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

He wore a white shirt with a Zhongshan suit casually draped over it. His posture was upright, and his expression was composed. The dim light from above cast a soft glow on him, making even his features appear exceptionally handsome.

Qin Huairu stared at it, momentarily lost in thought.

"You're here?"

Li Jianguo's voice rang out softly.

"Where's the evidence?"

"Evidence regarding..."

Qin Huairu snapped back to her senses in a panic. She gritted her teeth and reached out to touch him.

But when she met his deep and cold eyes, her hand froze in mid-air.

An invisible sense of oppression emanated from those eyes, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

"You don't...have no evidence, do you?"

Li Jianguo's voice remained calm. But to Qin Huairu, it sounded like a thunderclap.

"I...I have it..."

Her voice was trembling with nervousness.

Fight!

She gritted her teeth and ripped off her coat!

Inside, she was only wearing a thin, close-fitting undergarment. The fabric was so thin that it covered nothing at all.

Her face flushed, and she reached out to grab Li Jianguo's clothes!

however--

She overestimated herself.

Moreover, Li Jianguo had already made preparations.

Just as she lunged forward, Li Jianguo dodged. At the same time, he shouted in a deep voice:

"What are you trying to do?!"

Qin Huairu was taken aback.

Unable to stop his momentum, he stumbled straight towards the door!

Pfft!

She fell heavily to the ground.

He fell flat on his face!

"Oh my god!"

Xu Damao let out a strange cry and darted out from the shadows!

He grabbed Yan Bugui and rushed forward in three steps.

"Hey! Who's this? So late at night, have you no shame?!"

Qin Huairu raised her head in horror!

She lay on the ground, her clothes thrown aside, wearing only that thin little top!

Her face changed drastically, and she frantically grabbed her clothes, trying to put them on haphazardly. Her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't button them up.

"This...how...?"

"So it's Qin Huairu!"

Xu Damao dragged out his words in a sarcastic tone.

"I thought it was some shameless person wandering around the yard naked in the middle of the night!"

Yan Bugui also recovered from his initial shock. He glanced at Qin Huairu and immediately became so angry that his beard trembled.

"Absurd! Utterly absurd!"

"I don't!"

Qin Huairu tried to defend herself weakly. Her voice was choked with sobs, as if someone had grabbed her throat.

She turned her head and saw Li Jianguo standing calmly at the door. His face showed no anger, no surprise, only a faint hint of mockery.

My mind went blank for a second, and I instantly understood!

"Li Jianguo! It's you! You knew all along, didn't you?!"

"What do I know?"

Li Jianguo looked at her indifferently, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"Do you know you have no evidence? Or do you know you're trying to set a trap and frame me for having something to do with you?"

He revealed their plan word by word.

Qin Huairu's face turned deathly pale instantly.

"I knew it!"

Xu Damao sneered from the side.

"Running to Director Li's office so late at night, so that's what you were up to! Someone like you, not even a virgin, do you think Director Li would even notice you?!"

-

"Damn it! How could we fail!"

Inside the Jia family's house, Sha Zhu was furious!

His plan was flawless! How could it all fall apart at the crucial moment?!

"This useless thing!"

He slammed his fist against the wall in anger! A bloody mark was left on the wall, and the skin on the back of his hand was scraped.

-

"Our courtyard house is an excellent one!"

Yan Bugui pointed at Qin Huairu and cursed her indignantly.

"How could such a scoundrel like you have come from our family!"

The commotion alerted the people in the courtyard.

The neighbors, who were already preparing to go to bed, rushed over, still wearing their clothes. Some were buttoning their coats as they walked, some were rubbing their sleepy eyes, and some were carrying kerosene lamps.

"What's going on so late at night?"

Uncle Erda stared blankly at the scene before him. He had just crawled out of bed, his face still drowsy.

"Second Uncle!"

Xu Damao gave a vivid introduction to everyone.

"That Qin Huairu is restless; she tried to frame Director Li, setting him up with a honey trap! Luckily, Director Li was quick-witted and prevented her from succeeding!"

The crowd erupted in uproar!

The way he looked at Qin Huairu completely changed!

There was disdain, mockery, disgust, and even a hint of gleeful excitement. Those gazes were like knives, piercing her from all directions, leaving her nowhere to hide.

Just then, Li Jianguo spoke up.

"It's come to this, let's call the police."

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of ice water being poured over your head!

Qin Huairu was completely stunned!

"No! Don't call the police!" she cried in terror. "I am... I am..."

She wanted to say that this wasn't her intention. But looking at the indifferent faces around her, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Those dark and hopeless days in the police station flashed through my mind like a nightmare. That cramped room, that cold bed, that feeling of utter despair.

She felt an instinctive fear. A fear that came from the depths of her soul.

"I still need to find a wife."

Li Jianguo's voice was righteous and indignant.

"After something like this, what about my reputation? It would be best to let the police investigate. Call the police!"

"Okay!"

Xu Damao deserves a clean and decisive response!

He knows this stuff inside and out! He's got everyone at the police station on his side!

Without a word, he pushed out Li Jianguo's bicycle, jumped on, and sped off towards the police station. The bicycle bell rang crisply in the night.

When the police officer on duty saw him, his heart skipped a beat, and he stood up nervously.

"What?! Director Li is in trouble again?!"

The matter of the assassin isn't over yet, and they've been on edge these past few days. The mere mention of Li Jianguo's name sends them into a frenzy.

"It's nothing serious!"

Xu Damao was panting.

"Director Li has run into some trouble; could you please send a police officer over?"

As soon as the footsteps sounded at the entrance of the courtyard house, several households in the front yard poked their heads out.

"Oh, Director Li is back?"

The third uncle came out of the house carrying his enamel mug, a smile on his face, but his eyes kept glancing at Li Jianguo.

"You must have been very busy these past few days, right? I heard there's been another great achievement at the factory?"

Li Jianguo didn't stop walking; he simply nodded as a greeting.

His gaze fell on the lock on the front door.

The lock is still there.

But the little piece of paper he had stuck on the keyhole before leaving home that morning was gone.

Li Jianguo's pupils contracted slightly.

Without making a sound, he took out his key and opened the door. As he stepped across the threshold, he glanced at the bottom edge of the door frame out of the corner of his eye.

The strand of hair that was stuck there is gone too.

The door had been opened.

And it's a professional—ordinary people wouldn't notice that single hair on the bottom edge of the door frame.

Li Jianguo turned around and closed the door, then walked straight to the study.

The study door was ajar.

The door was closed when he left.

The moment he pushed open the door, Li Jianguo's gaze swept over the bookshelves, desktop, and drawers like a scanner.

Someone has already accessed this page.

And it was translated very carefully.

He didn't rush to check what was missing, but stood still for two seconds to calm his breathing.

Then he walked to the bookshelf and pulled out the book "Principles of Mechanism" from the third row.

The book is still there.

But the brown paper document bag tucked inside the book—

empty.

Li Jianguo's fingers lingered on the spine of the book for a moment before he slowly tucked it back in.

He turned around and pulled out the book "Mechanics of Materials" from the fifth row.

same.

The file folder is still there, but the drawings inside are gone.

Two file folders.

Two sets of engine core drawings.

Everything is gone.

Li Jianguo stood still and closed his eyes.

The timeline of the past few days flashed through his mind like a movie—he had been in seclusion at the factory for three days, leaving the courtyard completely in a vacuum. Who had the opportunity? Who had the guts? Who had the motive?

Sha Zhu's face was the first to pop up.

And there was that deaf old lady who lay paralyzed in bed all day, yet her eyes never became cloudy.

Li Jianguo opened his eyes, and the initial panic was gone, replaced by a calm coldness.

He turned and walked out of the study, pushed open the door, and stood on the steps.

His gaze went straight to the window of the room across the street belonging to the deaf old lady.

Something seemed to quickly shrink back behind the window paper.

---

"He's back!"

Sha Zhu shrank back from the window, his heart pounding like a drum, but he couldn't hide the excited smile on his face.

"Look at his face, he must have realized something was missing!"

The deaf old woman leaned against the bed, her cloudy eyes darting around, and a barely perceptible smile curved her lips.

"What's the rush? Sit down."

"How can I not be anxious?" Sha Zhu rubbed his hands together and paced around the room. "I'm just waiting to see him get taken away! The way he was so smug when Qin Huairu was arrested last time, let's see how smug he is this time!"

The deaf old woman didn't speak, she just stared in the direction of the window.

After a moment, she spoke:

"He looked this way."

Sha Zhu was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously tried to move closer to the window, but was stopped in his tracks by a look from the deaf old lady.

"What are you afraid of? He has no evidence."

Her voice was low and carried a seasoned composure.

"Those two blueprints are already well outside of Beijing. Does he even think he can catch up?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu's initial apprehension was instantly overwhelmed by even greater excitement.

"So, shall we just wait and see what happens?"

"Just wait and see."

The deaf old woman closed her eyes, a confident smile appearing on her face.

"He was the chief person in charge of this project. He lost the core blueprints—not to mention his position as director, whether he can even keep his life is another matter."

Sha Zhu couldn't help but laugh out loud, then quickly covered his mouth and lowered his voice, saying:

"Then Qin Huairu's three years of imprisonment weren't wasted."

The deaf old woman opened her eyes and glanced at him.

A fleeting look of disdain crossed his eyes.

This silly Zhu still thinks Qin Huairu did it for him?

It doesn't matter.

The chess pieces don't need to think too much; they just need to obey orders.