Take Qin Laoqi for example.
What he did wasn't anything extraordinary.
I simply signed up when I was planning to open a fried chicken shop in the village.
His shop was located in a shopping mall that was later built in Beijing, not far from the Universiade Center, and it was about 100 square meters in size. At the time, he used several years' worth of his dividends to buy the shop. Initially, he and his wife, along with their two sons, worked tirelessly to make ends meet. As conditions gradually improved, they started hiring.
They didn't hire any shady characters.
Instead, it was the poorer families in the nearby villages who were struggling to make ends meet.
That's how ordinary people are. After living their own lives well, they help out when they know of any injustices. That's all. You can't expect them to spout any grand principles. They don't know them. They don't understand them.
He knew that once he made money and his life improved, he could also help his old friends and neighbors if possible.
However, they hope their grandson can go to school properly, see if he can study hard, get into a good university, and bring honor to the family.
Yes, for most rural people, going to university is just one thing: bringing honor to their ancestors. As for what they can do after graduating, what they will do, or what their future holds, they have no idea. They only know that if they have the ability, they will try their best to support their children's education.
As for bigger things, some people advised Qin Laoqi to open a branch or something, but Qin Laoqi shook his head, saying that he had earned enough money and was content with just this one shop; he didn't have the ability to open more. This was the way most villagers in Qin Family Village lived. Except for a very few who were willing to take risks, most people stopped moving forward once they reached a certain point.
For Qin Laoqi, it was enough to watch the shop's daily revenue, sit contentedly at the shop's entrance after work, take a puff of his cigarette, go home, and see his wife smilingly calling him for dinner, his grandson sweetly calling him "Grandpa," and his son and daughter-in-law living a harmonious life. Why? Because he had experienced hardship, and he didn't want to change his current life. He just wanted to be well-fed and ensure his family didn't starve—that was all.
This group of people lacks any long-term vision; they only know how to be down-to-earth. Yet, some people actually want them to engage in some kind of "spiritual construction."
When he said this, Wang Shouren immediately retorted, "If even something as basic as spiritual development has to be the responsibility of those farmers who toil in the fields, then what are you responsible for?"
Wang Shouren didn't know what happened to that person afterward; he only knew that he never saw that person again.
Lou Xiao'e's phrase "What a joke!" is actually highly ironic.
Her view was the same as Wang Shouren's: if others are doing everything, why should you do it?
"Let's go for a walk?" Wang Shouren said.
His so-called "stroll" didn't mean leaving the courtyard. In this large, three-courtyard house, one could leisurely take a walk within their own yard. And in the summer, it's surprisingly cool. Sometimes, you have to admire the feng shui arrangements of our ancestors; they were remarkably well-planned.
"Let's go." Lou Xiao'e, dressed in a light gauze dress, took Wang Shouren's hand and walked out.
The two strolled in the courtyard, listening to the melody of the evening breeze.
Before I could even listen for a short while, the phone rang at home.
Lou Xiao'e glanced at him: "Waiting for this call, huh?"
"No, not really. I just didn't expect them to make their move so quickly," Wang Shouren sighed.
I went inside and answered the phone. A frantic voice came from the other end.
"Shouren, it's me."
"Dad, please tell me."
"Is that so..."
After Wang Shouren hung up the phone, he looked at Lou Xiao'e with a helpless expression: "Well, I'll have to make another trip tomorrow. Queen of Melon Seeds, wanna go see a play tomorrow?"
“Yes, I definitely have to go,” Lou Xiao’e said with great interest.
"Queen of Melon Seeds" is the nickname Qin Jingru gave Lou Xiao'e. This woman is becoming more and more interested in watching plays.
Qin Zheng has been arrested.
Wang Shouren never expected that his desperate act would be home invasion and kidnapping.
The targets of the kidnapping were Qin Huairu's parents. It's baffling what was wrong with this man; he wanted to break into Qin Huairu's house under the cover of darkness, kidnap her parents, and then extort money. According to him, he could do it without anyone noticing. After getting the money, he would return to Qin Family Village as if nothing had happened, and no one would suspect him.
Such a naive idea is something he can only think about in his own head.
When Qin Huairu heard the news the next day, she was almost frantic with worry. It took Wang Shouren a lot of persuasion to calm her down.
The four of them went to Qin Family Village together.
In the ancestral hall of Qin Family Village, most of the elderly people had come. The third uncle stood trembling in the middle, his face ashen. He never expected that his grandson could do such a thing.
When Wang Shouren entered, the Third Uncle immediately knelt down before Wang Shouren and the others without saying a word.
Qin's father, quick-witted and agile, managed to support his third uncle despite his advanced age: "Third Uncle, please don't try this. What good is this except shortening our lifespans? What, is your grandson planning to use us to make money, and you're planning to reduce our lifespans?"
That was quite a blunt statement.
The third uncle stammered, unable to speak, and pointed at Qin's father before taking a long breath.
Qin Zheng wasn't there. Qin Huairui breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his elderly father was alright. He didn't go forward to speak, since Wang Shouren was there.
While cracking sunflower seeds, Lou Xiao'e explained to the two sisters, "Last night, that idiot confessed. If he had said that he only wanted to break into a house to steal, he probably wouldn't have been sentenced so severely. But when that idiot was questioned like that, he confessed that he wanted to kidnap someone. Goodness, that's burglary and kidnapping, which is a completely different matter from theft."
"What's the difference?" Qin Jingru also took a piece of melon seeds and asked curiously.
“One is theft, the other is robbery. Normally, if it's theft, as long as you didn't steal anything, and you were caught and taken back, if we're willing to reconcile, a lecture would suffice. But if it's robbery, then whether we reconcile or not doesn't really matter. I reckon you might even get shot.”
Lou Xiao'e did not lower her voice, and everyone in the ancestral hall heard her clearly.
Third Uncle: ...
Qin's father: ...
Everyone: ...
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