Kill the beasts in the courtyard, I fled to Hong Kong, surrounded by beauties on both sides.

A thin mist enveloped the courtyard house in the early morning, and dew condensed under the eaves, shimmering faintly in the morning light. As usual, Chen Fei got up "weakly," carried a bucket to fetch water, and coughed loudly in the quiet courtyard.

But today, the atmosphere in the courtyard was noticeably different.

At this time of day, Jia Zhangshi would usually be sitting at the door making veiled insults, Qin Huairu would be washing clothes by the pool, and Sha Zhu would be humming a tune on his way to work. But today, the Jia family's doors and windows were tightly shut, and Sha Zhu's door was also closed. Only Xu Damao was squatting at the door smoking, his eyes dark, clearly having not slept well all night.

As Chen Fei carried the bucket through the courtyard, he saw Yi Zhonghai standing at his door, staring grimly in the direction of Liu Haizhong's house in the front yard. Liu Haizhong happened to be coming out of his house, and upon seeing Yi Zhonghai, he paused, his eyes flickered, and then he hurried away with his head down.

The two passed each other without exchanging greetings.

Chen Fei sneered inwardly. It seemed yesterday's framing had worked. The rift between Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong had become public.

After fetching the water, he slowly walked back. As he passed the Jia family's house, he heard suppressed arguing coming from inside.

"Mom, can you please stop making a scene?" It was Qin Huairu's voice, sounding tired. "Banggeng has to go to school today."

"Go to school? Go to school my ass!" Jia Zhangshi's shrill voice rang out. "A thief who stole money from home has the nerve to go to school? Let me tell you, no one's leaving this house today without handing over the money!"

"Mom! I really didn't take your money! Wasn't the money found?"

"Found my ass! That was only a dozen or so yuan, I lost over fifty! You guys must have hidden the rest!"

Chen Fei shook his head, picked up the bucket, and went back into the house.

Dogs fighting, a mouthful of fur. This is just the beginning.

Morning: Yan Bugui's "concern"

Around 9 a.m., Chen Fei was practicing traditional Chinese martial arts breathing techniques in his room to restore his mental energy when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Knock knock knock".

"Who?" Chen Fei asked.

"It's me, Third Uncle," came Yan Bugui's voice from outside the door.

Chen Fei frowned. What's Uncle San doing here?

He adjusted his expression to make himself look even weaker before opening the door.

Outside the door, Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses, holding an account book in his hand, a calculating smile on his face: "Little Chen, are you inside?"

"Uncle, is there something you need?" Chen Fei asked, stepping aside to let him in.

Yan Bugui entered the house, his gaze sweeping around the empty space. A flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes, but he quickly put on a smile again: "It's nothing, I just came to see you. I heard you were sick?"

"I'm feeling a little unwell, but I'll feel better after lying down," Chen Fei said.

"You'll have to take care of yourself then," Yan Bugui said, sitting down in a chair and opening the account book. "By the way, Xiao Chen, there's something I need to tell you."

"Here it comes." Chen Fei sneered inwardly, but remained outwardly calm: "Please speak."

"After your father passed away, didn't you ask me to manage your family's grain coupons?" Yan Bugui pushed up his glasses. "In these three months, there were a total of 45 jin of grain coupons, 15 jin of refined grain coupons, and some oil and meat coupons."

Chen Fei nodded: "Mm."

"These past three months, you've been living alone, and I've helped you quite a bit," Yan Bugui said, flipping through the account book. "Look, last month when you were sick, I had Jie Cheng bring you food twice—once cornbread and once cornmeal porridge. At market prices, cornbread was five cents each, two for ten cents. A bowl of cornmeal porridge was three cents, two bowls for six cents. That's a total of sixteen cents."

Chen Fei: "..."

"Also, the month before last, your water tank broke, and I asked Jiefang to fix it for you. The lime used for fixing it was from my family; at market price, it cost two ounces and one cent. As for the labor, Jiefang worked half a day, and at temporary worker's wages, it was eight cents a day, four cents for half a day. That's forty-one cents in total."

"And the month before last, your sister... sigh," Yan Bugui sighed, "I also helped with Xiaoyu's funeral arrangements. Buying paper money and incense cost 35 cents. I paid for that myself."

As Chen Fei listened, the anger in his heart flared up again.

In the original owner's memories, Yan Bugui did indeed "help" with these matters. But at the time, it was said to be "mutual assistance between neighbors," so why is he now settling scores?

"Uncle, what do you mean by this?" Chen Fei asked.

"It's nothing," Yan Bugui said, closing the ledger. "It's just a matter of accounting. In these three months, I've paid for your expenses... Let me calculate: 16 cents plus 41 cents plus 35 cents, totaling 92 cents. Plus, the month your father passed away, I helped your family with the paperwork, which cost 30 cents for transportation and 20 cents for food... totaling 1.42 yuan."

He paused, looking at Chen Fei: "Little Chen, it's not that your third uncle is being petty, it's just that your third uncle's family isn't well-off either. You see, my family has four children in school, and we can't even afford the tuition. This dollar and forty-two cents might not be much to you, but for my family, it's enough to buy ten pounds of cornmeal."

Chen Fei understood. They were here to ask for money.

He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Uncle, my family's grain coupons are with you. You said you'd hold them for three months. Where did our family's food come from during those three months?"

Yan Bugui's face stiffened: "Well...didn't your family have some stored grain before?"

"The stored grain was all stolen by the thieves," Chen Fei said. "For the past three months, I've been eating black market grain bought with borrowed money. An old man told me to keep my grain coupons and that he would give them to me on time every month. But in these three months, I haven't seen a single grain coupon."

"This..." Yan Bugui stammered, "I'm saving it for you. You see, you can't eat that much by yourself right now, so I'm saving it for later..."

"I'm out of food now," Chen Fei interrupted him. "Uncle, if you really care about me, give me back my food coupons. I'll deduct that 1.42 yuan from the coupons."

Yan Bugui's expression changed: "How can that be? Grain coupons are grain coupons, and money is money!"

"But I have no money," Chen Fei said. "My dad's pension is with an old man. I only have a few cents in my pocket, and I need to buy medicine."

"Then why don't you go ask an old man for it?" Yan Bugui exclaimed anxiously. "The compensation is eight hundred yuan! You're only offering one yuan and forty-two fen, isn't that just a drop in the ocean?"

"An old man said he'd keep it for me and give it back to me when I get married," Chen Fei said. "Why don't you go and talk to him?"

Yan Bugui remained silent.

He dares to ask Yi Zhonghai for money? Yi Zhonghai would be furious with him.

"Xiao Chen, this is unreasonable of you," Yan Bugui said sternly. "I'm just trying to help you, and you react like this. What will people in the compound think of you if word gets out?"

Here we go again. Moral blackmail.

Chen Fei sneered inwardly, but put on a troubled expression: "Third Uncle, it's not that I don't want to pay, it's just that I really don't have the money. How about this, you wait until I find a job and get paid, and I'll pay you back in the first month."

When will you be able to find a job?

"I don't know either," Chen Fei said. "An old man said the factory is making arrangements for me, maybe next month."

Yan Bugui knew this was just a perfunctory response, but he had no choice. He couldn't really drive Chen Fei to his death, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get the money back.

"Alright," he stood up, "we'll talk about it again once you find a job. But Xiao Chen, let me tell you the truth, the courtyard has a lot of complaints about you right now. You made such a scene yesterday, turning the place into a mess. If you keep going like this, no one will help you."

Chen Fei lowered his head: "I understand, thank you, Uncle San."

Yan Bugui sighed and left.

As soon as the door closed, the "weakness" and "embarrassment" on Chen Fei's face vanished instantly, replaced by cold mockery.

One dollar and forty-two cents? Is it even worth asking for?

When the original owner's father was alive, he helped the Yan Bugui family a lot. The Yan Bugui family had many children and always ran out of food, so Chen Jianguo often had the original owner send some food over. Now that the father has just died, they're already settling scores.

What a bunch of ingrates!

Chen Fei sat on the bed and continued practicing his breathing techniques.

Today's "performance" was a success. Everyone believed he was weak and desperate. Only then could he secretly plot his next move.

Noon: New Discovery

At noon, Chen Fei went to the kitchen to cook.

In the kitchen, Qin Huairu was stir-frying cabbage. Seeing Chen Fei enter, she forced a smile: "Little Chen, cooking?"

"Okay." Chen Fei nodded and took out his small pot and corn noodles.

Qin Huairu finished cooking the vegetables and put them in a bowl, but didn't leave immediately. She hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Xiao Chen, yesterday... thank you."

Chen Fei was taken aback: "Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for not joining in," Qin Huairu's eyes reddened again. "I really don't know what happened yesterday. I didn't put the hostage, and I didn't write the note. But nobody in the ward believes me..."

Chen Fei was silent for a moment, then said, "Sister Qin, the innocent will clear themselves."

"The innocent are innocent?" Qin Huairu smiled bitterly. "In this courtyard, there's no such thing as the innocent being innocent. Everyone just parrots what others say. Look at Sha Zhu, he was so nice to me yesterday, and today..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear.

Chen Fei looked at her. Qin Huairu was wearing an old cotton-padded jacket today, the cuffs were worn out and patched with cloth. There were tear stains on her face, and her eyes were red and swollen; she did look pitiful.

But Chen Fei knew that this woman was no ordinary person. The fact that she could maneuver between Sha Zhu, Yi Zhonghai, and Xu Damao, making everyone feel sorry for her and willing to help her, was no ordinary feat.

"Sister Qin, life goes on," Chen Fei said. "You still have three children."

Mentioning her children, Qin Huairu's tears welled up again: "Yes, and my children... If it weren't for them, I..."

She didn't finish speaking before picking up her bowl and leaving.

Chen Fei watched her retreating figure without a trace of sympathy.

In the original owner's memories, Qin Huairu had also schemed against the Chen family quite a bit. After Chen's mother passed away, Qin Huairu immediately went to "comfort" Chen Fei, but in reality, she was inquiring about how much wealth the Chen family still had. When Chen Xiaoyu had an accident, Qin Huairu said "pitiful" on the surface, but then turned around and discussed with Jia Zhangshi how to get the Chen family's house.

There is always a reason why someone is pitiful.

Chen Fei shook his head and started cooking.

Today's lunch was cornmeal porridge again, with a little pickled vegetables. He ate quickly and went back to his room after finishing.

In the afternoon, he lay in bed and continued to use telekinesis to spy on the entire hospital.

First, let's look at Yi Zhonghai's family.

Yi Zhonghai didn't come back at noon; an older woman was alone in the house. Chen Fei "saw" that the letter of complaint was missing from Yi Zhonghai's desk drawer. It seemed Yi Zhonghai had taken the letter, probably to the factory to see Deputy Director Li.

Let's take a look at Liu Haizhong's house.

Liu Haizhong didn't come back either; his second aunt was airing out the quilts in the yard. Chen Fei noticed that the other complaint letters in the cracks of Liu Haizhong's wall were still there, but one was missing—the very one he had taken yesterday.

Chen Fei thought for a moment and came up with a new idea.

He took out a piece of paper and a pen from his system space—he'd bought them on the black market, intending to use them to write notes. He wrote a line in a crooked, illegible hand: