Chapter 132

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Over the next few days, Wang Zhanggen would head to the construction site right after breakfast, not waiting for Li Xiulan; taking advantage of the brief window while Li Xiulan washed the dishes, he would first detour to the Village Entrance Convenience Store to buy Double Happiness cigarettes, then proceed to the site.

When Zhou Hongwei arrived, he would furtively hand the cigarettes to Zhou Hongwei, terrified that Lin Dajun might see.

At first Li Xiulan sensed nothing amiss, but walls have ears; later villagers asked her why Wang Zhanggen ran to the Village Entrance Convenience Store every single morning.

Li Xiulan was instantly stunned, only then realizing that Wang Zhanggen leaving before her was actually to go to the Village Entrance Convenience Store.

Li Xiulan thought to herself: Could it be that Wang Zhanggen has gotten together with Li Yunxia from the Village Entrance Convenience Store?

This notion kept sprouting in her mind; the more she thought, the more she felt it was possible.

Today she truly could not hold back any longer, and directly asked Wang Zhanggen:

"What do you run to the Village Entrance Convenience Store for every morning?"

Wang Zhanggen's heart gave a jolt; he felt a pang of guilt:

"Nothing much, just going to buy cigarettes."

Li Xiulan asked coldly:

"Isn't there still a whole strip of Daqianmen at home? Why do you still run over there to buy every day?"

Wang Zhanggen's scalp tingled; he replied impatiently:

"I'm just buying a pack of cigarettes, what are you nagging about? Am I that unworthy of your trust!"

Seeing Wang Zhanggen's attitude, Li Xiulan distrusted him even more.

"If you're buying cigarettes then just buy cigarettes; is there any need to be so sneaky? If you didn't have a guilty conscience, would you act this guilty? Wang Zhanggen I'm telling you, you'd better give me an honest account — what exactly is going on? Are we going to keep living like this or not!"

Wang Zhanggen held back his anger and said coldly:

"I really am just buying cigarettes, and it's not just for me — Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei both smoke; I can't very well give them Daqianmen, at one yuan fifty a pack those cigarettes are too low-grade!"

Li Xiulan felt Wang Zhanggen's words made sense, yet still felt something was off:

"Even so, you don't have to go buy every single day!"

Wang Zhanggen said coldly:

"Fine, I won't go anymore; I'll find a chance to go to town and buy a few cartons of Double Happiness to bring back! Stop questioning me left and right in my ear, making me feel like a criminal!"

Having said that, he flicked his sleeve and walked off.

Wang Zhanggen was actually scared witless inside; his outward toughness was merely to mask his inner panic.

He had many secrets that could not withstand Li Xiulan's close interrogation.

He also knew full well he had done things that wronged Li Xiulan.

And right now the only thing he could do was bury those secrets, never letting Li Xiulan find out.

Seeing Wang Zhanggen's attitude, although Li Xiulan was angry, she could not press further.

Wang Zhanggen found Zhou Hongwei at the site; taking advantage of Li Xiulan walking away, he said to him in a low voice:

"How about I just give you the cash equivalent for your pack-a-day habit? Right now every morning I go to the village entrance to buy cigarettes, and my wife suspects I'm having an affair with the female boss of the village entrance shop."

Hearing this, Zhou Hongwei couldn't help but burst out with a "Pfft" of laughter:

"Serves you right!"

Looking at Wang Zhanggen's gloomy face, Zhou Hongwei felt a thrill of punishing evil.

He directly refused Wang Zhanggen's request:

"No way; if I took cash, wouldn't that make me guilty of extortion? That's a crime! I want a pack of Double Happiness every day, I don't want your money!"

Seeing Zhou Hongwei refuse his offer to pay cash, Wang Zhanggen was instantly depressed to the point of death.

"Brother Hongwei, give me a way out, will you? Don't push me too hard."

But Zhou Hongwei said:

"I don't care; you figure out the cigarette-buying yourself. Anyway I just want the cigarettes, and you can't give them all at once — it has to be one pack a day!"

Zhou Hongwei was just that hate-evil-like-enemy; right now punishing Wang Zhanggen made him feel like an agent of justice, and the satisfaction was off the charts.

"What are you two talking about?"

At this moment, Lin Dajun walked over.

Wang Zhanggen hurriedly laughed "hehe" and replied:

"Nothing, just chatting casually!"

Lin Dajun gave the two a strange look, then kindly reminded them:

"Don't dwell on past matters; you mustn't become enemies over Liu Xiaoli. Everyone's on the same crew — work hard, earn money!"

Just then...

"Who is Liu Xiaoli?"

Li Xiulan's voice suddenly came from the distance.

Wang Zhanggen and Zhou Hongwei both froze, hurriedly looked up, and saw Li Xiulan had somehow walked over; both instantly wore looks of shock.

"No one, just a former coworker; had a bit of a conflict!"

Lin Dajun hurriedly laughed to smooth things over, explaining lightly, trying to make the matter sound as trivial as possible.

He didn't want a departed small worker to cause discord inside the engineering team.

Li Xiulan's brows furrowed slightly, her heart full of doubt.

She was just about to ask a few more questions.

Lin Dajun, however, spoke up a step ahead of her:

"Xiulan, you go sift the sand; once the column body is built up, we can start laying bricks!"

Li Xiulan still wanted to speak and ask, but Lin Dajun turned his head and sent Zhou Hongwei and Wang Zhanggen off as well:

"Hongwei, you go move the bricks into the construction site inside, so they'll be handy when it's time to lay bricks! Hongwei, you go tie the steel bars, remember to tie them firm!"

"Okay, Dajun Shu!"

Zhou Hongwei and Wang Zhanggen each went off to work separately, and Li Xiulan could not very well ask anything more.

She could only obediently go sift sand.

However, a question had taken root in her heart.

Who is Liu Xiaoli?

She had an intuition in her heart that this woman seemed not at all simple.

In the blink of an eye, it was afternoon off-duty time.

Zhou Hongwei rode the motorcycle Lin Dajun had driven over, and went back to the town.

Wang Zhanggen and Li Xiulan walked back to their home, after all Zhang Zhongtian's construction site was only a few hundred meters from their home.

"Who is Liu Xiaoli?"

On the road, Li Xiulan suddenly asked this question.

Wang Zhanggen's heart gave a thump, then he answered impatiently:

"Didn't Dajun Shu say? A former coworker!"

Li Xiulan continued to press:

"That's Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei's former coworker; what does she have to do with you?"

This question could be said to have hit the nail on the head.

It directly caused Wang Zhanggen's throat to catch, leaving him unable to speak for a moment.

"Wang Zhanggen, just how many things have you hidden from me!"

Li Xiulan indignantly demanded.

Wang Zhanggen knew some things could no longer be kept hidden.

So he laid his cards on the table:

"Actually, before I went to Dongguan to work, I also did masonry in the town for a short time, only a few months, and during those few months, I was working together with Dajun Shu and them."

Li Xiulan immediately suddenly realized:

"No wonder your masonry skill is so good, you came back and knew how to lay bricks right away!"

Then her tone shifted:

"However, you still haven't answered me, what relationship do you have with Liu Xiaoli?"