Chapter 625

Yi Zhonghai's greatest skill is finding an advantage for himself in unfavorable circumstances, turning bad into good.

Upon hearing from He Yushui that the Jia family had driven Shazhu away, leading to his miserable death beneath the overpass, Yi Zhonghai initially felt a pang of panic and anxiety about his own retirement, thinking Shazhu died without a proper burial and that he too would follow Shazhu's fate—no one to dress him in mourning clothes or break his fire basin.

It was only a dozen or so minutes.

Then his spirits improved.

His mood brightened considerably.

The Jia family, constantly criticized for stabbing others in the back, surely suffered greatly, despised by neighbors and scolded by them.

This was also Yi Zhonghai's opportunity.

Think about it.

Think deeply.

If Yi Zhonghai used the allusion of Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing poisoning Wu Dalian to imply that Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu, among others, had poisoned Shazhu, what would be the result?

Being driven out of the house to die miserably would already condemn the Jia family for eternity; adding the nicknames "Jinlian Qin" and "Qing Jia" would mean they could never hold their heads high, even in death.

Yi Zhonghai believed he had seized the Jia family's weakness.

Thinking he now held this leverage.

Would the Jia family dare deny him his retirement?

That said.

Shazhu's tragic end gave Yi Zhonghai a small warning.

The Jia family cannot be trusted!

This is a fact.

Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, Bangeng, Xiao Dang, Huaihua, and other Jia family members—each a heartless beast who devours people without spitting out bones—relying on them for retirement is like seeking skin from a tiger; Yi Zhonghai would not repeat Shazhu's mistake, nor wish to meet a fate of bodily death and spiritual extinction, so it is necessary to discuss with the Jia family the tale of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian poisoning Wu Dalian.

Believing he had secured an escape route, Yi Zhonghai's lips twitched into an unnatural smile.

This startled He Yushui, who stood opposite him, surprised that Yi Zhonghai could still smile, though she did not dwell on it and turned to leave the hospital directly.

Informing Yi Zhonghai of Shazhu's expulsion by the Jia family and his death, in order to wound him deeply, was He Yushui's intention; she had indeed just witnessed Yi Zhonghai's heartbroken expression.

With conflicting emotions, she proceeded to do what she ought to do.

Many people are unaware.

He Yushui has actually maintained contact with Louxiaoe all along; she is among the few who know Louxiaoe's contact method. Her saying to Yi Zhonghai, "You look like someone without money," was not intentional exaggeration, but rather she had earned a little money following Louxiaoe, and now at least a hundred W lie in her bank account.

Traceable, clean money.

Earned from the stock market.

He Yushui intends to properly discuss Shazhu's tragic death with Louxiaoe.

Yi Zhonghai's words touched He Yushui's heart: when a person dies, someone breaking their fire basin for them is very important.

Otherwise, it is a fate of dying with unresolved resentment.

Talk with Louxiaoe, let Hexiao break the basin for Shazhu.

Of course.

Now Hexiao is called Lou Shuai.

When Louxiaoe first returned to contend with Qin Huairu for Shazhu and lost, she directly changed her child's name, altered the surname to Lou, and inserted the simple character "Shuai" into the name.

……

Meanwhile.

Yi Zhonghai walked with unsteady steps, shuffling one step at a time to the Red Star Courtyard.

He stood at the entrance.

Gazing dazedly at everything within the courtyard.

Not long ago.

He was the master of the courtyard, relying on the backing of the Dayuan ancestors and the deaf old matriarch, and with Shazhu—the courtyard's war god nicknamed "Blockhead"—as his enforcer, his word was law in the courtyard.

The tides of feng shui turn.

Glory is no more.

The deaf old matriarch is dead, Shazhu is dead, only Yi Zhonghai lingers in a feeble existence, and crucially, he is the last of his line.

Under the eaves, one must bow one's head.

Now the courtyard is no longer Yi Zhonghai's; it belongs to the Jia family. Living here means watching the Jia family's expressions.

He let out a long sigh.

With heavy steps, he walked toward the courtyard.

The front yard has no connection to the Jia family; their holdings in the courtyard are mainly concentrated in the rear and central yards.

Passing through the junction of the central and front yard gateways, Yi Zhonghai saw at a glance that all Jia family members were present: Jia Zhangshi sat on a stool basking in the sun, Qin Huairu sat diagonally opposite with eyes closed in meditation, and Bangeng, Xiao Dang, and Huaihua—three white-eyed wolves—either squatted or sat around, it unclear what they were saying.

Yi Zhonghai's heart instantly fell into turmoil.

The sight of the Jia family's descendants filling the hall stirred Yi Zhonghai, making him involuntarily recall some things he ought not to remember.

How he wished he had his own children, and then his own grandchildren.

Alas.

After a lifetime of effort, he ended up with no one to support him in old age, and furthermore, to secure his retirement, he had no choice but to discuss the tale of Wu Sangui's bloodstained Mandarin Duck Tower.

His gaze shifted between Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu.

All this is due to Yi Zhonghai's efforts; without his arrangement for Shazhu to support Qin Huairu, the Jia family could not have acquired such a vast estate.

To the Jia family, he is a meritorious figure.

The courtyard houses should rightfully be his two rooms—not no, but a return to the original owner: Louxiaoe bringing Hexiao back to contend for Shazhu, Yi Zhonghai, forced into compliance, could only appeal to Shazhu in the name of trust, ultimately transferring his two rooms into Shazhu's name.

Shazhu also supported Yi Zhonghai in his old age.

Only two years ago, after Shazhu gave all the houses in the siheyuan to the Jia family, the things inside the siheyuan had nothing to do with Yi Zhonghai.

He stayed in the hospital for a little over ten days.

Upon returning to the siheyuan, Yi Zhonghai suddenly felt a sense of things being the same but people changed.

He coughed once in his mouth.

He wanted to remind the Jia family that he, Yi Zhonghai, had returned; if Shazhu were alive, he would have come forward to greet him and ask what he wanted to eat, and he would help cook; but Shazhu is dead, and Yi Zhonghai no longer has good days in the siheyuan, which further solidified his intention to write an article using the story of Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing.

Based on his earlier cough, Yi Zhonghai coughed loudly again.

"Cough cough cough!"

Just as Yi Zhonghai had expected, hearing the coughing sound, the Jia family's five beasts in the courtyard each directed their gaze toward the source of the sound, gathering on Yi Zhonghai.

The beastly nature reached its fullest expression at this moment.

In Jia Zhangshi's eyes, there flowed infinite disdain for this old undying thing, Yi Zhonghai, returning to their Jia family, and she used her gaze to drive Yi Zhonghai away, urging him to leave the Jia family's siheyuan quickly.

This look made Yi Zhonghai feel weary.

Recalling the past, if it weren't for Jia Zhangshi kneeling before Yi Zhonghai begging for help, Yi Zhonghai would not have resorted to scheming Shazhu to support Qin Huairu; back then, he had prepared to tell Shazhu about a female comrade who would be grateful to him, Yi Zhonghai, to become Shazhu's wife, so as not to interfere with his own retirement.

It was Jia Zhangshi who, by claiming she had slept with Yi Zhonghai, manipulated him, leaving him no choice but to follow her scheme against Shazhu.

The Jia family had fallen on hard times.

I, Yi Zhonghai, am a great uncle.

The Jia family has risen again.

I, Yi Zhonghai, have become an annoying old undead.

In Qin Huairu's eyes, the sentiment was much the same as Jia Zhangshi's; she was not particularly pleased to see Yi Zhonghai, as his presence reminded her of some unpleasant past scenes—hanging onto Shazhu for a meal, and the unsavory history of colluding with Shazhu's rival, Damao, to sneak into the warehouse.

The widow had finally become the very person she despised, disdaining Yi Zhonghai in every way, and she did not want to recall the midnight relief Yi Zhonghai once gave her.

Bangeng, Xiao Dang, and Huaihua all had expressions of disdain on their faces.

At this moment, Shazhu's goodness became apparent: if Shazhu were alive, he would surely have seated Yi Zhonghai in the place of honor and provided tea and peanuts to support him; but since Shazhu died, the Jia family's five beasts did not regard Yi Zhonghai as even a scallion.

Otherwise, they would not have been called the Jia family's five beasts.

Unanimously, they treated Yi Zhonghai as if he were air.

Having taken an uninteresting Yi Zhonghai, and knowing he was not welcomed by the Jia family, if he were young, he would have already swung a big slap.

He is old.

Retirement is important.

Putting on an act of magnanimity in forgiving petty offenses, he strode forward, came before Jia Zhangshi, casually pulled over a stool, and sat down heavily.

You won't let me sit? I'll sit myself.

I'll just rely on the Jia family.

Jia Zhangshi's mood worsened further; when Shazhu was alive, you, Yi Zhonghai, were the master in our Jia family; now that Shazhu is dead, you, Yi Zhonghai, still don't treat yourself as an outsider in our Jia family—did Shazhu die for nothing?

He began to sneer and mock, pointing at mulberry trees while cursing locust trees.

"Aiyo, when people grow old, they need to save face and have self-awareness; otherwise, wherever they go, they'll be despised, said to have been poorly educated by their parents, said to have disgraced their parents—someone over a hundred years old, can't they do things reliably? Still clinging to life, refusing to leave—what are you trying to do?"

Yi Zhonghai deployed the skill he once learned from the deaf old lady—feigning deafness and muteness.

He pretended not to have heard.

He even echoed a sentence in agreement.

"Grandma Bangeng said something reasonable: whether adult or child, one must be polite and not do things that invite dislike; live to old age, learn to old age, but cannot be arrogant and complacent, thinking oneself a notable figure, full of bovine pride—Bangeng, you are now the Jia family's main beam, representing the Jia family; your words, deeds, and conduct must bear grace; Xiao Dang and Huaihua, though you are girls, you bear the Jia surname, and the Jia family is no longer what it once was; this siheyuan is entirely yours, the Jia family's; you must let people see the Jia family's foundation, and also set a good example for the children."

Jia Zhangshi was bewildered.

Qin Huairu was dumbfounded.

Bangeng and the three were stunned.

Has Yi Zhonghai lost his sense of self?

Who gave him the face to lecture them, the Jia family's five beasts? If it weren't for Yi Zhonghai's arrangements, Shazhu could have been driven out by the Jia family to die miserably.

This is all Yi Zhonghai's fault.

A vague sense of fear arose in his heart: if Yi Zhonghai ended up like Shazhu, needing to eat, drink, defecate, urinate, and sleep all in bed, what would the Jia family do?

They exchanged glances.

They considered whether to repeat the old trick of driving Yi Zhonghai out.

This morning, the Jia family's five great beasts had indeed argued over Shazhu's death until Tang Yanling shared the news she had specially gone out to gather: that He Yushui had dragged Shazhu's corpse to the funeral home, and in two or three days, a memorial service would be held; after the memorial, Shazhu would be taken to the crematorium for cremation, from start to finish requiring no Jia family involvement.

As for other rumors.

He heard nothing.

Instantly, the Jia family's five beasts felt reassured.

Jia Zhangshi, Qin Huairu, Xiao Dang, Huaihua, Bangeng, and others all felt the matter had just passed like that, with no further connection to their Jia family, not even a cent's worth.

Naturally, there was no need to worry about the captured matter; last night's discussion about Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu going out to attract lightning was also unnecessary.

Before Yi Zhonghai entered the door, the Jia family's five beasts were discussing one matter: how to handle Shazhu's aftermath.

The dead are gone.

The living remain.

Some things must be performed for outsiders to see.

The surrounding neighbors, more or less, knew some of the Jia family widow's and Shazhu's right and wrong, understood that the Jia family's five beasts were actually sustained by Shazhu's support, although the Jia family's five beasts gave the reason that 'Shazhu, upon learning of his paralysis, did not want to burden the Jia family, so he crawled out to end himself, and the Jia family felt sorrow and grief,' the fact that Shazhu died is true—he was Qin Huairu's man, the stepfather of Bangeng, Xiao Dang, and Huaihua, and for all these years, he had called Jia Zhangshi 'Mom,' a treatment even Daqing He never enjoyed.

The stepfather's death—should they wear mourning clothes and hold a funeral, or whatnot—all needed discussion.

Jia Zhangshi's view: Bangeng, Xiao Dang, and Huaihua's father is only one—Jia Family Dong Xu; even if they wear mourning, it should be for Jia Family Dong Xu.

Although Shazhu married Qin Huairu, this was merely the Jia family widow's unavoidable expedient for livelihood; it is not genuine and cannot be taken as real.

In Jia Zhangshi's words, full of the Jia family's repayment to Shazhu, she said that looking at Shazhu's years of support for the Jia family, they had not let Qin Huairu divorce Shazhu, which amounted to repaying Shazhu's great kindness.

There is no need to put on mourning clothes for Shazhu after his death; if one truly wore mourning attire to mourn Shazhu, it would be as if one had truly become Shazhu's son and daughter. I heard that now there is talk of property division, and if He Yushui uses Bangeng putting on mourning clothes for Shazhu as an excuse to propose dividing the Jia family's property in half, what would the Jia family do?

The county magistrate is not as good as the current manager.

He Yushui's man is a big shot in the district.

Jia Zhangshi's attitude is very clear: not only cannot put on mourning clothes for Shazhu, but even a wreath is not to be sent to Shazhu, treating it as if the Jia family had no such person as Shazhu.

Completely cut off ties with Shazhu from the root.

Qin Huairu's meaning is that Shazhu has helped the Jia family for so many years, and his death is so miserable, and it was caused by the Jia family themselves.

If Shazhu harbors resentment and comes back to find the Jia family on the seventh day after death, what should they do then?

The person is dead.

Reputation must be taken into account.

Using the matter of putting on mourning clothes to shut up certain people's mouths.

Two widows, two opinions, arguing endlessly.

Then they kicked the ball to Bangeng and his group, letting Bangeng and his group decide on their own; when Bangeng and the three could not make up their minds, the hypocrite Yi Zhonghai returned to the Siheyuan.