Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

"Just keep it in mind." Liu Haizhong said with a cryptic expression, "Shazhu is our academy's war god. If he's gone, who will take the fall for us? Hurry up!"

Ten minutes later.

The octagonal table, weathered and polished by time, was surrounded by a large crowd.

Everyone hunched over, hands tucked in, their faces pale and snotty.

Yi Zhonghai stood in the center position.

He was thoroughly exhausted by the deaf old lady's antics last night, but he still tried his best to straighten his back and maintain his shaky old man dignity.

He glanced around with a gloomy look, his gaze lingering for half a second on Zhou Jianguo, who was watching the scene with a smug expression, before quickly looking away.

"Cough cough."

Yi Zhonghai tapped on the table, and the room quieted down.

"As everyone knows, something terrible happened in our compound last night." Yi Zhonghai's tone was pained and filled with a sense of tragedy. "Comrade He Yuzhu was taken away by the security department. But this is a huge misunderstanding! He Yuzhu was just trying to help his neighbors. He was confused for a moment, and due to poor communication, the security department misunderstood."

Zhou Jianguo, standing on the periphery of the crowd, almost burst out laughing.

They didn't mention the huge sum of 150 yuan, nor did they mention He Daqing, and just called it a neighborhood dispute.

That old man, it's a waste of his talent that he doesn't write novels.

Seeing that no one objected, Yi Zhonghai suddenly raised his voice: "A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative! Sha Zhu usually helps everyone carry water and chop firewood; he's our courtyard's protector! Now that he's in trouble, if we cower like cowards, we'll be disgracing our collective! This concerns the honor of our Red Star Courtyard's advanced collective!"

Yi Zhonghai pulled out a red paper box from behind him and slammed it on the table with a "thud".

"To get Sha Zhu out of this mess and clear up the misunderstanding, we need to pay a fine and smooth things over. I propose a hospital-wide fundraising campaign!" Yi Zhonghai declared righteously. "Anyone who doesn't donate doesn't respect our big family! The starting price is 50 cents per household!"

Five cents?!

These days, five cents can buy several kilograms of cornmeal, enough for a family to eat their fill for two days!

"Sir, this is far too much..."

"My family is almost starving..."

A commotion arose in the crowd. Yi Zhonghai's eyes widened, and he was about to lash out when Qin Huairu, with great foresight, rushed out.

"Waaaaah... My silly Zhu..."

Qin Huairu, her hair disheveled, burst into tears before she could even speak, her heart filled with a profound sense of heartbreak.

"Dear elders, Sha Zhu is innocent! He always brings us steamed buns, helps the Li family repair their roof... He has everyone's well-being on his mind! Waaah... Please, have pity on this widow, and help this good man in our neighborhood!"

Several middle-aged women, easily swayed by others, had already started checking their pockets.

Seeing that the time was right, Yi Zhonghai's eyes turned cold, and he immediately locked onto the only variable in the entire game.

"Zhou Jianguo!" Yi Zhonghai suddenly roared, pointing his finger at the corner, "How long are you going to keep watching this show?"

Whoosh! All eyes in the hospital were on them.

Yi Zhonghai strode forward, his face radiating righteous indignation: "Last night, the whole hospital could smell the meat from your house! Fried buns, rendered lard, fried pork cracklings! You live like a capitalist, and now that your neighbor is in trouble, you not only have no compassion, but you're also standing by coldly? If it weren't for your tip-off hotline, would Sha Zhu have gotten into trouble? You bear the main responsibility! You must take the lead in donating, at least ten yuan!"

Ten yuan!

The crowd erupted in uproar; this was blatant robbery!

But fueled by resentment towards the wealthy, many people's gazes towards Zhou Jianguo changed: "Yeah, Zhou Jianguo ate so heartily last night, so what if he leaked a little something?"

Faced with this scene of being condemned by everyone, Zhou Jianguo was neither angry nor flustered.

"Oh."

Zhou Jianguo let out a very soft sneer and stepped to the octagonal table.

He stretched out a finger and disdainfully poked at the empty red cardboard box.

"Uncle, that's a huge accusation you're making, thicker than the bend in the city wall." Zhou Jianguo looked up. "You want me to donate? Sure. But before you do, we need to do some calculations."

Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat: "What...what are you talking about? Saving lives is urgent!"

"Of course, we need to calculate just how poor you are, old man, so poor that you have to force everyone to scrimp and save money."

Zhou Jianguo turned to face the crowd, his words eloquent and profound:

"Yi Zhonghai, a level eight fitter. With seniority pay and technical allowance, his monthly salary is ninety-nine yuan, right?"

The entire room fell silent instantly.

Ninety-nine yuan! In an era where the average income is only twenty yuan, what does that mean? This is definitely the height of wealth!

Zhou Jianguo counted on his fingers:

"You have no children, and as an older woman, you only need to take some medicine. Even if you ate dragon meat and drank ginseng soup every day, your monthly expenses would be at most thirty yuan. You could save more than eight hundred yuan a year. You've been an eighth-grade fitter for at least ten years, right? Over those ten years, you should have at least ten thousand yuan in savings! That's enough to buy two courtyard houses!"

He took a step forward, staring intently at Yi Zhonghai, his tone mocking:

"I just don't understand. Why would a billionaire with tens of thousands of dollars in assets force his neighbors, who only earn twenty dollars a month and can't even afford cornmeal, to contribute money to save people in the freezing cold? If you just spared a little from your own pocket, wouldn't that be enough to save ten idiots? Or is it..."

Zhou Jianguo's eyes suddenly sharpened: "Is your money gilded, while our money just fell from the sky?"

boom--!

The whole hospital was in an uproar.

This calculation is so straightforward!

Their previously blinded eyes instantly cleared, replaced by anger at being fooled.

"Holy crap! Ninety-nine yuan!"

"My family only makes 23 yuan a month, and we have to support four children. Why should I donate?"

"The richer they are, the stingier they become! Are they treating us like monkeys?"

Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses, his small eyes gleaming with shrewdness, and seized the opportunity to add insult to injury: "Tsk tsk, if you calculate it by interest, this old man's monthly interest from just his bank savings is more than my salary! What do you call that? That's called 'the richer you are, the darker you become'!"

Yi Zhonghai's face turned a deep shade of liver, and the veins on his forehead throbbed. Having his secret exposed was worse than death for him!

"You...you're talking nonsense!" Yi Zhonghai exclaimed angrily. "That's my retirement money! It's for my old age! How can I touch it?"

"Retirement money?"

The smile on Zhou Jianguo's face vanished abruptly, replaced by a chilling coldness.

"Bang!"

He slammed his hand on the table, causing the red cardboard box to fly up into the air.

"Yi Zhonghai, are you truly senile, or do you want to drag the entire hospital down with you?"

This sudden shout startled Yi Zhonghai, and even Qin Huairu forgot to pretend to cry.

Zhou Jianguo pointed to the cardboard box on the ground, his voice booming like thunder:

"Do you know why Sha Zhu went to jail? For fighting? Wrong! It was because of a huge sum of money with an unclear source! It was because of that 150 yuan remittance slip! Where did the money come from? It came from He Daqing, who ran off with a widow!"

Zhou Jianguo surveyed the entire room, and everyone in his sight unconsciously stepped back.

"What's the situation now? At this critical juncture, you, Yi Zhonghai, are raising funds? You're essentially raising money to get a suspect released! At the very least, you're committing the crime of harboring a criminal; at worst, you're providing financial support to hostile forces! That's aiding the enemy!"

What!

Aiding the enemy!

It means eating peanuts!

It means the whole family will be nailed to the pillar of shame and never be able to rise again!

The neighbors, who had originally wanted to pay two cents for peace of mind, frantically pulled their hands out of their pockets. Some were even so frightened that they took several steps back, afraid that if they got too close to the red cardboard box, they would be labeled as accomplices.

"I...I won't donate anymore! My family doesn't have any money!"

Yan Bugui was the first to react, his face turning deathly pale, and he screamed in a piercing voice, "I will absolutely not get involved with bad elements! I want to sever all ties with evil!"

After saying that, the shrewd abacus user ran faster than a rabbit, disappearing back into the house with a "whoosh," the door latch slamming shut.

"This...this is a matter of principle!" Liu Haizhong was terrified, his obsession with officialdom completely shattered, cold sweat pouring down his body. "Old Yi! You're going to get everyone killed! Meeting adjourned! Meeting adjourned immediately!"

The second uncle lost one of his shoes while running and didn't even bother to pick it up; he scrambled and crawled towards the backyard.

In less than half a minute.

The front yard, which was just crowded with people, is now just a mess of chicken feathers.

Qin Huairu collapsed to the ground, her face ashen.

She never expected that Zhou Jianguo could ruin her carefully planned scheme with just a few words.

Now, not only has his prestige been completely destroyed, but he almost faced the death penalty for aiding the enemy.

Zhou Jianguo leaned closer to Yi Zhonghai and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Uncle, take my advice. You should save your retirement money to buy yourself a nice coffin. Otherwise, if you keep doing this... even if you have a mountain of gold, no one will be there to send you off in your final days."

After saying that, Zhou Jianguo put his hands in his pockets, whistled, and turned away gracefully under Yi Zhonghai's desperate and resentful gaze.