Chapter 211

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Xiaohua stayed at Shanggou Village Primary School for quite a while, and by the time he returned home, it was already noon.

His mother Li Xiulan had already cooked lunch.

"Xiao Hua, where did you go this morning? I thought you were studying in your room all along."

Li Xiulan asked casually.

Wang Xiaohua said:

"Nowhere, just wandered around the village for a bit……"

Wang Xiaohua turned around to help bring out bowls and chopsticks, then couldn't help but ask:

"Say, why have so many of our Shanggou Village's fields been left fallow?"

Wang Changgen, smoking on the side, replied:

"Pesticide and fertilizer prices keep rising every year, but grain prices never rise, so farming is basically a losing business. Those who can go out to work have gone, and most of those left in the countryside have taken up other trades. Very few people still make farming their main occupation; at most they grow some of their own food, so it's quite normal for fields to lie fallow."

Wang Xiaohua nodded, then said again:

"I also went to Shanggou Village Primary School, and I never expected our Shanggou Village Primary School to be so dilapidated. The place is overgrown with weeds, there's nothing left in the school, and even the doors and windows have been torn down."

"What?!" As soon as Wang Xiaohua said this, Wang Changgen was stunned.

"What kind of reaction is that?" Seeing Wang Changgen's expression suddenly change, Wang Xiaohua found it baffling. He thought that since Wang Changgen had always stayed in the village, he should know about Shanggou Village Primary School becoming so dilapidated.

Li Xiulan interjected at this point:

"Not long ago Zhang Zhongtian said he would pay out of his own pocket to renovate our Shanggou Village Primary School, and he sent He Dashu to guard it. How could the doors and windows be gone?"

Wang Changgen immediately cursed angrily:

"It must be that dog thing He Dashu stealing what he was supposed to guard, taking everything valuable from the school and selling it!"

Hearing this, Li Xiulan immediately realized:

"That's quite possible. Remember when we built our house, some construction materials left at the village entrance were stolen by him and sold. Fortunately, the police station caught him and recovered everything he had stolen and sold!"

Wang Changgen immediately became agitated. Like most villagers in this village, he had deep feelings for Shanggou Village Primary School.

So he immediately stood up and said:

"I'm going to Shanggou Village Primary School right now to take a look. If things are really missing, I'll go find Zhang Zhongtian and make sure He Dashu is severely punished!"

Li Xiulan quickly stopped him:

"What's the rush? I just finished cooking lunch. It's not too late to go after eating!"

But Wang Changgen was very urgent:

"I'll eat when I get back!"

After saying that, he turned around, got on his motorcycle, and left in a hurry.

Soon, Wang Changgen arrived at the entrance of Shanggou Village Primary School.

Finding it exactly as his youngest son Wang Xiaohua had said—the school's big iron gate had been dismantled—he immediately cursed:

"That bastard He Dashu! He's damn inhuman!"

Wang Changgen rode his motorcycle into the school.

He saw that the overgrown Shanggou Village Primary School had its valuable desks and chairs in the classrooms moved away long ago, and the iron security nets on the windows had all been taken down.

The ceiling fans and fluorescent lights were gone too, and even much of the wiring in the classrooms had been cut.

Wang Changgen grew angrier the more he looked.

He hurriedly rode his motorcycle to Zhang Zhongtian's home to tell him about this.

"What? Shanggou Village Primary School has been emptied out? I only sent He Dashu to guard it not long ago. How could it be emptied?"

When Zhang Zhongtian heard Wang Changgen's words, he was also stunned.

He had originally planned to pay out of his own pocket to repair all the facilities in the primary school, but work hadn't even started yet, and the school had already been emptied! How could this be tolerated?

"It must be that bastard He Dashu stealing what he was supposed to guard. A dog can't change its habit of eating shit. You shouldn't have sympathized with him in the first place and asked him to guard Shanggou Village Primary School—that was a mistake!"

Wang Changgen said indignantly.

Zhang Zhongtian quickly said:

"It's not certain yet that it was He Dashu who did it. After all, we have no evidence. I'm going to find He Dashu and ask him right now!"

Zhang Zhongtian hurried to He Dashu's home to find He Dashu.

Wang Changgen followed along.

Arriving at He Dashu's home, they found He Dashu was not at home.

Inside the dilapidated, low mud-brick tile house, it was filthy and messy beyond description.

He Dashu, an elderly bachelor, had now become a Five Guarantees Household of the state, and the government gave him some money as a subsidy every month.

But even so, he still went stealing chickens and dogs every few days and went to the gambling den to gamble.

Wang Changgen saying a dog can't change its habit of eating shit had some truth to it.

Seeing that He Dashu was not at home, Zhang Zhongtian searched everywhere in the whole village.

After searching for quite a while, they finally found him in the village gambling den.

Almost every rural area has a village gambling den, a place spontaneously organized by a group of idle village rascals. This village gambling den might be in someone's home, or in some abandoned house.

Shanggou Village was no exception.

At this time He Dashu was playing San Gong with a group of gamblers, having a great time.

"Brother Shu, why are you being so generous today? Where did you get so much money?"

A villager laughed and teased He Dashu.

He Dashu bared his old yellow teeth and smiled smugly:

"That's none of your business; today I'm going to play to my heart's content!"

Another villager said with a laugh:

"Don't you plan to save money to marry a wife anymore?"

He Dashu put on a stern face:

"Why say such killjoy things! Stop the nonsense, deal the cards quickly!"

He Dashu disliked it most when others mocked him for not having a wife.

Actually, when he was young, he had gone on a few blind dates, but as soon as others saw how broken his home was, they turned around and left, and no woman was willing to follow this poor wretch to suffer together.

Most importantly, this person was not down-to-earth, unlearned and unskilled, idle and lazy, gluttonous and slothful, stealing chickens and dogs, and had never done a single proper thing in his life; he couldn't even farm well.

A man like this, if he could actually get a wife, that would be the strange thing.

Everyone in the gambling den was laughing happily because of the existence of this laughingstock He Dashu, everyone was very happy, and the atmosphere was intense.

Just at this moment,

Zhang Zhongtian and Wang Zhanggen walked in.

"He Dashu, come out here for a moment!"

Zhang Zhongtian shouted sternly.

The villagers in the gambling den were all surprised, and all laughter stopped abruptly.

They all looked toward Zhang Zhongtian and Wang Zhanggen.

"Party Secretary Zhang, why have you come here?"

He Dashu was also stunned upon seeing Zhang Zhongtian.

He still had a certain amount of respect for Zhang Zhongtian.

After all, Zhang Zhongtian had given him a job, letting him guard Shanggou Village Primary School; although the salary was not high, only four hundred yuan a month, this four hundred yuan was already considered a considerable sum for a Five Guarantees Household like him.

"Come out here for a moment; I have something to ask you!"

Zhang Zhongtian saw that there were so many people at the scene and did not want He Dashu to lose face in front of so many people, so he wanted to call him out to talk about the theft at the school.

However, He Dashu was in high spirits and did not want to leave the gambling den, so he said:

"Whatever you have to say, just say it here; today my luck is good, and if I leave my seat, my luck might scatter."

Zhang Zhongtian, seeing He Dashu answer like this, immediately felt both angry and amused.

He couldn't help but curse:

"You really are mud that cannot support the wall!"

Then he questioned sternly:

"I ask you, I let you guard Shanggou Village Primary School, how could you move all the valuable things in the school out to sell!"