Chapter 49: Yi Zhonghai's Prestige Plummets Further

"Silly Pillar, I was trying to help you, and yet you actually dared to raise a hand against me."

Watching Silly Pillar, who was held down immovably by four members of the inspection team, Liu Haizhong was so furious that he was gasping for breath. However, he did not strike Silly Pillar. Right now, who was he? He was not only the workshop director but also the captain of the inspection team—he was a leader, and a leader had to act like one.

"Yi Zhonghai, do you have anything else to say?"

Liu Haizhong looked at Yi Zhonghai, his gaze full of triumph.

Yi Zhonghai was not panicked in the least; he chuckled and said, "Didn't I just come straight from the post office to find Silly Pillar, intending to hand over the old-age pension mailed by He Daqing? What? Did I do something wrong?"

Liu Haizhong's heart sank internally. He realized he had been triumphant too early, but thinking of the letter in Silly Pillar's hands, he figured there was still a chance.

"That letter He Daqing sent to Silly Pillar—why did you throw it away directly instead of giving it to him?"

Without even thinking, Yi Zhonghai replied directly, "How would I know there was a letter inside? He Daqing entrusted me to take care of Silly Pillar and only mentioned sending money; he said nothing about writing a letter. So I didn't pay much attention, grabbed the money, and came straight back to find Silly Pillar. If you don't believe me, go ask!"

Hearing Yi Zhonghai's words, the crowd of onlookers began to whisper among themselves.

"That's right, the First Elder came straight to find Silly Pillar the moment he got back."

A resident who was on good terms with Yi Zhonghai wanted to explain on his behalf, but as soon as he finished speaking, another voice chimed in.

"Hah! This Yi Zhonghai definitely has malicious intentions. When he took the money, I refuse to believe he didn't see the letter inside."

The speaker was Lou Xiaoe. Without overthinking it, she blurted out whatever came to her mind.

Hearing Lou Xiaoe's words, Yi Zhonghai shot her a fierce glare.

Qin Huairu stood in front of Lou Xiaoe, her gaze cold as she looked at Yi Zhonghai without a shred of fear. "What? You did it yourself, and now you won't let others talk about it?"

At that moment, Qin Min stepped forward, but she sided with Yi Zhonghai. "Qin Huairu, you're talking as if what Lou Xiaoe said is absolute truth. The First Elder was probably just in a hurry to come back and give the money to Silly Pillar, so he didn't notice. You people always let your imaginations run wild—could it be that there's something wrong with your own minds?"

Qin Min had long set her sights on Yi Zhonghai's money. After all, Yi Zhonghai was single now, and she was a young, pretty, and grieving young widow. She believed that with her tactics, she could easily wrap Yi Zhonghai around her finger with just a few clever tricks.

Lou Xiaoe wanted to retort, but Chen Xueru stopped her, saying calmly, "Saying all this is useless. Isn't there someone here from the post office? Since the Second Elder brought him over, it proves he was the one who handled the transaction for Yi Zhonghai. Whether Yi Zhonghai saw the letter or not, I refuse to believe he didn't know."

With that, everyone turned their eyes to the post office employee brought by Liu Haizhong.

Silly Pillar also looked at the post office employee with hopeful eyes. He had never believed that Yi Zhonghai would withhold the letter and money mailed by He Daqing. In Silly Pillar's view, out of the entire courtyard, Yi Zhonghai had treated him the best. For the sake of this bond, he instinctively wanted to stop the questioning.

Feeling the gaze of the crowd, the post office employee grew somewhat timid and involuntarily took two steps back. However, casting a sidelong glance at both Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong out of the corner of his eye, he timidly replied, "At the time, he took out both the letter and the money together, glanced at them, put the letter back, threw it away, and left with just the money."

As soon as the post office employee finished speaking, he felt the murderous glare Yi Zhonghai was directing at him. He quickly lowered his head, not daring to make eye contact with Yi Zhonghai ever again.

Liu Haizhong looked triumphantly at Yi Zhonghai and asked, "Yi Zhonghai, what else do you have to say?"

Yi Zhonghai continued to defend himself, "I did this for Silly Pillar's own good! He Daqing ran off with the White Widow; Silly Pillar must harbor deep resentment toward him. Showing him He Daqing's letter would only cause him more pain. If you don't believe me, ask Silly Pillar—am I right?"

Right now, Yi Zhonghai's only hope was to pin his chances on Silly Pillar.

However, Silly Pillar did not answer immediately. He recalled the letter he had just seen. It was filled with concern for him and He Yushui, while also hinting that his departure was inextricably linked to the people in the courtyard, and that he had been forced to leave secretly only out of fear of implicating them.

Though people called him Silly Pillar, he wasn't truly a fool. While the letter did not spell it out explicitly, it kept hinting that the person who had driven him out of the courtyard was none other than Yi Zhonghai.

"I don't resent my dad anymore. Give me my dad's money."

Having calmed down, Silly Pillar wanted to break free from the hold of the four men. Eager to watch the show, Liu Haizhong motioned for the four men to let Silly Pillar go.

Silly Pillar walked up to Yi Zhonghai and uttered the words that drove Yi Zhonghai to absolute despair.

"Silly Pillar, you have to believe me, I did it all for you!"

Silly Pillar didn't speak; he simply held out his hand, waiting for Yi Zhonghai to hand over the money.

Seeing this, Yi Zhonghai had no choice but to surrender the ten-yuan banknote to Silly Pillar.

At that moment, Yi Zhonghai regretted it with every fiber of his being—why on earth had he thrown away that letter? If he hadn't discarded it, Liu Haizhong would never have gotten a hold on him.

"Second Elder, I think the First Elder didn't have any malicious intentions. Please let him go."

Having retrieved the ten-yuan bill, Silly Pillar calmly looked at Liu Haizhong and interceded on Yi Zhonghai's behalf. It was obvious that Liu Haizhong wanted to use this incident to deal with Yi Zhonghai, but regardless of what Yi Zhonghai's motives were, the man had genuinely treated him well in the past. Even just to repay Yi Zhonghai for taking care of him after He Daqing left, he had to help him today.

Liu Haizhong never imagined that Silly Pillar would actually speak up for Yi Zhonghai. Now that the creditor had forgiven Yi Zhonghai, what could he possibly do?

"Fine."

With a wave of his hand and a dark expression, Liu Haizhong directly led the inspection team and the post office personnel away.

Seeing this, Yi Zhonghai finally let out a sigh of relief.

However, the relief was short-lived, as his expression quickly darkened again.

The residents in the courtyard were all whispering among themselves now, and every single word was a condemnation of him. Nobody here was a fool; how could they fail to see that Yi Zhonghai's actions had undoubtedly been driven by ulterior motives?

Without even sparing Yi Zhonghai a glance, Silly Pillar turned around and walked toward his home.

Seeing that Silly Pillar was heading home, Third Matriarch Jia nudged Qin Min's arm and gestured for her to follow him.

Qin Min nodded at Third Matriarch Jia and quickly quickened her pace to catch up with Silly Pillar.

"Zhuzi, look—your Sister Qin is pregnant now, and neither my mom nor I have jobs. Our family has even run out of food recently. Do you think you could lend your sister some money or grain?"

Catching the fragrance lingering on Qin Min, and looking into her watery, tearful eyes filled with endless tenderness, Silly Pillar's heart—cold just moments before—instantly melted into a blaze.

"Hey, Sister Qin, take this money. I'll run home right now and get you ten catties of cornmeal."

Silly Pillar broke into his usual naive, honest smile, shoved the newly acquired ten-yuan bill into Qin Min's hands, and dashed off toward his house to fetch the cornmeal.

Watching the foolish back of Silly Pillar, Qin Min's face—which had been tearful just a second ago—instantly twisted into an expression of utter disdain as she muttered under her breath, "Such an absolute idiot."