Chapter 107: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 107

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"I arrived in Dongguan yesterday, and it was already nearly evening."

Li Xiulan explained in a displeased tone.

"You came by yourself?"

Wang Zhanggen asked again.

"If I didn't come by myself, who else would have come?" Li Xiulan's tone grew impatient; she was concealing the fact that He Dazhu had brought her, because she knew that once she said that, Wang Zhanggen would surely resent her again. "Wang Zhanggen, do you have any idea how much hardship and toil I endured on the way to save you!"

Wang Zhanggen didn't take it to heart, muttering: "It's just taking a bus to Dongguan; treat it as a trip, how much hardship and toil could there be?"

Hearing this, Li Xiulan almost exploded on the spot:

"How can you be so heartless? Believe it or not, I'll turn around and leave right now!"

Seeing that Li Xiulan was about to get angry, Wang Zhanggen hurriedly apologized:

"It's my fault. Isn't it because I've suffered a lot in here? My mindset is almost broken, that's why I treated you like that. Hurry up and redeem me; I don't want to stay here for another moment."

Li Xiulan said nothing more; she didn't want to waste words on Wang Zhanggen. Seeing his face made her feel repulsed. If it weren't for the three children and the family, she would absolutely not have come to save Wang Zhanggen.

Li Xiulan went to pay eight hundred yuan and redeemed Wang Zhanggen.

Then the two walked out of the Zhangmutou Shelter together.

They ate a bowl of noodles together at a small restaurant outside, then took a public bus to the bus station to take a long-distance bus home.

Along the way, the two remained silent.

Sometime, this couple had gone from being able to talk about anything to having nothing to say.

It was past four in the afternoon when they finally returned to Shangou Village.

"Don't go out to work anymore. You can't earn much money all year, and I still have to spend money to redeem you!"

As soon as Li Xiulan got home, she said this to Wang Zhanggen.

Wang Zhanggen plopped down on a chair, took out a cigarette to smoke, and looked unhappy:

"If I don't go out to work, farming at home will earn even less money!"

Li Xiulan poured him a cup of tea:

"I'm not asking you to farm. You can do masonry work. Masonry pays well now—twenty-five yuan a day for a big worker. At most, that's over seven hundred yuan a month, much better than working in a factory!"

Wang Zhanggen's heart stirred. He had done masonry work with Lin Dajun before, and it did pay well, though it was hard.

At this moment, he thought of the new house at home. He had gone to work in the city and deliberately cut off contact precisely because he didn't want to bear the construction costs of the new house.

"By the way, how is the new house at home coming along?"

Wang Zhanggen asked.

"Only the foundation and columns of one floor have been built. We ran out of money and can't continue."

Li Xiulan said truthfully.

"Only this much?"

Wang Zhanggen asked coldly. He felt the family's money shouldn't only build this little, and he didn't know Li Xiulan had given all the money to her mother for medical treatment.

"Just this much. No money left."

Li Xiulan answered coldly.

Then she added:

"Demolition is happening this summer. We must hurry to build the house, otherwise when the old house is demolished and the new one isn't built, we'll have to take the three children and sleep on the streets!"

Wang Zhanggen looked sullen and couldn't help complaining:

"I told you back then not to build such a big house, but you insisted on making it so big. Now look, not enough money, and it's an unfinished project!"

Then he asked:

"How much money is left at home now?"

Li Xiulan said truthfully:

"Maybe a few hundred yuan left."

"What?!" Wang Zhanggen jumped up in shock. "How is there so little left!"

Wang Zhanggen felt there shouldn't be so little left.

Because he knew Li Xiulan had earned quite a bit running the convenience store at the village entrance, and later received demolition compensation. Such a large sum couldn't possibly be spent just on the foundation and columns.

"Not long ago, my mother passed away. A month before she died, she had surgery at the hospital. The surgery cost over thirty thousand yuan, and I paid ten thousand."

Li Xiulan said truthfully.

Hearing this, Wang Zhanggen was immediately furious:

"Why didn't you discuss it with me before spending such a large sum? You're truly unreasonable. How are we supposed to live from now on? We have three children to raise!"

Li Xiulan, however, wouldn't indulge him and cursed back:

"I'm unreasonable? Who is truly unreasonable? You think I didn't want to discuss it with you? I couldn't even get through to your phone. You deliberately avoided me—what could I do? Besides, that was money I earned from my own convenience store. I used my money to pay for my mother's surgery. What did I do wrong? Stop pointing fingers at me!"

Wang Zhanggen knew he was in the wrong and couldn't say a word.

Because he had deliberately changed his phone card and deliberately avoided Li Xiulan, Li Xiulan indeed couldn't contact him even if she wanted to discuss it.

He couldn't help but hang his head in dejection:

"Now the money is gone and the house isn't built. What are we going to do? Are we really going to sleep on the streets?"

Wang Zhanggen was vexed and restless.

He had already suffered and toiled enough outside; unexpectedly, returning home was even more suffering and toil.

The pressure of finances, the tension in his marital relationship, plus having to build a house and raise three children, made him feel somewhat breathless in his chest...

"You go do the masonry first, learn laying bricks from others for a few months, then we'll build our own house ourselves—this way we can save a lot of labor costs. The red bricks, cement, and other materials for building the first floor were already sold off long ago; the remaining material cost shouldn't be much. So as long as we can lay the walls ourselves, we can build the new house before this old house is torn down."

Li Xiulan said thus.

Now that the family's economic situation is so bad, there is nothing else but to build the house ourselves.

After hearing these words, Wang Zhanggen also felt that this was the only road to take.

And so he said:

"Fine then. After the New Year passes, I'll start work. Actually, I learned laying bricks for a while before; now I should be able to pick it up quickly."

"You learned laying bricks? When did you learn?" Li Xiulan said in surprise.

"None of your business. Anyway, I'll lay the walls well—you just be my Small Worker!"

After saying this, Wang Zhanggen turned around and went back into the room:

"I'm tired. I want to sleep. Call me after dinner is ready!"

Having said that, he entered the Bedroom and lay down on the bed.

Facing the family's poverty and hardship, he was extremely depressed in his heart.

Additionally, he was thinking of another matter.

He was thinking of Liu Xiaoli.

He and Liu Xiaoli were both caught by the Joint Defense Team and taken to Zhangmutou; the two were separately locked up in different shelters inside, and now he didn't know how Liu Xiaoli was.

To be honest, although Liu Xiaoli was a Widow, getting along with her was far more comfortable than getting along with Li Xiulan.

Liu Xiaoli was considerate and virtuous, making him feel very at ease, while Li Xiulan was always overbearing, putting him under great pressure.

Actually, Li Xiulan had also been considerate and virtuous before; it was just that, starting from some unknown time, she had become the Shrew she was now...

Li Xiulan outside the house saw that Wang Zhanggen had only just returned not long ago, hadn't even exchanged a few words with her, and had already shut himself alone in the room, and she was full of displeasure.

This stinking Male—what was wrong with saying two sentences to him?

If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have redeemed him back!

Redeemed him back, and he still gives me a sour face!

Even the Spring Festival wasn't spent happily!