HPDBC Chapter 1935 Don't meddle in social affairs
Chapter 1935 Don't meddle in social affairs
Chapter 1935 Don't meddle in social affairs
As fellow villagers, Han Shusheng and Zhai Guoyi, seeing the miserable state of the three members of the Bai family, quickly took over the stretcher and helped the Bai family transport Bai Zhijie to the Third Work Section.
Half an hour later, the six men arrived at the third work section, by which time Bai Zhijie had already passed out.
Section Chief Chen Liangyou is not here today, but there is a Jiefang truck in Section 3 at this time.
The situation was urgent, and the driver let the Bai family members get in the car without hesitation. The forest farm was closed for the day, and there was no one at the clinic; he was going to take the Bai family down the mountain back to their village.
When the Bai family saw Bai Zhijie off to the back of the car, Han Shusheng pulled Zhai Guozhu aside and whispered, "Zhuzi, you should go back with them too."
"Huh?" Zhai Guozhu was taken aback and said, "Brother Sheng, what would I go back for? I'm still on duty."
"Still working like a chicken feather?" Han Shusheng said irritably, "There were some black bears over there, and the Bai family took care of them all. You still dare to go over there?"
"I..." Hearing Han Shusheng's words, Zhai Guozhu asked in return, "Brother Sheng, what am I supposed to do when I get back?"
"Go back to Old Zhou's house," Han Shusheng said. "Secretary Zhou and Jianjun are both home today. Just look for Jianjun."
Han and Zhai both lived in Yongshengtun and were familiar with Zhou Jianjun.
Upon hearing Han Shusheng's words, Zhai Guozhu understood that he was being instructed to contact Team Leader Zhao through Zhou Jianjun.
Zhai Guozhu immediately agreed. After instructing Han Shusheng to be careful, Zhai Guozhu got into the Jiefang truck.
When Zhai Guozhu returned to Yongsheng Village, it was already noon. He hurriedly went to the Zhou family and told the Zhou father and son what had happened.
Zhou Chunming didn't react much to the news that the Bai family gang had been dealt with by Black Bear.
Every year, there are incidents of hikers being injured by bears in the forest area, but compared to other years, there have been far fewer such incidents this year.
Zhou Chunming felt that this was largely related to the spring hunt, and of course, Zhao Jun and the forestry security team also deserved credit.
But according to Zhai Guozhu, when he and Han Shusheng patrolled that area of the mountain, Zhou Chunming was also worried that these two younger villagers would be attacked by a black bear.
After all, for the forest farm, injuring a few wild animals doesn't require them to handle the aftermath, but if a forest ranger is injured by a bear while patrolling the forest, that's a work-related injury. If they encounter someone who tries to deny responsibility, the forest farm might end up supporting them for the rest of their life.
In the past, Zhou Chunming would have found this situation troublesome. But now, with a wave of his hand, Zhou Chunming had Zhou Jianjun ride a bicycle to take Zhai Guozhu to Yong'an to find Zhao Jun.
Zhou Jianjun had just visited the Zhao family that morning and knew that Zhao Jun was leaving tomorrow. But since his father had spoken, Zhou Jianjun had no choice but to comply.
When Zhou Jianjun and Zhai Guozhu arrived at the Zhao family's house, Zhao Jun was being pulled by Li Ruhai from the house into the yard.
"What are you doing, Ruhai?" Zhao Jun, not knowing what Li Ruhai was up to, asked him, "Why didn't you come back for lunch?"
"Brother, there's no time to eat!" Li Ruhai said to Zhao Jun, "Something terrible has happened!"
Hearing Li Ruhai's words, Zhao Jun smiled lightly and didn't take them to heart. The Li brothers were all like that; whenever they talked, they'd say "something's happened" or "something big has happened."
Seeing Zhao Jun's nonchalant attitude, Li Ruhai asked anxiously, "Brother, do you know I didn't eat lunch at home? What was I doing?"
"See, I just asked you that," Zhao Jun said. "Just tell me."
"Brother, Ma Lao Er asked me to inquire about something for him, and then I'll head to Yongfu," Li Ruhai said. Zhao Jun frowned and asked, "What did he ask you to inquire about?"
“It can’t be called inquiring,” Li Ruhai suddenly changed his tune, saying, “He asked me to investigate someone.”
"Who is it?" Li Ruhai's suspenseful behavior piqued Zhao Jun's curiosity.
"I'm Uncle Ma." Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun's eyes widened: "Who?"
“My dear Uncle Ma,” Li Ruhai repeated, then said, “then I discovered a shocking secret.”
Upon hearing Li Ruhai's words, Zhao Jun's expression changed. He subconsciously turned around and glanced at the front of the house, then grabbed Li Ruhai's arm and walked along the path.
After walking thirty or forty meters, Zhao Jun stopped, turned around and looked at Li Ruhai, asking, "What did you find out?"
At this moment, Li Ruhai looked around mysteriously, making Zhao Jun feel uneasy.
At this moment, Zhao Jun wondered if his father-in-law had a lover in Yongfu Village, and Li Ruhai had found out.
Immediately afterwards, Li Ruhai whispered, "My Uncle Ma has reported the flood."
"What the hell?" Zhao Jun wasn't that he didn't hear clearly, but the answer was very different from what he had imagined, which surprised him for a moment.
“My Uncle Ma reported the flood to his family.” Li Ruhai repeated himself, and Zhao Jun felt relieved after hearing this.
Reporting a flood is a local dialect term, meaning something similar to embezzling public funds.
Zhao Jun didn't take it to heart; after all, compared to having an affair, it was nothing.
What man doesn't secretly hide money from his wife? Even Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong stuffed money into their cotton-padded jackets and trousers like cotton, and in the end, nothing bad happened to them.
But then, the smile on Zhao Jun's face vanished.
Zhao Jun suddenly remembered that his father-in-law was different from Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong. Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong hid their money from hunting.
But his father-in-law... squeezed money out of the gifts his colleagues gave his family.
Zhao Jun was aware of this matter. In Ma Dafu's production workshop, whenever someone had a wedding or funeral, the workshop leaders would collect everyone's gift money and make a list before going to the banquet.
When they arrived at the household where the matter was being handled, the leader would then hand over the money, wrapped in a slip of paper, to the colleague.
Basically, every work group in the forest farm does it this way.
In matters of reciprocity, the same amount should be returned in kind. If two people are impolite, then just go along with the crowd.
Therefore, Ma Dafu had a general idea of how much money his colleagues in the workshop could bring.
So he prepared a gift list in advance. After receiving the gift lists and money from his colleagues in the workshop, Ma Dafu would find an opportunity to secretly switch the gift lists and pocket some of the money.
It's unclear whether Ma Dafu came up with this trick himself or someone taught him.
Anyway, Zhao Jun thought this move was... not very good. It was only because his mother-in-law didn't like to cause trouble and cared about her reputation. If it were a woman who valued money more, she would have made a scene long ago.
Why should I give you ten yuan and you give me five yuan back?
There's nothing wrong with making a scene, but if things escalate and it turns out the problem lies with Ma Dafu, Wang Cuihua will be too ashamed to go out.
Therefore, Ma Dafu truly understood Wang Cuihua's personality.
At this moment, Zhao Jun frowned, recalling how his father-in-law had caused such a blunder in his previous life.
As he pondered this, Zhao Jun looked at Li Ruhai.
"What did you find out?" Zhao Jun asked. Li Ruhai stepped forward and whispered in Zhao Jun's ear, "My Uncle Ma is accepting a gift from a colleague. He's supposed to accept ten yuan, but when he gets home he tells my mother he only accepts five."
At that moment, Zhao Jun's head was buzzing.
The revelation of this matter in the previous life occurred after Ma Yang's marriage, when Li Ruhai brought up the matter of giving Ma Yang a wedding gift at Zhao Jun's house.
When Ma Yang got married, his salary increased, and the amount of money given as a wedding gift also increased, usually to ten, thirty, or fifty yuan.
Li Ruhai said that his father-in-law should normally have written thirty. But when he heard that he was going to write fifty, his father-in-law also wrote fifty.
Hearing Li Ruhai's words, Ma Ling was stunned. Just two days earlier, she had heard Wang Cuihua say that Hu Guanglai was dishonest and not as good as her son-in-law, who had only given her thirty yuan.
Ma Ling suspected that Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua had made a mistake in keeping the accounts, but when she went home and told Wang Cuihua, she uncovered a 30-year-old embezzlement case in her family.
At the time, no one said a word, and Li Ruhai didn't know what was going on. But now that Li Ruhai knows, if he spreads the word, Ma Dafu will be out of a job at the forest farm.
"Ruhai, how did you know?" Zhao Jun asked Li Ruhai with a serious expression. "Who said what in Yongfu?"
“No, brother.” Li Ruhai laughed. “Ma Er said that this morning Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma were arguing. They said that Uncle Hu in their workshop is stingy. Uncle Ma always writes him ten yuan, and then he only returns five yuan. After that, Ma Er asked me to find out what’s going on.”
"No? Is he out of his mind? Why is he asking about this?" Hearing Li Ruhai's words, Zhao Jun's temper flared up immediately. Wasn't Ma Yang's behavior just a bunch of nonsense?
"Anyway, I just asked around." Seeing Zhao Jun's anger, Li Ruhai quickly said, "But don't worry, brother, I didn't go up and ask directly. When I got to Yongfu, I happened to run into my old... that Aunt Hu, who was coming back from the market with a few old women."
I know them all, and we chatted over. I steered the conversation toward gift-giving, and then I asked Aunt Hu, "How do my Uncle Hu and his colleagues in the same workshop give their gifts?"
Aunt Hu said that the minimum wage in their workshop was ten yuan. If you had a particularly good relationship with someone, or... had a special connection with them, then you'd get twenty yuan.
After that, I asked her, "Are you and Uncle Ma's family colleagues?" Aunt Hu said yes, and that she and Uncle Ma's family always exchanged gifts of ten yuan each time they visited each other.
As soon as I heard that, I knew it must be my Uncle Ma who had called home to report the flood.
When Li Ruhai said his last words, his little face was full of pride.
Zhao Jun's lips twitched, and he hurriedly asked Li Ruhai, "Ruhai, you didn't tell them anything else, did you?"
"No, brother." Li Ruhai smiled and said, "Don't worry, I've found out about this matter, and I haven't told anyone. I came back to report to you as soon as possible."
Hearing Li Ruhai say this, Zhao Jun pressed further, "Ruhai, you really didn't tell anyone else?"
"Huh?" Li Ruhai was taken aback and said, "Brother, why don't you believe me?"
"No, no," Zhao Jun quickly denied. In fact, Li Ruhai had been performing quite well recently. But this matter was too big to afford even the slightest mistake.
At this moment, Li Ruhai solemnly pledged his loyalty to Zhao Jun, saying, "Brother, I would tell anyone about other people's business. But... it's my sister-in-law's family matter. Even if you beat me to death, I can't tell anyone."
“That’s right!” Zhao Jun raised his hand and patted Li Ruhai’s shoulder heavily, then said, “Ruhai, this is someone else’s business, you can’t say anything, because this matter is too big.”
"Yeah, big brother, I know." Li Ruhai laughed, "They say a good bird chooses a good tree to perch on, and I've improved a lot since I started following you."
"Okay, okay." Zhao Jun nodded and took out some money from his pocket.
Seeing Zhao Jun take out money, Li Ruhai quickly waved his hand and said, "Brother, I'm not doing this for the money, I'm doing this for you."
"Take it." Without saying a word, Zhao Jun stuffed five ten-yuan bills into Li Ruhai's hand and instructed, "Ruhai, remember, just pretend you know nothing about this."
"Yes!" Li Ruhai nodded emphatically, then said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, don't worry."
"Alright, go back inside and eat." After saying that, Zhao Jun walked out of the courtyard.
After leaving the Zhao family compound, Zhao Jun headed straight for the Ma family.
In her previous life, when this incident was exposed, Wang Cuihua shut herself in and argued with Ma Dafu for several days, but no outsiders knew about it.
If Wang Cuihua knew that Li Ruhai had discovered this, she would definitely not let Ma Dafu off so easily.
When Zhao Jun arrived at the Ma family's house, Ma Dafu was chatting with his neighbor at the door.
Upon seeing Zhao Jun arrive, Ma Dafu was taken aback. He quickly left his neighbor and invited Zhao Jun into the house.
"Dad, I'm not going in. I'll just say a few words to you and then leave." Zhao Jun pulled Ma Dafu aside and told him about Ma Yang's request to Li Ruhai.
After hearing this, Ma Dafu's face turned all sorts of colors.
"Dad," Zhao Jun said to Ma Dafu, "I've already told Ru Hai not to tell anyone about this. Now, regarding Xiao Yang, don't let him investigate any further."
Zhao Jun left after speaking, believing that the matter could be resolved if his father-in-law handled it properly.
At least in their past life, Zhao Jun and Ma Ling spent Ma Dafu's ill-gotten gains. And now, if Ma Dafu needs to return the stolen money, Zhao Jun and Ma Ling still have the funds.
After Zhao Jun left, Ma Dafu stood there for a while before walking into his house.
When Ma Dafu entered the house, Ma Yang came out of the west room yawning.
He went to the Zhao family's house for a meeting in the morning and didn't return until after lunch. He took a nap in his room as soon as he got home.
"Dad's back!" Ma Yang greeted Ma Dafu, then called out to the east room, "Mom, what's for dinner?"
"Pretty, wow!" A furious curse rang in Ma Yang's ears, followed by a "slap" sound. He was spun around on the spot, and a red, swollen handprint appeared on his right cheek.
Ma Yang: "..."
……
When Zhao Jun arrived home, he met Zhou Jianjun and Zhai Guozhu who had come by bicycle.
Although he was puzzled as to why his brother-in-law had come again, Zhao Jun, being a guest, quickly invited them into his home.
Everyone was surprised by Zhou Jianjun's return, but after hearing the news brought by Zhai Guozhu, they all turned their attention to Zhao Jun.
We have to go down the mountain tomorrow, how can we have time to hunt bears?
But Zhao Jun still agreed to the task; there was no other way, and it was perfectly reasonable to turn to him when something like this happened.
Zhao Jun knew that the area he had dug would attract a lot of bears recently. So he repeatedly instructed Zhai Guozhu to remind the forest rangers near Qingshilazi to try to avoid going there as much as possible.
After seeing Zhou Jianjun and Zhai Guozhu off, Zhao Jun said to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, I reckon that black bear will head for our hideout tonight."
We have to go out again tomorrow. What am I thinking? Let my uncle and the others rest at home. Tonight, the two of us will go and stake out this bear cub, and beat him to death.
Zhao Jun thought that Zhao Youcai would definitely agree to this without hesitation.
To Zhao Jun's surprise, Zhao Youcai refused him without hesitation, saying, "I'm not going!"