Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 33 Night Raid on the Backyard and the Postman's Wake-Up Call

Having successfully completed the initial stages of cultivating the "Divine Demon Visualization Technique" yesterday, Lin Yan's mental energy was greatly depleted. Instead of rushing to achieve quick results, he completely emptied his mind, left the space, and slept soundly on the newly made wooden bed with a soft cotton mattress until the next day when the sun was high in the sky.

He went downstairs early in the morning, feeling refreshed. His cousin and his wife were in the small dining room preparing breakfast. Lin Yan glanced at his Shanghai brand watch and asked in surprise, "Brother, why haven't you gone to work yet today?"

Upon hearing this, his cousin-in-law, Wang Cuihua, laughed and explained, "Xiao Yan, are you confused by your cultivation? Today is Sunday, the factory is closed."

Lin Yan was taken aback, then chuckled and shook his head, sighing, "Truly, in cultivation, time knows no bounds; the cold fades without a trace. Life is passing by so quickly, I've even forgotten what day it is."

After finishing a simple breakfast, Lin Yan called his cousin and his wife over and said in a low voice, "Brother, sister-in-law, I have made some progress in my soul refining technique. Also, a couple of days ago, when I used my divine sense to explore the courtyard, I discovered a secret..." He then recounted in detail how Yi Zhonghai had intercepted the living expenses that He Daqing had sent to Sha Zhu and his sister, and how he had hidden the remittance slips.

My cousin and his wife were also furious when they heard about this.

"Master, this man is hypocritical and vicious; he must not be let off lightly!" Cousin Lin Gang said in a deep voice.

"That's exactly what I meant." Lin Yan nodded and revealed his plan in detail. "I've recently learned a secret technique that can make people reveal the truth. I plan to find an opportunity to have Yi Zhonghai personally announce this matter to the public."

The cousin-in-law, being perceptive, added, "Master, Yi Zhonghai has been operating in this courtyard for many years, and his biggest backer is the deaf old lady in the backyard. If we want to take action against Yi Zhonghai, we must first find a way to prevent that old lady from interfering."

Lin Yan gave his sister-in-law an appreciative look: "Sister-in-law is absolutely right. That's exactly what I was thinking too. There's no need to take her life. Just let her sleep peacefully for a while, and she can wake up when the matter with Yi Zhonghai is settled."

Just do it.

At two o'clock that night, all was quiet, and the courtyard was completely asleep. Lin Yan, like a ghost, silently left the house and went straight to the old deaf woman's residence in the backyard.

With a slight thought, the latch on the door slid open silently. He slipped inside and went to the bedside. By the faint moonlight from the window, he could see that the deaf old woman was fast asleep.

Lin Yan held his breath and focused his mind, precisely locking onto the medulla oblongata region of the old woman's brain (an important part of the brainstem that controls basic life functions such as heartbeat and breathing). He carefully controlled a wisp of pure spiritual energy, slowly sending it in through his mouth and nose, eventually forming an energy field that gently pressed down on that small area.

"Uh..." The deaf old woman in her sleep suddenly twitched, letting out a short, muffled groan, before completely losing consciousness and falling into a deep coma. Her breathing and heartbeat remained steady, but her consciousness had been completely cut off.

With this method, the medical equipment of this era would be unable to detect any organic lesions, and the final diagnosis would most likely be "senile cerebral atrophy" or "coma of unknown cause." The hospital would only use intravenous nutrition to keep her alive.

"Madam, for the sake of my plan, I'll have to ask you to stay in the hospital for a few days!" Lin Yan said in a low voice, then left the room, locked the door, and acted as if no one had ever been there.

The next morning, as usual, Tan Jinhua, an elderly woman, took a bowl of millet porridge and two steamed buns to deliver breakfast to the deaf old lady. She knocked on the door for a long time, but there was no response.

"That's strange, the old lady usually gets up quite early," an older woman muttered, trying to push the door open, only to find it locked from the inside. "Old lady? Old lady, are you awake? Open the door!" she called out again, but the room remained deathly silent.

An old woman felt a sense of foreboding and quickly took her breakfast back to the courtyard. She said to Yi Zhonghai, who was eating breakfast, "Old Yi, something's wrong! The old lady's door is locked, but I've knocked and called for ages, and there's been no response!"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai's heart skipped a beat. He immediately put down his chopsticks and rushed to the backyard. He pounded on the deaf old woman's door, shouting, "Grandma! Grandma! Are you alright? Open the door!"

There was still no response from inside the house.

It was rush hour, and many people in the courtyard were alerted. Yi Zhonghai was extremely anxious and quickly called over Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu, who were just getting ready to go to work: "Zhu Zi! Dongxu! Quick! Come help me break down the door! Something might have happened to the old lady!"

Sha Zhu and Jia Dongxu didn't dare to be negligent. The three of them worked together and, with a few loud bangs, forcefully broke open the door.

Rushing into the house, they found the deaf old woman lying directly on the kang (a heated brick bed), her eyes closed, completely unresponsive to the commotion.

"Grandma! Grandma, what's wrong?" Yi Zhonghai stepped forward and gently shook the old woman, but she was unresponsive. He told her to quickly check her body for any injuries or bleeding. The old woman searched herself and shook her head, saying, "No, I'm perfectly fine, not a single scratch."

Yi Zhonghai panicked. With no other option, he rushed to the front yard, found Lin Gang, borrowed the cart, laid out bedding, and together they lifted the deaf old lady onto the cart, covered her tightly, and rushed her to the hospital.

The deaf old lady was a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government-provided social welfare program for the elderly and disabled), so her medical expenses were covered by the state and she didn't need to worry about money. Yi Zhonghai readily paid for all the examination fees, then told Jia Dongxu and Sha Zhu to go to work at the factory as soon as possible and ask for leave for him, while he stayed behind anxiously to wait for the test results.

About an hour later, the doctor came out with the diagnostic report and said to Yi Zhonghai with a grave expression, "The patient is elderly. The preliminary diagnosis is likely brainstem dysfunction, leading to a deep coma. It's hard to say exactly when she will wake up; maybe a few days, maybe... longer. Currently, her vital signs are relatively stable, and she is not in life-threatening danger. However, because she cannot eat on her own, she needs to receive continuous intravenous nutrition. Her family needs to come every day to help turn her over, wash her, and massage her body to prevent bedsores."

Yi Zhonghai felt a heavy weight in his heart upon hearing this, but he could only nod repeatedly in agreement.

When he got home, he told the old lady the hospital's instructions: "...From now on, every morning when you go grocery shopping, stop by the hospital to turn the old lady over, wash her, and massage her legs. You don't need to bring her meals."

When Aunt Tan Jinhua heard this, she was extremely unhappy. This meant that she would have to do a lot more work for no reason. But Yi Zhonghai, in order to maintain his image as a "model of respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and of filial piety and brotherly love," did not allow her to object and directly made the decision.

However, after arranging everything, Yi Zhonghai sat alone in the room, the inexplicable unease in his heart growing stronger. It was as if something bad was brewing in the shadows, about to happen. This elusive feeling made him restless and anxious, yet he could only forcefully dispel it, telling himself that he was probably just too worried about the old lady.

That afternoon, around the time I was leaving get off work.

Sha Zhu, carrying a lunchbox, was swaying as he walked towards the courtyard house. At the entrance of an alley not far from the gate, two men in green postman uniforms were pushing bicycles. One of them seemed to have had a few drinks; he was speaking loudly and complaining to the other about something.

"...Hiccup...You know...this No. 95 compound is really strange..." the drunken "postman" slurred, "In all these years, in our area...a man named He...He Yuzhu, I've never seen him come to collect a remittance slip even once! Every time, it's an old man in the compound named...Yi Zhonghai, who comes with the stamp to collect...to collect the living expenses sent by his father, He Daqing...and he's been doing this for so many years..."

The other "mailman" seemed startled by his words and quickly lowered his voice, saying, "Hey bro! Keep your voice down! You can't just say things like that! Is there something... fishy going on here? What if this money doesn't end up in the rightful owner's hands..."

"I...I'm not talking nonsense! It's all recorded...recorded!" The drunkard's voice rose even higher. "No! Tomorrow...tomorrow I have to find that He Yuzhu! I have to make him come to the station to verify everything! If something really goes wrong, I...I'll lose my job!"

These words struck Sha Zhu like a thunderbolt!

Om-!

Sha Zhu felt a surge of heat rush to his head, and he froze on the spot, almost dropping the lunchbox in his hand.

He Daqing! Remittance slip! Living expenses! Yi Zhonghai! ... These words combined stirred up a tidal wave in his mind!

He whirled around, wanting to grab the two postmen and demand an explanation. But the alleyway was deserted; there was no sign of the two men. It was as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination.

But Sha Zhu firmly believed that he heard it clearly!

He stood there, his expression shifting, his chest heaving. After a moment of contemplation, he no longer hesitated, quickened his pace, and almost ran back to the courtyard house.

As soon as he arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, Qin Huairu, who was already waiting by the pool, greeted him with a charming smile and habitually stretched out her hands to take the lunchbox: "Silly Zhu, what good dishes did you bring for your sister today?"

Normally, Sha Zhu would have eagerly handed it over. But at this moment, his mind was filled with thoughts of Yi Zhonghai and the remittance slip. Although Qin Huairu was his goddess, she couldn't withstand this bolt from the blue. His face was ashen. He didn't even glance at Qin Huairu, mechanically shoving the lunchbox into her hand. Then, he glared fiercely at the tightly closed door of Yi Zhonghai's house, took a deep breath, and suppressed the urge to rush in and confront them. He abruptly pushed open his own door and stormed inside—he was going to find the household registration book! Tomorrow morning, he was going to the post office to get to the bottom of this!

Qin Huairu took the lunchbox and was taken aback by Sha Zhu's unprecedented indifference and gloomy attitude. She thought to herself, "Has Sha Zhu taken the wrong medicine today?" But she had already taken the heavy lunchbox and was too lazy to think about it anymore. She swayed her waist and went home.

A storm that would sweep through the entire courtyard was brewing in Sha Zhu's heart, about to erupt. Lin Yan was at home, cracking sunflower seeds, waiting for the show to begin.