As soon as Li He stepped onto the threshold, Li Lan handed him his singlet.
Li Lan occasionally bared his arms, but he couldn't do it as casually as his father. He had to put on his clothes after leaving his room. He didn't want to expose his body in front of others.
Li He got into his car.
"Brother, I'll take your car." Hong Danian caught up with Li He and got into his car, afraid that he would run away.
"Then let's sit together." Li He gestured for Qiu Liang to drive.
"Just follow my son's car." Hong Danian pointed at the black car in front of them. "My house isn't far, just a 20-minute drive. It's next to the national highway."
The Hong family's house was indeed not far from Li He's house. As soon as the car left the small road on the West Mountain and entered the new national highway, it turned into a small rural road after five miles. Electric scooters, bicycles, and cars swarmed out of the village and ran together toward the main road, heading in the opposite direction of Li He's car.
The village wasn't big, but the buildings were densely packed. Most of the houses were three stories high, and there were many tile-roofed houses in the empty space at the entrance.
The Hong family's house was considered luxurious in the village. It was a three-story western-style house with a large courtyard filled with flowers and plants.
However, the outside was a little shabby. Surrounding the wall was a row of small tile-roofed houses, and there were many women washing clothes in front of the door.
"I'm mainly renting this place to outsiders. I collect some rent to subsidize my household expenses. As a farmer in the Imperial City, I don't have any land to farm, so this is the only benefit I get." Hong Danian pulled Li He into the house and shouted, "Old woman, have you cooked?"
An old lady with wavy hair came out of the house. She wore a jade bracelet, a nano necklace, and gold earrings. She looked much wealthier than Hong Danian.
"Come in, come in quickly." The old lady smiled at Li He. She was so happy that her teeth were showing. "You don't have to take off your shoes. Just come in."
"Then do whatever you want." Li He tugged on his slippers and did not change his shoes. He entered the house and looked around. There was mahogany furniture and a leather sofa. It was indeed a luxurious place. "The decorations are really beautiful."
"Heh, it also depends on who I'm compared to. Naturally, I'm better than ordinary people, but compared to your house, it's like heaven and earth. Just the material of the stone pillars in front of your house is enough to renovate ten houses like mine!" Although Hong Danian didn't enter the Li family's house, he could clearly see the situation in front of the Li family's door. "That kind of material is imported!"
"My father works in the Mentougou Mine," Hong Zuli explained. "He's been working there for more than ten years. He knows the situation here very well."
"Sigh, what can a normal worker learn? When your house was being renovated, I saw a big truck drive in with my own eyes," Hong Danian said with a smile. "At that time, there was a rumor that it was an old overseas Chinese who came back from Thailand. I think his surname is also Li. I wonder …"
"I don't know him. After he finished building the house, he had some problems with his business, so he looked for a buyer. So, I bought it."
Li He knew he was talking about Li Shubai.
"Sit, sit, have some tea." Hong Danian filled the teapot that Li He brought along with him and put it on the table. "Life is full of ups and downs. Who can say for sure? We were envious of you living in that corner of the world, but look at it now. Didn't it fall into your hands in the end?
Brother, to tell you the truth, don't think that I've been living like a dog all those years, but I'm lucky.
I don't know why, but after my wife's illness was cured, everything went smoothly for me. The Mentougou mine is very strict with recruitment. If you don't have some connections, you don't even need to think about it. But I'm probably just lucky.
Although I'm a worker, I've been working for ten years!
Most people don't know about the tricks in the mines, but for me, at least I made some capital. My two kids went to school, and then I opened a brick kiln factory, and then a cement factory. Life is getting smoother and smoother! "
No matter what, he couldn't hide the pride on his face.
That's right. As a farmer, with his wits, he had a family and a career. Why shouldn't he be proud?
"You are the smartest." Li He smiled and praised.
"What smarts?!" The old lady curled her lips. "If I have any smarts, I won't lose everything now. In 1997, the government said that the brick kiln can't be opened anymore. They said we shouldn't waste land resources. That's why they were forced to close it.
Then, I thought of ways to open a cement factory. But after a few years of peace, I started to protect the environment, saying that this cement factory is a polluting factory.
It's just a bunch of useless things that don't work! "
"I didn't make any money?" Hong Danian was embarrassed by his wife in front of outsiders, and he was angry. "I don't want to work in the first place. It's better if it's closed!
I wanted to go to Tangshan to make steel. If you didn't stop me, I would be rich now! "
"Shougang had moved to Caofeidian. You think you can make a name for yourself in Tangshan?" The old lady sneered. "Damn, the factories in Tangshan will be unreliable sooner or later! How far is it from here? "
"Long hair, short vision! No matter what year it is, he can live without bricks and cement. I don't believe he can live without steel! "The old man's stubborn temper flared up!
"Alright, you two. Don't you think you're tired?" Hong Zuli shook his head and smiled. He said to the old lady, "Mom, we have guests. Aren't you going to prepare?"
"Oh, I'm stewing in the pot … Look at my memory." The old lady slapped her head and ran into the kitchen.
Hong Zuli said to Li He, "Sorry, Uncle Li. I made a fool of myself."
"If I don't even have someone to quarrel with when I'm old, that's sad. Life will be boring." Li He had experienced it firsthand. If He Fang ignored him for a day, he would go crazy. It was not scary to be angry, but it would be scary if he did not quarrel with her. "I'm just afraid that my anger will be blocked!"
If it was not blocked, it would accumulate until it was all blocked.
He took a sip of tea and went upstairs again. He looked down at the group of children running around in the narrow alley like mud monkeys.
"They're already at the age of kindergarten, but no one is willing to send them." Hong Danian said angrily. "I'm afraid they'll waste the money. Actually, it's understandable. The couple only earns that much a month. No matter how bad the kindergarten is, it's still two to three thousand a semester. It's fine if they pay the tuition, but they have to leave a woman to look after the children. If the woman doesn't go to work, it'll be difficult to support the family alone.
In the end, these children have to be sent back to their hometown. What do the newspapers call them now? They're called left-behind children!
No matter how much their grandparents dote on them, without their parents, what can they do?
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