80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches-Chapter 89 - 86: Reading the Electricity Meter

Lin Yuezhen gestured to her, "Are Guoqiang and the others back?"

Lin Lan nodded. "They’re back. If anyone asks, don’t say they went out. Just say they got drunk and crashed in the east wing."

Lin Yuezhen nodded solemnly. The two of them lay down and went to sleep.

****

Liu Jinbao limped home, slamming the front tire of his bike against the courtyard gate and making it bang loudly.

"You little bastard! Why didn’t you just die out there? What’d you come back for?"

Sun Xiuhua opened the gate, cursing and grumbling. When she saw Liu Jinbao slumped listlessly over his handlebars, she jumped in fright. "Jinbao, what happened to you?"

Liu Jinbao said weakly, "Some son of a bitch threw a sack over my head and beat me with a club. My whole body hurts like hell."

"Ah! That damn bastard! If you’ve got guts, come fight at my door, you cowardly turtle..." Sun Xiuhua began to rail as she helped him into the house.

Liu Jinbao groaned and flopped face-down onto the bed. Sun Xiuhua brought out some pain-relieving liniment and gave it to him. "Here’s the liniment. I’m going to the police station to file a report!"

"Don’t you go!" Liu Jinbao slammed the door shut with a BANG. He pulled down his pants and found his body covered in black-and-blue welts from a club. Even a light touch was agonizing.

"Agh! Oww! You son of a bitch! If I ever get my hands on you, I’ll rip out your tendons and flay you alive!"

Sun Xiuhua’s heart ached for him from outside the door. "Jinbao, listen to Mom. Let’s go to the police station and report them."

"I told you not to go, and you’re still talking about it!" Liu Jinbao snapped.

’File a report? What would he say if the police asked what he was doing in the graveyard so late? Was he supposed to tell them he was gambling with Old Gui and the others?’

Liu Jinbao thought about all the people he had offended over the years and realized he had made quite a few enemies.

’My most recent enemy is that little widow.’ But then he thought it was impossible. ’A lone woman going to the graveyard in the dead of night? Would she have the guts?’

’Could it be Old Gui?’ His mind raced with wild speculation as he finished applying the liniment, then he collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

The next day, he got up unusually early and went to Liu Guozhi’s house. When Liu Guozhi saw his sallow complexion and his limp, he quickly helped him inside.

"Did you get into another fight with those hoodlums?"

With a pained expression, Liu Jinbao said, "No, I... I thought about it a lot last night. My most recent enemy is the little widow, but there were two or three people who beat me. She’s all alone, and she wouldn’t have the guts to go to the graveyard, right?"

"The little widow!" Liu Guozhi thought for a moment. "I heard her brothers are visiting."

Upon hearing this, realization dawned on Liu Jinbao. "Those sons of bitches! It must have been them. I’m gonna go find them."

"Let’s go. To the police station to file a report!" Liu Guozhi grabbed him, but then a thought struck him and he glared. "What were you doing at the Construction Team’s graveyard so late at night? Were you gambling again?"

Liu Jinbao stammered, "I... I went to play cards with Ye San."

Furious, Liu Guozhi smacked him on the head. "It’d serve you right if they beat you to death! Who told you to be wandering around in the middle of the night? If you hadn’t gone out, would they have dared come to your own house to beat you?"

"Uncle, I was wrong!" Liu Jinbao wailed, quickly admitting his fault. "Please, help me check the little widow’s house. I’m almost positive it was them. Just look at these wounds..."

As he spoke, he hiked up his pant leg, revealing rows of black-and-blue welts from the beating.

Liu Guozhi’s heart twinged with pain at the sight. After a moment’s thought, he said through gritted teeth, "I’ll take some people to go read the electricity meters."

’That bitch. If I find out you did this, just wait and see how I’ll take care of you.’

Liu Guozhi called for Accountant Jin, grabbed the meter-reading ledger, and headed straight for Lin Lan’s neighborhood. They started by checking Li Guizhi’s house, then went to Lin Lan’s as their second stop.

The courtyard gate was ajar. Liu Guozhi knocked, and it swung open. Dahuang barked furiously and lunged forward.

"Anyone home? The team’s here to read the electricity meters!"

Lin Guoliang emerged from the east wing, reeking of alcohol. He peered at the two men with bleary, drunken eyes. "Who are you?" The stench of liquor washed over them as he spoke.

Liu Guozhi frowned. "We’re from the team, here to read the electricity meter."

Zhao Dehai stumbled out, his eyes also bleary with drink. He rubbed his face and grinned at the two men. "Oh! Captain Liu, Accountant Jin. What brings you here so early?"

Accountant Jin smiled. "Dehai, you’re here too! We’ve come to read the electricity meter."

"Sure! Go ahead!" Zhao Dehai rubbed his head. "Big Brother, we can’t drink like that again. My head is killing me."

Liu Guozhi noticed another person snoring soundly on a bed in the east wing. "It’s good to be young! Drinking whenever you feel like it!"

Zhao Dehai shook his head. "Never again. My head is killing me."

After reading the meter, Accountant Jin smiled at Zhao Dehai. "How much did you all drink to get this wasted?"

Zhao Dehai held up two fingers. "Two and a half bottles of Quanxing!"

"You should drink less. It’s bad for you," Accountant Jin said with a smile before leaving with Liu Guozhi. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Zhao Dehai chuckled. "It’s not every day. We just got a little too happy and overdid it."

Liu Guozhi asked around and learned that Lin Lan’s family had been hosting guests for drinks the previous night and were still at it past ten o’clock.

Recalling the stench of alcohol on them and on their breath, he concluded that it couldn’t have been them. He went back and gave Liu Jinbao a good scolding, telling him to stop causing trouble outside.

Though Liu Jinbao had ruled out Lin Guoliang and his companions, he still couldn’t figure out which enemy had taken revenge on him, no matter how hard he thought. Deep down, however, he still felt it was Lin Lan’s brothers.

Lin Guoliang and Zhao Dehai watched the two men leave, then sniffed each other. They really did reek as if they’d polished off two or three bottles.

Lin Guoqiang chuckled at the two of them. "Big Brother, Brother-in-law, we’re just like those underground agents in the movies."

Lin Guoliang pursed his lips. "You look more like a collaborator to me."

"Haha..." Zhao Dehai roared with laughter.

After the three of them poured hot water to wash up, they found steamed buns warming in the pot, sweet potato congee under the steamer rack, and a dish of cold pickles on the table. With loud SLURPS, they finished their meal.

Zhao Dehai wiped his mouth. "Big Brother, I’ll leave you guys to it. I’m heading home."

"Thanks, Dehai," Lin Guoliang said, his voice full of sincere gratitude.

"Don’t mention it." Zhao Dehai grinned, gave him a light punch on the chest, and turned to leave.

"Guoqiang, clean up. As soon as Little Lan gets back, we’re heading out."

"Okay!" Lin Guoqiang gathered the bowls and chopsticks into the basin and began to wash them with practiced ease.

Lin Guoliang went to inspect the bamboo grove in the backyard, reinforcing a few weak spots in the fence before returning to the courtyard.

A short while later, Lin Lan, Lin Yuezhen, and Little Douzi came back. The two women were carrying large baskets of zongzi leaves on their backs.

Lin Guoliang told Lin Lan about Liu Guozhi’s visit to read the meter. "It’s a good thing you had us drink last night and even splash some liquor on ourselves. Otherwise, he definitely would’ve suspected us."

Lin Lan was speechless. ’Heh! Captain Liu is quite crafty, isn’t he? Learning how to "read the electricity meter" as an excuse in this day and age.’

Lin Guoliang smiled. "Little Lan, we’ve got a lot to do at home, so we’ll take the afternoon bus back. We’ll bring you the rest of the beans in a few days when we deliver the fattened pigs."

Lin Lan nodded. After a moment of thought, she said, "Big Brother, have Mom grind the beans we harvested from the mountain plot. Use the dregs for pig feed, and have her turn the tofu into fermented bean curd. Buy a bunch of those small jars, the kind we use for salt at home, and pack the fermented curd inside. Bring them to me, and I’ll sell them."

Lin Guoqiang looked at her, surprised. "Sis, people actually buy fermented bean curd?"