Courtyard House: A Start with Black Gold Swallowing 100,000 Silver Dollars

He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "Alright... I'll keep it a secret from Sha Zhu for you."

Lin Meili had just breathed a sigh of relief when he added, "But let me tell you this—if you protect him today, he'll dare to kick you tomorrow. A doting mother spoils her son; this is no joke."

Before he could finish speaking, hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.

Immediately afterward, Sha Zhu's voice boomed in like thunder: "Who burned it? -- I just woke up and heard people gossiping at the alley entrance!"

Lin Meili suddenly looked up.

Bang Geng was about to shrink back behind the door when his trouser leg got caught on the threshold with a "rip" sound—

It was torn open.

As Lin Meili, holding the stick, stepped out of the threshold of Uncle Yan Bugui's house, she looked up and saw several figures walking briskly towards her—they wore crisp blue-gray uniforms, their epaulets gleaming coldly in the winter sun, their steps heavy and hurried, pressing towards her like drumbeats.

"Mother...are they coming for me?"

Bang Geng's throat tightened, and before he could finish speaking, he had already shrunk behind Lin Meili, his shoulders stiff and his fingers gripping the back of her cotton-padded coat tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"Stand up straight!" Lin Meili stepped aside to block him, gently pushing his shoulder with the back of her hand. "Just ask me a question, why are you trembling? Your legs are so weak, it makes it seem like you're completely guilty—if they find any flaws, even if it's not shit, it'll still look like shit!"

She spoke quickly and crisply, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, but her gaze didn't linger on her son's face for even half a second longer.

—With the restaurant burned to a crisp, it would be strange if the police didn't come. And to make matters worse, they happened to be there at this critical moment. If Banggang had shown any weakness, they would have followed the trail and, before the flames were even completely extinguished, he would have been handcuffed and taken away.

A burning anger was churning inside her, not directed at anyone else, but at Banggeng's cowardly appearance, which seemed to emanate from every bone in his body.

Bang Geng's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, his panic subsided slightly, but his knees still trembled involuntarily, and even the soles of his feet felt cold—this wasn't fear of people, but clearly fear of flames emerging from his sleeves.

But when Lin Meili caught a glimpse of two familiar faces at the end of the line out of the corner of her eye, her heart sank: Li Guoman and Li Jiacheng, one carrying an enamel mug and the other rubbing his hands and breathing out white breath, were walking this way with the police officers.

These two people had never even touched the stove or the oil drum lid before; they must have come up here because they smelled it.

What you fear will come to pass.

The police officers surrounded them without exchanging pleasantries or showing their identification. They simply blocked the road in front and behind them, like a wall blocking the way.

The leader pulled out a notebook, pen nib hovering above it: "Comrade, are you a member of the Bang Geng gang?"

"Someone filed a formal complaint, reporting that yesterday afternoon they saw you carrying a gasoline can into the compound. Please come with us to the station now to cooperate with the investigation."

As soon as the words were spoken, even the wind seemed to stop for a moment.

Lin Meili's face drained of all color, and her lips turned dry and white; Bang Geng's knees buckled, and if it weren't for her back supporting him, he would have knelt down on the spot.

Ultimately, the stick was taken away.

Lin Meili stood there, watching the blue-gray figures turn the corner at the alleyway. Only then did she feel the tightness in her chest dissipate, and tears suddenly streamed down her hot, icy cheeks. She covered her mouth, slowly lowered herself, and squatted on the blue brick ground, her shoulders trembling silently.

"Lin Meili, did you see that?"

Uncle Yan Bugui leaned against his doorframe, slowly shaking his head, his back bent like an old bow. "Even if you protect your children to the heavens, you won't raise a disciplined person. Teaching children relies on discipline, not candy—it's a pity, they understand the truth too late."

He turned and moved into the house, his cotton shoes rubbing against the threshold, making a soft rustling sound.

—Kebang Geng lost his father when he was young. I spoiled him and doted on him. What did I do wrong?

Lin Meili buried her face in her palms, her nails digging into her flesh, but she couldn't suppress the words churning in her heart.

She sat outside Yan Bugui's door for a full hour, until He Xiao came running up, panting, her voice cutting through the cold wind: "Sister Lin! Sha Zhu's awake! Hurry back to the hospital!"

There were quite a few people in the ward.

He Yushui stood by the window, arm in arm with Li Guotao, while Xiao Dang squatted at the foot of the bed, holding a thermos. Two police officers in uniform had just closed their laptops and were walking out.

—Sha Zhu is a shareholder and a party involved, so it's reasonable to ask him a couple of questions as a matter of routine.

Once the footsteps had faded into the distance, Lin Meili hurried forward, placed the peeled apple on the bedside table, her fingertips still damp with water droplets: "Shazhu, you're finally awake!"

While the police were questioning her, she had seven or eight thoughts running through her mind: as long as Sha Zhu and Li Guotao didn't confess, Bang Geng would at most get a scolding and pay some money. Jail time? No way.

But she knew the difficulty lay in the word "loosen the grip"—the two fires had burned hundreds of thousands of dollars, enough to buy all the old houses in the alley. At Banggeng's age, even selling himself for ten years wouldn't have filled this hole.

How to beg? How to persuade?

She had already planned it out: once everyone had left and only the two of them remained, she would kneel. Whether she would kowtow or not was another matter; the moment her knees touched the ground, she would have to speak from the bottom of her heart.

At this moment, Sha Zhu leaned against the stack of pillows, his face ashen, his breathing shallow and slow, and a fever-reducing patch still on his forehead.

He fainted from anger and shock—the restaurant was so busy at the end of the year that he was constantly on the go, and last night Lin Meili had been pestering him to be intimate again. He forced himself to agree, but before dawn, he heard the fire alarm blaring horribly... He couldn't catch his breath and collapsed.

Fortunately, the patient was taken to the hospital in time.

Although she was weak, she still had no trouble holding a bowl and eating; but Lin Meili insisted on feeding her herself, slicing the apple as thin as a cicada's wing and handing her the spoon steadily and firmly—she wasn't serving a patient, but a lifeline.

"Silly Zhu..." She placed an apple slice to his lips, her voice soft and gentle, "There's something I need to tell you from the bottom of my heart."

Sha Zhu lifted his eyelids slightly, his voice hoarse like sandpaper: "Hmm? Speak."

He didn't push the spoonful of fruit away, nor did he look into her eyes; he just stared at an old crack in the ceiling.

"This matter is related to the restaurant." Lin Meili put the plate down steadily, twisting the edge of her apron with her fingers. "But you have to promise me first—don't get angry, don't bang on the table, and don't get stuck in your chest with a feeling of unease. I'll only dare to continue if you nod."

Sha Zhu's brow twitched: "The restaurant? Something happened again?"

He immediately propped himself up, not even bothering to catch the pillow that had slipped off.

"Promise me first." She took a half step back, her heels firmly planted on the concrete, her gaze straight ahead. "Only when you're calm can you hear the truth."

"Oh my god!" Sha Zhu pounded the bedside in a panic, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. "You're beating around the bush with me now? Tell me! Who did it?!"

Lin Meili remained silent, only lowering her eyes and twisting the corner of her apron into a pretzel.

Sha Zhu took three breaths, closed his eyes, then opened them again, and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "...I promise. No yelling, no getting angry."

"Okay." She took a breath, stepped back a meter away from the bed, her back straight like a taut string. "I know—who started the fire."

Sha Zhu's pupils suddenly contracted, and he made an "uh" sound in his throat, but no sound came out. He sat up abruptly, and even the fever-reducing patch tilted to one side.

"Who?!"

Those two words cleaved the very air.

If the arsonist is caught, he can be immediately sent to the police station, and from then on, the stoves, tables, chairs, and signs of Shuxiangxuan will no longer be afraid of black smoke or flames billowing out at night.

The pent-up frustration in my heart can finally be released.

How could Sha Zhu not be anxious?

Even the elderly men and women lying on the opposite hospital bed perked up their ears, leaned forward slightly, and focused their attention on his face.

The two men had lived in this neighborhood for decades and were well aware of the repeated burnings of Shuxiangxuan restaurant—the first time in Xidan, the second in Chaoyang District, the fires were fierce, the smoke billowed into the sky, and the neighbors were often woken up by the fumes in the middle of the night. Such a major case, even the police had it on file, and now someone actually knew who did it—who wouldn't want to know the truth?

"Silly Zhu, you promised me—stay calm and don't lose your temper."

Lin Meili reached out and pressed her hand on her husband's shoulder, her voice soft but tense.

"Speak quickly! Who is it?"

"Who started the fire? Who burned down my shop?"

"Tell me quickly!"

Sha Zhu suddenly sat up in bed, his eyes wide open, veins throbbing on his forehead, his whole body like a fully drawn bowstring.

Get him to calm down now? Difficult.

The shop in Xidan alone spent 200,000 yuan on renovations, adding stoves, freezers, and ventilation systems; the one in Chaoyang, after just cleaning the ash and removing the charred beams and broken pillars, is estimated to have losses of at least 150,000 to 160,000 yuan. What did 200,000 yuan mean in 1983? Enough to buy three courtyard houses, enough for a worker to work for 120 years without eating or drinking. Anyone who encountered such a situation would feel their heart burned with anguish.

"Silly Zhu, you promised me... to stay calm."

She knew that once she revealed the name, Sha Zhu would never let go—but Bang Geng had already been taken to the police station, the eyewitnesses had clearly identified him, and the statements had been signed. If it dragged on any longer, the case would be transferred to the court. The only straw she could hold onto was Sha Zhu's "Forget it."

"Lin Meili, how am I supposed to stay calm?"

Sha Zhu's voice was hoarse, and his face turned a deep purplish-red. "Two shops! My brother-in-law, Li Guotao, paid for them all! He trusted me, that's why he staked everything on them, and what happened? A fire, and they're all reduced to ashes!"

Before he could finish speaking, his chest heaved violently, like a broken bellows being pulled.

Lin Meili lowered her eyes, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers, and finally stopped trying to persuade her. She slowly bent over, her knees sinking, and knelt straight on the cement floor.

With a soft "thump," the ward fell silent instantly.

Sha Zhu froze, then his heart sank – the only person who could make Lin Meili kneel down was Bang Geng.

His face gradually darkened, his brows furrowed low, and his eyes were dark and devoid of any light. His gaze swept over them, and even the sparrows resting on the windowsill fluttered away.

This was the first time Lin Meili had ever seen him like this. Her hands trembled so much that she couldn't hold her wrists, and tears streamed silently down her face, dripping onto the small patch of gray ground in front of her knees, spreading into two dark blobs.

"Is it a stick-shaped pun?"

Sha Zhu spoke, his voice flat and cold, like a piece of iron pulled from the bottom of a well.

Lin Meili shuddered and her jaw snapped.