"Then let me tell you. The girl doesn't know you at all. You told her you were Xu Damao, but she also described your appearance and attire, especially how you smelled of cooking oil. As soon as we heard that description, we knew it was you."
With Xu Damao's appearance, such a distinctive long face, you couldn't fake it.
Now tell me, how did they even know you? I bet you were the one who intercepted them, lied and said you were Xu Damao, trying to frame them. That makes your crime even more serious.
Yan Fugui then briefly mentioned how he and his companions had deliberately faked Zhu's stupidity.
"You sons of bitches, you tricked me! I'll beat you to death!"
When Sha Zhu heard that he had been deceived and thus admitted to the interception, he was truly enraged. Stealing someone's partner might earn him some respect if word got out, but being cheated would only make him look foolish.
This is a blatant slap in the face.
Sha Zhu was about to step forward and beat Yan Fugui, but there was a conflict between his body's commands and his bound hands and feet. As a result, right before everyone's eyes, they saw Sha Zhu shout, move forward less than a step, and then collapse face down.
"Bang!" The sound made everyone's heart clench; this silly Zhu was truly ruthless to himself.
"Ouch, my face!" Everyone immediately heard Sha Zhu's cry for help.
Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu, who were on good terms with Sha Zhu, wanted to help him up, but Jia Zhangshi sternly refused. Hearing that Sha Zhu had started trying to steal someone else's wife, Jia Zhangshi secretly worried that her beautiful daughter-in-law might be taken away by him.
Now, it's absolutely forbidden to try to help Sha Zhu up.
No one was willing to help this guy who had stolen someone else's girlfriend. Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to help Sha Zhu up with the help of an older woman.
I wiped the blood off Sha Zhu's face. It was covered in blood, but it was all superficial and nothing serious, just a bit unsightly for now.
"Old Liu, Old Yan, even now that Sha Zhu has admitted to the situation, things still need to be resolved. You can't just keep him tied up like this forever. Tell me, what exactly do you want?"
Yi Zhonghai was truly exhausted. One of his two subordinates was a mama's boy who would do whatever his mother told him to do; the other was a complete fool who was easily scammed.
But help should still be given. Years later, the Liu and Yan families were thriving, while he himself was a lonely old man, ultimately relying on the Jia family and Sha Zhu to maintain appearances. This was Yi Zhonghai's Achilles' heel, an insurmountable obstacle.
At this moment, the deaf old lady also appeared. Originally, she intended to give each of the people who bullied her great-grandson a walking stick, but she didn't expect that Sha Zhu had made one for himself.
“That kid Shazhu has always been honest since he was a child, and no one taught him to lie. Now, he’s made a mistake because he didn’t lie, and all of you old folks have connections to him. It’s all because you didn’t help him with his upbringing.”
"Just tell me what you want to do. I'm here today, and I want to see who dares to bully my grandson."
The moment the deaf old woman appeared, she started acting arrogantly because of her age, almost foreshadowing the end of the story.
Just like the global situation, each family in this compound has its own core interests.
Every household's core interests are inviolable, but their strength varies. For powerful households like the three older men, their core interest is simply profit; for weaker households, their core interest is merely empty words.
But like a nation, there were conflicts and disagreements among the households in the compound, yet they also needed to interact. When problems arose, everyone was frantically testing each other's limits.
Generally, as long as strong individuals don't cross the line and are aware of each other's intentions, they will try to maintain a delicate balance and eventually resolve the issue.
As for the weak, their core interests and bottom lines are breached by the strong.
Liu Haizhong and Yan Fugui exchanged a glance, knowing they should stop while they were ahead, otherwise things would get out of control and the balance would be broken.
"Old Yi, as a neutral elder, I'll speak fairly and impartially."
First, since Sha Zhu did something wrong, he definitely needs to apologize to the Yan family and gain their forgiveness.
Secondly, wrongdoing shouldn't go unpunished. I think Sha Zhu's problem mainly stems from moral failings, so the final punishment should reflect that. Therefore, I'll punish him by making him clean the courtyard toilets for a month.
Thirdly, the victim's side must receive adequate compensation. The Yan family's marriage was called off because of Sha Zhu's incident; this will have lifelong consequences, and compensation is essential. I suggest Sha Zhu pay 300 yuan in compensation.
Liu Haizhong rattled off a long speech, clearly having planned it in advance. The first point was a simple matter of a sentence; the second seemed a bit difficult, but there were plenty of idle people in the compound, and a few dollars a month would have been enough to get many people to do it.
The difficulty lies in the third point: 300 yuan is no small sum; it's almost a year's wages for an average worker. This was the figure Yan Fugui had mentioned to Liu Haizhong beforehand. He knew the number was quite large and was waiting for Sha Zhu to bargain.
“I agree with the first and second points. But 300 yuan in compensation is too much. Nowadays, the bride price is only 20 yuan, and in rural areas it's only 10 yuan. I remember Sister Qin got married for 5 yuan. This 300 yuan could buy dozens of wives.”
Sha Zhu was still doing the math when Qin Huairu, standing nearby, almost burst out cursing. "You insist on putting me in here to compare with everyone else?"
"I'll give you at most 30 yuan, which is more than enough to marry a wife." Sha Zhu wasn't stupid; after calculating, he directly gave a 10% discount.
Next, the Yan family began to analyze Fangfang's good points, the psychological harm Jiecheng had suffered, and how much compensation would be sufficient. After half an hour of haggling, they finally agreed that Shazhu would pay 100 yuan, which satisfied all parties.
That 100 yuan could really provide the materials for five wives for the Yan family. 100 yuan could also solve Sha Zhu's character problem. Everyone was satisfied and prepared to adjourn the meeting. But some people were still dissatisfied.
"They all received compensation, but what about mine?" a man's voice rang out.
This man is Xu Damao. It turns out that Xu Damao returned just as the courtyard meeting had begun.
Upon seeing so many people, and with Sha Zhu still untied, Xu Damao immediately felt like watching a show. He found a seat, grabbed a handful of peanuts, and ate them while watching.
Unexpectedly, as the play progressed, I discovered that I was also a character in it, and almost became the protagonist.
However, Xu Damao did not rush to step forward, but waited quietly for what would happen next.
Sure enough, after the initial excitement, everything returned to calm, and the members of the courtyard reached a consensus. But whether intentionally or not, no one mentioned Xu Damao, another victim in the incident, nor did anyone offer compensation.
When Yi Zhonghai saw Xu Damao speak up, he knew there would be some more haggling. Liu Haizhong and Yan Fugui, on the other hand, seemed a little embarrassed when they saw Xu Damao. These two were deliberately avoiding mentioning Xu Damao's matter; otherwise, the Yan family's compensation wouldn't have been agreed upon so quickly, nor would it have been so substantial.
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