Chapter 22 Dad, this is what you promised me,...
"Boss, drive more steadily!"
Country roads are simply not as good as those in the city. Shortly after the car turned off Longcheng Avenue, the Li family's Santana suddenly shook. This seemingly minor tremor suddenly affected the injuries on Li Chengcai's chest and shoulders, causing his sickly expression to contort. Seeing this, Li Decheng, who had been holding him in the back, immediately rushed forward and shouted.
"Yes, Ashan, drive slower and more steadily."
Li Chengcai's mother, who hadn't gotten a seat in the back and had been pushed to the front by her husband, was startled by his voice. After realizing what was happening, she immediately became anxious, just like her husband.
"Okay, Uncle and Auntie, I'll be careful." He glanced cautiously behind him through the front mirror and saw his cousin's expression had indeed become extremely ugly and distorted. Li Ashan, who was driving, couldn't help but clench his teeth and look out more intently.
The car was moving slowly forward. After it slowed down a bit, Li Chengcai saw the blue shirt collar on his cousin's neck in front of him, which was soaked with sweat.
After scanning that spot, Li Chengcai, who had been lying in the hospital for a whole month, subconsciously looked outside. Seeing people working in the fields in the distance, he couldn't help but sigh, "Is it time to farm already? Have I been in the hospital for that long?"
"No, it's only been a few days since the rains. Those people are the ones who rush everything." Carefully holding his son's head and body, seeing that he was in better spirits, Li Decheng, who was in his early forties and looked particularly upright and serious, whispered again, "Xiaocheng, don't be angry that Dad brought you back to the countryside. Dad has been very busy lately and needs to stay at the factory for a long time. Although there is a nanny in the city, who knows if she will take good care of you when we are away. Anyway, stay under our noses for the next few days until you are fully recovered. That way, your mother and I will feel at ease."
"Yes, yes, Xiaocheng, when you come home, your mother will take good care of you."
After listening to her husband's words, Wen Xiaohua realized belatedly that her husband and son would stay with her for a long time in the future, and she immediately smiled happily.
Knowing that his father was just informing him, not asking for his opinion, Li Chengcai couldn't help but smile while being held by his father. Then, ignoring his mother, he suddenly asked, "Dad, where is Chen Panpan's family? Did you burn down her house last time when I asked you to?"
“It’s burning!”
Seeing his son feeling somewhat helpless, Li Decheng could only quickly say, "But you know the situation in our village. Almost as soon as I ordered someone to set her house on fire, the surrounding neighbors immediately helped her put out the fire."
"You mean I was injured so badly? And in the end you didn't do anything for me?"
Li Chengcai is Li Decheng's only child, born seven years after his marriage at the age of twenty-five. In a time when marriages were common at fifteen or sixteen and parents at seventeen or eighteen, he didn't have his partner until he was twenty-five, demonstrating just how surprising and significant his partner's arrival was to Li Decheng. Most importantly, not long after the birth of his child, he received his first loan for his factory. With that money, he was able to successfully open his current cement factory.
And after that, Li Decheng never had any other children.
Anyway, in Li Decheng's eyes, this son is very important.
Precisely because he knew that he was important enough, Li Chengcai's character was raised by his parents to be both well-behaved and domineering.
When he is being good, he is really good.
But when he is disobedient, he is indeed quite disobedient.
"I've already burned down a haystack and half of her roof. You can deal with the rest yourself when you're better. As long as you don't kill anyone, Daddy will cover the rest for you."
We are all from the same hometown, and Li Decheng doesn't want to make things too extreme.
But looking at his son's angry and haggard appearance, and thinking about the eight critical illness notices he had received in the past month, and how his body and mouth were filled with various tubes, Li Decheng finally suppressed his little pity and made a promise to his only son.
"Dad, this is what you promised me. I will make them suffer a miserable fate, especially Chen Panpan who dared to throw a brick at me. If she hadn't turned her head and scared me, I definitely wouldn't have been hurt so badly."
Li Chengcai, with a neck brace on his neck and many steel plates in his body, had a fierce expression on his face.
Because of his excited emotions, his facial features were distorted with pain again.
"Okay, okay, okay, I'll let you do whatever you want. But right now, the most important thing for you is to recover from your injuries. We'll talk about everything after you recover."
His son is Li Decheng's life. Seeing that he was in pain again, Li Decai, who was holding him, almost felt uncomfortable and immediately agreed.
More than ten minutes later, their car finally arrived at Qingshui Village.
As the car slowly turned into the village, Li Chengcai, who had been lying on his father, immediately gritted his teeth and sat up straight, then turned his head and looked outside motionlessly.
“Woof woof!!”
Not long after Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen left, the twin boy and girl from the Yang family opened the door of the Chen family and excitedly started feeding their little black boy.
Li Decheng and his wife frowned as they watched the chained black dog suddenly bark and bark at them. Li Chengcai, straining to see outside, instinctively clung to the car seat beside him. At that moment, watching the black dog bark at him for no apparent reason, he suddenly remembered Li Panpan, who had suddenly attacked him that night.
"This little beast is exactly like its owner. I will kill it sooner or later!" He said gritting his teeth, and then he continued to lean on his father weakly.
*
February 27, 1992, happened to be the 24th day of the first lunar month. In the entire late first lunar month, there were actually only two auspicious days: the 15th day and the 24th day of the first lunar month.
Chen Pan's grandfather is a very superstitious man.
For anything big, he would check the calendar carefully.
February 27th in the Gregorian calendar was the auspicious day he had picked for opening and moving half a month ago.
That day, Chen Aiguo got up early in the morning to light the fire and clean up the house. Xu Chunhua also got up early to knead dough and make pancakes.
As for Chen Pan, she took a broom and a rag and cleaned his small shop inside and out again.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Chen Pan took out the opening banners and door couplets she had bought long ago, and her grandmother brought out the paste she had made. Her grandfather stood on the plastic stool they had prepared and raised his hands to stick them all on.
"Is it done? Then congratulations in advance."
The Chen family had been preparing for the business for a full twenty-two days, from the moment they signed the contract until now. They'd been keeping an eye on their neighbors' progress, and when they saw they were finally opening today, the enthusiastic Qin Guihua immediately pulled out two sets of firecrackers she'd been selling and instructed her son to light them.
"I wish you a prosperous business and abundant wealth!!"
Only when these tenants have a prosperous business and abundant income will they continue to rent from her for four to five years, or even seven to eight years. So at this moment, just like she usually wishes all the store tenants, Qin Guihua also wishes the Qin family, who officially opened their business today, a blessing.
"Thank you for your kind words, thank you!"
Chen Aiguo finally put up all the opening banners. After Chen Pan and his grandmother helped him get off the stool, he immediately expressed his gratitude.
"You're welcome, it's my duty!"
Qin Yang, who had already lit one string of firecrackers, lit the second one. At this moment, the skinny Chen Aimin, accompanied by his wife and youngest son, slowly walked around the corner, carrying two strings of firecrackers and two handbags.
Behind them followed the eldest of the Chen family, also carrying a bag of gifts and celebratory firecrackers. Walking alongside him was not one of his sons or grandsons, but the most senior of their generation, their eldest cousin, who was almost eighty years old.
"Second brother, eldest brother——"
Seeing that they had indeed come to the place he had said, Chen Aiguo's eyes reddened and he immediately hurried to greet them.
That morning, the sound of firecrackers outside Chen's pancake shop never really stopped.
That morning, Grandpa Chen took out the large plastic stools he had prepared long ago and greeted his brothers, friends and neighbors one by one.
That morning, Chen Pan, wearing a new apron and holding a stack of newly bought disposable paper cups, was walking back and forth, serving tea to the elders and relatives at home.
When Chen Pan served tea, Grandma Chen worked hard to make cakes.
Of course, in addition to the various hot cakes that Chen's shop had already made, Chen Pan's family also prepared several special fruit plates, which contained peanuts, melon seeds, White Rabbit milk candies, fruit candies and other things that people only eat during the Chinese New Year.
The eldest patriarch of this generation of the Chen family looked at everything around him and said slowly: "Aiguo, you have made great progress. The future of our family depends on you."
"This—I'm just opening it casually, and it may not be successful!"
Grandpa Chen, who was busy entertaining everyone outside, immediately waved his hands embarrassedly when he heard this.
"No, you have been successful since you were the first to start a business. At least our sons and grandsons know that life cannot just be about farming." Grandpa Chen's second cousin immediately praised him upon hearing this.
"Yes, you are the first one in our group to really start a business. Just based on this point, you are better than us!" Chen Aidang, who always compared himself with his brothers before, also said a fair word in front of others.
"Yes, Third Brother Chunhua, you guys should work hard. Maybe one day when you do well enough, you can hire us to work there!"
Seeing everyone's happy conversation, Chen Aidan's wife Liu Zhaodi, who was missing a right lower tooth, also smiled and said something. However, her husband Chen Aimin, however, was silent at this time, holding his teacup.
"Sister-in-law, you really love to joke around. What are we doing?"
Although Liu Zhaodi is Xu Chunhua's sister-in-law, they are actually the same age. Seeing her suddenly joking, Xu Chunhua, who has the best relationship with her, immediately responded embarrassedly.
"I'm not kidding, I'm serious. Chunhua, if your business is doing well in the future and you're too busy, you can always come to me. Then I'll be your first employee. Don't worry, I won't ask for more salary from you."
Chen Pan's second wife is the type who is very honest and silent behind people, but in front of others, she will deliberately talk more to ease the atmosphere.
Anyway, at this moment, because of her loud voice, all the people who came to congratulate her but could only sit on the plastic stools outside the Chen family shop or go to the two palm-sized bedrooms inside were all amused by her.
That day, Chen Aiguo's two brothers and two cousins all came with their friends. Chen Pan's aunt, who lived closest to him and was Chen Pan's grandfather's sister, also sent her son. Even their neighbor, Uncle Yang, came over with a red ribbon that Grandma Wang from across the street had brought him.
Outside Chen Pan's shop, firecrackers blasted as everyone tied red ribbons to the glass door handle and the newly made "Chen's Shaobing Shop" sign. Wang Qingshan, who had only been in the village for New Year's Eve and the first day of the Lunar New Year and had been living in the staff quarters of Chenjia Town's Fourth Middle School, puffed his way back to his hometown on his bicycle.
School was about to start in a few days, and he had come here to finalize the transfer information with the parents of several students he had contacted, and to collect the money. Of course, since he had returned to Qingshui Village, he naturally wanted to give Chen Pan another chance to see if she would change her mind and transfer to his school.
After all, she was his own daughter, and now both his eldest and youngest were attending No. 4 Middle School. Naturally, he wanted to treat them equally and get her into No. 4 Middle School, which had better school resources, a year earlier.
On the way here, Wang Qingshan, riding his bicycle, had done a lot of mental preparation and thought of many ways to persuade Chen Pan and Chen Aiguo. But when he turned the corner and saw the oversized iron lock hanging on the Chen family's gate, he was completely stunned.
"Qingshan, Panpan and her family went to Liuping to open a shop! During the time you were away, Panpan rented a small shop of about 30 square meters for your uncle and aunt. Your uncle and aunt had no choice but to follow her wishes and open a bakery in Liuping. They left early this morning and may not come back for several days."
Just as Wang Qingshan was holding the handlebars of the bike and turning his head to look at the Chen family opposite his house, Old Lady Wang, who had been sitting at the door of her house holding her grandson, suddenly spoke.
It was not until this moment that Wang Qingshan suddenly noticed the person sitting in the sun.
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