Chapter 870

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Did you catch some incurable disease?"

Wang Erhai asked curiously.

Li Xiulan, however, said:

"The day before yesterday I went to the fields to pull barnyard grass, passed by Zhang Zhongtian's door, and saw Li Xiaohe looking perfectly fine. She was even smiling and greeting me — didn't look sick at all."

Wang Zhanggen spoke up at this point:

"I saw Zhang Zhiqiang come back yesterday, and he brought a strange woman with him!"

Zhou Hongwei chimed in:

"I saw it too."

Wang Erhai was puzzled:

"Zhang Zhiqiang got another woman outside? Li Xiaohe couldn't figure it out, so she committed suicide?"

Li Xiulan hurriedly said:

"Erhai, don't guess wildly. If Zhang Zhongtian hears, he'll probably resent us for gossiping. Let's not talk about this — just live our own lives well."

Wang Erhai chuckled:

"Alright, alright, then I won't ask."

After these days working at the construction site, his skin had darkened a lot.

But his mindset had also improved a lot compared to before.

His own matters he could now laugh off; other people's matters he cared about even less.

Wang Zhanggen spoke up at this point:

"Tomorrow's a day off. Erhai, tomorrow you and I go to Zhang Zhongtian's house to help with the arrangements."

Wang Erhai, however, said:

"He didn't call me. You go yourself."

Wang Zhanggen, however, said coldly:

"What do you know? For celebrations you don't go uninvited; for funerals you go uninvited on your own initiative — that's the rule!"

Wang Erhai chuckled:

"Fine, then we'll go."

In a blink it was the next morning.

Wang Zhanggen brought Wang Erhai, and early on they arrived at Zhang Zhongtian's place.

Zhang Zhongtian's big villa already had white silk hung outside.

Walking in, they saw Zhang Zhiqiang wearing white mourning clothes, keeping vigil.

Zhang Zhongtian looked exhausted, and came to welcome Wang Zhanggen and Wang Erhai's arrival.

Wang Zhanggen said quietly to Zhang Zhongtian:

"Party Secretary Zhang, condolences."

Zhang Zhongtian handed over a cigarette, nodded and said thanks for the concern, then brought Wang Zhanggen and Wang Erhai inside to offer incense.

Li Xiaohe's corpse was now on its third day; summer weather was hot, and it had already started to smell a bit.

When Wang Erhai entered to offer incense, he caught an indescribable stench, and this smell inexplicably stirred a thread of fear in his heart.

It was something engraved deep in human genes — humans instinctively fear the stench of their own kind's corpses.

Finished offering incense, finished bowing, Wang Erhai hurried out.

Wang Zhanggen, meanwhile, went to speak with Zhang Zhongtian again:

"Party Secretary Zhang, if there's anything you need Erhai and me to help with, just say the word."

Zhang Zhongtian said:

"Thanks, not needed for now. You two go sit in the room first. If there's really something needing help, I'll come call you."

The two entered the living room, only to see that besides Li Jianguo and Zhang Huijuan, some other people had come too — Zhang Zhongtian's relatives, Li Xiaohe's relatives, and villagers from Shangou Village.

Liang Xinghua had also arrived; he'd already offered incense and was sitting here drinking tea, chatting with other villagers.

Yao Aina held her bewildered grandson; her grandson Zhang Jiajun didn't understand anything. Seeing so many people come today, such a lively scene, he actually laughed excitedly.

If Yao Aina weren't holding him, he'd definitely be running all over the place, jumping up and down with the other kids who came for the feast.

Wang Zhanggen had just sat down, taken a sip of tea, when he muttered a sigh:

"This is already the second person sent off this year."

Before they sent off Liu Xiaoli, now they sent off Li Xiaohe.

When they sent off Liu Xiaoli, he felt panic and unease inside.

Felt he wouldn't live much longer either.

Never expected Li Xiaohe, such a young girl, would actually not live as long as him.

He's riddled with chronic illnesses, stumbling along, and still loves to lose his temper — yet he's managed to cling to life until now, which counts as a miracle.

Actually the main reason is still that family economic conditions improved.

Wang Zhanggen now has to take medicine every day; the medicine money alone runs to several hundred, nearly a thousand yuan a month.

If it were poorer rural folk, they might not be able to afford this medicine.

Or they can afford it, yet are reluctant to eat.

They hold on stubbornly, and then one day, a cerebral infarction suddenly strikes and they pass away.

There are many such people in the rural areas.

Last year, someone in the neighboring village went just like that.

"Who knows how much longer I can live, whether I can live to the moment of holding a grandson."

Wang Zhanggen remarked with feeling.

This made Wang Erhai beside him feel a pang of guilt:

"Dad, why say these things? You put your mind at ease; living to a hundred is no problem."

But Wang Zhanggen said coldly at this:

"If I can't hold a grandson, what's the meaning of living to a hundred!"

Only then did Wang Erhai realize that in his father's heart, holding a grandson was more important than anything.

But he's already divorced now, and his company went bankrupt; he returned to the rural area in disgrace to do masonry work — how can he give him a grandson?

So he said:

"I'm afraid we'll have to count on Big Brother and Eldest Sister-in-law; maybe they'll give you a big fat grandson next year!"

But Wang Zhanggen said:

"Wu Banxian said, on your big brother and sister-in-law's side, we can't rush them; the more we rush, the less they'll conceive. We must let nature take its course for both people and wealth to prosper. Last time it was because I rushed too urgently that it caused them to have wealth without children. Now they've only just managed to change their fate; I absolutely cannot go meddle again!"

Hearing this, Wang Erhai couldn't help but marvel — his third brother is truly formidable, hoodwinking this old man until he's stunned stupid, and the old man believes it all, letting big brother and sister-in-law off the hook for good, never to be urged to reproduce again.

He thought to himself, why was I so stubborn before? When things happened, why didn't I go ask Third Brother's opinion first thing?

Thinking back now, the me back then was a pure, thoroughgoing fool.

If I weren't a fool, I wouldn't have ended up with this outcome.

At this moment, Wang Zhanggen spoke again:

"You brat had better hurry up and find a new partner. I don't care if you're a big boss or a mud worker — you must hurry up and marry and have kids. Don't be lackadaisical and not take it to heart; time flies, and in a blink you might be thirty. Past thirty and still unmarried, if you want to marry then, it'll be hard!"

Wang Erhai gave a dry laugh:

"Dad, you don't need to worry about me; I know what to do."

But Wang Zhanggen said:

"How can I not worry about you? Among you three brothers, you're the most worrisome! Your big brother and third brother both already have partners! And the partners your big brother and third brother found are both very good — but your taste, it's like you're blind. You didn't want the perfectly good Mei Qi, and went for that Yao Xueqin instead; just mentioning this makes me angry!"

Wang Erhai laughed even more awkwardly, hurriedly saying in a low voice:

"Dad, Yao Xueqin and I have already broken up. Please don't talk about this here, okay? There are people around; you don't want others to know your son's already divorced, do you?"

Hearing this, Wang Zhanggen finally quieted down a bit.

But after a moment, he said softly to Wang Erhai:

"Later I'll go find a matchmaker and arrange blind dates for you!"

Wang Erhai gave a dry laugh:

"Why bother with that? I'll handle it myself."

Wang Zhanggen said coldly:

"You know jack shit!"

He can't lecture the successful-in-career Wang Dashan, can't lecture the academically-brilliant Wang Xiaohua, and can't lecture the divorced-and-bankrupt Wang Erhai?

So he directly gave Wang Erhai no chance to object:

"You just listen to the arrangements, no more yapping back at me!"