Chapter 157: Yi Zhonghai's Calculations on Jia Dongxu

Four o'clock in the afternoon.

Yi Zhonghai returned from outside.

After meeting Shazhu in the Zhong Yuan, he said a few congratulatory pleasantries to Shazhu, then, under Shazhu's gaze, lifted his leg and entered his own home.

From beginning to end.

Not a single word of unnecessary talk.

His departure was just as resolute and decisive.

His reaction was somewhat beyond Shazhu's expectation.

To Yi Zhonghai, Shazhu's marriage meant that any of his fantasies about Shazhu ended in failure.

In Shazhu's understanding, Yi Zhonghai is someone who will not rest until his goal is achieved.

Just like that, he left.

Not like Yi Zhonghai's way of doing things.

Unless!

Shazhu unconsciously narrowed his eyes; the deep-seated vigilance did not fade with Yi Zhonghai's disappearing figure, but instead grew stronger.

One still cannot be careless toward Yi Zhonghai.

Must stay vigilant.

……

Yi Family.

Yi Zhonghai, having returned home, turned back into a senseless wooden person.

It can be considered that Shazhu misunderstood Yi Zhonghai's earlier action.

It's not that the hypocrite held a calm attitude toward Shazhu marrying a wife; rather, Yi Zhonghai's thoughts and energy were all on the Jia family opposite. Greeting Shazhu was merely using him as a shield to conceal some of Yi Zhonghai's actions.

Only by standing before Shazhu and saying congratulatory words about his marriage could Yi Zhonghai openly scrutinize the Jia family opposite.

Qin Huairu and Yi Zhonghai, the two of them.

They became underground personnel.

Meeting, greeting, dating, timing, etc., all had specific body language or object language; if the window on the left side of the door was half-open, it meant something; if the right-side window was wide open, it meant something else; if a diaper was hung above the window, it meant something; even the emergency code was worked out by the two of them.

Just now, as Yi Zhonghai stepped into the Zhong Yuan, he immediately saw on the Jia family's windowsill the emergency contact signal deliberately placed by Qin Huairu.

A feather duster placed with its head downward.

According to the agreement initially made between Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu, only when something very urgent occurred, threatening the lives of both Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu, could Qin Huairu invert the feather duster.

Yi Zhonghai's mind.

In a fog.

The person returned to the Yi Family.

But his heart remained at the Jia Family.

He is not stupid.

Many things, after a little thought, reveal their inner workings.

Only something that could simultaneously threaten Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu, endangering both of their lives, besides the fact that they are together, has no other explanation.

Qin Huairu and Yi Zhonghai also only have the situation of being together that could cost both their lives.

Jia Dongxu?

Jia Zhangshi?

The Jia family has five members total; Qin Huairu and Yi Zhonghai are inseparable; Bangeng knows to steal things every day; Xiao Dang is still a kid who likes to play with mud; the family line continues in Qin Huairu's womb.

After thinking it over.

It's just Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu, mother and son.

Was it Jia Zhangshi who discovered the clue?

Or was it Jia Dongxu who discovered the secret between Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu?

Yi Zhonghai fell into deep thought.

Over a minute passed.

Yi Zhonghai believed it was more likely to be Jia Dongxu.

Yesterday afternoon, while Yi Zhonghai was delivering white flour to the Jia family, he had already noticed Jia Dongxu's abnormality; now, while working at the Yagangchang, the hypocrite always felt a venomous snake-like gaze staring at him from behind.

Jia Dongxu knew about Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu's affair.

If it were really exposed.

Yi Zhonghai would surely die.

Qin Huairu would also find it hard to escape responsibility.

The elderly lady would bear a grudge against Yi Zhonghai's betrayal; Jia Zhangshi would fly into a rage over Qin Huairu's wrongdoing toward the Jia family; if Qin Huairu were to go in, there would be no one to look after the family line; the continuation of the family line that Yi Zhonghai wanted to see for the Yi Family's incense would not happen.

His fists clenched tightly.

I do not kill Bo Ren.

But Bo Ren wants to kill me.

Either Jia Dongxu destroys me, or I destroy Jia Dongxu.

Yi Zhonghai hardened his heart; he wanted to get ahead of Jia Dongxu speaking, to make Jia Dongxu permanently shut his mouth once and for all.

Only the dead can keep a secret.

Taking Jia Dongxu as an apprentice was meant to have him help support and see me through old age; now that I have my own child to carry on the family line, Jia Dongxu, as my tool for old-age support, naturally lost his original value.

Moreover, Jia Dongxu seriously threatens Yi Zhonghai's child and the family line.

Heaven and earth are big, but the son is the biggest.

Yi Zhonghai stared at the Jia Family opposite, working out a concrete plan: how to make Jia Dongxu shut up.

……

Shazhu's home.

After Shazhu returned indoors, Yu Li.

She then slid the bolt into place.

Mainly because she was worried the neighbors would see.

At noon, the tickets Shazhu handed to Yu Li frightened her so much she didn't know how to express her feelings, her mind remained in a daze.

Too many.

There are tickets for bicycles, radios, etc., the three-turns-one-response items.

There are also national grain coupons, amounting to twenty catties.

Local grain coupons, cloth coupons, meat coupons, etc., are also present.

Scattered tickets, added up, probably amount to over twenty sheets.

Looking at the usage dates on them.

Yu Li became worried.

After Shazhu returned indoors.

Having bolted the door and drawn the curtains, the key to doing things secretly is just how to deal with this pile of tickets.

Yu Li's opinion.

These things are too valuable.

Especially those twenty catties of national grain coupons, which are of utmost importance; she feels they are a bit hot to handle.

Yu Li's opinion is that Deputy Factory Director Li's gesture is kind; they appreciate it, but as for the tickets Deputy Factory Director Li sent, it would be best to return them to him, lest he bear a grudge.

Shazhu's idea differs from Yu Li's.

Looking at these tickets.

Shazhu's feelings are indeed unpleasant.

To these people in the siheyuan, the tickets are something rare and hard to come by, but to someone like Deputy Factory Director Li, they are nothing but a trifle.

In the Zhong Yuan, Yi Zhonghai; in the Hou Yuan, Liu Haizhong; in the Front Yard, Yan Fugui. The year Shazhu left, they were all clamoring to acquire three-turns-one-response items, but up to now, aside from Yan Fugui buying a used bicycle from Shazhu five years ago, Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong still haven't managed to get any three-turns-one-response items—not for lack of money, but for lack of tickets.

This shows how scarce these items are.

"Head of the household, why don't you say something?"

Yu Li perhaps means well.

However, to Deputy Factory Director Li, if Shazhu returns these items exactly as they are, it would make Li feel that Shazhu looks down on him or doesn't treat him as a friend.

To offend a future magnate who will control the Yagangchang for ten years.

That would be more loss than gain.

Shazhu reached out and flicked Yu Li's nose, throwing out a reply.

"Keep them."

"Ah."

"What ah? I said keep them; returning the things Deputy Factory Director Li gave would not be good. That day I'll make a nice meal and properly entertain Deputy Factory Director Li, thus repaying his favor."

"What should we do with these things?"

Yu Li pointed at the dates on the tickets.

"I'll find time to go to the black market, sell these off, then try to get some brown sugar; Yushui said she's feeling unwell."

Yu Li nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Regarding Shazhu's arrangement.

She expressed agreement.

"Head of the household, be careful; I've heard the crackdown on black market activities is quite strict these days."

"Don't worry."

When feelings run deep, they naturally become intense.

The couple.

The door bolted.

The curtains drawn.

The wedding night…