Courtyard House: In times of famine, my hamster became a spirit.

Zhou Jianguo sat upright behind the broken door frame, his hands casually resting on the table.

That stew of beef shank, lamb spine, and pork tripe didn't use any expensive spices; it was all cooked to perfection by the masterful control of the heat and the skill in knife work.

The strong aroma of meat wafted through the cold wind, wafting straight into the nostrils of the neighbors.

He Yushui sat opposite, holding a large bowl and working hard, chewing so hard that his teeth were making a sound.

For the past ten years, she has been eating cornbread that scratches her throat, and her stomach has been constantly acidic.

At that moment, the meat juices were dripping down her chin, and she couldn't bear to wipe them away. She simply wiped them with the back of her hand and put the meat and oil back into her mouth.

She ate while tears streamed down her face, the salty tears falling into the delicious meat broth. This was the most delicious meal she had ever eaten in her life.

Sha Zhu was still kneeling in the snow at the entrance.

His prized Tan family cuisine was nothing compared to Zhou Jianguo's blindfolded, skillful cooking.

His eyes were fixed on the snow, and he muttered to himself in a daze:

"I'm not worthy... I'm really not worthy to be a cook, I can't even clean a pig's stomach properly..."

All the neighbors were crammed into the middle courtyard, each one hunching their shoulders and tucking their sleeves in.

Their eyes darted past Sha Zhu and landed on the bowl of meat on Zhou Jianguo's table, their throats churning with saliva.

Yan Bugui adjusted his glasses, drool dripping down his chin.

Qin Huairu gripped the empty porcelain basin in her hand so tightly that it creaked, and her knuckles turned discolored from the pressure.

"Tap. Tap. Tap."

A dull thud of wood striking wood came from the dark shadows of the backyard.

The sound wasn't loud, but it silenced the noisy courtyard.

The second uncle, Liu Haizhong, who had been planning how to show off his power, straightened his back and his greedy expression turned into respect.

He scurried back two steps, making way for them.

The deaf old lady came again.

The old lady, leaning on her shiny rosewood cane, trudged through the dirty snow and mud, slowly disappearing into the lamplight.

She was wearing a half-new black cotton-padded jacket, and her old face was full of wrinkles.

She stopped three meters away from the ruined gate of the Zhou family.

She didn't even glance at Sha Zhu, who was kneeling on the ground and almost going crazy, nor did she look at the blood on the ground, or even at the documents in He Yushui's hand.

Those cloudy old eyes immediately locked onto the pot of steaming meat soup on the table.

Zhou Jianguo saw it clearly: the old woman's throat moved violently.

"Young man, Jian Guo." The old lady spoke, her chin held high, her voice hoarse yet carrying an unyielding force.

Zhou Jianguo leaned back in his chair, too lazy to even lift his eyelids, completely ignoring him.

The old lady frowned, clearly feeling that she had lost face.

"You've made a complete mess of this courtyard tonight. Zhonghai's gone in, and your aunt fainted in the house and hasn't woken up yet. Banggeng is still crying and begging for his parents on the kang. You have your grievances, and you've made such a scene, it's time to let it go."

Zhou Jianguo picked up a bamboo chopstick and used it to separate a piece of beef tendon.

"We're all neighbors." The old woman slammed her cane heavily into the snow, raising her voice, "Even if bones are broken, the tendons are still connected! You're young and hot-tempered, that's enough for you to establish your authority. Bring out the rest of the meat and distribute it to the Zhonghai and Jia families, consider it a way to replenish the wounded. This old woman has made the decision, let's move on. Harmony brings wealth, that's the rule of our ancestors."

Zhou Jianguo put down his chopsticks and laughed.

This old woman's logic is quite sound.

When Yi Zhonghai fell, her lifeline was cut off; when Sha Zhu was crippled, her second meal ticket was gone.

Now they're coming here to act like ancestors, trying to regain their prestige with this pot of meat, and incidentally, they can also get a free meal.

That's a beautiful dream; you haven't even broadened your perspective yet.

Zhou Jianguo slammed his chopsticks on the table with a crisp "smack".

"Rainwater, are you full?"

He Yushui quickly finished the last bite, wiped her mouth, and nodded, saying, "I'm full, Brother Jianguo."

Zhou Jianguo stood up, put his hands in his pockets, walked out the door, and stared at the old woman.

"Your rules?" Zhou Jianguo scoffed. "Old lady, the Qing Dynasty is long gone. People don't care about ancestors these days. You expect me to feed the families of corrupt officials with meat, and then give aid to a thief who breaks into a window? Did the neighborhood committee even stamp your 'ancestor's' name on it?"

Everyone in the hospital was terrified; this was a deaf old lady!

The old lady's face was so gloomy it looked like it could drip water, and the wrinkles on her old face trembled wildly.

Her expression suddenly changed, and she shakily pulled a piece of red cloth from her inner pocket, folding it neatly.

That was her certificate of martyrdom, a testament to her rampant behavior within the compound.

"Oh God! I don't want to live anymore!"

The old woman unfurled the red cloth, slapped her thigh, and began to wail, her voice filled with anguish.

"My entire family died defending Beijing, leaving me, an old woman all alone. Today, I'm being verbally abused by someone who has no descendants! You're selfish, you're bullying the families of martyrs, you have no conscience! Is there no law anymore?!"

This shout put Zhou Jianguo in a very difficult position.

"Jianguo! You've gone too far!" Liu Haizhong seized the opportunity to jump out, barking arrogantly, "This is a martyr's family member! If you dare to disrespect her, the security department can have you dragged out and executed!"

The neighbors backed away, their eyes filled with schadenfreude.

With this red cloth displayed, even the Heavenly King himself would have to bow his head.

Zhou Jianguo stepped out of the door and walked straight to the old lady. The murderous aura he exuded from his martial arts mastery directly overwhelmed her.

The old woman's wailing stopped abruptly, like a hen being strangled.

She instinctively wanted to back away, but for the sake of saving face, she could only grip her crutch tightly.

"Grandma, let's settle the accounts clearly." Zhou Jianguo's voice was clear to everyone.

"Yi Zhonghai earns ninety-nine yuan a month. That old lady takes medicine year-round, and she also subsidizes the Jia family. How could he possibly afford to feed you fine grains every meal for the past ten years, with lean meat every few days?"

Zhou Jianguo raised his hand and pointed to He Yushui inside the room.

"Yi Zhonghai embezzled the child support money He Daqing sent—ten yuan a month for ten years, a total of seven hundred and twenty yuan! He didn't deposit the money in the bank, nor did he buy any big items with it. Where did it go?"

The old lady's eyes narrowed, and her lips trembled.

She instinctively covered her ears, resorting to her old trick of pretending to be deaf and dumb: "Huh? What did you say? I'm hard of hearing, I can't hear what you're yelling about..."

"Can't you hear me?" Zhou Jianguo sneered.

He tossed the case filing stub out of his pocket, making a rustling sound right under the old lady's nose.

"Yi Zhonghai has already been recruited by the security department!"

Zhou Jianguo delivered a heavy blow, leaving no room for compromise: "That 720 yuan, most of it was exchanged for black market grains, meat, and eggs, all stuffed into your mouth, you old woman! Yushui hasn't had enough to eat for ten years, and you're living off her flesh and blood in this yard, that's called receiving stolen goods! That's called harboring a criminal! That's called being an accomplice!"

The crowd erupted in uproar.

The respectful look they had given the old lady turned into disgust and contempt.

Yan Bugui gasped, "Good heavens, this is a conspiracy to eat children's flesh..."

When the old lady heard the word "confess," the string in her mind snapped.

She knew better than anyone where those fine grains came from, and she thought that as long as she pretended to be confused, she could keep it a secret forever.

Just then, Zhou Jianguo's eyes turned cold, and he silently activated the [Nightmare Talisman].

A chilling, bone-deep spiritual force locked the old woman in place.

In the old lady's eyes, the snowstorm suddenly changed.

Zhou Jianguo's facial features began to distort and elongate.

In the wind and snow, He Daqing's bloodied and mangled face from many years ago emerged from the ground, staring intently at her.

Countless withered, ghostly hands reached out from the snowdrift and grabbed at her ankles.

"Give me back my child support...give me back my child's life..."

Depressing auditory hallucinations were exploding wildly in her mind.

"A ghost! There's a ghost!"

The old woman let out a piercing scream, her entire body contorted in agony.

Her decades-long facade of dignity crumbled completely in that instant.

She flailed her arms wildly, and the sandalwood cane flew out of her hands, hitting Sha Zhu on the back. She fell to the ground in the mud and blood.

"Don't come any closer! Zhonghai gave it to me...it has nothing to do with me..."

The old woman sat in the mud, crawling backward on her hands and feet, her eyes rolling around, and her lower body suddenly turned yellow and smelled bad.

A foul odor spread across the snow.

The entire hospital was deathly silent.

No one stepped forward to help; some even backed away in disgust.

Liu Haizhong was so frightened that he leaned against the wall, trembling. He finally realized that Zhou Jianguo was not a human, but the King of Hell!

Zhou Jianguo coldly looked at the old woman convulsing and wetting her pants in the snow, and then withdrew his supernatural powers.

He turned around and picked up the pot of boiling bone broth, which was still half full.

In front of more than a hundred people in the hospital, he stretched out his arm.

"Splash—"

He poured the whole pot of fragrant meat broth, along with several large beef bones, into the snow pit outside the door.

The snow was scalded into several large pits, and white mist rose up.

Two stray cats darted out of the alley, drawn by the scent, and right in front of everyone, lay down by the snowdrift and frantically licked the food, growling protectively.

Listen carefully.

Zhou Jianguo's voice echoed throughout the courtyard: "From this day forward, this Red Star Courtyard has no ancestors, only right and wrong! No rules, only the law of the land!"

After saying that, he turned and went into the house, lifting his foot to hook up the half-broken door.