Lei Tianming looked at him hesitantly and pushed him: "You were sixteen the year before last, if you continue ssing around like this, even the community will have opinions."
Xu Dajun smiled wryly and lowered his head.
"Dajun, I’m telling you this sincerely as a brother. You can’t live like a bum; we can’t embarrass our younger siblings. Go to work, in the future, half of Maotou’s dical expenses can be reimbursed."
Xu Dajun looked at the ants crawling on the ground, pinched them lightly, and they died. As Young Master Liang asked him to run an errand, he sowhat realized that if he continued down this path, he’d truly be dragged onto a pirate ship.
There’s still ti to escape now; in the future, it’ll be necessary to run as soon as Maotou’s condition stabilizes. But if there wasn’t really no way out, how could he bear to leave Beijing?
With this job, he wouldn’t have to take his younger brother to remote places to suffer, wouldn’t have to worry about losing their two rooms, nor about Maotou adapting to life elsewhere.
Thinking of various things, Xu Dajun looked up at the concerned Lei Tianming, gritted his teeth, stood up, and dusted off his pants. He looked into the distance: "Accompany for a drink."
Lei Tianming didn’t object and accompanied him to the ward to greet his mother. The two left the hospital together, bought two jin of bulk liquor on their way back to the compound.
With so snacks, the two tucked away in a secluded spot, enjoying the cool evening breeze, and downed two bowls of white wine. The silent Xu Dajun finally talked about what he was worried about.
If it were outsiders, he wouldn’t plan to say these things. But the Liang Family is powerful; he dared not provoke it, nor did he want to implicate a good brother soday.
"... A very large ancient house, during the day sotis quite a few people go there to tour. When night falls and it’s pitch dark, Young Master Liang hires five n to sneak inside."
"For , the task in the past half month was just one thing. Every night in the shadows, watching how long those five n went inside? Did they co out with anything?"
"... Later, the more I thought about it, the more it seed off; no matter how big the yard is, it shouldn’t take that long. It seems they’re looking for sothing."
Lei Tianming poured him a cup of wine, distractedly listening.
"When I found out more, I was terrified and broke into a cold sweat." Xu Dajun drank the alcohol in one gulp, "This yard is very famous, you can casually find soone to inquire for so information.
But the strange thing is, each person who ntions this yard has a peculiar expression. Later I treated people to drinks, only to learn this big yard has an owner, and it was borrowed from a high official in Beijing for local use."
Lei Tianming frowned.
"What concerns most is, one person swallowed quickly and revealed to that when the local departnt took over, soone wanted to find the rumored treasure in the yard, but hesitated to offend the family, so dared not touch it."
Lei Tianming shook his head: "A bunch of lunatics. If there’s a treasure, why would they lend it out? If there was, it would’ve been taken long ago."
"Hehe, you don’t know the story behind this, let tell you about the history of the Gu Family, then you’ll understand what’s really going on."
As Xu Dajun started talking about the well-known history of the Gu Family, Lei Tianming felt sowhat familiar, but couldn’t pinpoint it, so he listened quietly.
"... All were dead, and the house was thought ownerless. Unexpectedly, a few years ago, the family’s grandson appeared. Goodness, it’s said that rows of military vehicles drove in, stirring quite a commotion."
Military vehicles? Lei Tianming raised his hand to interrupt, "Wait, did you find out the surna of the grandson in this family?"
"Surna Zhou. Locals initially doubted whether this high official who suddenly appeared was real? Then they saw his daughter, and didn’t doubt it at all. It’s said Zhou Family’s daughter looked exactly like her grandmother, which frightened many older folks."
At this point, Lei Tianming had already guessed nine out of ten tis it was his Sister Zhou Jiao. He was so close to Zhang Guoqing and his wife, how could he not know these inside stories? Moreover, his current job was arranged by Sister Zhou Jiao, who was pregnant at the ti, and pressured him to enroll in night school.
No wonder it felt so familiar. Doesn’t it an the Liang Family’s scoundrel has set sights on Sister Zhou Jiao’s house? Upon this thought, Lei Tianming’s eyes flashed with a fierce gleam.
He raised the bowl for a sip, casually asking: "Really a treasure? Did they find anything?"
"Not a thing! Spent a month’s ti and found nothing. I don’t know what the five n told him, he then let co back."
Lei Tianming thoughtfully inquired: "Upon returning, did he ask you to do anything else? This matter is too dangerous, best to cut cleanly sooner rather than later."
"He asked to visit him in a couple of days. Probably sothing shady for to do again. I’m just worried about getting too entangled with him and being unable to extricate myself, but Maotou still relies on his help. Beyond money, we need a kind of imported penicillin. The doctor treating Maotou has applied several tis and there’s still no dicine."
"If you had the dicine, would you still look for the Liang Family?"
Xu Dajun shook his head: "If there was any other way, who’d want to be treated like a dog? I originally thought to get the dicine, once Maotou was well, I’d take him to support the frontier, at that ti, no matter how powerful he got, he couldn’t manipulate ."
Lei Tianming pondered and asked: "Do you still rember the year Xiao Hui nearly couldn’t be saved?"
How could Xu Dajun forget? His younger brother Maotou also fell ill that year; otherwise, how could things turn serious like abdominal dropsy now?
"That year, besides Xiao Hui being in critical condition, my mom was also close to not surviving. The two stead buns you gave us were simred into porridge, forcing us three siblings to eat them for half a month." Saying this, Lei Tianming cast a grateful glance at him. Those two stead buns were what Xu Dajun snatched, risking much from his own sister to share half with his family.
"One day, sobs echoed from the neighboring yard; seeing Erwa’s small body, I realized I could no longer stand by idly, tomorrow Xiao Hui might end up like Erwa.
We sold everything we could, and I ran to the black market to sell blood. Naïve was I to believe there were many wealthy folk there, surely so with kind hearts. I’ll never forget the despair then, kneeling in the snow; despite so many people in the black market carrying goods, no one lifted a hand.
But I couldn’t leave; not knowing what place, tomorrow whether my sister could survive out there? Would my mom hold on? Would my brother also fall, like my sister?
Kneeling there, my whole body numb from the cold, just as I almost saw my dad smilingly reaching for , suddenly ca a couple." Lei Tianming’s face was already full of tears.
"The man took off his military coat and embraced ; the woman yelled ahead to hurry to the hospital. When I woke up, realizing I wasn’t dreaming. That long-desired IV was in my arm, steaming porridge slled enticingly on the bedside. Later, this couple saved my family’s four lives."
"I’ll never forget the ethereal beauty and urgency of Sister Zhou Jiao telling Brother Xiao Wu to quickly go to my ho. When Xiao Hui was carried back by Brother Xiao Wu, the doctor said another day and this child would’ve been gone."
Lei Tianming took a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the tears off his face, raised the bowl and drank this wine in one gulp. Since escaping the traffickers at age six, being adopted by the Lei Family, he was lucky to encounter that couple in this lifeti.
"Son, mother will watch over you in heaven to overco hurdle after hurdle until you find your father. You must live, harboring hope to live on; to live is to hold onto hope. There are always good-hearted people in this world..."
In his childhood, the dying words of his mother gradually materialized: clinging to hope indeed led to unexpected survival.
Beside him, Xu Dajun listening to him recount this past, ntioning Sister Zhou Jiao, recalled the lady he t a few tis before. Surna Zhou? His mind caught a beat, springing up.
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