Chapter 48: Yi Zhonghai Was Frightened

"Old Yi! Have you lost your mind?! Digging up tree roots in the middle of the night! What on earth are you trying to do?!" Liu Haizhong's booming voice shook the air.

"I... I..." Yi Zhonghai's lips trembled, cold sweat streaming down his temples. "I... I dreamed that the old lady said something was buried beneath the tree... I... I was out of my mind..."

"Bulls—t!" Second Aunt put her hands on her hips, spittle flying everywhere. "The old lady just passed away! Her soul hasn't even dissipated yet! And you're already eyeing her things? Have you no shame at all?!"

"Exactly! Yi Zhonghai! And to think you're a senior elder in this courtyard!" Third Master Yan Fugui also emerged wrapped in a coat, the lenses of his glasses flashing with a cold light.

Other residents who had been rudely awakened by the commotion also gathered around, pointing fingers with expressions full of contempt and anger.

The "high moral standing" Yi Zhonghai had spent decades building seemed ready to collapse entirely on this single night.

"All right! Stop this racket, all of you!" Street Committee Director Wang's voice carried a stern authority as she parted the crowd and walked in.

Director Wang cast a cold glance at the shivering Yi Zhonghai. "Comrade Yi Zhonghai, your behavior has severely disturbed the peace! Whatever the matter is, we'll discuss it when dawn breaks! Now, everyone back to bed!"

As if granted a royal pardon, Yi Zhonghai abandoned all concern for his face, dropped his shovel, and scurried back into his room like a whipped dog. The door slammed shut with a heavy bang, and no further sound came from within.

The farce temporarily subsided.

Yet the atmosphere throughout the courtyard remained heavily oppressed.

In the dead of night, lightning suddenly flashed, thunder rolled, and a torrential downpour began.

Just as day was breaking, the rain eased slightly but continued to fall, the dark clouds still hanging low.

He Yuzhu rode his bicycle back into the courtyard, two newly bought shovels bound to the back seat.

He was soaked to the bone, his trouser legs splattered with mud, clearly having braved the storm on his journey back.

Director Wang and Officer Xiao Liu were already waiting in the back courtyard, both wearing raincoats.

The window of Yi Zhonghai's house was cracked open just a sliver, a pair of eyes staring fixedly at the crowd in the back courtyard and the old locust tree by the base of the wall.

"Director Wang, Comrade Xiao Liu, sorry to keep you waiting." He Yuzhu wiped the rainwater from his face, his voice calm. "Let's begin."

Walking up to the old locust tree—whose bark looked even more mottled and washed out by the rain—He Yuzhu did not hesitate. He swung the new shovel and drove it fiercely into the rain-soaked soil beside the tree roots!

The mud was slick and sticky, making the digging exceptionally arduous.

Rainwater streamed down He Yuzhu's hair and cheeks, but he had no time to wipe it away.

Director Wang and Xiao Liu also picked up tools to help. Three shovels flew up and down, sending muddy water splashing in all directions.

After digging nearly a meter deep, there was nothing to be found except tree roots and gravel.

Director Wang straightened up, panting heavily. "Zhuzi... could there be a mistake?"

He Yuzhu did not stop; sweat mixed with rain blurred his vision.

He recalled the feeling of the old lady clutching his hand desperately before her last breath, and the fragmented elm bark texture on the oil paper that pointed straight to this spot.

Gritting his teeth, he continued digging downward!

*Clang!* The tip of the shovel suddenly struck a hard object! It wasn't the dull thud of stone, but sounded more like... pottery!

He Yuzhu's spirit lifted. He tossed the shovel aside and began clawing away the cold, wet mud with his bare hands!

Soon, the neck of a dark, mud-caked, round-bellied clay jar was exposed!

"There really is something here!" Director Wang and Xiao Liu grew excited as well, hurriedly stepping in to help clear away the surrounding soil.

He Yuzhu carefully lifted the entire clay jar out of the mud pit.

The jar was not large, but it felt heavy, coated in a thick layer of mire. He Yuzhu washed the mud off the rim with rainwater, revealing that the opening was sealed tightly with thick oilcloth and wax.

"Open it and let's see!" Director Wang's voice carried eager anticipation.

He Yuzhu took out the dagger he carried with him and carefully sliced through the sealed oilcloth and wax layers.

A pungent, earthy stench mixed with a faint waxy scent wafted out. Holding his breath, he reached his hand into the mouth of the jar.

His fingers brushed against cold, hard objects, and he pulled them out one by one.

The first item was a small bundle wrapped in multiple layers of oil paper.

Unwrapping the oil paper, he revealed five small, golden bars that still gleamed with an alluring luster beneath the gloomy sky!

Moreover, a line of small characters was clearly engraved on each gold bar: "He Daqing."

The second item was a folded piece of heavy paper, also wrapped in oil paper.

He Yuzhu unfolded it. It was a yellowed, slightly faded promissory note and mortgage receipt:

Mortgagor: He Daqing
Collateral: Five small gold bars
Reason for mortgage: Urgent need
Date of mortgage: The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, 1950 (ROC Calendar)
Witness: Yi Zhonghai
(Note: Presenting this receipt and the mortgagor's thumbprint allows redemption after five years)

Raindrops pattered relentlessly against the gold bars and the yellowed receipt.

He Yuzhu's fingers gripped the receipt so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He stared at the characters for the mortgagor "He Daqing," looked at the signature of the witness "Yi Zhonghai," and then glanced back at the name "He Daqing" carved onto the gold bars. His gaze grew as cold as the late autumn rain.

So that was it! His father, He Daqing, hadn't simply run off with a widow!

Before fleeing, he had converted his family fortune into gold bars and mortgaged them! And the witness to it all was none other than Yi Zhonghai!

"Yi Zhonghai!" He Yuzhu abruptly raised his head, his icy glare piercing instantly through the curtain of rain toward the half-open window of Yi Zhonghai's house!

Behind the window, the peeping Yi Zhonghai was scared out of his wits by that gaze!

When he clearly saw the five gold bars and the yellowed paper in He Yuzhu's hands, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning!

He recognized that paper! It was the witness receipt he had written out with his own hands!

*Thud!* With a muffled sound, Yi Zhonghai's legs went weak, and he collapsed straight down onto the floor from behind the window!

Muddy water instantly soaked through his trousers, but he remained completely oblivious. He only stared, lost and hollow-eyed, at the back courtyard, and at the golden, incriminating evidence in He Yuzhu's hands bearing the name "He Daqing." From his throat came a rattling sound like a broken bellows:

"He... he knew all along... he knew the stuff was by the wall... he... he deliberately lured me into digging up the elm tree... he... he plotted against me..." Yi Zhonghai sat slumped in the cold muddy water, rain streaming down his aged face, making it impossible to tell whether they were raindrops or tears of utter despair. "It's over... it's all over..."

Director Wang and Xiao Liu stared at the gold bars and the receipt in their hands, then looked at the hollowed-out Yi Zhonghai in the mud pit, and finally turned to He Yuzhu, who stood drenched and icy-eyed. For a moment, they were too shocked to utter a single word.

Beneath the seemingly tranquil surface of this courtyard, the buried secrets were shockingly sordid!