Chapter 20: Does the Heavenly Lord of Morality Want to Mediate? In Your Dreams!

Qin Huairu’s weeping was like a dull blade, sawing back and forth against everyone’s heart.

Some of the women in the courtyard, seeing her pitiful state, could not help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

"Sigh, Qin Huairu is truly wretched, saddled with such a son."

"The child is young and ignorant; he has really caused a massive disaster this time."

Shazhu’s eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. He longed to rush forward, shove the driver aside, pull Qin Huairu to her feet, and point his finger at Chen Mo’s nose to curse him out.

However, he dared not.

He would never forget the torment of that needle from last time. Just seeing Chen Mo now made his legs turn to jelly.

"He Yuzhu, you are nothing but a piece of trash!" The words Qin Huairu had spat at him a few days ago echoed in his ears.

It was true; he was just a piece of trash! Watching helplessly as Sister Qin knelt on the ground begging for mercy, while he stood by unable to do a thing! Shazhu wanted to slap himself across the face.

The driver, harassed by Qin Huairu, felt helpless. Being a grown man, he could not very well get physical with a woman, so he turned his gaze toward Chen Mo for assistance.

"Doctor Chen, what do you think about this..."

Before Chen Mo could speak, the First Elder, Yi Zhonghai, finally stepped forward. He cleared his throat, assuming the air of a "moral authority."

"Chen Mo, and you, driver, I think... perhaps this matter can be discussed?" He addressed Chen Mo first, his tone relatively polite. "Bangeng is just a child; he truly did something wrong, terribly wrong. But he is still young and doesn't understand the law. Can we in the courtyard give him a chance to turn over a new leaf?"

Having said that, he turned to the driver with a smile plastered on his face: "Sir, you drive for the factory director; you are one of our own working class. Comrade Qin Huairu is a well-known hardship case in our courtyard—a widow raising three children, it isn't easy."

"We will pay for your car! We will pool our money in the courtyard to have it repaired and provide you with some compensation. How about that? Please, don't call the police; leave the boy a way to survive."

Yi Zhonghai’s speech was airtight. He criticized Bangeng, exploited Qin Huairu’s misery, distanced the courtyard from the incident, and proposed a settlement, perfectly embodying the role of a leader concerned for the bigger picture.

Seeing the First Elder speak, the Second Elder, Liu Haizhong, hurriedly chimed in to make his presence felt. "Yes, yes! The First Elder is right! We in the courtyard fully support his decision! Whatever the cost of the repairs, we will not hesitate to pay!"

The Third Elder, Yan Bugui, felt his heart sink at the mention of pooling money, but he could not remain silent at a time like this. "Indeed, indeed. When a child errs, the adults must take responsibility. Qin Huairu, hurry up and make a statement. You must come up with a plan for how much it will cost to fix this car!" He kicked the ball back to Qin Huairu.

Hearing a glimmer of hope, Qin Huairu’s sobbing softened. She nodded hurriedly: "I’ll pay! I’ll pay! As long as you don't call the police, I’ll sell everything I own to pay for it!"

Old Lady Jia, lying on the ground, scrambled up and echoed: "Right! We will pay! It’s just two broken tires; how much could they possibly be worth?" In her view, anything that could be settled with money was no problem at all.

Watching them trade words, the driver began to waver. As a driver, he didn't want to blow things out of proportion. He looked at Chen Mo, for after all, Chen Mo was the protagonist of today’s affair.

Chen Mo looked at the group and sneered internally.

Trying to patch things up? Moral kidnapping? Thinking they could settle this with a few filthy coins?

In their dreams!

"Pay?" Chen Mo finally spoke. His voice was not loud, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness. "Do you think this is a matter of money?"

He walked over to the Volga and pointed at the deflated tires.

"This is Director Yang’s official car! What is Director Yang’s status? He is the leader of our rolling mill! This car represents the face of our factory!"

"Bangeng didn't just scratch it or bump into it. He used an awl, with immense malice, to puncture two tires!" Chen Mo’s voice rose sharply. "What do you call this? This is intentional sabotage! To put it mildly, it is destruction of state property! To put it severely, this is class retaliation! It is a provocation against the leadership of our rolling mill!"

*Class retaliation!*

The moment those words left his lips, the air in the courtyard seemed to freeze. Everyone’s expression changed. In this era, once anything was linked to the word "class," the nature of the matter changed entirely. That was a capital offense!

Cold sweat instantly broke out on the forehead of the First Elder, Yi Zhonghai. He had not expected Chen Mo to set the tone so high! This was no longer a mess he could patch up.

"Chen... Chen Mo, you... you are overstating this. Bangeng is just a child; what does he know about class retaliation..." Yi Zhonghai’s voice stuttered.

"He doesn't know?" Chen Mo turned, staring fixedly at Yi Zhonghai. "If he doesn't know, do you adults in the Jia family know? If he doesn't know, do you, as the First Elder, not know?"

"When I first came to this courtyard, I was deathly ill. How did your Jia family treat me? You stole my medicine, snatched my pension, and cursed me as a dying man with no heirs! Is that not class hatred?"

"When I cured Xu Damao and he gave me a gift of gratitude, your Jia family was green with envy, so Bangeng went and stole his chicken! Is that not the hooliganism of a petty thief?"

"After I became a doctor and had a job, Qin Huairu, you brought me noodles in the middle of the night—what were your intentions? Do you not know yourself? Shazhu, used as your pawn, came to bring me food to win me over; when I refused, you all held a grudge!"

"Today, Bangeng comes to puncture the director’s tires! Do you dare say this wasn't instigated by the adults of the Jia family? That it wasn't the result of the hatred you’ve been instilling in him for so long?"

Every word from Chen Mo was like a sharp blade stabbing into the hearts of Qin Huairu and Old Lady Jia. He dragged out every incident from the Jia family’s past, stringing them together into a complete, logical chain. In this chain, Bangeng puncturing the tires was not an isolated or accidental event, but an inevitable outcome!

The people in the courtyard listened in terror. They realized then that Chen Mo had never intended to settle this peacefully from the very beginning. He was going to settle old scores and new ones alike, and destroy the Jia family completely!

Qin Huairu’s face had drained of all color; her hands, which had been clutching the driver’s leg, slipped away limply. She knew Chen Mo was right. Although she hadn't directly ordered Bangeng to puncture the tires, her constant complaints, curses, and dissatisfaction with their life that she voiced at home had undoubtedly influenced him. She was the one who had personally planted the seeds of hatred in her son’s heart.

"No... that’s not true... Chen Mo, you’re talking nonsense! You’re slandering us!" Old Lady Jia was still making a final struggle.

"Whether I am talking nonsense will be clear once the public security officers investigate." Chen Mo gave her no room to argue. He said to the driver: "Sir, stop wasting your breath on them. Go call the police now. Tell the officers that someone here is engaged in class retaliation, disrupting production, and attempting to subvert the normal order of our rolling mill!"

Fired up by Chen Mo’s words, the driver nodded heavily: "Right! Doctor Chen, I’ll listen to you! I’m going now!" With that, he turned and walked away.

"No—!" Qin Huairu let out a desperate shriek. She knew that if the driver left, Bangeng was finished!

She lunged up from the ground and, acting like a madwoman, rushed to Yi Zhonghai, kneeling and kowtowing to him. "First Elder! I beg you! Please save Bangeng! You cannot stand by and watch him die!"

Yi Zhonghai scrambled backward in fear. Save him? With what? Chen Mo had already framed the matter so severely that if he dared to speak up again, he might drag himself down with them!

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai could not be relied upon, Qin Huairu crawled toward Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui. "Second Elder! Third Elder! Please, say something for me! You watched Bangeng grow up!"

Liu Haizhong turned his head aside, and Yan Bugui hid far away. Who dared to provoke Chen Mo at a time like this?

Witnessing the indifference and coldness of the people in the courtyard, Qin Huairu’s heart sank to the bottom. She finally cast her gaze toward Old Lady Jia. But Old Lady Jia, upon hearing the word "police," had already completely lost her nerve. No matter how much of a shrew she was, she knew what awaited her if they were taken to the station. She looked at her precious grandson, who had curled into a ball in terror, and then at the desperate Qin Huairu; her mind was a chaotic mess.

Just then, looking at the disaster unfolding before him, a thought suddenly occurred to Yi Zhonghai. He walked up to Chen Mo and lowered his voice: "Chen Mo, how about this... let’s find someone to take the blame for Bangeng."