Chapter 97: Yi Zhonghai

"Oh, Old Lady, you might not know, but Yi Dama has already taken the money and run. If we hadn't returned in time and blocked her, she really would have taken the money and run. Fortunately, we blocked her, and Yi Dama returned the living expenses that my father, He Daqing, had mailed over all these years to me."

"Yi Zhonghai only saved up this much money. He paid about five thousand a while ago, and now he returned three thousand to me. Yi Dama only has a few hundred left in her hands, so she simply transferred the house to me."

"As for Yi Zhonghai, don't even think about it. The court has already detained him. This time, the Great Leader is personally leading the five-party joint trial, adhering to the principles of being strict, heavy, and fast. Yi Zhonghai has done so many insane and conscience-less things, he will definitely eat a lead bullet."

"It's quite possible that in these few days, Yi Zhonghai's verdict will be delivered. You should hurry up and make plans early," He Yuzhu said, signaling the Deaf Old Lady to leave.

The Deaf Old Lady, however, was feigning deafness and dumbness, playing the fool, sitting there without moving, as if she didn't understand He Yuzhu's meaning of driving her away.

He Yuzhu couldn't help but sneer, directly grabbed the Deaf Old Lady, dragged her out of the house, and then took a lock from his Consciousness Space and locked the door tight.

Fearing that one lock wasn't enough, He Yuzhu synthesized another lock from his Consciousness Space, locked the door securely, and then returned directly to his main room.

Only the Deaf Old Lady's desperate and lonely figure was left standing in the courtyard. After a long time, the Deaf Old Lady tremblingly turned and returned to her own house.

He Yuzhu really wanted to tidy up his house well. He had to endure it when there were no conditions, but now that there were conditions, why not tidy up his living place well and make it as comfortable as possible?

After returning home, He Yuzhu started cooking. Life is nothing more than clothing, food, housing, and transportation. At this stage, the clothing and transportation issues couldn't be solved, so he would solve the food and housing issues first. Regarding housing and food, no matter when, He Yuzhu would do his best to satisfy himself.

Originally, Li Huaide wanted to have He Yuzhu stay to cook a special meal, but since various parties were present, and these parties represented various departments, the Great Leader dared not have any overstepping behavior at this time, eating the same as the workers. Seeing this, Li Huaide had no choice but to cancel the special meal.

With the return of the people from the Siheyuan, the Siheyuan gradually became lively. Every household had cooking smoke rising, except for the Deaf Old Lady's house, which was pitch black and had no movement.

The Deaf Old Lady lay on the bed like a lifeless statue, not moving at all.

After a long time, the Deaf Old Lady murmured: "Everything was fine, how did it become like this?"

Everything started to change from the death of Jia Dongxu.

When the Deaf Old Lady learned that Jia Dongxu had died, she was quite happy. Yi Zhonghai wanted Jia Dongxu to support him in his old age, while the Deaf Old Lady favored He Yuzhu; there was a disagreement between the two.

Once Jia Dongxu died, there was no disagreement between them. If Yi Zhonghai wanted to be supported in his old age, he could only rely on He Yuzhu. The Deaf Old Lady thought things were developing in a good direction, but she didn't expect the situation to take a sharp turn for the worse. In just about a week, Jia Dongxu was sent down to the countryside, Yi Zhonghai was detained, and Yi Dama ran away.

The perfectly good old-age support group instantly fell apart!

The Deaf Old Lady couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she thought. Just as the Deaf Old Lady was letting her imagination run wild, a commotion came from inside the Siheyuan.

"Old Lady, are you home?" Liu Haizhong shouted at the door.

"I'm home. Is that Little Liu? My leg is injured, you can just come in," the Deaf Old Lady said, too lazy to move.

The Deaf Old Lady still wanted to sell her misery and fool Liu Haizhong again, letting Liu Haizhong hold a full-courtyard meeting to call on everyone to support her in her old age. The Deaf Old Lady was quite experienced in how to manipulate Liu Haizhong.

The Deaf Old Lady's plan was good, but she didn't expect that it wasn't just Liu Haizhong who entered the door.

Liu Haizhong entered the room first, then felt for the light string behind the door and turned on the electric light. Subsequently, Director Wang from the Street Office and Station Chief Zhang from the Police Station entered the room, and outside the room were the people of the Siheyuan watching the excitement.

"Old Lady, Lao Yi's verdict has come down: execution by firing squad in three days! Originally, this verdict was to be given to Yi Dama, but Yi Dama ran away, and you are Lao Yi's godmother, so the verdict can only be delivered to you," Liu Haizhong said with a pained face.

Liu Haizhong was very happy when he learned that Yi Zhonghai had been detained. He thought he would be even happier when he received the verdict, but he didn't expect that when the verdict was delivered to the Siheyuan, Liu Haizhong didn't feel the joy he had imagined in his heart; instead, he felt a sense of loss.

"Is there no room for mitigation?" The Deaf Old Lady tremblingly got out of bed, her face deathly pale like a zombie, murmuring to herself.

"Originally, if this matter had been handled through connections, there would have been room for mitigation, and even if there wasn't, it wouldn't have been so fast. But the Rolling Mill Security Section had an explosion and such a major incident, so Lao Yi ran into the muzzle of the gun... Sigh, this is all fate!" Liu Haizhong sighed.

The Deaf Old Lady understood that everything had to yield to power, but the Deaf Old Lady really didn't expect it to be so fast.

After the Deaf Old Lady tremblingly took the verdict, she looked at it unwillingly, reading it over and over again. The Deaf Old Lady still couldn't believe that Yi Zhonghai was going to be gone just like that.

"Old Lady, the matter of Yi Zhonghai is a foregone conclusion and cannot be changed. Regarding your old-age support, there are now three choices for you," Director Wang suddenly said.

As soon as Director Wang said this, the Deaf Old Lady seemed to come to life, her eyes lighting up, staring closely at Director Wang.

"The first choice: you stay in the Siheyuan yourself, and the Street Office will handle a low-income household status for you, issuing you a certain amount of money and coupons every month to guarantee your basic life and see you through to the end. After you pass away, this house will belong to the Street Office."

"The second choice: go to a nursing home, all expenses will be covered by the nursing home, and your house will belong to the public."

"The third choice: hold a full-courtyard meeting in the Siheyuan to see who is willing to support you in your old age and see you through to the end. Whoever supports you, your house will belong to them," Director Wang said.

In the final analysis, it was because the Deaf Old Lady's house was a private residence. If it weren't a private residence, Director Wang wouldn't be polite to the Deaf Old Lady at all and would have sent her directly to a nursing home.

"I want Zhuzi to support me in my old age and see me through to the end. After I leave, my house and everything behind me will belong to Zhuzi," the Deaf Old Lady said.

Liu Haizhong and the people watching the excitement outside the door didn't understand the Deaf Old Lady's words, but Director Wang and Station Chief Zhang understood. Director Wang and Station Chief Zhang looked at each other; they didn't expect the Deaf Old Lady to have such a rich family foundation.

If the Deaf Old Lady only had a house, she wouldn't have said 'everything behind me'; if there weren't so many people, the Deaf Old Lady would have used the word 'family assets' instead of 'everything behind me'.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the Deaf Old Lady was cunningly saying some ambiguous words to fool people.

"Old Lady, this matter isn't about you designating whoever you want to support you. You want He Yuzhu to support you in your old age and see you through to the end, but I have to ask He Yuzhu's opinion. What if He Yuzhu doesn't want to support you?" Director Wang said.

Director Wang was 99% sure that He Yuzhu would not support the Deaf Old Lady. If He Yuzhu had any intention of supporting the Deaf Old Lady, he wouldn't treat her this way. Director Wang had an informant in the Siheyuan, and the informant would record the things that happened in the Siheyuan and hand them to Director Wang. Director Wang naturally knew about He Yuzhu beating the Deaf Old Lady.

"Little Wang, you should still help me ask first," the Deaf Old Lady said stubbornly.

"No need to ask. I will not support this old deaf woman in her old age," He Yuzhu's voice came.

He Yuzhu's house was the main room of the Siheyuan. When Director Wang and Station Chief Zhang came, He Yuzhu naturally saw them. He Yuzhu guessed that these two were likely here to deliver Yi Zhonghai's verdict, because in the entire Siheyuan, only the Deaf Old Lady and Yi Zhonghai had some connection, so He Yuzhu followed them over.

"Why?" the Deaf Old Lady asked.

"Because I don't believe you. You and Yi Zhonghai are birds of a feather. Let alone what you say, I don't believe a single punctuation mark in your words."

"In the past, I was fooled by you and Yi Zhonghai into becoming a fool, unable to see your true colors. Now, I see your true colors. You deserve this end. This end of yours is worthy of your character and your actions," He Yuzhu said bluntly.

"Zhuzi, Grandma admits that Grandma didn't consider your feelings when doing things in the past, but everything Grandma did was for your own good," the Deaf Old Lady said with a bitter and earnest look.

It seemed that because Director Wang, Station Chief Zhang, and all the beasts of the Siheyuan were present, the Deaf Old Lady felt emboldened.

"Do you know what I find most annoying about you? The first is climbing relationships and getting close, coming up and acting like an elder, then openly pointing fingers at me, thereby controlling my life and making me your puppet."

"Secondly, it's doing the same thing in the name of 'for your own good', openly pointing fingers at me, thereby controlling my life and making me your puppet."

"If you really are doing it for my own good, then give me all your house and family assets, and then go to the nursing home to fend for yourself. That would be truly for my own good."

"I believe that a real grandmother, let alone giving up these things for her own grandson, would do it immediately even if it meant giving up her life. Would you do that?" He Yuzhu said with disdain.

Upon hearing this, the Deaf Old Lady widened her eyes in horror, looked at He Yuzhu in disbelief, and was completely stunned. The Deaf Old Lady didn't expect He Yuzhu to say such things.

Although such words were somewhat conscience-less, a grandmother giving up everything, including her life, for her own grandson—although she hadn't seen such things, she had heard of them quite often.

The Deaf Old Lady was dumbfounded. The Deaf Old Lady still wanted to live, to live comfortably. How could she give up everything for He Yuzhu?

Impossible!

Simply impossible!

"Hehe, since you can't do it, what face do you have to call yourself my grandmother?" He Yuzhu sneered, then turned and left.

Having time to waste breath here with the old deaf woman, it would be better to go home and cook something delicious, then drink a little wine. Wouldn't that be beautiful?

"Old Lady, can you do what He Yuzhu said?" Director Wang sarcastically mocked the Deaf Old Lady, then said: "Since He Yuzhu is unwilling to support you in your old age and see you through to the end, what is your intention? Are you going to a nursing home, or letting the Street Office be responsible for supporting you, or holding a full-courtyard meeting?"

"Let's hold a full-courtyard meeting," the Deaf Old Lady said dejectedly and helplessly.

In fact, after being rejected by He Yuzhu, the Deaf Old Lady had a plan in her heart. The Deaf Old Lady was prepared to let Yan Bugui support her in her old age. Looking at the entire Siheyuan, the most suitable family to support her in her old age was Yan Bugui's family.

Although Yan Bugui was very stingy, he still had basic professional ethics. If he said he would support you, he would support you. Of course, the house after the old lady died must also be given to the Yan family.

However, letting the Yan family support her could only guarantee that the Deaf Old Lady wouldn't starve to death. Wanting to spend her old age comfortably was out of the question. Let alone being comfortable, if she could avoid arguing over trivial matters, the Deaf Old Lady would be burning high incense.

Even though the Yan family had various shortcomings, the Yan family wouldn't deliberately do evil, for example, blocking the Deaf Old Lady's chimney in winter, letting the Deaf Old Lady die in the house, so as to get the Deaf Old Lady's house and family assets in the shortest time.

The Yan family still had a bottom line.

But not much. The Deaf Old Lady really had no other way, because others were simply untrustworthy.

The Deaf Old Lady had a plan, so the full-courtyard meeting became a formality. In the end, the Deaf Old Lady and the Yan family teamed up to live, the Yan family was responsible for supporting the Deaf Old Lady in her old age and seeing her through to the end, and the Deaf Old Lady would give the house to the Yan family after she died.

Yan Bugui calculated very clearly; this deal was a sure win. The Deaf Old Lady's house was worth at least six hundred yuan, calculated based on the current market. The further it went, the more expensive the house would definitely be.

How many more years could the Deaf Old Lady live?

Even if she lived for ten years, Yan Bugui wouldn't lose. The Deaf Old Lady's monthly living expenses were calculated at five yuan, sixty a year, six hundred in ten years. Moreover, others didn't know, but Yan Bugui knew that the Deaf Old Lady definitely had family assets, and quite a lot of them.

As one of the first batches of people to move into the Siheyuan, the Yan family knew a little bit about the Deaf Old Lady's background. This four-courtyard Siheyuan was originally the Deaf Old Lady's. The Deaf Old Lady saw that the situation was not right, so she sold some of the Siheyuan and donated some, only then obtaining the status of a Five-Guarantee Household.

How could the Deaf Old Lady not have some things at the bottom of the box? If she said the Deaf Old Lady had no money, Yan Bugui might believe it, but if she said the Deaf Old Lady had no big yellow fish, small yellow fish, jewelry, jade, cultural relics, or antiques, Yan Bugui wouldn't believe it.

"Old wife, the Deaf Old Lady is handed over to you. Don't probe the Deaf Old Lady's family assets in the early stages; gain her trust first. After gaining her trust, slowly get her family assets over," Yan Bugui said with the posture of sitting firmly on the fishing platform.

"Will that old deaf woman leak the bottom?" San Dama said, not believing it.

"She definitely will. The Deaf Old Lady's mouth is very picky. We eat coarse tea and plain rice every day, and she follows our standard. Three or five days is fine, ten days or half a month she can also endure. Once the time is long, I don't believe she can endure it."

"As long as she goes out to steal food, she will leak the bottom. Once she leaks the bottom, our opportunity will come. Don't rush this matter; we'll take it slowly. Time is on our side, the advantage is with me," Yan Bugui said with the look of having wisdom in his grasp.

San Dama couldn't help but nod. Obviously, San Dama also believed that the Deaf Old Lady had some family assets.

While Yan Bugui's family started to enjoy a beautiful life, the Deaf Old Lady lay on the bed at home with a gloomy face, pondering how to spend the rest of her life.

The Deaf Old Lady thought for a long time and had to admit that if she wanted to live well for the rest of her life, she still had to hold onto He Yuzhu tightly. Regarding how to hold onto He Yuzhu tightly, the Deaf Old Lady racked her brains for half the night and finally thought of an idea.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 98 =====