Chapter 72

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

When Guo Fuqiang brought the police to arrest He Dashu, He Dashu was at home happily drinking shaojiu.

This guy was in his fifties, still a bachelor, and a notorious gambling addict; whenever he lost all his money he would steal chickens and dogs, so it was not the least bit surprising that he was the real culprit who stole Li Xiulan's steel bars and cement.

"He Dashu! Do you know why we've come to find you!"

He Dashu looked up and saw Guo Fuqiang walk in with several police officers, and Li Xiulan, Yang Xiaocai, Li Yunxia, Zhong Jianguo, and quite a few other villagers also followed in.

His face immediately changed drastically; he knew things were going to turn bad.

So he hurriedly stood up and tried to flee!

Guo Fuqiang was quick-eyed and fast-handed; he swiftly pressed him down with one hand.

"Still want to run? Do you know what crime you've committed?"

"Police Comrade, I'm wronged, I haven't committed any crime, I'm a law-abiding citizen!"

He Dashu still wanted to quibble.

Guo Fuqiang directly slapped the silver bracelets on him:

"You stole the steel bars and cement Li Xiulan placed at the village entrance and sold them; we've already found the stolen goods at the scrap yard, and the scrap yard boss has already identified you as the one who sold them to him! What else do you have to say?"

Once Guo Fuqiang said this, He Dashu knew he couldn't quibble; he could only give a bitter smile and was unable to speak.

"He Dashu, I have no grievance or enmity with you, why did you steal my things!"

Li Xiulan questioned angrily.

He Dashu stole her things and caused her to wrongly blame Yang Xiaocai; it was simply hateful to the extreme.

"Wasn't it because I lost it all? I just wanted to get some money to keep gambling... Who told you to put the steel bars and cement at the village entrance, and with no one guarding them at that? Aren't you luring me into crime! This can't all be blamed on me! You also bear a certain responsibility!"

He Dashu shamelessly defended himself.

This left Li Xiulan at a loss whether to cry or laugh.

"Where is the stolen money you got from selling the steel bars? Hurry up and hand it all over!"

Guo Fuqiang hurriedly asked; recovering the stolen money was the most important thing right now.

But He Dashu said:

"I lost almost all of it last night; the rest is in my pocket!"

Guo Fuqiang hurriedly searched He Dashu's pockets, and discovered that inside He Dashu's pockets there was only forty-some yuan left!

Those steel bars he sold as scrap iron for three hundred-some yuan, the cement he sold back to the cement shop for two hundred-some yuan, adding up to over six hundred in total, yet now only this little money remained!

"Do you still have any accomplices? You probably couldn't have transported such heavy steel bars and cement to town by yourself."

Guo Fuqiang hurriedly pursued the question; he was an experienced police officer and saw at a glance that He Dashu couldn't possibly have committed the crime alone.

He Dashu hurriedly confessed honestly; he still had two accomplices, both from the neighboring village, also degenerate gamblers; it was they who drove a motorcycle to transport the steel bars and cement to town to sell.

Those steel bars and cement sold for over six hundred yuan total; He Dashu got two hundred yuan as his share.

Guo Fuqiang followed the vine to get the melon, and rounded up these thieves in one net.

And he went to the scrap yard and cement shop to help Li Xiulan recover the steel bars and cement.

This matter was finally considered settled.

Li Xiulan was endlessly grateful for Guo Fuqiang's help, thanking him profusely; Guo Fuqiang merely smiled it off, saying that helping the masses solve problems was his proper duty, and Li Xiulan actually didn't need to thank him.

On the way back after Guo Fuqiang dismissed his team, he recalled Li Xiulan's aged and haggard face and couldn't help feeling a bit dazed:

"Is this really that Li Xiulan from a few years ago? How did she age so fast?"

He looked at his own appearance in the car's rearview mirror; it must be said he had also aged quite a lot, only he usually hadn't paid much attention.

After the police left, Yang Xiaocai came before Li Xiulan, wearing a long face, and said coldly:

"Li Xiulan, you wrongly accused me of stealing your steel bars and cement; you owe me an apology at the very least!"

Li Xiulan knew she was in the wrong and indeed should apologize to Yang Xiaocai, but when she thought of how Yang Xiaocai had blocked the road in front of her house, preventing her from transporting the construction materials into the construction site, she felt Yang Xiaocai also bore a certain responsibility for this matter.

"If it weren't for you blocking the road at your doorstep, causing my materials to be unable to be transported in, my steel bars and cement would never have been stolen by He Dashu!"

Li Xiulan coldly said this one sentence.

Hearing these words, Yang Xiaocai immediately got angry:

"Fine, so you won't apologize? Originally I thought as long as you obediently apologized, I'd reopen the road in front of my door for your vehicles to pass; I gave you a way down the stairs but you won't take it, then you can just slowly haul things yourself! Who knows, maybe another day other thieves will pay a visit too!"

Finished speaking, Yang Xiaocai turned and left.

Zhong Jianguo at the side couldn't bear to watch anymore and couldn't help adding a meddling remark:

"Xiulan, why are you so stubborn? Wouldn't it be over if you just apologized to him? Sigh!"

Zhong Jianguo shook his head, sighed, and left.

The other villagers also dispersed one after another.

The looks they gave Li Xiulan held no sympathy, only mockery.

This woman is too unreasonable; she deserves to suffer for nothing!

Li Xiulan's heart sank into deep self-doubt.

She began to wonder, was she really wrong to be like this?

But recalling all the past events, before she had acted reasonable and understanding, she had acted easy to get along with, yet what she got in return was harm again and again.

Her husband betrayed her, the villagers gossiped and slandered her, even the village cadres played dirty tricks and bullied her.

Now she merely put a hard shell around herself, merely showed a single thorn, and everyone thinks she's unreasonable.

She really couldn't figure it out.

It could only be said that her level of education, her personality and temper, determined that she couldn't handle these interpersonal relationships well, forcing her to simply and crudely swing from one extreme to another.

As a result, she made the wrong choice at almost every key crossroads in her life.

Being targeted by the Family Planning Office and seeking help from her first love He Dazhu was a wrong choice,

being targeted by Yang Dafu and not resisting with a firm attitude right away was a wrong choice,

cracks appearing in her relationship with Wang Zhanggen yet still insisting on having a third child was a wrong choice,

partnering with Niu Chunsheng to open a store while things remained unclear was still a wrong choice,

giving up the management rights of the Village Entrance Convenience Store in a fit of pique was an even bigger wrong choice!

And now, with not that much savings in her pocket, she still gritted her teeth to build a two-story building, which was very likely another wrong choice...

So it is said that character determines fate—no truer words.

Yet Li Xiulan still never realized where her problem lay.

She was more likely to lament the unfairness of fate: why did everyone else's family live well, while she had to suffer so much?

Li Xiulan spent a full week, moving things like ants relocating, and finally transported all those construction materials at the Village Entrance to the new house's construction site.

And during that week, to prevent the construction materials from being stolen, she also set up a crude little cottage near the Village Entrance, staying there every night to keep watch until all the construction materials were moved in.

But if she had just spoken well to Yang Xiaocai and apologized, letting the tractor bring the materials directly, it would have taken less than half a day to finish moving everything, without needing to spend so long, let alone waste time keeping watch!

And this was only the first batch of construction materials!

Later, even more cement and steel bars, red bricks and sand would be needed, and a lot of timber and planks to support the roof pouring would also have to be transported in.

Those were the hardest to move by manual labor.

When the time came, Li Xiulan would have a hard time with moving those materials!

Yet Li Xiulan felt very good about herself, thinking that since she could move those construction materials in this time, next time, and the time after that, she could still move them in just the same!

As for keeping watch, it was just that there were more mosquitoes; she could endure it, she could bear hardship, she wasn't afraid.

After the construction materials were moved to the construction site, Li Xiulan called Lin Dajun, asking him to come start work tomorrow...