Zhou Zhijun, just like Chuntao, lay in bed tossing and turning all night, his mind completely occupied with how to get the household registration book back.
At the first crow of the rooster, when the sky was just beginning to lighten, Zhou Zhijun got up and squatted on the threshold, smoking a cigarette.
A small pile of cigarette butts gathered on the ground, but after thinking it over and over, he still couldn't come up with a good idea.
Go directly to their door and ask for it? Wang Lanhua definitely wouldn't give it to him. Was he supposed to steal it?
Zhou Zhijun spat fiercely. He always did things openly and aboveboard; sneaking around and stealing simply wasn't his style.
On the other side, the anger in Wang Jieshi's heart was burning brighter than Zhou Zhijun's cigarette butts. He lay stiffly on the hospital bed, his eye sockets terrifyingly red.
Zhou Zhijun letting Chuntao stay at his house, wasn't this clearly pushing him to a dead end?
He gritted his teeth and snorted coldly. If he couldn't live well, no one else would have a good life either.
"Xiaoming, go home and tell Wang Haihu and Wang Hailong, either of them can come, I have something to say to them, it's about Wang Haichao!"
Wang Xiaoming, however, stiffened his neck and stubbornly replied, "You're lying here suffering now, all because of them, and you still want to get involved with them?"
"What do you know! I told you to go call them, just go call them!"
"I won't go!" Wang Xiaoming stormed out of the hospital room angrily, squatting by the wall outside, feeling incredibly stifled.
The high school entrance exam results had been out for a while, but he didn't have the courage to go to the school and check.
The little money the family made from selling watermelons had long been mostly spent on medical bills for Wang Jieshi and Liu Cuilan. Even if he got into a key high school, there would be no money for him to attend.
He had already heard from Wang Xiaohong that Chuntao and his brother were not a married couple; Chuntao had actually been single all along.
If Chuntao didn't come back, the entire household would have to rely on Wang Xiaohong, a young girl, to hold it up, which was simply impossible. His schooling was probably going to come to an end.
From the bottom of his heart, he hoped Chuntao could escape this fire pit and go live a good life of her own, but how were they supposed to solve the current difficulties right in front of them?
"Xiaoming, how is your brother?"
Wang Xiaoming looked up and saw Liu Cuilan and Wang Haihu. Liu Cuilan was clutching an empty cloth bag in her hand.
They had just gone to drop off some things for Wang Haichao and Wang Haibao, and stopped by to see Wang Jieshi on the way.
Liu Cuilan was still holding back a belly full of anger that she wanted to unleash on Wang Jieshi.
"Jieshi, that slut Li Chuntao is staying at Zhou Zhijun's house! Who is going to serve you from now on?" Liu Cuilan stepped into the hospital room and immediately started shouting at the top of her lungs.
Wang Haihu also chimed in from the side, "Exactly! We can't let that pair of adulterers off easy, we can't let them live happily and freely!"
"Those two shameless people, who knows how many times they've hooked up behind our backs, and they still pretend to be so proper, it's truly disgusting!"
Wang Jieshi kept his eyes closed and didn't say a word, but his chest heaved more and more violently, his heavy breathing sounding like a pulling bellows.
Liu Cuilan cursed more and more harshly, pouring out a stream of foul language.
Squatting outside the door, Wang Xiaoming couldn't stand listening to it anymore. He suddenly rushed into the room and roared, "This is a hospital room! What are you spouting nonsense here for? Get out right now!"
Although Liu Cuilan was a bit intimidated by Wang Xiaoming, she couldn't hold back the words in her stomach, "Xiaoming, you can't just let Li Chuntao do whatever she wants! If she leaves, you can forget about going to school!"
"What does my going to school have to do with you?"
"How can you speak like that, child! I'm doing this all for your own good!"
The mother and son argued and pulled at each other at the door of the hospital room, while inside, Wang Jieshi suddenly grabbed Wang Haihu's hand, a desperate ruthlessness shining in his eyes.
"That bastard Zhou Zhijun, he ruined your eldest brother and Haibao! If we don't teach him a lesson, you and Wang Hailong won't have a good end either in the future!"
Among their four brothers, Wang Haichao was the most cunning and good with words; Wang Haibao had a fiery temper and hard fists. But now, both brothers had been sent to jail by Zhou Zhijun.
He and Wang Hailong were cowardly to begin with, and from now on in the village, they could only live with their tails tucked between their legs. The more Wang Haihu thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt.
But if they really were to go and deal with Zhou Zhijun, he and Wang Hailong were simply no match for him.
"How... how do we deal with him?"
Wang Jieshi lay on the hospital bed, a sinister smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, the venom in his eyes almost overflowing.
"Li Chuntao wants to live a good life with Zhou Zhijun? No way!"
Wang Jieshi lowered his voice, leaned close to Wang Haihu's ear, and muttered a series of instructions.
The more Wang Haihu listened, the more alarmed he became, his scalp tingling and his voice trembling, "This... if we get caught doing this, we'll both be finished! This is during the strict strike period, if we get caught, we'll be sentenced to death!"
Wang Jieshi sneered coldly, laughing so hard that his bones ached, but the fire of madness burned in his eyes.
"Finished? If we don't do it, we're the ones who will truly be at a dead end! All these years, the petty thefts you brothers have committed, who in the village doesn't know about them?"
Others just turned a blind eye and couldn't be bothered to pursue it.
But Zhou Zhijun is different. He could send your eldest brother and Wang Haibao to jail; to eliminate any future trouble, would he let you and Hailong go?
As long as he reports your matters to the commune, you'll still have to go to prison! Rather than waiting at home to be slaughtered, it's better to strike first!
If this succeeds, Zhou Zhijun and Li Chuntao will never be able to turn their lives around!
You two brothers will also be able to live your lives in peace, and it can be considered taking revenge for your eldest brother and the others!
Wang Haihu hated Zhou Zhijun so much that his teeth itched, but whenever he thought about the risks of this matter, he couldn't help but feel afraid.
Wang Jieshi quickly struck while the iron was hot, "As long as this gets done, there will be plenty of benefits for you!"
"What benefits?"
Wang Jieshi pulled out a bulging handkerchief bundle from under his pillow, "There's money in here, as long as the job is done, this money is all yours!"
Wang Haihu looked at the bulging handkerchief bundle, then remembered the grievances the brothers had suffered, and the little hesitation in his heart instantly vanished, leaving only a chest full of fury that burned his mind into a daze.
He gritted his teeth fiercely and nodded heavily, "Alright! We'll do as you say! I absolutely have to make that pair of adulterers taste what it's like to be ruined and disgraced!"
At the same time, Wang Lanhua was lying in bed, holding her newborn son in her arms, but there was not a trace of joy on her face.
She and Chuntao were exchanged in marriage; if Chuntao really left, she felt she would be taking too much of a loss.
But if she were asked to divorce Li Dazhuang, she couldn't bear to do it.
After all, Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang treated her well, and moreover, she now had both a son and a daughter, and her life was considered stable.
She didn't want to leave the Li family, so Chuntao shouldn't even think about leaving the Wang family. This was the stubborn logic Wang Lanhua held onto.
"Li Dazhuang! Go to Wangjiazhai! See if my mother has come back and give her the good news!
While you're at it, go see that good sister of yours and tell her clearly, if she keeps tangling with Zhou Zhijun, I'll divorce you immediately!"
Wang Lanhua was doing her postpartum confinement and couldn't get angry; if her milk dried up from anger, the one to suffer would be their newborn son.
Li Dazhuang didn't dare to delay, hurriedly grabbed two packets of brown sugar, and rushed toward Wangjiazhai.
By the time he arrived, the sun was already directly south. When Liu Cuilan saw him, she unleashed a torrent of fierce scolding right to his face.
"Li Dazhuang! There's not a single good person in your Li family!
My Lanhua gave you children, and look at you all, every single one of your consciences has been eaten by dogs.
That cheap tramp Li Chuntao is staying at some random man's house and refuses to come back! Has she no shame?!
I'm telling you, if she doesn't come back, my Lanhua won't stay with you anymore! If you think our Wang family is going to suffer a loss, think again! If I can't live in peace, nobody else will either!
Li Dazhuang was cursed out so harshly by Liu Cuilan that all he could do was keep pasting on an apologetic smile and making promises.
Don't worry, Mother. I'll go talk to Chuntao right now and make her come home!
Seething with pent-up frustration, Li Dazhuang arrived at Chuntao's house. He pushed the door open and took a look, only to find the house completely empty. There wasn't a single soul in sight.
Next door, Wang Chunxiao was squatting by her doorway, sorting vegetables. Seeing Li Dazhuang approach, she grabbed a handful of chives and sidled up to him.
Raising an eyebrow, she lowered her voice and said, Brother Dazhuang, you're here to see Chuntao, aren't you?
You probably don't know this, but Chuntao hasn't lived here for a while. She's been spending the nights over at Zhou Zhijun's house these past few days...
