Decide
He Huaizhi failed to catch up.
Zhou Lexing was a fast walker; if he hesitated even slightly, he would have already disappeared.
Zhou Lexing made his way through a maze of twists and turns to Lijia Village, and following the villagers' instructions, he gradually slowed down as he walked along the path.
There weren't many people on the street, but everyone who saw him turned around to look at him with curiosity.
Zhou Lexing disappeared into the alley, but no one saw him. After spotting him, he ran off in another direction.
"Big Brother! Big Brother!" the man shouted as he ran, "Zhou Lexing from next door is here to cause trouble!"
Liu Wu was sitting at his doorstep eating steamed buns when he heard this and immediately jumped up.
"What?! Where are they?!"
The man stopped, panted twice, raised his hand and pointed in the direction he had come from, and Liu Wu rushed out.
"!" The man was startled and quickly followed, "Brother! Aren't we going to call the rest of the brothers to come along?!"
The two had loud voices, and a roar immediately came from inside the house: "Finish your meal before you cause trouble!"
Liu's mother rushed out with a boning knife, but it was too late. Only the rice bowl containing steamed buns remained on the small stool by the door; everyone had vanished.
"That brat!" Liu's mother cursed. "Let's see if I'll still give him food when he gets back!"
Liu Wu was unaware that his food was in danger of being taken away. He ran wildly, a surge of inexplicable excitement and joy pounding in his heart. He reached the top of his lungs when he saw Zhou Lexing.
"Zhou Lexing!"
Upon hearing the sound, Zhou Lexing stopped and turned to look in this direction.
The sunlight from the high-hanging sun cast a soft, dazzling glow on Zhou Lexing's profile, making his features appear even more striking. His eyes were deep and bright, and from a distance, they seemed to be filled with a warm, gentle smile, almost enough to drown one in its warmth.
Liu Wu's round cheeks flushed red from the irrational emotions he felt. His breathing became rapid, and he felt lightheaded, no longer aware of his hardship or fatigue. He rushed uncontrollably to Zhou Lexing's side.
Zhou Lexing looked at Liu Wu, somewhat surprised: "What is it?"
Liu Wu looked up in a daze: "What...? Didn't you come to see me?"
The man following Liu Wu was surprised to see his boss run so fast. Hearing the question from the guy next door who was causing trouble, he quickly caught his breath and retorted, "That's what our boss should be asking you! What are you doing in our village?! You've got some nerve! Do you believe our boss, oh dear!"
Before the man could finish speaking, Liu Wu, in a moment of panic, slapped him on the back of the head: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Even if he could beat Zhou Lexing, let alone be unable to, he shouldn't be so rude to his neighbor!
"Well," Liu Wu swallowed to ease his throat before cautiously asking, "Did you come here to see me?"
Zhou Lexing laughed: "What do I need you for?"
Liu Wu was a little disappointed: "Then you come..."
Zhou Lexing: "I have some business to take care of, don't worry about me."
After Zhou Lexing finished speaking, he was about to leave when Liu Wu unconsciously followed, asking, "What business do you have here?"
Seeing Zhou Lexing looking over, Liu Wu immediately added, "I have to keep an eye on you. If you cause trouble, I'll have to do something to advise you."
The underlings following behind Liu Wu stared wide-eyed at these words.
Is this really their fair-skinned, black-hearted boss?!
Is he still the same boss who gets angry and yells at the drop of a hat and likes to outnumber his opponents?!
Zhou Lexing didn't have as many feelings as him, and just shrugged: "Whatever."
His trip to Lijia Village wasn't really anything big. He was going to get a peace charm from the so-called "rice-counting granny" as instructed by Lao Yang, then go see Li Jianshan, who had brought Zhou Laozhuang to cause trouble at his house, to give the other party a shock, and then talk to his underlings on the way back. This whole process probably wouldn't take more than a morning.
Seeing that he wasn't being chased away, Liu Wu's mood brightened, and he actually followed closely behind, occasionally chatting with Zhou Lexing: "Don't worry about Li Hubing, I've already had someone deal with him. He definitely won't dare to mess with you again. The police took him away yesterday, I don't think he'll get away with it. By the way, I heard you've been helping out at home lately, and you're being kept very close watch? When did you become so timid? Never going out isn't the mark of a man... I see Zhou Bobo looking worried sick, do you not recognize him anymore?"
These rambling words sounded like they had thorns.
Zhou Lexing glanced at Liu Wu and saw that Liu Wu's eyes, hanging under his slightly swollen single eyelids, were indeed filled with curiosity and expectation, but without any malice.
Was it just his imagination?
Or is this person just so irritating with their words?
Zhou Lexing was surprised; he had rarely seen someone so tactless.
Zhou Lexing did not answer him, but Liu Wu's enthusiasm did not diminish in the slightest. When he saw the house of the rice-gathering woman, he even let out a long, meaningful "oh".
"You still do this?"
Zhou Lexing was speechless. Without even going inside, he reached out and took the small cloth bag hanging under the window.
Although the crackdown isn't as strict as it was a few years ago, it's always best to avoid suspicion whenever possible.
If it weren't for Lao Yang taking care of everything for him, Zhou Lexing really wouldn't have believed in these things. Even with his experience of time travel as a foundation, these mystical things still couldn't convince him. Compared to these divination techniques, changing the status quo in a down-to-earth manner was more in line with the values he had developed over the years.
The small cloth bag was no bigger than the palm of your hand, and it was made of scraps of cloth, which looked colorful.
Zhou Lexing didn't open it; he just stuffed it into his pocket, considering it a completed task.
"The fortune teller is quite amazing. You didn't know, did you? When I was born, she said I was destined for great wealth and honor, with an immeasurable future, meaning I would eat and drink well every day..."
Liu Wu tried hard to convey his reliability, but failed to win Zhou Lexing's attention. Instead, the commotion ahead easily caught Zhou Lexing's eye.
"You're the one who caused my family to end up like this! If you don't take responsibility, who will?!"
"In short, if you don't hand over the money today, don't expect to have a good time!"
"You don't want everyone to know what dirty things you've ordered us to do, do you?!"
Zhou Lexing looked at the huge crowd in front of him and immediately recognized many familiar faces. They were the same group of relatives he had seen at the entrance of Zhou Laozhuang's house earlier.
He recalled what he had overheard at Zhou Laozhuang's house that night, and he had a general idea of what was going on here. It was nothing more than the same old tricks, trying to extort money from another family.
Liu Wu frowned when he saw the scene. He didn't want Zhou Lexing to see such an ugly argument on his rare visit to Lijia Village.
What happened?
Liu Wu peered over there, but the crowd was so dense that he could only see heads packed tightly together.
Zhou Lexing looked at the tall tree not far away, and with a clear goal in mind, he headed up the tree.
He was agile and climbed the tree in the blink of an eye, sitting steadily on one end.
Liu Wu below was dumbfounded, muttered something under his breath, and resignedly reached out to grab the rough tree trunk.
With the advantage of the terrain, Zhou Lexing spotted Li Jianshan surrounded by the crowd at a glance. After not seeing him for a while, this greasy man with slicked-back hair now looked somewhat withered. His hair, which used to look like it had been licked by a cow and was covered with hair gel, was now disheveled. His face was haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were in disarray as they were being pulled and tugged by the crowd.
He struggled to push away the hands that were grabbing his collar and arms, trying to squeeze into the room, but failed repeatedly and could only futilely shout at the group of people.
"What does this have to do with me! It was clearly that old bastard Zhou Laozhuang who swindled me! If you really had the guts, why don't you go ask that kid Zhou Lexing for the money! You're all bullies who prey on the weak! Let me go! Let me go right now! Believe me or not, I'm calling the police!"
The shouts were drowned out by the clamor of scolding and complaints, and more and more people gathered to watch the spectacle.
Zhou Lexing watched for a while, then got bored, grabbed the tree trunk beneath him and jumped down. He used his arm for leverage halfway down and landed steadily on the ground.
Liu Wu, who had finally made it halfway up the mountain with great effort, was dumbfounded and quickly asked his henchmen to help him down.
"Hey! Aren't you going to watch the fun anymore?"
Liu Wu shouted, but his feet, suspended in mid-air, couldn't touch the ground.
Zhou Lexing waved to him without turning his head and left.
.
"Brother Le, what's with this all of a sudden?"
"Yes, did something happen to Brother Lixing?"
"Brother Le, how about I go with you?"
The five underlings, who rarely reunited, all looked at Zhou Lexing expectantly, but unfortunately, they couldn't change his decision.
His decision to go to the city wasn't made overnight; it was just that He Huaizhi's appearance intensified this idea.
Before He Huaizhi appeared and Gu Jiansheng inexplicably developed feelings for him, Zhou Lexing's sense of unreality about this world was merely superficial. The unscientific phenomenon of time travel could be explained by theories such as parallel universes, which sounded dreamlike but at least had some logical basis. At least the world was not limited.
The concept of being able to wear a book is quite different.
Is this world created around the protagonist?
Besides the map that extends from the main character or main storyline, is there any other human settlement?
Could there be bugs like those in game interfaces, such as corners and blank areas?
Zhou Lexing had so many questions that they could overwhelm his mind, so he could only temporarily refrain from asking or thinking about them.
But where does the future lie?
This needs to be clarified and explained clearly.
Zhou Lexing is not the kind of person who dwells on or is troubled by a problem for a long time without taking any action.
Moreover, according to his understanding, the late 1980s and early 1990s were a period of economic growth, and after getting the answer, he might be able to make a quick buck and plan for the future.
This was something he had planned before he even discovered this fact.
However, if there were truly blank spaces in the edges of the world that the protagonist had not set foot in, then he would probably face the problem of 'red and blue pills'.
"I'll be away for a while, so if you have time, go to Zhoujia Village and keep an eye on things. Don't cause any trouble. We'll deal with any problems when I get back. If it's really urgent, go to the convenience store and call this number, mentioning the name of the gift shop. I'll get back as soon as I receive the message."
In fact, Zhou Lexing did not plan to stay outside for too long, but he still preferred to have a backup plan.
After all, if something really happened at home, Zhou's mother would probably choose to keep it from him for fear of worrying him. And these aimless underlings might just wander around like headless flies, causing trouble and making things difficult to handle.
If He Huaizhi hadn't appeared, Zhou Lexing might have taken Gu Jiansheng and his group of underlings with him. But now it involved the absurd question of the world's reality, and he felt it was better to figure it out himself first. Moreover, it would be more realistic to take his clueless underlings to make money together once he had established himself.
Although the younger brothers were reluctant to part with him, they could not sway Zhou Lexing's decision and could only follow him step by step to send him out of Lijia Village.
When Liu Wu, who had searched several times without finding anyone, finally saw them, Zhou Lexing had already gone home.
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