Chapter 44 Meeting Again
Early the next morning.

Li Jiandong took Xu Damao to the department store and bought two large bags of gifts, and then brought the gifts to Xujiatuan.

Uncle Xu was working in the fields. He saw a rickshaw coming from a distance and couldn't help but mutter, "This rickshaw looks so familiar. Could it be Master Li?"

Next to him was his nephew Xu Jianjun, whose expression suddenly changed and he said, "You know what, it really seems to be Master Li."

The two men dropped their work and ran from one field to another.

Just as Li Jiandong stopped the car to ask for directions, he saw someone in front of him waving and shouting at him.

Li Jiandong drove over and said, "Second Uncle, Jianjun, we meet again."

Uncle Xu grinned, revealing a simple smile: "Yes! Master Li, we meet again. Look at how well our crops are growing, all thanks to the watering a few days ago."

Li Jiandong got off the car with a smile, and Xu Damao also jumped out of the car.

Li Jiandong pointed at the crops in the field and asked, "Da Mao, do you know what's in the field?"

Xu Damao shook his head: "I only know wheat and corn."

There are also wheat and corn in the fields of Xujiatuan, but there are more sweet potatoes.

Because this stuff has a high yield, growing wheat and corn is more for paying the public tax.

It is normal for Xu Damao, who grew up in the city, not to know the sweet potato vines.
Li Jiandong said to Uncle Xu: "Uncle, I came here to ask you for a favor.
This is my apprentice Xu Damao, who grew up in the city and is very smart.
I want him to go to the countryside and learn something about crops, that is, to let him learn a subject and also to train him.”

Uncle Xu said, "Master Li, I, Xu Laoer, can definitely help you with this little favor, but the work in the fields is dirty and tiring, I'm afraid Xiao Xu can't do it."

Li Jiandong said: "It doesn't matter. If you can't do it at the beginning, you will be able to do it after lying down a few times. Otherwise, how can it be called training?"

Second Uncle Xu laughed and said, "Okay, since Master Li has this plan, then let Xiao Xu live in my house from now on. It just so happens that I don't have a son either."

Uncle Xu and Yi Zhonghai have the same problem in that they both have no offspring. Xu Jianjun is the son of his eldest brother and was adopted by him to take care of him in his old age.

There are only three people in the family, so one more set of bowls and chopsticks is no big deal.

"Thank you, Uncle, Damao, why don't you call me Uncle?"

Xu Damao was also quite good at handling things, and he immediately shouted, "Hello, Second Grandpa."

"Okay, you too."

Uncle Xu's eyes narrowed with laughter. He felt proud to have a city grandson, even if it was only temporary.

Second uncle invited Li Jiandong to visit his home.

After arriving at the place, Li Jiandong and Xu Damao took down the things they brought from the car, which included sugar, wine, and a large piece of cloth.

These things are things that country people can't buy even if they want to.

Especially for fabric, even Li Jiandong only had a quota of a few feet a year.

Of course the second uncle refused to take it, and Li Jiandong forced it into his arms.

Keeping Xu Damao here and letting him live and eat at other people's houses would cost a lot of money even if he only ate steamed bread for a year.

Is it possible that Li Jiandong would let Uncle Xu, a farmer, spend money?
After having lunch at his second uncle's house, Li Jiandong left in the afternoon.

In the next few days, Li Jiandong kept paying attention to Xu Damao's growth.

It was found that the agricultural level grew very slowly and was still the same 13th-level title as teachers.

This is a profession that is more difficult to master than medicine, but Li Jiandong thinks it is worth it.

In a year, you can at least reach level 10. As long as you become a master, it doesn’t matter if your growth is slower.

If it really doesn't work, you can also give Xu Damao another career, for example, fishing skills can be upgraded very quickly.

"Mrs. Zhang, you are so lucky. Your new daughter-in-law has just moved in and she has taken care of all the housework. We are really envious of her."

On this weekend morning, Li Jiandong just opened the door and was about to go out for a walk when he heard several women who were washing clothes talking about Liang Ladi.

The person who spoke was Yi Zhonghai's daughter-in-law Li Huilan. Her expression and words seemed quite normal.

In fact, she was not envious at all, but was trying to sow discord.

The people washing clothes around here are either middle-aged women of Li Huilan's age or young widows without husbands like Xiao Hutao.

There is only Liang Ladi, a young and beautiful daughter-in-law.

Qin Huairu and Xu Huizhen, who had also just married into the family, took their clothes to the tavern to be washed because there was one.

This makes it seem like the Jia family is bullying others.

Jia Zhang was sitting leisurely beside her sewing shoe soles. When she heard Li Huilan's words, she rolled her eyes and said, "You must be envious. It's your fault that you can't give birth to a son."

How could Jia Zhang, such a smart person, not understand the meaning of Li Huilan's words?

This retort made Li Huilan stand there in embarrassment.

Liang Ladi was also a smart person and she could tell that Li Huilan had bad intentions.

However, she had just married in, so it was not good to be too ostentatious. She just smiled and said:

"Aunt Li, what are you envious of? Isn't it like this for all daughters-in-law? Besides, there's not much work to do at home. My mother-in-law even has a migraine."

Li Huilan curled her lips and thought, "Migraine? Before you got married, wasn't she the one who did all this work? Now that there's a new person here, she doesn't do anything."

However, she only dared to say this in her heart. After all, she was not the arrogant and aggressive person like the deaf old lady.

Li Jiandong, on the other hand, stood up for Liang Ladi and said to Jia Zhang,

"Sister-in-law, the team leader said that your daughter Ladi has a chance to win the title of advanced worker this year."

"The reward for being an advanced worker is quite a lot. You let her do housework all day, which delays her from making money. It's not worth it."

When Jia Zhang heard that there was money to be made, her eyes widened a little, but after careful calculation, she said, "The advanced reward is only a few dollars. My family has two working parents, so we are not short of money."

At this time, the deaf old lady happened to pass by the middle courtyard. Upon hearing this, she stepped forward and stretched out her hand to Jia Zhang.
"Little girl, your family is not short of money, but you don't know how to help me, your wife. Hurry up and give me some money to buy meat."

Jia Zhang was confused. She just didn't want to do housework, so she said her family was not short of money. She didn't expect the deaf old lady to be so shameless.

"No, old lady, aren't you deaf? Can you hear clearly now?"

The deaf old lady stabbed her cane hard on the ground and repeated,
"I couldn't hear what you said. I only heard you say that your family is not short of money. If you are not short of money, why don't you help me? My ancestor, quickly give me money to buy meat."

"No money."

Jia Zhang turned her face away and said in a cold voice.

"Nonsense, you just said you had enough money, but now you say you don't have any money. You are just selfish and don't want to help an old lady like me. I will beat you to death."

The deaf old lady raised her cane and smashed it towards Jia Zhang's head. Her movements were so fast that Li Jiandong and others didn't have time to react.

Jia Zhang was hit on the head and immediately became angry, and pushed the deaf old lady to the ground.

Liang Ladi also put down the clothes in her hand and stepped forward and said,

"How could you hit someone, old lady, and hit my mother-in-law on the head?"

"Oh, I won't live any longer. You little girl, Jia Zhang, you actually dared to hit me. I'm already over seventy years old. You might as well just beat me to death."

The deaf old woman screamed, crawled to Jia Zhang's feet, and hit her legs with her head.

Jia Zhang was also very angry because of the beating just now. If she really asked her to hit the old man, she would not have the courage to do so.

If someone is killed, she will have to go to jail with him. Jia Zhangshi can still settle the account.

As an uncle, Li Jiandong has to take care of such matters.

He walked up to her and said, "That's enough, old lady. We all saw that you were the first to do it."

Suddenly, Yi Zhonghai came out of the room, pointed at Li Jiandong and shouted,
"Li Jiandong, is this how you act as a grandfather? The old lady was beaten up at such an old age, and you actually let her get away with it. Is it a question of who should be held responsible now? It is wrong to hit an old person."

Li Jiandong said unhappily:
"Yi Zhonghai, get out of here. What do you have to do here? Am I the boss or are you the boss?"

Yi Zhonghai said angrily: "You are a great man, do you think you can cover the sky with one hand?"

"The old lady is so old and is a five-guarantee household. Since Jia Zhang's family is not short of money, what's wrong with asking her to help?"

"An old person in the family is like a treasure. The old lady is willing to let her help, which means she respects her."

Jia Zhang cursed: "Bullshit, Yi Zhonghai, if you like being looked up to so much, then why don't you help him? What the hell does it have to do with my family?"

The deaf old lady got up from the ground and pointed at Li Jiandong's nose and said,

"Li Jiandong, you little bastard, you are so ignorant. No wonder you are still young and married to a country girl at such an old age. I am the ancestor of our courtyard. I beat her to teach her how to behave. How can you be a great master if you don't even understand this?"

Li Jiandong was so angry that he laughed.

He said to the deaf old lady, "Old lady, don't always mention the three words 'ancestors'."

"You don't even know your last name, who are you supposed to be?"

"Maybe you are even of a different nationality from us?"

"Whether you are qualified to teach others is not determined by age, but by your moral character. Based on your performance, I can only say that you have lived like a dog for the past seventy years."

Li Jiandong generally doesn't like to swear.

But that doesn't mean he won't curse.

It was the first time that the deaf old lady was called a dog and she was so angry that her face was shaking.

But she didn't dare to refute.

Because Li Jiandong's words, maybe even your nationality is different from ours, scared her.

This is her secret, she has never told anyone. If someone knew it, it would be terrible.

"Forget it. I won't argue with you little brats. You don't know etiquette. I hope you will never have children in your life."

The deaf old lady left in anger and shame, while Jia Zhang was still furious and cursed under her breath.

Yi Zhonghai saw that the old lady was scolded and ran away, and he himself was no match for Li Jiandong.

He had no choice but to say: "Jia Zhang, remember this, you will also be old one day. If you don't help the old lady now, no one will help you when you are old in the future."

After saying that, he turned around and ran back into the house in dejection.

Jia Zhang spat in the direction of Yi Zhonghai's door.
"Bah, you're still cursing me. When I'm old, I have my son and daughter-in-law to take care of me. You, Yi Zhonghai, are old now. Let me see what you can do."

Li Jiandong also returned to the house, and soon Jia Zhang came to find him.

He closed the door and said, "Lao Li, this old lady is so annoying. Look, she broke my head."

"This kind of person is a nuisance. How about we hold a meeting and kick her out?"

Li Jiandong deeply agrees with this.

Yi Zhonghai and the deaf old lady are the cancer of the courtyard house.

Originally, everyone was living a good life, but there were these two bad apples who would always pop up out of nowhere to disgust others.

However, it is not easy to drive people away.

First of all, the reputation of the deaf old lady meant that even the street office couldn't do anything to her, unless they could find evidence that she was a bannerman.

Then, based on the fact that she forged her identity and applied for the five-guarantee status, she was sent to jail.

Otherwise, no one can cure her, after all, she is too old.

If you punish her, you will be criticized.

"Sister-in-law, forget about holding a meeting. The old lady has such a bad reputation that even the street officials dare not chase her away, let alone us.

However, I do have an idea that may be able to cure her, but it requires you to put in more effort."

"What do you want me to do?"

Li Jiandong said, "It's nothing. When you are in the yard, pay more attention to the old lady. If she leaves the street, follow her from a distance, and then see who she meets and what she talks about. Then come back and tell me."

Li Jiandong learned from the old man last time that the deaf old lady should be a bannerman.

However, the Bannermen attached great importance to etiquette and often held gatherings.

The deaf old lady is such a good eater, she must be someone of high status, and people like her should take gatherings more seriously.

As long as we keep an eye on her, sooner or later we will find evidence that she is a Bannerman.

After seeing Jia Zhang off, Li Jiandong suddenly wanted to go to the hospital.

It has been more than three months since the wedding, but Qin Huairu's belly is still not moving.

Li Jiandong knew that this was definitely not Qin Huairu's problem, so it might be his problem.

Originally, Li Jiandong didn't care about this matter before.

But the deaf old lady just now cursed him to have no children in his life.
Li Jiandong was a little panicked and planned to go and confirm it.

I rode on my bike and came to the hospital.

After a series of examinations, Li Jiandong got the good news that there was nothing wrong with his body, so it could only be bad luck.

"It seems I have to work harder in the future."

Li Jiandong smiled and talked to himself.

He didn't want to delay having a baby because of that matter.

On the contrary, now that there is no family planning, he wants to have more children since he can afford to raise them anyway.

By then, during the holidays, a group of children will gather around me and call me dad. It’s so heartwarming just thinking about it.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.

Exactly one month has passed since Xu Damao went to the countryside for training.

During this period, Li Jiandong's professional skills have also improved.

Among them, the fitters are just a little bit away from reaching the level of senior technicians.

Driving skills have also reached level 6.

As for maintenance, since there are currently no apprentices for this profession, it remains at level eight.

In addition, fighting and teaching were upgraded by one level, reaching level 6 and level 9 respectively (out of 13 levels).

Medicine and agriculture have the lowest levels, one is level 11 and the other is just entering level 12.

It was the weekend, so Li Jiandong rode his scooter and brought some gifts to Xujiatuan.

As soon as I entered the village, I saw fields of wheat drying on the ground.

Early July is the wheat harvest season. The sun shines brightly on the newly harvested wheat, and if the weather is good, the wheat can be dried in two days.

Xu Damao was also drying wheat, and next to him was Uncle Xu. They both wore straw hats and sat under a tree.

After a while, they would walk into the wheat fields barefoot, paddling the wheat a few times with their feet, and turning the wheat over to dry.

Hearing the sound of the chirping, Xu Damao stretched his neck to look into the distance. When he saw that it was Li Jiandong, he immediately jumped up and shouted, "Master, I'm here, I'm here."

Li Jiandong rode over and exhaled heavily,

"My God, the sun is too strong. It almost roasted me into a jerky."

Uncle Xu also stood up and laughed:

"We are just getting started. It's just getting hot now. It's not even the hottest time of the year yet. In this kind of weather, we still have to go to the fields to weed in the middle of the day."

Weeding must be done at noon, otherwise the grass roots will be killed by the sun right after they are pulled out.

Although Li Jiandong has never worked in agriculture, he knows the hard work of some farmers.

He nodded and said, “Yes, those of us working in the workshop are more comfortable than you working in the fields.

At least the sun isn’t so strong in the workshop, so even if it’s a bit stuffy, I can get by with drinking more water.”

As he spoke, he took out a big watermelon from his basket.

"I bought this when I passed by town just now. I'm so hot that I don't want to move at all. Damao, come and open the watermelon."

"Okay, Master."

As soon as Xu Damao saw the watermelon, his eyes widened. He guessed that Li Jiandong would bring good things.

Second Uncle Xu also laughed and said, "Oh, this is a good thing. Master Li has made you spend money again."

Nowadays, all the land is used to grow crops, and there is not much land left for growing vegetables, let alone watermelons, so the price of every kind of fruit is very expensive.

"Uncle, you're welcome. I'm leaving Damao to you. We are a family now, and we shouldn't have different opinions."

"Haha, yes, since we are family, I won't be polite." The second uncle said with a smile.

At this time, Xu Damao had already cut the watermelon open with his fist and brought it over.

Since there was no knife, we just broke it into several pieces and each person took one to eat.

Li Jiandong discovered that Xu Damao had changed a lot in this month.

First, his skin became darker, and his body became thinner but more muscular.

Then, looking at his expression and eyes, they became much more resolute than before.

Li Jiandong was very pleased with this. It would be great if it could change Xu Damao's bad intentions.

He also doesn't want to have one less apprentice in the future.

"By the way, Uncle, where is Jianjun?"

Li Jiandong finished eating a piece of watermelon and then he realized that one person was missing.

Uncle Xu said, "He went to the seed station. All the wheat in our village has been harvested. The next step is to plant the next crop after the soil is turned over. He went to get corn seeds today."

Li Jiandong said "oh" and suddenly saw several people in the distance running towards him.

Uncle Xu saw that they were all acquaintances, so he went up to them and asked, "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you running so fast?"

The man who ran the fastest panted and said,

"Uncle, something happened. Jianjun and his friends were intercepted by people from Cuijiazhuang on their way back after collecting the seeds."

"They insisted that our tractor crushed their wheat and asked us to pay compensation. Now more than 200 people from their village have gathered at the intersection of the small factory. It's obvious that they are here to cause trouble."

"Damn it, shake the guy."

Uncle Xu changed his previous image of an honest farmer and his eyes suddenly became sharp.

It is impossible for someone who can become the head of a village to be a little bit useless.

Especially in Xujiatuan, where group fights often occur due to competition for water, land and seeds.

"Call someone, go back and call for help."

"Damn it! Those bastards from Cuijiazhuang are always looking for trouble. If we don't beat them up today, we are not from Xujiatuan."

Led by Uncle Xu, other villagers in Xujiatuan were also excited.

Li Jiandong was also a little excited.

He is now a level 6 fighter, with the ability to fight nearly a dozen people at once.

But, there has never been a chance to take action, and today seems to be a good opportunity.

"Uncle, count me in later. I'll drive you there in my rickshaw." Li Jiandong said generously.

Facing Li Jiandong's righteousness, Uncle Xu sincerely refused.
"Master Li, you can't go. If a fight really breaks out, we won't be able to take care of you. You are an eighth-level worker, a high-level talent in our country. If you get hurt, we can't afford it."

Li Jiandong said confidently: "It doesn't matter, I'll just go over there to make up the numbers, at worst I'll just stay away."

Seeing that he was so persistent, Uncle Xu let him do as he pleased.
However, he had already made up his mind to arrange a few more people to follow Li Jiandong and protect him.

No matter what, we can't let the people from Cuijiazhuang beat him up.

Li Jiandong had not yet realized how fierce these fights between villages were. He thought they were just fights involving fists and hair grabbing.

Until the villagers gathered together, each of them was holding a shovel and a rake in their hands.

Some people even had homemade guns in their hands, and Li Jiandong was stunned on the spot.

"Fuck, are they going to a fight or a war? They even took out guns?"

Li Jiandong realized that he had been a little rash.

Although he is already a level 6 fighter, no matter how skilled he is in martial arts, he is still afraid of a kitchen knife, let alone a gun.

Fortunately, I didn’t say anything too arrogant just now, otherwise if a fight really broke out, I would not know whether to go up or not?

No, it would be so embarrassing to let the big talk get out there.

If we go up, we will use guns, but it will be life-threatening.

Just when Li Jiandong was feeling scared.

The people from Xujiatuan have already gathered.

There was a crowd of people,

There were also a few strong women among them, and the murderous look in their eyes was no less than that of the men.

Uncle Xu waved his hand and shouted with great momentum:

"Fellow villagers! The people in Cuijia Village are too bullying. They stopped our truck carrying seeds and wouldn't let us leave. Let's go and beat them up!"
"Fuck you!"

The villagers roared in unison.

The momentum was like going to the battlefield, which scared Li Jiandong and Xu Damao so much that they both shrank their necks.

(End of this chapter)