Courtyard House: Starting by inheriting the tradition and suppressing the barbarians.

"Pat! Pat!"

One by one, the lights in each household in the courtyard came on.

Immediately following were the sounds of clothes being put on, doors opening, and hurried footsteps.

"Where? Where's the thief?"

"Judging from the voices, it's the Li family from the backyard!"

"Quick! Grab your weapons! Don't let the thief get away!"

The third uncle of the front yard, Yan Bugui, wearing an overcoat and holding a flashlight, rushed to the front.

Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong from the Intermediate People's Court, along with Jia Dongxu who heard the commotion, all rushed over in a panic.

Sha Zhu, carrying a rolling pin, led the way, shouting, "Who dares to steal!"

Less than a minute.

The entrance to the cellar in the backyard was completely surrounded by more than a dozen people.

The beams of several flashlights intertwined, illuminating the crime scene as bright as day.

Li Xuan stood to the side with his arms crossed and a cold smile on his face.

On the ground, Qin Huairu was kneeling in the mud, clutching the half-sack of rice tightly in her hand.

Two large cabbages lay scattered nearby, and the wire used to pick the lock also lay to the side, glaringly obvious under the light.

The perpetrator was caught red-handed!

"Qin...Qin Huairu?"

Yan Bugui pushed up his glasses, his jaw nearly dropping in surprise. "It's you?"

The entire neighborhood was in an uproar!

Who would have thought that Qin Huairu, who usually loved to take advantage of others but was still quite decent, would actually commit theft in the middle of the night?

"Sister Qin? This...this must be a misunderstanding?"

Sha Zhu's rolling pin drooped, his face filled with disbelief.

"Misunderstand?"

Li Xuan snorted coldly and kicked the wire on the ground.

"Prying open the lock, entering the cellar, loading grain—if this is a misunderstanding, then it's a really deep one."

He looked around and said, "Everyone in the neighborhood, please see clearly!"

"This is our neighborhood's model daughter-in-law!"

"In the middle of the night, instead of sleeping, they used a wire to pry open my cellar and steal my grain!"

"If I hadn't discovered it early, she probably would have taken all of our winter food supplies!"

"I...I didn't!"

Qin Huairu trembled all over, tears streaming down her face.

She looked up at Yi Zhonghai and Sha Zhu in the crowd, "An old man... Zhu Zi..."

"I'm not stealing, I'm just borrowing it temporarily."

"The piglet was crying from hunger... We're really starving!"

"I wanted to borrow some food from Xiao Xuan, but I was afraid he wouldn't agree, so..."

"borrow?"

Li Xuan interrupted her performance abruptly, his voice rising eight octaves, "Qin Huairu, your method of borrowing is quite unique!"

"Taking without asking is theft! Breaking into a house by picking the lock is an even greater crime!"

"You say your family is struggling? Who in our compound isn't struggling?"

"If everyone acted like you, what would be the point of having laws?"

"What's the point of having police?"

Upon hearing the word "public security," Qin Huairu trembled violently and nearly fainted.

Jia Dongxu hid behind the crowd, his face ashen, wishing he could disappear into the ground.

Shame!

What a shame!

Jia Dongxu has completely lost face today because of this spendthrift woman!

Yi Zhonghai felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the scene unfold.

This is a serious theft!

If the police are called, Qin Huairu will definitely go to jail, and the Jia family will be completely finished.

His retirement plans have fallen through!

So he quickly stepped forward, his face stern, and shouted, "Nonsense! This is utter nonsense!"

Yi Zhonghai glared fiercely at Qin Huairu.

Then she turned to Li Xuan and softened her tone: "Xiao Xuan, Huai Ru was indeed in the wrong in this matter."

"But you see, she was just confused for the sake of the child."

"And nothing was lost, it's all here."

"It's the Lunar New Year, if the police are called, the child will lose his mother, how pitiful."

"Let's resolve matters within our compound."

"Have her put her things down, apologize, and that'll be the end of it, okay?"

"never mind?"

Li Xuan laughed, a laugh that sent chills down one's spine.

"Uncle, your skill in mediating disputes is truly masterful."

"You think you can just get away with pickpocketing and theft with a simple 'moment of confusion'?"

"If I don't pursue this today, will anyone be able to break into my house tomorrow?"

"If you get caught, you just have to apologize; if you don't get caught, you've already won, right?"

"If word gets out, we might as well rename this place a den of thieves!"

"You!" Yi Zhonghai was speechless, choked with embarrassment.

"So what do you want?"

Sha Zhu couldn't help but speak up, "Sister Qin is already like this, are you still going to force her to her death?"

"Did you force her to her death?"

Li Xuan pointed at Qin Huairu on the ground, "She's shameless!"

"You don't have to go to jail!"

He spoke coldly, "First, write a letter of repentance! Read it aloud in front of the entire ward! Admit that you are a thief!"

"Then, post this letter of repentance at the gate of the courtyard as a public display for three days!"

"Secondly, compensate me for the damage to my door lock and for emotional distress, a total of twenty yuan!"

"If one thing is missing, I'll go to the police station to find Captain Xu right now!"

"What? You have to write a letter of repentance and post it on the door?"

Qin Huairu's face was ashen.

This is worse than killing her!

If this gets posted out, how will she ever face anyone again?

The whole alley knows she's a thief!

"Xiao Xuan...can we not put it on..." Qin Huairu pleaded.

"Looks like you want to go to jail." Li Xuan made a move to walk out.

"Let's write! Let's write!"

Jia Dongxu, who had been hiding in the back, finally couldn't hold back any longer. He rushed out and kicked Qin Huairu, knocking her to the ground.

"You shameful piece of trash! Hurry up and write it!"

"Are you trying to get me and Bang Geng killed?!"

Jia Dongxu just wants to get this matter settled as soon as possible.

Even if it's embarrassing, it's better than having a wife who's in jail!

Qin Huairu clutched her kicked shoulder and looked at her husband's ferocious face.

Looking at the disdainful and mocking gazes of my neighbors, I felt as if my heart was being torn apart.

She knew she was finished.

The pitiful Sister Qin from before is now a thief that everyone hates!

Surrounded by everyone in the hospital, Qin Huairu, with trembling hands and tears in her eyes, wrote a letter of repentance and read it aloud in front of everyone.

Each word I read felt like a slap across her face.

"I, Qin Huairu... acted on a moment of greed... and stole grain from Li Xuan's house..."

"I'm a thief... I have no shame..."

After she finished reading, she felt as if all her bones had been removed, and she collapsed to the ground.

With a dark expression, Jia Dongxu pulled out the few dollars he had saved up over the past few days, along with some money he had borrowed from Yi Zhonghai.

Then, he slammed it hard in front of Li Xuan.

"Here's the money! Is this all over?"

After saying that, he didn't even glance at Qin Huairu on the ground, and turned to leave.

Li Xuan picked up the money, blew off the dust, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, everyone, you can all leave now."

"From now on, I'll be more vigilant when I sleep, guarding against fire, theft, and Qin Huairu!"

The crowd dispersed, leaving Qin Huairu alone, shivering in the cold wind.

In the end, Sha Zhu couldn't bear to watch any longer, sighed, and tried to help her up, but Qin Huairu pushed him away.

She staggered to her feet and returned to the central courtyard like a walking corpse.

......

The Jia family.

As soon as Qin Huairu entered the door, she was not greeted with comfort.

Instead, it was a broom flying straight at you.

"Snapped!"

It hit her right on the forehead, instantly raising a large bump.

"You useless piece of trash! You jinx!"

Sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), Jia Zhangshi pointed at Qin Huairu and cursed, "I told you to go and get something, but you couldn't even bring it back!"

"And we got caught red-handed!"

"They've completely disgraced the Jia family!"

"You still owe me twenty dollars! That's twenty dollars! Why don't you just die?!"

As Jia Zhangshi cursed, she grew angrier and angrier. She jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) and grabbed Qin Huairu's hair, tearing at it violently.

The slaps kept hitting her face.

"I'll beat you to death, you spendthrift woman!"

"You can't even steal properly! You're as stupid as a pig!"

"Mom...please stop hitting me...I was wrong..."

"Please forgive me this time, for the sake of our unborn child."

Qin Huairu curled up on the ground, covering her head, and cried her heart out.

She stole things for her family and for her children.

When the incident happened, no one felt sorry for her; instead, they all scolded and beat her.

Jia Dongxu sat to the side, smoking silently, seemingly oblivious to the situation.

They even felt that he had done a good job, because only in this way could they vent their anger!

backyard.

Standing by the window, Li Xuan could clearly see the dog-eat-dog drama unfolding in the Jia family through his spiritual power, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"You can't even handle this?"

"Qin Huairu, this is just the first interest you're paying for your greed."

"As for the principal... we'll calculate it slowly."

......