Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

Gambling can be a big or small matter. If it is a small matter, it can be just a way to kill time in your spare time. If it is a big matter, it may cause unrest in the whole village.

Zhang Xiuhua told Li Jianguo about this. Li Jianguo was usually busy with the business of the brewery and seldom cared about the affairs of the village. When he learned that someone was setting up a scheme to make the villagers gamble, he took it very seriously. Prostitution and gambling have always been places where filth and dirt are hidden. He didn't want Lijiatun to be known as a gambling den.

He immediately called a village meeting, and all the villagers who were at home and able to walk gathered at the threshing ground.

Now that his family conditions are better, Li Jianguo simply uses a loudspeaker to shout in the village.

When the villagers heard the noise and were called over, they looked at each other, not understanding what was going on and why such a big fuss was needed.

When Li Jianguo and others were all present, they stood on the stage and did not criticize anyone directly. Instead, they read out several tragic stories of people being torn apart by gambling. Such things have existed since ancient times and are not new. Many villagers have seen or heard of them.

Most people don't touch this stuff. It's not easy to quit gambling addiction, the best way is to not touch this stuff at all. As long as it's gambling, they won't touch it.

"My third uncle's kid was set up by someone and got addicted to gambling. Even my third uncle cutting off one of his fingers didn't help. He just loves gambling!"

"I've heard of it, too." An old man who lived during the Republic of China period said that at that time someone gambled and lost his daughter to a gambling house. In the end, the daughter was sold to a brothel, which ruined her life.

These tragedies are even more outrageous than what Li Jianguo described.

Zhang Xiuhua looked at Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi. They didn't react much and were discussing with the people around them, as if this matter had nothing to do with them. After a little thought, she understood what they meant. It was nothing more than a fluke mentality, thinking that they were the winners. There was no way they would lose. It was even more impossible for their families to be destroyed.

She looked at Li Jianguo and said in a low voice, "I don't think this trick of yours will work. You'll have to use a stronger hammer!"

Li Jianguo had expected this and had made sufficient preparations. "After discussion among the shareholders of the brewery, we decided to set up the Lijiatun Foundation. The money will be used to build Lijiatun and create a comfortable living environment. First, I will set up a bonus. Whoever reports gambling in the future will get a reward of ten yuan."

Don't underestimate these ten yuan. Now ten yuan can buy five or six kilograms of pork, and it's just a trip to the police station, which is only three miles away, not very far. Such a good thing is hard to find even with a lantern.

As soon as he finished speaking, the villagers immediately raised their hands, pointed at Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi and reported them, "They used to gamble at home. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Let's not talk about the past for now. Let's start from today."

Li Jianguo did not criticize Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi in front of everyone. "Gambling is illegal. If anyone gambles, we should call the police. The police will send them to jail, and they will bear the consequences themselves. The village will not protect them. You can go to my house to register for your winnings."

Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi were somewhat dissatisfied, because the village rules were no longer applicable at this time. They had neither money nor the power to punish the villagers.

After Li Jianguo issued the notice, he didn't have the energy to keep an eye on this matter, but Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi's gambling was always watched by the villagers.

Whenever Daguai came into the village, Aunt Wang would immediately run to the police station to call the police and watch them being taken away. Because the amount of money gambled was relatively small, and she was eager to collect her winnings, she called the police too early. When they arrived, the three of them had not been fighting for long, and the money they lost was not much, so they only went to jail for a few days. But after so many times, Daguai became a little bored and stopped coming.

Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi behaved well for a while. But soon, Aunt Zhang Er heard a piece of news from other villagers: Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi went to another village to gamble.

No matter how powerful Li Jianguo is, he cannot manage other villages, and other villages do not have the money to set up foundations.

Zhang Xiuhua was speechless. "They really are stubborn. We can't reward other villages as well, can we?"

Li Jianguo couldn't make up his mind for a moment.

But things soon took a turn for the better.

The tragedies that Li Jianguo described about two families being broken up because of gambling did not scare Zhang Daxi and Zhang Erxi, but Zhang Daxi's son was quite frightened.

They are people who live a decent life and do not approve of gambling.

Zhang Daxi's son wanted to separate from him. Zhang Daxi had two daughters and a son. After his son got married, he gave him a grandson. Now his son wanted to separate from him, but Zhang Daxi refused to do so and scolded his son for being unfilial. "Have you grown wings? Do you want to disobey me like a puppy?!"

Zhang Daxi's son used to be very afraid of his father, but this time he was determined. In front of the whole village, he said, "If you go to gamble, then we will split up."

Zhang Daxi chased his son in the village and beat him, but he forgot one thing. He was old and his son was in his prime. How could he be his son's opponent? What's more, his son worked in a brewery and earned a good income. Zhang Daxi was afraid that his son would really ignore him in the future and he would live a miserable life like Zhang Jinbao's father.

Then he really had no choice but to endure it. Under the watchful eyes of his entire family, he forced himself to quit his gambling addiction and stopped leaving the village.

Zhang Erxi asked his eldest brother to go gamble. When his eldest brother went, he stood outside the courtyard wall and laughed at his eldest brother for being incompetent and unable to even control his son.

He was different. His son was influenced by his father since he was a child. Not only did he not stop his father, but he also gambled with his father. His wife and son-in-law were weak and could not control him. The father and son soon lost all the money in the family.

Daguai brought a group of brothers, pulled a cart, and went to their house with the IOU, and took away all the food.

Zhang Erxi's daughter-in-law knelt on the ground and begged them to leave some food for them, "You can't let us starve."

Their family has many people and a lot of land. After the harvest, the grain has not yet been dried, and now it has just been put into the warehouse and it has been robbed. What will they eat and drink in the future?

Unfortunately, her show of weakness was useless. In the end, these people still took away all the food.

Zhang Erxi's daughter-in-law left the village with her son. Zhang Erxi thought that his daughter-in-law was just going back to her parents' home for a few days, so he didn't take it seriously.

But when they cleaned up the house and borrowed some food from their eldest brother's family and asked their son to pick them up, they found out that their daughter-in-law had gone to work in the south, and their grandson could not go to school outside, so he stayed at his mother's house.

Zhang Erxi's son brought the child back to take care of him, but the mother was not at home, so Zhang Erxi's wife was very dissatisfied and cursed.

This family quarreled all day long, causing laughter among the villagers.

Zhang Jinbao's father and the puppy's father rarely shared the same hatred and cursed this family of idiots together.

Zhang's father thought he was the smartest, so he looked down on this idiot. "So much money was lost in gambling? You can even hear a noise if you throw it into the river."

The puppy's father rarely agreed, "That's right! You can hear the burps when you get a bottle of wine, but now there is nothing. Even my daughter-in-law ran away! It's really embarrassing for Lijiatun!"

Aunt Wang Er saw them singing the same tune and looked strange, "When did you two wear the same pants?"

Zhang's father and the puppy's father looked at each other, then one turned his head to the right and the other turned his head to the left, leaving only the back of the head to the other, and said in unison, "Who is good with him!"

Zhang Xiuhua twitched her lips. She was over fifty years old, but she was still so childish! It was simply unbearable to watch.

The puppy's father coughed softly, looked at Zhang Xiuhua, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Zhang Xiuhua was a little bit at a loss when he looked at her. Normally, he would look up at her and when he saw her, he would either mock her or blame her for stealing his son. Now he actually looked at her with this expression. It seemed strange no matter how he looked at her, as if he was planning something bad!

In fact, she didn't think too much.

The puppy's father licked his face and came up to Zhang Xiuhua and asked her when Ergou would come back.

Zhang Xiuhua understood after a quick thought. Since Xiaogou was going abroad, he had set his sights on Ergou.

Zhang Xiuhua wondered if he was just being too idealistic. Didn't he know what kind of person Ergou was? But she didn't say it directly, lest he put the blame on her and say that she was destroying their father-son relationship.

Aunt Wang was different. She was straightforward and said directly, "Are you thinking about Ergou again? It's too late. He has hated you for many years."

Ergou never gave his father any face. Let's put it this way, when Ergou came back during the holidays, he would distribute things to the villagers, but his father was the only one missing.

The puppy's father disagreed, "How can a father and son hold grudges overnight?"

Aunt Wang curled her lips. There was no overnight grudge, but it had been several years.

Seeing how confident he was, Zhang Xiuhua didn't know what to say for a moment, so she just told him, "Ergou won't be back until the Chinese New Year."

The puppy's father nodded and said no more.

After Xiaogou's father and Zhang's father left, Aunt Wang asked Zhang Xiuhua, "He wants to please Ergou and let Ergou take care of him in the future. Do you think it will work?"

Zhang Xiuhua sighed, "I think Ergou might not get what he wants."

Ergou is affectionate but also vindictive. Just look at how cruel Ergou was to Ma Xuenong. Don't think that he will forgive you just because he is his biological father. It won't work for Ergou.

Aunt Wang also thought so. "Ergou is so stubborn. Sometimes you can't persuade him. I think Ergou's father has been working in vain."

Zhang Xiuhua nodded, but Ergou would probably be very happy because he had been waiting for this day.

As the two were talking, they heard a noise at the entrance of the village. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a combine harvester coming towards them. The shaking sound made the ground beneath their feet shake.

When they approached, Aunt Wang and Zhang Xiaohua immediately greeted them, "Jianxin, you're back?"

Li Jianxin jumped out of the car and said with a smile, "I'm back."

He helped the farmers harvest grain for 40 days, and his face became dark and thin, a completely different person from before. Before, whether Li Jianxin was the owner of a small shop or a salesman in a brewery, he always dressed himself up brightly and beautifully. Now, his white shirt has turned black and white, and his face is sunken, as if he came out of a refugee camp. This look shows that he has suffered a lot.

Zhang Xiuhua smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be able to hold on for so many days. Are you sick?"

Li Jianxin sighed, "I was sick for a while, but I took medicine and continued to work. Time waits for no one, and so many villages are waiting for our machine to arrive."

Aunt Wang was also a little surprised, "How can you endure so much hardship?!"

Li Jianxin was helpless, "It's not glorious to endure hardship."

Wang Honghua parked the car, took the account book from the driver's seat and gave it to Zhang Xiuhua, waiting for her to come back to settle the accounts.

Zhang Xiuhua reported the good news to Wang Honghua, "Your family Xingjia has made a lot of money recently. Just selling ginseng seedlings has made him a lot of money. Your family is finally living a better life."

Wang Honghua was happy to hear this. "Knowledge changes destiny. My husband is always thinking about how to grow valuable crops."

Zhang Xiuhua also followed suit and praised it a few words.

Wang Honghua was very tired, so she went home after she finished talking. Li Jianxin also waved goodbye to the two of them, carrying his luggage.