Chapter 44: The Verbal War God vs. The Cleaver Warrior!

He Yuzhu was speechless.

“Ask it yourself—do you even have chickens at home? Do you have any chickens at all?”

Xu Damao completely ignored Sha Zhu’s words.

“Don’t play dumb with me—two days ago I brought home two chickens, kept them in our coop for two days, and now they’re gone.”

Although He Yuzhu saw Lou Xiaoe come in too, he paid no attention to the couple.

“What’s that got to do with me?”

Lou Xiaoe feared they’d start fighting again, so she glanced toward the pot as she spoke.

“What’s going on?”

Xu Damao, pointing insistently at the chicken in the pot, told his wife: “Ezi, look, look!”

Lou Xiaoe’s family was wealthy and didn’t care about one or two chickens—but she couldn’t stand others stealing from her.

Lou Xiaoe whined in a high-pitched voice: “Shǎ Zhù, you’re too greedy! Even if you’re hungry, you can’t steal our chickens—neither of us dared eat them, we saved them for eggs!”

He Yuzhu was furious and stopped trying to explain—he just nodded.

“You two really ought to think about your egg-laying problem.”

Lou Xiaoe, seeing Sha Zhu causing trouble, glared with wide eyes and opened her mouth to curse: “Hey! You—”

Xu Damao, of course, refused to tolerate this.

“Are you insulting my dignity? Fine, I’m gonna—”

He picked up the fire poker and swung it toward Sha Zhu.

Lou Xiaoe knew her husband’s nature—pulling him back only made him more aggressive.

He Yuzhu, seeing Xu Damao brandishing weapons in his own home, snapped: “What are you doing?”

Seeing his wife had grabbed his arm, Xu Damao felt emboldened.

“I’m finishing this with you today!”

He Yuzhu knew Xu Damao wouldn’t dare charge—he picked up a cleaver and taunted: “Come on then!”

Xu Damao bit the rope, handed it to Lou Xiaoe, and shouted: “Don’t hold me back!”

Seeing Xu Damao retreat further with every shout, He Yuzhu pushed the cleaver forward: “Come on, come here!”

Xu Damao, seeing this chicken thief dare to be more arrogant than him, still dared not confront him face-to-face—he could only fume helplessly at his wife.

“Ezi, go call someone! Get Da-Ye, Er-Ye, and San-Ye over here!”

Lou Xiaoe ran out at Xu Damao’s words; Qin Huaiju, washing clothes in the yard, heard the commotion and came inside—the two women faced each other but said nothing.

He Yuzhu kept mocking Xu Damao: “You’re just a rooster—only tramples eggs, never lays any.”

These words enraged Xu Damao—he swung the fire poker left and right, but kept backing up, nearly retreating into Sha Zhu’s western room.

The Verbal War God vs. The Cleaver Warrior!

Round one!!!

Qin Huaiju rushed forward to mediate between Sha Zhu and Xu Damao.

“Put it down! Put it down! And you—throw that fire poker down! What are you two doing?!”

Sha Zhu always listened to Qin Huaiju—he immediately set down the cleaver at her plea.

Seeing Sha Zhu put his weapon down, Xu Damao quickly tossed aside the fire poker too.

Don’t give them a chance to back down later.

The Verbal War God OUT!

Facing Qin Huaiju’s question, He Yuzhu raised his hand: “Did you see that? Is this reasonable? I’m a cook—accusing a cook of stealing chickens? Is that fair?”

This made no logical sense—but those familiar with the trade knew: every cook stole a little. It was an unwritten rule. Cooks didn’t need to steal—they just took what they needed.

In the meantime, Lou Xiaoe had fetched Er-Ye, who had just returned from work.

Seeing his ally arrive, Xu Damao’s confidence surged—he whined: “Er-Ye, you’re just in time! Judge this: two days ago, I screened a film for Hongxing Commune, and they gave me two hens as thanks—you know about this, right?”

Er-Ye was stunned upon entering but remembered the incident.

He nodded: “I know.”

Xu Damao pointed accusingly at the chicken in the pot: “When I got home, I saw only one chicken left in the coop—look here!”

Er-Ye followed his gaze, studied it closely, scooped up a piece of chicken with his spoon—saliva already dripping from his mouth.

Er-Ye looked up at Sha Zhu.

“Smells good. Sha Zhu, did you do this?”

He Yuzhu, wrongly accused, shouted: “Go get yourself glasses!”

Qin Huaiju stepped in front of Sha Zhu—first to stop him from hitting anyone, second to prevent him from revealing that Banggeng had stolen the chicken.

None of them noticed the strange expression on Qin Huaiju’s face.

Er-Ye felt like Sherlock Holmes had possessed him.

Sherlock Holmes * Hai Zhong vs. The Stubborn Mouth Warrior

Round two!

Er-Ye demanded: “Stop talking nonsense—tell me, where did you get the chicken?”

He Yuzhu bluffed: “I bought it. What’s it to you?”

Er-Ye naturally didn’t believe him—in this era, eating a chicken was like celebrating the New Year.

“Bought it? Where?”

Seeing he couldn’t explain himself, He Yuzhu resorted to brazen defiance.

“I stole it. So what?”

The Stubborn Mouth Warrior OUT!

Hearing this, Xu Damao flew into a rage—he’d never met such a shameless person!

Er-Ye felt triumphant: the chicken thief Sha Zhu had been cornered, forced to admit his crime right before him.

Er-Ye had no patience for further pretense—he prepared to convene a meeting, instructing Xu Damao:

“You admit it’s stolen? Fine. Go notify Da-Ye and San-Ye. Call a full courtyard meeting.”

Xu Damao beamed: “Got it!”

Qin Huaiju, seeing the situation escalate, tried to stop Xu Damao—but now, for once, Xu Damao used his strength—he bolted out the door.

Bidi Ge

“No! Xu Damao! Er-Ye, is this really worth a full courtyard meeting over?”

Seeing she couldn’t stop Xu Damao, Qin Huaiju turned to Er-Ye: “Please, Er-Ye—”

Er-Ye saw Sha Zhu sitting at the table, uncorking a bottle of liquor—he was openly defying Sherlock Holmes * Hai Zhong’s authority! He wouldn’t let this slide.

Er-Ye raised the stakes: “What do you mean ‘worth it’?! This is about moral character! In this courtyard for over ten years, not even a needle or thread has gone missing—now a chicken vanishes—is that a small matter?”

Qin Huaiju’s brow furrowed—once moral character was involved, the consequences were grave.

She feared Sha Zhu would crack under the public hearing—no one wanted to be branded morally corrupt. If Sha Zhu revealed the truth—that Banggeng stole the chicken—they’d never survive in this courtyard.

So she quickly said: “That’s not what I meant, Er-Ye. Aren’t you the second boss of this courtyard? You can settle this right here. And even if we don’t know yet whether Sha Zhu stole it, let’s all search first—if the chicken turns up somewhere, we’ll have wronged Sha Zhu.”