.

He gritted his teeth, forcefully pulled his foot back, turned his face away, and simply looked at the sky.

A large circle of people stood in the courtyard, but no one dared to move forward.

Liu Haizhong stood with his hands behind his back, his belly protruding, and cleared his throat, trying to put on airs like an old man.

"Alas, Sister-in-law Jia, the dead cannot be brought back to life. Please accept my deepest condolences..."

"What a load of rubbish!"

Jia Zhangshi suddenly raised her head, her triangular eyes bulging with bloodshot veins, like a mad old sow.

Her eyes darted around, her gaze sweeping over the crowd.

He stared intently at the two spacious and bright east wing rooms in the front yard.

Zhang Huaimin was leaning against his door frame with his arms crossed, holding half a sweet potato in his hand.

The cool morning light shone on him, giving him an air of nonchalant leisure.

As Jia Zhangshi looked at the green bricks and red tiles, greed grew wildly in her eyes like weeds.

The death of my son is a big deal, but life goes on!

That brat occupies such a large area all by himself, why?

"That's him!"

Jia Zhangshi suddenly jumped up from the ground, her fingernails still stuffed with mud, and pointed directly at Zhang Huaimin.

"That little nemesis! That cursed jinx!"

She rushed to the boundary between the middle and front yards, spitting everywhere.

"The moment he entered our compound, my grandson's front tooth broke, and now my son has lost his life!"

"He's got an evil aura about him! Not only did he kill his own father, but he's going to kill everyone in our entire compound!"

A commotion arose in the crowd.

Several timid middle-aged women exchanged glances and shrank back.

In this day and age, being labeled a "nemesis" can be incredibly damaging.

Qin Huairu stopped burning paper money when she heard her mother-in-law's words.

She didn't stop him; instead, she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand and began to speak mournfully.

"Mom, please stop... Huaimin is still a child."

Her voice choked with emotion, but she subtly changed the subject.

"This is all our Jia family's fate. Who told us to be crammed into such a small, dilapidated house, unable to share in the grandeur of the east wing?"

"If there were a spacious place for Dongxu's body to lie in state, he could rest in peace..."

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi's confidence instantly increased tenfold.

She put her hands on her hips and yelled at Zhang Huaimin.

"You little bastard, did you hear me?"

"You killed my son, so you have to pay me back with the house!"

"Get out of there today and vacate those two large brick houses for my son's funeral hall!"

"If you don't move out, I... I'll kill myself by running my head against your doorstep!"

As she spoke, she took two quick steps forward, striking a pose as if she were ready to fight to the death.

The neighbors around them started whispering and the buzzing of their discussions grew louder.

"The Jia family is so unreasonable. How can they blame a child for birth, old age, sickness, and death?"

"Exactly, it's a workplace accident, what does it have to do with Huaimin?"

Yan Bugui hid behind the crowd and muttered to himself.

Fearing trouble, Liu Haizhong simply shut his mouth and pretended not to hear.

Zhang Huaimin swallowed the last bite of sweet potato and patted the crumbs off his hands.

Instead of dodging, he took two steps with his short legs, stepped out of the threshold, and walked towards Jia Zhangshi.

A cold wind lifted the hem of his cotton-padded coat, and his large, clear eyes were filled with a layer of ice.

"Aunt Jia".

Zhang Huaimin spoke, his voice clear and crisp, his words distinct, piercing through the surrounding noise.

"That's a novel idea to me."

He had his hands in his pockets, tilted his head, and a mocking smile played on his lips.

"Did Uncle Dongxu have his accident at the steel rolling mill?"

"He violated operating procedures on the cutting and rolling mill, and got his leg caught in it, right?"

Madam Jia was taken aback, feeling a little uneasy at his calm tone.

"So what if it is... so what! It's your evil aura that caused him to be affected!" she shouted, trying to justify herself.

Zhang Huaimin sneered, revealing a set of small white teeth.

"Since the machine caused the problem, why don't you go to the steel mill and smash the machine? What are you doing here trying to intimidate me?"

He took another step closer, his eyes like two sharp knives, piercing straight at Jia Zhangshi.

"Your son died, the factory should at least give you a few hundred yuan in compensation, right?"

"Instead of going to the factory to demand your money, you come here to bully a five-year-old orphan like me."

"What, you think you can't mess with the factory's security department, and that I'm easy to bully?"

These words were like a resounding slap, directly exposing Jia Zhangshi's underhanded schemes to the light of day.

Qin Huairu's expression changed, and her knuckles turned white as she gripped the yellow paper.

She hadn't expected the child to be so quick-witted, hitting the nail on the head right away.

"You...you're talking nonsense!"

When Jia Zhangshi's thoughts were exposed, she became furious and embarrassed, and the fat on her face jiggled wildly.

"I don't care! You have to pay for the house today! Otherwise, this isn't over!"

She sat down on the ground, kicked her legs wildly, and started throwing a tantrum again.

"This is outrageous! A five-year-old brat is bullying an old woman who has no descendants!"

"Everyone come and see! This little black-hearted maggot is going to drive our whole family to their deaths!"

Zhang Huaimin looked down at Jia Zhangshi, who was rolling in the mud, his eyes devoid of any warmth.

"Auntie, please stop acting here."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word struck everyone's eardrums.

"These two rooms are the property of a martyr, and the property deeds are registered with the subdistrict office."

"If you really want to move in, sure."

Zhang Huaimin pointed in the direction of the alley outside the door.

"Go to the police station now and tell Chief Zhou that you are trying to seize the house of a martyr's family."

"As long as Director Zhou nods, I'll move out immediately without saying a word."

He paused, his tone suddenly turning cold.

"If Director Zhou doesn't agree, guess what? Will he just give you a silver bracelet and send you to a farm in the Northwest to eat cornbread?"

Upon hearing the words "police station" and "Northwest Farm," Jia Zhangshi's dry howling stopped abruptly, like a duck being choked.

She recalled Director Wang's menacing warning from the previous night, and a chill ran down her spine.

This brat, why does he always use the police station to intimidate people!

But she really didn't dare to gamble.

If they really get arrested, the Jia family will be completely finished.

Seeing that things were not going well, Qin Huairu quickly stood up and ran over to pull Jia Zhangshi up from the ground.

"Mom, forget it. We can't afford to offend him. Let's just swallow this bitter pill ourselves."

As she spoke, she glanced around with a mournful look, trying to gain some sympathy.

Unfortunately, the neighbors had already seen through the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law's trick and turned their heads away, pretending not to see anything.

Even Sha Zhu simply turned around and went back into the house, slamming the door shut.

Seeing that no one was speaking up for her, Jia Zhangshi was so angry that she gritted her teeth.

She wiped the mud off her face, pointed at Zhang Huaimin, and uttered a vicious threat.

"You little bastard, don't get cocky!"

"Once Dongxu's seven-day mourning period is over, let's see who can protect you then!"

"When the time comes, I'll get this old woman to tear down your dilapidated house!"

Zhang Huaimin looked at her distorted, ugly face, his cold glint like a frozen lake.

He wasn't angry; instead, he chuckled softly.

"Okay, Aunt Jia."

"I'm waiting for you to come and demolish it."