Chapter 55: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 55: Shanggou Village 55

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Changgen followed Liu Xiaoli to a construction site near the Jizhen.

This was a house being built by a family in the Town, two stories high; the main frame was already complete, and they were now preparing to lay bricks.

There were only three people at the construction site: Foreman Lin Dajun, Big Worker Zhou Hongwei, and Small Worker Liu Xiaoli.

Lin Dajun was a man in his fifties, with graying hair, a bronze complexion, and a pair of hands rough like old tree bark — marks left by his many years doing masonry.

Big Worker Zhou Hongwei was in his early thirties, only a few years older than Wang Changgen; he had an honest, simple look, and although he had only been in this trade for two years, he had already mastered superb bricklaying skill — the walls he laid were even straighter than Lin Dajun's.

"Dajun Shu, Hongwei Ge, this is my old classmate Wang Changgen; he says he wants to do masonry with us!"

As soon as Liu Xiaoli entered the construction site, she hurriedly introduced Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei.

"I was just worrying about not having enough Big Workers; have you done masonry before?"

Seeing Wang Changgen, Lin Dajun was all smiles.

Masonry is very hard work; ordinary people can't stick with it, so it's very hard to recruit people.

"No, but I can learn!"

Wang Changgen wore a look of determination.

Lin Dajun saw his attitude was quite good, and since he was introduced by Liu Xiaoli, he said:

"Then it's settled; you'll start with us as a Small Worker — Small Worker pays 15 Yuan a day, will you do it?"

Wang Changgen thought for a moment; 15 Yuan a day, a month would be 450 Yuan — actually not much different from going to the City to work, just a little less.

So he said:

"I'll do it!"

Lin Dajun laughed:

"Then we start work today!"

At this, Zhou Hongwei had some objections.

He hurriedly pulled Lin Dajun aside and said:

"Dajun Shu, aren't we short on Big Workers? What use is hiring a Small Worker? It wastes money and slows down progress!"

Seeing that Liu Xiaoli and Wang Changgen had an ambiguous relationship, Zhou Hongwei couldn't help feeling a bit sour inside.

So now he found Wang Changgen an eyesore from every angle.

Lin Dajun laughed:

"Everyone starts from Small Worker and learns slowly; no problem, let him do Small Worker for a month or two, learn the technique while doing Small Worker, and he'll pick it up quickly!"

"But..." Zhou Hongwei still wanted to speak, but Lin Dajun cut him off.

"No buts; didn't you also start as a Small Worker? When you have time, remember to show him the ropes — your bricklaying is top-notch, you can teach him."

Lin Dajun is the Foreman; his word is final.

So in the end Zhou Hongwei couldn't say anything more.

And so Wang Changgen joined this construction site crew and began doing site work.

Being a Small Worker doesn't require much technique — sifting sand, mixing mortar — basically anyone with hands can do it.

As for carrying bricks, that just takes strength.

So Wang Changgen got the hang of this job very quickly.

Watching Wang Changgen work diligently, Liu Xiaoli's heart lake couldn't help but ripple slightly.

This man coming here to work not only lightened her workload, but also made this boring construction site seem to have some fun.

And at this time, on the Other Side.

Inside Shanggou Village.

It wasn't until Noon that Li Xiulan learned from Zhu Rou Rong that Wang Changgen had left without saying a word.

This made Li Xiulan quite angry.

Originally she planned to drag Wang Changgen to get a Divorce this morning, but now that Wang Changgen had run off without a sound, the divorce matter came to nothing again.

Li Xiulan figured Wang Changgen had probably already boarded the train to the City by now; chasing him would definitely be too late.

So she could only let the matter drop.

Just as she was fuming, at this moment Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian came again.

"Xiulan, where's your husband?"

Liang Yuanchao felt a bit guilty the moment he saw Li Xiulan.

So he looked around searching for Wang Changgen.

He felt Wang Changgen was easier to talk to.

"Dead!"

Li Xiulan replied coldly with that one sentence.

Liang Yuanchao could only give a dry laugh.

For a moment he didn't know what to say.

Zhang Zhongtian hurriedly asked:

"Xiulan, how's the consideration on the Demolition matter going? Why don't we sign the Contract first, so as not to affect construction progress."

Li Xiulan said coldly:

"I'm sticking to what I said — money not in hand, don't even think about getting me to sign!"

Li Xiulan's uncompromisingly hardline attitude, so devoid of human feeling, left both Liang Yuanchao and Zhang Zhongtian quite displeased.

The two exhausted every pleasant word, yet still couldn't persuade Li Xiulan, and in the end could only leave with their tails between their legs.

"This Li Xiulan, she's simply a shrew, utterly unreasonable!"

Zhang Zhongtian huffed with anger.

"Lao Liang, the task the town assigned us absolutely cannot be ruined because of this rat turd Li Xiulan! If highway construction starts and we still haven't dealt with Li Xiulan, what then?"

Liang Yuanchao had a splitting headache over this as well, and couldn't help but sigh:

"What else can we do? Everyone's from the same village — we see each other every day. We can't very well use force. I'm afraid we'll still have to get Wang Zhanggen to do her ideological work."

Zhang Zhongtian, however, said:

"I'm afraid counting on Wang Zhanggen won't work either. Last night you saw it too — Wang Zhanggen was willing to sign, but Li Xiulan stubbornly refused. It's obvious Wang Zhanggen has no way to handle her either. This woman is stubborn as they come!"

Liang Yuanchao nodded slowly, deeply agreeing.

This Li Xiulan truly is an unreasonable shrew!

She wasn't like this before — how did she become like this?

Liang Yuanchao genuinely couldn't figure it out in his heart — a perfectly gentle, beautiful woman, how did she turn into this wretched state?

At this moment, Zhang Zhongtian suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said:

"Lao Liang, I actually have a scheme that might make Li Xiulan obediently sign."

Liang Yuanchao hurriedly asked:

"What scheme? Hurry up and tell me!"

Zhang Zhongtian said:

"That convenience store Li Xiulan runs at the village entrance — the shop belongs to our village committee, doesn't it? We could perhaps use that shop as leverage to make Li Xiulan agree to the demolition..."

Past five in the afternoon.

Shanggou Village Primary School let out.

The children swarmed out in a horde.

Quite a few kids heading back to the village would pass by the village entrance and buy snacks at the convenience store.

The convenience store's business was booming.

Li Xiulan alone couldn't keep up.

Wang Xiaohua helped sell goods.

Only five years old, he could already accurately calculate the total price of various snacks added together.

"Xiulan, business is good!"

Li Xiulan was busy past the point of opening her eyes; she looked up and saw Liang Yuanchao had come.

She immediately frowned slightly.

Because she knew Liang Yuanchao's visit this time definitely boded no good.

"What are you here for?"

Li Xiulan asked coldly.

Liang Yuanchao smiled broadly:

"Nothing much, just came to discuss a matter with you."

"What matter?"

"This convenience store — our village committee intends to take it back."

The moment Liang Yuanchao said this, Li Xiulan froze instantly, her face full of shock:

"Didn't we sign a ten-year contract? How can you just take it back because you say so?"

Liang Yuanchao, however, said:

"That was signed between our village committee and Niu Chunsheng — it wasn't signed with you."