Plans

Chapter 53

Wu Jie had originally found it impossible to accept life in the mountains, but looking at the Village Chief’s youngest son made him feel much better.

The Village Chief’s youngest son was named Li Hao. Wu Jie still remembered how prestigious Li Hao had been as a child. Back then, if Wu Jie’s father saw him do one thing wrong, he would kick him; slaps to the face were even more common. But the Village Chief had never once struck his two sons.

Wu Jie had many brothers and had to work the fields, often going hungry. Back then, the Village Chief’s youngest son never had to work. He was the one who didn’t want to eat, while his mother chased him around with a bowl in her hands.

Wu Jie would watch from the sidelines, swallowing his saliva at the sight of that big bowl of white rice. It was impossible not to be envious.

In those days, Wu Jie had no friends. The Village Chief’s son was surrounded by the other boys in the village, and all the peers had to listen to him.

Back then, the younger kids were always bullied by the older ones, but not a single older boy ever dared to bully the Village Chief’s youngest son.

It could be said that the Village Chief’s youngest son was the object of envy for everyone in the village.

Later, the village needed a village doctor, and it was said someone could go to the city to study medicine.

When Wu Jie heard about it, he naturally hoped he could go, but such an opportunity would never fall to someone like him. The Village Chief’s youngest son said he wanted to go, and so he went.

He became a doctor and looked after the clinic, enjoying great prestige in the village until one day, he gave someone an injection and the person died for some unknown reason.

Even then, he was fine. The Village Chief claimed there was a problem with the medicine, and the youngest son simply left for the city.

Wu Jie had thought the man would be successful for a lifetime, but he never expected that the tables would truly turn.

No one respected Wu Jie when he was a child, yet as an adult, he went to the city and made a fortune, bringing glory to his parents.

Meanwhile, the Village Chief’s family had fallen; both the Village Chief and his youngest son had gone to prison.

The Village Chief’s youngest son was a pitiful sight now; his life was effectively over.

At least Wu Jie had tasted the good life in the city. No one in this world could have a good life forever. He had experienced it all. Of the entire village, including the older generation and the younger one, who had been as prestigious as he was back then? Who else could earn over a million in a single year?

Aside from that bit of glory in his childhood, the Village Chief’s youngest son had spent his adulthood either in prison or farming in the village. He never had to pick up a hoe as a child, but now he had no choice.

And so, Wu Jie bought more alcohol and sought the man out to drink, unable to stop himself from reminiscing about his days in the city.

“Money was so easy to make back then. I was worried I wouldn’t make enough to cover the shop rent, but in just one day, I earned over two thousand. That was two thousand back in the nineties…”

The Village Chief’s youngest son just drank and listened to him talk, saying nothing.

Wu Jie spoke vibrantly about the days he ran his shop and the days he led construction teams. Those beautiful memories made him more spirited the more he spoke, and occasionally, he would mention Li Qingqing.

He believed Li Qingqing must be dead. There was no other way in those times. When he spoke of this woman he had grown up with, his eyes would always redden. “Sigh, there was no other choice back then.”

The Village Chief’s youngest son only listened, his gaze flickering. It was unclear if he was remembering his own days in prison or if he was experiencing Wu Jie’s life through his words.

When Wu Jie sobered up the next day and went to find the Village Chief’s youngest son, the man wasn’t home.

For the next half month, the man didn’t return; it seemed he had gone to the city.

Wu Jie wasn’t used to it. He didn’t like drinking with the other people in the village.

It wasn’t until the end of the month that he saw the Village Chief’s youngest son coming up the slope. He showed an interview video to Wu Jie.

Wu Jie looked at the woman in the video. She was a somewhat plump stranger who looked very wealthy. He found it strange.

“What is this?”

“That’s Li Qingqing.”

“How is that possible?” The woman who used to follow behind him? He had always thought Li Qingqing was dead.

“It’s her,” the Village Chief’s youngest son said. “She’s also the one who donated those things to the village.”

He had used some methods and quickly figured it out.

After learning that Li Qingqing was so wealthy, Wu Jie fell into an irrepressible state of distress.

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t understand how Li Qingqing ended up rich. He remembered that back then, Li Qingqing had no vision at all. While they were making big money, all she knew how to do was stick Beaded Flowers together…

How could she be so rich now? Perhaps after they separated, Li Qingqing had learned from his example.

The most painful part was that he had no money now, while Li Qingqing was wealthy.

If it hadn’t been for him back then, Li Qingqing might still be stuck in the mountains.

But now, not only was Li Qingqing out of the mountains, she was successful and living a prestigious life. Meanwhile, he was back in the mountains.

Wu Jie had kept Li Qingqing in his heart all these years. After all, they grew up together and later went out to work with Second Cousin together.

Back then, when he wanted to follow Second Cousin to find work, no one else in the village supported him. Only Li Qingqing was willing to go with him.

Later, when he became wealthy, in his own perception, he had been very good to Li Qingqing.

When the couple moved to the city, Li Qingqing hadn’t suffered much. If she didn’t want to collect trash, she didn’t have to. He rented a house in the city, and his mother did all the cooking and cleaning. Li Qingqing could do whatever she wanted.

As for the matter with their eldest daughter, he was the one who handled it. He hadn’t told Li Qingqing, sparing her from hardship and distress.

There was no better man than him.

Before they separated, Wu Jie felt there hadn’t been any major conflict between them. Although they hadn’t taken Li Qingqing with them when they fled, it was because they knew she had never been involved in their business and wouldn’t be troubled by the police.

When he went back to look for her later, she was gone.

Human memory always beautifies one’s own actions. Over the years, he had eventually convinced even himself.

Wu Jie felt he hadn’t done anything to wrong Li Qingqing, so he went to find her himself.

She refused to acknowledge him.

There was only a cold “I don’t know you,” giving him no chance to even reminisce about the past.

He went to find the younger daughter. He had looked into her and found she was in her senior year at the best high school in the city, clearly a girl with a bright future.

He staked out the high school gate for over a week but couldn’t spot her at all. There were too many people, and when school let out, students were everywhere.

After waiting like this for half a month, he finally encountered the younger daughter walking to a bookstore with several classmates, their schoolbags on their backs.

“Donglai, I’m your father.” He blocked her path, holding a bag of fruit.

The girl was startled. The two girls beside her quickly pulled Ming Donglai away and ran.

He heard one of the girls say, “He must be a lunatic! Run!”

Wu Jie was hurt. He began to realize that neither his wife nor his daughters would recognize him.

The reason was simple, or so Wu Jie thought: they were too rich.

He had been wealthy once himself. Using his own mindset from back then, he reasoned that when people are this rich, they don’t care about feelings at all. They only think the other person is coming to take their money. How could they possibly respect him? How could they be willing to talk to him?

Should he give up?

Over the years, he had encountered many rich people. He had been envious and jealous, but in the end, that money belonged to others. This time was different. This time, the money was within his reach.

He felt like he was guarding a treasure, yet he didn’t know how to dig it out.

He thought of his eldest daughter. There was still a daughter between him and Li Qingqing.

Wu Jie had always known where that girl was. After all, the eldest daughter had such a large birthmark on her face.

Wu Jie returned to Guangcheng, deciding to reclaim his eldest daughter. Unlike Li Qingqing and the younger daughter, the eldest daughter had no money. Only without money would there be a chance to cultivate a father-daughter bond.

Having learned his lesson with the younger daughter, he knew he couldn’t go to the eldest daughter with just a bag of fruit. Not only that, if he wanted her to trust him, he had to produce some money, at least eighty or ninety thousand.

He returned to his hometown and found the Village Chief’s younger son, wanting to cooperate with him to earn this sum.

He felt that since he had once earned big money, he was a cut above the Village Chief’s son. He laid out his plan: “I’ve checked. My eldest daughter is very filial. She’s currently living with the grandmother who adopted her. This grandmother is sick, and the girl is begging everywhere for money to pay for medical treatment. If I show up and give her money, she’ll slowly become filial to me too.”

“Later on, we’ll trick Li Qingqing and the younger daughter into the mountains and lock them up. Then we’ll send the eldest daughter to the city. Once she ruins her face and a DNA test is done, she can immediately pose as Ming Donglai. When she gets the money, won’t it belong to us, father and daughter?”

Even if they were caught by the police later, it wouldn’t matter. The two of them, one being Li Qingqing’s husband and the other being Li Qingqing’s biological daughter, were all one family.

Wu Jie fantasized about the future. Beside him, the Village Chief’s son only took a sip of wine and said nothing.

“We’ll earn some money first, maybe tens of thousands, and then go find her. Only then will she recognize me as her father,” Wu Jie continued plotting.

“As long as she recognizes me, the rest will be easy. Getting a few million then will be effortless. I’ll give you half.”

After Wu Jie finished speaking, he looked at the Village Chief’s son. He felt that the man had spent too many years in prison and his brain wasn’t as sharp as when they were kids. He seemed dull and wooden, but at least he was obedient.

The two of them entered a construction site.

Neither had ever done hard labor before. At first, it was agonizingly difficult, especially for Wu Jie, whose back simply couldn’t take it.

After a full day, they only made about three hundred. After working for a few days, Wu Jie wanted to quit: “I really can’t do this anymore.”

The Village Chief’s son stared at him for a while. For the first time, Wu Jie felt that the way the man looked at people was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

He quickly told himself he was just hallucinating from exhaustion. At that moment, the Village Chief’s son showed Wu Jie the interview with Ming Qingfu and the introduction to her personal assets again.

Wu Jie immediately went back to work.

With dreams of making a fortune soon in his heart, his movements mixing cement became much faster.

As for the Village Chief’s son, Wu Jie felt the man was just riding his coattails.

Once he got the money, a fifty-fifty split was definitely impossible. He would just give the man one or two hundred thousand. That was already more money than the Village Chief’s son could earn in a lifetime.