Chen Ming nodded: "Yes, all the documents are ready. Brother, where's Afang?"
When Chen Ming went in, Xu Fang and Xu Weiguo were outside together, but now that he's come out, he can't see her anymore.
“Your sister-in-law asked us to exchange two fish for them, but I don’t know anyone in your village, so I asked Afang to go and exchange them.”
"Oh, why don't we go find Afang too?"
Xu Weiguo said, "Do you know where she goes to exchange fish? If you do, go there."
Chen Ming told the two younger ones to get in the car quickly, and then he set off to lead the way. At this hour, everyone was still at work, and Chen Ming figured Xu Fang probably wouldn't go and trade fish with others; instead, she would just catch the fish herself.
Sure enough, when Chen Ming arrived at the stream, he saw Xu Fang catching fish with a basket.
"Afang, let me do it. Did you borrow this basket from someone?"
Xu Fang saw them all arrive and asked, "It wasn't borrowed; it's something I hid here before. Is everything settled? So quickly?"
Chen Ming took the basket, staring intently at the stream while replying absentmindedly, "Yes, the secretary signed and stamped it for us very readily, so it didn't take long."
Seeing his parents playing in the water, Chen Liang was eager to try it too and wanted to go down and catch fish, but the adults wouldn't let him go in.
It wasn't that they were afraid he would drown; the main thing was that although the stream wasn't particularly deep, only reaching up to an adult's calves, they could roll up their trousers without getting their clothes wet.
But if it were Chen Liang, he would be soaking his thighs in the water, and there are no clothes for him to change into. He might catch a cold.
Chen Ming used to catch fish often, so he caught three fish in no time. Since they were all wild, they weren't particularly fat.
Chen Ming came over carrying the fish and asked, "Brother, are three enough?"
Xu Weiguo glanced at the basket; there were three fish in total, each weighing about a pound. He nodded and said, "That's enough. It'll be enough for the rest of us for one meal."
Now that he had enough, Chen Ming plucked a few wild grasses and strung the fish together. Then he wrapped them in some larger leaves so that they wouldn't be visible.
He said to Xu Weiguo, "Brother, I'm planning to go find the village chief. Are you coming with us, or will you wait here for us?"
"Let's go together, so you won't have to run around later."
......
"village head!"
After Chen Ming arrived at the field, he quickly saw the village chief and waved to him, wanting him to come over.
When the village chief heard someone calling him, he braced himself on the ground with his hoe, rubbed his lower back, and squinted to see who was calling him.
Upon noticing Chen Ming waving at him, the village chief picked up a hoe and walked over to Chen Ming. Getting closer, he saw that Chen Ming and his family seemed to be doing well, and felt relieved.
"Hey kid, why did it take you so long to get back?"
Chen Ming scratched his head: "I'm sorry, Village Chief, I made you worry. I should have come back and told you."
The village chief was just saying that casually; as long as no one was hurt, that was all that mattered. Just as he was about to tell him about reporting the incident, he saw Xu Weiguo and asked suspiciously, "Ming, who is this?"
"This is Afang's older brother, Xu Weiguo. We've been staying at his house for the past few days."
"Brother, this is our village chief who usually takes special care of us."
Xu Weiguo shook hands with the village chief and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. We are very grateful for your care of Afang and her family."
The village chief waved his hand: "I didn't do anything, no need to be so polite."
“Since we’re not outsiders, I’ll just say it directly. I went to the commune a few days ago to report the case on your behalf, but yesterday the commune notified me that I should stop getting involved in this matter.”
"So, Ming, do you even know who you guys have offended?"
Xu Weiguo hadn't expected that even the local commune could suppress the matter. But even if it hadn't been suppressed, they probably couldn't do anything to Xu Weimin.
However, the matter absolutely could not be left like this. Xu Weiguo had been thinking that, after all, they were brothers, and if Xu Weimin didn't provoke them in the future, he wouldn't seek revenge on Xu Weimin.
After all, what Huang Qinqin dreamed about hadn't actually happened yet. He didn't want to fight Xu Weimin over things that hadn't been discovered yet.
But now he realized that Xu Weimin probably wanted them dead.
Throughout history, there has only been the saying "a thief can be caught for a thousand days, but a thief can not be guarded against for a thousand days." It seems he needs to find out if Xu Weimin has done anything improper.
If so, we should try to find the evidence as soon as possible and bring him down.
When the village chief saw that Xu Weiguo's expression changed after hearing his words, he knew that they must know who had taken action.
So he stopped dwelling on it and instead asked, "By the way, Ming, are you guys coming back to rebuild your house? Do you have enough money? If not, let me see how much I have and lend you some."
A warm feeling washed over Chen Ming, and he said with a smile, "Thank you, village chief, but no need. We don't plan to rebuild our houses in the village for the time being."
“If you don’t rebuild your houses, where will you live? It’s manageable for a day or two, but it will be difficult in the long run.”
The village chief assumed Chen Ming was planning to stay at his two younger brothers' houses. He didn't mean to think badly of Chen Ming. He didn't mention Chen Ming's two married sisters, since it was indeed inconvenient for them to visit their parents' home often after marriage.
However, Chen Ming's two younger brothers both live in Chenjia Village. Since they got married and started their own households, they rarely go back to visit Chen Ming and his family, not even during holidays.
The village chief felt they were somewhat ungrateful and didn't believe they would want Chen Ming's family to stay at their house. He wanted to remind Chen Ming, but was afraid Chen Ming would think he was trying to sow discord.
Upon hearing the village chief's words, Chen Ming realized he had misunderstood and explained, "No, village chief, my family and I are planning to move to the city. Since we don't know if we'll ever come back to live here again, we're not building a house in the village for the time being."
“My older brother helped me find a temporary job, and Afang and her child’s household registration can also be registered with my older brother, so we came back today to get the documents from the brigade.”
The village chief was especially happy for Chen Ming after hearing this. He had suffered for half his life, and now his suffering had finally come to an end.
He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Good, good! Do your best. Even though you're a temporary worker, if you do well, you might get a permanent position!"
"By the way, did you go to the brigade? If it gets any later, the secretary and the others will be off work and going home."
"We went there. We came to find you after we got the documents. Oh, and village chief, this is for you. Thank you for taking care of us all these years."
I'm currently working temporarily at the Public Security Bureau. If you need to find me later, you can come to the Public Security Bureau to find me.
Chen Ming handed the village chief another portion of pastries that they had prepared.
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