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

The security department's interrogation room was located in the most remote corner of the factory area. It was originally an air-raid shelter, which was cold and damp.

Only a dim incandescent light bulb hung overhead, casting distorted and warped shadows.

Liu Haizhong was handcuffed to an iron chair, his whole body limp and slumped over.

His new Zhongshan suit, which he had specially worn to "climb the ranks," is now covered in dust and wrinkles.

Sitting opposite him was Section Chief Wang, and two other staff members responsible for taking notes.

"Speak," Section Chief Wang said, tapping the table in a cold, hard voice. "Who ordered you to do this? How exactly did you come up with that rejected draft?"

"I...I told you..."

Liu Haizhong cried, tears and snot streaming down his face. "I really found him... I really found him! I just wanted to be an official... I wanted to make a name for myself... I didn't know it was a secret!"

"Does wanting to become an official mean you can arbitrarily slander military experts?"

Section Chief Wang sneered, "Liu Haizhong, you're a veteran worker. You should know what the crime of leaking state secrets is. If that blueprint gets out and falls into the hands of enemy agents, our country's radar technology will be compromised! How many heads do you have to bear that responsibility?"

"I won't be beheaded... I won't beheaded..."

Liu Haizhong trembled with fear. "I'm guilty... I confess... I was blind... Please, please let me go..."

Section Chief Wang ignored him and turned to look at the other side of the one-way glass.

Su Zheng stood behind the glass, coldly watching this scene.

He doesn't need to pity Liu Haizhong.

Such people are more ruthless than wolves when they are in power, and more despicable than dogs when they lose power.

If it were Su Zheng who was being forced into the chair today, Liu Haizhong would not have shown the slightest leniency.

"Advisor Su," the accompanying officer asked in a low voice, "what do you think... we should do?"

Su Zheng didn't speak.

He is waiting.

Waiting for a result.

Section Chief Wang continued to exert pressure inside: "Deputy Factory Director Li has already given some information. He said that you were the one who approached him and said that Su Zheng had problems. Is that right?"

"He's talking nonsense! He's spouting rubbish!"

Liu Haizhong panicked, "He hinted at it! He wanted to get Su Zheng! I was just being used!"

Dogs fighting, a mouthful of fur.

This is exactly the effect Su wanted.

If they start attacking each other, no one will escape unscathed. Even if Deputy Factory Director Li doesn't go to jail this time, he'll be out of a job. As for Liu Haizhong…

"Alright." Su Zheng pushed open the door and went inside.

The air in the interrogation room froze instantly.

When Liu Haizhong looked up and saw Su Zheng, it was like seeing a lifeline, or like seeing a living Yama.

"Su...Su Zheng! Advisor Su!" Liu Haizhong tried desperately to lunge forward, but was pulled back by the handcuffs. "Say something for me! We're from the same hospital! I'm your great-uncle! I just acted foolishly...I didn't mean to kill you!"

"You didn't intend to kill me?"

Su Zheng walked up to him, looking down at him. "If that drawing wasn't a fake I made, but a real classified document, where would I be right now? At the execution ground, wouldn't I?"

Liu Haizhong's mouth was open, but he couldn't speak.

"Second Uncle".

Su Zheng's voice was very soft, "You want to be an official, that's fine. You want to climb the ladder, that's fine too. But you shouldn't climb over my bones."

You stepped on the wrong person.

Su Zheng turned to Section Chief Wang and said, "Handle it according to the confidentiality regulations. I won't interfere."

"yes!"

the next day.

The results are in.

Liu Haizhong was dismissed from all his posts, expelled from the factory, and sent to a farm for three years of labor reform for "stealing and concealing classified items and leaking them in public, causing a bad influence".

This was only because he was "unaware" and the "drawings were discarded," so he was given a lenient sentence.

If it were genuine blueprints, he'd be in serious trouble by now.

As for Deputy Factory Director Li, he was dismissed from his post and demoted to a workshop as an ordinary worker due to "serious negligence and causing a major political incident due to personal selfishness," and was placed on probation at the factory.

Xu Damao was sentenced to one year of re-education through labor because he was an "accomplice".

The world at Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill has changed.

When the news reached the courtyard, it was like an earthquake.

The second aunt sat in the courtyard, wailing and crying, "Old Liu! You heartless bastard! How are we, a widow and orphans, supposed to live?!"

The Liu family's sons, who usually acted arrogantly and domineeringly because of their father's power, are now all cowering in their rooms, afraid to show their faces.

Everyone in the hospital came out and formed a circle, but no one dared to step forward and persuade them.

Who dares?

He was imprisoned because he "offended Su Zheng".

Yi Zhonghai stood in the crowd, his face as black as the bottom of a pot. He looked at Su Zheng's tightly closed door and felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

It's too cruel.

That's absolutely amazing.

Without making a sound, he took care of an old man, a deputy factory director, and Xu Damao.

Is this still the same Su Zheng who used to be completely at their mercy?

Just then, Su Zheng returned pushing his bicycle.

He was wearing work clothes and looked perfectly normal, as if nothing had happened.

Upon seeing Su Zheng, the second aunt rushed over as if she had gone mad and knelt down in front of Su Zheng with a thud.

"Su Zheng! Su Zheng, please have mercy! Let Lao Liu go! He knows he was wrong! I don't ask for anything else, just don't send him to a labor camp, okay? His body can't take it!"

The second aunt hugged Su Zheng's legs and cried her heart out.

The neighbors all looked at Su Zheng.

Some felt sympathy, some were afraid, and some thought Su Zheng might soften his stance. After all, they lived in the same courtyard.

Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but take a step forward: "Su Zheng, look at this..."

He wanted to say, "Forgive others when you can."

Su Zheng stopped and looked down at his second aunt.

His eyes remained completely still.

"Second Aunt".

Su Zheng spoke up, "When Liu Haizhong was on stage holding up the blueprints, calling me a spy and trying to kill me, did you ever think about letting me go?"

The second aunt was stunned.

"Back then, were you waiting at home for him to become an official so you could enjoy the good life with him?"

Su Zheng pulled his leg out, the movement was light but resolute.

"Now that he's lost, you're begging me to let him go. What kind of bet in this world only has winners and no losers?"

"This is the law of the land. It's not my personal punishment. It's no use begging me; you should seek justice from the law."

After saying that, Su Zheng pushed the cart into the house.

Yi Zhonghai's words were stuck in his throat, and he swallowed them back down.

As he watched Su Zheng's retreating figure, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness for the first time.

He was able to use moral blackmail against Su Zheng in the past because Su Zheng still cared about the "relationship" within the compound.

Now?

Su Zheng didn't care at all.

Standing at that height, he looked down on the people in this courtyard as if they were ants. What kind of sentiment can you expect from ants?

The entire hospital was silent, as if trembling with fear.

Behind the window of the Jia family's house, Qin Huairu tightly covered her mouth, trying not to cry out.

She is afraid.

She feared the Jia family would be next. After all, the Jia family had wronged Su Zheng quite a bit in the past.

As for Sha Zhu, he had been completely demoralized ever since he was held at gunpoint last time. Seeing Liu Haizhong's fate today, he was so frightened that he didn't even dare to drink, and instead hid in his room pretending to be dead.

Late at night.

Su was sitting under the lamp in the room, writing a new business plan.

Feasibility report on tank engine improvement.

Outside the window, the second aunt's crying gradually weakened, eventually turning into suppressed sobs.

Su Zheng didn't even close the window.

The crying wasn't noise to him; it was background music.

It is the lament of the collapse of the old order.

It is also the clarion call of a new era.

He picked up his pen and wrote a line heavily on the paper:

"It's all cleaned up, time to get down to business."