This shameless woman who steals kisses

  0029: You sneaky woman

  Zhai Wang was startled and sat up: "You had another nightmare?" Zhai Wang said, wiping the sweat beads from Xue Er's forehead with his hand.

  "Yes. It's too scary!" Xue'er leaned her head on Wangzi's shoulder.

  "In my dream, you were actually fighting with my dad. Suddenly, many bugs crawled out of the scars on my face. Li Jun chased me and said he wanted to catch the bugs and fry them for food. The dream was chaotic. I was so scared that I ran desperately to find you. But I couldn't even see your shadow. I kept running forward, but suddenly, one foot stepped into empty space and I fell off a cliff. I let out a loud cry and my body struggled to climb back up..." Xue Er's body was still shaking.

  "Don't be afraid, dreams are opposite. Later you will find everything is fine." Zhai Wang comforted Xue Er.

  "But many things in the dream were real, they had happened. Like the scar on my face, like that bastard Li Jun, like you and Dad quarreling..." Xue Er was still a bit incoherent.

  "It was originally a mess in my dream. Take me and your father, I've always respected him, haven't I? That time we had an argument was also because of the mountain village affair. For official business, our opinions didn't match, it's over and done with, neither I nor your father took it to heart. You know that after the argument, your father has been very good to me." The Village King interrupted Xue Er's words, patting her shoulder while comforting her.

  "Did your father provoke you that time? You really won't hold a grudge against him?"

  "How can I possibly hold a grudge against him? Even if he hit me, he's still my father and I won't take it to heart! Not to mention it was for official business, and besides, he didn't do anything to me. You tell me, isn't that right?" asked Village King.

  "I thought you would resent him. Honestly, if it weren't for that time my dad provoked you, you wouldn't have established your authority so quickly and become the secretary." Xue Er's heart calmed down a bit.

  "It's all thanks to my dad that I became the secretary. He trained me and even voluntarily stepped down for me. I haven't repaid his kindness yet, how could I bear a grudge against him? If I really held a grudge against my own dad over something small, would I still be human? Alright, you go back to sleep, I've been awake the whole time, I'll take a nap too."

  "Uh-huh, you sleep. I'll sleep for a while too, and then cook dinner for you. Don't go out this afternoon. Otherwise, you'll be eating dinner outside again, and I don't want to eat alone. Ever since our son joined the army, I've been afraid of eating alone. Eating is lonely, it doesn't feel good in my heart." Xue Er said as she lay down.

  "Good. Sleep."

  "Uh-huh."

  The village chief closed his eyes, and Xue'er didn't say another word.

  The village chief recalled the grudges between him and the bandit king.

  Zheng Shuang had been the captain of the militia camp for over a year. For more than a year, he had been making plans and solving many problems for the village chief. The most troublesome problem was the bamboo forest on Linglong Mountain, which the village chief could not prohibit no matter how hard he tried. The mountain villagers were only interested in short-term gains, and despite repeated warnings, they would still sneak into the bamboo forest to pull out bamboo shoots to take home and cook with salted meat.

  The bamboo forest is cut down year after year to make tools for labor, and the number of bamboos in the forest is decreasing. Zheng Shuang asked Village Chief Wang to take real action this time. Village Chief Wang said that in the past, when people were caught stealing bamboo shoots, they were also fined. You know that if the fine is too high, it's hard for fellow villagers to accept, and if it's too low, it doesn't work. What do you think we should do to take real action?

  Zheng Shuang told the bandit king Wang about her plan, and the bandit king Wang slapped his forehead: "You young people are really clever, now is the season for eating bamboo shoots, let's give it a try!"

  The next day, Zheng Shuang informed the representatives of each household to hold a meeting. At the meeting, after Wang, the head of the village, made a brief speech, he let Zheng Shuang read out the decision to protect the bamboo and ban mountain activities for two years. At that time, everyone listened without taking it seriously. Everyone thought in their hearts, even if they were caught, it was not a big deal, and it would still be like previous years, saying some good words, asking for mercy, and paying a fine. Whether it was a large or small meeting, what was said at the meeting couldn't be taken as true, this was the consensus among the mountain people.

  The next day after the meeting, Zheng Shuang led a militiaman to circle around the large bamboo forest on the mountain. For an entire morning, not even a shadow of a person was seen.

  In the afternoon, Zheng Shuang and others continued to patrol the mountain. The militiaman said: "This afternoon is not necessary! Because yesterday's meeting just ended, everyone is watching the situation! In the past, it was also like this, everyone waited for the wind to pass before entering the bamboo forest to steal shoots." Zheng Shuang smiled and said: "You have been given work points, how can you not patrol?" The militiaman had no choice but to follow Zheng Shuang on the patrol.

  In the late afternoon, the militiaman was getting a bit tired and said, "Let's take a break!" Zheng Shuang agreed. As soon as they sat down, they heard a noise behind them, and Zheng Shuang stood up to see someone running out of the bamboo forest with a bamboo basket on their back. Zheng Shuang and the militiaman chased after them. When they caught up with the fleeing person, both Zheng Shuang and the militiaman were stunned. The thief who stole the bamboo shoots was none other than the wife of Village Chief Wang, which meant she was Zheng Shuang's mother! The militiaman quickly reacted: "Auntie, you'd better run away quickly!"

  "We can't run! No one can violate the rules of the village!" Zheng Shuang said, snatching the backpack from Xue Er's mother.

  Zheng Shuang and they pulled each other into the office in the stockade. Xue Er's mother scolded as she walked. Along the way, more and more people gathered to watch. When they arrived at the office, Village Chief Wang and Accountant Wang were playing Go. The Village Chief saw that his wife had stolen the bamboo shoots and was furious, pointing at her nose: "You! You! You!" But Xue Er's mother burst out scolding: "You found a good son-in-law! He doesn't recognize his six relatives!" The Village Chief raised his palm: "You thieving woman, if you continue to be so arrogant, I..."

  Zheng Shuang blocked the village chief: "It's right for Auntie to scold me, I didn't consider Auntie's face, it's unfilial! But punishment according to the rules should also be given! Otherwise, there will be no discipline in the village! I'll go contact the projectionist, tomorrow night we'll have a movie screening and hold a criticism meeting! The cost of renting the movie and the projectionist's labor must be paid by Auntie, not one cent from the village's funds can be used. Auntie, get the money ready!" As soon as Zheng Shuang finished speaking, Village Chief Wang stormed off in anger. Zheng Shuang also quickly left.

  Xue Er's mother saw the two men leave, patted her chest: "Even my own husband doesn't recognize me! The two men are white-eyed wolves! Is it worth so much money for just a few bamboo shoots? You're making a movie, holding a struggle meeting, you two big men can't follow me and lose face! I spit on you! Spit, spit, spit!" Everyone had never seen Xue Er's mother so angry before, and they all advised her to let it go.

  At dinner time, Zheng Shuang smiled and served a dish to her mother: "Mom, you are truly an outstanding actress, I admire you."

  "What else? I'm losing face, giving you and your father a big face." Xue Er's mother said with a smile.

  After that, all the bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest grew into bamboos. Two years later, the bamboo forest in the village not only became a beautiful landscape but also brought good economic benefits to the villagers. When mentioning this bamboo forest, the villagers would always praise Zheng Shuang for being young and promising, daring to speak and act, and also praise Village Chief Wang for being upright and impartial, which is rare.

  After the success of Jinzhushan and the plan to cut down bamboo forests to bring benefits to mountain people, Zheng Shuang proposed that the village first take out money as activity funds, go to the countryside to run relationships, let the countryside repair the mountain roads wider, so that the stockade can pass through cars, and mountain goods can be pulled out, instead of relying solely on manpower.

  The village chief shook his head as soon as he heard this: "Do you think repairing the mountain road is child's play? Can a small amount of money from our village accomplish such a big task? Do you think your connections are strong enough to get the township to allocate funds and mobilize labor from other villages to repair the road for our mountain village? Don't even think about it!"

  Zheng Shuang insisted on "it's up to people", and decided to try anyway. As a result, the two of them each stuck to their own reasoning, neither convincing the other.

  Zheng Shuang was young and overly excited, blaming Wang the bandit chief for being too conservative. When had Wang ever been criticized like this? He flew into a rage and loudly reprimanded Zheng Shuang, but the two men's argument turned into a quarrel. The mountain villagers gathered around to watch the commotion. The two stubborn men became even more agitated.

  In the end, Village King Wang said: "Zheng Shuang, you dare! If you really can do it, make a military order and promise me that if you fail to attract investment and fix the road, you'll step down as the militia battalion commander!" "Alright! I'll bring in the funds, and your secretary will let me take over!" Zheng Shuang was impulsive and his last sentence came out without thinking.

  "Alright! Alright! Let's see who can hold on!" The villagers clapped their hands and cheered.

  Zheng Shuang thought to herself, "This is all my fault for being too young and impulsive. I'm already blaming myself, how can I hold it against her?" But she couldn't help but wonder what Xue Er was thinking, and the memory lingered in her mind, bringing up this question again. Did Father's resignation leave a thorn in Xue Er's heart?