sbdcsierra Chapter 1932 Asking Li Ruhai to investigate his father
Chapter 1932 Asking Li Ruhai to investigate his father
Chapter 1932 Asking Li Ruhai to investigate his father
"Boom! Whoosh... bang!" The firecrackers exploded in the Zhao family compound.
Setting off firecrackers normally will frighten the livestock in the house to varying degrees.
But the Zhao family always set off firecrackers, and the livestock in the house got used to it.
Inside the west hut, a little black bear, a little lynx, and a little fat black bear peeked out from the windowsill.
Although the dogs in the backyard all looked up at the sound of firecrackers, none of them barked.
The little donkey in the shed lay leisurely on the haystack, only its wagging tail pausing slightly when the firecrackers went off.
At the Li family home, Li Ruhai hurriedly ran out of the west room, where Jin Xiaomei was wiping the dish rack with a rag.
"Mom, my eldest brother is drumming to gather the troops, I'm leaving now!" Li Ruhai said, and ran out of the yard.
Jin Xiaomei kept working without even glancing at Li Ruhai.
This is because it's unnecessary. Jin Xiaomei knows that Zhao Jun must have something important to do, and she will definitely support him.
Just then, Li Dayong quietly came out of the west room.
The moment he stepped out the door, Li Dayong glanced at Jin Xiaomei, then quickly looked away and walked out the door as if nothing had happened.
But as Li Dayong took a step forward, Jin Xiaomei shouted, "Where are you going?"
Li Dayong paused, turned around and said, "I also need to go see my older brother."
"Your older brother?" Jin Xiaomei said irritably, "You two spend all day researching useless things..."
"Stop making a fuss!" Li Dayong interrupted Jin Xiaomei in a low voice, then quickly walked over to Jin Xiaomei and said, "Don't let Jin Hui and the others in the East Courtyard hear this."
Hearing Li Dayong say this, Jin Xiaomei pursed her lips and remained silent.
Seeing Jin Xiaomei pout, Li Dayong felt that this woman didn't respect him and his brother, and immediately said angrily, "No? My transfer is to ask my older brother to go hunting in the mountains. We're not going to do anything ridiculous. Why are you stopping us?"
Jin Xiaomei glanced at Li Dayong, and while washing the rag, said, "I don't care about you two."
"What's wrong with us? You don't even need to talk about us!" Li Dayong rarely argued with Jin Xiaomei, but today he was very angry. He said angrily, "My brother and I sold the gallbladder of a big black bear. We split the cost, and that's how much money we got. My salary still goes up. What else do you want?"
"What, you two..." Jin Xiaomei wiped the dish rack door with a wrung-out rag, saying as she did so, "You've been transferred anyway, why don't you go help Xiaojun?"
"I..." Li Dayong was about to say something when Jin Xiaomei continued, "How much money does Xiaojun make leading this group of people to graze in the mountains? How much does your brother make hunting a bear?"
Li Dayong was speechless after Jin Xiaomei's question. Even if he and Zhao Youcai fought eight hundred bears, they still couldn't match the value of that one ginseng king from the Zhao family gang!
Seeing that Li Dayong remained silent, Jin Xiaomei continued, "Xiaojun and his men have enough men, that's all. The key is that Xiaojun is short of men. Instead of going to help him, you go hunting with your elder brother. Do you think that's reasonable?"
At this point, Jin Xiaomei glared at Li Dayong and said, "Big brother too, he should have gone with Xiaojun..."
"You can't talk about my older brother!" Li Dayong interrupted Jin Xiaomei sharply. Jin Xiaomei smirked and said, "I didn't say anything else about him, just that he doesn't do anything productive!"
Hearing Jin Xiaomei's words, Li Dayong's face flushed red, and he shouted, "It's none of your business!"
"I just don't care about you, what do you think?" Jin Xiaomei rolled her eyes at Li Dayong and said, "Baoyu and Ruhai are making money with Xiaojun, they have nothing to worry about at home, no burdens, why are you still thinking about this and that?"
"What did you say?" Li Dayong roared, "What, do you mean I don't make money?"
"Yeah, you make money." Facing Li Dayong's anger, Jin Xiaomei said sarcastically, "You make money and sew it all into your cotton-padded coat."
Upon hearing Jin Xiaomei's words, Li Dayong's neck turned red. He stopped arguing with Jin Xiaomei, turned around, and stormed out.
Watching Li Dayong's departing figure, Jin Xiaomei pouted and uttered Zhao Youcai's favorite phrase: "What a day!"
Li Dayong rushed out of the courtyard and bumped into Zhao Jinhui, who was coming out of the east courtyard.
"Uncle Li," Zhao Jinhui greeted Li Dayong cheerfully, and asked, "Are you going to the meeting with us too?"
Hearing this, Li Dayong was secretly annoyed, but Zhao Jinhui was a junior, so he couldn't afford to lose his temper with him.
"Why would I need to have a meeting with you?" Li Dayong replied, then walked towards the Zhao family compound with Zhao Jinhui.
As the firecrackers went off, Ma Yang put down his rice bowl at the Ma family's dinner table and went to sit on the kang (a heated brick bed).
This morning, Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua went to work in the fields and came back late, so they ate late as well.
"Young man, you haven't finished eating yet!" Wang Cuihua called to Ma Yang, saying, "You can't leave rice in your bowl, or you'll have to go find Ma Zi's wife."
Wang Cuihua's words were a common tactic used by older generations to scare children. But Ma Yang was particularly bothered by this. Even after getting off the kang (a heated brick bed), he turned around, grabbed the rice bowl from the kang table, and shoveled rice into his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Seeing Ma Yang's reaction, Ma Dafu frowned and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Aren't you going to eat your vegetables?"
Upon hearing Ma Dafu's words, Ma Yang put down his rice bowl, puffed out his cheeks, chewed, and used his chopsticks to pick up food and stuff it into his mouth.
Seeing Ma Yang's expression, Wang Cuihua frowned and said, "What are you doing, son? It's your brother-in-law's meeting, it won't make a difference if it's just a little while longer."
As Wang Cuihua said this, Ma Yang stiffened his neck, swallowed his food with difficulty, and said, "Mom, you don't know what happened. Li Ruhai said that as soon as the firecracker went off, people were kicked out of the Zhao family gang in less than five minutes."
"What?" Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua were both taken aback, then Ma Yang explained to them, "This is called being executed for being late!"
"Is it really that serious?" Ma Dafu asked incredulously. "Even the military isn't this strict."
“That’s right.” Wang Cuihua put some food into Ma Yang’s bowl and said, “Eat your food properly, then go. You’ll only be a little late, do you think your brother-in-law will kick you out?”
“Li Ruhai said…” Ma Yang had just started to speak when Wang Cuihua interrupted him, “Youngest son, you’re different from them. You’re young, and you’re still growing. Don’t keep complaining and not eating properly. If you don’t grow taller, how will you find a good wife?”
They say there's a proper way to tether a monkey, and as soon as he heard the word "wife," Ma Yang hurriedly put some food into his bowl.
Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua exchanged a glance. Wang Cuihua moved closer to Ma Yang and asked with a smile, "My son, tell your mother, whose daughter have you taken a fancy to?"
"Mom." Ma Yang blushed immediately when Wang Cuihua asked him that.
They're still young.
“Son, tell us about this,” Ma Dafu said from the side. “Can you keep this from us forever? Now that you’re not in school anymore, your mother and I have to start looking for someone for you. We’ll get you engaged in a couple of years.”
"In two years..." Upon hearing this, Ma Yang stopped chewing. He thought that in two years his classmates would graduate from junior high school.
Thinking of this, Ma Yang no longer hesitated and immediately put down his chopsticks, saying to Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua, "Mom, I've taken a liking to Hu Lina from our class."
Ma Yang's sentence was only a few words long, but his voice grew softer and softer as he spoke. After he finished speaking, Ma Yang quickly lowered his head and picked up the bowl to cover his face.
Upon hearing the name, Wang Cuihua was taken aback. After all, she wasn't Li Ruhai; she couldn't possibly know everyone, young and old.
If you mention an old woman or a young wife, Wang Cuihua might recognize her, but she really can't recognize all the other village girls.
"Hu Lina?" Ma Dafu looked at Ma Yang in surprise.
Sensing the surprise in Ma Dafu's voice, Wang Cuihua quickly asked him, "Dad, whose daughter is that Hu something-na?"
Ma Dafu glanced at Wang Cuihua, but didn't answer her question. Instead, he looked at Ma Yang and asked, "Young man, are you saying that Hu Lina is the eldest daughter of Hu Guanglai in our workshop?"
"Hmm!" Ma Yang raised his head and nodded emphatically, then lowered his head again.
"Hu Guanglai?" Wang Cuihua should know this person, but when Ma Dafu and Ma Yang looked at her, Wang Cuihua shook her head and said, "This person is no good, his family is no good."
"Clang!" Ma Yang's rice bowl fell onto the table. He stared wide-eyed at Wang Cuihua and said, "Why not? Why not?"
Ma Yang's attitude displeased Wang Cuihua. Her son, whom she had given birth to and raised, was already forgetting his mother before even getting married. What would happen if he did? Wouldn't he make her and his father live in the granary after he got married?
So, Wang Cuihua, who already had a problem with Hu Guanglai, said coldly, "What do you mean, why is he no good? Didn't I already say? Hu Guanglai is no good!"
After saying this, Wang Cuihua immediately added, "If he can't do it, how can his daughter?"
"No?" Hearing Wang Cuihua say that, Ma Dafu quickly stopped her and asked, "Why isn't Old Hu good? He's such a good person!"
When Ma Dafu said this, Ma Yang stared at his mother and nodded repeatedly.
"What a load of rubbish!" Wang Cuihua swore, a rare occurrence for her, then pointed at Ma Dafu with annoyance and said, "Before his son was born, he came to drink with you. How much money did you give him as a gift?"
Ma Dafu never expected Wang Cuihua to bring this up, and he immediately felt flustered, muttering, "Um... I... I forgot."
"What's wrong with your head?" Wang Cuihua glared at Ma Dafu and said, "You wrote him a gift of ten yuan, and when our grandson was around, he gave you back five yuan."
"You've got it wrong, haven't you?" Ma Dafu replied softly, but Wang Cuihua pointed to the cabinet and said, "The gift ledger is up there. Let me get it down for you to check."
"Then what's the point of looking at that?" Ma Dafu said. "When our daughter gets married, doesn't he give you five yuan?"
That's not how you calculate it, but Ma Yang, standing to the side, nodded repeatedly.
He was not only agreeing with Ma Dafu, but also protecting his father-in-law.
"What the hell did you say?" At this moment, Wang Cuihua got angry. She slammed her hand on the table and said, "Damn it, you even wrote him ten yuan!"
In a society based on personal relationships, the principle of reciprocity means that whatever you give, you will receive back.
However, in the gift records of the Ma family's business, there are always a few "unconventional" people. These people are fixed and very few in number.
This is precisely where Ma Dafu's wisdom lies. He can't expect everyone in the workshop to treat him poorly, can he? That would be dishonest.
And this Hu Guanglai was one of those "unconventional" people.
Anyone would be angry in this situation, but Wang Cuihua was quite magnanimous; she only grumbled a few words to Ma Dafu at home.
“Oh dear.” And Ma Dafu always replied with the same thing: “We’re all colleagues, we’re together every day, let’s not fuss about it.”
Hearing Ma Dafu's words, Wang Cuihua glanced at him and said nothing more.
Just as Wang Cuihua picked up her chopsticks to continue eating, Ma Dafu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Ma Yang say, "Mom, you can't talk about people like that, it's so hurtful."
Wang Cuihua, already in a bad mood, was further enraged by Ma Yang and swore at him. She slammed her bowl and chopsticks on the kang table and yelled at Ma Yang, "Who the hell are you? I'm your mother!"
“You’re my mother, you can’t talk to people like that,” Ma Yang said. “Our teachers all say that Hu Lina’s parents are really nice and honest people.”
“Really?” Wang Cuihua tapped her fingers on the kang table repeatedly and said, “Really? They always refuse to give us gifts? It’s okay once or twice, but they always refuse.”
“Then he’s my dad’s colleague, so…” Ma Yang had barely finished speaking when Wang Cuihua exploded: “Get lost! Your dad said that, and you say that too?”
"Fine, I'll get out then." Ma Yang shoved the bowl and chopsticks onto the table and said, "I don't want to eat anymore anyway!"
"I'm pretty!" Wang Cuihua was furious. Her hand was trembling as she pointed at Ma Yang.
Seeing Ma Yang putting on his shoes and about to leave, Wang Cuihua turned to Ma Dafu and shouted, "What are you looking at? Beat him up!"
Wang Cuihua's words startled Ma Yang. But to his surprise, his father not only ignored his mother's advice, but Ma Dafu also advised Wang Cuihua, "Cuihua, calm down. The child needs to see people later. Don't hit him anymore."
Ma Dafu's words made sense, but in her rage, Wang Cuihua picked up the small broom for sweeping the kang (a heated brick bed) and rushed towards Ma Yang.
Seeing this, Ma Yang darted to the outer room, then took two more steps to leave the house, and then quickly ran out of the yard.
……
After leaving his home, Ma Yang headed towards the Zhao family compound.
The incident that had just occurred concerned his father-in-law, so Ma Yang couldn't help but think about it.
At home, Ma Yang spoke up for Hu Guanglai because he was afraid that Wang Cuihua would not agree to his relationship with Hu Lina.
But in Ma Yang's mind, he also believed that what Hu Guanglai did was wrong.
Even hooligans don't act like this when they're in dire straits. What kind of character does someone have to do something like this?
However, Ma Yang thought again that Hu Lina was such a good person, so her parents must be good too. There must be some misunderstanding here.
Ma Yang, who already viewed everything about Hu Lina through a lens of prejudice, instantly accepted his own opinion.
However, Ma Yang understood his mother. He knew that if this problem wasn't resolved, Wang Cuihua would definitely not agree to his relationship with Hu Lina.
Thinking of this, Ma Yang felt as if his heart was on fire.
Just then, Ma Yang arrived outside the Zhao family compound.
"Hey!" Li Ruhai jumped out from behind the woodpile, startling Ma Yang.
"You're late, do you know that?" Li Ruhai had just asked a question when Ma Yang grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing?" Knowing he couldn't beat Ma Yang, Li Ruhai quickly said, "We gentlemen use words, not fists."
“I won’t fight you,” Ma Yang said. “Li Ruhai, they all say that there’s nothing in this forest area that you can’t find out.”
"Ah." Hearing Ma Yang's words, Li Ruhai responded with a smile and said proudly, "In this respect, even eight old women can't compare to me."
"Then can you help me find out something?" Ma Yang said, taking out some money from his pocket.
Looking at the two two-mao and one one-mao banknotes in Ma Yang's hand, Li Ruhai smirked and said, "You're even stingier than my uncle."
What I owed yesterday, I'll make up for tomorrow.