sbdcsierra Chapter 1650 The Fat Man Leaves, the Beard Returns: Undercurrents Surge
Chapter 1650 The Fat Man Leaves, the Beard Returns: Undercurrents Surge
Chapter 1650 The Fat Man Leaves, the Beard Returns: Undercurrents Surge
Wang Meilan has been living the high life these past few days.
Under her arrangement, Zhao Jun's wedding was a grand and high-class affair. In particular, the presence of the bureau chief, the village head, and a host of other leaders showcased the Zhao family's wealth and influence throughout the Yong'an Forestry District.
Early this morning, Li Ruhai rushed over to report that since yesterday, the villagers had been talking about how the Zhao family was even more arrogant than Wang Dazhang was back then.
I don't know how Wang Meilan interpreted these words, but she just thought they were nice.
Then, Village Chief Wang enthusiastically called his driver, secretary, and bodyguard, and followed her to the village to show off.
After showing off, Wang Meilan felt even more cheerful. After showering her daughter-in-law with money in her own courtyard, Wang Meilan happily returned home.
When Wang Meilan arrived home, Jin Xiaomei and Zhao Ling had already prepared lunch and were waiting for Wang Meilan and her school children to come home for dinner.
The Zhao family's lunch was dumplings, and they weren't frozen dumplings; they were freshly made.
After finishing their meal, Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui were about to leave. Following the old custom of serving dumplings before departure and noodles upon arrival, Wang Meilan arranged this meal of dumplings as a farewell for Zhao Weipeng.
The Zhao family never skimped on meals. Even when Wang Meilan wasn't home in the morning, Jin Xiaomei and the others would still prepare two kinds of dumplings: one with chives and eggs, and the other with celery and lean pork, offering both meat and vegetables.
Dumplings with wine, the more you eat, the better.
Today, Li Dayong, Li Dazhi, and Lin Xiangshun all went to work, while Zhao Youcai, who stayed at home, drank a glass of baijiu with Zhao Weipeng.
After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, having smoked a cigarette and drunk half a pot of tea, Zhao Weipeng, along with his chubby son and three other men, bid farewell to Wang Meilan, Zhao Youcai, and the others.
As everyone saw Zhao Weipeng and his son off outside the hospital, Li Baoyu and Xie Chen each carried a sack and stuffed it into Zhao Weipeng's jeep.
The sack wasn't filled with wild game or mountain produce, but with the "Great Unity" (a symbol of national unity).
This money was from the Zhao Family Chamber of Commerce's investment in chartering freight cars, and Zhao Weipeng was responsible for its operation.
To reassure the shareholders of the Zhao Family Chamber of Commerce, Zhao Weipeng suggested leaving his fat son as a hostage, but Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan both disagreed.
Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan said they believed in Zhao Weipeng's character and didn't need that.
"Sister-in-law." Zhao Weipeng had been in the Zhao family for so long that he knew who was in charge. Before leaving, Zhao Weipeng said to Wang Meilan, "Don't worry, I'll definitely be back in half a month at the latest."
“Brother, don’t rush,” Wang Meilan said. “You’re not going home this time, you’re heading to Shenzhen. It’s such a long way, don’t overwork yourself.”
"Okay, sister-in-law, I understand." Zhao Weipeng smiled and responded, then added, "If you find a suitable place, please help me find one as soon as possible."
In recent years, Zhao Weipeng has been planning to stay in Yong'an for a long time, so he proposed to buy a house in Yong'an Village and bring his parents and wife there.
To this end, Zhao Weipeng also obtained a plot of land from Zhao Guofeng. But building a house is different from building a shed; a house needs a foundation. And right now, the ground is still frozen, and it's impossible to dig more than half a meter deep.
Mr. Zhao didn't need the extra money, so he asked Wang Meilan to help his family buy a house in Yong'an Village.
"Brother, are you in such a hurry?" Wang Meilan pointed into the courtyard and said, "Why don't you stay in this courtyard for now when the old man, the old woman, and your sister-in-law arrive?"
Although it's unknown when Zhao Weipeng's family will move in, once they do, the Zhao family will definitely have moved to the new house. Zhao Jun said he'll keep the vacant old house and not sell it, but it's fine for Zhao Weipeng's family to stay there temporarily.
Houses are better off empty than occupied. People living in them keep them alive. Even the best house will be ruined in a year or two if no one lives there.
"Sister-in-law, if you can buy one, it would be best if you could help me find one." Faced with Wang Meilan's kindness, Zhao Weipeng said, "If we really can't buy one, then we'll stay in your house for a few months."
"Hehe." Hearing Zhao Weipeng's words, Wang Meilan laughed and said, "Brother, if we can buy it, what else is there to say?"
Hearing Wang Meilan say this, Jin Xiaomei, Li Baoyu, and the others all laughed. In the past six months, houses in Yong'an Village have been in high demand and short supply. As soon as Wang Meilan heard that someone was moving out, she would go to their door with her large sum of money to buy a house.
In this way, Wang Meilan helped Xing San, the Xie family, and Li Dazhi's family to settle down in Yong'an Village one after another.
Yong'an Fourth Village is a residential area for forestry workers and their families. Most of the residents are forestry workers and their families. Unless they change jobs, they cannot move away no matter how much money they are offered.
Wang Meilan was also quite worried because there were no available properties.
"Alright then." Zhao Weipeng knew that rooms were hard to find in Yong'an Village, so he had no choice but to accept Wang Meilan's suggestion.
Seeing that his three men had all gotten into the car, Zhao Weipeng quickly took the opportunity to say to Wang Meilan, "Sister-in-law, there's one more thing."
"What's up?" Wang Meilan asked. Zhao Weipeng replied, "Wait for me to come back, then you can go to the mountain to offer sacrifices, okay?"
When Zhao Weipeng said this, Zhao Jinhui nodded in agreement with his father.
When Wang Meilan was first elected as the village head and security chief of Xishantun, she said she wanted to go to her parents' graves to burn paper money so that she could tell them the news.
At the time, the people around were all talking at once, and with everyone chiming in, a simple grave-visiting ceremony was turned into a large-scale sacrificial activity.
Of course, it wasn't a sacrifice to Wang Dabazhang and his wife, but rather a sacrifice to the mountain god by the Zhao family gang, the Zhao family hunting gang, and the people of Xishantun.
The reason why the people of Xishantun got involved was because Wang Meilan had generous offerings, including two cow heads!
However, in the period leading up to Zhao Jun's wedding, the Zhao family was too busy, and Wang Meilan did not have the time, so the activities of worshipping the mountain and opening the mountain were postponed.
The reasons why Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui wanted to join in the fun were similar to those of the people from Xishantun.
Normally, the ritual of offering sacrifices to the mountain and opening the mountain involves cutting the bark off pine trees to create a small house-shaped mansion for the lord.
Then, the entire red cloth was wrapped around the master's mansion. Finally, three straw sticks were lit as incense sticks, and people kowtowed and shouted a few times in front of the mansion.
If we wait twenty or thirty years, when those who come to the mountains to collect pine nuts in the autumn, they'll only end up offering a pig's head as a sacrifice.
Wang Meilan actually wanted to use pigs, cattle, and sheep for sacrifice.
Of course, Wang Meilan didn't understand the local custom. She just thought that since her family had cow and pig heads, they should make the scene bigger.
However, Li Dazhi, the most learned man in the Li family, said that the three sacrificial animals—pig, cow, and sheep—were called "Tai Lao," and were sacrificial offerings used by emperors to worship heaven and earth; ordinary people could not use them.
But Wang Meilan wouldn't listen. She believed that since the old man led us to stand up and become masters of our own destiny, what the emperor could use, we could use too!
Li Dazhi offered some advice, but when he found it had no effect, he immediately took his wife and daughter and responded to Wang Meilan's call.
Privately, the two branches of the Li family referred to Wang Meilan's planned large-scale sacrificial ceremony as: the Fengshan ceremony at Zhangguangcai Ridge.
The Fengshan ceremony!
Those two words are awesome!
Having tasted the Zhao family's grand feast, Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui dared not look down on these mountain people. The father and son, Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui, were extremely eager to participate in Wang Meilan's Fengshan ceremony at Zhangguangcai Ridge.
After receiving Wang Meilan's assurance, Zhao Weipeng and Zhao Jinhui set off on their journey home, completely satisfied.
Watching Zhao Weipeng's jeep and Jiefang truck drive away, Zhang Yuanmin's expression suddenly changed, and he called out, "Baoyu, Xiaochen, come with me!"
"Let's go!" Without saying a word, Xie Chen walked towards his Jiefang truck, and Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu got into the passenger seat.
"Take it easy!" Yang Yufeng reminded them from under the car, because the three brothers were going out to take care of their family matters.
Now that the Zhang family is wealthy, they're thinking about buying a car. But before buying a car, Zhang Yuanmin wants to purchase several household appliances.
Before New Year's Day, when everyone was ordering home appliances, the Zhang family didn't buy anything. At that time, the golden bear bile hadn't sold, and although the Zhang family was wealthy, they were only a family with ten thousand yuan in savings. Zhang Yuanmin and Yang Yufeng couldn't even afford to buy a television.
Now that Zhang Jiacheng has 100,000 yuan, his family not only wants to buy a TV, but also a refrigerator, washing machine, and tape recorder!
So Zhang Yuanmin called Li Baoyu and Xie Chen to come with him to the forest farm to pick up household appliances.
After seeing Zhang Yuanmin and the other two off, everyone prepared to go back inside. But as they entered the courtyard, Zhao Youcai suddenly grabbed Wang Meilan.
"Huh?" Wang Meilan was taken aback, and slowed down slightly, falling behind Zhao Youcai.
"What are you doing?" Wang Meilan asked softly. Zhao Youcai retorted, "Where's my money?"
"What money?" Wang Meilan asked, completely confused. Zhao Youcai replied, "I remember Uncle Li gave me some money yesterday."
"Ah!" Wang Meilan nodded, then saw Zhao Youcai staring at her with his small eyes and asking, "I remember putting it in my pocket, and you took it?"
At this point, Wang Meilan realized that Zhao Youcai had blacked out yesterday. He remembered that Li Wencai gave him a red envelope, but he couldn't remember what happened afterward.
Seeing that Wang Meilan didn't speak, Zhao Youcai pressed her for an answer, asking, "How much did Uncle Li give me? Tell me so I can give it back to him later."
“Why bother with gifts?” Wang Meilan frowned and said, “Uncle Li is so old, why bother with gifts? When you have the chance in the future, you and your son can buy him some cigarettes and alcohol, visit him a few more times, and that will be enough.”
Li Wencai is old and frail; there's nothing he can do anymore. To put it bluntly, when he dies, all Zhao Jun and Zhao Youcai can do is burn some paper money for him. Who will they give gifts to?
Knowing Zhao Jun's personality, he definitely won't let that old man suffer in the future. No matter how much money Li Wencai gave him, Zhao Jun will surely double it off and return it to Li Wencai in the form of cigarettes, alcohol, pastries, and canned goods.
A mother's heart is connected to her son's, and Wang Meilan shared the same thoughts as Zhao Jun.
"Then you have to tell me how much money he gave me as a gift?" Zhao Youcai's question was not wrong, but the key point was that Wang Meilan didn't know either.
"I don't know." Faced with Zhao Youcai's questioning, Wang Meilan frowned and said, "The money never reached my hands."
"Then where's my money?" Zhao Youcai asked again. Wang Meilan sighed helplessly and said, "You collected those portions of money yourself, didn't you give them all to your old daughter?"
"What?" Zhao Youcai's beady eyes widened upon hearing this. "How many portions? And who paid me?"
After asking those two questions, Zhao Youcai immediately followed up with, "What am I going to do with her money?"
"Who are you asking?" Wang Meilan, unable to bear Zhao Youcai's barrage of questions, said irritably, "You're the one who has to give it to them!"
"I..." Zhao Youcai was speechless, blinking his small eyes as he tried to recall the events of yesterday. But after the blackout, the lost memories were something he couldn't retrieve.
……
The jeep drove along the mountain road, with birch trees rushing past on both sides of the road.
In the passenger seat, Zhao Jinhui said to Zhao Weipeng, "Dad, I thought you were going to leave this for me."
“I would like to keep you here.” Zhao Weipeng laughed upon hearing this, “Your brother Jun and your Aunt Zhao don’t want you.”
"Hehe..." Zhao Jinhui chuckled dryly, glanced back at the sack on the back seat, and then said, "Dad, I'm afraid you'll leave it here and then never come back."
"You brat!" Zhao Weipeng glared at Zhao Jinhui and said, "How could you think that way about your father?"
"Dad," Zhao Jinhui asked Zhao Weipeng, "this is several hundred thousand yuan, don't you have any conscience?"
The "huoxin" that Zhao Jinhui mentioned is a dialect word from his hometown, meaning to be moved.
“What would I be thinking?” Zhao Weipeng said. “That’s their money. They’re partnering with us in business because they trust us. How could we do that kind of thing?”
“That’s true,” Zhao Jinhui agreed, then said with great emotion, “My brother Jun’s family trusts us. They’re not afraid at all that we’ll run off with the money.”
“Why are you running? Where are you running to?” Zhao Weipeng glanced at his mentally challenged son and said, “He’s been to our house before. He’s been to the shops your eldest and second uncles run. You can run away from the monk, but you can’t run away from the temple.”
After saying that, Zhao Weipeng immediately added, "That skinny old man at his house every day, it's so scary."
Upon hearing Zhao Weipeng mention Xing San, Zhao Jinhui subconsciously nodded twice.
Just then, a jeep came from the opposite direction, and Zhao Weipeng slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road.
As the two cars passed each other, Zhao Weipeng saw Shao Jun and Shao Tuzhuazi sitting in the other car.
The Shao family, young and old, who went into the city yesterday, stayed overnight and returned today.
Eighty-eight-year-old Shao Yunjin, looking exhausted, leaned against the passenger seat without saying a word.
"Sir!" Shao Jun glanced at Shao Yunjin, then tilted his head slightly to the back row and called to Shao Tianpeng, "Shall we go to Yongsheng? If you ask me, we should go to Yong'an instead."
After saying that, Shao Jun added, "I think Brother Zhao Jun's family is quite powerful in this forest area."
"No way!" Shao Tianpeng rejected Shao Jun's suggestion. Shao Jun asked, puzzled, "Sir, we've been on good terms with Brother Zhao Jun. What's wrong with asking him to help us find someone?"
Hearing Shao Jun's words, Shao Tianpeng sighed and remained silent. At this moment, Shao Zhiqiang chimed in, saying, "Just go wherever I tell you to go, why all the fuss?"
The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is no joke. Shao Jun dares to joke around with his grandfather and great-grandfather, but he wouldn't dare to show off to his father.
As soon as Shao Jun shut up, the jeep fell silent.
……
Five minutes later, at the Pang family's house in Yongsheng Village.
Pang Zhendong, the leader of the Pang family gang, nicknamed "Blind Pang," said to his eldest son, Pang Gaoming, "You weren't home yesterday, and the second son went to Zhao Jun's house for a drink. Guess who he was looking at?"
Pang the Blind Man's second son, Pang Gaosheng, was a forestry worker who worked under Zheng Quan, a technician in the forest area, and his job was to patrol the forest and plan logging areas.
Yesterday, the Zhao family held a banquet, and Pang Gaosheng went to eat with his colleagues.
"Huh? Who are you looking at?" Pang Gaoming was taken aback when he heard this. He knew that his father must have a special reason for saying such a thing.
"Shao the Bald Claw." Pang the Blind Man said the old man's nickname, which startled Pang Gaoming.
When Pang Gaoming finally realized what was happening, he frowned and asked, "Is that old man still alive?"
“He’s alive,” Pang Zhendong said. “I heard from the second brother that he’s doing quite well.”
Not to mention the younger generation of the Pang family, even Pang Zhendong had never seen Shao Yunjin in person. But the old man had a distinctive feature; in the mountain expedition, anyone who saw an old man with a missing hand of that age would remember him.
At this moment, Pang Gaoming seemed to have thought of something and immediately asked Pang Zhendong, "Father, has Shao Tianpeng arrived?"
"They're here," Pang Zhendong said. "Shao Zhiqiang is here too."
The current leader of the Shao family gang is Shao Zhiqiang, who is also a well-known figure in the Lingshan mountaineering community.
"Father!" Pang Gaoming said with a grave expression, "Then they're coming for that Great Immortal Child?"
After Pang Gaoming finished speaking, he saw Pang Zhendong nodding repeatedly, so Pang Gaoming asked again, "Dad, did the second son see that old Xing guy at Old Zhao's house yesterday?"
"No," Pang Zhendong shook his head and said, "That old man has no children, how can we let him attend someone's wedding?"
“That makes sense…” Pang Gaoming felt that Pang Zhendong’s words made sense, but as soon as he finished speaking, he heard two car horns outside.
It got hot early here this year; it usually gets hot in August, but this year it started in June. I haven't been feeling well for the past few years; my blood pressure is a bit high, my vision is blurry… various discomforts.
I'm behind on one update for the past two days, I'll make it up tomorrow morning around 6 AM.
(End of this chapter)