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

Section Chief Liu sat behind his large desk, tapping his fingers on the surface, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

The anonymous letter was right in front of him.

Every word in the letter felt like a tiny insect burrowing into his heart, making him feel uneasy.

Does Wang Kui have something on him? Does he want to bring him down?

He preferred to believe it was true rather than not. In a place like this, being stabbed in the back was perfectly normal. He already harbored resentment towards Wang Kui over the division of spoils, and this letter became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the city, was the headquarters of the military police.

"Snapped!"

Sergeant Ono slapped the translator hard across the face.

"Idiot? Pig?!" he roared in broken Chinese, his eyes bloodshot.

The translator knelt on the ground, trembling with fear, and dared not speak.

Ono grabbed the letter from the table, crumpled it into a ball, and slammed it to the ground. How dare a lowly Chinese detective arbiter insult a soldier of the Great Japanese Empire like this! And treat him like a fool!

Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!

"Bring that Wang Kui here!" Ono roared.

The storm, unseen by He Yuzhu, raged violently at a speed far exceeding his expectations.

The news was brought by Xu Fugui.

That afternoon, he scrambled to the dilapidated temple outside the city and found He Yuzhu, breathless and pale with fright.

"Something...something terrible has happened, Zhu Zi!" Xu Fugui plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.

"Take your time," He Yuzhu said, handing him a bowl of water.

"Wang Kui! That Wang Kui got arrested!" Xu Fugui gulped down a mouthful of water, his voice trembling. "It was the Japanese! The military police themselves came, in trucks, fully armed, straight to the detective station and handcuffed him! That guy wet his pants on the spot, dragged into the truck like a dead dog!"

Xu Fugui described it vividly, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Everyone in our courtyard saw it, it was quite a commotion! That old woman from the Jia family, Jia Zhangshi, even went over to watch the fun, standing on tiptoe and asking the military police if Wang Kui had stolen her family's pickled vegetables, and if she could have some of Wang Kui's things. She got shoved back by a Japanese soldier with the butt of his rifle, and fell flat on her face, hahaha!"

As Xu Fugui spoke, he actually laughed, but his laughter was full of fear.

He Yuzhu listened expressionlessly.

He was not surprised at all by Jia Zhangshi's stupidity and greed. Such a person, in any era, would be the first piece of trash to be eliminated.

He cares about the outcome.

"What's the charge?" he asked.

"I heard it's because... he neglected his duties while assisting in the investigation of some Imperial Army soldier's murder case!" Xu Fugui lowered his voice. "But strangely, Section Chief Liu of the Detective Team not only didn't protect him, but immediately sent people to ransack his house! He said he was acting under orders, and even said that Wang Kui might be a communist sympathizer and corrupt! Isn't this kicking someone when they're down?"

He Yuzhu understood.

Using someone else to do your dirty work means using more than just a knife.

He borrowed two. One was Ono's anger, and the other was Section Chief Liu's suspicion.

If both knives came down at the same time, even if Wang Kui had nine lives, he would be doomed.

Inside the interrogation room, Wang Kui's screams were heart-wrenching.

He kept protesting his innocence, saying that he had been framed.

But nobody listened.

Sergeant Ono only wanted to vent his anger, so he used all sorts of cruel tortures in turn.

Section Chief Liu then presented Wang Kui with "evidence" of "corruption"—a forged ledger that recorded various amounts of illicit money Wang Kui had received, several of which actually went into Section Chief Liu's own pocket.

Wang Kui quickly broke down.

In extreme pain and fear, he began to make baseless accusations, saying that Section Chief Liu was a communist sympathizer one day and that Captain Li was a weapons dealer the next, dragging the entire detective team into the mess.

In the eyes of Ono and Section Chief Liu, his accusations only confirmed his crime of "framing his colleagues and committing heinous crimes."

Three days.

Just three days later, a notice was posted.

Wang Kui, deputy captain of the detective team, colluded with bandits, smuggled military supplies, and framed innocent civilians. His crimes were heinous, and he has been secretly executed. All of his property has been confiscated.

When the news spread, all the merchants who had been extorted by Wang Kui were overjoyed.

Meanwhile, the gambling den where Wang Kui owed a huge gambling debt was quick to act, like a pack of hyenas smelling blood. They rushed into Wang Kui's sealed-off home, looting everything they could carry, even taking the doors.

In Beiping, a man named Wang Kui simply vanished completely.

It was as if he had never existed.

Ghost city.

Old Gui looked at He Yuzhu with a complicated expression.

"That guy's finished." Old Ghost exhaled a smoke ring. "His body's probably been dumped in some mass grave. Kid, you're lucky."

He Yuzhu remained silent.

luck?

He never believed in luck. He only believed in planning ahead and striking precisely.

"Your hundred dollars are gone for good," the old man said again.

He Yuzhu's lips curled up slightly.

One hundred silver dollars buys the life of a major threat, plus a full package of services including ransacking the house and wiping out the entire family.

This deal was absolutely worth it.

The crisis has been completely resolved.

He Yuzhu felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. The biggest stone weighing on his heart had finally been removed.

He returned to the dilapidated temple and slept soundly for the first time.

However, the next day, Lin Wanqiu's message came through that dead mailbox.

The note contained only one sentence:

"Come quickly, see you at the usual place."

A new chapter seems to be beginning.