Chapter 19: Yan Bugui Turns Against Them and Confesses

He Yuzhu's behavior was simply putting the leaders present on a fire to roast. Since things had reached this point, even if these leaders had the heart to be biased, they wouldn't dare.

Factory Director Yang and the others also understood He Yuzhu's meaning: as long as he wasn't satisfied with today's matter, he would turn around and go to the stone lion in front of Zhongnanhai to smash his head.

Factory Director Yang and the others felt a sharp pain in their back molars, understanding that if this matter spread, they wouldn't even be able to be slightly biased in the future, let alone engage in favoritism or malpractice.

Factory Director Yang and the others felt extremely aggrieved, not expecting to be manipulated by a small cook, yet they had no way to deal with it. They couldn't just say, "I will engage in favoritism and malpractice; I am a distortion of human nature and a loss of morality," could they?

At the same time, Factory Director Yang and the others also hated Yi Zhonghai to the extreme. How could Yi Zhonghai have so much face? He was purely bragging. Yi Zhonghai, you can brag if you want, but don't drag us into it.

Factory Director Yang and the others instinctively believed He Yuzhu's words. Where would they know that He Yuzhu was purely splashing dirty water on Yi Zhonghai?

Why could Yi Zhonghai splash dirty water on the people in the courtyard without restraint, while He Yuzhu couldn't splash dirty water on Yi Zhonghai without restraint?

The Deaf Old Lady looked at He Yuzhu with an extremely ugly expression. Although the Deaf Old Lady craved He Yuzhu's craftsmanship and liked the foolishness of the old Shazhu, she relied on the Yi Zhonghai couple for her old age. When choosing between the two, she naturally leaned towards Yi Zhonghai.

The Deaf Old Lady also knew that this was He Yuzhu slandering Yi Zhonghai. Not only did the Deaf Old Lady see it, but Yan Bugui also saw it. Based on their understanding of Yi Zhonghai, Yi Zhonghai was so cunning that it was impossible for him to say such things blatantly.

Yi Zhonghai would only use a way that could be understood but not spoken, saying some things that existed as facts but were highly misleading, letting the people in the courtyard fill in the blanks themselves, thus perfectly forming this misunderstanding.

If one really wanted to be serious, Yi Zhonghai could completely deny it. However, some things are not things you can deny just because you want to; it depends on what the leaders think.

Even if Factory Director Yang firmly believed that Yi Zhonghai would not say such things, there would still be a thorn in his heart. This was human nature.

"Comrade He Yuzhu, rest assured. Please believe in our Party spirit and loyalty to the organization. We will absolutely not engage in favoritism or malpractice, nor will we be biased towards anyone," Director Zheng solemnly reiterated.

Once Director Zheng took a stand, the others had to take a stand too. They couldn't not take a stand.

At this time, Cheng Qiang, who had gone to the hospital to inquire about the news, returned and handed a small notebook to Section Chief Ma. Section Chief Ma flipped through the notebook and indicated that he had an idea.

"Then let's begin!" Section Chief Ma straightened his body, saluted the people in the Siheyuan, and said sternly: "Before investigating the case of He Yuzhu being jointly slandered by Jia Zhangshi and Yi Zhonghai, some things need to be solemnly declared."

"First, declare that our policy is leniency for those who confess and severity for those who resist!"

"Secondly, lying, giving false testimony, and colluding are also illegal. If you violate this, you will be detained for fifteen days at the lightest, and face up to three years in a labor camp at the heaviest."

"Finally, I hope everyone recognizes the situation, does not wrong a good person, and does not let a bad person go."

"Director Wang, please give the order to let the neighbors go back to their homes. I will conduct separate interrogations."

"Everyone, please rest assured. This interrogation will be absolutely confidential and will be conducted by people from the district. I will not let people from the street, the police station, or the security section interfere. You can completely feel free to speak your mind," Section Chief Ma said coldly.

As soon as Section Chief Ma finished speaking, the Deaf Old Lady's face turned deathly pale. She knew that her trick of unifying their stories wouldn't work.

Yi Zhonghai had offended quite a few people in the past two years. What kind of years were these past two years? Disaster years!

Yi Zhonghai had forced everyone to donate grain to the Jia family more than once. Yes, donate grain. In these times, even if you had money, you couldn't buy grain, except by going to the black market to buy high-priced grain.

However, that kind of place was not where people like them could go. If things went wrong, they wouldn't be able to buy grain and would be robbed clean, and if things were more serious, they might even lose their lives.

When people are hungry, they have no rationality. Morality, law, and the like will all be abandoned. They are single-mindedly focused on eating; only by eating more things can they survive. In the face of life and death, everything must give way.

In a famine year, making people donate grain was even more hateful than killing their parents or cutting off their future, because it was aimed at taking people's lives. Grain was already scarce; if they didn't survive because they ate one less mouthful, this was a life-and-death feud.

Yi Zhonghai also understood this principle, but he did it anyway. One reason was to test his control over the Siheyuan;

The second was to create enemies for the Jia family, making the Jia family have to rely on him; the third was naturally to use everyone's strength to support the Jia family.

Once there was a first time, there would be a second time, and once there was a second time, there would be countless times. Facts proved that Yi Zhonghai succeeded; not only did he control the Siheyuan to a large extent, but he also achieved the goal he wanted to achieve.

The devil is one foot tall, but the Tao is ten feet tall.

No matter how cunning Yi Zhonghai and the Deaf Old Lady were, they couldn't fight against extremely professional personnel. Although Section Chief Ma followed He Yuzhu's suggestion, even if He Yuzhu hadn't suggested doing this, Section Chief Ma would have done it anyway.

Did they really think Section Chief Ma was just eating for free? This kind of separate interrogation was basic operation for Section Chief Ma.

This measure directly broke the situation.

When there was nothing going on, Yi Zhonghai could suppress it by force, but now it was impossible to suppress it by force. Someone would definitely tell the truth, and some might even be like He Yuzhu, crazily retaliating against Yi Zhonghai and speaking ill of him with added intensity.

When Director Wang heard this, she understood Section Chief Ma's meaning. Wasn't it just to prevent collusion? Director Wang directly gave the order to let the people in the Siheyuan go back to their homes and not to communicate.

The people in the Siheyuan immediately went home.

Qin Huairu had been watching coldly from the sidelines and had no intention of coming forward at all.

Originally, Qin Huairu had lost all hope. The pillar of the family had fallen, and future survival was a problem. Qin Huairu had been immersed in great grief until He Yuzhu said that Qin Huairu could take over the job and bring the children to settle their household registration in the city, at which point a bit of vitality returned to her eyes.

But it was only a bit of vitality. Qin Huairu was still immersed in grief and confusion about the future. The whole person was kneeling blankly in front of the mourning hall holding Bang Geng. Only after hearing Director Wang's scolding did she return to her home with the help of San Dama.

Director Wang scanned the area and found that everyone else had returned, leaving only Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong still in the courtyard. Director Wang frowned and glared at Yan Bugui and Liu Haizhong.

Yan Bugui saw that the people in the Siheyuan had all returned, so he quickly raised his hand and said: "Government, I... I confess! I am the courtyard's Third Grand Uncle, Yan Bugui. I confess to the government."

He couldn't not confess!

Yan Bugui was very smart. It could be said that Yan Bugui was one of the few people in the entire Siheyuan who could completely see through Yi Zhonghai's plan.

Section Chief Ma's move hit everyone's vital point directly. The people in the Siheyuan were just ordinary commoners, not specially trained enemy agents, and they couldn't withstand the other party's methods.

As soon as Section Chief Ma and the others intimidated them a little, someone would definitely confess the truth of the matter.

If you don't say it, there are plenty of people who will.

Rather than passively letting others confess the truth of the matter, it was better to take the initiative to confess himself.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 20 =====