Mingjing pulled Minglei up and took out a handful of yellow paper to wipe his nose.
"Come on, I'll take you out to buy some candy. Stop asking for a beating here."
Mingjing pulled Minglei out to the convenience store. Old Wang chuckled and said, "You've got guts, kid. I went to the village committee and when I came back, I heard you burned down Old Qian's house."
Mingjing smiled and said, "Uncle Wang, get two packs of spicy strips and a pack of sunflower seeds, and also a soft pack of Tashan cigarettes."
Regardless of any grudges she had with the Qian family, this matter was ultimately wrong. Bringing a few things to their door wouldn't have warranted Qian Jiu'er coming to cause trouble.
"Mingjing, do you think our approach will work? Will Zhang Fan really listen to me?"
"You don't trust me to handle things? Zhang Fan will definitely take the bait if he wants to settle things peacefully."
"What about the road repair? Did I really go to collect the money?"
"Go ahead? What are you waiting for? In a few more days, it'll be too late. I'm genuinely doing this for everyone."
After Mingjing finished speaking, she saw Widow Ma walking over from the other side. She quickly took out five hundred yuan and said, "Uncle Wang, five hundred yuan to repair the road is what we should do to contribute to the village."
Old Wang understood and took notes, stroke by stroke, in his notebook.
"You've already paid? I'll go home and get the money to bring to you right away," Widow Ma said with a forced laugh as she left.
"No rush, I'll go to your house to get it."
Old Wang chuckled and replied, "That's true. You're a ruthless killer. If you want to do something, you won't spend any money; you'll even have to take some back."
"Uncle Wang, it's good that you know, but don't go around spouting nonsense."
He took the soft tower mountain to Qian Jiu'er. Ever since the Qian family's property was confiscated, they have become much more obedient.
The Qian family's front door was wide open, and black smoke was billowing from the kitchen, which was charred black.
“Mingjing, your nephew almost blew my dad up! You guys are bullying us!” Qian Jiu’er cried as she sat in the house.
Mingjing turned her head to look at Old Qiantou, who was lying on the bed groaning, and suppressed a laugh.
The old man already had little hair, and now the few remaining strands were curly. His face was completely black, and he lay on the bed looking sickly, like a dying medicine bottle.
"Alright, alright, stop crying. I'm here to apologize to you."
Mingjing threw down a soft-pack of liquor and brought over a few bottles of wine. "These are for you. You shouldn't have said that Lei didn't have a mother. It's so hurtful for a child."
After saying that, she nudged Ming Lei twice, urging him to apologize and bow.
The child was obedient and apologized, bowing three times.
"Are you visiting a grave?!" Qian Jiu'er was furious.
Mingjing, pulling her nephew along, said irritably, "We apologized, and here's another hundred yuan. Fix the kitchen properly, is that alright?"
Now, her every word and action in the village is being watched. If things go wrong, her whole family could be labeled as bad people. It would be better to keep things quiet.
She took out a hundred yuan, stuffed it into Qian Jiu'er's hand, and turned to leave.
Qian Jiu'er accepted the gift and the money, and the other party apologized, so she naturally had nothing to say. She turned around, closed the door, and went inside.
In his heart, he was definitely adding another mark against Mingjing.
Back home, Mingjing saw Sun Yunmei's smiling face and asked, "What's wrong, Mom? Why are you so happy to spank the child?"
"No, the leader just sent someone over with a note containing his contact information. He said that if there's anything in the village, you should contact him."
Mingjing was delighted when she saw the phone number.
Leaders usually don't give out their contact information unless they want to do something in the village, but Mingjing hasn't figured out this hint yet.
Almost everyone in the village knew about the matter of sending out contact information, and for a time everyone became more wary of Mingjing.
Today, Mingjing took the lead in donating money and even had contact information with leaders, which has drawn everyone's attention.
Some made sarcastic remarks, while others speculated that Mingjing was trying to climb the social ladder by being favored by her superiors. But no one dared to say anything to Mingjing's face, for fear that it would reach her ears.
Old Wang collected all the money for the road repairs and reported it to Wu Yuanwang in town.
Mingjing spent several days building the house. She explained her ideas to the designer introduced by Xie Junan and then began construction.
A group of bricklayers were hired, and a large amount of building materials were transported from the town to the island. Recently, people have been gathering at the Sea Goddess Temple every day to watch.
The fact that Mingjing had made a lot of money had become a tangible reality in the past few days. Mingjing didn't care about that anymore, and instead went to the city to practice driving and prepare for his driver's license test.
Although driver's licenses only became more strictly linked and networked in the 21st century, it's still not okay to drive without a license now, in case her car gets hit or stolen.
Finding someone to compensate you when you don't have a driver's license is a real hassle.
Besides, she will eventually need to buy a car. The family's tricycle can only go as far as the city. If she wants to go to farther places in the future, she will have to drive a sedan.
Modern cars are much simpler than those of later generations; they are all manual transmissions, and the rules have changed significantly. Mingjing only needs to practice for two days to pass the test.
The exam consists of a written test and a practical test. Passing the written test requires a perfect score. The practical test has three stages: reversing into a parking space, turning on a winding road, and driving three kilometers on the road.
Mingjing passed the test on her first try, spending only a few dozen yuan and three days. Since her driver's license needed to be entered into the public security system, she decided to come back to pick it up in a couple of days.
These past few days, Ming Dahai has been overseeing the construction of the house while taking his wife and children to the beach. They've been quite lucky, managing to sell a couple hundred yuan worth of seafood.
Most of the valuable items are razor clams and mud crabs; the rest are geoduck clams and sea cucumbers, which are far less valuable than the catch from the sea.
Mingjing arrived at the seafood restaurant on a tricycle, where Dong Li was serving dishes to the customers.
"Mingjing is here," Dong Li said, putting down the dishes to greet her.
"Uncle Dong, business is good today."
"Of course, Mingjing, I heard you donated money to the village to repair roads?" Dong Li said with a smile.
"The news traveled that far?"
“Hey, people from your village often come here to eat. I overheard their chatter, but they didn’t say anything good about you. They said you were trying to take credit and show off.”
"If you ask me, that makes sense. It's definitely a great thing. If I were the leader, I would definitely pay attention to you too."
Mingjing shook his head and sighed, "It's hard to be a good person."
"Uncle Dong, don't overthink it. I don't have that intention. I just don't want to walk in the rain with muddy feet."
Dong Li didn't say anything; rumors are like a gust of wind, coming and going quickly.
"I'm having a banquet at my house tomorrow, don't forget to come."
"I had completely forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it. Is there anything you need to bring? I'll go into the sea and catch some for you."
"No need, just bring someone. Oh, and invite your parents too, so we can have some fun together. A few big bosses from shipping companies are coming tomorrow. You're good at talking, so you'll have to put in a good word for me with the sailors."
Mingjing nodded, thinking it would be a good opportunity to let her brother show his face, and maybe the sailor's matter would really have a chance.
After chatting with Dong Li for a while, Mingjing turned around and returned to the island. On the way, she saw Ming Dahai carrying a sack.
"Dad, how was your day?"
Mingjing reached for the bucket, which was full of miscellaneous snails and hermit crabs.
"Don't even mention it. There's nothing on the beach today. I took the boat to that island from last time, and I did find something – a few tiger stripes in the cracks of the rocks."
Mingliang interjected, "Not only grouper, but also a whole nest of lobsters. We've really struck gold this time."
“Lobsters and groupers are nothing. We also caught a huge red grouper that must have weighed seven or eight pounds.”
"You went sea fishing?"
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