Courtyard House: In this life, I have a new home!

Yi Zhonghai was so angry that his face turned green and his fingers trembled uncontrollably.

Jia Zhangshi was so anxious she almost jumped up. If Li Weidong continued to cause trouble like this, how could she continue with the donation? Wouldn't her retirement savings be wasted?

Qin Huairu held onto her mother-in-law tightly, shaking her head and trying to signal with her eyes. Jia Zhangshi was taken aback, then remembered that the previous times she had caused trouble for Li Weidong, she had always ended up getting the short end of the stick.

Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with schadenfreude.

"You...you're creating division! You're undermining unity!"

Yi Zhonghai's voice trembled with anger, "You can't just think of yourself!"

"Heh, Yi Zhonghai, you earn ninety-nine yuan a month, how many years have you saved up? Where did all that money go? You can figure it out, right?"

Li Weidong looked disgusted. "Come on, tell everyone, besides the Jia family, who else have you helped?"

"Is helping the Jia family really helping them? They're just relying on Jia Dongxu to take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die!"

"You, Yi Zhonghai, are a selfish bastard. Don't try to portray yourself as a moral exemplar. How disgusting!"

The courtyard erupted in chaos.

Yi Zhonghai was so angry that he was trembling all over, and his face turned as red as a pig's liver.

He instinctively glanced towards Sha Zhu—in the past, if he encountered such a troublesome person, Sha Zhu would have already rolled up his sleeves and taken action. Once Sha Zhu had subdued the person, he would step in to smooth things over, and no one in the courtyard would dare to cause trouble.

But this time, Sha Zhu completely ignored his gaze.

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat.

It took him a moment to realize: Sha Zhu couldn't beat Li Weidong.

He then remembered that he still had an ace up his sleeve—the deaf old lady in the backyard.

I almost asked Wang Yumei to ask someone for help. But then I thought about it again, and realized that the old lady was now afraid of Li Weidong too.

"Even this deaf old lady is no use now!"

Yi Zhonghai felt incredibly frustrated, as if he had swallowed a fly.

Madam Jia Zhang couldn't sit still any longer.

She "piggybacked"

She sprang up from the stool, and Qin Huairu couldn't stop her. The woman then began to wail at everyone in the courtyard:

"My son is gone, and you heartless bunch, none of you care whether my family lives or dies! God is watching! Some people are as black as coal; they'll never get married in this lifetime, they deserve to be childless!"

When Yi Zhonghai heard that Jia Zhangshi was starting to throw a tantrum, he was actually quite pleased.

It's good that someone is stirring up trouble; maybe they can mess things up.

It can cause one to "become childless and have no descendants".

Upon hearing those four words, Yi Zhonghai's forehead veins throbbed. He then realized that Jia Zhangshi was a mad dog, biting anyone she could get her hands on, without caring whether you were one of them or not.

"Does your family need relief?"

Li Weidong spoke with a cold laugh, "Let me give you some advice."

"When Lao Jia died from his work injury, the compensation was three hundred yuan. Jia Dongxu immediately took over his post, so there should be at least two hundred yuan left, right?"

"Jia Dongxu has been giving you three yuan a month for retirement for so many years now?"

"Jia Dongxu is gone, but he still receives a pension, and Qin Huairu can take over his job. How come your family is so poor that you need welfare?"

"Who in this courtyard is as fat as you, Jia Zhangshi?"

"You're all plump and fair-skinned, don't tell me you got them from eating cornbread."

Xu Damao's eyes lit up when he heard this.

This guy doesn't care who's right or wrong; he's happy as long as someone's making a fuss. Adding fuel to the fire is one of his specialties.

"Yeah, yeah! That old man used to fool us a lot. When Jia Dongxu was alive, he always made us donate money!"

Xu Damao's horse-like face was full of excitement, "We're living on cornbread, but we're donating money while others are eating meat!"

"Xu Damao, I'll beat you to death!"

Sha Zhu was roused by Qin Huairu's glance. He stood up abruptly, swung his fist, and charged towards Xu Damao.

Xu Damao was so frightened that he hid behind Li Weidong.

Li Weidong curled his lip, his face full of disdain: "Xu Damao, you step forward and see who dares to lay a finger on you. I refuse to believe that this place can be turned upside down and that it's not under the jurisdiction of the law!"

Yi Zhonghai shuddered and quickly shouted, "Zhu Zi, come back! Don't do anything!"

Sha Zhu felt a chill run down his spine after being swept by Li Weidong's gaze. Hearing Yi Zhonghai call him, he seized the opportunity to back down and obediently returned to the front, sitting down not far from Qin Huairu.

Seeing that the donation had completely fallen through, Yi Zhonghai picked up his teacup and declared, "Meeting adjourned! That's all for today."

"No! Absolutely not!"

Jia Zhangshi jumped to her feet and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Our family hasn't donated yet! Nobody's allowed to leave, not a single one of you!"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot: "Jia Zhangshi, stop making trouble here. Your family has no need for donations at all. I misunderstood. I apologize to everyone."

Jia Zhangshi was not about to give up. She plopped down on the ground, slapped her thigh, and started yelling at the top of her lungs, "Old Jia! Open your eyes and look! The whole courtyard is ganging up on our family! Take them all away right now!"

After howling, he shouted to the sky again: "Dongxu! You just closed your eyes, and Yi Zhonghai is already denying everything! You'd better hurry up—"

The veins on Yi Zhonghai's forehead throbbed, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He never imagined that after helping the Jia family for so long, he would end up like this.

"Get up and go back right now! If you don't shut up, I'll report you to the neighborhood committee for promoting feudal superstition!"

Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth and tried to scare her.

In the past, Madam Jia would have been obedient upon hearing this, but with her son recently deceased, she was not afraid at all. Besides, she knew that no one would report her for this sordid matter now.

"You're all afraid of that little bastard! You believe everything he says!"

Jia Zhangshi wailed even louder, "Our family is starving! Quickly donate money! Don't believe that swindler—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

She opened her mouth but couldn't close it, and made two soft whimpering sounds.

Qin Huairu quickly went over to take a look and was shocked.

"These...two thorns are stuck!"

Qin Huairu said.

"Waaaaah! Waaaaah!"

In her haste, Jia Zhangshi shouted at Qin Huairu, her meaning clear—quickly pull out the thorn!

The two thorns pierced through the lower lip and went straight into the upper lip, with only the tips sticking out. They were so small that you couldn't even pinch them with your fingernails.

"I'll do it!"

Sha Zhu was quick-witted. He reached out and pried open Jia Zhangshi's mouth, revealing two gleaming thorns stuck in her lower lip.

Jia Zhangshi screamed in pain like a pig being slaughtered. Sha Zhu pinched her upper lip with his other hand and pulled out the two thorns.

"It hurts so much! You idiot!"

As soon as Sha Zhu let go, Jia Zhangshi raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.

"Why the hell did you hit me? I'll kill you!"

Sha Zhu raised his fist to smash down.

"Pillar, no! My mother-in-law is delirious from pain!"

Qin Huairu quickly grabbed Sha Zhu's arm.

"Sister Qin, for your sake, let's put this matter behind us."

Sha Zhu snuggled his arm into Qin Huairu's arms, feeling the soft, full flesh, "They are two... cactus thorns."

Yan Bugui examined Jia Zhangshi's thorn from all angles several times.

"This is so weird, how did that thing get in there? You couldn't even force it into your mouth like that."

Liu Haizhong clicked his tongue and said, "You bet it's haunted."

Sha Zhu leaned closer, chuckling in a low voice, "Just now, wasn't Jia Zhangshi calling out 'Old Jia and Little Jia' all the time? They probably got annoyed by her noise and decided to teach her a lesson."

"Pillar! Can't you keep your mouth shut?"

Yi Zhonghai's face darkened, and his voice rose: "Your Aunt Jia's face has turned white with fright, and you're still spouting nonsense!"

Indeed, Jia Zhangshi's face was completely devoid of color.

The more she thought about it, the more inexplicable the two thorns seemed, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

Yi Zhonghai, holding his enamel mug, said, "Everyone, go home. We have to go to work tomorrow."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Li Weidong followed them outside.

As Jia Zhangshi walked shakily to her doorstep, she had just stepped onto the stairs when a sudden, sharp pain shot through her knee, as if she had been punched hard.

"Thump!"

She knelt on one knee on the cement steps, her voice muffled yet loud.

Everyone present felt a pang of pain just listening to it.

"ah--!"

With a scream, Jia Zhangshi tumbled into the room. She scrambled onto the bed, covering her head completely with the sheet.

She could clearly feel that no one was around, but the pain from the punch in the back of her knee was still there.

She hadn't even figured out why her lips had been inexplicably sewn shut earlier, and now this happened again. Jia Zhangshi was so scared that her soul almost flew away.

Li Weidong smiled and shook his head.

He was only two meters away from Jia Zhangshi just now, and with a thought, it was no effort at all to make her kneel down.

"Let's see if you dare to keep shouting about ghosts and spirits."

Yi Zhonghai stood at his own doorstep and witnessed the entire scene.

He was also feeling uneasy.

I reached up and touched the bump on the back of my head; it still hurts.

"I must have been pushed down by something I can't see. Just like Jia Zhangshi just now... Could it really be..."

As soon as the thought popped into his head, Yi Zhonghai quickly cut it off, not daring to think about it any further.

"There's definitely something wrong with this courtyard. We need to get someone to take a look. No, I can't do it myself. If something goes wrong, I'll lose my position as the old man."

"Yes, I'll urge Jia Zhangshi to handle this tomorrow."

Yi Zhonghai immediately had an idea and decided who should take the fall.

The next morning at 7:30, Li Weidong was pushing his bicycle past the Intermediate People's Court.

Just then, they saw Jia Zhangshi limping in from outside.

Last night, Jia Zhangshi's kneeling injury was quite severe. She's lucky her kneecap didn't shatter. Even so, she won't be able to walk properly for the next ten days to two weeks.

Early in the morning, she came out of the public restroom, spotted Li Weidong, and spat out a "Pui!"

He let out a sound, glared at her fiercely, and muttered something under his breath.

Her meaning was clear—I'm going to curse you, what can you do about it?

"Jia Zhangshi, what are you doing spewing nonsense first thing in the morning?"

Li Weidong sneered, "What's wrong, itching for a beating? Believe me or not, I'll slap you to death!"

Madam Jia trembled with fright, but then she thought, her son has just died, why should she be afraid of this little bastard? As long as he doesn't curse his parents, what can he do?

"God, Lao Jia, please open your eyes and see!"

Madam Jia sat down heavily on the ground and wailed at the top of her lungs, "Dongxu, my son, you just left and someone is already bullying your mother..."

"Shut up! Jia Zhangshi, shut up!"

Yi Zhonghai rushed over and shouted sternly, "What are you howling about so early in the morning? If you keep howling, I'll beat you up!"

Li Weidong shook his head and turned to leave. Just now he had been wondering whether he should sew Jia Zhangshi's mouth shut.

On each side of his collar were four hard cactus thorns.