With a stern face, Yi Zhonghai angrily lifted the curtain and plopped down in a chair next to the dining table.
An older woman quickly picked up the thermos, filled the teacup with hot water, and brought it to Yi Zhonghai, patiently comforting him: "Alright, you're a grown man, why bother arguing with that kid Zhuzi?"
"How old is he? Is he still a child?"
Yi Zhonghai grew angrier the more he thought about it. "I only said a few words to him and pushed him. Didn't you see how fierce he looked? He was almost ready to hit me."
“How I treat him normally, I would say, is that I’m completely open with him, but I’m also doing my best to protect him in the compound. Otherwise, with his personality, he would suffer endless losses.”
An older woman placed her hand on Yi Zhonghai's back to help her husband catch his breath: "That boy Zhuzi is something else; when he gets into trouble, he doesn't know what's good for him."
"Regarding the burglary at Xu Damao's house, do you think he can be absolved of responsibility?"
Yi Zhonghai slammed his hand on the table. “Bang Geng is only ten years old. How could he possibly instruct a child to break into a house and pick locks? How could he even think of that?”
"Dongxu will be happy to know about this. If it weren't for Zhuzi's bad advice, would the following events have happened? Now he feels he's been wronged by paying too much compensation. Why didn't you do this earlier? You should have stopped instigating Banggeng to do bad things for others."
"Dongxu said a few words to him, and he got angry. When I tried to stop him, he got mad at me and even accused me of taking sides. I was so angry that I pushed him, and he even tried to hit me!"
Yi Zhonghai was so angry at Sha Zhu that he slammed the teacup far away.
The tea was spilled all over the floor, startling an older woman who let out a scream.
Sha Zhu's actions really hurt Yi Zhonghai's heart. He had previously thought of giving up on Jia Dongxu and letting Sha Zhu take care of the two of them in their old age, but now that he thinks about it, it's really funny. He has finally given up on that idea.
"Does Zhu Zi have some misunderstanding about you?"
After a while, the older woman picked up the teacup and put it back on the dining table, then cautiously asked.
"What misunderstanding could there be? That's just his reckless personality. He was clearly in the wrong first, and Dongxu wasn't wrong either. It's already good enough that he didn't have to pay half the money, yet he's still crying foul."
After venting his frustrations, Yi Zhonghai was no longer as irritable as before. "I'll go see the old lady later and ask her to talk to Zhu Zi."
"Okay, he should be able to listen to what the old lady says."
The older woman nodded in response.
......
After returning home, Wang Dabao lit the stove and then took the bucket to the central courtyard.
While fetching water, he glanced at Sha Zhu's house a few times. The door was closed but not locked, and the window glass that had been smashed a couple of days ago hadn't been repaired; a piece of tarpaulin had been pasted over it.
One can't help but sigh at how foolish Zhu really is; the weather is getting colder every day, yet he's not afraid of going inside to escape the wind.
Wang Dabao carried the bucket back into the house to boil water and make tea. After that, he lit a cigarette, lay on the sofa, and waited patiently for Sha Zhu to come over.
From the moment he entered the room and heard that Sha Zhu and Yi Zhonghai had a conflict, he realized that this was an excellent opportunity to sow discord between the two.
If you were to ask who in this compound disliked Wang Dabao the most, Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old woman would definitely be at the top of the list.
But the deaf old lady posed no threat to Wang Dabao. However, Yi Zhonghai was different. He was rather cunning, but he tried his best to maintain the image of a gentleman in the compound. He would talk to people as if nothing had happened, and you could not see the resentment in his heart at all.
As Yi Zhonghai's number one lackey, Sha Zhu was someone Wang Dabao never expected to betray his master.
Such an opportunity should not be missed. We must take this chance to make the relationship between the two as strained as possible. Since the estrangement was caused by the Jia family, the next plan should also revolve around the Jia family.
But Wang Dabao hadn't figured out exactly how to do it yet.
However, just as Wang Dabao was about to finish his cigarette, the wooden door was pushed open, and Sha Zhu called out to him before walking in.
Wang Dabao smiled and got up, welcoming Sha Zhu into the house, and then poured him a cup of tea.
"Wang Dabao, do you really want to lend me money?" Sha Zhu asked with a disbelieving expression.
"Shazhu, look at what you're saying. I admit we did have conflicts before, and we even got into a fight because we couldn't stand each other, but that's all in the past."
Wang Dabao picked up his teacup and gestured for Sha Zhu to drink. "We're all young people, and it's inevitable that there will be some friction due to our impulsive personalities, but we can't deny that we're not inherently bad."
Sha Zhu was a little stunned by what Wang Dabao said.
He didn't really believe Wang Dabao would lend him money, which is why he asked that question earlier.
But now that Wang Dabao had said such a friendly thing, he was a little confused and could only pick up his teacup to hide his doubts.
"Okay, Sha Zhu, to be honest, I really don't have any money on me," Wang Dabao said sincerely, looking at Sha Zhu.
"So, Wang Dabao, you're playing me for a fool, aren't you?!"
Sha Zhu slammed his teacup down on the coffee table and glared at Wang Dabao.
"Don't get angry!" Wang Dabao said quickly, while refilling a cup with water from the teapot. "Although I don't have any money, I can help you find some."
Sha Zhu's anger hadn't subsided when a look of suspicion appeared on his face, and he wondered what trick this kid was up to now.
"Do you remember the other day when your window was smashed?"
Wang Dabao took out a cigarette and lit it for Sha Zhu. "You still remember my analysis back then, right? I suspected that this person was a resident of the Intermediate People's Court."
"impossible!"
Sha Zhu flicked his cigarette ash and said with certainty, "Even a fool would know that the only person who would do such a despicable thing is Xu Damao. How could he possibly be a resident of the Central Court?"
Wang Dabao shook his head: "That's a fixed mindset of yours. Couldn't it have been me who smashed it?"
"you......"
Sha Zhu paused, holding his cigarette, and after thinking for a moment, said, "You shouldn't be capable of doing something so despicable."
Wang Dabao lit a cigarette and exhaled a long puff of smoke: "Could it be that I used your thinking to frame Xu Damao for this?!"
After a moment of silence, Sha Zhu spoke up and asked, "You mean someone smashed my window and then framed Xu Damao?"
"If my analysis at the time was correct, this is the result."
Seeing that Sha Zhu had figured it out, Wang Dabao let out a sigh of relief, leaned back on the sofa, and crossed his legs. "Guess who this person is?"
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