Mischief
"Brother Le, I understand." Li Dagang made a gesture and even mimicked the bully character he had seen in a movie a few days ago, winking and making faces.
Zhou Lexing looked at him, puzzled, and asked, "Did you get sand in your eye?"
Li Dagang froze, then shook his head, his face flushed.
Zhou Lexing didn't mind: "Alright, have everything ready for me tonight, I'll come and pick it up later."
Li Dagang: "Brother Le, aren't you taking us with you?"
Zhou Lexing: "I'm going to scare people, not to have a team building activity. It's not easy to manage so many people."
Li Dagang thought it made sense: "Then, Brother Le, we won't tell anyone else. I'll just go with you, is that alright?"
Seeing Zhou Lexing's suspicious look, Li Dagang quickly pledged his loyalty: "I will absolutely not hold you back!"
Zhou Lexing thought for a moment and agreed: "Then you can bring it over in the evening, and hide it well. We'll meet at the mountain pass at the end of the village."
Li Dagang happily agreed.
Li Dagang's father was a skilled carpenter, so Li Dagang naturally learned a lot from him. At least he could handle the drawing and cutting of blueprints.
Zhou Lexing left some money for Li Dagang and left without hesitation despite the pleas for him to stay.
The heat was so intense that Zhou Lexing was irritable and lacked energy; even his attempt to tease Zhou Laozhuang was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
He didn't want to go home, and he didn't know how to win back the feelings that Jian Sheng had given to He Huaizhi along with the plot. So he simply stopped looking for him and stopped thinking about the matter, dragging his feet and wandering around the village in the shadows.
Zhou Lexing didn't want to go to Gu Jiansheng, but fate, as if trying to make him give up, suddenly threw a big surprise at him.
Zhou Lexing watched the two people walking away together in the distance, cursed, and looked up to smooth his short stubble. At that moment, he once again felt the bewilderment and anxiety he had felt when he first arrived here.
He spun around in place, staring at a stain on the mud-brick wall for a while. His back was soon burning hot from the sun, and even his heart felt like it was on fire.
never mind.
Zhou Lexing thought for a moment, took a few steps in the opposite direction, then stopped, sighed, resignedly turned around and followed.
Unexpectedly, one day he actually became one of the people stalking Jian Sheng.
Zhou Le struggled along this path, but Gu Jiansheng was no less arduous.
He stopped at the mountain pass, where a dozen or so large trees were scattered about, creating quite a few blind spots.
At midday, hardly anyone goes out.
He Huaizhi gave what he thought was a charming smile, then walked closer to Gu Jiansheng, who had stopped, his deep, magnetic voice seemingly filled with boundless warmth: "This place is nice. Do you come here often?"
Gu Jiansheng was facing He Huaizhi, the hilt of the sharp blade in his hand digging into his palm, but it brought him not fear and timidity, but excitement and exhilaration.
He let out a silent breath and gave He Huaizhi his first smile of the day: "Actually, there's something I want to tell you. Can you come closer?"
He Huaizhi looked at Gu Jiansheng as if he were seeing him for the first time, examining him from beginning to end.
Who knew that this coward could actually put on such a show?!
She clearly wanted to steal a kiss from him!
I never expected that.
I never imagined his charisma would have such a huge influence now.
He Huaizhi was surprised, and couldn't help but think of Zhou Lexing, who had been so ruthless to him. His mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts, but he still maintained his polite and gentle smile. He took another step closer and, without Gu Jiansheng saying anything, leaned down towards Gu Jiansheng: "Is that so?"
Gu Jiansheng's eyes were practically overflowing with excitement and fervor. He spoke very softly, as if afraid of startling the prey about to be caged: "Yes, come closer..."
Zhou Lexing leaned against the tree, watching from afar as the two people drew closer and closer. From his angle, he could see Gu Jiansheng staring at He Huaizhi without moving, his head slightly tilted back, his hands still in his pockets, clearly not rejecting He Huaizhi's approach.
Zhou Lexing's face was expressionless. In fact, he felt his sleep-deprived mind go blank for a moment. He just silently watched as Gu Jiansheng suddenly reached into his pocket and tapped He Huaizhi's chest.
"cough!"
He Huaizhi felt as if his chest was about to be dented. He barely managed to suppress his grimaces and ruin his image. Looking down, he saw that Gu Jiansheng's expression was stiff. He seemed not to have expected Gu Jiansheng to react this way to flirting. He quickly raised his hand and grabbed Gu Jiansheng's fist, forcing the words out through his teeth.
"What's wrong?"
Damn it, how come Gu Jiansheng has such a strong grip!
When other people express their love by patting their chest, it's considered romantic; but this guy pats his chest like he's about to break a boulder!
Gu Jiansheng's face was almost transparently pale. He felt the hilt of the knife suddenly break off from his palm, and he squeezed his fingers together, trying even harder to hide the hilt back into his palm.
He used all his strength in this strike, but failed laughably. However, Gu Jiansheng had suspected this beforehand, so he quickly composed himself, and his voice, which was slightly trembling, said, "You're too close."
He Huai didn't respond immediately, not because he didn't have enough fancy words to flirt, but because the blow to his chest really hurt, and he needed to calm down.
The area under the shade of the trees became quiet for a moment.
Gu Jiansheng was frantically thinking of his next move. Neither of them spoke, and they remained locked in a stalemate, maintaining a distance beyond social boundaries.
Zhou Lexing watched the two gazing deeply into each other's eyes for a while, his mind still blank. He looked up at the light filtering through the trees, his breathing slowed down because of the indescribable feelings in his heart, and soon turned and left in silence.
The sunlight shone on him, but it no longer scorched him like an ant on a hot pan as before; it was somewhat warm, but not much.
"Do you want to go up the mountain and take a look?"
Gu Jiansheng turned to look in the opposite direction from where Zhou Lexing had left. There, the shade of the trees grew denser and wild grasses grew thicker. He knew that there were many steep landslides and dangerous places with steep inclines and declines.
If He Huaizhi had died in the mountains, it would have been easier for him to deal with the situation.
He Huaizhi was in severe chest pain at the moment, and thinking about the hardship of climbing the mountain, he was starting to have second thoughts.
It would be even more embarrassing if you couldn't continue halfway through.
Anyway, Gu Jiansheng is interested in him now, so a relaxed yet measured rejection and maintaining distance are necessary.
Thinking of this, He Huaizhi straightened up and gave Gu Jiansheng a forced smile: "No, maybe next time."
"I'll treat you to tea next time."
That way, I won't have to visit the Gu family's house where there are cockroaches.
He Huaizhi remembered that he had never seen cockroaches in the Gu family in his previous lives, but just thinking that it was probably because he hadn't noticed them made him feel itchy all over and all he wanted to do was take a good shower.
Gu Jiansheng remained silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement and led the way back.
Since fate has prevented him from killing He Huaizhi, he needs to devise a plan to ensure that He Huaizhi has no chance to escape.
Today's incident was profound and different for all three of them in some way.
As the sun continued its descent, the vibrant red sunset painted the entire sky, seemingly foreshadowing good weather for tomorrow.
Zhou Lexing lay under the tree with his hands behind his head, waiting for Li Dagang to arrive.
The cicadas' chirping was heart-wrenching. Zhou Lexing, with his legs crossed, stared at the sky, lost in thought. When Li Dagang called him in a low voice, he was still somewhat dazed.
"Brother Le! Take a look."
Li Dagang looked guilty as he took things out of his bag while his eyes kept darting around.
Zhou Lexing raised his hand and pressed down on his head: "There's no one here, don't act like a thief."
This place is a bit far from the big banyan tree where villagers chat and stroll at night. Because it's closer to the woods, villagers generally don't come here after dark, so it's quite peaceful.
Li Dagang felt a warm hand on his head, and his face flushed. He nodded vigorously after the hand left his head.
.
Since being kicked several times for trying to extort money from someone last time, Zhou Laozhuang's health has been poor. The old man's bones are brittle and his recovery is slow, but staying at the town hospital is costing him a lot of money every day.
This time, they not only failed to extort money, but also lost a lot of money. Moreover, there were many people who were more seriously injured than his family. They couldn't avoid their relatives asking for money at the town hospital and had to stay at home.
But while Zhou Laozhuang could feign death to avoid people, Zhou Fugui, who was busy with various farm chores at home, couldn't hide from them.
"Dad! This was your idea! You can't expect me to handle everything, can you?! Besides, Erling is determined not to marry me this time, you have to step in and say a word for her!"
Today, Zhou Fugui finally couldn't escape the questioning and harassment from his relatives. After finally getting away, the thought of the marriage that had been arranged falling through made him break down with resentment. Surprisingly, he lost his temper with his father.
Zhou Laozhuang lay on the bed, ignoring Zhou Fugui's shouts and yells. After a long while, seeing Zhou Fugui trying to pull the blanket off him, he realized he couldn't escape and finally spoke up: "What's the rush? You just can't hold your temper! If you hadn't impulsively rushed in, things could have been salvaged! Don't you think the villagers would stay at the door all night? If we had stalled until everyone left, and given them a pretext, wouldn't it have been easier to start a fight?"
Zhou Laozhuang's voice was hoarse and unpleasant, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he immediately looked for faults in Zhou Fugui.
Zhou Fugui was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead. His usually filial mind cleared up for a rare moment: "You make it sound so easy! With that brat Zhou Lexing around, how many of us are just food for him! You're lying there all relaxed, but if we don't take this opportunity to sneak in, we'll never have another chance!"
At that time, they had their eyes on Zhou Lexing, but unfortunately, their actions were delayed by Zhou Shusheng, that crazy kid. Otherwise, they would have already taken the stuff and run away. If Zhou Lexing had no evidence and started making a scene, it would have been exactly what they had planned.
The two started arguing back and forth, but in the end, Zhou Laozhuang gave in when he saw his son clench his fists. He did come up with a suggestion: "It's no use trying to reason with your father. To be honest, it was Li Jianshan who brought this up. I originally wanted to wait until Zhou Lexing was away from home before taking action, but that kid was pushing me too hard, so I acted ahead of time. This time, the failure is his fault."
"Don't let Li Jianshan's slick and incompetent appearance fool you. He's definitely got some money in his pocket, so it's the most reasonable thing for him to pay. You should make it clear to them tomorrow and tell them to go to Li Jianshan for the money. Anyway, if they keep causing trouble for us, we only have two lives left, and that's it."
As Zhou Fugui listened, he began to think that his father made sense, and nodded repeatedly.
The two were so engrossed in their conversation that they failed to notice the subtle movements in the darkness outside.
Zhou Lexing chuckled inwardly as he listened to their conversation.
It's true that evil people always have their own evil counterparts to deal with them.
Of course, he was also one of the villains.
Zhou Lexing and Li Dagang exchanged a gesture, and the two quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Zhou Fugui got a satisfactory answer and lost his temper. He dutifully helped Zhou Laozhuang up and prepared to wash his father's body. Just then, the window was suddenly blown open by the wind.
He glanced back, not paying much attention, but Zhou Laozhuang, who was facing the window, was half asleep, his eyes glazed over. Suddenly, his body twitched, and he shouted in a hoarse voice.
"ah--!!"
Zhou Fugui's eardrums were hit at close range, and he was so startled that he almost knocked over the basin of water.
"What's wrong?" He looked up at his father's face and saw that the old man was so frightened that his face turned pale and blue. Zhou Fugui's courage shrank even more. It took him a while to dare to look back, but he saw that it was dark outside the window and he could not see anything.
Zhou Fugui breathed a sigh of relief: "Dad, what's wrong? What did you see? Are you seeing things? Everything..."
"Ah—!! A ghost!"
Zhou Laozhuang let out another loud scream and crawled from one end of the bed to the other. His eyes were full of terror, and he looked like he couldn't breathe. When he saw his son looking at him with fear and unease, he pointed to the window with trembling hands.
Seeing his father's appearance, Zhou Fugui felt uneasy. He wrung the towel in his hand into a pretzel, held his breath, and quickly glanced behind him, but still saw nothing.
"Dad, are you seeing things?"
Zhou Fugui's hair stood on end, and he said with a bitter face, "Dad, please don't scare me."
Zhou Laozhuang was panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot. It took him a while to recover from Zhou Fugui's shouts. Suddenly, he snapped out of it and yelled, "Someone is definitely playing tricks! Go out and see!"
Although Zhou Fugui didn't see anything, that didn't stop him from being scared!
Upon hearing this, he swallowed hard a few times, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot, and he really didn't want to go out at this moment.
They didn't get any streetlights here, and it was pitch black outside. If it weren't for Zhou Laozhuang's terrifying, ghostly appearance, Zhou Fugui might have been able to go out, but now he didn't have the courage at all.
Old Man Zhou had no patience for his son, and he smacked him on the head: "I told you to go out and see what's going on! Get out now! If you catch that guy, I'll extort a few hundred from him, or I'm not a Zhou!"
Zhou Fugui was reluctant and endured several scoldings from Zhou Laozhuang. In the end, he had no choice but to walk out. But before he even reached the door, he heard Zhou Laozhuang let out another hoarse scream from the bed. Overwhelmed with fear, he jumped out of bed, ran barefoot to the window, grabbed the ashtray on the table, and leaned out of the window.
Judging from their posture, it seemed as if they wanted to smash the mischievous ghost to death.
Before Zhou Laozhuang could see clearly, he felt a gust of wind blow over his head, his body became heavy, and he fell headfirst out of the window, only managing to let out a scream.
The turn of events happened so fast that Zhou Fugui was stunned for a few seconds. He didn't have time to be afraid and hurriedly opened the door and ran out, shouting, "Dad!"
It was pitch black outside the courtyard, but the moonlight was bright. By the dim moonlight, all you could see was Zhou Laozhuang lying upside down on the ground, his body limp against the wall, crying out pitifully. You couldn't even see half a shadow of a ghost, let alone any person causing trouble.
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