Courtyard House: Starting with handing over the keys, the state helps me abuse birds.

At 4:30 a.m., it was still pitch black.

Jia Zhangshi lay in bed, the cast on her right leg gleaming a ghastly white in the darkness. She stared wide-eyed, unable to fall asleep.

The leg pain was one thing, but the burning, stifling feeling in her heart was what truly kept her tossing and turning at night.

"You little bastard...you little beast..." she gritted her teeth, cursing under her breath. With each curse, the fire in her chest burned even brighter.

After being sent back from the hospital, she stayed at home like a lame dog, too afraid to even leave the house. The way her neighbors looked at her had changed from fear to...mockery.

Yes, mockery.

Jia Zhangshi could sense it.

She leaned on her cane, heading to the water tap in the middle courtyard to get some water. As she passed the front yard, the third aunt and several other women were sitting at the doorway picking vegetables. As soon as she appeared, the talking stopped, and everyone looked at her with strange eyes. After she walked past, suppressed chuckles immediately rose behind her.

"What are you looking at! A bunch of gossipy women!" she shouted as she turned around.

But no one responded; their gazes only grew more mocking.

Madam Jia was so angry that she trembled all over, but she dared not make a fuss anymore.

Back inside, she smashed two bowls, still not satisfied.

Now, lying in bed, I feel waves of pain in my legs, like needles pricking my bones.

The painkillers prescribed by the doctor have long been finished; the hospital only gave a three-day supply, saying, "If that's not enough, find your own way."

Where did she get her idea?

"It's all that little widow's fault..." Madam Jia gasped for breath, Xie Weihong's calm face flashing before her eyes.

On what grounds?

How dare an orphan, an outsider, hit her? How dare he break her legs? How dare he make her lose face like this in the courtyard?

The more Jia Zhangshi thought about it, the angrier she became, and the fire in her chest finally burned away her reason.

She sat up abruptly, the movement aggravating her injured leg, causing her to grimace in pain, but her eyes grew increasingly fierce.

"If you won't let me have an easy time, I won't let you have an easy time either!"

Just as dawn was breaking, around five o'clock, Jia Zhangshi struggled to get out of bed. She found the broken crutch the hospital had given her, and using it as a support, she limped to the door.

She pushed open the door, and the cold morning wind rushed in, making her shiver. But she didn't hesitate, gritting her teeth as she walked out.

As they passed through the courtyard, Qin Huairu's door opened a crack. The daughter-in-law peeked out, and seeing Jia Zhangshi's appearance, paused, then asked in surprise, "Mom, what's wrong...?"

"Mind your own business!" Madam Jia glared at her fiercely. "Go back to sleep!"

Qin Huairu opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't dare to say anything and shrank back into the room.

Jia Zhangshi continued to move towards the backyard.

Her target was Xie Weihong's room door.

As she reached the door, the light had brightened somewhat, revealing the peeling paint and the crack that Sha Zhu had kicked in. Jia Zhangshi stared at the door, took a deep breath, and then…

"Xie Weihong! Come out here!"

The sound was sharp and piercing, like a broken gong shattering the tranquility of the morning.

The lights in several houses in the backyard came on one after another. Someone opened a window to look out, saw it was Jia Zhangshi, and quickly closed it again.

Regardless of all that, Jia Zhangshi finally found an outlet for the anger she had been holding back for three days.

"You heartless bastard! You broke my legs, and you still have the nerve to sleep?!"

As she cursed, she pounded the ground with her cane, making a dull thud.

"I'm telling you, this isn't over! If you don't apologize and pay my medical bills, I'll die right here on your doorstep!"

There was no movement inside.

Jia Zhangshi became even more enthusiastic. She was all too familiar with this process.

Back in the day, whenever she made a scene like this in the hospital, regardless of whether she was right or wrong, the other party would always have to back down. Yi Zhonghai would step in to "uphold justice," and Liu Haizhong would chime in to support her. With everyone in the hospital watching, who would dare to disagree?

This is the prestige that Jia Zhangshi wields in the courtyard!

"Listen up, neighbors!" She raised her voice, turning towards the courtyard, "That little beast Xie Weihong broke into my house in the middle of the night and beat me! She broke my legs! Now she's pretending to be dead and won't come out!"

At that moment, the door to Yi Zhonghai's house opened.

Yi Zhonghai, leaning on his crutches, moved out with a pale face. His ribs were broken, and every step he took made him sweat with pain, but when he heard Jia Zhangshi's movements, he knew his chance had come.

"Sister-in-law Jia, what's wrong?" Yi Zhonghai feigned concern, "Your leg isn't healed yet, why are you out here?"

"How could I not come out?" Seeing Yi Zhonghai, Jia Zhangshi seemed to have found her pillar of support, and her voice grew even louder. "Old Yi, you be the judge! Xie Weihong beat me up like this, and didn't even apologize, let alone pay for my medical expenses! Is there no justice in this world?!"

Yi Zhonghai sneered inwardly, but his face wore an expression of "fairness": "Wei Hong... that child really went too far. No matter what, Sister-in-law Jia is an elder; how could she lay a hand on her?"

At this moment, Liu Haizhong also came out. His left leg was in a cast, but he was better off than Jia Zhangshi, at least he could hop on one leg.

"Exactly!" Liu Haizhong adopted a condescending tone, "Our facility has always been a civilized facility, emphasizing respect for the elderly and care for the young. Xie Weihong's behavior must be dealt with seriously!"

Yan Bugui also pushed open the door, his arm in a sling, and joined in: "The medical expenses definitely need to be paid. Jia's sister-in-law's leg injury is quite serious, and it might leave her with a chronic condition. The compensation can't be small."

The three of them chatted away, and quickly managed to liven up the atmosphere.

The neighbors in the front yard of the central courtyard were gradually awakened by the noise, and some came out to see what was going on, some even wearing clothes. Qin Huairu also came out, standing behind Jia Zhangshi, her head down and silent, but her eyes flickered.

As more and more people gathered, Jia Zhangshi became even more confident.

She turned to Xie Weihong's door, pointed at it with her cane, and her voice was so shrill it could pierce eardrums: "Xie Weihong! You coward! You have the guts to hit me, but not the guts to come out, huh?!"

"I'm telling you, if you don't come out and give me an explanation today, I'm not leaving!"

"Everyone, look! Look at this little beast with no parents, how he's bullying us orphans and widows!"

She kept hurling increasingly vile insults, calling him "a cursed star," "a jinx to his parents," and "a menace to the neighborhood"—the more vicious the better.

Yi Zhonghai listened from the side, nodding inwardly. Although Jia Zhangshi was vulgar, her tantrums and tantrums were indeed effective. With so many neighbors watching, if Xie Weihong didn't come out, her reputation would be ruined; if she did, she would face their onslaught.

No matter what, we can turn the tide today!

Liu Haizhong was also making plans. He was the second oldest man in the courtyard, in charge of "discipline." If Xie Weihong's crime of "beating an elder" was confirmed today, he could rightfully demand severe punishment, preferably being expelled from the courtyard.

Yan Bugui's thinking was more practical.

He was calculating how much medical expenses Jia Zhangshi should be compensated for, and how much of it he could get as "mediation fee." In the past, when there were conflicts in the courtyard, this third uncle had often done this kind of "helping to mediate and taking a cut" thing.

The three individuals each harbored their own ulterior motives, but shared the same goal.

They crushed Xie Weihong and regained control of the hospital.

More and more people gathered to watch.

Grandma Wang in the front yard muttered under her breath, "What is Jia Zhangshi up to now..."

"What else could it be? Money, of course." Her husband scoffed. "But Xie Weihong really went too far; look how badly she beat him."

"But they broke into someone else's house first," someone countered. "I heard that Yi Zhonghai led a group of men there in the middle of the night, and they even brought ropes."

"Really?"

"Who knows..."

The murmurs buzzed, but no one dared to speak loudly. Yi Zhonghai had been the eldest son of the household for over a decade, wielding considerable power. Liu Haizhong was the second eldest, and Yan Bugui the third. When these three joined forces, who in the courtyard dared to offend them?

When Jia Zhangshi saw that Xie Weihong still didn't come out, the anger in her heart flared up again.

She plopped down on the ground, carefully avoiding her injured leg, and began wailing, slapping her thigh: "My life is so miserable! My son died young, leaving us a widow and orphan, and now even outsiders dare to bully us!"

"Old Jia! Open your eyes and see! Look at how badly your wife has been bullied!"

"If you have any awareness in the afterlife, take this childless heir with you! Let him join you down there!"

Jia Zhangshi had practiced this soul-summoning technique for decades, and it was now a masterful skill. Her voice was shrill, her expression ferocious, and the accompanying thigh-slapping motion created a striking visual effect.

Qin Huairu stood to the side with her head down, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes. She knew her mother-in-law was putting on an act, but she dared not say anything. In this family, Jia Zhangshi was still the one who called the shots.

Yi Zhonghai sighed at the opportune moment: "Sister-in-law Jia, don't be like this... Wei Hong is still young, let's give him another chance."

"Give me any chance?!" Jia Zhangshi wailed even louder. "He already broke my legs! Is he going to beat me to death next time?!"

"Old Yi, you're the oldest man in this compound, you have to take care of this! If you don't, I'll go to the neighborhood committee! I'll go to the police station! I refuse to believe no one can handle him!"

These words were spoken to Xie Weihong, and also to all the neighbors.

See, we're in the right. The fact that we dared to go to the police station proves we haven't done anything wrong.

Yi Zhonghai sneered inwardly, but put on a troubled expression: "Well... Wei Hong is, after all, the daughter of a martyr, we have to take care of her..."

"Does being the child of a martyr give you the right to beat people up?!" Liu Haizhong retorted. "Old Yi, your thinking is wrong. Everyone is equal before the law; you can't make an exception just because he's the child of a martyr!"

"Exactly!" Yan Bugui chimed in. "We have to be reasonable. Hitting someone is wrong, but paying compensation is a matter of course!"

The three of them, working in unison, put Xie Weihong in a very difficult position.

The neighbors who had gathered around looked at each other in bewilderment. Some thought Jia Zhangshi deserved it, but dared not say so; some thought Xie Weihong had indeed gone too far; and many more were simply enjoying the spectacle.

Old Li, who lived in the east wing of the backyard, opened the window and said impatiently, "Can't a man get some sleep this early in the morning?"

Jia Zhangshi immediately turned her guns on her: "Sleep?! My legs have been broken, and you're still thinking about sleeping?! We're all neighbors, are you just going to watch me get bullied?!"

Old Li was speechless and slammed the window shut.

Jia Zhangshi gave a smug hum and continued her performance.

She cried, she wailed, she cursed, she slapped her thigh. Every word she uttered was an accusation of Xie Weihong's "crimes," and every word emphasized her own "pitiful" state.

Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui chimed in from the sidelines, sometimes "persuading" and sometimes "reasoning," making the scene quite lively.

In their view, Xie Weihong was destined to lose today.

An orphan without parents, with no one in the courtyard speaking up for him, and the three uncles joining forces to put pressure on him, how can he possibly turn his life around?

So what if he has brute strength? Can he beat up everyone in the hospital?

This is the prestige they have accumulated over more than a decade, not through force, but through this intangible network of personal connections, the power of discourse, and the pressure of public opinion.

They used this method to suppress the original owner for seventeen years before, and today, they will use this method to suppress Xie Weihong again.

As Jia Zhangshi grew more and more agitated, she even began to fantasize about what life would be like after receiving compensation—she would definitely demand a hefty sum for medical expenses, at least one hundred yuan. No, two hundred yuan! And there would be compensation for nutritional deficiencies, lost wages, and emotional distress…

Yi Zhonghai was plotting how to gradually acquire those two rooms after Xie Weihong yielded. Jia Zhangshi wanted money, and he wanted the rooms; each got what they wanted.

Liu Haizhong was thinking about how to use this opportunity to consolidate his authority as the "second uncle," and ideally, to get Yi Zhonghai to step down.

Yan Bugui calculated how much profit he could make from it, and also took the opportunity to settle the "debts" Xie Weihong had "owed" to the hospital in the past.

As the morning light grew brighter, more than twenty people gathered in the courtyard; almost everyone in the courtyard who was able-bodied had come.

The wailing of Jia Zhangshi, the "reasoning" of the Third Uncle, and the chatter of the neighbors mingled together, making this morning exceptionally noisy.

Everyone stared at the tightly closed door.

Wait for Xie Weihong to come out, bow his head, admit his mistake, and pay compensation.

In their view, this was the only possible outcome.