The second building Lu Lin built was gradually bought up. Most of the buyers of the dormitories were families. With six people living in one room, it was difficult for couples to have sex when there were outsiders around. If they could afford it, everyone wanted a place of their own. Three taels of silver wasn't expensive, and many people could afford it.
When Zhou An got married, Chen Xiaocai found out and gave him a big red envelope containing six buffet vouchers. Li Xiaoyu was overjoyed to receive six buffet vouchers at once.
Zhou An and Li Xiaoyu held a simple wedding ceremony. Although the ceremony was very simple, Li Xiaoyu was very excited.
Although the first man Li Xiaoyu married sent a lot of betrothal gifts, they were all taken by his parents, and Li Xiaoyu got nothing in return, so she has little memory of him.
After the matter with Zhou An was settled, Li Xiaoyu helped out with the fleet.
Li Xiaoyu was very capable. She had previously married an old wealthy man as a concubine. Being a concubine meant being half a maid, doing everything from washing clothes and cooking to serving tea and water.
Chen Chi stood to one side, packing the squid into boxes, when a fisherman hurriedly came over.
"Young Master Shen, something terrible has happened."
Chen Chi glanced at the person running over and said calmly, "What happened? Why are you in such a panic?"
"Several people from Dali Village have come. They say that Zhou An's wife is their son, and unless Zhou An is willing to pay a dowry of twenty taels of silver, they will take her back," Han Feng said.
Han Feng thought to himself: These people from Dali Village are really scoundrels. They ask for twenty taels of silver right off the bat. I could manage to scrape together two taels, but twenty taels? Are they trying to kill me? Han Feng sighed inwardly, thinking: Zhou An has been single for so many years and finally managed to get married, but it looks like that's going to fall through again.
Chen Chi glanced at Han Feng and asked, "What about Zhou An and his wife?"
“Zhou An is here. His wife went out and hasn’t come back yet.” Han Feng glanced at Chen Chi, feeling somewhat strange. Han Feng thought Chen Chi seemed too calm, as if he had known this would happen all along.
Chen Chi nodded and said, "I'll go take a look."
Chen Chi walked to the open space in front of the fleet's dormitory, where two old men, a young man, and several villagers from Dali Village were confronting the other side.
"Young Master Shen is here! Young Master Shen is here!"
Several fishermen, who were on the verge of fighting, made way for Chen Chi when they saw him approaching.
Upon seeing Shen Chi, Li Hong puffed out his chest and said arrogantly, "The manager is here! Did your fleet kidnap my brother? We're here to get him back." Li Hong looked down on Shen Chi, seeing him as just a young girl, and felt a certain contempt for her.
Chen Chi glanced at the fishermen beside him. They had probably argued with Li Hong earlier and were red in the face with anger.
"Your brother? Who is your brother?"
"My younger brother's name is Li Xiaoyu, which is the same as Zhou Yu in your area."
“Zhou Yu is Zhou Yu, and Li Xiaoyu is Li Xiaoyu. If you say that Zhou Yu here is your younger brother, then is that right? What if I said he was your father? Would you accept that?” Chen Chi asked, pointing to a fisherman.
The fisherman chuckled and said in a glib tone, "Good son, call me 'Dad' and let me hear it."
Several fishermen immediately started jeering. "Old He, your son is really ugly!"
"Old He, your son is outrageous. You need to teach him a lesson."
Li Hong's father also arrived, and was immediately speechless, his face turning red.
Li Hong's face darkened as he said, "You've gone too far. Everyone in our village says that Zhou Yu here looks exactly like my younger brother."
"Who said that? Let him stand up. There are many people who look alike, almost identical. You can't just say that people are exactly the same." Chen Chi said calmly.
Li's parents looked at each other, unsure whether it was the same person or not. Some villagers had said that the resemblance was somewhat obvious, but they couldn't be sure if it was the same person.
Li's parents had initially believed it was the same person, but after Shen Chi's words, they were no longer so sure.
Upon hearing the mention of the sinking pond, the fishermen immediately straightened their backs. "Yes! You think so?"
Li Hong gritted his teeth and said, "If you're not guilty, call your men out for a confrontation."
"You're from Dali Village, aren't you? I remember hearing that a man named Li Xiaoyu from Dali Village was sold to a consumptive man for a marriage of convenience, but he ended up jumping into the river and dying. Did you take his money and not want to return it, so you're trying to find someone who looks similar to make up the difference? Human trafficking is illegal," Chen Chi said coldly.
Startled by Shen Chi's words, Li's parents became anxious, saying, "He's clearly our son, how could he have broken the law?"
"Your sons are all dead? If you want to find someone, you should go to the place where someone died! Did you take money and don't want to pay it back? Now you're desperate and grasping at straws, randomly asking people to claim kinship. Where in the world is there such a good thing?" Chen Chi said calmly.
Shen Chi thought to himself: The tuberculosis patient that Li's parents found for Li Xiaoyu only paid ten taels of silver, but when they came to them, they directly asked for twenty taels. They are really greedy.
Chen Chi's words were reasonable and well-founded. Chen Chi also had considerable prestige in the fleet, and everyone who heard them thought it made perfect sense.
"Are you blind? You're trying to extort money from our fleet? Do you think we're easy to bully?" a fisherman shouted.
"Yeah! These bastards, they're obsessed with money."
Most fishermen, after being confronted with Shen Chi's righteous and stern words, felt that these people were trying to take advantage of them. Of course, there were also some quick-witted ones who vaguely guessed the truth, but with Shen Chi backing them up, these people naturally wouldn't expose them.
"Get these people out of here, just don't kill them," Chen Chi waved his hand.
Several fishermen were immediately excited upon hearing about the sinking pond.
Everyone was initially a little guilty, thinking that Zhou An might have taken advantage of Xiao Shuang'er without permission. But with Chen Chi's words, they suddenly felt more confident and charged at the Li family members.
This is the fishermen's dormitory building. The fishermen and their families number nearly two hundred people, and there are about fifty people here right now.
Only about ten people from Dali Village came, and they were outnumbered and beaten up by the fishermen.
"Brothers, there's trouble! Grab your weapons!" A young boy raised his arm and shouted, and a group of fishermen's kids immediately echoed him. The fishing team had been formed for some time, and the fishermen's lives were getting better and better, so they had developed a sense of collective honor. The children were more energetic than the adults.
The adults knew their limits, but the younger ones were like newborn calves, fearless and with a heroic complex; if one couldn't beat them, several of them would gang up on them.
The few people who had come with the two elders of the Li family to speak up for them were immediately frightened.
Some people tried to run away when they saw that things were not going well, but they were chased and stopped by several children, who beat them up and made them beg for mercy.
Seeing that the situation in the sinking pool was about right, he waved to stop.
Seeing the attackers being beaten to a pulp, the fishermen erupted in a chorus of exclamations, as if they had won a great victory.
Before they arrived, several people from Dali Village knew that the fleet belonged to the magistrate of Yucang County and that the fleet had powerful backers. However, perhaps because Lu Lin had a good temper, everyone thought that this magistrate would be reasonable. But after arriving, they realized that an official is an official, no matter how good-tempered he is.
With an extra person on the fleet, Lu Lin actually went to investigate. This little investigation revealed that a little Shuang'er had died at the place where Zhou An rescued people. Although Zhou An concealed Li Xiaoyu's identity, Lu Lin was well aware of it.
Lu Lin also confided in Chen Xiaolai, the current manager of the fleet, about this matter, and Shen Chi also knew about it.
Chen Chi glanced at Li Hong's dejected figure and said to the group of fishermen, "If these guys come again in the future, beat them back."
“Young Master Shen is right.”
"Young Master Shen is right, we can't let this scoundrel bully us."
"This guy is trying to extort money from our fleet. From now on, we'll beat him up every time we see him."
"That's too much! Next time we come, we'll show these guys what our fleet is all about!" A burst of enthusiastic agreement erupted from the crowd.
Chen Chi waved his hand, signaling everyone to disperse.
After Zhou An and the others had all left, he walked up to Shen Chi and said, "Young Master Shen, actually..."
Chen Chi interrupted Zhou An, "There are people in this world who look exactly alike. As long as your partner doesn't think he is Li Xiaoyu, then he is not Li Xiaoyu. Do you understand?"
Zhou An paused for a moment, then nodded, suddenly realizing that Shen Chi knew everything and was just helping him out.
Shen Chi waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and get busy. You just got married, so you need to work hard and try to make a good life for yourself." Zhou An was momentarily dazed, then quickly said, "Thank you, Young Master Shen."
Shen Chi squinted. He knew about Li Xiaoyu's situation. His older brother, Li Hong, was a scoundrel who did nothing all day, but their parents doted on him. It was Li Hong's idea to sell Li Xiaoyu to marry a consumptive man to bring him good luck. Li Xiaoyu's parents didn't know about it. Li Hong sold him and got the money.
Afterwards, Li Xiaoyu fell into the river and disappeared. Everyone said that she was dead. Since she was dead, the marriage proposal was naturally invalid.
The man's family was pressuring Li Hong to repay the money. Li Hong had used the money for drinking, gambling, and whoring, and had already spent most of it. The Li couple had no choice but to use their savings to cover Li Hong's debts.
Shen Chi couldn't stand this kind of favoritism. No matter how bad her son was, he was still her son, and she loved him like the apple of her eye. But Shuang'er could be treated like dirt and sold off time and time again.
Zhou An entered the house and found Li Xiaoyu inside.
"Little Fish, where did you go just now?"
Li Xiaoyu blinked, looking somewhat flustered, and said, "I just heard someone was coming, and I was very scared, so I hid."
There was a lot of commotion outside, and he wanted to come out and see what was going on, but Han Xiaozhou found him and told him not to show his face, saying it was Chen Chi's intention.
Zhou An nodded and said, "Hide, it's good that you're hiding. The matter has been resolved, so you don't need to be afraid." Zhou An relayed Shen Chi's words to Li Xiaoyu, who couldn't help but burst into tears.
As evening fell, Chen Chi returned to his residence from the fleet.
"You're back?" Chen Xiaocai looked at Chen Chi, seemingly pleased.
Chen Chi's face flushed slightly, and he said somewhat awkwardly, "Why do you look like that? Did you hear something?"
Chen Xiaocai smiled and said, "I heard that you, Achi, made quite a splash at the fleet today."
"I simply helped someone in need," Chen Chi said calmly.
Chen Xiaocai squinted and said, "To deal with that kind of person, you have to use extraordinary means. Achi, you did a good job." Li Xiaoyu's matter reminded Chen Xiaolai of her past self, and she still felt some sympathy for that little Shuang'er.
Chen Chi smiled and said, "Maybe." A few days ago, he had his men give those people from Dali Village a good beating. If they didn't want to be beaten again, they probably wouldn't show up again.
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