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Zhou Lexing and Gu Jiansheng, one holding the handlebars and the other holding the fertilizer, walked home together.

People coming and going along the way greeted Zhou Lexing warmly, and Zhou Lexing responded with a smile, sometimes even chatting with him for a few minutes.

Gu Jiansheng turned around and glanced at him with some surprise, but unfortunately he couldn't discern anything from his smiling face.

What's going on?

He clearly remembered that Zhou Lexing was a local bully whom everyone hated, so how come he suddenly became so popular?

Besides Gu Jiansheng, the greasy Li Jianshan also raised the same fundamental question.

Li Jianshan knew long ago that his sexual orientation was not normal. Those gentle or strong men were more attractive to him than pretty girls, but Li Jianshan's courage was not much bigger than that of a mouse.

That's the kind of person who's weak when facing strong opponents and strong when facing weak opponents, so he would never dare to flirt with those men.

But after a long period of observation and searching, he finally saw a target that might allow him to succeed: the exceptionally handsome Gu Jiansheng.

Li Jianshan accidentally bumped into Gu Jiansheng when he passed through Zhoujia Village with a fellow villager. He was captivated by Gu Jiansheng at first sight and afterwards frequently took advantage of factory holidays to go to Zhoujia Village to find him.

After doing this several times, Li Jianshan finally figured out where Gu Jiansheng lived. With some secret and filthy thoughts in mind, he peeked inside through the wall many times.

Unfortunately, this was merely scratching the surface.

The more Li Jianshan looked at Gu Jiansheng's face, the more insatiable his desires became. Gu Jiansheng's timid and submissive demeanor in front of outsiders only fueled Li Jianshan's lust. But before he could finish his dark plan, Gu Jiansheng noticed him.

That day, Li Jianshan, who had come to Zhoujia Village again during the holiday, saw Gu Jiansheng walking towards the mountains in the distance before he even reached Gu Jiansheng's house. After noticing him, Gu Jiansheng smiled slightly at him and even raised his hand to beckon.

In that instant, Li Jianshan lost his mind and followed after him with great enthusiasm in his ecstasy. But what he didn't expect was that what was waiting for him on the mountain was not the timid Gu Jiansheng, but the fierce Zhou Lexing!

"That's definitely Zhou Lexing! He's the only one in the village who's bumped his head recently, and his hair is all uneven, I don't know who shaved it for him. If it weren't for his face, I don't know how slovenly he would look."

Li Jianshan listened to his uncle's words and burst into tears.

Of course he knew the name Zhou Lexing, but Zhou Lexing had a terrible reputation; he was practically rumored to be a monster with a blue face and fangs. How could he have known that Zhou Lexing was such a handsome young man! And he always greeted people with a smile. How could he have known that the other party would be such a fierce guy! He kicked him right away, almost sending him to meet the King of Hell!

Even worse, he suddenly developed red blisters all over his body, which were incredibly itchy. When he woke up, he found that someone had stuffed about ten grasshoppers into his vagina. He thought they were man-eating rats, ants, insects, or snakes, and he was so scared that he almost died.

What's even worse is that all he did was take off his clothes to scratch an itch, so why were they treating him like a pervert, tying him up, and taking him to the police station?!

"Uncle, you have to get me out of here! I'm innocent!"

Li Jianshan, with tears streaming down his face, pleaded for help and made promises, finally persuading his uncle to go to great lengths to find the whistleblower and reach a settlement with the ringleader.

For the sake of the 100 yuan, the other party finally agreed to change his story, saying that he was still wearing his pants at the time and that they fell off during the struggle. This finally allowed Li Jianshan to see the light of day again after spending a few days in the detention center.

However, after Li Jianshan had been absent from work at the factory for several days, and the factory heard that he had committed hooliganism, they simply fired him.

Li Jianshan was filled with hatred!

He decided that he would never let Zhou Lexing get away with this!

But Li Jianshan dared not face Zhou Lexing directly; he wouldn't even be a match for one punch from him. So, Li Jianshan had no choice but to return to his old trade: being a gossip.

"Oh, you mean Lexing? Don't let his past recklessness fool you, he's become incredibly sensible. The other day, when I needed to take a few bags of sweet potatoes home, he was the one who helped me carry them back!"

"Don't let his strong physique fool you; he's actually very kind at heart. He even took my grandson out for grilled fish when he saw how tough things were for my family! Look, that salted fish is the one my grandson brought home last time. It was a gift from Yuanxiang's third son, and I pickled it. It'll last us for several days."

"Hmm? Why are you asking about this?"

Li Jianshan originally came to inquire about Zhou Lexing's weaknesses. Everyone has something they fear, and as an elder from the same village, he must know it all too well. However, upon hearing the sudden reversal of public opinion in Zhoujia Village, Li Jianshan felt a lump in his throat and refused to believe it. He kept asking from one end of the village to the other until someone finally noticed that something was wrong.

"Well, it's my third cousin's fourth aunt's youngest daughter who's reached marriageable age. I think Zhou Lexing looks quite good, so I'm asking around for them."

The one who raised the question was Zhou Lihua, whose family's vegetable garden was located in the same area as Zhou Lexing's. She looked Li Jianshan up and down, her suspicions running through her mind like soap being rubbed, with questions popping up endlessly.

"And who are you? What's your name? Are you also from Zhoujia Village? What's your background as a relative? How old are you? What's your family situation like?"

While Li Jiansheng was undergoing a soul-searching ordeal, Zhou Lexing also delivered fertilizer to Gu Jiansheng's house. He piled the fertilizer in a corner of the kitchen to prevent it from getting wet in the rain.

Gu Jiansheng's house has three rooms. One is Zhou Lanhua's main room, which is usually closed. Another is Gu Jiansheng's room, which only has a bed and nothing else. The third room is the kitchen, which is where it is lively.

Zhou Lexing looked around and thought for a moment: "Why don't you come with me to cut some wood tomorrow? Let's go a bit further away. You can help me out and haul some wood to make a couple of cabinets. We can split the profits between our two families."

Zhoujia Village relied on the mountains for its livelihood. Although no one dared to enter the mountains, no one was afraid of the area outside. The fruit trees were spared, but the rest were burned to ashes.

Fortunately, there were regulations in place for the first ten years or so. If too much was cut off, it would be accused of skimming off public funds, which would be a huge loss. In recent years, every household has started using coal, which is less labor-intensive. The stoves are still there, but there is no need to burn firewood anymore. Otherwise, after these ten years of hardship, even the deepest mountains would have been bald.

If Zhou Lexing wants a whole piece of wood, he doesn't need to go deep into the mountains; he should be able to find one if he walks a little further in.

He didn't want to go through such a long and complicated process, making the seemingly weak and unassuming Gu Jiansheng come along with him.

However, after spending these past few days with Gu Jiansheng, Zhou Lexing sensed that Gu Jiansheng had a strong will deep down. If Zhou Lexing had simply asked him to build a large cabinet to store his things, Gu Jiansheng would definitely not have agreed.

Even though Zhou Lexing tried to circumvent the rules again and again, Gu Jiansheng still shook his head: "No need."

If He Huaizhi doesn't show up in the next few days, Gu Jiansheng is preparing to go into the city to look for him.

During this time, Gu Jiansheng planned to conserve his energy and prepare a plan to lure He Huaizhi to Zhoujia Village and make his move in his familiar territory, where his chances of winning would be greater.

Thinking of this, Gu Jiansheng finally looked up and stared directly at Zhou Lexing: "The person who fell into the cesspool yesterday... was it you who did it?"

It's no wonder Gu Jiansheng suspects Zhou Lexing. Last time, his plan to kill the greasy Li Jiansheng was thwarted by the Zhou brothers. Who knows when he'll find an opportunity to act again?

"Cough, what do you mean, 'fell into a cesspool'? Comrade Gu Jiansheng, do you really think I'm that kind of person?"

Zhou Lexing retorted righteously, only to see Gu Jiansheng looking at him with clear, bright eyes that silently conveyed his affirmation.

Zhou Lexing: "..." There's really no fellow countryman's love anymore.

"Let's forget about the latrine. I think tomorrow's weather will be the best. Let's talk about cutting wood instead." It wasn't that Zhou Lexing didn't want to tell Gu Jiansheng the truth, but in his eyes, Gu Jiansheng was just an introverted, timid, and refined person with a bit of a temper. If he knew that someone dared to climb his wall in the middle of the day, he would be scared to death.

Gu Jiansheng was already terrified whenever someone knocked on the door, and he even had to carry a kitchen knife for self-defense. If he knew about this, would Gu Jiansheng still dare to live in Zhoujia Village?

Zhou Lexing didn't want to lose this pleasing little friend, so he naturally took on the responsibility of caring for his young heart.

"No, I don't need a cabinet."

As soon as Gu Jiansheng finished speaking, the sickles, axes, and other tools piled in the corner were touched by the sound of the fertilizer bags being piled up. The already precarious corner suddenly crashed down with a loud clatter, and the items were scattered all over the ground.

Gu Jiansheng pursed his lips.

Zhou Lexing quickly turned his head away, stared at the corner of the wall for a while, suppressed his laughter, and then looked at Gu Jiansheng again: "Look, even if you don't need them, these things still need to be used. They need a home, right? If you don't want to go, then help me out when you're making the cabinets?"

Gu Jiansheng lowered his head. Zhou Lexing thought he was going to get angry and refuse to speak again, but he didn't expect him to speak in a muffled voice: "They don't need a home, and I don't need those things either. I don't need mop cabinets or anything like that."

"Please go back and don't bother me again."

Zhou Lexing looked at Gu Jiansheng, who had his head down, touched the stubble on his head, and thought for a moment: "Okay."

Gu Jiansheng clenched his hands at his sides even tighter, and he pursed his lips to keep himself from making a sound.

Zhou Lexing: "Then I'll wait for you to come find me."

He paused, then added, "The boiled peanuts from last time were quite delicious; my family has already finished them all."

Gu Jiansheng suddenly felt the bitterness in his heart overturned by these words. The bitter blood spread to his limbs with each heartbeat, as if it would corrode him inch by inch. Even though his heart had long been rotting in the repeated deaths, it still couldn't help but beat, struggling in its death throes.

This person is really annoying.

Why not just get angry and verbally humiliate him?

Even though everyone is like this, any refusal he makes will be met with a crazy backlash.

Even though everyone is like this, his dislike and resistance will become fertile ground for malice.

Why does this guy have to go through all this trouble and spout all this useless nonsense?

This guy is definitely treacherous and cunning! Two-faced! A hypocrite with ulterior motives!

The 'hypocrite' stared at the crown of Gu Jiansheng's head for a while, then touched his own stubble again: "Then I'm leaving."

Gu Jiansheng kept his head down and didn't move. The liberation shoes standing in front of him turned around, and the footsteps gradually faded away from him.

Gu Jiansheng finally moved as the outer door slammed shut.

He raised his arm and rubbed his eyes hard.