The fact that Yi Zhonghai constantly gains public favor reveals what he truly wants. The biggest weakness of those obsessed with officialdom is their desire to become officials, and their greatest achievement is becoming the second uncle in a courtyard house.

Liu Haizhong may not be good at much else, but he's an absolute master at being a whistleblower. As a long-time resident of the courtyard house, Liu Haizhong knows a lot that others don't. For example, how did Yi Zhonghai become one of the oldest men in the courtyard house? How did the deaf old lady become a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government welfare program for the elderly and disabled)? Liu Haizhong even knows a bit about Yi Zhonghai's background. Because Liu Haizhong values ​​being an official extremely highly, he has always regarded Yi Zhonghai as his rival.

To eliminate any threat posed by Yi Zhonghai, Liu Haizhong went directly to the local street office and reported Yi Zhonghai.

After learning about the situation, the neighborhood committee officials followed Liu Haizhong to the courtyard house. Upon seeing Yi Zhonghai, they immediately arrested him. Director Liu wasn't sure if what Liu Haizhong provided was true, but he decided to try and bluff Yi Zhonghai first.

"Well, Yi Zhonghai, so you've been hiding so many things from us."

"It seems there are many things about you and Director Wang that we don't know. Now tell us, with your actions, how did you become the old man of the courtyard?"

"Who helped you change your background? Tell us everything now, and you might escape this time. Otherwise, you'll never get out of here."

Once tied up, Yi Zhonghai panicked immediately. At this point, all he could do was spill the beans.

“Director Liu, I’ll tell you everything. Director Wang helped me change my background. The reason I became an old man was also because Director Wang helped me. I really haven’t done anything else that is immoral or immoral.”

“Under those circumstances, we ordinary people had no choice but to bow down to the Japanese. But I can guarantee that I have never done anything to harm the country. I just worked in a factory run by the Japanese for a few years and secretly learned some skills.”

"Back then, quite a few people worked for the Japanese. There were quite a few people in our compound who also worked for the Japanese."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Director Liu was surprised to find that most of Liu's accusations were true. This made Director Liu even more curious about the relationship between Yi Zhonghai and Director Wang, and why Director Wang would help Yi Zhonghai change his identity.

Why would you risk being shot to help Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady?

"Yi Zhonghai, we know all that you're saying. Now tell us about your relationship with Director Wang. Why did Director Wang risk his life to help you last time?"

Hearing Director Liu's words, Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but look at the deaf old woman beside him. In the end, he could only decide to betray Director Wang. Anyway, the matter was over, the neighborhood committee shouldn't pursue his responsibility anymore, and he wouldn't have to go to jail again.

“Director Liu, I am not close to Director Wang, but I have something on him. About 18 years ago, Director Wang was injured in an accident while on a mission here. At that time, Director Wang hid in the house of a deaf old lady.”

"After resting at the old lady's house for a few days, Director Wang's condition not only did not improve, but also showed signs of deterioration."

"In order to get better, Director Wang found a way to injure Lao Jia. The injured Lao Jia had no choice but to go to the doctor, but the medicine he brought back was stolen by Director Wang."

"Perhaps due to his injury, Director Wang's actions were discovered by Lao Jia. As a result, the two got into an argument, and in a fit of anger, Lao Jia said he was going to report Director Wang."

"And they even threatened Director Wang, saying that if he didn't get a large sum of money, he would be treated like the Japanese and not given any benefits."

"Under duress, Director Wang had no choice but to compromise with Lao Jia. Once Lao Jia lowered his guard, Director Wang killed him."

"At the time, only the old lady and I knew about this. That's why Director Wang took special care of us."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, Director Liu looked at the deaf old woman. Seeing that Yi Zhonghai had revealed the truth, the old woman could only nod; the matter could no longer be concealed. If she didn't confess quickly, she might be implicated by Director Wang.

“Director Liu, things are indeed as Yi Zhonghai said. Director Wang also helped me get my status as a recipient of the Five Guarantees. Director Wang explained the policies back then to me, so I donated the courtyard house.”

"Then Director Wang helped us change our identities and also helped me apply for the Five Guarantees program. Because I had saved Director Wang's life, we had a pretty good relationship."

Director Liu neither completely believed nor completely disbelieved what Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman said. After bringing them back to the subdistrict office, Director Liu reported the matter.

When the higher-ups learned of this, they immediately sent people to arrest Director Wang, who had become the deputy county head, from a remote county in the southwest.

At first, Director Wang didn't know what was going on. But after seeing the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai arrested, Director Wang had no choice but to leave the matter alone.

He then recounted everything that had happened back then. It turned out that Director Wang was carrying out a top-secret mission. However, some deviations occurred during the mission, resulting in Director Wang being shot.

Back then, the Japanese had very strict controls on anti-inflammatory drugs, and registration was required for each use. Injecting anti-inflammatory drugs was practically impossible; the only option was to buy some to use at home.

So, a scheme was devised against Old Jia in the courtyard. But when Old Jia discovered it, he threatened to inform the Japanese. Helpless, Director Wang had no choice but to eliminate this unpredictable factor.

Director Wang couldn't let one person's actions affect a large group of people. After killing Old Jia, he had the deaf old lady and Yi Zhonghai help him stage an accident. The deaf old lady helped Director Wang not only out of fear of being silenced, but also because it had a bit of an investment element to it.

Yi Zhonghai's sole purpose was to eliminate Lao Jia and make better contact with Jia Zhangshi and his group. Yi Zhonghai did not want his son to recognize a thief as his father.

Director Wang's scheme failed precisely because Yi Zhonghai had pulled some strings behind the scenes. Unfortunately, this secret was unknown to anyone except Yi Zhonghai.

Director Wang still believes that he didn't plan things out thoroughly enough. Otherwise, this wouldn't have happened back then, and his future wouldn't have been ruined.

After confessing his crimes, Director Wang began to repent. However, the law is the law, and no matter how much Director Wang repented, he could not escape legal punishment.

In this era, meritorious service doesn't matter. But favoritism, abuse of power, and murder are things you can't escape no matter what. In the end, Director Wang still ate a free peanut. Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady weren't much better off. The deaf old lady had already lost her status as a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government welfare program for the elderly and disabled), and now her background had changed to that of a landlord and a pro-Japanese element.

Yi Zhonghai's situation was also changed to that of a pro-Japanese element. Director Wang, however, showed no concern for Yi Zhonghai and his associates, especially since the person who had wronged them had caused their deaths. He embellished the story, making the backgrounds of the deaf old woman and Yi Zhonghai even more appalling than before.

Although the neighborhood committee didn't target them maliciously, Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady's quotas were reduced significantly. Yi Zhonghai even lost his Level 4 fitter status and became a Level 1 fitter again because of this incident.

Back in the courtyard house, Yi Zhonghai felt like tearing Liu Haizhong to pieces. He had worked so hard for so long to see any results, and now he had ended up looking like this.

If Liu Haizhong hadn't reported him, his scheme might have succeeded much sooner. Thinking back on the past, Yi Zhonghai hated Liu Haizhong to the core.

Liu Haizhong didn't care about Yi Zhonghai at all. In Liu Haizhong's eyes, Yi Zhonghai posed no threat whatsoever. Given Yi Zhonghai's current status and background, even if Yi Zhonghai performed a great service, the steel mill wouldn't believe it. All the good things had nothing to do with Yi Zhonghai.

Liu Haizhong was merely somewhat jealous of the Jia family. No one expected the Jia family to benefit from Yi Zhonghai's affair. Even if Old Jia had intended to report them to the Japanese, he ultimately died at the hands of Director Wang.

Even if Old Jia wasn't a good person, the district government still compensated the Jia family with money. If it weren't for Old Jia's death, the Jia family wouldn't be living like this.

Although the money wasn't much, it represented something special. After receiving the money, Jia Zhangshi hid it away. Then, her small eyes were fixed on Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman.

Jia Zhangshi never imagined that her petty scheming years ago would lead to her husband's death. Jia Zhangshi didn't need evidence; whatever she believed was the truth in her eyes.