"Oh, I don't know either, I've never seen her before. That woman has braids, she's thin and petite, quite pretty, and she likes to wander around at night. Uncle Wang, do you know her?"
"Oh, that's your second uncle's daughter-in-law's younger sister, Wang Jinhua. She came with her sister and said she'll stay here for a while."
"What, Mingliang, you've taken a fancy to her?" Old Wang joked.
Mingliang poured the wine and chuckled, "Uncle Wang, stop teasing me. I'm my father's good son now, so don't mess with my Dao heart."
"Alright, what brings you here today? Just about that certificate?" Old Wang asked, picking up a piece of pig's ear, putting it in his mouth, and drinking.
"Not entirely."
After Mingjing finished speaking, Lao Zhao came in with his hands behind his back. "What do you want? I'm waiting at home to collect the seafood."
"Uncle Zhao, please sit down." Mingjing stood up and poured wine. "It's nothing serious. I just wanted to ask you for some advice on buying and selling seafood. Uncle Zhao, how about we work together?"
Old Zhao, hearing the tone as if the other person was trying to steal his business, immediately became displeased. "Cooperate on what? You want to take my business too?"
"I have an idea. Uncle Zhao has a wide network and is very experienced. As a junior, I naturally want to cooperate with you and make money together. How about we open a purchasing point together?"
Old Zhao stared blankly at Mingyue. Zhao Dali had told him about Mingjing catching big fish every day these days, and that it wouldn't be a bad idea to cooperate on an acquisition point.
Old Zhao's expression remained calm as he picked up some food, but he was still wondering to himself, "This girl is cunning. Why is she asking me to cooperate at this time?"
Could it be that they're trying to scheme against him? After all, he swindled a lot of Bao Zhu from Ming Dahai before.
"Don't try to fool me, this is no small matter," Old Zhao said seriously.
"Why would I lie to you? Uncle Zhao, let's cooperate. Just think of it as opening a branch. I'll take over the store, and you just need to invest some money."
“When we make money, I’ll get eight, you get two, and we’ll make money every month. Don’t worry about that. You don’t have a grudge against my second uncle, and I don’t get along with him either. Let’s join forces and make him furious.”
When Lao Zhao heard this, he thought it seemed like a reliable idea. He wouldn't have to lift a finger or worry about it. They lived in the same village, so the matter couldn't be hidden forever.
But dealing with Ming Lao Er is his most pressing concern right now.
"Okay, we'll see when the time comes. I'm having a really bad time right now."
Old Zhao took a sip of his drink as he spoke.
"What? Is my second uncle still causing you trouble?" Mingjing asked, cracking melon seeds.
"That's right. Ever since I went to the police station, the villagers have been looking down on me. Ming Lao Er comes to cause trouble for me all the time."
Yesterday he even sold me a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp, which made me so angry that we immediately started arguing.
Old Wang clicked his tongue and asked curiously, "Old Zhao, did you and Ming Lao Er really go into electrofishing together?"
"That idea came from Ming Lao Er. He even took several thousand yuan of my cash for a share of the profits, and now he's ignoring me," Old Zhao said, getting angrier as he spoke.
"The worst one is that whistleblower. Damn it, if I find out, I'll skin her alive!"
Mingjing nodded, pretending to be nonchalant, and raised his glass, saying, "Uncle Zhao, you've really had a tough time. Come on, let's have a drink."
After a few rounds of drinks, Mingjing, quite drunk, clutched a bottle of wine and gestured to Mingliang to close the door.
Seeing Mingliang close the door, Old Zhao wondered, "Why are you closing the door?"
"Uncle Zhao, I don't want to see you kept in the dark either. To tell you the truth, the day before you were arrested, I heard that someone saw the village chief going into the police station in town."
Then you got arrested, didn't the village chief...?
"Are you really sure you saw it clearly?" Old Zhao paused in his wine glass and asked seriously.
Old Wang glanced at Mingjing suspiciously. "This is going to be interesting. It might just be the same Zhao that Zhang Ping reported. He's always been ambitious and eager for quick success."
“He gets all the good things in the village. I heard that it was Zhang Ping who instigated Ming Lao Er to steal Ming Jing’s boat. The two of them have been conspiring for a long time. He’s jealous of anyone in the village who has money, so you can’t flaunt your wealth or you’ll attract unwanted attention.”
Mingjing nodded in agreement and continued, "I heard this from someone else, Uncle Zhao, please don't go around spreading it, and neither should you, Uncle Wang."
Upon hearing this, Old Zhao slammed down his wine bowl and got up to confront Zhang Ping, but Mingjing stopped him in time.
"Uncle Zhao, calm down. I just heard it from someone. The village chief has connections with the town. If he retaliates against you, Dali will be in big trouble."
Mingliang pressed him into a chair.
"So you mean..." Old Zhao calmed down and a good idea popped into his head.
After laughing, he looked at Mingjing, picked up his wine cup, and drank it down in one gulp.
After eating and drinking their fill, Mingjing divided the braised dishes equally between the two of them before leaving, and each of them took half a basket of beer with them.
Old Zhao, drunk and staggering, walked home. Old Wang lit a cigarette and gave Mingjing a meaningful look.
For a moment, he felt a chill run down his spine. This girl was really not someone to mess with. She could kill without shedding blood, and people would even be grateful to her. She was a master.
After the two left, Ming Dahai went inside.
"Mingjing, what have you been saying all this time? I don't understand. Did you really see it?" Ming Dahai asked, completely bewildered.
Mingliang tried to smooth things over, saying, "Dad, only a few of us know about this. You mustn't tell anyone else."
“He doesn’t need to say it; the whole village will know in a couple of days,” Mingjing said with a smile as she packed her things.
Mingliang asked, puzzled, "Mingjing, is it okay if you just tell Lao Zhao directly? Won't he come looking for trouble with us?"
"No, Old Zhao already had a problem with Second Uncle. Even if he knew he had wronged Zhang Ping, he still retaliated against Second Uncle and is grateful to us."
Besides, I said that when I was drunk, and I wasn't even sure it was Zhang Ping. What does it have to do with me?
Ming Dahai was still puzzled, "Then what will Old Zhao do about this?"
"Dad, haven't you discovered anything after all this time in the village?"
Ming Dahai shook his head.
"Uncle Zhao and Widow Ma..."
"Oh, right, right, how could I forget that? Old Zhao and Widow Ma are having an affair. Widow Ma is a recipient of the Five Guarantees and loves to gossip. Her cousin is a cadre in the town bureau."
Zhang Ping also had a good relationship with Widow Ma.
Anyone could have told her this, so it's not our fault.
"Old Wang is a big mouth too. Once he spreads it around, Old Zhao will naturally have a chance to cause trouble."
"What about Dashan and Song Yugui?" Ming Dahai asked curiously again.
"Then don't worry about it, I have my own ideas about this," Mingjing said, getting up and going back into the house.
When Sun Yunmei returned with the child, Ming Dahai told the others what had happened that day.
“This matter is related to Zhang Ping, why is he meddling in our family’s business?” Sun Yunmei couldn’t understand.
"Mom, don't get involved in this. When the villagers make a fuss, just pretend you don't know anything and say a few words in my favor."
Sun Yunmei nodded. She had to help with this; she couldn't just stand by and watch people bully her.
"How was the registration today?" Mingjing asked, munching on the apple Sun Yunmei had brought back.
"There's a primary school in town, with schools from elementary to high school, but the tuition is too expensive. We've already paid a ton of books and tuition, and a thousand yuan is gone."
Ming Lei looked aggrieved and said, "Third Aunt, can I still go beachcombing with you in the future? I don't want to go to school."
“If you don’t go to school, you’ll end up just like your second uncle, a good-for-nothing,” Mingjing pinched Minglei’s cheek and pointed at Mingjing.
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