The moment the off-duty bell rang, Su Changshun didn't linger at the factory. Tucking two mixed-grain steamed buns he bought from the canteen into his jacket, he strolled leisurely back to the Quadrangle Courtyard.
Walking along, a smile played on his lips, but his mind was entirely occupied by Yi Zhonghai's hypocritical face of a moral paragon.
"Playing dirty with me? Fine!" Su Changshun sneered inwardly. "I'll play a really big game with you, my man!"
After all, he was a time-traveler who held the script! He hadn't forgotten how Yi Zhonghai had kept He Daqing's living allowance a secret from Shazhu.
In the original plot, Shazhu, that foolish kid, was actually fooled by some bullshit excuse about "holding onto it for your future marriage," and ended up treating Yi Zhonghai like a second father.
"Holding onto it? Pah! More like training a dog!" Su Changshun muttered complaints as he walked. "This old dog Yi Zhonghai is basically treating Shazhu like a lapdog! Give him a little sweetness early on, toss him a few Yi-family bones, and expect him to wag his tail, be obedient, and act like Retirement Spare Tire Number One! And the best part is, the bastard gets it all for free!"
The more he thought about it, the clearer his reasoning became: The core motivation was retirement! Yi Zhonghai had no children, and his retirement depended entirely on tricking this foolish kid into working his fingers to the bone for him.
A two-pronged approach! Jia Dongxu was the top choice—deep master-apprentice ties? Easy to control. Shazhu was the backup—a cook and skilled artisan who could also be freeloaded off for food and drink, and the key thing was that he was stubborn; once you fooled him, he was extremely loyal.
Money and grain! The Jia Family—the lazybones Mrs. Jia, Qin Huairu, and Banggeng—none of them had urban household registration, and their food rations depended entirely on Jia Dongxu, which was definitely not enough! If no one helped them out, they'd just wait to starve to death.
Who was going to help them? It couldn't possibly be Old Yi dipping into his own pocket every single day, right? Where did the money come from? Wasn't this heavy burden just unloaded onto Shazhu, that sucker?
If Yi Zhonghai wanted Shazhu to willingly and continuously help out the Jia Family, he had to train Shazhu to be obedient from the start!
The living expenses sent by He Daqing were precisely that bone! Grasping them tightly in his hand, he would toss out a little bit at regular intervals to Shazhu, creating the impression that Shazhu was only able to support himself and Yushui thanks to his own efforts and the occasional assistance of the First Uncle. What a brilliant tactic! A dull knife cutting flesh, a frog boiled in warm water—he trained Shazhu until he was utterly docile!
"Well, well, so Shazhu's been trained like a dog for four years!" Su Changshun chuckled, holding back his laughter. "Old Dog Yi, you really are vicious! That abacus of yours is so well-calculated that even Yan Bugui can't hold a candle to you!"
So the question arose: What was the crime in this matter for Yi Zhonghai? In this era, all regulations were enforced with extreme strictness. Falsify signatures and swap things out? Impossible—withdrawing remittances at the post office required identity verification and signing in person to make the withdrawal.
He guessed that when He Daqing sent the money, he most likely wrote "Forwarded by Yi Zhonghai, Received by He Yuzhu" in the note section of the remittance slip. All it required beforehand was for He Daqing to sign a proxy collection authorization agreement with Yi Zhonghai and press his thumbprint before leaving. Naturally, the withdrawal could be made without his personal signature, as long as Yi Zhonghai brought his factory work ID to collect the money.
The crime didn't lie in collecting it on someone else's behalf, but in where the money went *after* it was collected!
After the money was withdrawn, Yi Zhonghai neither handed it over to Shazhu nor kept it safe; instead, he embezzled and misappropriated the living expenses that rightfully belonged to the He siblings! And he had done it for four years! The cumulative amount was definitely not small!
This was outright misappropriation of other people's property. As long as the amount reached a certain threshold, it was enough to get him a prison sentence! Once sentenced to labor reform, even if it was just for a year, Yi Zhonghai's job and household registration would both be completely finished!
By then, his Beijing household registration would be cancelled, and his registration would be directly transferred to the labor reform farm he was sent to. Even after finishing his labor reform, he would still have to follow the policy of household registration following the person. Want to return to Beijing? That would be harder than ascending to heaven!
"Yi Zhonghai, you old bastard, you've dug a massive grave for yourself!" A cold, fierce smile tugged at the corner of Su Changshun's mouth. "As long as I get ironclad proof of this, your city household registration and your worker's status are gone for good, you bastard!"
The only thing he needed to worry about was the feelings of that wooden block of a guy, Shazhu!
After four years of getting along, Yi Zhonghai held somewhat of a "father-like elder" shadow in his heart. Shazhu was soft-hearted and loyal; if he found out the money had been embezzled, he would definitely fly into a rage.
In all likelihood, Yi Zhonghai would weep bitterly, put on a pitiful act, and then spin some grand principles about educating the He siblings. Shazhu might actually bottle up his anger and forgive him for the most part.
Once the injured party forgave him, the police station would naturally let the matter off lightly, focusing primarily on mediation.
In the early days of the People's Republic, as long as it wasn't counter-revolutionary or an error in political stance, disputes between residents were mostly settled through mediation.
"No way! I have to make this idiot Shazhu completely blow his top and make a clean break with Yi Zhonghai! Make him realize that this old dog Yi doesn't see him as a son, but is training him like a dumb dog!" A sharp glint flashed in Su Changshun's eyes.
Shazhu was reckless and foul-mouthed, but deep down he was stubborn, cared immensely about his pride, and hated nothing more than people looking down on him, treating him like a fool, using him as a pawn, or treating him like a dog!
Su Changshun thought to himself, "Right! I'll poke his thickest nerve! But then again, if this Old Yi really goes inside, who's going to set up the stage and put on plays in the courtyard from now on? Where will I find entertainment in the future? It's all Old Yi's fault for bouncing around so eagerly—taking passive blows doesn't fit his life's principles."
***
Having made up his mind, Su Changshun walked briskly through the ornate moon gate and headed straight for Shazhu's house in the Middle Courtyard.
"Zhuzi! You home? Come out and chat!" Su Changshun shouted at the top of his lungs.
Shazhu was squatting right outside his own door, hammering away noisily at a falling-apart bench leg with a mallet. He let out a grumpy huff: "Brother, spit it out if you've got something to say! Can't you see I'm busy waging a fierce struggle against the remnants of the old society?!"
Su Changshun chuckled, walked right into the room, casually shut the door behind him, and walked over to kick that broken bench out of the way with one foot: "Struggle my ass! I'm here to talk to you about a much bigger struggle! It's about your old man, and that money of yours! Hasn't Yushui come back yet?"
Shazhu furrowed his brow: "What money? My old man? Don't even mention him! Yushui is probably still doing her homework at the schoolhouse; she'll be a while."
Su Changshun pulled up a small wooden stool, sat down right across from him, lowered his voice, wiped the smile off his face, and put on an extremely solemn expression: "Then it's the perfect time to talk to you. Zhuzi, let me ask you—do you really think that old geezer Yi Zhonghai treats you like his own biological son? Or rather, does he even treat you like a human being?"
Shazhu was stunned, and then irritation flared up. Even though some of the things Su Changshun had said a few days ago had planted a thorn in his heart, he had never doubted the Yi Family's care over the past four years: "What kind of bullshit are you spouting? The First Uncle has been nothing but good to me! He taught me how to be a proper man, and Yushui was even raised by Mrs. Chen!"
"Good to you?" Su Changshun let out a mocking chuckle, lowering his voice even further, though every single word struck like a steel needle into Shazhu's ears. "Then let me ask you—the living expenses that He Daqing sent every month for you and your sister, how much money was it? When was it sent? Where was it collected? Who went to collect it? And where did the money go afterwards? Four years! Haven't seen a single cent? Did you never even ask?"
A rapid succession of questions hit like a thunderbolt, leaving Shazhu's mind blank with shock! Living expenses? Sent by He Daqing? There was such a thing? In all twenty years of his life, this was the first time Shazhu had ever heard of it!
"You... you're talking out of your ass!" Shazhu's brain went blank from shock first, and then a nameless fire instantly surged up. "That bastard He Daqing died in Baoding ages ago! He could still send money? And for four years? Su Changshun, are you fucking playing with me for laughs? Do you want me to beat the crap out of you?"
"Beat the crap out of me?" Su Changshun didn't budge an inch, his gaze as sharp as a blade. He knew Shazhu was stubborn, single-minded, and stuck to his own rigid logic; if you said something he didn't want to hear, he would turn on you in a second. "Zhuzi, do you think I've got nothing better to do than make up easily disprovable lies just to offend you and Yi Zhonghai? Is there any point?"
He leaned in closer, his voice carrying absolute conviction: "If you don't believe it, go down to the post office and check the remittance records! Starting from the very first month after He Daqing went to Baoding, at the end or the beginning of every single month, there has consistently been a remittance slip sent from Baoding! Who collected it on your behalf will be clear immediately—post office stub receipts can't be faked!"
Shazhu's eyes grew wider and wider, his breathing heavier and heavier. A profound sense of humiliation—of having been deceived and made a fool of for a full four years—swept over his reason like a wildfire spreading across the plains!
All the money had been collected by Yi Zhonghai?! Not a single cent given to him? He, Shazhu, had worked himself to the bone, scrimped and saved, and brought back food boxes for his younger sister, only to find out...
Su Changshun watched Shazhu's eyes, bloodshot from blinding rage and humiliation, and knew the heat had reached its peak. It was time to pour that final ladle of boiling oil:
"Why did he dare to pull this off? Why did he keep his mouth shut after collecting the money? Why did he keep it a secret from you?" Su Changshun's voice was like a devil's whisper. "It's because he, Yi Zhonghai, has been training you, He Yuzhu, like an obedient dog! By holding onto the money, he was holding onto the bone used to train you! He wanted you to go east, and you wouldn't dare go west! Otherwise, right after your old man left, you and Yushui would have starved without his, Yi Zhonghai's, assistance. It was Yi Zhonghai who withheld your old man's money so you wouldn't be too full—a dog that's too full won't listen to commands. Look at you now: whenever he wants you to help out the Jia family, you have to scurry over and deliver the grain yourself! And you're even moved to tears of gratitude, feeling so capable because you can help out your neighbors! Zhuzi... the man treated you like a complete fool! He trained you like a tail-wagging dog for four years! Do you still want... any pride left?"
"Shut—the—fuck—up!"
Shazhu suddenly let out a roar like a wounded beast! He sprang to his feet, every muscle in his body rigid and trembling! His face turned a dark, suffocating purple! Yi Zhonghai... Master Yi... First Uncle...
He treated him like a dog?! Used his old man's money to train him? Made him, Shazhu, feel grateful like a fool? Made him run errands to help the Jia Family like a pug?!
"You—god—damn—Yi—Zhong—hai!!" Shazhu's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles cracked, the blood vessels in his eyes looking fit to burst!
The immense sense of humiliation and monstrous fury completely incinerated his final shred of respect for Yi Zhonghai.
The so-called kindness accumulated over four years instantly turned to ash under those two venomous yet deadly accurate words: *dog training*.
In its place was a bone-deep hatred for having been played with, humiliated, and treated like livestock.
"Proof! Give me proof!" Shazhu stared with bloodshot eyes, grabbing Su Changshun's arm with a grip so fierce it felt like it would snap the bone!
Su Changshun winced in pain, but inwardly he was blooming with joy: "First thing tomorrow morning! Nanluoguxiang Subdistrict post office! I'll take a day off and go with you to check the ledger! Let's strip away every last secret! Zhuzi, remember! This isn't just your money; it belongs to your sister Yushui, too! What Yi Zhonghai did is utterly devoid of human conscience!"
Shazhu abruptly let go of his grip, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air, fixing a deadly glare on the closed door of the Yi family's house—a look that seemed ready to burn right through it.
Su Changshun knew that the play with Yi Zhonghai was only now truly beginning its opening act! And this time, he was the main star crashing the show.