Chapter 97: Who Dares to be Arrogant?

  In the depths of the mountains, one by one, the dilapidated houses can only continue to stand in the shade without sunlight when the sun rises, and the big mountain blocks the scorching sun for more than an hour.

  When the first ray of sunlight shines through the mountain top into the small village, a man wearing a black torn shirt, green military pants and yellow rubber shoes has hair covering his eyebrows, hasn't been washed for at least several days, with some dust and straw stuck to it, not to mention how disheveled he looks.

  Squatting under the big locust tree at the village entrance, with extremely sad and melancholic eyes, gazing at the dirt road leading to the outside of the mountain, wanting to rush up several times, but enduring the pain of the wound on his body again.

  Wang Hao ran twice and knew why the horse would be run to death, from the village to outside the mountain, a total of ten kilometers, relying on his body eroded by wine and meat and a pair of legs. Both times he was caught back after running not far, the thin old man and the black fat women were really cruel, beating him hard and not giving him food to eat. This is not the worst part, at night they opened the TV to play colored tapes, forcing themselves to be a kind of person. In the past two days, Wang Hao found that he had no more reaction when watching those things.

  How can I get out? How can I get out?

  From dawn till dusk, Wang Hao's mind was preoccupied with this one thing. He endured wearing shabby clothes, living in a poor place, and eating poorly, and even tolerated being bullied at night. When would such days come to an end?

  He told the couple more than once that he was a rich man and would give them one million yuan if they let him go. When saying this, Wang Hao's eyes were shining with expectation of a miracle, but every time, the miracle did not happen, and every time, he was beaten up badly.

  "With the way you are, you still have money? You're cheating a ghost! Honestly, stay here and work with me. I'll pay you for every day you work. When you've earned back the money you owe me, then you can leave."

  Wang Hao wanted to cry but had no tears. He thought of death countless times, but didn't have the courage to die; he wanted to run away countless times, but was powerless in front of the great mountains.

  He wanted to apologize, he wanted to kneel down, as long as he could get out, he would do anything, as long as he could leave this damned place, he would personally kneel down and apologize to that Eastern Young Master. Unfortunately, there was no phone here, nor any communication device, only a mailman who came once every three months. Wang Hao had no money, just over one yuan was enough to buy paper and stamps from the mailman to write a letter, but this little more than one yuan completely stumped Wang Hao. He had even deliberately tried to curry favor with the black fat woman in order to get that little more than one yuan, specially going with her to the straw field for a round, taking out some skills, enduring the disgust and making the black fat woman thoroughly happy once.

  Five yuan.

  At the beginning of his career, Wang Hao never thought that five dollars would be so hard to earn. For many years, he had never felt that he was short of money.

  Five dollars, bought three sheets of letter paper, bought three stamps and three envelopes, and wrote the addresses of the three letters to the company, home and Xiaosan's home.

  After sending out the letter, he looked forward to someone coming to rescue him and hoped that his suffering would eliminate the enemy's hatred.

  Every dusk, Wang Hao would stand on the nearby mountain top and roar in anger. He wasn't venting his emotions, but rather giving a hint to certain people that he believed were still watching him. "I've suffered enough, I'm at my limit," he'd say. "The hardships I've endured are already too much, I beg for mercy, I surrender, please let me go! If I really die, you'll also find it hard to escape responsibility."

  "What are you doing, go back home and feed the pigs." With a loud slap, Wang Hao's occipital bone was heavily slapped, and the black fat woman pulled his collar like a dead dog, dragging him towards home, his status slowly declining with his weakness.

  In the distance, a figure gradually retreated, sprinting through the mountains for over ten minutes before getting into a car by the road, inserting the memory card from the camera in hand into a laptop, and sending out the latest video about Wang Hao.

  When Zhang Shidong received the video message, he had already returned to Beihai from Mingzhu. As soon as he got off the plane, the cold air with snowflakes hit his body, and some people who were always on the move put on their long down jackets. The cold wind in Beihai in December was biting, and the heavy snowstorms that had been going on for months in the north in recent years did not affect Zhang Shidong, who still wore the same thin clothes as he did in Mingzhu. His internal energy circulation kept his body warm, and the weather and environment had little effect on him. Otherwise, if he were to swim a lap in the sea near Mingzhu in the cold winter, he would likely end up in the hospital after being soaked for an hour or two.

  He had no choice but to come back, and he came back as expected.

  The trainees in the training base finally erupted in a large-scale rebellion, and the instructors were completely unable to command them. If it weren't for the orders on their bodies, they would have left the base long ago.

  A truly powerful instructor is not the only reason, another aspect is the daily monotony and dullness, and there is also a temptation that in everyone's mind, the level of a military training base is the most special, at least the local government has no power to say three or four words about it. However, someone actually said three or four words about this military base, not only that, but even the municipal leaders were not involved, and there were anonymous letters reporting problems with land occupation, and issues with the lack of formal military approval documents. In short, they are all minor issues like finding fault in an egg, and it just so happens that when the base was established, everything was simplified, and some necessary procedures were omitted.

  Zhang Shidong didn't come back, I knew who the mastermind behind was. Who would look for trouble with a military unit for no reason? It's not that piece of land at the entrance that is set aside as Zhang Shidong's personal property. Grabbing this point is painful, even if it's the army, there's nothing to say. I can't afford to offend the military unit, so I asked, how did a piece of land become someone's? Even if it was bought, shouldn't there be normal procedures?

  Zhao Ya drove Zhang Shidong's Q7 to the airport to pick him up. It had been a while since they last met, and Zhao Ya's entire demeanor had changed. She had been putting herself through intense "training" every day - how could she not change? Wearing thermal pants and a down jacket, you could still see some changes in her figure, most noticeably in her buttocks, which were raised to the point where even thick thermal pants and outer pants couldn't hide it.

  "He wants to see you." When she saw Zhang Shidong, Zhao Ya didn't show any excitement. After the car started, Zhang Shidong reached out and held her hand, everything was self-evident.

  The vehicle did not turn onto the highway leading to Pingjiang but instead turned towards Linhu.

  In a private club, Zhang Shidong met someone he should have met long ago, the big shot of Beihai Province, Deng Jiutian, the son of the vice governor, who was not very tall but had a strong spirit and an aura that could attract women.

  Arrogant, yet not overbearing. Not standing up to greet Zhang Shidong, nor putting on a sour face for him to see, he signaled the woman kneeling and making tea beside him to also pour a cup of tea for Zhang Shidong, then first said to Zhao Ya: "Zhao Ya is getting prettier and prettier, it's been a long time since Auntie Zhao came home as a guest, I haven't seen you in many years either."

  Zhao Ya remained calm: "It's rare for Deng Shao to still remember me."

  Outside the door, Lu Feng walked in with a quivering voice and shouted: "Deng Shao." The person almost fell to the ground, but seeing Zhang Shidong, he barely gained some confidence. Since no one had asked him to sit down, he didn't dare to sit, so he stood at the door waiting for instructions.

  "Come on, Xiaofeng, sit down. We're all family, no need to be polite. When we were kids, Aunt Zhao would often bring you and Xiaoya to my house to play. I remember how many of my toys you took back then! Now everyone's busy and we've become more distant. Recently, my grandfather scolded me for not being respectful, asking why I hadn't visited Aunt Zhao at home. I thought about it and didn't want to just drop by unannounced, so I asked you two siblings to come out and check on her schedule first. I know a great Sichuan chef, we can have him make some dishes when the time is right, and everyone can try them."

  Dripping water doesn't show, but the children of officials can mix quite well, not a single fool among them. Deng Jiutian didn't ignore Zhang Shidong, but he didn't mention what he should have mentioned, instead directly attacking Zhao Ya from the front, telling her to pass on a message to Zhao Meiyou: Don't forget that you were raised by my family's old master back then; it was just Pingjiang who pushed her to her current position.

  As a person, you can't forget your roots. Now that you, Mayor Zhao, are in a high position, but my Deng family can make sugar sweet and vinegar sour. As long as the old man is still in that position, no matter if you're from the Zhao or Lu family, you'll have to obey him.

  Zhang Shidong puffed on his cigarette, leaning against the sofa with a completely limp body, without even sitting up straight.

  Zhao Ya handed the teacup to Zhang Shidong before speaking: "Young Master Deng can set a time at his convenience, anytime is fine." Lu Feng on the side had no idea what to say, and as a typical airhead, he couldn't even detect the aggressive tone hidden in his sister's seemingly ordinary words.

  Deng Jiutian nodded with a grunt, narrowing his eyes and staring at Zhao Ya: "Alright."

  According to the rules of the game within the official circle, although these people in the house are not part of the system, they should also follow this rule and play along. Deng Jiutian's father is a real power-holding deputy minister, while Zhao Mei is a real power-holding director-general. The relationship between them cannot be calculated simply by half a grade difference. Deng Jiutian has already humbled himself, so Zhao Ya should have said something like "We apologize for being slow to respond, my mother had wanted to visit earlier, but Governor Deng has been busy lately. In the next few days, I hope Deng can find some time and we'll go visit him as a family." But Zhao Ya didn't say that, and what's hidden in her words is at least not an ordinary needle.

  "Mr. Zhang, is it cold in Beihai this year?" Deng Jiutian remained calm and asked Zhang Shidong instead.

  "Uh-huh."

  "Colder up north?"

  "Below minus thirty degrees."

  "There are two friends over there who aren't living very comfortably, and they've complained to me several times. Oh right, you also know them - Tang Zhongle and Tang Zhongyu, those silly brothers. They even asked me to extend their greetings to Mr. Zhang."

  Zhang Shidong took a drag on his cigarette: "Then you have to tell them for me, live well, I also wanted to visit a friend the other day, but someone told me he's doing great, no worries about food or clothes inside, this winter will be his last, cherish it. Oh right, you know him too, Kong Xin that unlucky egg, his crimes were so severe he was sentenced to death, when the time comes for the execution, I'll invite you to go with me."

  PS: Throwing three votes, recommending votes, collecting members' clicks from friends, um... forty minutes is no problem, tender and tender forever, this blessing, what are you hesitating about!

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