Chen Chu took a taxi to a place relatively close to Shao Xiaodong, then got out and drove around in circles before finally arriving at the residential building.
Better safe than sorry; it's always better to be cautious than not. After all, there's no harm in being careful.
Chen Chu went upstairs, where Long Qi was already asleep.
Hearing the door open, Long Qi rolled over and jumped up.
Then he walked to the door and asked softly, "Who is it..."
"I, Chen Chu, forgot to call you, and I don't have a key to this door..."
Long Qi opened the door and said, "Why didn't we just have a drink here? Why did we have to go to Ji Yang's bunch of good-for-nothings? Sigh..."
Chen Chu smiled faintly, then asked, "Seventh Brother, I've thought about going to DL to fight in the underground boxing match. I can go, but I need to make some preparations here. Once everything is settled, I'll leave swiftly and safely..."
Long Qi curled his lip: "Damn it! We're going to box, not to die. And you're using this 'standing up' thing. Actually, I can go by myself. I just want someone to keep me company, so we can talk while we box..."
"Um... also, I'm going to DL, but I won't be staying for long. I'll have to come back at least when school starts; I'll be going to high school..."
Long Qi shook his head and laughed, "Alright, that's your plan now. We'll see when the time comes. If you really go to DL, you probably won't want to come back. Times change. DL is a good place, isn't it...hehe..."
Chen Chu let out a sigh of relief; he didn't know what would happen next. However, when Old Man Zhang last met him, he warned him to take things easy.
However... you really can't live without making a fuss! Death brings peace, but living means you have to fight and struggle...
"Okay, we'll talk about it later. I'll go back and get ready in a couple of days, then we'll leave..."
"Great, brother! I'll wait for your reply!" Long Qi gave Chen Chu a high five.
In the world of martial arts... or rather, in ancient times, there was a kind of trust called a high-five oath, which was a trust established between gentlemen by striking each other's hands.
Of course, in the underworld, one also values credibility and loyalty.
...
Shao Xiaodong's house was about 80 square meters, and Chen Chu didn't want to stay there, so he went back that night.
At night, he rode slowly, and as he rode, the sky became overcast and snowflakes began to fall.
Chen Chu was caught off guard, but thinking about it, it made sense. It was already November; it would be abnormal if it didn't snow.
Chen Chu didn't dare to ride too fast. It wasn't too cold on this snowy day; it would only get cold after the snow stopped.
The snowflakes gradually grew larger, and then it started snowing heavily.
Chen Chu was relieved that his brick house was finished, while Ma Xiaohe's and Zhu Na's houses were almost done as well.
Building houses requires a lot of manpower, but it's also faster.
He rode all the way home, and when Chen Chu pushed the motorcycle into the house, he saw that he had already made a deep rut outside.
Chen Chu glanced at the time and saw that it was still early, so he hung a wooden board on the wall and began practicing flying needles.
The silver needle was very light. It was thrown by the user using their breath, and with such a small, precise motion, the needle pierced the opponent's body, even piercing Dao Duo's hand in a moment of desperation.
Chen Chu exhaled, touched the jade thumb ring on his middle finger, and then began to calmly throw the needles. At first, the direction of each needle was not easy to control and it always went astray, but gradually, the accuracy of the needles was found.
One by one, the needles pierced the wooden board, their shafts swaying slightly up and down.
Chen Chu couldn't help but take out his own sewing needle and try it out. He could apply the force, but he could never find the right direction. It worked when he was close to the target, but it didn't work when he was far away.
I thought to myself, "Forget it, I'll just use acupuncture needles. They're easier to carry; I can just put them in my wristband. I can also say I'm an acupuncturist, which will be a good excuse."
After practicing for three hours, Chen Chu had the help of the jade thumb ring. In fact, the jade thumb ring was meant to calm his mind, allow him to accumulate experience, and then channel his energy to his wrist before releasing the silver needles.
After flying the silver needles back and forth countless times, Chen Chu's wrists felt sore and numb. He then put away the silver needles and, seeing that it was almost one o'clock, hurriedly went to sleep.
At six o'clock in the morning, Chen Chu woke up naturally. He was about to go to the field to practice a set of boxing when he saw that the heavy snow had almost blistered his feet.
In some places, the mud is ten centimeters deep, which means the road is practically closed off, and people don't dare ride motorcycles anymore.
Just then, a tall man, wearing only a vest despite the cold weather, started sweeping the village road from a distance with a large broom.
Chen Chu shaded his eyes with his hand and looked over; it was indeed Yan San.
Chen Chu let out a breath, thinking to himself, "Could it be that Yan San, that damn kid, has really reformed? Damn it! The national prison couldn't educate this kid. I and Ji Yang almost beat him to death twice, but it was nothing compared to Widow Sun's two sweet laughs."
Holy crap! That's fucking 13 power... It's fucking incredibly strong, so strong it's brutal...
Chen Chu breathed a sigh of relief. The snow had stopped in the morning, and the northwest wind was blowing fiercely. Fortunately, the farmers had all rushed to harvest their crops recently, otherwise this sudden snowfall would have destroyed them. The vehicles hauling back the corn stalks were all grateful to Chen Chu. If the road hadn't been repaired in advance, and another snowfall occurred, all the vehicles would have been stuck inside.
The snowdrift was riddled with tire tracks from the morning traffic, and Yan San would scrub the areas he couldn't sweep with his large shovel a few times before continuing to sweep.
When he swept to Chen Chu's door, his head was covered in steaming sweat.
Yan San, still shaking his big black head, grinned at Chen Chu and said, "Good morning, Deputy Village Chief Chen..."
Chen Chu chuckled, thinking to himself that Yan San had truly turned over a new leaf. People can change; as time goes by, a good person might turn into a bad one, but a bad person might turn into a good one. Today is today, but tomorrow is an unknown.
Seize today, and tomorrow will always be full of hope and aspiration.
Chen Chu sighed, feeling somewhat sentimental. After a simple meal, he arrived at the brigade headquarters early. By then, his uncle Xu Guozhong had already lit the small boiler in the brigade headquarters, making the room warm and cozy. Chen Chu realized that he hadn't been there yesterday afternoon.
A pile of coal had already been stacked in the yard, which was obviously brought by the village chief, Zhang Cai.
He couldn't help but go into the village chief's office and start adjusting the broadcast system.
"Puff puff puff... Buzz buzz buzz... Hello hello hello..."
The old broadcast echoed with a series of "whoosh whoosh" sounds. Chen Chu began, "Attention villagers of Xiaoyangshu Village! Attention villagers of Xiaoyangshu Village! We... well, we welcomed our first snowfall of the winter this morning... or rather, last night! Because the last one doesn't count. In this place called Hancheng, autumn and winter are unpredictable. We rely on snowfall to tell if it's autumn or winter. And in this unpredictable weather... woof woof woof... pat pat pat, puff puff puff..."
Chen Chu patted the broken machine; it really wasn't working properly. After patting it a few more times, it worked again.
"As I was saying, in such unpredictable weather, there is still warmth and kindness! Comrade Yan San, a villager from Xiaoyangshu Village, got up very early this morning, probably before dawn. What was he doing?"
...
At that moment, all the villagers in Xiaoyangshu Village heard the broadcast at home. Pan Feng scoffed, "What's going on? Either they're watching women urinate or they're watching Widow Sun take a bath..."
Chen Chu said, "They're shoveling snow! Comrade Yan San didn't even bother to rest. He's been shoveling snow all morning so everyone can have a good path. He's swept not only the main roads in the village but also the villagers' walkways... This spirit is something every villager should learn from. This is the spirit that the villagers of Xiaoyangshu Village should have, and this is the spirit of Xiaoyangshu Village!"
...
Chen Chubo broadcasted, babbling on and on. Even though this thing is a soft knife that doesn't hurt much, it cuts people hard. You can't really be powerful if you jump up and down and curse, but this soft and weak insult is too powerful!
Chen Chu's words brought tears to Yan San's eyes.
These men, in their late thirties or early forties, felt a surge of warmth in their hearts and a burning passion in their chests, even in the midst of heavy snow.
His face flushed red as he listened to the praise on the radio. Like a donkey, he swept with all his might. When he reached Widow Sun's door, he lowered his head in embarrassment and continued sweeping. Widow Sun quietly came out and watched Yan San sweeping with gusto at the gate. She smiled slightly, but her eyes also showed a hint of panic.
As Yan San swept, he thought to himself, "Yan San, you were a bastard before, you have to work hard from now on..."
Just then, Wang Xiaoyan's car got stuck in a snowdrift, and Yan San quickly threw down his broom and went over to help push the car.
The heavy snow basically knocked all the corn stalks and other crops out of the fields.
Yan San also swept the threshing ground clean, so that anyone who wanted to thresh mung beans could do so there.
According to the general experience of ordinary people, the first snowfall is usually short-lived and will melt away in a few days. Sure enough, the sun came out in the afternoon.
The snow was mostly gone after being compacted by vehicles.
When the villagers started harvesting mung beans, they would spread the mung bean pods on the threshing floor and press them down with a roller or by turning a four-wheeled cart around in circles. This way, the mung beans would pop out of the pods...
...
At this moment, village chief Zhang Cai walked in and said to Chen Chu, "Um... Chen Chu, winter has arrived, and the New Year isn't far away. Well, the township wants to nominate two outstanding young people from our village... The township is selecting ten outstanding young people in total, and with seven natural villages in our township, each village can have one and a half slots. Hehe, didn't our village sign a contract with Joyoung Group for 200,000 jin of mung beans last time? That means we can have two slots... I've decided, one..."
At this moment, Xu Guozhong said from behind, "Village chief! I have to be included..."
Zhang Cai was startled and never expected Xu Guozhong to suddenly appear from behind him.
Xu Guozhong usually arrived early, for a simple reason: if he arrived late, his wife would drag him to work.
His wife was tall and big, and quite fat; she could strangle Xu Guozhong with one hand.
Xu Guozhong was afraid of his wife, but people in the countryside valued official positions. No matter how high or low Xu Guozhong's official rank was, as long as he was in charge of the village, he was just as powerful and influential as someone in the government office.
So his wife felt proud and took over all the housework by herself.
Xu Guozhong would spend his free time bragging and chatting in the village office, and he would embezzle small amounts of money to go out and find prostitutes, or go to the cornfield with Ma Xiaohe's second aunt, Pan Feng.
Therefore, he arrived early to avoid labor.
Zhang Cai exhaled and said, "What are you doing, Lao Xu? What makes you think you deserve to be one of the top ten youths in the township? You think you're an outstanding youth? If our township ever selects the top ten outstanding old men, you'll be one of them..."