Li Long did not come home that night, but Li Jianguo was not especially worried. The events of the past few days had shown him that his younger brother had become much more levelheaded. If he had not returned, something had probably held him up. Though Li Jianguo did not sleep particularly soundly and went outside twice when the dogs barked, he was not all that concerned.
When he got up the next morning, he even explained to Liang Yuemei:
"Xiao Long must have run into something in the mountains. He'll definitely be back tomorrow—I need to go pay the team the work-point fee for using the cart."
"Then hurry over and explain it to the team leader," Liang Yuemei said. "That'll make it easier to borrow the cart next time."
From the way things were going, everyone in the Li family knew that Li Long would be borrowing the cart quite often.
When Li Jianguo returned again, he wore a strange expression.
Liang Yuemei asked him what was wrong.
"The team leader said Gu Ermao was arrested yesterday. He went to collect him yesterday afternoon. They fined him twenty yuan."
"Arrested? Why?" Liang Yuemei was surprised. "What did he do?"
Gu Ermao might have been frivolous, but he was not particularly bold. Surely he would not do anything truly wicked?
"They said it was profiteering-they caught him at Thunder Black Market yesterday morning."
"The Black Market? Then Xiao Long..." Liang Yuemei immediately grew worried.
"Xiao Long's fine. Gu Ermao followed him to the Black Market. He saw Xiao Long buy some things there and drive off in the cart. He tried to follow, and then... he got arrested."
"Why was he following Xiao Long?" Liang Yuemei's face darkened at once. Gu Ermao had spent quite a lot of time with Li Long in the past. She had warned Li Long about him, but back then, he would not listen.
Now Li Long had clearly turned over a new leaf and stopped hanging around with layabouts like him. If Gu Ermao was still following him, what good intentions could he possibly have?
"He confessed to everything. He said he wanted to follow our Xiao Long into the mountains to learn the route. Li Long brings back loads of things every time, but they went into the mountains twice and came back empty-handed. So he wanted to follow him and see if he could memorize the way. Who knew..."
At this point, Li Jianguo gritted his teeth.
"Damn it, that bastard even told the Joint Defense Team members that Li Long had sold things at the Black Market. Said he wanted to earn credit by reporting him..."
"What the hell is that little bastard trying to do?" Liang Yuemei was thoroughly furious now. In the countryside, loyalty still meant something to most people. If the authorities had not caught someone doing something, insisting on exposing it yourself meant making an enemy. Perhaps not a mortal enemy, but certainly someone who would never associate with you again.
"The team leader said they ignored that part. They hadn't caught him in the act, and they still needed evidence," Li Jianguo said slowly. "He said Xiao Long needs to be more careful when he goes out. We should watch ourselves around New Year. The policies might change later, but for now, we still have to follow orders from above."
"Hmph." Liang Yuemei was still angry.
"When Xiao Long gets back, we'll have a proper talk with him," Li Jianguo said. "We've got fish and meat at home. We're much better off than in previous years. He should stop running around for the rest of this year."
"We'll talk when he gets back." Liang Yuemei sighed. "As for the Gu family..."
"Leave that to me. This isn't over." Li Jianguo sneered. "After what his family has done, let's see how Gu Laoda has the nerve to face me!"
The Gu household was also shrouded in gloom. Twenty yuan was no small sum. The family could scrape together only fourteen yuan, and team leader Xu Chengjun had advanced the remaining six.
Gu Ermao's face looked unharmed, but every inch of his body hurt. At first, he had insisted that he was not there to buy or sell anything. But why would the Joint Defense Team members believe him? Worse still, when their superior came to inspect the place, he had shouted that he was innocent. The superior ignored him, and once he left, the two humiliated, furious team members gave Gu Ermao a thorough beating.
"What the hell have you done?" Gu Ermao's father, Gu Laoda, pointed at him angrily. "Fine, you wouldn't admit it. But why drag Second Li into this? What did he ever do to you?"
"If it weren't for him, how would I have been arrested?" Gu Ermao did not think he had done anything wrong. He cocked his head and talked back. "If he'd j-just told me the route, or taken me into the mountains, none of this would've happened! If I have to suffer, he doesn't get to have it easy either!"
"I don't know whether he'll have it easy, but your life certainly won't be easy from now on." Gu Laoda almost laughed in sheer anger at his stupid son. "Once everyone on the team hears about this, you can forget about going outside. Just wait till they start talking behind your back!"
"How would anyone on the team find out?" The thought of the story spreading worried Gu Ermao, though he still clung to hope. "Only you and the team leader went there. If neither of you says anything, how would they know?"
"The team leader won't say anything?" For the first time, Gu Laoda felt that his son was truly beyond saving. "He doesn't have to tell everyone. He only needs to tell Li Jianguo... You're coming with me to the Li house at noon to apologize!"
"I'm not going! Not even if you beat me to death!" Unable to stomach that humiliation, Gu Ermao turned and went into his room.
"Ah!" Gu Laoda slapped his thigh. His wife had gone out to gossip about other families. Before long, she would probably hear about the disgrace in her own!
Sure enough, a short while later, Gu Ermao's mother, Sister-in-law Liu, rushed in in a panic. Seeing Gu Laoda, she asked:
"Where's Ermao?"
"In the back room," Gu Laoda said irritably. "I told him to come apologize to the Li family with me, but he won't go."
"It's too late!" Sister-in-law Liu slapped her thigh hard as well. "Everyone on the team is talking about it now. They're saying Ermao got arrested and named Second Li, but the authorities ignored it and only fined Ermao. Now everyone's saying Xiao Long from the Li family has connections, and our Ermao is a rotten piece of work..."
As she spoke, she hurried into the back room and said anxiously to Gu Ermao:
"Ermao, go stay with your uncle for a couple of days. Otherwise, who knows what the people on the team will say about you!"
Gu Ermao had heard what his mother said earlier, and he was getting scared too. He had hoped to break up Wu Shufen and Li Long, then take advantage of the opening. Wu Shufen was still willing to exchange a few words with him, so he had been making some progress. If she learned what he had done, wouldn't that ruin everything?
But he really could not bear to leave the team and go to his uncle's house now.
"Do something!" Seeing that her son would not move, Sister-in-law Liu came back out to urge Gu Laoda. But what could he do?
Just as the story about Gu Ermao began spreading, team leader Xu Chengjun received another phone call. He was furious.
Tao Dayong of the Tao Family had been caught red-handed selling fish at the Black Market!
He nearly fainted!
Not one of them would give him a moment's peace!
Xu Chengjun actually knew that both incidents were connected to Li Long. They had all seen how well Li Long was doing, making money and bringing things home without getting into any trouble, and wanted to copy him. Unfortunately, neither had his luck, and both had ended up arrested.
Damn it! Now I have to swallow my pride all over again!
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(End of chapter)
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