Courtyard House: I fish in the heavens, a professional bird abuser.

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the stalks on the ground and Jia Zhangshi, before bracing himself to continue his fabrication: "As for the chicken bones... well... after I ate the chicken, I felt there wasn't much meat left in the carcass, and it would be a waste to throw it away, so... I just gave them to the stalks!"

Let him take it home and chew on it!

Who knew this kid was so greedy that he buried the bones in the stove!

This has nothing to do with the stick!

"It has nothing to do with Aunt Jia! It was all my doing, Sha Zhu! Xu Damao, you want to pay me back, right? Fine! I'll pay you! It's just one chicken, right? I'll give you two! Is that alright?"

He patted his chest, adopting an attitude of "I'm rich and I'm righteous," trying to smooth things over with money.

Looking at Sha Zhu's "imposing" back and listening to his words about taking all the blame for his son, Qin Huairu's tears flowed like a burst dam.

This time, the tears were not tears of despair, but tears filled with gratitude, guilt, and a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe.

She looked at Sha Zhu and nodded vigorously, silently conveying her gratitude.

Madam Jia was so excited she almost jumped up. She scrambled to her feet, not even bothering to brush the dust off her clothes, and immediately echoed in a shrill voice, her tone resolute:

"Yes, yes, yes! Sha Zhu is right! It was Sha Zhu who gave it to my Bang Geng! He gave my leftover chicken carcass to him!"

My wife can testify! It was Sha Zhu who stole the chicken! It has absolutely nothing to do with our Bang Geng!

Bang Geng just picked up some bones that people didn't want and gnawed on them. What does he know about stealing chickens? It was all that idiot Zhu's doing! Xu Damao, if you want compensation, go find Zhu! Go find him!

At this moment, she wished she could pin all the blame on Sha Zhu and absolve her grandson of all responsibility.

Seeing this unexpected turn of events, Yi Zhonghai's mind immediately became active!

Although he knew that Sha Zhu was probably taking the blame, this was the best way out for him right now!

This would both protect Banggeng and the Jia family, thus preserving the last bit of face for Yi Zhonghai, and also quell the storm that He Yuanchao had just stirred up against him and the steward's authority!

As long as the blame is pinned on Sha Zhu and some money is paid to Xu Damao, this matter can be covered up!

As for Sha Zhu...

Anyway, he's a scoundrel with a bad reputation, so it doesn't matter if he gets accused of stealing chickens!

Yi Zhonghai can make up for it and appease Sha Zhu privately later!

Thinking of this, Yi Zhonghai immediately straightened his back, his face regaining its composed demeanor befitting someone in charge of the overall situation. He coughed heavily, drawing everyone's attention:

"Ahem! Quiet everyone! Did you all hear that? It was all a misunderstanding! It was just that Sha Zhu was confused and stole Comrade Xu Damao's chicken!"

As for giving Bang Geng chicken bones, well... that was just Sha Zhu's good intentions gone wrong. He didn't think things through, and Bang Geng got dragged into it, made a scapegoat, and was frightened!

He looked sternly at Sha Zhu, with a sense of disappointment and frustration.

Heartbreaking:

"Zhu Zi! You're so foolish!"

How could you do such a thing? Stealing is a serious mistake! You must reflect deeply on this!

He then looked at Xu Damao, his tone softening, with a hint of appeasement: "Damao, look, the truth is out now. It was Shazhu who did it. He's willing to admit his mistake and is willing to compensate."

I think it's like this: since it's a laying hen, it's quite valuable, so let Sha Zhu compensate you for the price of two chickens!

Let's just let this go, okay? We're neighbors, we see each other all the time, it's not good to make things too tense.

In just a few words, he tried to characterize the heinous theft and frame-up case as "a moment of confusion" on Sha Zhu's part.

They stole chickens, and then easily covered it up with "the money for two chickens".

As for Bang Geng's framing and Jia Zhangshi's instigation, they were simply glossed over with words like "misunderstanding," "being implicated," and "taking the blame," as if they never happened.

Xu Damao was still clutching the pile of chicken bones in his hand, looking at Sha Zhu's stubborn neck and then at Yi Zhonghai's obviously biased and conciliatory attitude.

Although she felt incredibly aggrieved and wished she could send Banggeng and Jia Zhangshi to jail as well, the thought of receiving double compensation made her...

With Yi Zhonghai's "face" and Sha Zhu, that stubborn idiot, standing in front of him, the scales in his heart began to tip.

He gritted his teeth, forcing a show of "reluctant acceptance" and resentment onto his face: "Hmph! You idiot Zhu! You've got some backbone after all! Two chickens! If you lose even a fraction, I'm not finished with you!"

Upon hearing this, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu were overjoyed!

My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, is finally mostly at ease!

The stick is alright!

As long as Sha Zhu holds on, losing a little money will be enough!

Banggeng collapsed to the ground, ceasing his sobs. He secretly lifted his tear-streaked and filthy face, and looked at Shazhu with a gaze that, for the first time, lacked his usual disdain. Instead, it carried a hint of relief at surviving a disaster and... dependence?

Yi Zhonghai breathed a sigh of relief, a look of ease on his face as if he had "resolved the problem." He was about to give his final "concluding remarks" to put an end to this farce—"Heh."

A very soft, cold laugh, filled with endless sarcasm and mockery, like an ice bead falling to the ground, clearly interrupted Yi Zhonghai's carefully prepared words.

All eyes were instantly drawn to the sneer, focusing on the figure who had been standing on the edge of the storm, observing coldly—He Yuanchao.

He Yuanchao slowly walked out of the shadows and into the center of the courtyard. The dim light fell on his angular face, making his deep eyes look like a cold pool.

A cold smile played on his lips.

His gaze, like a scalpel, slowly swept over the smug Jia Zhangshi, the survivor Banggeng, the tearful but grateful Qin Huairu, the stubborn Shazhu pretending to be a hero, and Yi Zhonghai, who had just breathed a sigh of relief and was ready to "uphold justice".

His gaze finally settled on Yi Zhonghai's old face, which was trying to appear calm. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling and mocking quality that pierced the soul, clearly echoing in the deathly silent courtyard:

"Old man, are you blind, mentally blind, and have water in your brain?"

"You... He Yuanchao! How dare you!"

Yi Zhonghai was so enraged by this blatant insult that he trembled all over.

He Yuanchao completely ignored his roar, the mockery at the corner of his mouth almost tangible. He extended a finger and slowly pointed at Sha Zhu, who had a "I admit defeat" look on his face, and then pointed at the slumped stick on the ground:

"Bang Geng confessed to stealing chickens and framing the suspect. The evidence, including chicken bones buried in the Jia family's stove, is irrefutable and irrefutable!"

So, you, Steward Yi, think you can just dismiss the main culprit, Bang Geng, with a casual "misunderstanding" and make that idiot Sha Zhu take the fall?

His tone suddenly shifted, becoming sharp as an ice-cold blade, piercing straight at Sha Zhu:

"Silly Zhu, before you took the blame, did you forget to wipe your own ass clean?"

Sha Zhu felt a sudden unease under his gaze, and roared, his bravado masking his fear: "What ass do I have to clean up? I'm the one who stole the chicken!"

I admit defeat!

"Oh? Is that so?"

He Yuanchao chuckled softly, a smile filled with a knowing and cruel understanding that seemed to see through everything. "Then tell me..."

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze as cold as solid ice, locking onto Sha Zhu's suddenly contracting pupils, each word booming like thunder:

"You fell into the factory's latrine this afternoon and had to be personally escorted back by the security guards and your coworkers. The stench was so strong that everyone in the courtyard had to walk around you."

"This 'patient' spent the whole afternoon lying in the room like a corpse, and even had his dinner brought in by Qin Huairu..."

"Tell me, when and with which hand not covered in manure did you steal Xu Damao's lively, egg-laying hen in the backyard?!"

"Where did you get the strength and appetite to gnaw a whole chicken down to just the skeleton, and then 'kindly' offer it to Bang Geng to gnaw on the bones?!"

"Silly Zhu, you fell into a cesspool, not Laozi's alchemy furnace! What? Did falling into a cesspool somehow open your meridians and teach you the art of creating clones?!"

boom!!!

He Yuanchao's words were like three thunderbolts from the heavens, each one more powerful and more precise than the last, striking Sha Zhu hard on the top of his head!

The "heroic" and "stubborn" expressions on Sha Zhu's face froze and shattered instantly!

His mouth gaped open, his eyes widened, and his face turned from red to white, then from white to green, and finally to a deathly ashen color!

It was as if all the blood had been drained away in an instant!

He...he forgot!

He was so caught up in his passion to save Banggeng and to show off his heroism in front of Sister Qin that he completely forgot about falling into the cesspool!

Yes!

He lay in the house all afternoon!

It stinks!

The whole hospital knows!

How could he possibly be in two places at once to steal a chicken? How could he possibly still have the appetite to finish a whole chicken?

Huge vulnerability!

A fatal flaw!

The ease on Yi Zhonghai's face vanished instantly, replaced by extreme shock and panic!

broken!

Despite all our careful planning, we forgot about this crucial time gap!

The gratitude and hope in Qin Huairu's eyes were instantly replaced by immense terror!

Seeing Sha Zhu's thunderstruck and dejected appearance, her heart sank to the bottom!

Finished!

Sha Zhu... Sha Zhu can't hold on any longer!

The ecstasy and scheming on Jia Zhangshi's face froze completely, as if she had put on a clumsy mask, her triangular eyes filled with disbelief and despair!

She glared at Sha Zhu, her eyes filled with venom: This idiot!

They can't even cover up a lie properly!

Bang Geng was so frightened that his whole body trembled, and the tears he had just stopped flowing surged out again. The immense fear made him unable to even cry out, and all that was left was his body trembling uncontrollably.

Xu Damao suddenly realized, "That's right!"

That idiot Zhu fell into the latrine this afternoon!

It stinks like it was pulled out of a latrine!

How could he possibly steal chickens? He pointed at Sha Zhu, so angry he was incoherent: "Sha Zhu! You...you fucking...you're playing me?!"

The entire courtyard fell into a deathly silence once again!

It was more deathly silent than ever before!

All eyes were fixed on Sha Zhu, whose face was ashen and who was swaying precariously, filled with contempt, anger, and a coldness that knew the deception had been exposed.

In this suffocating silence, He Yuanchao's voice rang out again, like a judgment from the deepest hell, cold and devoid of any warmth:

"Silly Zhu, for the sake of a thief with dirty hands who framed someone, you jumped out to take the blame, confused the public, gave false testimony, and protected the real culprit..."

He Yuanchao's gaze was like two cold searchlights, fixed on Sha Zhu's face, which had instantly lost all color. The mocking curve at the corner of his mouth deepened, carrying a cruelty that pierced through people's hearts.

"You know, the crime of harboring theft, especially theft involving a large sum of money and egregious circumstances, also involves aggravating circumstances such as framing someone..."

His voice suddenly rose, like a thunderclap in Sha Zhu's ears:

"How many years will he be sentenced to?!"

"boom!"

Sha Zhu felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, freezing him instantly!

His mind was buzzing, completely blank!

How many years in prison?!

These three words were like a heavy hammer, shattering all his "heroic spirit" and self-pity about "sacrificing for Sister Qin"!

He may be a bit simple-minded or reckless, but he's not stupid!

He knew what "going to jail" meant! It meant his life was completely over!

I'm definitely out of work!

His reputation is completely ruined!

Forget about getting married, nobody even wants to sweep the streets after I leave home!

Sister Qin...would Sister Qin still be interested in a convict who has been to prison?

An overwhelming fear, like a cold, venomous snake, instantly coiled around his heart, leaving him feeling cold all over and powerless in every limb.

His face, which had been flushed with excitement and anger, was now deathly pale with large beads of sweat!

He opened his mouth, making strange "hoarse" sounds in his throat, but couldn't utter a single word, and his body swayed slightly uncontrollably.

Looking at Sha Zhu's distraught and terrified appearance, He Yuanchao felt no pity, only cold indifference.

He stopped looking at Sha Zhu and slowly swept his gaze over the pale-faced Jia Zhangshi, the trembling Bang Geng, and the despairing Qin Huairu, finally landing on Yi Zhonghai's face, which was ashen and whose eyes were darting around in panic.

"It seems that we can't rely on certain blind and ignorant people who can't distinguish right from wrong to uphold justice."

He Yuanchao's voice was calm and even, yet it carried a chilling undertone.

Under the horrified, bewildered, and incredulous gazes of everyone, He Yuanchao slowly turned around, took long strides, and walked straight towards the old-fashioned public telephone hanging on the wall in the direction of the hanging flower gate in the middle courtyard!

His steps were steady and firm, his leather shoes making a clear, cold "tap, tap" sound on the bluestone slabs.

In this deathly silent courtyard, it was like a death knell tolling, striking heavily on everyone's heart, again and again!

He Yuanchao stopped in his tracks as he walked toward the telephone.

Without the slightest hesitation, he extended his well-defined, steady, and powerful hand and picked up the heavy microphone.

Then, in the suffocating silence of the entire courtyard, where you could hear a pin drop, and under the horrified and desperate gazes of dozens of people in the courtyard, his slender fingers steadily and precisely pressed onto the cold dial of the telephone!

"Click..."

The crisp sound of the first dial turning was like a thunderclap, exploding in everyone's ears!

"What are you doing?! He Yuanchao!!!"

Sha Zhu panicked!

Shout it out loud!!