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

The crowd that was just making a ruckus has now fallen silent.

He Yushui just stared at Yi Zhonghai.

Who would dare to speak at this moment?

Faced with this horrific, inhuman state, anyone who speaks out is a beast.

Yi Zhonghai's hands, which had been comfortably tucked into the thick sleeves filled with new cotton, suddenly started to tremble.

Opposite him was He Yushui, who was barely clothed and whose feet were rotting and oozing pus.

He was wearing a brand-new, thick, even somewhat chubby work cotton-padded jacket.

This distance of less than a meter divides heaven and hell.

What does it mean to "eat the children of the deceased"?

This is a live, breathing scene of cannibalism!

As Yi Zhonghai watched He Yushui approach, his heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by a large hand.

He saw in He Yushui's eyes a look that seemed to want to devour him alive!

Fear surged up his spine and shot straight to the top of his head, but he was, after all, a seasoned veteran who had been in charge of this courtyard for over a decade.

If things collapse at this moment, he will truly be doomed.

"Rain...rainwater..."

Yi Zhonghai sprang up, his face crinkling into a deep, heart-wrenching expression.

He didn't even bother wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Trembling, he reached out to grab He Yushui's dirty hand, his voice trembling: "You child! How could you run out without even wearing shoes? You're trying to rip out my heart! Quick! Come home with me! Let's talk about whatever grievances we have inside, so we don't make a fool of ourselves in front of outsiders..."

As he spoke, he leaned forward, adopting the posture of a loving father.

This tactic of retreating to advance is something Yi Zhonghai has used for most of his life.

Once you get someone into the house and close the door, whether they resort to moral blackmail or kneeling to play the victim, it's all up to them.

however.

Just as his fairly well-maintained fingers were about to touch He Yushui's sleeve.

He Yushui swayed and took half a step back.

His movements were stiff, yet filled with disdain.

Yi Zhonghai's hand remained awkwardly frozen in mid-air.

"Rainwater?" Yi Zhonghai's kind expression faltered, his eyes twitching uncontrollably. "What are you doing? This old man is just worried about you..."

He Yushui didn't even glance at him.

She mechanically bypassed the hypocrite, dragging her rotting foot, and went straight to the square table where the evidence was placed.

Yi Zhonghai's heart was completely broken.

Oh no, this girl is out of control!

"Hey! He Yushui! This is a courtroom! This is an evidence collection site! Who gave you permission to move around like this!"

When Liu Haizhong, the second uncle, saw He Yushui going to get the receipts, his ambition for officialdom kicked in.

This was his trump card to bring down Yi Zhonghai, how could he let anyone touch it so easily?

But he only got halfway through his official speech before he suddenly fell silent, as if someone had grabbed his throat.

Zhou Jianguo stood by the table, toying with the cast iron fire hook covered in coal dust in his hand, without even lifting his eyelids.

He just glanced at Liu Haizhong casually.

"Let her take it."

Three words, yet they resonate deeply.

Liu Haizhong swallowed the rest of his words and shrank back to the corner, pretending to be a quail.

The only sound was the crisp "rustling" of the receipts in the cold wind.

He Yushui extended her hand.

Those hands were no longer those of a young girl.

My knuckles were swollen like carrots, and my hands were covered in cracked chilblains with blood and pus; it looked painful.

She trembled and struggled to pry out the bottom sheet from the thick stack of receipts.

"October 20, 1955..."

Remitter: He Daqing. Recipient: Yi Zhonghai. Amount: Ten yuan.

He Yushui slowly raised her head, her gaze piercing through the crowd.

"That winter was so cold," she said, as if she were talking about someone else. "I accidentally stepped into an ice hole, and my cotton shoes got soaked and frozen solid. I had no shoes to change into, and my feet were frostbitten. It hurt so much that I wanted to take a knife and stomp my feet off."

Several elderly people in the crowd lowered their heads in shame.

Who didn't hear the He family girl crying at night back then?

But nobody took it seriously.

"I'm coming to find you."

He Yushui's gaze was fixed on Yi Zhonghai's face.

"I knelt at your doorstep, begging to borrow two dollars to buy a pair of shoes. What did you say?"

Yi Zhonghai's lips trembled as he tried to silence her, but no sound came out.

"You said that bastard He Daqing abandoned me, that I'm a bastard with no parents! You said that only by enduring hardship can one rise above others, and that I should just wrap myself in tattered cotton and learn to be frugal..."

He Yushui suddenly grinned, a sinister smile that was more chilling than crying.

She held up the receipt in her hand, her swollen fingers gripping the corner of the paper.

"So, on the very morning I knelt and begged you, you had just gone to the post office and collected ten dollars on behalf of that father who didn't want me!"

boom--!

This heavy blow made everyone's chest feel tight.

Ten dollars in 1955! That was a huge sum of money!

Taking someone's own father's life-saving money, watching a little girl with festering feet through the winter, and then brainwashing her with empty words of morality?

"This is utterly despicable..." Grandma Wang clutched her chest, tears streaming down her face. "This is a terrible sin! Yi Zhonghai, is your heart made of coal?"

"That's ruthless! They're practically killing him!"

The spittle around him almost drowned Yi Zhonghai.

"No...it's not like that..." Yi Zhonghai still struggled desperately, "I'm afraid...afraid you'll waste money..."

"Wasting money?!"

He Yushui's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

She grabbed a handful of receipts, disregarding their order, and flung them violently into the air.

White paper scraps fluttered in the air like snowflakes.

"January 1959! Fifteen yuan!"

"That year, during the great famine, everyone was starving! My silly brother saved the half-eaten steamed bun he brought back from the canteen for me, and drank cold water to fill himself up! I was so hungry that I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went to the roadside to pick up candy wrappers that others had thrown away and licked them to taste their sweetness!"

He Yushui's tears finally broke free, washing away the mud and grime covering her face.

She pointed at Yi Zhonghai, her finger almost poking the tip of the hypocrite's nose.

"That day was the first day of the Lunar New Year! Your family was making dumplings! Pork and scallion dumplings! The aroma filled the whole yard!"

"Jia Dongxu was sitting on your kang (heated brick bed) drinking, his mouth greasy from eating cornbread, throwing dumpling wrappers at me and laughing at me for being a beggar!"

In the crowd, Qin Huairu shuddered, wishing she could bury her head in her crotch.

"I went to beg for food. What did you do, Yi Zhonghai? You came out with two cornbread buns and said to me: 'Yushui, we should be sensible and give way to our younger brother. The Jia family has it tough. You are the older sister, so you should be generous.'"

"Yi Zhonghai! You were carrying ten yuan that my father sent you back then! You used my father's hard-earned money to support the ungrateful Jia family! And you expect me to make way for those bloodsuckers? Expect me to be magnanimous?"

"When you were watching me eat my cornbread, were you secretly laughing? Did you think I was easy to fool? Huh?!"

These questions were uttered with blood and pierced the heart!

This is going to strip Yi Zhonghai bare!

"Stop talking...stop talking!!"

Yi Zhonghai finally collapsed.