Chapter 394

Team Captain Liu, where did I go wrong? Point it out to me, don't just bang the table whenever you feel like it. Do you really think Yagangchang has no place for reason? Do you really think you, Team Captain Liu, can cover the sky with one hand in Yagangchang?

Shazhu uttered a few simple questioning sentences.

It seemed plain and unremarkable.

Yet its power was formidable.

To Liu Haizhong, it was no less than a great disaster of heaven collapsing and earth splitting descending upon him.

Every word, every sentence, even every punctuation mark, turned into a sharp, life‑taking weapon; under Shazhu's control, they slashed at Liu Haizhong from all directions, leaving him no possibility to dodge.

A bitter feeling came over Liu Haizhong, and he suddenly panicked.

During this period.

In Yagangchang, the arrogant and overconfident Liu Haizhong was even more listless than frost‑struck eggplant; he looked completely limp.

His strength seemed to have been suddenly drained, unable to support his heavy body, and he plopped down onto the ground with a thud.

Much like a patient suffering from hemiplegia, his body began to tremble.

His fat forehead was covered with sweat droplets the size of soybeans.

His lips quivered, unsure what to say, yet he appeared unable to utter a sound.

In his eyes flickered a hint of dead‑ash desolation.

Perhaps he had already sensed his own fate.

He simply stopped struggling.

Liu Haizhong resigned himself, but those who came with him would not resign themselves.

When disaster looms, each flies off on their own.

You, Liu Haizhong, are the team captain; we are the team members. We follow your instructions as team captain, and even if we make mistakes, the responsibility lies with you, Liu Haizhong, and has nothing to do with us.

None of them are stupid.

Their ears are not deaf either.

Each tried to clear themselves while indiscriminately piling the blame on Liu Haizhong's head.

Any word they could think of, regardless of truth or reason, they all hurled at Liu Haizhong; some perhaps had the idea of kicking a man when he's down, and they even gave Liu Haizhong a few hard kicks.

This behavior.

Back when Liu Haizhong was unharmed.

They wouldn't dare do it even if given a hundred courages.

Now they do it as a matter of course, even placing themselves under the banner of righteousness; to Liu Haizhong, it's truly a joke.

Shazhu let out a helpless sigh, then turned his gaze toward Xu Daming, who had been summoned by the Security Section, watching Xu Daming have people drag Liu Haizhong away like a dead pig, and watching Xu Daming, in the role of leader, question Liu Haizhong's former subordinates.

Fate.

This is the only word Shazhu can think of while watching all this unfold before his eyes.

Miraculous fate.

In the reenactment of certain events.

In the previous life.

When Liu Haizhong was team captain, bringing disaster to Yagangchang, Xu Daming used the pretext of Liu Haizhong's greed to pull him down from his position.

In this life.

In this life, Liu Haizhong, as team captain, ran roughshod over Yagangchang, yet Xu Daming still brought about his downfall.

The difference between the two.

In the previous life, those events revolved around Xu Daming's former wife, Lou Xiaoe, and Liu Haizhong was still the culprit who ruined her family.

In this life, Liu Haizhong mistakenly aimed his spear at himself, and Xu Daming, using the accusation that Liu Haizhong slandered Shazhu, directly blew the matter out of proportion.

It was reported to Deputy Factory Director Li.

When the rabbit is dead, the hound is cooked.

Having lost his usefulness, Liu Haizhong was callously discarded by Deputy Factory Director Li; he was stripped of his position as captain of Yagangchang's Elderly Assault Team and assigned to be an ordinary janitor cleaning toilets.

Those who had previously swarmed around Liu Haizhong like flies, seeing the situation turn unfavorable, all rushed to Xu Daming's side, expressing their sincerity to him; to demonstrate their supposed severing of ties with Liu Haizhong, they greeted him with increasingly harsh words and actions.

These matters.

They had nothing to do with Shazhu.

He only knew he was safe, no longer needing to live in fear of being schemed against by Liu Haizhong.

Strictly speaking.

Shazhu also counts as a beneficiary; Liu Haizhong must compensate him with a new bicycle, to be settled within a week—this is one of the lenient conditions Deputy Factory Director Li imposed on Liu Haizhong, with no room for negotiation.

After work.

He walked to his parents‑in‑law's house.

After dinner.

He briefly explained the matter to Yu Li and his parents‑in‑law, then took Yu Li and the children, and despite his parents‑in‑law's reluctance, returned to the siheyuan.

The atmosphere.

This is the point that left the deepest impression on Shazhu regarding the changes in the siheyuan.

Back when Liu Haizhong was in power.

The siheyuan was extremely oppressive, as if the air hardly circulated, giving a strong sense of suffocation from being unable to breathe.

Nowadays.

The entire siheyuan rarely showed a hint of pleasure.

Perhaps it was to celebrate seeing the sky after the clouds parted.

The residents of the front, middle, and rear courtyards were all eating well; Shazhu, with his keen sense of smell, caught a whiff of meat in the air.

They spent today as if it were the big New Year.

From this, one can see how unpopular Liu Haizhong is.

He doesn't use his brain.

He doesn't leave himself an escape route.

From now on, Liu Haizhong should tuck his tail and behave properly.

"Wife, let's take our son and daughter home together."

He said to Yu Li beside him, and the two of them—one holding the son, the other holding the daughter—entered the siheyuan along the steps.

Probably because they haven't seen each other in a while.

Yu Li's appearance.

It was met with a burst of cheers.

"Is that Yu Li? Yu Li, you're back."

The speaker.

It was Third Aunt.

As for Yu Li, the old lady genuinely likes her.

"Is this the girl?"

"Third Aunt, the girl."

"What's her name? She looks pretty cute, like Yu Li, not like Shazhu."

"Old woman, what you're saying is nonsense; a perfectly fine girl, if she took after Shazhu, how could she ever get married?"

"San Daye, your words are boring; I, after all, am a promising young man."

"Being young and capable, San Daye acknowledges that, but as a good young man, you Shazhu are still a bit lacking."

"San Daye, we haven't seen each other in over ten days; you've become much more cheerful, with a smile on your face—what's the meaning? Could it be that Third Aunt is pregnant again?"

"Get lost, what nonsense are you talking? How old is Third Aunt, still pregnant? It's..."

Yan Fugui briefly recounted their family's affairs; Xu Daming didn't know what to do, so he clung to Deputy Factory Director Li's thigh, replacing Liu Haizhong as captain of the Yagangchang Elderly Assault Team; now this Elderly Assault Team has been changed by Xu Daming into the Youth Assault Team.

Xu Daming, as captain, helped Yan Fugui out.

This is also why Yan Fugui's family has remained in the siheyuan to this day.

Without Xǔ Dàmào, Yan Fugui's family reckoned they'd really have to wander all over the place; no need to think about now, Yan Jiecheng alone went out of town.