Li Jianghai followed the young clerk and flipped through the complaint record book for more than half an hour. The edges of the book were frayed, but they couldn't find any complaints about his home renovation.

The young clerk scratched his head in confusion. "Comrade, are you mistaken? No one has complained about the renovation noise in the past month."

Coming out of the office, Li Jianghai looked up and saw Director Wang strolling in from the main door.

When Director Wang saw him, he asked in a pretentious manner, "Uncle Li, how is the matter being handled?"

"Director Wang," Li Jianghai replied with a forced smile, "Xiao Zhang said no one has complained about my renovations."

"Oh? I see!" Director Wang said calmly, adjusting his glasses. "Maybe I remembered it wrong."

After saying that, he walked towards the office with his hands behind his back, his leather shoes clattering on the terrazzo floor.

Li Jianghai went to the reception room specifically to take a look.

Sure enough, it was empty!

In the next few days, Li Jianghai was always thinking about this matter.

Every day when he came to the west side of the city, he would make a special detour to visit Old Wang's house.

When I went there the first day, the wooden door of Old Wang's house was closed tightly.

Li Jianghai wandered around the door for a long time, and finally peeked inside through the crack. He only saw the shadow of the old jujube tree in the yard swaying on the ground.

He went there again at noon the next day.

This time, my hands hurt from knocking on the door. Aunt Zhang next door was drying sheets in the yard.

Across the wall, he said, "Stop knocking. Old Wang hasn't been home these past two days. He said he was staying with his daughter for a few days."

Li Jianghai's heart skipped a beat.

He leaned closer to the wall and asked, "Sister, why is Brother Wang leaving in such a hurry...?"

Aunt Zhang shook the sheets loudly: "His daughter gave birth to a fat boy, and married far away, so he sent his wife there.

But..." The sheet in Aunt Zhang's hand suddenly stopped in mid-air. She squinted her eyes and looked up and down at Li Jianghai. Her eyes were full of "Who are you?"

Once he got suspicious, his voice became much louder, "Who are you to his family? Why do you come knocking on the door every day?"

"I'm here to play chess with Brother Wang." Li Jianghai quickly came up with a lame excuse.

"Play chess?" Aunt Zhang scoffed, snapping the sheets. "Old Wang can't even recognize all the pieces in a chess game, how can he play chess?"

Li Jianghai's mouth was dry and hesitant, "Well...we had an appointment..."

"What a bullshit agreement!" Aunt Zhang suddenly picked up the clothesline, "Do you think I'm old and confused?

Old Wang is usually either weaving straw ropes or on his way to weaving straw ropes. You said you wanted to play chess with him, but go and ask him, who has the time to play chess in June?

Seeing that Li Jianghai was still standing there, Aunt Zhang shouted into the house: "Old man! Come out quickly!

This liar said he wanted to play chess with Lao Wang!

A cough was heard from inside the room, and an old man with a belt tied around his waist and cloth shoes ran out: "What's the matter?"

Li Jianghai saw that the situation was not good and quickly waved his hands: "It's a misunderstanding, I'm leaving now..."

Aunt Zhang chased after him, holding a clothesline. "If I see you hanging around Old Wang's house again, I'll call the police!"

She turned around and said to her old man, "These scammers must have seen that our house was going to be demolished, and they smelled it and came here!!!"

Li Jianghai fled the alley covered in dust and dirt. He could hear Aunt Zhang's scolding from behind him: "These liars nowadays don't even think twice before making up their lies!

You lie to people every day, and you're not afraid of getting a stye on your butt!

On the third and fourth day, Li Jianghai still went to Old Wang's house as usual.

But this time, he knew to cover up a little, standing a hundred meters away, looking at the door of Lao Wang's house!

As expected, Old Wang was not at home. There was a thin layer of dust on the door knocker of his house, and a layer of fallen leaves accumulated on the bluestone slabs in front of the door.

On the fifth day, Li Jianghai finally stopped going.

Guifangzhai has received another big order and is very busy!

Li Jianghai was also arranged by Li Guifang to deliver goods and fold cardboard boxes!

I'm so busy every day, how can I have time to hang out at Old Wang's house?

But every day when he passed by the main hall and saw the hanging banner, he would always unconsciously take a few more glances.

The banner fluttered gently in the breeze, as if silently questioning him.

I can only throw myself into the busy new day with guilt.

One night after closing her shop, Li Guifang was counting her earnings for the day when she casually said, "I heard they've started measuring houses in the west of the city?"

Li Jianghai's hand, which was folding cardboard boxes, suddenly stopped, and the cardboard made a slight "clicking" sound in his hand.

"Really... I haven't been there these days." He lowered his head, his voice a little muffled.

After a few days, Li Jianghai, who regained his freedom, finally couldn't hold back and went to Old Wang's house again.

This time he met Old Wang's son Wang Cheng. The young man was chopping wood in the yard, his blue cloth jacket, which had been washed white, soaked with sweat.

"Uncle, who are you looking for?" Wang Cheng put down the axe and wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve.

"Ah, I'm looking for your dad." Li Jianghai stood at the gate of the yard, his eyes unconsciously glancing into the house.

"Looking for my dad," Wang Cheng smiled innocently, "He went to the village to get a pig castrated. He might not be back for a few days."

Li Jianghai's heart moved: "Wangcheng, right? I was wondering why I hadn't seen your father these days."

Wang Cheng smiled innocently, "Uncle Li, my dad went to my eldest sister's house, and when he came back, he said he had some paperwork to do. He left before dawn and didn't come back until dark. Now, he's gone to the countryside to castrate a pig. Uncle, what do you want from him? Do you want me to tell you something?"

When Li Jianghai heard about the formalities, his heart tightened and he quickly said, "What?

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