Chapter 31

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Niu Chunsheng, what do you want with me?"

Wang Yuejin looked up and glanced at Li Xiulan who had followed him in, expressionless.

He seemed to have already forgotten that incident from back then.

But forgetting is also quite normal; in order to implement the family planning policies, these past few years he has gone to the countryside to raid homes almost every week. The homes he has raided might not number a few hundred, but there are certainly dozens. Li Xiulan was merely one of them; how could he remember that many?

"Director Wang, this is a villager from our Shanggou Village. Her name is Li Xiulan. Sister Xiulan's child is already seven years old and will start school this September. You also know that school requires household registration. However, Sister Xiulan's child was not registered before. Now going to the police station to register, the staff there say a birth permit is required before they will register. So I brought her to you to reissue a birth permit. Director Niu, can you issue her a certificate? If the child cannot enroll in time, it will delay her education."

In front of Wang Yuejin, Niu Chunsheng pleaded in a low, subservient voice.

Wang Yuejin, however, remained expressionless:

"What logic is there in coming to get a birth permit only when the child is seven? You should have come to register as soon as you were pregnant!"

Niu Chunsheng hurriedly said:

"Sister Xiulan did have a birth permit before. It's just that seven years have passed. With so much time, who knows where it got lost! Director Wang, please do a good deed. Poor farmers have a hard life; they can't afford high tuition fees!"

As he spoke, Niu Chunsheng took a red envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Wang Yuejin's hand.

Wang Yuejin hurriedly tried to decline:

"No, no, no, don't do this!"

But after pushing it back for a while, he ultimately accepted it.

Then he reissued a birth permit for Li Xiulan and stamped it with the Family Planning Office's official seal.

After receiving the birth permit, Li Xiulan beamed with joy and expressed her gratitude to Wang Yuejin:

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

Li Xiulan and Niu Chunsheng were just about to leave.

At this moment, Wang Yuejin's voice came from behind:

"Li Xiulan, I can only reissue one birth permit for you. Don't even think about getting me to reissue for the other two children. Even if you give me a red envelope, I won't reissue them. Family planning is being enforced very strictly now. I don't want to be punished over such a trivial matter."

Hearing this, Niu Chunsheng couldn't help but freeze.

Li Xiulan was also stunned.

Only now did she realize that Wang Yuejin had actually remembered her all along, and knew she had three children.

This time reissuing the permit for her was turning a blind eye and pulling strings.

But it's also normal that Wang Yuejin remembers Li Xiulan. After all, Li Xiulan is simply too beautiful. In the surrounding ten villages and eight townships, you couldn't find a rural beauty like Li Xiulan even with a lantern. She gave birth to three children yet still maintained such a good figure and such a pretty face.

It would be hard for Wang Yuejin not to remember Li Xiulan.

After obtaining the birth permit, Niu Chunsheng took Li Xiulan and rushed non-stop to the town's health clinic.

At the health clinic, Niu Chunsheng slipped a red envelope to the doctor and quickly obtained the birth certificate.

With these two matters done, it was already past five in the afternoon. The police station was already off duty.

So the matter of registering the household could only wait for another trip tomorrow.

Niu Chunsheng and Li Xiulan returned to Shanggou Village together.

On the way there, Niu Chunsheng drove the motorcycle carrying Li Xiulan. The return trip was the same.

Li Xiulan sat on the back of the motorcycle. The bumpy road conditions forced her to hold onto Niu Chunsheng's shoulders.

The setting sun passed through the rosy clouds, falling on the undulating hills, on a stretch of verdant terraced fields, on the winding mountain highway, outlining a beautiful scene.

Li Xiulan hadn't been this happy in a long time.

Sunlight fell on her face, making her unable to help but reveal a radiant and simple smile.

"Chunsheng, thank you!"

Li Xiulan felt Niu Chunsheng was her benefactor. If not for Niu Chunsheng's help, her eldest son might not be able to go to school this September at all.

"You're welcome, this is what I should do!"

A surge of restless heat rose in Niu Chunsheng's heart, because he could clearly feel Li Xiulan's hand holding his shoulder.

Li Xiulan had deliberately kept her distance, not putting her arm around his waist.

But even so, whenever the road had a slight bump, it caused their bodies to inevitably have slight collisions and contact.

Especially when Li Xiulan's pair of breasts touched Niu Chunsheng's back,

This made Niu Chunsheng, who had never had a girlfriend, inevitably let his imagination run wild.

The atmosphere thereby became ambiguous and awkward.

"How much money was in those two red envelopes you gave? I'll pay you back when we get back!"

Niu Chunsheng helping her was already more gratitude than she could repay; she couldn't let Niu Chunsheng pay out of his own pocket.

"Not much, each red envelope was just a hundred. You don't need to pay me back!"

Niu Chunsheng answered with a smile.

He indeed didn't want Li Xiulan to pay him back. Compared to money, he hoped more that Li Xiulan would remember his kindness.

"Two hundred yuan, and that's not much? You might not even earn two hundred in a month!"

Li Xiulan was immediately shocked, then hurriedly said:

"My husband sent five hundred yuan back. Once I receive it, I'll pay you back!"

Niu Chunsheng said politely:

"Really no need. Raising three children is not easy for you!"

Li Xiulan, however, said:

"I absolutely must, if I don't return it to you I won't be able to sleep!"

Niu Chunsheng could only compromise in the end:

"Alright then, but you don't need to rush either, just return it slowly……"

When the two returned to Shanggou Village, night had already fallen.

Niu Chunsheng drove his motorcycle to send Li Xiulan to her doorstep, and Li Xiulan kept Niu Chunsheng at home to eat a dinner.

Niu Chunsheng politely declined once but agreed in the end.

Li Xiulan hurriedly took out that rooster she had previously wanted to give Niu Chunsheng, cooked it, and served it to entertain Niu Chunsheng.

After she brought that rooster back, she herself had never been willing to eat it, only cooking a small piece for the three children each meal, and now more than half of it still remained.

This one night, Niu Chunsheng and Li Xiulan, as well as Li Xiulan's three children, ate together.

The three children were noisy and boisterous; because there was a large plate of chicken meat, they were as happy as if it were Spring Festival, eating until their mouths were full of oil.

Niu Chunsheng watched the children bouncing about lively, eating until it was everywhere, and did not feel dislike at all; on the contrary, he even felt this was quite good.

The main thing was, being able to sit at the same dining table with Li Xiulan and eat, no matter what shortcomings there were in this environment, they would all be concealed by the radiance emitted by Li Xiulan.

"Chunsheng, just treat this place as your own home, don't be so restrained, there's no one else here!"

Li Xiulan actively served Niu Chunsheng a large chicken leg.

Niu Chunsheng's face was full of a simple, foolish grin, and he hurriedly said:

"You don't need to serve me dishes, I'll serve myself!"

At this time Wang Dashan cried and fussed:

"Mom, I want the big chicken leg!"

Second Brother Wang Erhai also cried and shouted: "I want the big chicken leg too!"

Only Youngest Brother Wang Xiaohua did not cry or fuss, seriously gnawing on a chicken claw.

"How about I give this chicken leg to the kids to eat!"

Niu Chunsheng hurriedly picked up the chicken leg with chopsticks, intending to give it to the children.

Li Xiulan, however, stopped him.

She even scolded Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai:

"Four chicken legs, you three brothers have already eaten three, this one is left for your Uncle Niu to eat, you're not allowed to snatch it! Especially you, Wang Dashan, Uncle Niu went to a lot of scheming trouble to help you get household registration, you not thanking your Uncle Niu is one thing, but you still have the nerve to snatch a chicken leg with him? Hurry up and say thank you to Uncle Niu!"

Wang Dashan pouted his mouth, just wouldn't say it.

Li Xiulan urged again:

"Hurry up and say thank you, don't be ungrateful, without Uncle Niu's help you might not even be able to go to school!"

Wang Dashan, however, said:

"I don't want to go to school, I want the chicken leg!"

Then he put down his bowl and ran out the door.

Seeing this, Li Xiulan's head ached:

"You haven't finished eating, where are you going, hurry back!"

Wang Dashan turned back holding the door frame, looked inside at Niu Chunsheng, and shouted loudly:

"Uncle Niu, I hate you! When my dad comes back, I'll tell my dad, you snatched my family's chicken leg!"

Finished speaking, he ran off!

This made Niu Chunsheng, he couldn't help but laugh embarrassedly.

This chicken leg in his bowl, he was too embarrassed to eat it now.