Chapter 33 Respecting God's Will
When Li Nanshan returned home with a large pile of medicinal seedlings, his second brother, Li Nanhai, was rolling a pipe in the yard. He glanced at his third brother and asked, "What the hell is this? You haven't even had time for dinner."
"Forget it, I'm not hungry." Li Nanshan replied.
Li Nanhai didn't ask any more questions, concentrating on rolling his pipe. His wife Yang Rongzhi came out and said sarcastically, "I think your brother is going to be useless. He's not home all day long. I don't know what he's doing."
"I don't like what you said. Isn't he working in the fields?" Li Nanhai retorted.
"Don't you know how much land your family owns? Can you afford to work like this every day? You might be slacking off somewhere." Yang Rongzhi glanced inside with a sidelong glance, as if to say that there must be a picture to prove the truth.
Li Nanhai didn't say anything else. He never worried about such things. As long as he had cigarettes to smoke, that was enough.
Li Nanshan told his father, Old Man Li, about growing medicinal herbs. Old Man Li looked at the herbs in the basket with a gloomy face and an unhappy expression, "Did she give them to you?"
"Who?" Li Nanshan didn't understand who "she" was referring to.
"That widow Tao Xiaoxi."
"Dad, when did I become a widow?"
"That's a married woman."
"She's divorced." Li Nanshan corrected again.
"I, you, are you planning to piss me off to death?" Old man Li said angrily.
Li Nanshan was amused by his father, "Dad, why are you competing with a woman?"
"Am I competing with her? It's clearly her ghost that's haunting us! I'm warning you, stay away from her, or the Li family won't tolerate you."
"Dad, are you going too far?" Li Nanshan originally thought it was nothing, but he couldn't stand his father saying this to Tao Xiaoxi for no reason.
When Old Man Li heard that his son was still speaking for the woman, he became furious and grabbed the broom handle at hand and started beating her.
Li Nanshan had no intention of dodging, nor did he have time to dodge, and was hit hard by his father's stick.
With a muffled groan, he stood there looking at his father with fiery eyes: You really hit me!
Old man Li didn't expect that his son didn't hide. He stood there at a loss: You didn't hide!
It was at this time that the eldest sister-in-law came in, hungry and looking for something to eat in the kitchen. Looking at the tense situation between the father and son, and then looking at the stick in the old man's hand, she understood everything, so she immediately retreated and hurried to find her mother-in-law.
When Mrs. Li arrived, her son Nanshan was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw her husband sitting there with a dull look in his eyes, looking listless.
"Did you really hit him?" Mrs. Li asked in a low voice.
"Hmm." Old man Li squeezed out a sound from his throat.
Mrs. Li raised her fist and hit the old man. "He's not a child anymore, and you still hit him. How could you have the heart to hit him? You bastard! My son!"
Old man Li let his wife beat him without fighting back, which shocked his elder and second sisters-in-law who were eavesdropping outside the door.
"Is this considered subduing her?" The second sister-in-law couldn't believe that her mother-in-law dared to hit her father-in-law. You know, her mother-in-law only followed her father-in-law's lead and was obedient to him.
"That's not possible, but maybe Dad beat Nanshan too hard this time." The eldest sister-in-law guessed.
"What's so cruel about that? He doesn't do any work all day long. Isn't it okay for his father to teach him a lesson? It's natural for a father to take care of his son." The second sister-in-law was furious when she thought that her monthly allowance was gone, and she blamed it all on her brother-in-law Li Nanshan.
Li Nanshan was hit by his own father and felt a little aggrieved. It had been many years since his father hit him, but today he hit him for such a small matter. He knew that if it were in the past, his father would not have hit him because he had lost his job.
There was no way he could go back to the mine. Even if he could, with his personality, he wouldn't go back. Gritting his teeth, he took the medicinal seedlings to the field, ready to plant them all.
There's nothing to hesitate about, just give it a try.
Li Nanshan worked until the stars and moonlight came out, and then he straightened up. He hadn't eaten much all day, and now he was seeing stars.
He didn't want to go back to that home for the time being, so he dug a sweet potato from the ground, but he didn't want to dig too much, so he prepared to roast it. At this time, the sweet potato was not yet mature and was a little small, so it was a pity to dig it up.
But he was too hungry.
Right on the bank of Qushui River, Li Nanshan roasted the young sweet potato.
Somehow, this faint firelight attracted Liang Hengsheng.
After sniffing, Liang Hengsheng asked, "Are these roasted sweet potatoes?"
Li Nanshan looked at him warily, "Just one."
"That's perfect. I have some braised meat and wine. Can we share a table?"
Li Nanshan licked his lips and said, "I only have one sweet potato."
"I don't want your whole thing, just give me half. I won't eat your food for free. I'll give you half of the meat and wine."
"Okay?" Li Nanshan quickly agreed before Liang Hengsheng came to his senses.
The two men found a broken tile, washed it in the river, and put the meat on it to roast and eat. The meat was already cooked, but it was cold, so they just heated it up and it was ready to eat.
"Do you have good news today?" Li Nanshan guessed that being able to buy meat and wine must be a big happy event.
"Hehe, it's not a good thing. It's just good news at best." Liang Hengsheng smiled and picked up a piece of meat from the tile with his fingers to eat.
"Tell me." Li Nanshan urged. He really needed some exciting news to stimulate him.
"I went to the township to submit some documents today, and I just casually asked if I could go back in my condition. Guess what Director Li said?"
"It must mean that I can go back."
"No, if that were the case, I wouldn't be drinking with you secretly here. I would have to treat the whole village to a drink."
"You are quite generous." Li Nanshan smiled bitterly.
"Director Li said that my case is already under review. From what I hear, there's still hope."
"Congratulations then." Li Nanshan held up the wine cap and drank it first as a show of respect.
Liang Hengsheng also picked up the wine bottle and took a sip from it. "So I went to buy some meat and wine and came back wanting to find someone to drink with me. But then I thought, who can I find? Just when I was puzzled, you showed up. Do you think this is fate?"
Li Nanshan smiled and said, "Respect God's will."
"Actually, if you hadn't shown up, I might have gone to find Tao Xiaoxi. If she hadn't persuaded me, I would have probably married the village chief's daughter and planned to live here forever. I would definitely hate myself then."
Li Nanshan listened to Liang Hengsheng's chattering narration. From the surprise when he heard Tao Xiaoxi's name at the beginning to the calm acceptance later, he seemed to suddenly understand that this woman seemed to have a super power that could not only predict the future but also help people solve their problems.
Liang Hengsheng was right. This was probably God's will. They had no connection and were not familiar with each other, but he happened to meet him tonight and heard him have such a conversation.
Finally, Li Nanshan came to the conclusion that Liang Hengsheng liked Tao Xiaoxi, but Liang Hengsheng himself didn't seem to realize it yet.
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