I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

"Who mopped this floor? Why didn't they wipe it dry? Who will be responsible if a guest slips and falls?" Li Jing'an frowned.

Old Huang quickly called over the person in charge of cleaning this floor.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't had time to dry the room with the mop after I finished mopping when a guest asked me to clean up," a young woman replied timidly.

Li Jing'an glanced at her; she was quite good-looking, and most importantly, young, probably not even twenty. Just then, Old Huang leaned over and whispered, "She's the daughter of the former Director Lu. She used to work in the office taking attendance. After the incident, she was transferred to the cleaning department."

Li Jing'an glanced at Lao Huang and thought to himself: This guy is a bit underhanded. The woman just left, and you've already transferred her daughter to the cleaning service. He's so damn materialistic.

"Let's leave this matter at that for today. Come to my office tomorrow; I need to assess whether you're capable of handling the job." With that, he left with Lao Huang.

He didn't get back to the courtyard house until evening.

As the car passed the guesthouse gate, Li Jing'an rolled down the window and called out to the guardhouse, "Wang Shu, how's your first day at work? Getting used to it?"

Xu Wangshu was sitting in the guardhouse when he saw Li Jing'an. He jumped up immediately and said, "Director Li! Thank you for your concern. I'm fine. The work here is easy; I can handle it perfectly well!"

"That's good. I knew you were cut out for this." Li Jing'an smiled. "Do a good job and keep a good watch on the door. That's more important than anything else."

The car slowly drove away from the guesthouse and headed towards the courtyard house.

When he got back to the gate of his own courtyard, as soon as he got out of the car, he heard a noisy commotion inside the courtyard, as if a general meeting of the whole family was being held.

A large crowd had already gathered in the courtyard. In the middle of the open space, Yi Zhonghai sat solemnly, with Liu Haizhong sitting beside him, but Yan Bugui was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing that most of the people had arrived, Yi Zhonghai slapped his knee and cut to the chase, his gaze fixed on Xu Damao: "Xu Damao, I'm asking you, did you spread the word that Teacher Yan was trying to curry favor with Li Jing'an by giving gifts and kneeling down, as if afraid the other party wouldn't accept them?"

Xu Damao shook his head vigorously, looking completely innocent: "Uncle, that really wasn't me! I went to work at the guesthouse early this morning and was out all day. I didn't even come back to the courtyard. How could I have time to spread these rumors?"

"Still denying it was you?" The third aunt immediately stepped forward, pointing her finger at his nose and yelling, "Last night at Li Jing'an's house, besides him, you were the only other person there. If you didn't say it, did Li Jing'an himself go around spreading rumors?"

Xu Damao cursed inwardly; he dared not provoke Li Jing'an.

He glanced instinctively into the crowd and immediately spotted Sha Zhu huddled at the back. He pointed and shouted confidently, "It's Sha Zhu! He's the one who said it! I only mentioned it to him last night, I didn't tell anyone else!"

All eyes immediately turned to Sha Zhu.

Sha Zhu immediately panicked, his face turning bright red. He waved his hands repeatedly in protest, "Yes... it's true that he told me, but if he can tell me, why can't he tell others? Why is it all my fault?"

"I only told you!" Xu Damao insisted, refusing to budge. "I haven't said a word to anyone else except you!"

"Forget it, who can vouch for you?" Sha Zhu stomped his feet in frustration.

Xu Damao immediately turned to Yi Zhonghai: "Uncle, why don't you ask everyone who first heard it from? Wouldn't that tell you the truth?"

Yi Zhonghai nodded and addressed the surrounding neighbors, "Everyone, tell me, who was the first to tell you about this?"

The courtyard immediately erupted in discussion and whispers.

A moment later, three housewives stepped forward and pointed, "It was Sha Zhu who told us!"

"Yes, he told us that when we were buying groceries this morning."

"He even made it sound very convincing."

With the evidence irrefutable, Yi Zhonghai looked at Sha Zhu with a face full of disappointment: "Zhu Zi, what else do you have to say?"

Sha Zhu opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a coherent sentence for a long time, and finally fell silent.

Upon hearing this, the three women immediately burst into tears and wailed, "It's all over the foreign language department! It's even reached the school! My old man is so angry he's in bed, and he's been taking medicine for days! You heartless bastard, if you make anything happen to my husband, I'll fight you to the death!"

"You can't entirely blame me. I can't keep things to myself, and I'm quick to speak..." Sha Zhu tried to argue.

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand to interrupt him, unwilling to listen to his excuses, and turned to the third aunt: "Now that things have come to this, what do you suggest we do?"

The old woman wiped away her tears and stammered for a long time before whispering, "My husband, Lao Yan, is sick. We need money for medicine and doctor's visits... We should at least compensate him for some of the cost."

Yi Zhonghai nodded and looked at Xu Damao and Shazhu: "You two heard that? Each of you take out two yuan, buy something, and go apologize to Yan Bugui together."

"Huh? Why should I be involved?" Xu Damao immediately became agitated. "It's all because Sha Zhu spread rumors everywhere. I just mentioned it casually. I'm not taking the blame for this!"

"If you hadn't made up this story first, would he have been able to spread it?" Yi Zhonghai's eyes widened, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "One fabricated it, and the other spread it; neither of you can escape the blame. I haven't wronged you."

Xu Damao opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't dare to say anything more and could only reluctantly admit it.

Yi Zhonghai then looked at Liu Haizhong, who had remained silent, and asked, "Old Liu, is there anything else you want to say?"

Liu Haizhong hadn't paid any attention to the gossip all day; his mind was filled with jealousy and anger at Xu Damao's sudden transfer to Li Jing'an's side, a meteoric rise. Now, finally seizing the opportunity, he immediately spoke in a sinister tone: "I think this matter is serious, a case of personal misconduct with a terrible impact. In my opinion, we should just call the police and have them both arrested!"

Xu Damao and Shazhu were both stunned, their faces filled with disbelief.

"Second Uncle, I haven't offended you, have I? Are you trying to ruin us?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned and quickly waved his hand, "Old Liu, it's not that bad, it hasn't come to that. Besides, the victim hasn't said they want to pursue this to the end, so that's enough."

He was afraid that Liu Haizhong would really make a big fuss, and if Li Jing'an was implicated, the whole courtyard would suffer.

"Alright, let's do it the way we just said. Everyone, disperse and stop crowding around here."

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai had already said that, Liu Haizhong could only reluctantly give up, but he had nowhere to vent his anger, and his gaze towards Xu Damao became increasingly hostile. The entire college's denunciation meeting ended hastily just like that.

Xu Damao and Sha Zhu also made a mental note of Liu Haizhong's actions.