Courtyard House: Ten-year-old Master Zhu reorganizes the entire courtyard

There is only one day left until the five-day deadline given by Wang Kui.

He Yuzhu didn't rush to find Wang Kui; he was waiting for an opportunity and making final preparations.

He rummaged through the miscellaneous items he had seized from the Japanese soldiers in the system space. In one soldier's service bag, he found an inconspicuous little thing.

It was a black metal block about the size of a matchbox, with a tiny hole in it.

[Item: Type 97 Miniature Eavesdropping Device (Experimental)]

[Status: Single use only, approximately 2 hours of battery remaining]

Effective range: Within 50 meters, requires the use of a compatible receiver.

[Note: The signal is unstable and easily interfered with. But in this era, it is a formidable and unpredictable weapon.]

The accompanying receiver resembles an old-fashioned radio headset, connected to an antenna.

A cold smile curled at the corners of He Yuzhu's lips. What he wanted was never just to pay to avoid trouble. What he wanted was a permanent solution.

He carefully removed the miniature listening device, used a little mashed rice as adhesive, and cleverly stuck it into a crevice inside the prepared money pouch. From the outside, it looked flawless.

The next morning, He Yuzhu, through Xu Fugui, sent a message to Wang Kui of the detective team, arranging to meet him at a small teahouse outside Qianmen.

He Yuzhu went alone. He changed into a patched old shirt, and his face was smeared with dust. He looked like a child who had been crushed by life and had nowhere else to turn.

When he arrived at the teahouse, Wang Kui was already waiting there. He was sitting with his legs crossed, leisurely sipping his tea. When he saw He Yuzhu come in, a glint of greed and contempt flashed in his eyes.

"Kid, did you bring the money?" Wang Kui was too lazy to even get up.

He Yuzhu lowered his head, holding the heavy money bag in both hands, walked to the table, and said in an almost pleading tone, "Captain Wang, the money... the money is all here. Please count it."

His voice trembled slightly, perfectly conveying a child's fear and helplessness.

Wang Kui snorted smugly, grabbed the money bag, opened it, and dumped it on the table.

"Splash—"

One hundred silver dollars were piled up on the table like a small mountain, gleaming so brightly they were dazzling. The eyes of the other tea drinkers in the teahouse were instantly drawn to them.

Wang Kui didn't care at all; he enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention. He picked up a silver dollar, put it to his lips, blew on it, and listened to the crisp echo, a look of ecstasy on his face.

As he slowly and methodically counted the silver dollars, he grumbled at He Yuzhu, "Kid, you're smart to know what's good for you. You think this money is just for me? I've spent way more than this, pulling strings and running around until my legs were sore and my mouth was hoarse, all to fix this mess of your family's affairs!"

He lowered his voice, a hint of complaint and resentment in it: "Our Section Chief Liu's mouth is bigger than a hippopotamus's; it's never enough. Not to mention those Japanese bloodsuckers in the military police; they're all wolves that devour people without spitting out the bones!"

He Yuzhu kept his head down the whole time, looking timid and submissive, but his ears clearly remembered every word.

"Captain Wang, so... once we take the money, will our family's matter be considered settled?" he asked timidly.

"Don't worry." Wang Kui stuffed the last silver dollar into his money bag, patted it with satisfaction, and then tucked it into his pocket, pressing it tightly against his chest. "You've taken their money, so you're obligated to do their bidding. From now on, no one will bother you anymore. Get lost."

"Thank you, Captain Wang! Thank you, Captain Wang!" He Yuzhu felt as if he had been granted a pardon, bowed repeatedly, then turned around and, like a frightened mouse, quickly left the teahouse.

Watching He Yuzhu's disheveled figure, Wang Kui spat contemptuously, picked up his teacup, and took a sip with relish. He was completely unaware that the money bag brimming with wealth had become a deadly beacon.

After leaving the teahouse, He Yuzhu didn't go far. He quickly went around to the back street of the teahouse and went into a dilapidated, uninhabited house that he had already chosen. The straight-line distance from the teahouse was no more than forty meters.

He took out the simple receiver earpiece from his pocket and put it on his ears.

The first thing I heard in the headphones was a piercing static noise.

He Yuzhu patiently adjusted the antenna. Soon, the noise subsided, and Wang Kui's smug voice came through intermittently.

"...Damn it, a cook can actually make a good living... Now we can pay back the money we owe the gambling den..."

This is Wang Kui talking to himself.

Then, it seemed that another person came over, like a waiter from the teahouse, or perhaps someone he knew.

"Captain Wang, you've struck it rich!"

"Just a small fortune, nothing more." Wang Kui's voice was full of smugness. "Unlike our Section Chief Liu, who last month just swindled more than a few small yellow croakers from those cloth merchants in the East City... Damn it, he doesn't even leave a drop of soup for the brothers after he's eating the meat..."

"And that guy from the military police, what was his name again... oh, Sergeant Ono, he actually asked me for 'pretty girls' last time... Where was I supposed to find them for him? I ended up giving him two silver dollars to get rid of him..."

The intermittent conversation was filled with complaints about corruption, unequal distribution of spoils, and shady details of transactions.

He Yuzhu listened expressionlessly, took out a pencil stub and a piece of paper torn from an old book from his pocket, and quickly wrote down the key names, locations and events he heard.

Section Chief Liu embezzled from a cloth merchant.

Sergeant Ono of the Military Police solicited bribes.

……

He knew that this fragmented information might be worthless in other people's hands.

But in his hands, through careful arrangement and transmission, it could become a knife that could kill Wang Kui, or even more people.

An hour later, the sound in the earphones grew weaker and weaker, until only a hissing static remained. The bug's battery had run out.

He Yuzhu took off his headphones and carefully put them away along with the note.

He stepped out of the dilapidated house and looked up at the gray sky.

He paid out one hundred silver dollars.

But what he gained was a list leading to hell. And Wang Kui would be the first to walk that path.