Chapter 189 - 92: The Life of the Old Village Chief (11000 words)_4
But this kind of politeness, this kind of measure—its undertone is actually indifference!
The other side of politeness is estrangement.
The other side of measure is not caring.
Looking at the two girls in the yard, Chen Yan suddenly felt a strange emotion.
This emotion, in his twenty-two years of life, apart from the old lady, he had never felt towards anyone else.
(If only this kind of laughter could always be there...)
·
The big pile of fireworks and firecrackers they ordered in town that day, under Gu Qingyi’s excitement, were all set off before twelve o’clock.
Even the firecrackers meant to ring in the New Year at midnight were set off early.
Finally, the smoke in the yard cleared, and the ground was littered with the remnants of the fireworks.
Seeing Gu Qingyi still not quite satisfied, Chen Yan patted her shoulder, "We’ll go to town and buy more in a day or two."
"Suit yourself." After her excitement waned, Gu Qingyi resumed her usual composed demeanor and nodded coolly.
Hah!
If you’re really that cool, don’t come with me to buy fireworks in a couple of days!
Chen Yan muttered this to himself.
Turning his head, he saw Lu Sisi already standing at the door of the main room, yawning.
"Alright, everyone go to bed!" Chen Yan waved his hand.
He cleared up the dishes from the table, threw away the trash, and washed the dishes.
Lu Sisi was already rubbing her eyes non-stop.
Chen Yan helped the girl wash up before sending her to her room.
Just as he came out, he saw Gu Qingyi standing outside the door, staring at him.
"What are you looking at?" Chen Yan blushed, "I didn’t do anything in her room!"
Gu Qingyi rolled her eyes at Chen Yan but quickly said, "It’s almost twelve o’clock."
"Hmm, so what?"
"After twelve, it’s the first day of the New Year! Let’s go to the back door of the wild temple on the mountain and see if the little monk there puts up New Year pictures?" Gu Qingyi’s eyes shone with excitement.
Chen Yan lazily yawned—he had no interest in climbing the mountain in the middle of the night.
"No need to look, he will definitely put them up."
"How do you know?" Gu Qingyi didn’t believe it.
Chen Yan sighed, "I heard it when I was delivering gifts to the villagers this morning. The old monk on the mountain left the village yesterday afternoon, found Xiao Yang who drives a black car in the village, and got him to take him to the county hospital to treat his illness."
After saying this, he glanced at Gu Qingyi, "Don’t you get it? The old monk wasn’t seriously ill at all. He was bedridden because he was injured by two Demons. He understands his disciple’s thoughts...
So, did he go to the hospital?
No, he went to make room for his adopted son and disciple!"
·
That night, they didn’t go up the mountain. Chen Yan went back to his room and slept until dawn.
On the morning of the first day of the New Year, Chen Yan got up and lazily wandered around the village.
According to custom, no work is done on the first day of the New Year, no sweeping or housework whatsoever.
The two girls, with nothing to do, sat together and started playing games on their phones. After greeting them, Chen Yan picked up a heavy gift he had specially prepared and headed to Village Chief Zhao’s house.
·
Village Chief Zhao’s house in the village is not the biggest, the building is not the tallest, and the land area is not the largest—just for that alone, the village chief couldn’t be too bad.
To be precise, he should be called the village director or village secretary—he had held both positions and even both simultaneously.
Now, the old man hadn’t been the village chief or village secretary for many years, given his age. Over seventy, he should have been enjoying his golden years long ago.
But even with a new village director, the old village chief’s words were still the most influential in the village.
The old village chief’s surname is Zhao. Zhao is a major surname in this village—though not as prominent as the He family’s status in He Village, Boss He’s hometown.
There are more than twenty households with the Zhao surname in this village, all related to each other in some way.
The over seventy-year-old Village Chief Zhao has a son and a daughter, both living in the county. One is a teacher at the county’s middle school, the other works as a clerk at the county’s transportation bureau.
Not wealthy, but both lead respectable lives.
The Zhao family makes up nearly a quarter of the village. The village’s security chief is the old chief’s nephew, the women’s director is someone who worked under the old chief in the machinery factory years ago, and the current village director almost had to drop out of school many years ago due to poverty, but the old chief helped to raise the tuition.
Such an old man, in the village, if not holding absolute authority, his words certainly held significant weight. When he spoke, it mattered.
The old chief’s house is at the southern end of the village, near a small river, with a wheat field behind the house.
As usual, the gate of the courtyard was not closed. When Chen Yan walked in, he saw that there was already a table of mahjong set up in the main room.
Probably the old man’s children came home for the New Year, the main room was crowded with people.
The old man was squatting under the eaves, smoking a cigarette, teasing a dog.
Chen Yan glanced, amused.
This dog was the puppy that had wandered to his house a few days ago and was held by Lu Sisi for the better part of a day. Unexpectedly, it was actually raised by the old village chief.
"Master Zhao! Happy New Year!"
Chen Yan shouted, and the old man raised his eyebrows, stood up with his hands on his knees, "Chen Yan, you’re here, come in and sit, they’re playing cards, find a place to sit yourself."
The village had this habit, visiting during the New Year was like visiting family, without too many formalities.
Chen Yan entered the main room with a smile. The room was full of people, and he recognized more than half of them.