The whole family was watching the Spring Festival Gala on the TV, glancing at the screen from time to time.
Li He was pouring water for Li Hui when he heard the familiar melody and lyrics on the TV.
"Hardworking and brave Chinese, walk into a new era in high spirits.
Ah, walk into a new era in high spirits … "
On the Spring Festival Gala, just before midnight, Mao Xiaomin appeared as the finale. She wore a red dress and sang "A Beautiful New Era" at the top of her lungs. She looked majestic and her whole body radiated a pure and excited expression.
Li He raised his eyebrows proudly. This was a pride that only he knew.
After midnight, everyone still went to the village committee to play mahjong as usual.
"Second Brother Li, are you going to sleep or not?" Li Lan shouted at Li He.
"You're asking for a beating." Li He was embarrassed when his son shouted his name in front of everyone.
The village committee had already set up two tables and everyone had played a few rounds of mahjong.
The people at Li He's table were all people who believed that they could afford to pay the bills and were not short of money. The first person who took up the responsibility was Liu Laosi. Back in the day, he sat here and played cards shamelessly. He earned a dime or two and was always ridiculed by Chen Yongqiang and the others.
"Erhe, 50 yuan?"
However, things were different now. He thought he was the third richest man in the county after the Li brothers!
"Show off." Li Hui threw away the cigarette butt, took out the money from his bag and rounded it up.
"1000 yuan for a game. That's all." Chen Yongqiang was more cautious. The third richest man in Li Village was suddenly overshadowed by Liu Four, so he couldn't be proud.
"Wow, this is quite a lot. You don't have to take it away tonight." Pinching the thickness of the bills on Fatty Chen's table, Li He took out a few stacks of his own money. "I'm not afraid of you."
This time, he was completely free to play. He was not afraid of worrying about the other party's financial situation. Although these people were not very rich, they would not care about a thousand or two thousand yuan.
In fact, his luck was pretty good. He got whatever cards he wanted and whatever he wanted. In a short while, there was money in front of him. The most awesome one was when the next player, Liu Four, played four cards in a row. He got three hits and won.
He was the only one who had won. Everyone else was happier to lose money than him, the winner.
All these years, everyone felt that they owed him, but they didn't have the chance to repay him, so they definitely wouldn't mind making him happy at the poker table.
"I'm not playing anymore."
Li Hopai gave it a push and suddenly felt that it was very boring.
"It's okay if you don't. There are children at home." Li Hui and the others were very understanding.
"I'm leaving first." Li He put the money in his pocket and walked away.
Damn it!
He couldn't explain why he felt so lonely!
In the past, Fatty Chen would not allow him to leave even though he was winning money. He would even shout, "Don't even think about running away!"
Now that others were so considerate of him, why did he still feel uncomfortable?
All right!
"Did I do something so cheap?"
He muttered to himself, but he couldn't explain it.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, after breakfast, they went to Hewan to visit their grandmother as usual. Li Long was hesitant and didn't want to go. Wang Yulan nagged for the whole morning. Li Zhaokun was a habitual offender. If he didn't want to go, she didn't care, but her son had to go.
"Hurry up, don't dawdle." Li He put all the cigarettes and wine in the cart and urged Li Long to go.
It was more convenient to drive a cart than a car on the roads in the countryside. He was thinking of donating money to repair the roads in the surrounding villages this year.
Li Long had no choice. With so many people blocking his way, he had to comply.
The children were happier sitting in the cart than sitting in a car.
Li Yi was wrapped from head to toe with a scarf, revealing only her eyes. She was held tightly in He Fang's arms and could only watch her brother and sister jumping around with envy.
When they arrived at their grandmother's place, the old lady took out her treasured candied dates to greet the children and kept stuffing them into the children's coat pockets.
He Fang and Duan Mei saw that Li He was still helping the children to fill the pockets, so they didn't say anything. They were sticky and dirty. At most, they could go back and change their clothes.
However, the two women were very consistent. After taking the children out of the old lady's house, they secretly took out the candied dates and threw them away.
They didn't care about what they ate in the past and ate whatever they could without being picky. However, this didn't mean that they were willing to let their children suffer.
They had lunch at Wang Yu's country. Wang Chaoan and Wang Chaojun were there. Seeing that Li Long was indifferent, Li Long handed him a few cigarettes and didn't say anything.
They were drinking excitedly as if they wanted to compete. Wang Chaoan raised his cup to Li He and said, "Bro, finish this cup. If you don't drink, you'll be looking down on me. It's not easy to have a drink."
"Then slow down." Li He couldn't stand it when they took turns to fight him.
"That won't do. The cups are all up. How can we not drink when we are in the river bend?" Wang Chaojun didn't give in.
"It's okay if you want to drink. Let's change to a bigger cup and drink three cups in a row." Li He was really not afraid when he was angry. If it weren't for his bro, he would directly show off his authority in front of others and wouldn't give him a chance to show off in front of him.
He took a cup with four taels of liquor and filled it up quickly. He drank it in one breath and showed the bottom of the cup. Then, he looked at Wang Chaojun and drank it.
Wang Chaojun was stunned and also drank it up with his eyes closed.
Li He filled it up again and finished his third cup. Wang Chaojun was still holding the third cup and burping.
He said with a smile, "Bro, if you can't drink it, go back to sleep. It's not comfortable to drink in such a cold weather."
Wang Chaojun was not convinced. However, when he just drank half of the liquor, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and run out of the house to vomit.
Li He was also not feeling well. He suspected that he had drunk fake liquor. The methanol taste was too strong, and he felt dizzy.
He picked up a few mouthfuls of food and waited for the table to be cleared before going home.
When he reached home, he rinsed his mouth and made tea.
In this era, it was not uncommon to drink fake liquor. Alcohol poisoning was a common occurrence. It was also common for dozens of people to die from drinking fake liquor.
Even in the big shopping malls, there were hundreds of brands of liquor, but there were only a few authentic liquor.
When Li He had just returned from the Soviet Union, he wanted to stock up on Maotai. But all the bottles he bought from a nearby state-owned store were fake. He didn't believe it and drove around the city. He tried to find a few boxes of Maotai, but he couldn't find any authentic bottles!
What's more, he had bought fake bottles from his own department store!
He wanted to kill Lu Bo on the spot!
He could still remember Lu Bo's aggrieved look.
"I can't sell the real ones. The fakes are cheap."
"Burn all the fakes!" Li He smashed the computer in Lu Bo's office.
"Ah!" Lu Bo's heart ached.
"One more fake bottle. Go back to your stall."
Li He did not give Lu Bo any room for negotiation.
In 1992, there was a "China Quality Tour". The target was low to mid grade Baijiu.
Of course, it was not only Baijiu. From laundry detergents to cosmetics to medicine, all the state-owned factories, small workshops, and black dens were producing and selling fakes. The market was full of fakes.
He didn't even know that He Fang had been using the fake White Cat detergent for more than a month.
He washed his face, drank a pot of water, and went to the toilet twice before he felt better.
At night, Li Zhi called for dinner and saw the Linshui liquor on the table. He opened the bottle cap and sniffed it. He doesn't care about the other party and refused to drink it.
"Change it. I am not used to this liquor."
He was a world-class tycoon. If he were to die from methanol poisoning, it would be a shame!
Liu Four also sniffed. As an old drunkard, his nose was more sensitive than Li He's. Moreover, he didn't know how many years he had been drinking this kind of inferior liquor. Because it was cheap, he often drank it. It left a deep impression on him.
"Ang, go to my house."
He asked Li Ang to go to his house to move the liquor.
"Uncle, Uncle Si, I have it at home." Li Ang looked at his father Li Zhi.
"Then go with your Uncle Si." Li Zhi also knew that Liu Four and the others were picky and couldn't drink bad liquor. Although he had made money from the stock market, his two sons had not completed their mission. He didn't dare to spend money on food and drinks.
Liu Chuanqi and a group of team leaders also came. It was a lively night.
He asked Li He a serious question. "Our primary school doesn't accept tuition fees. Everyone in Shangba and Hewan sent their children here."
"Then accept them all. If you don't have enough money, I still have more." Li He answered without thinking.
"In the beginning, we could accept a few due to human relations. But we only have a few classrooms from the first grade to the eighth grade. It would be terrible if they sent all of them here." Liu Chuanqi smiled bitterly. In order to save a few dollars in tuition fees, parents dared to let their children walk five or six miles. "If we really let them go, the schools in Shangba will be empty. They won't be able to recruit a single student. What about the teachers? "
Li He covered his forehead and said with a big tongue, "Ask the commune tomorrow. Oh, no, it's called the town now. Ask the town how much it costs. I'll pay for it …"
"Ah … You must have drunk too much …" Liu Chuanqi was speechless. How much money did he have to pay for all the schools in the village? Li Village alone cost more than twenty thousand a year.
But before he could continue, Li He hurriedly waved his hand. "No, no, wrong …"
"That's right. You can't burn so much money." Liu Chuanqi breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm thinking of taking over the entire county. I'll take over all the elementary schools in this area."
"Are you confused?" Liu Chuanqi was anxious.
"Is He Jun still in the county?"
"He went to the province a long time ago."
Li He didn't care. "Who's in charge in the county now? Give me an idea. I'll pay for it. It'll mainly be used for the renovation of the school buildings and teacher subsidies."
"Why don't we talk about it tomorrow?" Liu Chuanqi thought Li He really drank too much.
Li He shook his head. "As I said, no matter how poor we are, we can't lack education. No matter how hard it is, we can't let our children suffer. It's just money. We have it."
This was his firm belief.
Liu Chuanqi said, "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Go back to sleep first."
Their voices were a little loud. The others had gathered around, so it wasn't appropriate to say more.
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