Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Chapter 162: Searching the entire hospital yielded nothing; Yan Fugui felt disheartened.

Upon hearing that a general meeting of the entire institute was to be held, people in the institute came out of their rooms and headed towards the central courtyard.

Qin Jingru had just finished pouring bathwater for Wang Feng when she heard that another hospital-wide meeting was about to start. She dropped the bucket, grabbed a stool, and ran off with Wang Feng.

Upon arriving at the Intermediate People's Court, there was no sign of a three-way trial at the Eight Immortals Table. Instead, two police officers stood in the middle, with three elderly men standing on either side.

Soon, people from the courtyard arrived at the central courtyard one after another. Wang Feng and Qin Jingru found a seat at the front, and Xu Damao and Li Sumei sat next to them.

When Yi Zhonghai saw that Sha Zhu hadn't come, he waved to Yan Jiefang: "Jiefang, go and call Sha Zhu out."

"Okay, I'll go right now."

Before long, Sha Zhu staggered to the middle courtyard, found a stool, and sat down.

Sha Zhu's eyes remained fixed on Xu Damao, his gaze icy cold.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Yi Zhonghai said to the two police officers, "Officers, everyone in the compound has arrived."

The police officer nodded and addressed the crowd in the courtyard: "Comrades, more than 2,000 yuan was stolen from Comrade Yan Fugui's home today. This is a major theft case. We are now going to search the entire courtyard. During the search, no one is allowed to return to their room. We will begin by searching everyone. We hope you will cooperate."

"Officers, we will definitely cooperate. You must find this thief! This thief has been targeting our compound; it's been burgled several times recently."

"Yes, officers, you must catch the thief, otherwise we won't know where to hide our money."

The police officer ignored the crowd and looked at Yan Fugui, saying, "Comrade, you arrange for the women in your household to search the other women. After the search is complete, call over the heads of the households in the front yard. We'll start searching from the front yard. The rest of you can stay where you are and wait."

Yan Fugui nodded: "Okay."

Under Yan Fugui's arrangement, the people in the courtyard lined up to be searched. The three older women searched the women, while the two policemen searched the men.

Everyone in the hospital wanted to find the thief, and no one objected to the body search.

After the entire search was completed and everything was found to be in order, Yan Fugui looked at Aunt Wu, Lao Hu, and the other households in the front yard.

"One person from the family in the front yard came and went with the police to search the place."

Soon, Aunt Wu and several other residents, including Lao Hu, followed the police to the front yard. Yan Fugui and the Third Aunt also followed. The Third Aunt had marked the money, so if they found any money, he could identify it by looking at it.

Yi Zhonghai didn't go to the front yard; he still needed to oversee the situation and prevent anyone in the yard from leaving. He gestured to the crowd and said loudly:

"Everyone, please be quiet."

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's shout, everyone quieted down.

"A lot has happened in the neighborhood recently, especially the several thefts that have occurred in our neighborhood. I know everyone is feeling very anxious right now. Here's a suggestion to help you avoid having your valuables stolen from your home."

"First of all, I suggest that everyone put all their savings in the bank and only keep a dozen or so yuan for living expenses at home."

"Secondly, everyone must remember to lock their doors when leaving the house. If you see a stranger coming into our yard, be sure to ask who they are looking for."

"Also, everyone should make sure to lock the door bolt when they go to sleep at night. It's best to nail a nail into the bolt to prevent thieves from breaking in at night."

"Okay, Grandpa is right. I'll take the day off tomorrow and go to the bank to deposit all the money in my house."

"This thief is too clever. My uncle's house is always occupied, and he still got robbed. It's just my wife and me at home, and we're often not home. If this thief targets us, it'll be a real problem. I'll take half a day off tomorrow to go to the bank and deposit my money."

Seeing how popular his suggestion was, Yi Zhonghai smiled, gestured to the crowd, and continued:

"Now we need to cooperate with the police officers and wait here for a while. After the police officers have finished searching the front yard, it will be the turn of the intermediate court. At that time, the people of the intermediate court will cooperate with the police officers."

"If this person is from our compound, we must find him. Otherwise, we will never be able to have peace of mind. If the police don't find the money at Uncle San's house, it means that this person is not from our compound. We just need to be more vigilant in our daily lives."

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement, agreeing that Yi Zhonghai's words made a lot of sense.

Even Wang Feng had to admit that Yi Zhonghai was indeed skilled at organizing the masses.

Qin Jingru whispered in Wang Feng's ear, "Brother Wang Feng, I think the police will take a long time to search. By the time they're done, the bathwater I poured for you will be cold."

Wang Feng smiled and waved his hand: "It's alright, let it cool down before reheating. If we leave now, people will suspect us, and then it will be hard to explain."

"Um."

Qin Jingru felt that today's college-wide meeting was a bit boring. Luckily, she brought sunflower seeds with her, so now she could only eat sunflower seeds while waiting.

Two police officers split up to conduct the search, and one officer was sent to each household to keep watch. The search proceeded quite quickly.

Half an hour later, after searching the front yard but finding no money in the old woman's house, the police arrived at the middle court.

Wang Feng followed behind the police this time, while Qin Jingru sat in place, continuing to eat her sunflower seeds.

The police searched Sha Zhu's house first. Wang Feng did not go in with him, but Sha Zhu was called in and went in to watch the police search.

Ten minutes later, the police found ten yuan in Sha Zhu's house, but did not find the mark that the three aunts had mentioned on the money, so they went to search Jia's house.

The police were particularly thorough in their search of the Jia family's home because the Jia family was the primary suspect for the loss.

A search of the Jia family home revealed 36.4 yuan and a gold ring, which was Jia Zhangshi's retirement money. They also found 1.25 yuan under Qin Huairu's bed and 28 yuan in the wardrobe. This was all the money the Jia family had.

When the police arrived at Wang Feng's house to search, Wang Feng followed them inside. The police found 526 yuan under the bed board, which was the money Qin Jingru had hidden.

Not seeing any markings on the money, the police returned it to Wang Feng.

Soon after searching the central courtyard, they began searching the backyard.

The entire search took more than an hour. The search was extremely thorough, covering all the residents in the compound, including the children. However, they found no money from the Yan family, which greatly disappointed Yan Fugui and the third aunt.

After the search was completed, the two policemen sighed and said to Yan Fugui:

"Comrade, our initial assessment is that it's unlikely the thief is from your compound, or perhaps the thief has already transferred the stolen money. We will continue to investigate this case, and we will notify you if there are any developments."

After saying that, the two police officers walked out of compound number 95.