Courtyard House: Starting as an eighth-grade worker, with too many wives.

He looked at the two policemen and explained, "You two may not know, but I have a history with the Jia family, and they've been giving me trouble. I'm not comfortable letting her go."

Qin Huairu's eyes instantly welled up with tears, her voice filled with grievance and accusation: "Those were my clothes! I'm the victim!"

"No matter who you are, I don't trust you."

Li Jianguo didn't even look at her, but earnestly told the two policemen, "I'm worried that she might try to slip things into my house during the search. I request that someone else be assigned to the job."

Finally, after consultation, Lou Xiao'e was selected as the representative of the compound to participate in the search.

Li Jianguo glanced at her but did not object.

"Search me before you go in."

His tone remained calm, yet carried an undeniable air of authority: "I don't want anyone leaving anything in my room that doesn't belong to me."

The two policemen were getting impatient with him, but faced with an engineer, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and do as he said.

After the body search was completed and it was confirmed that no one was carrying any contraband, the two policemen, along with Lou Xiao'e, pushed open Li Jianguo's door.

As soon as the door opened, the square-faced policeman gasped.

The desk was covered with densely packed drawings and documents.

He couldn't understand any of those lines, symbols, or numbers, but inexplicably, he felt that those things were extremely important, so important that even touching them would be a sin.

He immediately lowered his voice and instructed the young policeman, "Don't touch the desk! Don't touch anything!"

The three people carefully searched the room.

When opening drawers, be quiet and gentle.

When moving cabinets, handle them gently.

When knocking on the wall, we didn't dare to use too much force, for fear of breaking something.

After examining each item, I put it back exactly as it was, in the exact same place.

After searching for a long time, they checked under the bed, in the gaps between the cabinets, at the corners of the walls, and even knocked on the wall plaster, just in case there were any hidden compartments.

Forget about women's underwear, we couldn't even find a single strand of a woman's hair.

The three men stepped out, and the square-faced policeman announced in front of everyone: "We didn't find anything belonging to a woman in Director Li's room. The underwear you mentioned isn't there."

"impossible!"

Sha Zhu blurted it out, his voice cracking.

His eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief.

How is that possible? He put it there himself! He stuffed it under the bed! How could something that big just disappear into thin air?

The square-faced policeman's expression darkened as he stared at Sha Zhu: "What? Are you questioning the impartiality of our search?"

Sha Zhu jumped in surprise and quickly waved his hands, "No, no, no! How could I dare to question a police officer?"

He forced a laugh, trying to salvage the situation: "It's just... it's just that this happened so suddenly. Our department has always been quite peaceful, so this sudden incident has everyone on edge..."

"It's understandable that you're nervous."

The square-faced policeman interrupted him, his tone curt: "But we've investigated, and it really has nothing to do with Director Li. If you have any objections, you can go and report it to our superiors."

Sha Zhu opened his mouth, but dared not utter another sound. He dejectedly retreated to the side, his mind racing: What went wrong? Where is the underwear?

Li Jianguo took a step forward and stood under the light.

His figure was elongated by the light, casting a long shadow on the ground like an insurmountable boundary.

"Now that I've been cleared of suspicion, we'll have to trouble you two comrades to continue searching for the real pervert."

The square-faced policeman nodded: "It's my duty."

Li Jianguo smiled and glanced around the courtyard. "I think this pervert can't have gone far; he's probably still in our courtyard. If he came from outside, the people in the front and middle courtyards would definitely have noticed. Perhaps... we could search everyone else's rooms too?"

"no problem."

The square-faced policeman readily agreed.

Li Jianguo's gaze fell on Sha Zhu.

The gaze was calm, but Sha Zhu felt a chill run down his spine.

"The only single young men in this compound are myself and this Comrade He. I've finished my investigation, so please, both of you, investigate him as well."

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu felt reassured.

Investigate him? Go ahead and investigate! He took the underwear out himself; he's not stupid, why would he throw it in his own room?

He straightened his chest, adopting an upright and honest demeanor: "Investigate! Investigate all you want! I haven't done anything wrong, I have nothing to fear!"

Two policemen led Lou Xiao'e into Sha Zhu's house.

Sha Zhu's room was very simple: a bed, a cabinet, a table, and you could see everything at a glance.

But the two policemen still searched very thoroughly.

The young policeman walked to the window, squatted down, and glanced at the corner of the wall.

"What is this?"

He reached out and picked up a strip of cloth from the corner of the wall.

The strip of cloth was wrinkled and faded from washing, but you could still tell that it was a red woman's underwear.

Lou Xiao'e, standing to the side, exclaimed in surprise upon seeing the object, "This..."

The sound reached outside, and the people in the yard instantly erupted in chaos.

"What's wrong? Did you find it?"

"You really found it? In Foolish Pillar's house?"

"Holy crap! No way!"

Two policemen came out of the house; the square-faced policeman was holding up the underwear.

"We found this in Comrade He Yuzhu's room."

The courtyard fell silent instantly.

It was so quiet you could hear the filament humming inside the bulb.

Then, it was like a ladle of water poured into a pot of oil, and it was fried.

"Holy crap! Is it really Stupid Pillar?"

"How did Qin Huairu's underwear end up in Sha Zhu's room?"

"When did they get together?"

"Didn't you say it was stolen? How come..."

Sha Zhu's face turned as white as paper in an instant.

He stared wide-eyed at the underwear, his lips trembling, unable to utter a word.

The underwear... how did the underwear end up in his room?

Didn't he...didn't he stuff it under Li Jianguo's bed?

"This...this is impossible..."

He murmured, his voice trembling.

Xu Damao was laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight.

"Wow! You're really something, Sha Zhu!"

He laughed until tears streamed down his face, pointing at Sha Zhu, gasping for breath: "You were intimate with someone else's mother-in-law before, and now you're having an affair with someone else's daughter-in-law. Jia Dongxu is crippled, but she's not dead yet! And you're already so impatient? Playing the thief crying 'stop thief'? I'm fucking impressed! Seriously impressed!"

"Shut up!"

Sha Zhu suddenly turned his head, his eyes bloodshot, as if he wanted to devour someone: "If you fucking say another word, I'll beat you to death!"

"Who do you want to kill in front of us?"

The square-faced policeman's voice was like a bucket of ice water poured over his head.

Sha Zhu immediately cowered, shrinking his neck and not daring to utter a sound.

He pointed to the underwear, his voice trembling with tears, "Officer, please believe me, I really didn't steal it! I don't know how it got into my house! I really don't know!"

"You don't know what's in your room?"

The square-faced policeman looked at him with amusement in his eyes.

The one who was shouting the loudest just now was this guy.

Xu Damao casually added, "Could it be that it was left in your room when you two were having an affair?"

In a moment of impulsiveness, Sha Zhu immediately grasped at this lifeline.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

He pointed at Qin Huairu and said urgently, "It must have been left behind when she came last time!"

Qin Huairu suddenly looked up, staring at him in disbelief.

In those eyes, there was shock, anger, and a hint of...despair.

"You're talking nonsense!"

Her voice was shrill, like a knife: "When did I ever go into your room?"

Xu Damao fanned the flames from the side: "You haven't been there? That idiot Zhu gave you his entire salary, what did he get out of it? Was it because you're good-looking?"

Sha Zhu wished he could kneel down and kowtow to Xu Damao.

These words were a lifesaver for him!

Stealing underwear is perverted, while promiscuous relationships are at most a matter of conduct.

Between two evils, he chose the lesser; he would rather bear the reputation of being a womanizer than be a pervert!

"I...I don't quite remember."

He kept his head down, his voice muffled: "It might have been... accidentally left here before. Otherwise, how could a bachelor like me have women's things in my house?"

An older woman stood nearby, looking at Qin Huairu with heartache and indignation: "Qin Huairu! Jia Dongxu is still lying in the hospital! He's not even dead yet! And you're already in such a hurry to find someone else? How can you face him?"

Qin Huairu trembled all over, and tears finally fell, but they were not tears of grievance, but tears of despair and anger.

"I didn't! It wasn't me!"

Her explanation seemed so weak and powerless in the eyes of the crowd.

The square-faced policeman watched this farce with a grim expression.

"So that's what happened. He left his underwear in someone else's house and then started this whole 'thief crying 'stop thief'' act."

He looked coldly at Sha Zhu and Qin Huairu: "You two, your behavior is extremely egregious!"

"Things aren't that simple."

Li Jianguo suddenly spoke up.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples.

Both policemen looked at him at the same time.

The square-faced policeman asked, "Director Li, do you feel something's wrong?"

Li Jianguo nodded, his expression solemn.

"This whole thing is suspicious from beginning to end. I believe it's a premeditated frame-up."

"What?"

The two policemen were taken aback.

"Framed?"

The young policeman scratched his head: "But... isn't this just a misunderstanding caused by illicit sexual relations?"

Li Jianguo shook his head, a meaningful smile appearing on his lips.

"A little analysis will tell us. This frame-up is not a sophisticated method."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the courtyard.

Sha Zhu's face froze.

Yi Zhonghai's lips twitched.

Qin Huairu's tears welled up in her eyes.

"It's very simple..."

Li Jianguo spoke, his voice echoing in the night.

Everyone in the courtyard held their breath, staring at him, waiting for his next words.

Sha Zhu, Yi Zhonghai, and Qin Huairu stood in the crowd, their faces stiff as if they were three corpses that had just crawled out of a coffin.

Their hearts were in their throats.

My mind suddenly became as clear as if I had been splashed with cold water.

He Yuzhu probably felt like a drowning person grasping at a last straw.

He suddenly raised his face, his eyes darting around the room before finally settling on Li Jianguo. His lips twitched, forming a strange arc—like a smile, yet also like a spasm.

"wrong."

His voice was steady, and more assertive than before.

"What Director Li just said... didn't quite ring a bell for me?"

There was a moment of silence in the room. The light bulb hummed, as if it were on someone's mind.

He Yuzhu took a deep, long breath, as if he had sucked all the oxygen out of the room. When he spoke again, his words came out as fast as a machine gun.

"This isn't aimed at Director Li—it's aimed at me! You two, tell me, whose room was the underwear found in? My room! A frame-up? The thing is with me, who's framing me? Me!"

As he spoke, he gestured, poking his chest with his finger, making a loud thumping sound.

As he spoke, his expression changed.

His gaze became meaningful, like an old fox eyeing a rabbit that had fallen into a trap. His eyes slowly shifted, finally settling on Li Jianguo's face.

"I get along well with everyone in this compound. If I had to say I have a grudge against anyone..." He deliberately dragged out the last syllable, like a sawing motion, "...it's only with Director Li. So—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

But that look in his eyes, that half-finished sentence, was even more ruthless than if he had finished speaking.

The fluorescent lights cast a harsh, white light, making people's faces appear ashen and bluish-gray. The light was like a knife, slicing each person's face into sharp, angular lines of light and shadow.

The two police officers exchanged a glance.