Chapter 1872 - 335: 9

A new dish was prepared, brought to the offering table by Big White Rat.

When the table before them appeared, Su Luo and Qing'an each took a bite with their chopsticks.

Su Luo: "It's indeed more delicious."

Big White Rat: "Hehehe!"

Qing'an: "It shows that the rat wasn't putting much effort before."

Big White Rat: "..."

...

The next morning, Li Zhiyuan woke up before dawn.

The days of extreme fatigue finally caught up with him, and suddenly having a day of rest felt rather strange.

It seems that adjusting his biological clock will take some time.

He carried a basin to the terrace water jar to freshen up.

Alii came up the stairs.

Li Zhiyuan wiped his face with a towel, looked at the girl, and felt she was as fresh as the morning dew.

Seeing the boy back to his early routine made Alii smile.

She wasn't worried about his health, knowing the boy had a purpose, indicating his goals had been achieved.

The boy and the girl sat on the wicker chairs and began playing chess.

They played until the sun gradually rose, making the chessboard glint sharply.

Aunt Liu was leaning against the kitchen door, snacking on sunflower seeds, as if making up for missed flavors.

Uncle Qin came out from the west room; he wasn't going to the fields today and would soon take Xiong Shan, Run Sheng, Zhuangzhuang, and Ah You to repair the water channel.

"Isn't anyone making breakfast?"

Aunt Liu glanced at Uncle Qin: "Isn't the village providing breakfast for the water channel construction?"

Uncle Qin: "They hand out two rolls per person, enough for me, but not enough for those three."

Aunt Liu clapped her hands and went into the kitchen.

Breakfast was already prepared, and soon Aunt Liu's voice echoed from downstairs:

"Time to eat breakfast."

Being away from home wasn't too bad, but hearing Aunt Liu's voice after days at home felt missed.

Li Zhiyuan took Ali's hand and went downstairs for breakfast.

Run Sheng and the others were up as well, each with a basin, Run Sheng had porridge, Tan Wenbin had dumplings, Ah You had noodles.

Li Sanjiang lit a cigarette, jokingly said:

"It's like feeding your own mule well before sending it to grind for the public."

Building the irrigation channel was a village affair; every household either contributed a worker or money. Li Sanjiang's family sent five people, even counting Big Beard's family; that's still less than three mules, definitely a gain for the public.

After breakfast, Uncle Qin took everyone to work.

Li Weihan was there too, Cui Guiying helped with cooking, distributing the freshly steamed rolls.

Near noon, Aunt Zhang ran over, shouting to Li Weihan and Cui Guiying:

"Something's wrong, Pan Hou and Lei Hou had an accident!"

This shout startled Li Weihan, and turned Cui Guiying's face pale.

Everyone knew Panzi and Leizi worked in the foundry; not only was it dirty and tiring, but they also had to pour molten iron.

The massive blast furnace stood tall, first loading materials inside, then using a large pot to catch the scalding iron; any error could lead to fatal accidents.

Tan Wenbin motioned for Lin Shuyou to comfort the elderly before he ran to the small shop to make a call.

The call was from Xingren Town's Longxing Machinery Factory. After clarifying the situation, Tan Wenbin also breathed a sigh of relief.

The two weren't involved in an accident at the factory, and it wasn't related to molten iron. A few days prior, the factory collaborated with another factory from another province on a project, and Liang Jun took Panzi and Leizi along.

This kind of cooperation included some travel benefits, supposedly a good thing; however, while staying at the arranged guesthouse, the three somehow got poisoned.

Currently, they were still under emergency treatment there, and the Xingren factory, fearing potential issues, informed their relatives first, offering to cover expenses for them to visit.

The collaborating factory was located in Luoyang.

After hanging up, Tan Wenbin realized that this was Langhua coming.

After calming Li Weihan and Cui Guiying, Tan Wenbin quickly ran home to report to Brother Xiao Yuan.

After listening, Li Zhiyuan nodded: "Let's get ready and head to Luoyang."

Panzi and Leizi shouldn't be in serious trouble; if Jiang Shui pushed them to Luoyang as Langhua, there was no need to go to extremes. Or, perhaps considering his face... even Merit, the factory might be keeping Panzi alive for his sake.

Tan Wenbin: "Brother Xiao Yuan, I'll go inform your grandpa and the two uncles, saying that we often travel and deal with authorities, so we can represent them to see Panzi."

There was something Tan Wenbin didn't mention but would certainly tell the uncles later: in the worst-case scenario, they could help negotiate compensation and make the factory take responsibility.

Li Zhiyuan: "Okay."

Tan Wenbin went to negotiate, Run Sheng stayed to finish the work, and Lin Shuyou was assigned to prepare for the trip.

On the way back, they passed Granny Hua's house again.

In the neighboring house, Sun Caijuan's place, there was an argument.

Sun Caijuan's sharp, shrill voice came from inside:

"How would I know why that bastard didn't send money this month? Why would I know? Go find him, why ask me? Didn't I spend all my money on the whole family? I don't owe you!"

"Slap!"

The sound of a slap was heard.

"Shameless hussy, having affairs and getting pregnant is shameful enough, but now you can't even get money; you're ruining our family's reputation!"

Lin Shuyou paused to think.

Sun Caijuan, covering her face, ran out and saw Lin Shuyou standing below her yard.

"I don't want to live anymore, don't stop me, let me die in peace!"

Sun Caijuan cried as she rushed down the yard. The yard was large and the road was wide, but she deliberately ran past Lin Shuyou towards the pond opposite, intending to drown herself.

However, as she passed by Lin Shuyou, he didn't stop her. Ah You pondered whether this would change Langhua from an apparent mishap to a real one?

In Brother Xiao Yuan's "Walking River Behavior Regulations," it mentions that sometimes Jiang Shui wants you to go by actively handing Langhua to you.

Sun Caijuan, surprised, looked back at Lin Shuyou, puzzled why he didn't stop her, causing her to stumble, lose balance, and before stopping, she tumbled with a "splash" into the fish pond.

"Help me... help me..."