Chapter 627

Guo Suhua was startled and waved her hand, saying, "Forget it, forget it. Even if our family could afford it, it would be too flashy. Besides, in our county town, which is only so big, you can walk from the east side to the west side in just ten or twenty minutes if you walk fast. A bicycle is enough; why would we need a car? It's a waste."

Su Xinghui was just saying it for the sake of it; he knew his mother would absolutely never agree to buy a car. He laughed heartily and continued to drive with focused concentration.

In less than twenty minutes, the car reached Pengjiawanzhen. Turning south from there was the road to Yulin City. Su Xinghui slowed down, made a ninety-degree turn, and drove onto the road to Yulin City.

This stretch of road was a bit bumpy and full of turns, so Su Xinghui kept his speed very low. Suddenly, he caught sight of a dead chicken lying in a pothole ahead. He couldn't help but look at both sides of the road, and sure enough, two people were crouching suspiciously on the right side.

Su Xinghui couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. He calmly stepped on the clutch, shifted gears, and suddenly stepped on the gas. The car's speed surged, and he sped past the pothole.

After passing them, he saw in the rearview mirror that the two people had rushed out from the roadside, but they were already unable to catch up to his car, leaving only the two of them standing in the February cold wind, looking disheveled.

Su Xinghui's sudden acceleration startled Guo Suhua. She asked, "Xinghui, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly drive so fast?"

Su Xinghui slowed down again and pointed to the two people standing behind, saying, "Mom, didn't you see? It was a scam."

Guo Suhua still didn't quite understand; a term that would become common knowledge in over a decade was something she hadn't heard of yet.

Su Xinghui said, "You didn't see it. There was a hole in the middle of the road just now with a dead chicken in it. If I had driven past it slowly, those two would have rushed out to block the car, claiming we ran over their chicken, and demanded compensation. This is called a 'porcelain-touching' scam. For a dead chicken like that, they would have made us pay at least a hundred yuan."

Guo Suhua was dumbfounded and said, "There are people like that?"

Tan Mingcheng said, "This Pengjiawan is getting more and more chaotic. With the so-called 'Five Tigers of Peng,' the 'Three Dragons of the Yang Family,' and all those 'Eight Great Vajras' and 'Thirteen Guardians,' they've made Pengjiawan a total mess."

Guo Suhua asked, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

Su Xinghui actually knew what Tan Mingcheng was talking about. He was referring to several rampant hooligan and criminal gangs in Pengjiawan. These gangs represented the complex clan forces in Pengjiawan, organizing armed fights, manipulating elections, bullying traders, and forcibly seizing construction projects. For them, things like bullying outsiders or staging scams were just child's play.

The criminal forces in Pengjiawan were famous throughout the county, and there were reasons for their formation. Pengjiawan's geographical location was quite good; it backed onto the Changjiang River, situated between Shangjun County and Jiangcheng. It was twenty kilometers from Shangjun County, about fifty kilometers from Jiangcheng, and only about thirty kilometers from Yulin City to the south, making it a major transportation hub.

In ancient times, due to its superior geographical location, water transportation in Pengjiawan was very developed. There were excellent docks here, and relying on these docks, several gangs were formed, all consisting of sailors and dock laborers, which gradually evolved into the clan forces of later times.

To survive, they became fierce and combative, and fighting and brawling became a daily routine. Over so many years, many grudges were formed between the various gangs and clans. After liberation, with the rise of land transportation, water transport gradually declined, and the dock gangs slowly died out. However, the fierce and combative folk customs and those old grudges didn't disappear so easily, and Pengjiawan became what it is today.

In Su Xinghui's previous life, even more than a decade later, the chaotic situation in Pengjiawanzhen hadn't improved much, which seriously hindered the development of this town that originally had quite superior geographical conditions.

Su Xinghui said, "Pengjiawan is indeed quite chaotic; it really needs a good cleanup."

Guo Suhua asked, "Since Pengjiawan is so chaotic, why doesn't the county clean it up? The public security in the county town has improved quite a bit now; can't they just clean up a Pengjiawan?"

Su Wenjun said, "How could it be that easy? The problems in Pengjiawan are like ice three feet thick—it didn't freeze in a single day. The situation is too complex; it requires town leaders with real courage to clean it up properly. This isn't a matter of a day or two."

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Once County Magistrate Zhang and the others have their hands free, they will come to solve the problems in Pengjiawan."

While they were talking, the car had already reached Baota Township. Guo Suhua said, "Driving yourself is fast; we're already here."

Su Xinghui chuckled, made another turn, and drove onto the road to his grandfather's house.

He drove the car directly to the entrance of his grandfather's house and stopped with a creak. His grandfather, Guo Changqing, came out from the door. He looked at this Santana with some confusion, not knowing which leader had come.

Su Xinghui got out of the driver's seat and shouted, "Grandpa, it's us! Happy New Year!"

Guo Changqing said happily, "Oh, it's Xinghui."

At this moment, the whole Su family got out. Some called out "Dad," some called out "Grandpa," and Tan Weisheng called out "Old Grandpa," which made Guo Changqing so happy his beard twitched. He hurriedly ushered them into the house.

As soon as he entered the door, Su Xinghui noticed that the Guo house seemed a bit different from when he came last year. The walls of the main room looked like they had just been whitewashed, making it look much brighter.

Su Xinghui asked, "Grandpa, has the house been repainted?"

Guo Changqing laughed happily and said, "Yes, thanks to you, your two uncles earned quite a bit of money last year, so they repainted the house to make it look a bit brighter."

Guo Suhua asked curiously, "Dad, how are Aihua and Zhonghua indebted to Xinghui?"

At this time, his grandmother, eldest uncle, second uncle, and others came out from the backyard. Eldest uncle Guo Aihua said, "Sister, Zhonghua and I followed Xinghui's idea last year and each planted two mu of lotus roots, and we earned quite a bit of money."

Second uncle Guo Zhonghua also said, "That's right. Xinghui even helped us find agricultural experts to teach us how to grow lotus roots and helped us get good lotus root seeds. This is truly all thanks to Xinghui."

Guo Suhua said to Su Xinghui, "Xinghui, why didn't you tell us about this?"

Su Xinghui said, "I didn't know how well the two uncles were doing with their lotus roots, so how could I tell you? If the two uncles had lost money growing them, wouldn't you have blamed me?"

Guo Suhua scolded playfully, "Is your mother really such an unreasonable person?"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Next, everyone sat down and listened to Guo Aihua and Guo Zhonghua talk about their lotus root planting. Last year, they each planted two mu of lotus roots, and in the village, the Guo family was the first to do so.

The graduate student Luo Ping introduced to them gave them great help in lotus root planting techniques and also recommended good seeds. During the critical period of lotus root growth, he even came to Baota Township several times to guide them in planting.

In the end, the lotus roots they planted had a bumper harvest, with a yield of nearly two thousand jin per mu. After deducting various costs, the income from the two mu of land was almost three thousand yuan. So, the two brothers spent the money to repaint the house.

After hearing this, Guo Suhua said happily, "Aihua, Zhonghua, then your income this year is almost the same as our salaries."

Guo Aihua said, "We still can't compare to you. You and your brother-in-law both have salaries, and Xingyun and Xinghui also have salaries. Our whole family worked together to plant these two mu of lotus roots to get this three thousand yuan income."

Su Xinghui said, "Eldest uncle, then you can plant a few more mu of lotus roots this year. By then, you'll be a ten-thousand-yuan household."

Guo Aihua said, "We are planning to plant a few more mu of lotus roots each this year, and some people in the village also want to learn from us."