After not seeing each other for several years, You Tianfu felt mixed emotions when he saw Lu Chuan and Hu Jicheng again. He couldn't describe the feeling.
At first, the few people felt okay standing face to face, but when they heard Hu Jichong's voice, he couldn't hold it back any longer. His brows were furrowed, his eyes were wide open, and tears welled up in his eyes and rolled down silently.
He took a few steps closer and knelt down with a plop: "Master, I'm sorry, I'm back late!"
Hu Jicheng's eyes also turned red, but he fought hard to hold back the tears. He leaned over and tightly grasped You Tianfu's arms, helping him up, murmuring, "It's not too late! It's not too late! Not at all!"
After the excitement, several people entered the inner room. The room was relatively tidy, but it was a farmhouse, so dust was inevitably scattered everywhere. Seeing the two people who were once glorious and dazzling reduced to this state, You Tianfu felt sad.
Lu Chuan and Hu Jicheng were quite optimistic. They asked everyone to find a place to sit, and then took a few bottles of mineral water and threw them aside so that everyone could get some when they were thirsty.
Looking out the window at the now peaceful courtyard, You Tianfu asked, "Brother Dao, Master, Dalong has already told me everything about you. What's with that shouting Li Changde outside just now?"
Without waiting for the two to speak, Dalong sighed, "This is a long story. It's my fault for not asking for the details when I bought the house. That Li Changde is a big bully in Lijia Village. He spends his days doing nothing but making money. Other young people have left the village to work in the city, but he's the only one who stays at home and shamelessly lives off his parents.
Before Brother Dao and Brother Hu came, there was an old man named Li living in this family. Old man Li had two children, a boy and a girl. His wife died early, his daughter married far away, and his son ran a small business in Lujiu City to make a living. He would come back to visit during the holidays. Although Old man Liu was lonely, he lived a pretty good life.
There are not many residents in this village, and there are a large number of mountain fields on the side. Water resources are very scarce, and the only deep well that can be used for irrigation is in the corner of Li Laohan's yard.
Logically, this deep well in the yard belonged to Old Man Li, but since he was surrounded by fellow villagers, he was generous and opened the well to the villagers for their use during the busy summer farming season.
Li Changde recognized this early on, believing it to be a rare business opportunity. Without water, these mountain fields would be dependent on the weather. While a rainy season would be fine, yielding a bountiful harvest, a dry season would be a disaster, and without water, the crops would die, wasting a year's work.
At this time, the only deep water well became the focus. If it was changed to charge a fee for use, in order to ensure a good harvest, the villagers would have to compromise even if the fee was high.
So he approached Old Man Li more than once to discuss the matter, and the two of them collaborated to convert the deep well into a fee-charging facility. With just Old Man Li's nod, he would completely renovate the well, install a water meter and a bill collector, and then stand by all day collecting fees.
One of them works out of the well while the other does the work, and when the money is earned they split it in half, killing two birds with one stone!
Old Man Li knew better than anyone what kind of person Li Changde was. After all, he had watched this kid grow up day by day. Old Man Li didn't need the money, nor did he want to do something that would upset the villagers. So every time Li Changde came, he would curse him, repeatedly saying that his name was Changde, but he couldn't be so immoral for a long time. He even cheated the villagers out of their money and didn't fear the punishment from heaven!
After repeated failures to reach an agreement, Li Changde had no choice but to give up. He started spreading rumors behind his back, saying that Old Li was absolutely senile and would not even accept the money God gave him...
A year passed in the blink of an eye, and in the winter, Old Man Li caught a cold. It wasn't a serious illness, but he was old and frail, and a minor cold triggered a series of long-standing ailments. His son took him to the city hospital for two months of treatment, but he ultimately succumbed to the cold and passed away in complete bliss.
After Old Man Li died, the house in the countryside became empty. His daughter could never come back, and his son had settled down in the city. After discussing it, the brother and sister felt that there was no point in keeping the old house, so they spread the word that they were going to sell it.
Because the house is located in the countryside and is quite old, the price is very cheap.
As a result, Li Changde's mind began to become active again. He was not doing it for the house, but just for the well. In his eyes, this was a long-lasting cash cow!
He did have the idea, but he had been living in the village without doing any proper work for many years and had no savings at all. Even though the price of the house was low, the savings he had were still far from enough.
It was winter, not yet the busy farming season, so Li Changde was not in a hurry. He knew that the house in such a remote village might not be sold for three to five years, so he began to raise money everywhere, preparing to buy it in the spring of the following year and make a fortune by using the deep well!
As a result, just as he had made his plan, Dalong had already found Old Man Li's son, paid the money and completed the formalities, and then Lu Chuan and Hu Jicheng officially moved in.
This made Li Changde very angry. He sat on his kang for almost three days without sleeping. Thinking that the duck that was about to be in his mouth flew away, he beat his chest and stamped his feet, hating himself for being a step late in raising the money.
In spring, when the busy farming season began, Li Changde, holding on to the last glimmer of hope, went to Hu Jicheng to negotiate the issue of charging for the deep water well. Unexpectedly, Hu Jicheng had the same idea as Old Man Li and was unwilling to damage the harmony of the villagers for such a small amount of money. He decisively refused and continued to let the villagers use the deep water well for free.
In this way, the first rift between Li Changde and them was completely formed!"
Hearing this, Lin Lidong couldn't help but interrupt: "This is not a village bully at all, he's just a little bastard with nothing to do. He just bullies the old people in the village. With his small physique, any man with a bit of blood in his veins can beat him to a pulp!
If you ask me, this kind of person deserves to be punished. Give him a good beating, and if that doesn't work, let him bleed. All his problems will be cured instantly!"
Dalong waved his hands and gave a wry smile, "If he really were just a little bastard, this would be a simple matter. The reason this guy can walk around the village with such impunity and everyone gives him the benefit of the doubt isn't because of his physique or his ruthless personality, it's because he has a close nephew who's the chief of the city police station!"
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