The child's casual words struck Zhao Shunqiang and his son Hu Zi like a bolt from the blue.

Sending New Year's greetings to Li Weidong?!

"Are you kidding me!"

Tiger was both shocked and furious: "Why should we wish him a Happy New Year? This is so outrageous! Are you all out of your minds?!"

In which year is it not the younger generation paying New Year's respects to their respected elders?

Who ever saw the entire village turn out to wish a junior like Li Weidong a Happy New Year?

Even the village chief, Li Baotian, went!

Zhao Shunqiang was also somewhat incredulous: "Are you kidding me? How could you do this? Aren't you afraid of the ancestors' wrath?"

How can the rules passed down from generation to generation be broken?

Before the child could even speak, the people offering New Year's greetings came over.

Because of the mushroom harvesting incident, the entire village lost all goodwill towards Tiger's family.

Leaving aside those who followed Hu Zi to grow mushrooms, even those who didn't work with Hu Zi looked down on his treacherous behavior and cursed him behind his back.

After all, if Li Weidong hadn't agreed to acquire the property and clean up the mess, those eighty-odd households wouldn't have even had a chance to eat properly, let alone celebrate the New Year.

They're all from the same village, related by blood or marriage. It's one thing for them to target and mock each other when they're growing mushrooms, but when it comes to actually living together, nobody wants to see a villager struggling to even get enough to eat.

For this reason, Tiger's family became the enemy of the entire village.

Upon hearing Zhao Shunqiang's words, Li Baotian snorted, "What rules have been broken? Wei Dong led everyone to grow mushrooms, ensuring that everyone had enough to eat and wear, and even enough meat to eat to their hearts' content. Shouldn't everyone wish him a Happy New Year?"

"If you ask me..."

He glared at Hu Zi: "If it weren't for Wei Dong cleaning up your mess, Zhao Hu Zi would have committed countless sins!"

"You're the one who should be kowtowing to him and wishing him a Happy New Year!"

Others chimed in.

Tiger's face turned pale and ashen, and he retorted, "Who asked him to clean up my mess?"

"I worked so hard leading everyone to grow mushrooms, and in the end, they didn't want to sell them to me. Whose fault is that?!"

He got angrier and angrier as he spoke: "I also pay three cents a pound to buy, just like Li Weidong. Why am I considered heartless and rotten, while Li Weidong is seen as a savior?"

"If it weren't for Li Weidong interfering, I'd be rich by now, okay?!"

The market price is 60 cents a pound. If you buy it for 30 cents a pound, after deducting labor costs and losses, you can still make a lot of money!

And what was the result?

Taking advantage of his hospitalization, Li Weidong interfered and took away the mushrooms!

In the end, he neither made any money nor got anything in return. Why should he?

How dare you say that?

Everyone immediately got angry.

"You promised us six cents a pound, and the mushrooms are almost ready to be harvested. Suddenly the price has dropped to three cents. If you're not a black-hearted person, who is?"

“Wei Dong pays three cents a pound, but he only buys four cents from others. Our mushrooms haven’t grown well since you’ve been around. The fact that he’s buying them is already a huge help!”

"If it weren't for Weidong, our mushrooms would be rotting in the greenhouse. What's wrong with us wishing him a Happy New Year? What right do you have to question us?"

"You also paid three cents, but you broke your promise and disgusted us. Well, we'll disgust you in return. We won't let you earn this money!"

Everyone started criticizing Tiger.

Tiger was so angry that his face turned ashen, but he couldn't say a word.

After all, what everyone said is indeed correct.

Moreover, he alone simply couldn't argue with so many people.

In his anger, he blurted out, "Isn't Li Weidong ruthless? He helps you, but isn't it also for his own profit?"

"Look at you all, acting like his dogs, rushing to protect him. Sooner or later he'll sell you off and you'll still be counting the money for him!"

These words angered everyone.

In their hearts, Li Weidong was no different from a god who protected the local people, so how could they stand seeing Hu Zi scolding him like that?

Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, Zhao Shunqiang quickly pulled Hu Zi aside and said, "Alright, alright, let's go home, stop talking!"

Besides, it would really provoke public outrage.

Tiger finally realized what was happening and, seeing everyone glaring at him angrily, broke out in a cold sweat.

The father and son fled as if they were running away.

Seeing how much everyone was protecting him, Li Weidong felt a warm glow in his heart and couldn't help but smile.

That's great!

...

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I paid my respects to the elders in the village, and on the second day, I was supposed to go back to my parents' home.

According to custom, one should first visit Zhao Xiulian's maternal home, which is also the home of Li Weidong's third maternal uncle, to pay New Year's greetings.

But this year, Zhou Xiaoye is living at the Li family's house.

Before the Lunar New Year, the Zhou family sent word that they wanted to take Zhou Xiaoye back home for the holiday, but Zhou Xiaoye refused, so the matter was dropped.

For example, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, she was spending the holiday at the Li family home as a daughter-in-law, but she would have to go back to her parents' home on the second day.

Li Weidong had prepared gifts well in advance and took Zhou Xiaoye back to the Zhou family.

This New Year's visit also allowed the Zhou family to boast about having such a good son-in-law.

Zhou Xiaoye was still a little embarrassed, but Li Weidong didn't care at all.

"Let them say what they want."

Li Weidong comforted him, saying, "It's just a few words of bragging, I don't care."

As for the Zhou family's offer to grow mushrooms, he didn't agree on the spot, only saying that he would see after the new year.

After all the relatives had left, Li Weidong finally managed to take a trip to the city, where he stayed at Xiaoyan Hotel for two days and spent some quality time together.

He didn't return to the village until the Lantern Festival.

Once the Lantern Festival is over, the New Year celebrations are officially over.

Zhao Xiulian then began to arrange for planting vegetables and cultivating seedlings.

Li Weidong, however, went to see Li Baotian.

...

"You want to build a house?"

Li Baotian was very surprised: "It's going to be built on Hu Zi's plot of land?"

"Um."

Li Weidong nodded: "Since it's the beginning of the year and everyone is free, I want to get the house built as soon as possible."

"As you know, my house was built by my grandfather, and it's really quite old. Now that I've made some money, I want to rebuild the house as soon as possible."

The real reason for building the house was actually to dig out the Yuan Shikai silver dollar underneath it.

If it weren't for the Chinese New Year, he would have already given in.

The night is long and many things can happen. Now that the new year has begun, we definitely need to dig things out and hold them in our hands before we feel at ease.

Li Baotian, without suspecting anything, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go call people in a bit, and we'll dig out the foundation tomorrow."

"According to the rules, everyone will build you a house, and you just need to provide meals and cigarettes."

"As for wages..."

He chuckled and said, "I'm afraid even if you offered it, no one would accept it."

After all, Li Weidong is the most respected person in the village now.

People are so grateful to him that they would never accept money if they had the chance to help him.

Li Weidong smiled and said, "The wages still need to be paid. I'll trouble you, Second Grandfather, to give everyone a heads-up!"

"Work will begin promptly at 8:00 AM tomorrow!"