Small warehouse

The bright and exuberant sunset bathed the entire sky, turning the village a rosy red; tomorrow would surely be a beautiful day.

"This has nothing to do with you, right?"

Faced with Zhou Yuanxiang's pointed question, Zhou Lexing replied nonchalantly, "How could that be? I don't even know this guy. Who is he? I don't think I've ever seen him in the village before."

Zhou Yuanxiang looked at Zhou Lexing suspiciously for a while, but seeing that he was very open and honest, she temporarily put her mind at ease: "Why are you asking about this kind of person? This kind of old widower is the most heartless of all. Don't get involved with me and this kind of person!"

Zhou Lexing looked innocent: "Mom, I don't know him. I don't make friends with just anyone. I don't like to know people who like to eat shit."

Zhou Yuanxiang almost spat out her drink, and glared at him sideways: "Your mouth is even more despicable than your mother's."

Zhou Lexing wasn't sure if this was a compliment or an insult, but he still eagerly leaned closer and said, "Mom, I heard Aunt Lihua say that this old widower is related to Gu Jiansheng's family?"

Zhou Yuanxiang scoffed: "If we're really talking about it, Zhoujia Village was one family a thousand years ago! Just listen to this kind of talk and forget about it. Anyone who gets involved with this kind of person is doomed for eight lifetimes."

Zhou Lexing heard what he wanted to hear, and his smile brightened considerably: "But I heard that he wants to rent or buy Gu Jiansheng's family's land?"

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuanxiang became even angrier: "So this old widower is heartless and lacks any morals. No wonder he fell into the cesspool and ate shit. Even God couldn't stand it and punished him!"

"God," Zhou Lexing scratched his face and asked without hesitation, "He's lying?"

Zhou Yuanxiang looked at her silly son and said, "Why is your brain so sharp when you're messing around with all those frivolous things, but when it comes to serious matters, your brain just stops working? He wasn't just trying to rent or buy the orchid family's fields; he was clearly trying to rob them!"

According to Comrade Zhou Yuanxiang, Zhou Dongqiang, the old widower, was lazy and good-for-nothing. He had sublet his own land. The person who really wanted Zhou Yuanxiang's land was not him, but a farmer from the next village. They specifically asked Zhou Dongqiang, the old widower, to act as their middleman and deliberately harassed Zhou Lanhua's family, forcing them to rent their land to him.

Nowadays, land subletting usually involves paying for grain, not rent. But these two unscrupulous people are offering ridiculously low prices for grain. If Zhou Lanhua were to actually rent her land to them, she would be starving. She would rather leave the land fallow than rent it to them. Besides, Zhou Lanhua's two acres of land have already been rented to a farmer in the same village, so there's no need to go through all this trouble.

However, Zhou Lanhua refused to sublet the property, so Zhou Dongqiang harassed her repeatedly and spread rumors that he was Zhou Lanhua's old flame.

"...Your Aunt Lan finally let go of the past and was willing to go out for a walk, but he messed it up like this, and now she's even more afraid to go out!"

The last time she went out was when Gu Jianyi attempted suicide. She asked someone to help take her to the clinic, and naturally, she had to go along to pay the fees and accompany her. But that was all.

Zhou Lexing's fists clenched as he listened, thinking to himself that he should have punched that guy a few more times back then, preferably turning his face into a pig's head, to see if he would still dare to be so arrogant and bully people everywhere!

Zhou Lexing: "Isn't anyone going to take care of this?"

Zhou Yuanxiang's face was also very ugly when she brought up the matter: "How can we do anything about it? He didn't hit or curse anyone, he just said some shameless things to disgust you. Even the village chief doesn't know how to deal with this matter, for fear of getting into trouble."

Zhou Lexing had a somber expression, lost in thought.

Zhou Yuanxiang then noticed her third son's expression and quickly reminded him, "Don't cause me any trouble! If you really want to get involved in this matter, go visit your Aunt Lan more often."

He was, after all, a junior, so no one would suspect anything if he moved around a lot. Besides, although Zhou Yuanxiang was unwilling to admit it, his son's reputation as a bully still carried some weight.

But there is a worse person than this wicked man.

Zhou Lexing nodded: "Don't worry, I know."

After instructing her third son, Zhou Yuanxiang said to Zhou Shusheng, who was digging mud to build a house, not to stay out too late, before heading home first.

The people under the banyan tree have mostly dispersed, and you can still faintly hear them talking about latrines and excrement. Zhou Lexing squats next to Zhou Shusheng, watching him skillfully sculpt a triangular house, and then sculpt a few more "brothers," playing house with great enthusiasm.

Zhou Lexing was also watching with great interest, intently observing the scene of the two older brothers fighting in front of the house and the younger brother going over to break up the fight, when he faintly heard someone calling him.

"Brother Le—!"

Zhou Lexing looked back in confusion, his gaze sweeping past the thick banyan tree, and saw a man with a middle parting, pedaling his bicycle wildly in the distance, rushing towards him like a gust of wind.

Zhou Lexing: "...?"

The man with the middle parting was getting closer, and the shouts became clearer and more shrill: "Brother Le—! Something's happened!"

Zhou Lexing's expression changed, and he quickly stood up, bent over, picked up Zhou Shusheng, and ran forward two steps, narrowly avoiding the bicycle that was rushing towards them.

"ah--!"

Zhou Bobo, with his middle-parted hair, and the monkey brothers behind him, Zhou Xiaoxiao, let out a scream as the wheel rolled over the triangular house they had made, crushing one of the brothers into a round cake.

Zhou Shusheng was being dragged along by Zhou Lexing. He looked at the flattened house and his brother, then at the overturned bicycle and the two people groaning in pain. His mouth twitched, and he almost burst into tears.

Zhou Lexing rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and put Zhou Shusheng on the ground: "Can you go home by yourself?"

The big banyan tree wasn't far from their home. Zhou Shusheng raised his arm to wipe his eyes and nodded.

Zhou Lexing: "Then promise me you'll walk home by yourself. No matter who you meet or what you see on the way, don't join the crowd, don't look back, just keep walking home. Can you promise me that?"

Zhou Shusheng hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the two men again, his mouth still pursed, and remained silent.

Zhou Lexing: "Listen to me. If Mom asks, just say I met a few... friends, say a few words and then come home."

Zhou Shusheng, clutching the hem of his clothes, finally nodded when Zhou Lexing asked again.

"Go on, darling, I'll watch over you."

Zhou Lexing gently nudged him, stood still and watched him walk away, turning back to look at him every few steps, before turning to ask the two anxious-looking guys.

"What happened?"

Zhou Bobo immediately spoke up: "Brother Le, Liu Wu's men cracked open Li Cheng's head, and now they're saying they're going to drag him to the small warehouse to deal with him! They're just waiting for us to come and save him!"

Zhou Lexing's headache worsened upon hearing this.

Before he could figure out how to deal with his underlings, the very next day, one of them was about to die.

Although it was unclear which of them Li Cheng was, Zhou Lexing could not ignore the matter since it involved a life.

Is it far away?

Zhou Bobo: "It's in the abandoned warehouse in Lijia Village! Brother Le, get in the car, I'll take you there! Xiaoxiao, you run behind, don't be reckless. Now that Brother Le is here, Acheng will definitely be fine!"

Zhou Xiaoxiao was still just a child, and at this moment she showed fear and panic. Her eyes, which were on her thin face, stood out even more, filled with terror.

He listened to his older brother's words, nodded vigorously, and watched the two ride away on their bikes, while he chased after them in his slippers.

Zhou Bobo stood up in a panic and started kicking his foot frantically. The wind whistled against their heads and faces. Zhou Lexing stared at Zhou Bobo's back with a furrowed brow, but he didn't say anything more.

The small warehouse wasn't exactly close, but with their bicycles, they managed to reach their destination before the sun completely set.

The small warehouse was surrounded by weeds, and it had probably been abandoned for many years. The area was quiet, and the bicycle was easy to slip on the gravel, making it difficult to maintain balance. Zhou Lexing jumped off the bike first, raised his hand to stop Zhou Bobo's persuasion, and asked instead.

"What exactly happened? How did they come to blows?"

Zhou Bobo was covered in sweat. Seeing that Zhou Lexing refused to get on the car, he pushed his bicycle and walked ahead first: "It was Liu Wu's men who had foul mouths. They not only insulted Brother Le, but also made up stories about Li Cheng's father. You know Li Cheng has a quick temper, so of course he wouldn't let them insult him. But I didn't expect them to use dirty tricks. The people behind him took him down with a single blow."

Zhou Lexing walked in silence for a while, then stopped before entering the small warehouse: "How do you know so much? Did you help me?"

His voice was soft, but it made the hairs on Zhou Bobo's back stand on end. He forced a smile and said, "I...I...I was right there, of course I could see clearly. That's why I rushed to find you, Brother Le, for help."

Zhou Lexing didn't say anything, but just stared at him expressionlessly.

Zhou Bobo's face was covered in even more sweat: "Brother Le, what's wrong? Let's go in quickly. Liu Wu's men aren't easy to deal with. It wouldn't be good if they attacked Li Cheng first."

Zhou Lexing looked at the dark little warehouse behind him: "It's okay, they're coming out to greet us now."

The figures slowly emerged from the darkness. Zhou Lexing watched silently, then suddenly bent down and pushed Zhou Bobo forward, causing him to stumble and fall. At the same time, he quickly looked back and saw three people who had somehow gotten behind them in the gust of wind that rushed towards them.

One of the men was swinging a stick at Zhou Lexing's head when he saw Zhou Lexing suddenly duck to dodge. He was taken aback and immediately raised his hand, ready to press his advantage. But then Zhou Lexing twisted his body and kicked the man's wrist, which was holding the stick.

"ah!"

The man felt a piercing pain in his wrist, and the stick immediately slipped from his hand. But as soon as he let out a scream, a figure lunged forward, grabbed his aching wrist, and twisted and pulled him down to the ground.