squatting people
"Mom is asking you, where did all that money come from?"
As soon as Zhou Yuanxiang moved away from the villagers' stalls, she immediately asked in a low voice.
Zhou Lexing turned to look at her and saw that her expression was serious. He knew that those words, whether good or bad, had somehow taken root in her heart.
"Don't worry, Mom. This money is really what I saved up." Zhou Lexing thought for a moment and added, "I don't have many social connections now, so I don't need the money. Besides, money just sits there doing nothing, so I might as well use it." Especially for everyday items that can significantly improve the quality of life.
Zhou Yuanxiang disagreed: "How can money just sit there and die? You're not young anymore, you should be saving money to get married, how can you be so extravagant? Besides, we have enough at home, we don't need such nice things..."
Zhou Lexing wasn't going to argue with Zhou Yuanxiang about these things. Each generation has its own ideas and beliefs, and there's no right or wrong to it.
He responded with "uh-huh" and "yeah," but it was clear that his words hadn't reached his ears.
Zhou Yuanxiang sighed, knowing he was doing it for the family's good, and didn't say anything more.
They had barely left when a commotion broke out behind them.
Managing a stall requires a lot of energy, and sitting idly all the time is quite boring, so naturally one needs to find some entertainment, and Zhou Lexing is undoubtedly the best gossip subject.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Zhou Lexing has really changed a lot. He used to argue with Yuanxiang every few days, or he wouldn't be home for half a month at a time. Now he even helps with chores."
"That's right, they can even repair tractors now. The best days are yet to come."
Just as the group was engrossed in their conversation, they saw Xu Laosi, a man with a fierce face, leading his men toward them.
After being rebuffed by Lao Yang, Xu Laosi went back and pondered the matter, immediately extracting a key piece of information from Lao Yang's words.
The guy who stole their business is from Zhoujia Village. Knowing that makes things easy. Old Yang doesn't want to talk about it, but does that mean the other people in Zhoujia Village are keeping it from him?
Since that guy is opening a business, he's bound to advertise it a lot. If he doesn't teach this guy a lesson, people might think that he, Xu Laosi, is easy to bully, and he'll become even more arrogant in stealing business and undercutting prices in the future.
Xu Laosi grew angrier the more he thought about it, and immediately led his men toward the market.
Only a few households from Zhoujia Village regularly come to town to sell vegetables. Xu Laosi's repair shop is not far from the market, and he has seen Lao Yang unloading goods a few times. He is also familiar with several people from Zhoujia Village, so he immediately locked onto his target.
When the people of Zhoujia Village saw his menacing approach, they immediately fell silent, looking at each other with some trepidation, trying to glean some clues from the faces of their fellow villagers.
"You have a car mechanic in your village?"
Xu Laosi got straight to the point, immediately grabbing the oldest-looking person and asking them a question.
The person being stared at shifted uncomfortably, glancing somewhat nervously at his fellow villager beside him.
Before she could even speak, Zhou Mazi's eyes darted around as if he understood something, and he immediately beamed and said, "I know! I know! You can just ask me about this!"
Xu Laosi then noticed Zhou Mazi, and arrogantly raised his chin, indicating that he should clarify his words himself.
Zhou Mazi smiled obsequiously and rubbed his fingers together with Xu Laosi: "Look, I haven't made much business yet this morning. If you buy everything from my stall, I guarantee I'll take care of everything about that person for you!"
When his fellow villagers heard this, they either pursed their lips or frowned, disapproving of his behavior, but they all watched quietly, not daring to speak up.
When Xu Laosi heard Zhou Mazi's words, he grinned and squeezed his fat cheeks together.
Zhou Mazi took it as a yes and was about to happily weigh the scales for him when he heard Xu Laosi speak up.
"I'm already being lenient by not charging you protection money, and you dare to try and extort me? No wonder you dared to steal my orders. You really think I'm a pushover?" Xu Laosi said slowly, chuckling a few times before his expression changed instantly. "Selling vegetables, huh? Go, stomp all his vegetables! So that he doesn't lose his brain and eyes while thinking about selling vegetables!"
It's past noon now, and there are far fewer pedestrians on the road. The commotion here is so intense that even if someone sees them, they'll only glance at them a couple of times. It would be considered bold of them not to take a detour.
"Ah! What are you doing?! If you don't want to buy, then don't buy! If you don't want to buy, then don't buy! Stop it, all of you! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you whatever you want to hear, just stop stepping on me!" Zhou Mazi was so frightened that he jumped up from the small stool, but was easily pushed back down by the men brought by Xu Laosi.
Zhou Mazi immediately started crying and screaming. The villagers around him looked on with pity, but when they faced Xu Laosi and his group of men with fierce faces, they shrank back and did not dare to step forward.
After all, when it comes down to it, Zhou Mazi was asking for trouble. He didn't know his own limitations at all. How could he try to kill just anyone he saw without even considering the size of the other person?
The fellow villagers murmured to themselves, but didn't say anything aloud.
They've seen plenty of these local bullies. They're a bunch of old folks, how could they possibly fight them? Sometimes, if they go along with what they say, they might avoid getting into trouble.
But Zhou Mazi clearly didn't think so. Seeing that everything on the stall had been trampled to pieces, his cries suddenly rose a notch, and he lunged forward, only to be knocked off balance by the person who was pressing down on him.
"Damn it!"
The person who almost fell felt ashamed and slapped Zhou Mazi across the face, causing Zhou Mazi to cry even louder.
"Ha, you villagers are really shrewd. Look at how overconfident he is, he probably doesn't even realize he's forgotten his brain when he goes out."
Xu Laosi's sarcastic remarks drew laughter from the group.
The people of Zhoujia Village all looked ashen-faced. Zhou Mazi was pinned to the ground, sobbing and muttering about his vegetables, paying no attention to what they were saying.
"You've got guts. Stop kneeling. Come on, lift him up." Xu Laosi said, gesturing for the men holding Zhou Mazi down to grab him. He then gently slapped Zhou Mazi's swollen face. "Tell me, who is that person?"
.
Zhou Lexing and his two companions didn't stay out for too long. There weren't many places to have fun in those days, and even movies were only shown on specific holidays. Fortunately, there were plenty of snacks. The policy changes had clearly stimulated and driven the development of individual businesses, which benefited the three of them.
Zhou Yuanxiang was not frugal when it came to food.
The three of them ate until their bellies were full, and then slowly strolled back to the tractor. To their surprise, before they even got close to Old Yang's tractor, they saw a crowd of people surrounding Old Yang's original spot.
What happened?
Zhou Yuanxiang felt uneasy and her first reaction was to go and see the bewildered Zhou Shusheng.
"Mom, take Shusheng to find a place to rest and cool off. I'll go check on things first."
Zhou Yuanxiang nodded in agreement. Then, still worried, she added, "If something really happens, don't be reckless."
Zhou Lexing naturally nodded in agreement. Seeing that they had walked a little further away, he approached and asked, "Auntie, what's going on? Did the supply and marketing cooperative distribute rice?"
The aunt in front of me couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, but when she talked about what had happened, her laughter disappeared: "Where did this good thing come from? I've lived for decades and I've never heard of the supply and marketing cooperative distributing rice."
"This is Xu Laosi causing trouble! He said a tractor repairman came to town and stole his business, so he's going to stake him out here."
Zhou Lexing was somewhat surprised: "Why make such a commotion when you're squatting down?"
It's not like we're running a promotion.
Before the auntie could say anything, another middle-aged woman standing in front of them turned around and excitedly added, "They were originally waiting for people at the market, but then someone tipped them off, which led Xu Laosi's group over. Now the two sides are at a stalemate, and they just finished arguing!"
Zhou Lexing hadn't expected that helping to repair a tractor would lead to such an elaborate scheme, and he laughed: "Come on, everyone, make way. We have to let the main character in so the show can begin, right?"
His voice rose high, quickly attracting the attention of a large crowd.
Upon hearing his words, the crowd actually jostled and made way for him.
The stalemate inside, including Xu Laosi and Lao Yang, all looked in this direction and saw him stride in as if nothing had happened.
"What? Who's looking for me?" This kind of public announcement of a search for someone is truly unprecedented.
Xu Laosi's gaze swept over the handsome young man from head to toe, then looked at Lao Yang, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead and trying to extort money: "Is it him?"
As soon as Old Yang saw Zhou Lexing, he jumped up from the ground and shouted, "What are you doing here? Let's go! Let's go!"
The people from Zhoujiacun who went to find the police station hadn't arrived yet, and the people who searched all over town for Zhou Lexing hadn't returned either. Unexpectedly, the person in question was right there, and he even swaggered in. It really made Old Yang, who had tried every means to delay and make a scene, feel like he had a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat. He wanted to scold this ignorant young man, but he also felt guilty.
After all, this person had only meant well by repairing his tractor, which led to this trouble. He could only jump up and down in a panic, urging the person to run away quickly.
Zhou Lexing acted as if he hadn't heard, carefully examined Lao Yang to make sure he wasn't injured, and then said to Xu Laosi, who had just asked the question, "I'm just helping Lao Yang fix his tractor. What? You want me to fix your vehicle too?"
Old Xu hadn't expected this man to be so audacious. He smirked and said insincerely, "Yeah, I'm going to teach you a lesson right now! Go! Drag him to our territory!"
As a local tyrant, Xu Laosi also had his own set of rules. Making trouble was acceptable, but bringing things into the open was a different matter.
Old Yang had just been jumping around and attracted so many people. If they wanted to deal with this kid, they would have to find another place to go.
Contrary to Xu Laosi's expectations of resistance, Zhou Lexing nodded to the group of burly men who had gathered around him upon hearing his words: "Okay, I'll go with you."
Seeing Zhou Lexing walk away with Xu Laosi and the others, not only was Lao Yang furious, but many questions also arose from the crowd.
"Is this young man scared out of his wits?"
"If you listen to me now, you'll suffer greatly!"
Old Yang tried to reach out and pull, but the group didn't give him a chance to get close to Zhou Lexing. The two people at the back squeezed in the middle like two mountains of flesh, completely blocking Old Yang's view.
Seeing that Old Yang was in such a hurry, Zhou Lexing leaned over and smiled at him, saying, "Don't worry, I'm going to visit someone, I'll be back soon."
Is this a visitor?!
This child seems shrewd, but he has absolutely no sense of observation!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com