Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Half an hour later.

The courtyard house was turned into a temporary mediation site.

Director Wang from the neighborhood office was also alerted and rushed over.

At a table, Su Zheng and Section Chief Wang sat on either side, while opposite them were a dejected Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, and an embarrassed Yi Zhonghai.

Banggeng had been simply bandaged up and was huddled in Qin Huairu's arms, shivering.

Choose.

Su Zheng tapped the table. "Official channels or smuggling?"

"Smuggling! Smuggling!" Jia Zhangshi, no longer daring to be defiant, nodded frantically. "We'll pay up! As long as you don't accuse us of anything, we'll do anything!"

"it is good."

Su Zheng took out an abacus and started fiddling with it.

"First, the cost of materials. My security grille was made of special high-manganese steel and imported electronic components. The stick caused a short circuit and burned it out, so it has to be remade. The material cost... thirty yuan."

"Thirty?!" Jia Zhangshi shrieked. "That's just a few iron rods! How could it be thirty?"

"Those are tank track pins! You think you can buy them?" Su Zheng glared at him coldly. "Section Chief Wang, you know the price, don't you?"

Section Chief Wang nodded seriously: "Yes, special steel is indeed expensive. Thirty yuan is already a discount from Master Su."

"Secondly, the hourly wage," Su Zheng continued, calculating on his calculator. "I'm a level eight worker. Everyone knows what the hourly wage for a level eight worker is according to national standards. I spent three nights working overtime to do this. Including the time spent remaking it, twenty yuan isn't unreasonable, is it?"

"Twenty..." Qin Huairu's heart was bleeding.

"Third, compensation for lost wages and emotional distress." Su Zheng pointed to himself, "I didn't go to work today because of this. The factory might deduct my full attendance bonus. Also, my house was burgled, and I was extremely frightened. I need to buy some nutritional supplements to recover. Let's call that fifty."

"Fifty?!" Yi Zhonghai couldn't stand it anymore. "Su Zheng, aren't you asking for a bit too much? One hundred yuan in total? That's enough to buy half a bicycle!"

One hundred dollars!

In an era when the average wage is only twenty or thirty yuan, this is an enormous sum of money!

Even if the entire Jia family fortune were to be laid bare, this is probably all they would have!

"Too expensive?" Su Zheng pushed the abacus aside. "Then let's go by official means. Section Chief Wang, take the men."

"No! No!" Qin Huairu panicked, grabbing Su Zheng's sleeve. "Su Zheng, we admit it! We'll pay! But... but could you lower the price? We really can't come up with a hundred yuan... We don't even have money for food at home..."

Madam Jia Zhang also began to plead poverty: "Yes, we're just a widow and her orphan, where would we get so much money... Su Zheng, you're trying to force us to our deaths!"

"No money?"

Su Zheng's lips curled into a mocking smile.

He activated the Eye of Truth once more, his gaze piercing through Jia Zhangshi's tattered cotton-padded coat and even through the inner lining.

"Jia Zhangshi, stop pretending."

Su Zheng stared at Jia Zhangshi's waistband. "There's a cloth bag sewn into the hidden pocket inside your underwear. There's a wad of money rolled up inside. Judging by its thickness, it must be at least two or three hundred. Is that Dongxu's pension? Or is it your secret stash of money saved up over the years? Should I ask Director Wang to help you take it out and count it?"

"How...how did you know?!"

As if she had seen a ghost, Jia Zhangshi suddenly clutched her waistband, her face turning deathly pale.

She hid that place so well that even Qin Huairu didn't know! How could Su Zheng possibly know? Does he have X-ray vision?

Qin Huairu abruptly turned to look at her mother-in-law, her eyes filled with disbelief and anger: "Mom! You have money? Didn't you say you didn't have a single penny when Banggeng paid his tuition last time?"

"I...this is my savings for my funeral! I can't touch it!" Madam Jia clutched her money bag tightly.

"So you're saying you have money but refuse to pay?" Director Wang's face darkened. "Ms. Jia, this is a matter of attitude! Are you trying to resist law enforcement?"

"Pay up! Pay up!" Exposed in public, Jia Zhangshi could no longer maintain her facade. Between going to jail and losing money, she could only choose to lose money.

She shakily unbuckled her belt, turned her back, and tremblingly pulled out the cloth bag that still carried her body heat and a sour smell.

He counted out a hundred yuan and handed it to Su Zheng as if cutting off a piece of his own flesh.

"That's right."

Su Zheng took the money, didn't even glance at it, and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

Then, he took out a piece of paper and a pen and slapped them in front of Yi Zhonghai.

"Uncle, there's one more thing."

"You just said you would vouch for the Jia family and try to turn this into a neighborhood dispute. This makes me very unhappy."

"Since you're so eager to be a good person, let's settle that score from last time."

Su Zheng was referring to the old grievances that were brought up at the first plenary session.

"That thirty-eight yuan and fifty cents, plus the emotional distress caused today, and the hundred yuan from earlier was the compensation the Jia family paid for 'damaging public property.' This 'debt' hasn't been settled yet."

"Yi Zhonghai, since you just said the Jia family is in trouble, then you can advance this money first. Or you can sign an IOU guaranteeing that the Jia family will pay it back within three months. You'll be the guarantor; they can't run away from the debt."

Yi Zhonghai's face turned green.

This is putting him on the hot seat of the fire!

If he doesn't sign, his "selfless" persona will crumble; if he does sign, he'll most likely never get the money back and will have to pay for it himself.

"I..." Yi Zhonghai gritted his teeth, looking at the mocking looks from his neighbors. "Fine! I'll sign!"

In order to maintain his precarious authority in the courtyard, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and accept it.

With trembling hands, Yi Zhonghai signed his name on the IOU.

Everything has settled down.

The Jia family paid a huge sum of 100 yuan in compensation, and Bang Geng was given a major demerit (although he didn't go to the juvenile detention center, he had a criminal record at the street office and the police station, which would basically invalidate his future political review). He also had to write a 2,000-word self-criticism and read it aloud at a general meeting of the entire court.

Yi Zhonghai was burdened with a debt of several tens of yuan, and his prestige was completely destroyed.

The crowd dispersed.

Su Zheng held the thick stack of black 10s in his hand, in a great mood.

"Section Chief Wang, Director Wang, thank you for your hard work."

Su Zheng said with a smile, "I'm in a good mood today, so I'll go buy an old hen and make some soup to ward off bad luck. I'll treat you two to drinks another day!"

After saying that, he turned and walked out of the courtyard, leaving the Jia family with an extremely dashing back view.

Inside the Jia family's house, came Jia Zhangshi's wailing over the loss of money, and Qin Huairu's desperate sobs.

Meanwhile, Su Zheng had already begun planning to use this "windfall" to purchase some advanced equipment for his hyperspace laboratory.

This battle was a complete victory.