The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 76 Sophistry
Liu Haizhong understood immediately that he must launch a surprise attack and not give Yi Zhonghai any time to buffer, otherwise this old guy would surely turn black into white and maybe even turn the tables.

So he made a prompt decision and held a meeting after dinner to catch Yi Zhonghai off guard. Moreover, when Yi Zhonghai asked him just now, he restrained himself and didn't utter a word.

It was the first school-wide meeting after the Chinese New Year. Everyone came out with their hands in their sleeves, laughing and joking to watch the fun. It happened to be a very boring night, so they couldn't miss this bit of fun.

When everyone gathered, three old men came out holding teacups. As soon as Yi Zhonghai sat down, Liu Haizhong started to make trouble.

"What happened today is mainly related to you. Since you are a suspect, you cannot sit here. Please sit down below."

Yi Zhonghai was completely confused. He frowned and looked at Liu Haizhong and asked, "What does it have to do with me? I still don't know what you are going to say at the meeting today."

Liu Haizhong waved his hand: "Just sit down there. You can't sit here today."

Mr. Yi wanted to see what Liu Hai was up to, so he simply took his teacup and carried a stool to sit in front.

"Since you're already sitting down, tell me what you want to say."

Liu Haizhong took a sip of Gao Moer, then said slowly: "Zhu Zi came to me before dinner and said that you, Yi Zhonghai, embezzled the living expenses sent by He Daqing. Just tell me, is this true?"

Yi Zhonghai's face suddenly changed. He never expected that this matter would be brought to light, and he immediately started to quibble.

"Hey, this matter is not what you think. I am not embezzling. I am helping him to collect it."

Liu Haizhong interrupted quickly: "I'm asking you now whether this happened or not. I'm not going to listen to your reasons. Just say whether you took it or not. If you took it, then say you took it."

Yi Zhonghai finally understood why Sha Zhu looked at him unkindly, but he had to make an excuse. This was a accusation of corruption, and he didn't want to have it put on his head; it would be fatal.

"I say it again, I didn't embezzle. I saved it for him. Shazhu didn't know how to live at that time. I was afraid that the money would be wasted in his hands."

Most people in the hospital knew how difficult Sha Zhu's life was in the first few years after He Daqing left. If he had this money, Sha Zhu wouldn't have had to suffer so much.

So now everyone knew that Yi Zhonghai's excuses were just quibbling, and they started pointing fingers at Yi Zhonghai and whispering to each other.

"It's so shameless to say that. If I had five dollars back then, I wouldn't have taken my sister to rummage through the garbage."

"It's just that Sha Zhu doesn't know how to live. Sha Zhu can hardly live anymore, so how can this person not live?"

Liu Haizhong pointed at Yi Zhonghai and said, "Listen, listen to what the neighbors say. Do you think you have done something wrong?"

"I saved it all for Sha Zhu. I plan to give it to him when we get married."

Liu Haizhong seemed to be possessed by great wisdom at this moment. He stood up and scolded Yi Zhonghai: "You took us for fools. Since you saved it for others, why didn't you tell them about it? Sha Zhu didn't know from the beginning that He Daqing sent him living expenses. No matter how you argue, you are a thief."

Probably because the world has suffered from Yi Zhonghai for a long time. Yan Fugui also nodded: "Second uncle is right. Taking without permission is a thief. Old Yi, your reason for saving for others is untenable."

Liu Haizhong continued, "Just now you said you would give it to him when Sha Zhu got married. Sha Zhu is already married, so why didn't you give it to him?"

Yi Zhonghai was suddenly stunned. He blurted out this lie without thinking about it in detail, because he subconsciously believed that Sha Zhu could not get married, and even if he did, he could only get married through him.

Seeing Yi Zhonghai didn't say anything, Liu Haizhong continued, "Now the matter is very clear. Yi Zhonghai embezzled the living expenses that the father sent to his son and daughter. Now it depends on whether it will be settled publicly or privately."

Yi Zhonghai hurriedly said, "Let's settle it privately."

Liu Haizhong glared at Yi Zhonghai and said unhappily, "What's your business? Why do you want Shazhu to have the final say? If you want to settle it privately, just do it privately. People like you who are morally corrupt and have committed crimes should be shot."

Yi Zhonghai was ready to repeat his old tune: "We are a civilized and excellent courtyard house, and we are rated as excellent every year. If this gets out, we will not be rated as excellent this year, and we will also lose those prizes at the end of the year."

Xu Damao, who had been silent, spoke up at this time. If he had to say who he hated the most in the entire courtyard, besides the deaf old lady, it was Yi Zhonghai. Sha Zhu could only be ranked next.

"Here's a corrupt official. He deserves to be shot, but he still wants to be rated as an excellent courtyard house." Xu Damao shook his head: "Second uncle, I advise you to take the initiative to go up, otherwise if someone reports it to the street office, you will be more guilty."

Yi Zhonghai said quickly: "As long as you don't say anything and I don't say anything, no one outside will know. For the sake of our excellent courtyard, everyone should stop gossiping outside. The year-end prize is important."

Liu Hua said slowly, "There are so many people here, how can we keep it secret? These aunties and grandmas in the courtyard are used to chatting in the alleys. If one of them accidentally tells the truth, our courtyard will become famous."

Liu Haizhong scratched his head. His wisdom was about to run out, so he could only stare at Yan Fugui next to him.

"Uncle, what do you think?"

"It doesn't matter what I think." Yan Fugui drank a sip of boiled water and said with a smile: "The most important thing is Zhuzi's attitude. He wants to settle it publicly, so it's useless for us to say it's a private settlement."

Sha Zhu held this meeting just to show off in the courtyard. His father didn't care about him anymore, and his colleagues wanted to disgust Yi Zhonghai. Now that Yi Zhonghai has been exposed, his next step is to send Yi Zhonghai directly to the police station.

"Wait a minute, let me have something to say."

Yi Zhonghai's savior finally appeared. An aunt had not attended the meeting at first, but later she heard that everyone seemed to be scolding Yi Zhonghai, so she pricked up her ears and listened. Unexpectedly, it would have been fine if she hadn't listened, but when she heard it, she was frightened to death, so she hurried to the backyard to ask the old lady for help.

Sha Zhu and his wife were quite respectful to the deaf old lady, so they helped her sit down and said, "Grandma, tell me what we should do."

"As the saying goes, forgive others when you can." The deaf old lady said stiffly, "Zhu Zi, I know that Uncle Yi has wronged you, but the past is the past. Please spare Uncle Yi's life, and I will make him repay you double."

　Ask for monthly tickets and collection
　　
　
(End of this chapter)