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

He was wearing a faded old military uniform, with a gentle smile on his face.

"I was planning to bring it to you later," Xie Weihong said, her tone as sincere as if she were chatting with an elder. "I didn't expect you to be in such a hurry and come to pick it up yourself."

Yan Bugui opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He looked towards the door.

Yi Zhonghai lay motionless beside the moon gate. The bandages wrapped around his chest had come undone, and his deathly pale face was devoid of color; it was unclear whether he had fainted or was dead.

It’s over.

The last shred of hope in Yan Bugui's mind completely collapsed.

Xie Weihong walked into the room, looked down at the mess it had been ransacked, then looked at Yan Bugui, her tone tinged with helplessness: "Teacher Yan, the way you look for things isn't very polite."

Yan Bugui finally managed to squeeze out a sound.

The voice was hoarse and broken, like a leaky bellows, like the groan of a dying man.

"Where's the money?"

He stared at Xie Weihong, his eyes bloodshot.

"Where's my money?"

Xie Weihong did not answer.

Yan Bugui suddenly lunged forward. He gripped Xie Weihong's sleeve tightly with his hands, which were swollen like carrots, his nails digging into the fabric, and he was practically hanging on Xie Weihong's body.

"Give it back! That's mine! I've saved it up for twenty years! Give it back to me!"

As he shouted, his voice began to tremble with sobs.

Xie Weihong looked down at him.

His eyes were as calm as a deep pool, without any ripples.

"your?"

Yan Bugui nodded frantically, "Mine! Mine!"

Xie Weihong gently pulled her hand away from his and took a step back.

"Teacher Yan, don't you know where that money came from?"

Yan Bugui trembled all over.

"You manipulated the accounts to cover up public funds, schemed against your neighbors to embezzle their money, and helped Yi Zhonghai resell planned supplies for hush money..." Xie Weihong spoke each word as if reciting a verdict, "Which of these bills is yours? Which one isn't stained with other people's blood and sweat?"

Yan Bugui's face was ashen.

"How...how did you know...?"

"I know more than you think." Xie Weihong walked to the window, her back to him. "Teacher Yan, what do you think I took your money for? To hand it over to the country to pay off your debts. Those people you cheated, those public officials you schemed against, those people who went hungry because you helped Yi Zhonghai falsify accounts—this money originally belonged to them."

Yan Bugui opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He lowered his head and looked at the brocade banner on the ground.

The money is gone.

Everything is gone.

He painstakingly saved up for twenty years, schemed for twenty years, and worked against his conscience for twenty years, and in the end, all he had left were two brocade banners.

"what……"

Yan Bugui let out a low whimper.

He slowly squatted down, picked up a brocade banner, and held it in his arms as if it were some rare treasure.

"Mine..." he murmured, his voice as soft as a dream, "This is mine..."

Suddenly, he smiled.

"hehe."

A very soft laugh.

Then the laughter grew louder and sharper.

"Hehehe... Hahahaha!"

He stood up, holding the banner, and spun around in place. As he spun, he laughed, the banner fluttering in his arms like two red flags.

"Honesty in returning lost property! Hahahaha! I returned lost property! I'm a role model! Hahahaha!"

He spun around, then stumbled and fell to the ground. But he was still laughing. He lay there, face pressed against the dirt, shoulders trembling violently. Laughter turned into sobs, sobs back into laughter, until finally it was impossible to tell whether he was laughing or crying.

He turned over, looked up at the sky, and held the two brocade banners in front of his eyes, gazing at the sun.

"So beautiful...hehe...so beautiful..."

He covered his face with the banner, then suddenly pulled it off, like a child who had just received a new toy.

"Do you have one too?" He suddenly turned to Xie Weihong, his eyes vacant. "Are you here to receive a banner as well? Line up, you have to line up..."

Xie Weihong looked at him quietly.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Duan Chengyi and his men rushed over.

"Wei Hong, what happened? Yi Zhonghai has fainted at the Moon Gate."

He was halfway through his sentence when he saw the scene inside the room and froze.

The room was a mess. In the center of the room, Yan Bugui lay on his back, hugging two brocade banners, crying and laughing, muttering words that no one could understand.

"he……"

"He's gone mad," Xie Weihong said calmly.

Duan Chengyi gasped.

He had seen crazy people before, but never anyone this crazy. One second he was laughing, the next he was suddenly wailing; after a few sobs he started laughing again, and as he laughed, he held the banner up to his eyes, looking at it in the sun as if he were looking in a mirror.

"Money...hehe...so much money..." Yan Bugui muttered, then suddenly his face changed, and he looked around in terror. "Where's the money? Where's my money? Who stole my money?"

He sat bolt upright, glaring at Xie Weihong with a murderous look in his eyes: "It was you! You stole my money! Give it back!"

But the next second, he laughed again, grinning as he leaned closer: "Just kidding, I know you're here to collect the banner. Here, take one."

He tried to shove a brocade banner at Xie Weihong, but after a couple of attempts, he couldn't get it to go, so he just kept it to himself, chuckling to himself.

Duan Chengyi gave a wink. Two plainclothes officers stepped forward and carefully lifted Yan Bugui up.

He did not resist. He simply held the two banners tightly, as if they were the most precious treasures in the world.

Plainclothes officers helped him walk out. When they reached the door, Yan Bugui suddenly turned around and glanced at Xie Weihong.

His eyes were empty, devoid of anything. There was no hatred, no fear, no pleading, no emotion whatsoever.

It's like looking at a stranger.

Then he laughed, a very happy and pure laugh, like an innocent child.

"A banner...hehe...my banner..."

He was carried out of the courtyard, and his voice gradually faded into the distance.

The courtyard fell silent.

Duan Chengyi watched his retreating figure and shook his head: "He's really gone mad."

Xie Weihong remained silent.

He walked to the window and looked at the rising sun on the horizon. Golden sunlight filled the courtyard, bathing everything in a warm hue.

[Ding! The ninth-tier demon "Iron Abacus Spirit" has been detected to have suffered a complete mental breakdown!]

[Target state: mania, mental confusion, loss of language function, complete collapse of the cognitive system]

[Judgment: The host has successfully delivered the ultimate psychological blow to the "Iron Abacus Master," a devastating psychological attack.]

[Damage level assessment in progress...]

[Assessment complete: SSS rank! Soul-level destruction!]

[Reward calculation in progress...]

[Received: 500 Corrosion Crystals]

[Received: Body Tempering Elixir × 50]

[Obtained: Celestial Array Formation (Complete Inheritance)]

[Acquired: Special technology, deep mineral electromagnetic exploration and efficient mining technology (complete industrial system)]

[Technology Description: This technology includes a complete solution encompassing the design of a geomagnetic exploration instrument, a 3D imaging algorithm for ore bodies, low-loss mining techniques, and comprehensive utilization of tailings. It can improve exploration efficiency by 200% and reduce mining costs by 30%, making it particularly suitable for the development of rare metal deposits under complex geological conditions.]

A glint of light flashed in Xie Weihong's eyes.

Deep mineral exploration. This is precisely one of the technologies most urgently needed by the country. Many mines can only mine shallow deposits due to outdated technology, leaving vast amounts of deep resources lying dormant underground. Having this technology would be like adding several more gold mines to the nation's reserves.

He turned around and looked out the door.

Yi Zhonghai had already been carried away, leaving a pool of dark red blood on the ground.

Duan Chengyi was instructing people to tidy up the room. The plainclothes officers worked quickly and efficiently, folding the clothes that had been thrown on the floor, righting the overturned table, and putting the scattered books back in their places.

"What about Yan Bugui..." He hesitated for a moment, "How should we handle him?"

"Send him to a mental hospital," Xie Weihong said. "He needs to be treated properly. After all, he's our hospital's 'model of honesty and integrity,' he has to live up to these three banners."

Duan Chengyi's lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

Xie Weihong walked into the courtyard and looked up at the sky.

A new day begins.

For Yan Bugui, however, life has been frozen in yesterday.