The Courtyard House: He Yuzhu Returns with Boundless Hatred for Revenge

Dongxu remained unconscious for half a day, but was eventually awakened by the relentless, excruciating pain. After all, anesthesia techniques weren't very advanced these days, and patients suffered endless pain after surgery. Painkillers were still a luxury, and were generally only given to patients as a last resort.

"Ah!" With a painful roar, Jia Dongxu opened his eyes, his whole body covered in sweat. Even while unconscious, the pain persisted. Qin Huairu had spent the entire morning wiping his sweat.

"Dongxu! Dongxu, you're awake?" Qin Huairu, who was dozing off by the bedside, was startled awake and quickly went over to him.

Jia Dongxu's eyes glazed over for a few seconds before snapping back to focus. He remembered what had happened earlier and frantically reached down. Below him, nothing! He yanked back the covers, revealing his lower body, wrapped in layers of gauze, but noticeably shorter than expected.

"My legs! Where are my legs?!" Jia Dongxu's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, his face contorted in rage. He frantically pounded on the edge of the bed, his voice a desperate scream, "Who did this! Who took my legs? Ah, you beast!"

Qin Huairu was terrified and quickly grabbed his flailing arms, tears streaming down her face. "Dongxu, don't do this! You were badly injured last night; it's a miracle you survived."

"Save my life? I'd rather be dead than alive!" Jia Dongxu was acting like a madman, completely deaf to reason. He waved his arms, nearly hitting Qin Huairu in the face, "It's all your fault! You jinx! Ever since you, you troublemaker, married into the Jia family, not a single day has gone smoothly..." Just like his mother, he never looked for the cause within himself, always blaming others. But Qin Huairu wasn't entirely innocent; she was the same way, and truly a jinx.

Qin Huairu could only hold onto Jia Dongxu's hand tightly, afraid he would hurt her. Just then, the ward door was pushed open, and Yi Zhonghai walked in carrying a net bag containing two lunchboxes. When he saw Jia Dongxu wake up, he first breathed a sigh of relief, then, seeing his apprentice's frantic state, he immediately went forward to persuade him.

"Dongxu, calm down!" Yi Zhonghai put down his lunchbox and said in a deep voice, "What's the use of making a scene now? Focusing on healing your injuries is the most important thing!"

Upon seeing Yi Zhonghai, Jia Dongxu calmed down slightly, then clung to him like a lifeline, pleading, "Master, Master! You must help me! I've lost my leg, what will I do? Who will support my family? Master, you must help me!"

Yi Zhonghai sighed, feigning concern. He dared not say he was in charge now, so he could only pretend to be deep in thought and remain silent. Jia Dongxu suddenly looked around and asked, "Where's Mom? Why isn't my mom here?" He was so badly injured; given his mother's personality, she should definitely be here crying and wailing.

Qin Huairu and Yi Zhonghai exchanged a glance, both looking troubled. In the end, Yi Zhonghai steeled himself and recounted how Jia Zhangshi had assaulted the doctor and was subsequently detained by the security department.

"What?! My mom's been locked up?!" Jia Dongxu felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, almost choking on his own breath. His son was disabled, his mother detained—these successive blows completely broke him. He lay limp on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, looking utterly hopeless.

At this moment, Jia Dongxu was utterly despondent. Without his legs, he would be a cripple, the pillar of his family had collapsed, and his mother had caused such a huge disaster—how was he supposed to live like this?

The ward fell into a deathly silence; the three of them remained speechless.

A while later, there was another knock on the ward door. The two police officers from the previous night came in. They had already gone to the alley where the crime occurred that morning to investigate, but unfortunately, apart from finding bloodstains and debris, they hadn't found any valuable clues—footprints, a murder weapon, or any witnesses.

They then went to the courtyard house and questioned He Yuzhu, who was considered a suspect. He Yuzhu remained very calm, stating that he had gone to bed early the previous night, that his sister He Yushui could testify to this, and that when the police and security personnel were at the courthouse, he had come out of the house wearing only a coat. Police investigations in that era were so rudimentary; without the surveillance footage of later generations, without witnesses and physical evidence, it was a dead end. Their greatest skill was memory recovery. This was also why He Yuzhu wanted to become an official; if he were an official, the police wouldn't have the right to summon him at will.

Having found nothing, the police returned to the hospital, hoping to find a breakthrough from Jia Dongxu.

"Comrade Jia Dongxu, calm down and carefully recall what happened last night," an older police officer said. "Where exactly did you go last night? Who were you with? Did you have any conflicts with anyone?"

Whether he was still groggy from just waking up or had lost his mind due to despair, Jia Dongxu blurted out that he had gone to his friends' house to drink and play cards the night before. At this point, Yi Zhonghai had already been asked to leave by the police under the pretext of taking a statement; otherwise, they could at least have tried to distract him and offer some advice. It was Jia Dongxu's bad luck.

"Playing cards?" The police officer keenly grasped the key phrase.

"Did you win or lose?" The question is used to entice people without asking if they gambled.

"We won by a small margin."

"How much money did you win?" the police officer pressed.

"About thirty yuan."

Thirty-odd yuan! That was a considerable sum back then, equivalent to a month's wages for an average worker. The two police officers exchanged a glance and immediately had a new idea: robbery! This was far more direct than any neighborhood dispute.

"Where's the money you won? Do you still have it on you?"

Qin Huairu, who was standing nearby, quickly took out Jia Dongxu's clothes from the bedside table. The police officers took them and searched them carefully. Sure enough, all the pockets were empty; there wasn't a single penny. Of course, He Yuzhu had taken them all at the time; he wanted to create the illusion of a robbery.

"It seems very likely to be a robbery. Winning so much money and going home alone late at night makes it highly probable that someone was targeting him for robbery. Focus your investigation on everyone who was present at the time of the card game."

They then inquired about the specific information of Jia Dongxu's group of cronies and recorded it in detail.

After taking the statement, the older police officer closed his notebook and said to Jia Dongxu, "Comrade Jia Dongxu, the information you provided is very important. We will focus our investigation on this area. Take good care of your injuries, and we will notify you if we have any updates."

He paused, then added in a very serious tone, "Furthermore, gambling in groups is also illegal. Although you are currently a victim and your situation is special, making it difficult to deal with you at the moment, we will report this to your workplace. We hope you will take care of yourself."

Report it to his workplace? Jia Dongxu's heart sank to the bottom. Just moments ago, he was hoping the factory would offer some compensation out of consideration for his serious injuries and disability. Now, if the factory reported him for gambling, he might not even be able to keep his job. Had he been possessed by a madman? How could he have blurted out such a fatal secret?