Chapter 232

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

The next day, Chai Mi strolled out for a leisurely walk and, without realizing it, ended up under the big willow tree at the east end of the village.

People were all discussing the Chai family's affairs from yesterday; every kind of talk was going around.

Some said the first thing Chai Zhongxiao did upon returning home yesterday was give Wang Huirong a thorough beating, the reason being: Wang Huirong, the daughter you gave birth to is really fucking something...

Supposedly, Wang Huirong was beaten until her mouth was crooked and eyes slanted.

Others said that yesterday, to retaliate against Sun Yuguang, Chai Dajun bought some rat poison and poisoned all the sheep in Sun Yuguang's house; the police station even went there this morning...

Still others said that Sun Yuguang's brothers and several other families jointly filed a complaint against Chai Chunfang for assaulting a child, and went to the county together to lodge the complaint...

There was also minor gossip: because Chai Youfu treated Chai Youqing and Chai Zhongxiao to a bowl of noodles yesterday, he went home and fought with Song Qiuping, and Song Qiuping has already returned to her mother's family...

Of course, there was even more minor gossip: Chai family's second daughter, Chai Chunhua, filed a lawsuit against her own father Chai Zhongxiao with a written complaint, saying her father had occupied the land allocated to Chai Chunhua for over a decade and hadn't given her a single cent...

Some said this was because Chai Chunhua's son got sick and needed money for treatment; some said Chai Chunhua suffered mental stimulation; even more said this perfectly matched the Old Chai Family's family style.

Naturally, some also occasionally discussed Chai Mi's family, but they all said Chai Mi had struck it rich, collected over forty thousand in share money, was filthy rich, the number one rich woman in Sanjiacun; whoever married her would instantly be able to sing the song of a serf turning over and becoming master...

"Chai Mi, lend me some money, I can barely make ends meet."

"Chai Mi, does your family need a live-in son-in-law? Look at me..."

"Chai Mi, I know your family needs a dog; how about me? I've got a loud bark..."

"Chai Mi, does your family need a donkey? I can..."

Faced with everyone's teasing, Chai Mi just smiled and didn't play along.

The village is just like this; there's an especially large amount of idle chatter.

"Chai Mi, Chai Mi." Song Qiushui started shouting from the doorway: "Come here, I've discovered a great way to get rich..."

Chai Mi frowned: Don't fuck with me; if anyone else said this I might believe it. Song Qiushui saying it, I absolutely do not believe.

But unable to withstand Song Qiushui's persistent waving her over, Chai Mi went over.

Song Qiushui pulled Chai Mi and began imparting her path to wealth: "Listen, I asked around; right now buyers outside are paying over a hundred yuan per catty for scorpions. Get it? Over a hundred per catty... So I've decided to go catch scorpions tonight."

As Song Qiushui spoke, she pulled Chai Mi inside.

"I've prepared all the tools: UV flashlight, scorpion tongs, non-slip shoes, rubber gloves, raincoat..."

"Wait, what do you mean buying a raincoat?" Chai Mi was a bit dumbfounded: "Buying the other stuff is useful, but a raincoat? Go catch scorpions in the rain?"

"No, what if it rains while we're catching them?" Song Qiushui paused: "Wouldn't you need to have one just in case?"

Chai Mi could only say helplessly: Qiu Shui, you're really fucking smart.

"Also jars for storing scorpions. I even specially bought a high-precision scale... mm-hmm, also... rope in case we fall into the big ditch, life jacket in case we fall in the river, Yunnan Baiyao in case we fall and get hurt, medicinal wine in case we get stung by scorpions, and more and more... I had my dad dig me a vegetable cellar right now, preparing in case scorpion prices aren't good this year, I'll store them..."

"Not counting the cellar, how much money?"

"Over eight hundred..."

Chai Mi held her forehead: Hiss... that's a bit bizarrely high.

She'd have to catch seven or eight catties of scorpions just to break even; the problem is seven or eight catties of scorpions would take a good while to catch.

And the most, most critical problem...

There aren't really any scorpions in the village.

The fact that scorpions go for over a hundred per catty isn't just known by Song Qiushui; everyone in the whole village knows.

But there are basically no scorpions in Sanjiacun. And even Wuhu Mountain, which is relatively close to Sanjiacun, doesn't have many scorpions.

Occasionally some people in the village come out at night to catch scorpions, but the quantities are pitifully small; catching ten or eight in a night is considered not bad.

Catching just that few is only for entertainment; it can't make much money.

To put it severely, it's not even enough for meal money.

So Chai Mi felt Song Qiushui's plan to catch scorpions was, to some extent, bizarre.

"The few scorpions in our village... cough cough, people catch them every night. I reckon there are more people catching scorpions than scorpions. You say you bought all this stuff for nothing; isn't that a bit wasteful?"

Song Qiushui, however, wore an expression of having known all this perfectly well: "Sister, this you don't know; I've made full preparations, done risk assessments for every link and process of catching scorpions. First, we're going to Hongshan to catch scorpions; the mountains are good, the water is good, the scenery is good there; we can steal red mushrooms by day and catch scorpions by night, killing two birds with one stone. Second, I've already asked the Village Chief; the Village Chief said he can let me use public gasoline, he'll foot the bill, drive a tractor to take us to Hongshan. Hongshan isn't too far from here, only thirty or forty li of road; I've asked around, lots of big scorpions there..."

"Wait..." Chai Mi was baffled: "Drive to Hongshan to catch scorpions?"

Can that fucking cover the gas money?

And it doesn't seem like thirty or forty li of road, but thirty or forty kilometers of road, right? And the road conditions are terrible now, speed can't pick up, so it's quite fuel-consuming; estimated a round trip would cost dozens of yuan in gas money, not to mention who the fuck is driving?

Could it be, hire a fucking driver?!

"Right! If we don't drive, walk there?" Song Qiushui was clearly very satisfied with her "flawless" get-rich scheme. "The vehicle's all ready..."

"There's another problem... why would the Village Chief pay for your gas?" Chai Mi interrupted Song Qiushui.

"Hehehe..." Song Qiushui's eyes turned abnormally bright: "Cough cough... this you don't know. I was originally planning to tell you the second piece of good news, but I just forgot a moment ago. The second good news is: my dad is now the Acting Village Chief."

Chai Mi slapped her forehead: That fucking makes sense; besides your dad, you really can't find a sucker to let you drive to catch scorpions; it genuinely wouldn't cover the gas money...

But no matter how you put it, Song Qiushui's dad is truly good.

No matter what bizarre decision his daughter makes, he supports her one hundred percent.

Truly bizarre to the max; bizarre's mother opened the door for bizarre, and bizarre arrived home.

Sigh...

Song Qiushui's dad became Village Chief?

Chai Mi became baffled again: "Wait, your dad became Village Chief? When did this happen? Yesterday he wasn't... what about Liu Zhanggui?"

Song Qiushui put her little hand behind her back: "Mm-hmm, it's like this. My dad received notice from the Xiang this morning: Comrade Liu Zhanggui, due to eye injury (parenthesis: beaten into a black eye.), resulting in Comrade Liu Zhanggui's blurred vision, temporarily unable to perform Village Chief duties, thus suspended for one month. Comrade Song Qingshan to act as Village Chief of Sanjiacun."

After speaking with a straight face, Song Qiushui turned around and said with a grin, "Sisters, from now on, we sisters can walk sideways through the village. I'm the type where people block me and I kill them, Buddhas block me and I kill them. I guarantee the village dogs will bark at me with rhythm — only allowed to bark 1-2-3, 1-2-3, like that. If they don't bark like that, I'll haul them all off to the veterinary station to be neutered..."

Chai Mi: "..."

Although it sounded bizarre, if Song Qiushui became Village Chief, she might do things even more bizarre.

From between the lines, Chai Mi actually understood the meaning: Liu Zhanggui this time should have been affected by the Chai Chunfang incident, leading to him now having to stay idle at home, using the pretext of recuperating from illness to stay put for a while.

And Sanjiacun's Village Committee originally only had three people. Due to not receiving salaries for years, the Village Group Leaders in the village had basically all gone out to work as migrant laborers to make their own way.

In the village, only Liu Zhanggui, Song Qiushui's father, and Li Guohua these three people remained.

Li Guohua was said to have gone to the county town to tutor children, and incidentally coax them, cook, and clean.

Although her approach was extremely unreliable, there really was no second Women's Director to be found in the village, so they could only make do and let her occupy the position — having her or not made little difference.

Now with Liu Zhanggui recuperating, the village only had Song Qingshan, already over sixty, clearly past retirement age yet unable to retire, to shoulder this heavy responsibility.

"The scorpion catching matter, at the earliest it'll be tonight. I'll take a look then. If I really have nothing better to do, I'll accompany you for fun. But let's be clear: I'm accompanying you for a stroll, you mustn't get truly addicted." Chai Mi instructed, "The terrain over there isn't very familiar either. If there are any wild animals or such, one actually wouldn't be able to run away very well."

"Deal. I'm just joining in the excitement. Once I've caught enough for forty thousand yuan, I'll stop..."

Chai Mi: "Uh... that would probably take a few years."

"Anyway I have nothing to do. Let's go inside for a bit. There are many people outside, my dad might have pried out some internal news." Song Qiushui mysteriously pulled Chai Mi into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Song Qingshan was miserably tinkering with Da Zhi's tractor...

Chai Mi asked a question.

Song Qingshan indicated that since Da Zhi had gone in anyway, this vehicle had no use sitting around afterwards. Better to haul it along with Song Qiushui to catch scorpions — making the best use of things.

Moreover, Song Qingshan came up with a set of jaw-dropping crooked logic: if this vehicle isn't driven, leaving it sitting makes it even easier to break...

Anyway, since Da Zhi was already squatting in the cage, Song Qingshan would inherit the Village Chief's legacy, take over the vehicle too, help drive it for a few days, so that after a long time not driving it, it wouldn't rust and break...

Right now Song Qingshan had already filled the vehicle with diesel, and was checking the gearbox, carburetor, adding some engine oil on the side, checking if the tires had any problems, if the brakes had any problems.

Mainly just checking, checking.

But this vehicle Da Zhi had been driving all along, so problems shouldn't be big.

Watching Song Qiushui's old father's conscientious and diligent performance, Chai Mi couldn't help but feel Song Qiushui was truly fucking happy.

In the inner room, Song Qiushui's mother Meng Clan was holding a schoolbag mending it. On the ground piled a heap of tools prepared for catching scorpions: clips, pliers, tweezers, bottles, rope, flashlights, and so on.

Seeing Chai Mi enter, Meng Clan exchanged a few pleasantries, brought out some melon seeds, peanuts, and a few newly picked large plums, then went back to busying herself.

"According to the latest news my dad knows: Chai You De's injury, seems not too ideal. The county hospital didn't keep him, sent him directly to the city hospital. They say there are two fractures, and the rest is just his brain muddled, other things not too clear." Song Qiushui said in a low voice: "This time, if Chai You De's family treats Chai You De's illness, they'll basically be ruined."

Chai Mi was clear on exactly how much money Che Lianyun had. Estimated around ten to twenty thousand.

After all, Che Lianyun's salary was indeed very high. In a year it came to over ten thousand.

Actually, if Chai You De and his wife lived properly, a yearly salary of ten thousand, they'd probably have become the village's richest person long ago. But they don't really live properly.

One is Chai You De's son Chai Dajun causing trouble back and forth. His style is similar to Song Qiushui's — whatever comes to mind, he does.

But Song Qiushui is pretending to be poor. Her family should have some savings. Only she herself might not even know.

But Che Lianyun's savings probably aren't much. At most around twenty thousand. These years she earned quite a bit, but building the new house spent a lot, eating and drinking spent a lot, Che Lianyun also didn't give little subsidies to her mother's family, Chai You De also didn't hold back on drinking. Being able to have twenty thousand in savings is already not bad.

This era, there wasn't any Rural Cooperative Medical Care yet.

Everything was self-paid. A head injury isn't an ordinary injury. This round, estimated Che Lianyun besides the house, would have nothing left.

"You say, is it possible... they ultimately won't treat him?" Chai Mi lowered her head and pondered for a moment: "Last time his leg broke it cost two to three thousand. This time two fractures, plus the head... ten or eight thousand won't be enough to stop it."

"Then I wouldn't know." Song Qiushui pursed her lips: "The key problem now is that at the time no one saw clearly whether it was Sun Shengyue or Sun Shengli who hit him. So no conclusion can be reached. Sun Shengli is only nine years old... logically, it should be the older Sun Shengyue who hit him. But now that little girl insists it was her who hit him, no one has any way. The matter is deadlocked. Sun Shengli is only nine. Even if she did hit him, no one can pin any crime on her."

"Let the two families bite each other like dogs. This matter will eventually have a verdict. Whoever hit him pays. If no one admits it, Sun Yuguang pays. Can he still run away?" Chai Mi said indifferently: "Originally Sun Yuguang wanted to cheat money. Now the two families can't explain clearly."

"Mm. Only it's a pity... your family's old man has nothing wrong..." Song Qiushui said with quite some regret.

Chai Mi didn't think so.

These years, what have these people at the Chai Family Laozhai relied on to get along with others in the village?

Nothing more than Chai Mi's parents' reputation being passable, so everyone didn't push things to the absolute limit.

Now Chai Mi's family has thoroughly cut ties with the Laozhai. Originally there were already many people unwilling to deal with Chai Zhongxiao. Now this kind of thing happens again. The Laozhai's people have basically reached the point where people are annoyed and dogs hate them. When the villagers' relations deteriorate to a certain point, how much longer can he carry on?

And with Chai You De injured, plus the possible Che Lianyun situation, the Laozhai will become poor as church mice.

The more miserable the days get, the closer they are to falling apart.

So Chai Mi isn't worried at all that this time Chai Zhongxiao has nothing happen to him...

After all, sooner or later, this old man and old woman, the suffering they deserve, not a bit of it can be dodged.