Chapter 140: Chapter 140: Benevolent and Charitable
By this time, Liu Zheng had also stood up and said, "What, can’t I say a few words? I’m an elder in this village and he’s the younger generation, supposed to call me ’uncle.’ Is there anything wrong with me giving some advice to my nephew? I’m just helping him to improve his service. My son said that in the city, this kind of thing would lead to complaints."
"There’s no such thing as complaints in our village. If there are any complaints, they come to me, and I just intercept them to help him improve his service."
After a series of excuses, he left himself plenty of room to maneuver.
After listening, Liu Zheng just smiled, thinking that this guy really had a thousand reasons.
But he didn’t want to start a conflict with the village head, so he just glanced at him and went straight to find Zhang Ruijun.
"Liu Zheng, what are you doing here?"
Zhang Ruijun was totally unprepared for Liu Zheng’s arrival.
Liu Zheng knew that Zhang Ruijun had been selling breakfast for many years, waking early and sleeping late.
Sometimes he would stand or sit without moving much, so his waist had gotten a bit thinner because of the strain.
Noticing that Zhang Ruijun subconsciously supported his waist while lifting things, Liu Zheng suspected his waist trouble must have recurred, so he decided to go help Zhang Ruijun with the lifting.
Smiling at Zhang Ruijun, Liu Zheng said, "Brother Zhang, it’s all good, let’s get to work. As for the money that should be collected, I’ll help him out. Sigh, in these times, those with money refuse to pay, leaving it to someone like me who has none to cover for them. It doesn’t seem quite right, does it?"
Feeling backed up by someone, Zhang Ruijun glanced at Liu Zheng and echoed his sentiments.
"Yeah, these days it’s all about the rich bullying the poor. What about improving conduct and all that? I don’t know anything about that; I just know some people are deliberately causing trouble."
"What are you talking about? Zhang Ruijun, you’re renting my house. I’ve already given you enough face. If it wasn’t for the good relationship I had with your father, plus your father’s recent passing, I would’ve stopped renting to you a long time ago."
And Liu Zheng had found his weak point to press on.
"If you’re not renting out the house, then I have a vacant one on my side as well, right next to the road. This is the perfect opportunity for me to take advantage." Liu Zheng even made sure to speak loud enough for Liu Zheng to hear.
"How much is the rent for this house per month?"
"The monthly rent, you take a look. The place isn’t big—a thousand yuan a month."
"What? A thousand yuan a month? Isn’t that a bit of a rip-off?"
"Rip-off? My house is a prime shop front right on the street. These past two years, our village has even built roads. If it wasn’t for my efforts here, why would our village have such good roads?"
Liu Baishun said, "It’s one thing to not mention it, but saying that is just shameless. Every road that’s been built in the village is next to his property. Moreover, he was one of the wealthiest in the village, and nearly every accessible or paved place is around their area. To say he’s helping the villagers is like saying he’s helping himself."
Liu Zheng continued, "Hehe. Yes, your contributions are indeed indelible, to our village. This prime location was all fixed up right into our Lius’ homes."
Upon hearing this, Liu Baishun felt Liu Zheng was being sarcastic. After all, he also had the surname Liu, but aside from Liu Zheng and his uncles and elders’ houses which were next to his, there were no good roads on Liu Jing’s side, only narrow alleys or unpaved earth paths.
And it was obviously Liu Baishun deliberately suppressing another Liu in the village, the undercurrents within the village were all known to Liu Zheng, so even though he wasn’t in the village, when he came back he understood everything completely.
"Old Zhang, if you don’t want to rent a house here, then when the lease is up, you can rent from me. He charges you 1000, I’ll charge half that, just 500 yuan a month, oh no. Less than 300 yuan a month would do, and my place is much bigger than his."
Zhang Ruijun had been to Liu Zheng’s house, the one facing the street that was empty because nobody lived there. It used to have a little shop that was left by his father, but since his father passed away, the shop hadn’t been open.
He knew the location of the old shop, which was actually more suitable for a breakfast business than Liu Baishun’s side.
Zhang Ruijun readily agreed with a loud voice.
"Sure, when I stop renting this house, I’ll move over to your place."
And Liu Baishun heard this, which obviously irritated him. He slapped the table and said, "Old Zhang, aren’t you showing disrespect to your uncle? You said you would rent from me for two years, how can you go back on your word now? What’s the matter? Have I, your uncle, ever wronged you? Have I ever demanded the rent when you couldn’t pay?"
Liu Baishun’s words weren’t false, but there were also his own schemes behind them. It wasn’t that Liu Baishun never came to collect the rent; rather, he often ate for free here, and sometimes came over for lunch.
Using the pretext of having rented the house to him, and if no rent was ever paid, he would feel too embarrassed to collect the rent on time. He relied on Zhang Ruijun to voluntarily pay the rent every month. If not paid, he would directly approach him at the end of the year, and even have Zhang Ruijun host a meal, bring two bottles of good liquor, and gripe about Zhang Erying’s faults during the mid-year. Zhang Ruijun initially thought he was kind-hearted.
But these past two years he had figured out Liu Baishun’s ruse, so he had also paid on time, and the situation I mentioned happened in the past few years. Zhang Ruijun didn’t respond to Liu Cheng, instead, he walked with Liu Zheng carrying the bucket to the house, but Liu Zheng simply took the bucket and said, "Don’t trouble yourself with lifting, your back is not good. Let me help you bring it in, shall I?"
"Liu Zheng, how did you figure it out? How do you know my back is bad?"
"Hey, do I need to figure it out? You covered your back while lifting just now. I know about your condition. Besides, I have learned a bit about traditional Chinese medicine abroad, I didn’t study it for nothing. Sometimes I can tell what’s wrong with just one look. I’m very clear about what some people have been up to." Liu Zheng then turned his head, glanced at Liu Baishun, and smiled.
At that moment, Zhang Ruijun caught Liu Zheng’s smile and also casually smiled. It’s very likely that their laughter was at Liu Baishun’s expense, and Liu Baishun indeed felt a sharp pain in his back.
He wanted to retort, but the pain made it difficult to speak.
After Liu Zheng entered, he returned to his original seat and ordered a bowl of soy milk with three deep-fried dough sticks.
Watching Liu Baishun hold his back and sweat profusely, he teased, "Hehe, it looks like my guess was right, our village head must have worked overtime very late last night."
Liu Baishun turned his head to look at Liu Zheng. He was unable to say anything at the moment, but after a while, the pain eased a bit.
He hadn’t thought about this excruciating pain that would hit him today when he was fighting hard last night and muttered softly to himself, "Shut up."
