Chapter 145 A Crowd with Their Own Thoughts
Grandpa Gu called Gu Qingming at noon, and the couple arrived home in the afternoon.
During dinner, Gu Qingming looked at Gu Yin and asked, "Are you going to have training afterwards? If so, I'll pick you up and drop you off. Your aunt can keep an eye on things at the market."
Gu Yin shook her head. Feng Jiangyue had already resigned before the exam. She was currently in the provincial capital and would rejoin Jianggao after Gu Yin's high school entrance exam results came out. Therefore, there was no training this summer, and Gu Yin had all the time to herself.
Gu Yin no longer has to leave early and return late every day, which is good news for the Gu family, as it avoids a lot of unnecessary trouble.
"Then Ayin and Ale should stay at home if they don't have anything to do. If they have to go out, they shouldn't be alone. After dinner, I'll go to the village chief's place to see what policies they have for people who have been released from prison."
The old man nodded: "Ask more detailed questions."
After finishing his meal, Gu Qingming went out and arrived at the village chief's house. The village chief's family had also just finished eating. When they saw him come in, the old village chief and Li Sen asked in surprise, "Is there something you need or just strolling around?"
Gu Qingming pulled up a stool and sat down, then went straight to the point and expressed his concerns.
"Li Chenggong is out, you all know that, right?"
Li Sen nodded: "I know, the documents from over there are sent directly to the village committee. What's wrong?"
Gu Qingming sighed: "Li Dazhi is back, but I don't know what's wrong with him. Today he came to my house and kept trying to persuade Ayin to go to Beijing with him to become a star. He even promised that Ayin would make a lot of money if she went! You all know how good Ayin's grades are. How could our family bear to let her give up her studies? Even if she wanted to, we wouldn't agree."
Li Sen frowned: "So Ayin agreed?"
Gu Qingming shook his head: "Ayin knows what she wants, but she didn't agree. At the time, only my two elders were at home. Li Dazhi kept tempting them, but they weren't interested. As a result, he said some rather offensive things, which made the old man angry and kicked him out. Later, we found out that he and Li Chenggong had gotten together. The two of them spent the whole day drinking together until the evening."
"Just now when I passed by Li Dashan's old house, I saw Li Chenggong and Li Dazhi sitting in the yard drinking!" the old village chief's wife said in surprise.
Gu Qingming looked at Li Sen upon hearing this: "He's a guy who just got out of jail. I don't know if he's reformed. Of the people who offended his family before, only our family and Li Li's grandmother are still in the village. Everyone else has gone to work elsewhere. I'm afraid he might have some ulterior motives. Plus, there's that guy Li Dazhi. I'm not only worried about our girls, but also about the girls in the village. That guy isn't honest. Even if I'm just being cynical, I'm not comfortable with Li Chenggong. Village chief, do you have any policies regarding people like this?"
Li Sen listened to Gu Qingming's words with a frown on his face.
“He’s currently living in a temporary warehouse arranged by the village committee, which is right next to the village committee office. We can see it during the day. His mother has also come out of the cowshed to live with him. We don’t have any policies or anything, and the higher-ups haven’t asked us to do anything. But I think what you said makes sense. People’s hearts are the hardest to fathom. Li Li isn’t home, and if something happens to the old lady, nobody will know. Tomorrow I’ll arrange for some people to keep an eye on him in the village from time to time.”
Seeing that he had plans, Gu Qingming nodded and left the village chief's house.
He was originally planning to go back, but remembering what his aunt had just said, he turned around and walked in another direction.
Because her grandson wasn't home, Grandma Li usually prepared dinner very early. After eating, she would take a bath, and by the time she finished, it was just getting dark. If her grandson were home, she would go to the village entrance to chat with the other old ladies. But since her grandson wasn't home, she would close the door after finishing her chores and go straight to sleep.
The old lady had already lain down, but the clinking of bottles in the neighboring yard and Li Chenggong's occasional cold laughter kept her awake.
In the morning, when she finished washing the clothes and was about to hang them up, she saw a creaking sound coming from the opposite side, which had been silent for a long time. She looked over in confusion and saw Li Chenggong, who should have been in the prison, appear on the other side.
Seeing her stunned expression, Li Chenggong grinned and said, "Grandma's hanging out the laundry. Is Li Li home? Long time no see. He must be doing well now!"
Li Chenggong wasn't as ruthless as his brother Li Chengming, but since they were family, he couldn't possibly be an honest man, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up in prison.
The old lady was still a little afraid of this kind of person. She looked down and hung the clothes out to dry while saying, "He's not home. Ali went to work."
After hearing what she said, the other person didn't react and just sat there in a daze at the door.
Because they needed to pay compensation, Li Dashan's family didn't have enough money, and no one dared to buy the house even if they tried to sell it. In the end, Li Dashan's wife mortgaged the house to the village, which gave them enough money to pay the compensation. After that, the house remained vacant.
Grandma Li didn't know when Li Chenggong left, but she saw him stagger back to the courtyard at dinner time. Not long after, Li Dazhi, who had just returned, also came over, and the two of them started drinking again.
"Knock knock knock".
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. The old lady froze, then called out, "Who is it?" She got up from the bed, picked up the axe that she had placed on the bedside table, and waited quietly for a reply from the person outside.
"It's me, Gu Da. Is Aunt Li asleep?"
Gu Qingming's voice came from outside the door. The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly put the axe away, and quickly went out of the house to the main room, where she opened the door.
"Why are you here at this time? Is something wrong with Ali?" The old lady's first thought was of Li Li. Had something happened to him?
Gu Qingming entered the house and smiled upon hearing this, "No, we mainly came to see if there's anything we can help you with. Ali isn't here, and he's worried about you being alone at home, so he specifically asked us to come and check on you every day."
The old lady was puzzled. Hadn't the Gu family been coming to see her all along?
Gu Qingming pointed to the next room and didn't say anything. The old lady suddenly realized that he must have said this for Li Chenggong to hear. If someone from the Gu family came over every day, he wouldn't dare to come over if he really had any bad intentions.
The old woman's tense heart relaxed, and she laughed and said loudly, "I'm just an old woman in the village, with neighbors all around. If I need anything, I can just shout. Why would he bother you? You're so inconsiderate!"
“Li Li is being filial!” After saying that, Gu Qingming lowered his head and whispered, “Be careful when you’re home alone. Call us if anything happens. The village chief will also arrange for someone to keep an eye on him. If he has any bad intentions, don’t panic. Give him the money first to buy time for us to come. Protecting yourself is the most important thing.”
The old lady nodded and whispered, "I understand, don't worry."
After visiting Old Mrs. Li, Gu Qingming left. When he left, the two people next door were no longer there, and he didn't know when they had left.
Upon waking up, Li Dazhi recalled what he had talked about with Li Chenggong the night before. He immediately jumped out of bed, quickly washed up, sat down at the dining table, drank the porridge his mother had just served in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and ran outside.
"You went drinking again? Look at you, you've been back for the past two days, all you do is go drinking! What's the matter of buying you a car? What's your decision?" Seeing him leave, Li Wenlong immediately called out to him.
Li Dazhi waved without turning his head: "We'll talk tonight! I have to go now!"
When he ran to the warehouse, Li Chenggong was still not up. The house was open, and Li Chenggong's mother was not there.
Li Dazhi entered the house and called out, "Chenggong, are you up yet?"
Li Chenggong was still asleep when Li Dazhi called him several times, which finally woke him up.
"This way."
Hearing the sound, Li Dazhi walked to the room on the left. Pushing open the door, he saw a room full of straw. Apart from a bed, there was no place to sit. It would be crowded if one more person stood in it. It was pitifully small and stuffy.
Seeing that Li Chenggong hadn't gotten up yet, Li Dazhi pointed to the messy tools and straw in the room and frowned, saying, "You're going to live here? It's not that I'm disgusted, but this place is absolutely no place for a human to live! Anyone who lives here will go crazy sooner or later!"
Li Chenggong glanced inside the house and sneered, "The village kindly provided us with this place to stay!" Although he said that, the disgust in his eyes was genuine.
“My cows live in a much bigger and cleaner place than this! You’re living in such a miserable situation! By the way, what have you thought about what I told you last night?” Li Dazhi sat down on the edge of the bed, looked outside, and then asked in a low voice.
Li Chenggong touched the scar on his face, looked up and stared intently at Li Dazhi: "After it's all done, are you sure you'll take me to Beijing? Are you sure you can find me a job?"
Li Dazhi took out his phone and showed him the 500,000 text messages he had received earlier.
"See that? 500,000! You think I'm lying to you? If you agree, we can go to town right now, and I'll take out 10,000 for you! I need to use the rest of the money to buy a car, otherwise it'll be difficult to get to Beijing. Once we get to Beijing, I'll sell the car, and we'll split the profits! How about it, are you in?! If you're in, let's get going and go to town!"
Li Chenggong still had some reservations: "Would she really become a star if you asked her to?"
Li Dazhi laughed upon hearing this: "You don't need to worry about that. When we get to Beijing, someone will give me the contract. At that time, she'll be unconscious, and who knows whether she'll put her fingerprint on it herself or have it put on by someone else. Once she signs the contract, she won't be able to do anything about it, even if she doesn't want to. It's a 15-year contract. How she'll get through those 15 years is not something we need to worry about. Besides, for a country bumpkin like her, becoming a star is a stroke of luck that she couldn't earn in eight lifetimes. She might even thank me later! Are you going to do it or not? If not, I'm going to find someone else! I'm in a hurry!"
Li Chenggong was already tempted when he saw the amount transferred on the other party's phone. After listening to what Li Dazhi said, he was excited by the thought of leaving this place to make a lot of money in the capital and trampling all these rotten people in the village into the mud.
"Damn!" he said, immediately getting up, taking laundry detergent to the shower room to rinse off, changing his clothes, and then going out on the street with the other person.
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