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

The cultural performance began in an eerie atmosphere.

The auditorium was brightly lit, red flags were waving, and stirring revolutionary songs echoed in every corner.

The performances on stage were wonderful and varied. There were model dramas written and directed by the workers themselves, with high-pitched singing and powerful movements; there were dances performed by young female workers, full of youthful energy and vitality; and there were traditional fast-paced storytelling performances by experienced workshop workers, which drew rounds of applause.

However, this atmosphere, which should have been lively and joyous, was as if covered by an invisible layer of thin ice, beneath which undercurrents surged.

Almost half of the audience members were distracted.

Everyone's gaze, intentionally or unintentionally, was drawn like iron filings attracted by a magnet, repeatedly glancing towards that special corner in the front row.

There, at the eye of the storm, sat.

He Yuanchao sat there calmly, as if nothing had happened.

His back was ramrod straight, his eyes calm and serene as he watched the performance on stage. At particularly exciting moments, he would even gently clap along with the crowd. His composure, unwavering even in the face of adversity, created a powerful aura that unconsciously imbued the prying, gloating, and worried gazes around him with a sense of awe and bewilderment.

Under his comforting words, He Yushui's emotions gradually stabilized.

But her red and swollen eyes from crying were still clearly visible, like two delicate peach petals. She sat close to He Yuanchao, almost hiding half of her body behind her brother's arms.

His small hand was held in his large, warm hand. The steady, strong warmth flowed through his palm, gradually dispelling the coldness and fear in her heart, giving her a great sense of security. She stopped trembling, only occasionally her nostrils twitched slightly from lingering fear.

On the other side, not far away, Xu Damao and Shazhu were on pins and needles.

Their positions were equally conspicuous, but the gazes directed at them were filled with disdain and a sense of anticipation.

The two men were restless, shifting their positions on the hardwood chairs, the slight creaking sound of which sounded like thunder to them.

While they reveled in the success of their plan, a morbid pleasure welled up within them as they watched He Yushui's aggrieved appearance. In their eyes, He Yuanchao's current calm was nothing more than the calm before the storm, a pretense, a desperate attempt to maintain the last shred of his pitiful dignity.

On the other hand, they felt uneasy about He Yuanchao's frighteningly calm attitude.

So calm!

Unreasonably calm!

Like a lion about to be hunted, instead of roaring and struggling, it lay there lazily, looking at the hunting dogs around with the eyes of someone looking at a dead man.

This unknown fear, like an invisible hand, gripped their hearts tightly.

Time passed by, and the performance on stage had progressed to the grand chorus.

The powerful strains of "We Workers Have Strength" brought the atmosphere to a climax.

Just as the singing was at its loudest and everyone's attention was drawn, Secretary Zhang from the factory office, leading two serious-looking officers in security uniforms, quietly entered through the side door of the auditorium.

Their leather shoes stomped on the cement floor without making a sound, like three cats moving in the night.

They walked through the crowd without alerting anyone and went straight to Xu Damao and Shazhu.

"Comrade Xu Damao, Comrade Shazhu, please come out with us for a moment. We need your assistance in investigating something."

Secretary Zhang's voice wasn't loud, it could even be said that he deliberately lowered it, but the unquestionable authority he exuded was like a cold steel needle, instantly piercing through all the two people's wishful thinking and smugness.

Several people nearby heard the commotion and looked on in surprise.

Xu Damao's face turned pale instantly, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

Sha Zhu's heart skipped a beat, and his burly body stiffened.

But under the watchful eyes of everyone, they dared not resist. They could only force themselves to remain calm, manage a smile that looked more like a grimace, stand up shakily, and follow them out.

Those few steps felt like walking on a mountain of knives and a sea of ​​fire; every step exhausted all their strength.

They were taken to an empty office backstage at the auditorium.

The office was simply furnished with a table, a few chairs, and a dim incandescent light overhead, which cast long shadows on everyone, making the room feel particularly oppressive.

The air was thick with a tense, almost frozen atmosphere.

In the office, besides Secretary Zhang and the two expressionless security officers, there was also an unexpected person—Lou Zhenhua!

The deputy factory director, who is in charge of the entire factory's production and technology, actually came in person!

He was sitting in the only armchair, his hands crossed on the table, his face ashen. The gold-rimmed glasses that usually made him look refined and scholarly now revealed a cold, tangible rage in his eyes behind the lenses.

Xu Damao and Shazhu's hearts sank to the bottom, as if they were tied to a huge boulder and falling straight into an endless abyss.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Lou Zhenhua spoke, his voice not loud, but like a block of ice hitting the ground, resounding and chilling.

"Director Lou... Director Lou... Why are you here..." Xu Damao's teeth started chattering, and he could barely speak.

"I'm asking you, what's going on!" Lou Zhenhua suddenly raised his voice.

"I...we..." Xu Damao stammered, his mind blank, and could only subconsciously try to explain himself using a pre-prepared excuse, "We just...we just discovered that Li Weidong and He Yushui were having an inappropriate relationship backstage, pulling and tugging at each other...it's having a really bad influence! We were just trying to maintain the factory's atmosphere..."

"Maintain social order?" Lou Zhenhua's lips curled into a cold smile, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. He slowly stood up and slammed his hand on the table!

"Bang!"

The loud noise startled Xu Damao and Shazhu, making them tremble.

"I see you as creating chaos! You are maliciously slandering us! You are openly undermining the stable and united situation in our factory!"

Lou Zhenhua's roar echoed in the small office, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

He pulled a stack of freshly developed black-and-white photos, still smelling of chemicals, from the file folder beside him and slammed them onto the table.

"Look for yourselves! Open your dog eyes and look! This is what you call 'ironclad evidence'!"

The photos were scattered on the table.

Xu Damao and Shazhu, like pardoned prisoners, rushed forward, but after just one glance, they were instantly dumbfounded!

In the photo, Li Weidong and He Yushui are indeed standing together, with messy props in the background.

However, the two maintained a normal social distance, at least one person's width apart.

Li Weidong's expression was flushed with excitement, mixed with a touch of youthful shyness, and he was clutching a letter in his hand.

He Yushui's expression was one of sudden surprise mixed with bewildered panic.

Looking at each photo one after another, not a single one showed any signs of "pulling and pulling" or "face to face"!

On the contrary, there are several photos, taken from an unknown angle, that clearly capture Xu Damao's sneaky and furtive appearance as he hides behind a pile of junk, secretly taking pictures with a camera!

There's another one with an "exquisite" composition, which perfectly captures the ferocious expression on Sha Zhu's face as he rushes out, raises his large, fan-like hand, and strikes He Yushui!

This is hardly evidence of "catching someone cheating"; it's clearly a record of their thievery and murder!

"This...how is this possible?!" Xu Damao screamed, his voice trembling. "This is impossible! I...I definitely didn't film it like this! It's absolutely not!"

"If it's not like this, then what is it like?"

A cold, indifferent voice came from the open doorway.

Everyone turned to look.

He Yuanchao had quietly arrived at the office door without anyone noticing.

He leaned against the doorframe, his expression indifferent, but in his hand he held a newer, smaller camera. The camera was entirely silver-black, gleaming with a precise metallic sheen under the light; it was clearly no ordinary camera.

His appearance was like a heavy hammer, completely shattering the last glimmer of hope in Xu Damao and Shazhu's hearts.

"This camera was a special award from the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions to recognize our project team's outstanding contributions. It's a 135 film camera with a German Leica lens, capable of continuous shooting." He Yuanchao's tone was as calm as if he were introducing a tool, but every word was like a knife, slowly torturing Xu Damao and Shazhu's nerves.

He slowly walked into the office, his gaze falling on the two men who had already turned deathly pale.

"Just as you raised your old, broken camera, thinking you were doing it undetected, Comrade Yan Jiefang from our institute had already filmed your every move from a more concealed angle, from your meeting to your split actions, and then to your coordinated actions."

He walked to the table, skillfully opened the back cover of the camera, took out the roll of film that had already been used, and handed it to a security officer next to him.

"Comrades, could you please also wash this? Let's see if there are any of the 'intimate' photos that Comrade Xu Damao mentioned, or if it's just a picture of him deliberately finding angles to frame someone."

Xu Damao and Shazhu's faces instantly turned ashen, devoid of any color!

Their bodies swayed, and they almost lost their balance.

Finished!

This time, it's completely over!

They never imagined that they would be... the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! They thought they were the hunters, but they didn't know that from the very beginning, they were already the prey in someone else's net!

……

Half an hour later felt like an eternity.

When the security officer returned with the second batch of developed photos, the whole truth was laid out on the table.

In He Yuanchao's film reels, the images are continuous and clear, like movie stills.

First picture: Xu Damao and Shazhu are whispering to each other in a corner, acting suspiciously.

Second picture: Xu Damao crouches down and hides in a pile of junk.

The third picture shows Sha Zhu and several canteen helpers waiting aggressively not far away.

Fourth picture: Li Weidong appears and shyly calls out to He Yushui.

……

The subsequent series of photos fully documented how Xu Damao painstakingly sought out tricky angles to take photos, how Sha Zhu seized the opportunity to lead people out to "catch the adulterers," and how the two of them shouted loudly in unison, distorting the truth and framing He Yushui and Li Weidong.

Xu Damao's own film reels contained only a few photos with tricky angles, blurry compositions, and no other information.

The so-called "ironclad evidence" became, in the face of another roll of film, irrefutable evidence of their own framing!

"Fine...fine! Xu Damao! Sha Zhu!" Lou Zhenhua's chest heaved violently, trembling with rage. He pointed at the two men slumped on the ground, his voice filled with overwhelming fury, "You two, how dare you! You ganged up on each other, using such despicable means to frame an innocent woman! To harm a key technical member of our factory's crucial project! Have you lost all your conscience?!"

"Director Lou...Director Lou...I was wrong...I was really wrong..." Xu Damao could no longer hold on, his mental defenses completely collapsed, and he knelt on the ground with a "thud," tears streaming down his face, wailing and crying, "It's all because of Sha Zhu! It's all that bastard's fault for forcing me to do this! He said he hated He Yuanchao, wanted to kill him, and wanted to take revenge on him by starting with his sister! I...I was just confused for a moment, and he used me! Director Lou, please forgive me!"

"Bullshit!" Sha Zhu, enraged that Xu Damao had shifted all the blame onto him, jumped up, pointed at Xu Damao's nose, and cursed, "Xu Damao, you spineless bastard! It was clearly your idea! You were the one who came to me saying you had a good way to deal with that He guy! You were the one who egged me on! You son of a bitch, and now you want to pin all the blame on me?! I'll tear you apart!"

As he spoke, he lunged at Xu Damao.

In front of the deputy factory director and the security department, the two put on an extremely ugly dog-eat-dog show, biting each other, revealing each other's shortcomings, and exposing all their dirtiest and most sordid thoughts.

Lou Zhenhua looked at the ugly scene before him, his eyes filled with deep disgust and disappointment.

He took a deep breath, mustered all his strength, and roared, "Enough!"

The voice was as cold as the wind in the dead of winter, instantly silencing the two clowns who were jumping around.

He turned to the head of the security department, who had remained silent: "Chief Li, the facts are clear. Xu Damao and He Yuzhu colluded maliciously, fabricated facts, and openly insulted and framed others. The circumstances are extremely serious, and the impact is extremely negative! This is no longer a simple personal grudge; it is disrupting the production order and the construction of ethical standards in our steel rolling mill! I suggest that this be reported to the factory committee for strict and severe punishment!"

Section Chief Li immediately stood at attention and nodded solemnly: "Director Lou, rest assured! We will definitely act in accordance with the law! We will not tolerate any wrongdoing!"

……

That evening, the factory's loudspeakers broadcast the decision regarding the handling of Xu Damao and He Yuzhu in connection with the incident.

The clear-voiced female announcer read out the crimes and punishments of the two men in a clear and resonant voice, which reached every corner of the factory and the ears of everyone in the courtyard.

Xu Damao, as the mastermind, was dismissed from the factory and will never be rehired due to false accusations, moral depravity, and lack of integrity.

Sha Zhu and He Yuzhu, as accomplices and having committed serious acts of assaulting others, are also to be dismissed from the factory!

At the same time, the factory publicly apologized to Comrades He Yushui and Li Weidong, who were unjustly harmed in this incident, and called on all factory employees to learn from them and resolutely resist this unhealthy trend.

This decision was like two thunderbolts, once again causing chaos and disorder in the courtyard.

Xu Damao and Shazhu, two "influential figures" who had fought and caused trouble in the courtyard for half their lives, were both completely brought down to the dust on the same day in the same disgraceful way!

The iron rice bowl is shattered.

His reputation is ruined.

The future is gone.

They were utterly disgraced and became the biggest joke in the entire steel rolling mill!

He Yuanchao, on the other hand, once again stood tall in this storm as a victor and protector who acted only after careful planning, who remained still until his actions were devastating.

His prestige in this courtyard has reached an unprecedented and unshakeable height.