Officer Wang and Officer Zhang exchanged glances, their expressions growing somewhat complicated.
In a situation like this, if the authorization letter was genuine and valid, Yi Zhonghai's actions strictly speaking fell under acting as a custodian. Although the method was controversial, if the victim He Yuzhu himself did not pursue the matter and was willing to accept the claim of the authorization letter and the explanation of custody, the public security organs truly could not forcefully file a case for embezzlement. After all, the case was essentially inclined toward a civil dispute, and the police station usually advocated mediation for such matters.
Officer Wang's gaze turned toward Shazhu, who had frozen in place the moment he heard the words "authorization letter," his face ashen, his chest heaving violently, and his teeth grinding audibly.
"Comrade He Yuzhu, is this authorization letter authentic? Do you recognize Comrade He Daqing's handwriting?" Officer Wang's voice softened somewhat.
Shazhu stared fixedly at that piece of paper. He recognized the handwriting on it! It was the handwriting of his irresponsible father! This only deepened his pain and humiliation!
Yi Zhonghai hadn't done a single thing his father had asked. Others might not know, but didn't he know what kind of life he and his younger sister had lived back then? How much hardship they had suffered?
Seeing the police officers' attitude shift, Yi Zhonghai felt wild joy in his heart! He knew that Shazhu was emotional and valued loyalty, and his own words—especially mentioning Chen Guihua looking after Yushui and his own past kindnesses—were an attack on the heart! He was using the gaze of the neighbors to wage an invisible moral kidnapping!
He immediately struck while the iron was hot, his tone becoming even more earnest, almost pleading: "Zhuzi! Zhuzi! I know you're hurting inside, and you feel First Uncle kept things from you—that was wrong of me! I overthought it! My approach was too extreme! I was only thinking of your father's commission, afraid that you were young and couldn't keep a grip on things! I forgot that you're a grown man now, a squad leader! It's First Uncle's fault! I'm old and muddle-headed! Look, I haven't touched a single cent of the money; it's all here! I can take it out right now, with principal and interest! Your father's original intention was also good, wanting you and your sister to do well! We... we are a family! Making a fuss at the police station—doesn't that just give the neighbors a joke to watch? Is there any misunderstanding between the two of us that can't be talked about behind closed doors? Why must we make a huge public scandal? Yushui is still in school; does she even want her reputation anymore? Listen to First Uncle's advice, let it go, the past is the past, and First Uncle will compensate you in the future! Double compensation!"
Every single sentence was for your own good! Every single sentence was to smooth things over! Every single sentence was reminding you of your reputation, your face, your sister's future! Every single sentence was twisting your plea for justice into unreasonable making of a scene and a lack of gratitude!
To put it bluntly, in one sentence: if you don't back down, your whole family is a bunch of ungrateful wretches.
Shazhu's fists clenched so tightly they almost cracked! He admitted that for a split second, looking at the blaming gazes of the surrounding neighbors and listening to words like Yushui and reputation, he really wavered somewhat.
He even wanted to roar and rush over to smash Yi Zhonghai's hypocritical face, but then he felt that if he refused to let this matter go, the neighbors really would point at his family's spine just as Yi Zhonghai said, cursing him and Yushui as ungrateful wolves...
Just as Shazhu was struggling fiercely in his heart, right at the moment when that breath was about to be broken down by Yi Zhonghai's "family-affection version of moral kidnapping."
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"Tsk tsk tsk...!"
A clear sound of clicking the tongue, carrying extreme mockery and impatience, rang out suddenly like cold water splashed into boiling oil!
Su Changshun crossed his arms and strolled out leisurely from behind Shazhu.
"Master Yi—no, right, I should call you Comrade Yi Zhonghai," Su Changshun's voice was not loud, but it pierced through everyone's discussions with exceptional clarity, drawing every gaze.
"That combination punch of yours—playing the pity card to whitewash yourself combined with moral kidnapping—you really throw it smoothly! It truly wrongs your pure-green acting skills if you don't go to the art troupe to play a villainous old landlord!"
He didn't give Yi Zhonghai any chance to rebut. His speaking speed suddenly accelerated like a string of firecrackers, pointing directly at the biggest loophole: "Custody? Ha! Your idea of keeping custody is really thorough! So thorough that the Shazhu siblings almost starved to death inside your custody!"
He abruptly raised his volume, pointing the spearhead straight at the calculation hidden deep in the corners of Yi Zhonghai's eyes that had never truly been exposed before: "Why keep things from the He Family? Why back then did you watch with your own eyes as Zhuzi took Yushui, starving with their chests pressed against their backs, watching little Yushui reduced to drinking well water because she was so hungry? You clearly held the life-saving money sent by their own father every month in your hands, yet you stood by with your arms crossed? You watched them suffer?"
Su Changshun's voice was as cold as a blade, every single word striking into everyone's hearts, and also striking into the most painful, most agonizing scenes in Shazhu's memory!
"Because you were waiting to bestow grace upon the He Family!"
His sharp gaze swept across the dumbfounded neighbors: "Only when the Zhuzi siblings were starving to death and about to collapse! Only then would a single steamed bun saved by you, Master Yi, appear precious! That is sending charcoal in snowy weather, a life-saving grace! That is what would make Shazhu feel deeply grateful to you! Only then could you firmly grip the He Family's only male heir in the palm of your hand! Making him remember your kindness for a lifetime, and act as your puppet for a lifetime!"
He suddenly pointed at Mrs. Jia, whose face had turned green with fright: "Controlling Shazhu to do what? Why? Who in the entire courtyard doesn't know? Whose family does Master Yi care about the most, whose family does he favor the most? Isn't it your precious apprentice Jia Dongxu's family?"
Every single word of Su Changshun's fell like a heavy hammer, shattering the layer of warm and affectionate gauze on the surface: "Only Jia Dongxu has ration grain in the Jia Family! Four mouths waiting to be fed! And a mother who only eats and doesn't work! Short on grain, short on money! What to do? You, Master Yi, are a person of high standing and don't want to dip into your own pocket to be this long-term philanthropist, so you needed an obedient sucker to help you be a philanthropist—a fool who could bleed for you at any moment while remaining deeply grateful to you! That fool is Shazhu, whom you favored since childhood and dangled with the money kept in custody!"
"Time and time again, you mobilized the neighbors to help each other and tide over difficulties, beating the drum loud and clear behind the scenes and out in the open about how warm-hearted and generous Zhuzi is! Wasn't it just to make Zhuzi get placed on a moral high platform to help you support the Jia Family? To help you maintain your influence over your apprentice Jia Dongxu? To make Jia Dongxu willingly become the one to support you in your old age?"
Su Changshun's final conclusion exploded like a thunderclap.
"You could remain indifferent watching 6-year-old little Yushui go drink cold well water out of hunger, all for that bit of bestowing grace and the intention to control Shazhu! Yi Zhonghai, your heart is truly benevolent! Based on this coldness and calculation of yours in refusing to save an innocent child facing death, how do you have the face to talk about neighborhood mutual aid? How dare you talk about morality?"
"You little bastard, talk rubbish! Who are you saying eats and doesn't work?" Mrs. Jia finally couldn't help cursing loudly!
However, Officer Wang's gaze, as cold as solid substance, instantly nailed her in place. At the same time, the other officer, Officer Zhang, stepped forward, the invisible pressure forcing her to swallow back the rest of her foul language. She could only pant heavily, her eyeballs wishing she could tear a piece of flesh off Su Changshun.
The entire courtyard fell dead silent! All the neighbors were so shocked by these words that they were rendered speechless! If the authorization letter had left them in doubt before, then Su Changshun's peeling-cocoon-and-pulling-silk exposure straight to the heart completely tore off Yi Zhonghai's layer of hypocritical painted skin!
So that was how it was! So he was truly as venomous as a scorpion! In order to control someone else's life and for the purpose of being supported in his old age, he could actually watch a 6-year-old little girl starve without lifting a finger!
Those scenes from the past where they thought First Uncle was enthusiastic and helpful now made them feel a chill run through their entire bodies just thinking about them!
The expressions of Officer Wang and Officer Zhang changed completely! If earlier they only suspected Yi Zhonghai of harboring selfish motives, now Su Changshun's dissection made them see through the despicable truth and sinister intentions behind this authorization letter!
Remaining indifferent to a 6-year-old girl starving, just to wait for the best timing to bestow grace?
Just to control a young man whose mind had not yet matured and who urgently needed help? Just to ensure his old-age investment was a sure profit with no loss?
This person's meticulous scheming and coldness of heart had already exceeded the scope of an ordinary civil dispute! This was a trampling of basic human ethics and morality! This was precise exploitation utilizing vulnerability and trust!
"Zhu... Zhuzi! Don't listen to him! He... he is spitting venom! I... I was just muddle-headed for a moment!" Yi Zhonghai panicked completely and grabbed Shazhu's arm! He wanted to retort, wanted to explain, but facing Su Changshun's cold logical chain and the language that completely exposed his dark intentions, any defense seemed pale and weak!
It was already too late. All the struggle and hesitation in Shazhu's eyes had vanished.
His father's handwriting on the authorization letter? Yes! The authorization was real!
But looking at that yellowed piece of paper, at this moment he only felt incomparable irony! He could only see Yi Zhonghai's manipulation and cold-bloodedness toward him and Yushui for over four years!
Those scenes of little Yushui crying in her childhood, hugging his leg and shouting, "Brother, I'm hungry..." surged into his mind with crystal clarity!
If not for him, Shazhu, risking his life learning culinary arts at Fengzeyuan, stealing leftover food, throwing away his pride to beg his master, and picking up leftover scraps—
His sister Yushui might have long since ruined her health from hunger! And all of this could have been avoided! There should have been money to let her eat her fill!
"Damn it!" Shazhu abruptly flung away the hand Yi Zhonghai was using to grab him, his voice hoarse yet resolute, echoing through the dead-silent quadrangle courtyard, "I don't accept it! What reconciliation! What misunderstanding! Go to hell with your custody! You had no right to manage this money in the first place! My father asked you to hand it over when we grew up, not to hold onto it while watching us nearly starve, just waiting to dole out charity! Waiting to make us remember your kindness forever? In your dreams!"
He faced the two police officers, pointed at Yi Zhonghai, and said word by word: "Comrade Police! I! He Yuzhu! I am reporting this Yi Zhonghai! For over four years, he took the money my father sent to me and Yushui and didn't give a single cent! Causing my sister and me to almost starve to death! This authorization letter is just a tool he used to scheme against people! We will not settle privately! And we certainly don't accept mediation! Deal with it however it should be dealt with! Arrest him! Sentence him according to the law!"
"Good!" A flash of approval and firmness crossed Officer Wang's eyes. Without any further hesitation, he stepped forward and said righteously, "Yi Zhonghai! Come with us! What you are involved in is not merely the improper embezzlement of He Daqing's remittance funds, but also a serious issue involving moral character and legal boundaries! As for the matter of someone maliciously attempting to pick the lock at Comrade Su Changshun's home last night—"
His sharp gaze swept like a knife across Yi Zhonghai's instantly bloodless face, "Rest assured, we will investigate the whole truth! Now, come back to the police station with us to undergo investigation!"
Officer Zhang tacitly took out the gleaming handcuffs.
Su Changshun looked at Yi Zhonghai, who had completely collapsed and was being handcuffed, and then looked at that group of suddenly enlightened neighbors whose expressions had shifted from sympathy and awe to disdain and anger—especially Shazhu's straightened back, which was no longer bound by invisible shackles.
He silently cracked his mouth into a triumphant curve: Old Dog Yi, after scheming for half a lifetime and weaving that net for your old age, today you've finally trapped yourself securely inside it, haven't you? Stop struggling and reflect slowly in the cell! But as for this fool Shazhu, it was he, Su Changshun, who saved his life; otherwise, he would have been a dog trained by Yi Zhonghai for the rest of his life.
Shouldn't he repay this kindness by helping him, Su Changshun, cook for a lifetime?