With this discovery, Du Heng’s hands and feet were shaking with excitent.
He never expected that on the day before the New Year, he would experience such an unexpected surprise. Things like a monthly inco of 100,000 yuan, or the seemingly unreachable goal of 200,000 yuan, were no longer an issue. Even with the current promotion standards of the system, an annual inco of one million or ten million yuan was not a dream anymore. However, this was not the key point. He wanted the rewards that were to co. He wanted to see what the rewards for the Five Senses Departnt were and what the so-called "Pharmaceutical Expertise" was different from his current understanding of drug properties. He also wanted to see what other rewards the system might have after these. He wondered if the system would let him conquer all diseases, even terminal ones.
Thinking of this, he suddenly beca very interested in the idea that Liao Quansheng had brought up so ti ago. The urge to contact Lawyer Zhou and Liao Quansheng suddenly surfaced in his mind, and this desire grew stronger and stronger.
Du Heng knew he should calm down, not to be too excited, or even impulsive. After taking a deep breath, he tried hard to suppress his stirred emotions.
But thinking of a monthly inco of millions or tens of millions, it was impossible to suppress the restless feelings. He was so emotional that he wanted to shout out loud.
Looking at the people filling the hall, Du Heng turned around and walked towards his office. I can’t lose my composure, not in front of everyone, was the only thought in his mind.
He quickly returned to his office and shut the door behind him, clenching his fists in excitent and agitation. This excitent lasted for almost five minutes before gradually calming down.
Returning to his seat, he took two large gulps of the nearly cold tea, finally managing to completely suppress the restless fire in his heart.
Just then, the office door was pushed open, and Gong Daoyang entered, looking exhausted.
Seeing the weary Gong Daoyang, Du Heng quickly stood up to get him a glass of water. "Gong, what happened? Were you fighting the fire too?"
Gong Daoyang took the bottle of mineral water mixed with cold water and downed it in one gulp. "I didn’t fight the fire." He then plopped down on the sofa and took off his hat.
Du Heng got another glass of water and placed it in front of Gong Daoyang, asking in confusion, "Then what were you doing that made you so tired?"
"Well, even though I didn’t go to extinguish the fire, I did sothing similar." Gong Daoyang leaned weakly against the sofa. "We went to the back mountain, to Zojiwa Village and other villages, to help the villagers prepare for evacuation."
"But the fire didn’t spread there, did it? Why evacuate?"
Gong Daoyang rolled his eyes. "You make it sound so easy. It hasn’t spread there *yet*. But if we wait until it does before evacuating, do you think there’d still be ti?"
He sighed. "That side of the mountain is all grassland. The fire creeps along the ground, and with the snow, it burns a bit slower. But this side, the back mountain, is full of trees! The fallen leaves are almost half a ter thick. If there’s even a tiny spark, believe it or not, it’ll reach the foot of the mountain in less than three minutes! By that ti, forget about moving large valuables; people wouldn’t even be able to escape."
I was being shallow, Du Heng realized and quickly shut up, not daring to question Gong Daoyang and his team’s work further.
Gong Daoyang was just venting; it wasn’t that he particularly resented the work he’d just done. Moving the villagers’ belongings was a necessary task. If the people from Wangjiazui hadn’t appeared like divine soldiers descending from heaven and cut off the fire from above, who knew if the fire would have spread to the back mountain?
After resting for a while, Gong Daoyang asked Du Heng, "Where are Ma Yuanghai and his son? Are they still in the Health Clinic?"
What’s bound to happen will happen, Du Heng thought. He nodded and said, "They are. Ma Yuanghai is having difficulty breathing and is on oxygen. His son isn’t in much trouble; he’s in the hospital room keeping Ma Yuanghai company."
Gong Daoyang put his hat back on and sighed. "Take there. I want to see their situation."
Du Heng also stood up and asked cautiously, "Are they going to be taken away?"
"From what you said, Ma Yuanghai might not be, but his son definitely will."
"Will they go to jail?"
Gong Daoyang walked slowly towards the door, saying softly, "Whether they go to jail depends on the attitude of the township and the Forestry Bureau. But detention is certain, and so are fines."
Du Heng sighed quietly, following Gong Daoyang out of the office and then taking the lead. "How much do you think the fine will be?"
"Based on what the personnel from the Forestry Bureau who ca earlier said, a conservative estimate is at least 30,000 yuan. The exact amount will depend on their on-site investigation."
Thirty thousand yuan. That would be a crippling sum for a family with a formal job, let alone for migrant workers from the countryside. Considering the average salary in Jinzhou now, a person earns just over 3,000 yuan a month, and that’s if they have a relatively good job. Even so, 30,000 yuan is an entire year’s inco, assuming they don’t spend anything on food or drink.
Du Heng sighed. Ma Yuanghai was from their village, but I’ve always been away for school and work. Ma Yuanghai’s family also worked away from ho year-round, so we weren’t very familiar with each other. But from what Big Brother said, they’re just an ordinary working-class family. Ma Yuanghai works as a security guard, his wife is a cleaner at the XX Military Region Hospital, and his son just graduated this year. How much savings could a family like that have? But then again, who is there to bla for this?
"Gong, after this is over, can we finally rest today?"
"Rest my ass! When have you ever seen us rest during holidays?" Gong Daoyang said with a sullen expression. "It’s the New Year, and all the riff-raff who’ve been out causing trouble are back. Drug users, drunks, gamblers, petty thieves, sheep stealers, and even those who get drunk and try to ss with other n’s wives—it’s all just a load of crap!"
Du Heng paused to think. Why is it that I’ve lived here for so many years and never heard of the things Gong is talking about?
"Gong, aren’t you exaggerating a bit? I’ve lived in Central Lake for almost thirty years, and I’ve never heard of such things. Is Central Lake really that chaotic?"
Gong Daoyang shot Du Heng an extrely mocking look. "Do you think too highly of your fellow villagers? Have you forgotten Du Teng and Du Da from your own Du Family, from just before the New Year? Street loafers, wannabe gangsters, drug addicts—were any of them missing from the picture?"
Du Heng was speechless, unable to find any words to refute Gong Daoyang.
Once they reached the hospital room, Du Heng gave the nurse a few instructions and then left.
I usually don’t get involved in such matters, and it’s not my place to, anyway, he thought. He went downstairs and found Du Ping, who was holding an empty mineral water bottle filled with a familiar-looking soft ointnt. Du Heng was a bit speechless. "Big Brother, you don’t need to take this. If you want so, I can get you as much as you need."
Du Ping glanced at Du Heng and screwed the cap on the mineral water bottle tightly. "Rely on you? I’d have better luck relying on a dog. When have you ever brought any of this stuff ho? I’m stashing so away now, just in case soone at ho gets a burn or sothing. Then I can use it right away without needing you."
Du Heng promptly shut his mouth. Big Brother seems a bit off today. If I say more than a couple of sentences, he’s bound to start lecturing .
He called Dong Yuezhang and asked if he could trouble his driver to take him ho again.
When he got ho, Du Heng didn’t want the driver to have made the trip for nothing, so he had his sister-in-law get a box of pre-packed at from the fridge for the driver to take with him.
"Alright, now that your business is taken care of, hurry up and clean the house. Clean both sides of the house thoroughly. Rember, we can’t use the broom again until after the third day of the New Year!" his sister-in-law announced loudly while busy preparing the dumpling filling, starting to assign chores.
Everyone in the family, young and old, eagerly picked up tools; no one dared to slack off. Even his big brother, Du Ping, grabbed a pitchfork and went to the backyard to prepare fodder for the sheep.
"Hurry up and sweep, no slacking! After sweeping, we need to put up the couplets, hang the lanterns, and then make dumplings. Pick up the pace, everyone!" Seeing that everyone was ready to start, his sister-in-law quickly laid out the subsequent tasks as well.
Is New Year’s Eve a busy day? I feel quite leisurely. If it weren’t for the incident at noon, I think all these chores would have been finished long ago. We might even be sitting on the bed now, making dumplings and watching TV. But is it really that leisurely? Not really. It feels like from the mont I opened my eyes this morning, my feet haven’t stopped moving. I’ve been constantly working, but thinking back now, it feels as if I haven’t actually accomplished anything specific.
When they finally finished all the chores and sat down together to make dumplings, Du Heng’s cell phone started buzzing incessantly with a bombardnt of ssages.
It was only at this mont that I realized just how many people I’d gotten to know over the past year, Du Heng thought.
However, most of the ssages were overly flashy and gaudy—either full of stars or fireworks animations. There was no novelty, no creativity. If I still had last year’s ssages, I’d probably find that people just changed the date to this year’s. So were even shaless enough to just copy and paste, then send it directly. And how careless could they be? They didn’t even notice that the ssage they forwarded still contained the na of the person who had sent it to *them*! Seeing ssages like that, I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Du Heng received one such ssage and imdiately called the sender. "Wei Kaida, have you no sha at all?"
"Du, what do you an? It’s the New Year! Don’t make co over there and stab you."
"You? Stab ? Where do you get the nerve? That ssage you just sent—was it a mass text?"
"What if it was? It’s a blessing, a token of goodwill!"
"Buddy, please, have so dignity. Look at whose na is in the ssage you sent! Also, I really want to know: did you send this to your Tingting? And did she ask you who this Zhou Na is?"
"****!"
Hearing the call abruptly end, Du Heng burst out laughing loudly, causing his nearby nephew and nieces to laugh along with him.
However, they didn’t notice the faint awkwardness and loneliness mixed into Du Heng’s laughter.
At least others have a girlfriend they need to explain things to, he thought. I don’t even have a single prospect.
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