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

The shame of being publicly exposed completely broke Yi Zhonghai.

If she continues reading, his name, Yi Zhonghai, will be nailed to the pillar of shame in the courtyard, and it will never be able to be removed for ten thousand years!

"Shut your filthy mouth! Give me the receipt!"

Yi Zhonghai let out a strange cry, his old face contorted in pain.

He didn't care about maintaining his dignity as an old man anymore, and lunged at He Yushui with bared teeth and claws, wanting nothing more than to tear off those death warrants.

"Watch out!" someone in the courtyard exclaimed.

He Yushui didn't move. She was too exhausted to dodge, nor did she even want to.

She just stared at me coldly, her eyes vacant, revealing a resolute determination.

But she won't die.

boom--!

Clang—!

A muffled thud, the dull sound of flesh colliding.

Then came a crisp sound, the echo of metal hitting the floor tiles.

Zhou Jianguo took a step forward and stood firmly in front of He Yushui, like a demon god.

Yi Zhonghai, overwhelmed by the murderous aura emanating from Zhou Jianguo and seemingly casually bumped by the shoulder, stumbled back five or six steps.

With a "thump".

This usually imposing eighth-grade worker fell flat on his face in the mud, landing face-first in the dirt.

"Grandpa, what's the rush?"

Zhou Jianguo looked down at him, the fire hook in his hand slightly raised.

The dark, pointed tip was aimed directly at Yi Zhonghai's nose, less than ten centimeters from his eyeball.

In that instant, Yi Zhonghai even felt his great-grandmother waving; this was not an illusion.

"The play is only halfway through, and you can't even listen to it anymore?"

Zhou Jianguo's voice wasn't loud: "Make her read it. If she misses a single word, I'll break your other leg too. That way, you'll keep Jia Dongxu company, making a double whammy of paralysis. What do you think?"

Yi Zhonghai stared at the sharp iron hook, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, cold sweat soaking his new cotton-padded coat.

He knew that Zhou Jianguo, that madman, was really capable of doing such a thing.

He collapsed to the ground, completely losing his earlier arrogance.

Behind him, He Yushui's voice rang out again, mechanical and cold, yet deafening.

She smoothed out each crumpled receipt and pressed it tightly against her chest.

"In May 1960, I had ten yuan... I fainted from hunger at school, and the doctor said I was severely malnourished. I asked for one yuan for medical expenses, but you said you had no money, forcing my mentally challenged brother to sell his blood..."

"In August 1961, I needed to pay tuition. You made me give a self-criticism at the college assembly, admitting my ignorance..."

Every date is an unhealable scar.

Every sum of money is a bloodstained dagger.

Until the last one was read.

"That's a total of... seven hundred and twenty yuan."

He Yushui slowly raised her head, her face devoid of tears, only a deathly stillness.

She looked at Yi Zhonghai, who was lying paralyzed on the ground, and at this "benefactor" to whom she had once been deeply grateful.

"Yi Zhonghai, I've always thought of you as my second parents. You gave me, He Yushui, my life."

"turn out to be……"

"You are using my flesh to nourish your reputation; using my blood to feed your godson."

"I treated you like a god, I even kowtowed to you..."

He Yushui gave a bitter laugh, a laugh more chilling than crying.

His body swayed, and the last bit of strength was drained away.

"So... I was kowtowing to a man-eating demon!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she slid down the table leg and collapsed onto the cold floor, still clutching the receipts in her hands as if grasping at her last straw.

The wind stopped, and the snow stopped.

The entire courtyard fell into a deathly silence.

Only Zhou Jianguo stood in the wind, his back to He Yushui, facing everyone in the hospital.

He looked at Yi Zhonghai, who lay on the ground ashen-faced, with a mocking gaze.

Hell is empty, and evil spirits dwell among men.

But today, Zhou Jianguo has stripped this evil spirit of its skin!

Zhou Jianguo raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over the neighbors with their various expressions, finally settling on Liu Haizhong, who was already terrified.

He uttered two words, light as a feather, yet as heavy as a thousand pounds:

"Call the police."

"Should I...call the police?"

These two words were like a muffled thunderclap, exploding in Yi Zhonghai's already malfunctioning mind.

He slumped onto the muddy ground, no longer feeling the coldness under his buttocks, only a chill running up his tailbone straight to his head.

What does it mean to call the police?

That means locking him up in jail until he dies, maybe even until he's as small as a peanut!

"No! We mustn't call the police! We absolutely mustn't call the police!"

In that instant, the will to survive overwhelmed all dignity.

Yi Zhonghai, who had just been trying to maintain a semblance of dignity, has now completely collapsed.

He used both hands and feet, ignoring the mud and snow all over the ground, and scrambled towards He Yushui and Zhou Jianguo.

"Rain! Rain!"

Yi Zhonghai's well-maintained hands gripped He Yushui's patched trouser leg, his knuckles turning pale from the force.

He looked up, and his usually dignified and upright square face was now covered with snot and tears. His cloudy old eyes were full of fear and pleading. There was no trace of his former status as an eighth-grade worker.

"I'm your great-uncle! I watched you grow up! Have you forgotten? When you were little, you wet your pants, and it was your great-aunt who washed you! Back then, your dad ran off with a widow, and who fixed the roof for your dilapidated house? It was me!"

He Yushui looked down at the old man at her feet, tears streaming down his face, his eyes vacant.

She didn't move or say anything.

Seeing that He Yushui didn't react, Yi Zhonghai panicked even more. He turned to look at the indifferent faces around him:

"I'm not bad! I'm really not bad! I just... I just made a mistake for a moment! I was thinking that silly Zhu wouldn't be able to save money, and the rain was light, I was afraid that these two kids would waste the money... I really meant well for them!"

"I was planning to use this money to buy them big gifts and surprise them when Shazhu gets married and Yushui gets married... I meant well! How did it become embezzlement? Why did they call the police?"

He was still trying to justify himself.

Even at this point, he was still trying to use the same logic that had even fooled himself to brainwash everyone in the courtyard.

In the past, perhaps some people would have actually believed it.

But at this moment, the fire hook in Zhou Jianguo's hand was like the Sword of Damocles hanging over Yi Zhonghai's head.

Zhou Jianguo looked down at Yi Zhonghai and sneered, "Surprise? Yi Zhonghai, your so-called surprise is making Yushui faint from hunger at school? Making Shazhu sell his blood to buy you wine? This kind of surprise is not something an ordinary person can enjoy. You can keep it for yourself to savor in jail."

"No...no..." Yi Zhonghai trembled as he released He Yushui, then grabbed Zhou Jianguo's shoe. "Jianguo, nephew, we're neighbors in the same courtyard, we see each other all the time. You can't go too far! If this gets into the police station, our compound will lose its 'Advanced Collective' award this year! Everyone's reputation will be ruined!"

"Reputation?" Zhou Jianguo kicked Yi Zhonghai's hand away, rubbed his shoes on the snow with disgust, and said, "Your reputation is so bad that it attracts flies. Don't drag the whole hospital down with you."

Seeing that appealing to emotions was ineffective, and with Zhou Jianguo remaining unmoved by either soft or hard tactics, the fear in Yi Zhonghai's eyes gradually transformed into a frantic determination.

We have to go all out.

As long as I can avoid going to the police station and save my life, I'm willing to go bankrupt!