sinovels Chapter 1733 Zhao Jun's Ambition Sparked
Chapter 1733 Zhao Jun's Ambition Sparked
Chapter 1733 Zhao Jun's Ambition Sparked
Zhao Jun chuckled, and some of the people around him were surprised, while others were secretly delighted.
Xu Meihua, who was being watched by Zhao Jun, felt a chill run down her spine, like prey locked on by murderous intent.
"You..." Xu Meihua mustered her courage and wanted to ask, "What are you laughing at?" But Zhao Jun spoke first, saying to her, "Since you've already said that, if I say anything else, you'll just say I'm bullying you. Since it's already like this, let's see what happens in the future."
"I'll see about this in a future situation" is usually used in conversations between close friends, meaning that if you ever need anything, I'll definitely help you.
Zhao Jun used the word here with a threatening undertone. This way of speaking was out of character for him. But Xu Meihua was infuriating; she always used him as a figurehead, which greatly angered Zhao Jun.
With fifty or sixty people watching, if Zhao Jun didn't say something firm, he risked being looked down upon. But if he spoke too bluntly, Xu Meihua would definitely accuse his superior of bullying him. Saying it this way was just right; no one could find fault with it.
Xu Meihua sensed the threat in Zhao Jun's words and felt a little scared, but she forced herself to keep up appearances and said, "Then let's take a look."
Zhao Jun smiled and winked at Zhao Youcai.
Zhao Youcai understood immediately, turned around and waved to his men, saying, "Alright, let's go home."
After saying this, Zhao Youcai put down his hand and said to Wang Meilan, "Lan, go back and knead the dough. We'll have pancakes for lunch."
Zhao Youcai's words made Xu Meihua's lips tremble with anger. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "You beat us up, smashed up my house like this, and then just left?"
Xu Meihua shouted loudly, but none of the families paid any attention to her. Li Ruhai even waved his hand at the onlookers and said, "Send it away, send it away!"
Li Ruhai's words really worked; the onlookers dispersed, leaving in groups of two or three.
"Don't go!" Xu Meihua shouted until her voice cracked, but in the blink of an eye, no one was in front of her house.
Looking at the mess in the yard, Xu Meihua shed two streams of tears.
"Mom!" Zhang Laibao leaned over and whispered, "Let's hurry up and pack, Mr. Ishii and the others will be here this afternoon."
"I'll teach you a lesson!" Xu Meihua turned around and cursed Zhang Laibao, then said to Xu Guohua and Zhang Zhanhe, "Guohua, Zhanhe, you two hurry up and cut a few pieces of glass and put them on!"
……
Xu Meihua and Zhang Laibao were unhappy, as were Zhao Jun's family. Dealing with the enemy was a matter for later; for now, they were frustrated.
As they walked, they continued to denounce Zhang Laibao's shameless behavior. Even after they returned to the Zhao family compound, their anger had not subsided.
Upon entering the house, Zhao Youcai went to the water vat, lifted the lid with one hand, picked up the gourd ladle floating on the water with the other, scooped up some water, and then drank a few mouthfuls.
Zhao Youcai tossed the ladle back into the water vat, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said, "Damn it, let's see how I deal with him this time!"
Zhao Jun glanced at Zhao Youcai, then turned to Li Ruhai and said, "Ruhai, you've worked hard these past two days. You must keep the public opinion under control. It can't be detrimental to us, understand?"
"Don't worry, brother." Li Ruhai patted his chest and assured him, "We will always control the public opinion in the Yong'an Forest Area."
"Good!" Zhao Jun nodded in satisfaction, expressing his approval of Li Ruhai, which made Li Ruhai's cheeks tremble with excitement.
At this moment, Zhao Jun said to Xie Sunshi and Li Tongyun, "Auntie, Xiaoyun, if it's not going to work these next few days, then don't do it again."
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Li Tongyun wanted to say something, but Jin Xiaomei tugged at her arm.
Li Tongyun remained silent, but Xie Sunshi said to Zhao Jun, "Jun, they hate people so much, your aunt can't swallow this!"
Recently, we've been watching TV together, and Xie Sunshi has been learning quite a few lines.
"We have to swallow it even if we can't," Zhao Jun said. "In two more days, Baoyu will get married. We have to get through these two days."
Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Xie Sunshi fell silent. Then, Wang Meilan said, "Xiao Jun is right. Baoyu's marriage is the most important thing right now. Everything else should be put aside."
Everyone quickly reached a consensus and continued to focus on preparing for Li Baoyu's wedding, constantly adding to and perfecting some small details.
For lunch, we ate flatbread, a large oily flatbread rolled with stir-fried shredded potatoes, stir-fried meat with mung bean sprouts, egg sauce, and scallions, along with a thick porridge. Everyone ate until their mouths were full and their mouths were dripping with oil.
After everyone finished eating, there were still some dishes left. There were two fried dough sticks left, so Wang Meilan rolled the leftover dishes into the dough sticks.
The rolled pancakes were placed in a small bowl and kept warm in a large pot, to be eaten when Li Ruhai returned.
Li Ruhai is just that good; he works tirelessly whenever he has a mission. He leaves here around 9 or 10 in the morning and doesn't return until 3 in the afternoon.
Li Ruhai entered the Zhao family compound, ran all the way into the house, and, panting, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhao Jun, saying, "Brother, the Japanese devils have entered the village!"
"Just arrived?" Zhao Jun asked. Li Ruhai shook his head and said, "He arrived a little after 12 o'clock..."
After hearing just the beginning, Li Baoyu pointed at Li Ruhai and shouted, "Then why did it take you so long to report this?"
"I need to find out some useful information!" Li Ruhai glared at Li Baoyu and asked righteously, "What's the use of just knowing they're coming?"
Li Baoyu was speechless. He mimicked Zhao Youcai's usual manner, blinked at Li Ruhai, and then retreated behind Zhao Jun.
"Ruhai!" Wang Meilan, with her impatient nature, hurriedly asked Li Ruhai, "What information have you found out?"
“That day…” Li Ruhai started to speak but then stopped. He pointed at Li Baoyu with disdain and said, “That little Japanese devil who fought with my brother, he alone… and that little bespectacled guy, the two of them came together.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun and the others knew that Li Ruhai was referring to Murata Tomotaro and Chen Yifeng.
Then, Li Ruhai continued, "They went to Zhang Laibao's house and stayed for about ten minutes before leaving. Before leaving, that Japanese soldier threw a thousand yuan at Zhang Laibao and told him to clean up the shed and then tidy up his two rooms."
After Li Ruhai finished speaking, he noticed that everyone in the room was looking at him with strange eyes.
Li Ruhai was taken aback, and then Zhang Yuanmin asked, "No, Ruhai? Where did you find out all this? Did you eavesdrop by his window?"
The Zhao family and several other families had just finished fighting with Zhang Laibao's family early that morning, smashing all their windows. If Li Ruhai went to their house to gather information, it's no wonder he got his legs broken.
But if I hadn't personally visited Zhang Laibao's house, how could I have obtained such detailed information?
As Zhang Yuanmin finished speaking, Xie Chen, who was standing next to him, asked Li Ruhai with a smile, "Ruhai, you can't be passing on false information, can you?"
After Xie Chen finished speaking, Zhao Jinhui stretched out his fat hand to Li Ruhai and chopped down, saying, "Falsifying military intelligence is punishable by death according to the law!"
Li Ruhai, who had run all the way back, was still out of breath when he rushed to report. After hearing what the three men said, his face turned bright red, and he gasped, "When did I, Li Ruhai, ever spread false information?"
"Exactly!" This is why the Zhao family gang is known for its internal strife. Li Baoyu, who had been criticized by Li Ruhai not long ago, jumped out to support Li Ruhai and said to Zhang Yuanmin and the other two, "What you're saying is an insult to Ruhai's character! Our Ruhai may have a mouth as thick as cotton pants, not as good as a nice old woman, but he never lies!"
Hearing Li Baoyu's words, everyone laughed heartily. Li Ruhai's chest heaved violently with anger, and he raised his hand, pointing at Li Baoyu with trembling fingers.
"What are you doing, Baoyu?" Zhao Jun, afraid of upsetting Li Ruhai, quickly stopped Li Baoyu, then stood up and pulled Li Ruhai to sit down, asking in a gentle tone, "Ruhai, how did you find out this information?"
"Xu Xiuhong told me." As soon as Li Ruhai said this, Xing San, Xie Chen, Xie Sunshi, Liu Lanying, and Zhao Jinhui, who came later, all looked blank, while Zhao Youcai, Wang Meilan, and others looked at Li Ruhai with even more strange eyes.
Xu Xiuhong was Li Ruhai's elementary school classmate, and she also had another identity: Xu Guohua's eldest daughter, which is Xu Meihua's eldest niece.
Given their current relationship, it's truly remarkable that Li Ruhai was able to extract information from her.
Zhao Jun wasn't surprised. Others might not know, but Zhao Jun knew that Xu Xiuhong had been interested in Li Ruhai since their school days.
In Zhao Jun's past life, Xu Xiuhong was determined to marry Li Ruhai. Although they both later started their own families, Zhao Jun knew that Xu Xiuhong never forgot Li Ruhai.
Therefore, it is certainly true that this information was obtained from Xu Xiuhong.
While everyone was discussing it, Wang Meilan took out the rolled pancakes she had saved for Li Ruhai.
The wrap was still warm when Li Ruhai wolfed it down. With the last bite in his mouth, Li Ruhai puffed out his cheeks, chewed, and stood up, saying to Wang Meilan, "Auntie, I have to go out and guard the position."
"What?" Wang Meilan was taken aback, then heard Li Ruhai explain, "We must firmly defend the position of public opinion. Don't they want to collect bear bile and hides? I'll make sure they don't get a single hair!"
Li Ruhai spoke with great confidence, exuding a domineering air. After saying this, Li Ruhai swallowed the bread and vegetables in his mouth, then picked up the bowl of cold boiled water, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.
Li Ruhai drank so heartily that water dripped down his chin. Wang Meilan felt a pang of sympathy seeing how hard her child was working.
"Ruhai, take this." Wang Meilan took out two ten-yuan bills from her pocket and stuffed them into Li Ruhai's hand.
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?" Jin Xiaomei quickly stopped her, but Wang Meilan pushed her hand away and said, "Give the child some money. If he's hungry, he can buy some rice cakes to tide him over. If he's thirsty, he can buy some soda. Don't skimp on yourself."
"Thank you, Auntie!" Li Ruhai smiled and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Wang Meilan as he took the money, saying, "Ruhai will definitely live up to your mission!"
That statement sounded quite reasonable, but Li Ruhai's next sentence was: "Auntie, you and my older brother are at home strategizing, my mother and the others are at home maintaining logistics and supplies, so I have to go out and guard the public opinion front. I can't be like some people who just sit at home and chatter away."
As he spoke his last sentence, Li Ruhai's gaze swept across the faces of Li Baoyu, Zhang Yuanmin, Xie Chen, Zhao Jinhui, and Li Tongyun.
"Huh?" Li Tongyun, who was watching the commotion, didn't expect to be included in Li Ruhai's disdain. She immediately glared at him, only to see Li Ruhai push open the door and leave.
"That kid!" Xie Chen looked at Zhang Yuanmin on his left and Li Baoyu on his right, and asked, "Is he talking about us?"
The only response to Jie Chen was silence.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin chuckled and said, "This Li Ruhai is underestimating me, Little Zhuge."
After saying this, Zhang Yuanmin stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhao Jun, and said, "Brother, I have a plan that can make the Japanese devils and Zhang Laibao surrender without a fight!"
When he said the last few words, Zhang Yuanmin waved his hand outwards, displaying an air of domineering confidence.
"Brother," Zhao Jun immediately became interested and asked, "What plan? Tell me?"
Zhang Yuanmin smiled smugly and said, "I didn't go there for nothing this morning. I saw that Zhang Laibao's tents were all taken down; they must be setting up a shed."
"Ah! Didn't Ru Hai already say so?" Zhao Jun said. Zhang Yuanmin quickly sped up his speech and said, "Based on my understanding of Zhang Laibao and Xu Meihua, the Japanese gave them a thousand yuan to build sheds and tidy up their houses, and they didn't spend it all. Building brick sheds is definitely out of the question. I reckon they'll have to learn from us and make deep-fried frying pans and deep-fried sticks!"
"Yes!" Zhao Jun nodded slightly upon hearing this. The shed was built on Zhang Laibao's property, and it would belong to their family from now on. They couldn't be too lenient with Zhang Laibao and his mother.
Building a brick shed was impossible, and using ordinary wooden planks was also impossible—they would rot too easily. So, as Zhang Yuanmin said, they had to use deep-fried larch planks and poles.
“Brother, you should write a letter… no!” Zhang Yuanmin misspoke and quickly corrected himself, “Make a call to the forest farm’s logistics department and have Jianjun keep an eye on things. Whenever Zhang Laibao or Zhang Laifa, or his brother-in-law Han Zhiming, try to buy fried dough sticks or fried skewers from the farm, have Jianjun intercept them.”
It's not that we won't sell to them, but if we can hold out for ten days or half a month until their shed is up, we'll have already collected all the goods. If they want to buy again then, they can wait until after the New Year.
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin's explanation, Zhao Jun felt the idea was feasible. In fact, the Zhao family's business association had almost finished collecting all the mountain goods from the spring harvest. Yesterday a leather goods seller came, but today no one came to sell anything.
As Zhang Yuanmin said, if they wait another ten days or half a month, Zhang Laibao can forget about receiving anything this year.
“Brother Zhang,” Xie Chen seemed to have a different idea and asked Zhang Yuanmin, “What if he wants to pack up tomorrow? Can’t the shed be built and the house tidied up?”
"He's just collecting chicken feathers?" Zhang Yuanmin laughed. "The Japanese gave him a thousand yuan to fix up his house and build a warehouse, and he couldn't even do it properly. Would the Japanese dare to give him more money?"
After saying this, Zhang Yuanmin paused slightly and said, "If he wants to accept it now, he'll have to use his own money to cover the cost. Does he dare to do that?"
After Zhang Yuanmin finished speaking, Zhao Jun said, "We can't make phone calls."
"Huh?" Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback. Just as he was wondering why Zhao Jun didn't follow his schedule, Zhao Jun explained, "Whatever you say on the phone, the operator will hear it all. I have to talk to my brother-in-law about this in person. How about this, after we finish eating, I'll drive to Yongsheng."
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhang Yuanmin breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "My brother is right, it was my oversight."
Zhao Jun's plan was quite good, but what he didn't expect was that when the four people who had gone to work returned to the table that evening, they were greeted by Zhou Jianjun.
Upon seeing their son-in-law arrive, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan warmly invited Zhou Jianjun to sit at the table.
After Zhou Jianjun sat down, Wang Meilan asked, "Jianjun, what brings you here?"
Wang Meilan's question was reasonable, because Zhou Jianjun wouldn't have come at this time if there was nothing wrong.
“Mom, I was telling Uncle Li before I came here, “The bureau called today and said that a foreign company ordered fifty cubic meters of deep-frying pans and asked them to deliver them to our village tomorrow.”
"Yeah," Li Dayong chimed in, "Let's have our dispatcher send a car."
Lin Xiangshun chimed in, "Our convoy also received the letter. It says it will be delivered to the east end of the village at 10 a.m., and then someone will pick us up and give us the money."
Upon hearing the three men's words, Zhang Yuanmin's expression instantly darkened. His brilliant plan had been foiled before it could even be implemented.
Zhao Jun also looked grim. At that moment, he suddenly realized that with his current strength, he could get by in the Yong'an Forest Area. But if external forces intervened, his connections in the mountains would be hard to withstand.
Zhao Jun used to think that he should just stay in his little corner of the world and live a peaceful life, but now reality has dealt him a heavy blow, leaving him in a daze.
Thinking back to his past life, when he was rolling in money, he returned to his hometown to pay respects at Wang Meilan's grave. In the Yushugou and Fenghuangshan areas, and even in the county, many local bullies came to curry favor with him.
At this moment, the air outside the house was thick with the smells of smoke and water, and Zhao Jun was somewhat lost, not knowing where to go or what to do.
Sorry guys, I updated late tonight because I was watching the military parade. I'll add more later tonight.
(End of this chapter)