The next day, Zhao Yang slept in until the sun was well up, only to be awakened by a series of knocks on the door from the courtyard outside.
The wooden door rattled under the pounding from the people outside, and Zhao Yang, disturbed from his sleep, stepped into the yard and realized that there seemed to be a gathering of many people outside, all cursing and swearing.
Zhao Yang frowned and walked over to open the door. As soon as it swung open, he saw Li Xingmao, who had been pounding on the gate, standing in the middle of the crowd.
"Well, well, Uncle Cat, what brings you here?" Zhao Yang said cheerfully to Li Xingmao, surveying him and the group behind him. It looked like they were all his relatives and a dozen or so hired lumberjacks.
Li Xingmao's face was ashen, and he seemed beside himself with anger. Seeing Zhao Yang's flippant demeanor, he practically breathed fire from his eyes.
"Zhao Yang, aren't you leaving this time?" Li Xingmao asked in a deep voice.
"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere. Do you miss me, uncle?" Zhao Yang replied with a strange laugh.
"Where's your dad?"
"Where my dad is - don't you know?" Zhao Yang snorted coldly.
Of course, Li Xingmao knew that Zhao Yang's dad was in the county hospital. These past few days, he had been planning to take some people to the hospital to find Zhao Yishan, pressing him about when they would relocate the grave. Zhao Yishan's stay at the hospital didn't concern him, whereas his own father's ashes were still lying in the urn on the altar at home, awaiting burial.
The issue of Zhao Yishan relocating his wife's grave had been dragging on, to the point that Li Xingmao's own father had been cremated and the ashes had been sitting at home for a month, still not interred. As they say, one finds peace only in one's final resting place in the earth, and Li Xingmao, no matter how he tried, couldn't get Zhao Yishan to agree, feeling extremely anxious and resorting to every trick he could.
This time he had even managed to get Director Yang from the Forestry Bureau involved, and Li Xingmao wasn't afraid that Zhao Yishan wouldn't comply.
However, Zhao Yishan had now been in the hospital for a week, and Li Xingmao was growing impatient again.
What happens to you, Zhao Yishan, is none of my business, but you'd better relocate that grave sooner rather than later!
Early that morning, as Li Xingmao was about to take people to the county hospital to check on Zhao Yishan, the village head, Li Xingkui, rushed to Li Xingmao's house with a document in hand.
The document, sent via fax with the stamp of the county Forestry Bureau, was undoubtedly genuine.
Upon seeing Li Xingkui's grave expression, even before reading the document, Li Xingmao's heart skipped a beat.
The document not only scrapped the plan to designate the area around the graveyard as a resource zone but even more unexpectedly, revoked Li Xingmao's logging permit.
Li Xingkui and Li Xingmao were kin, and when Li Xingkui received the fax, he immediately called the Forestry Bureau. The person on the other end sternly accused him of poor protection of forestry resources, resulting in severe soil erosion and environmental damage around Li Family Village.
Yang Wei, the director with whom Li Xingkui had a private rapport, spoke with an intensity that was almost ferocious, as if he had become a different person!
Li Xingkui was completely flustered by Yang Wei's tirade. Knowing that they had a good relationship, and that he had always taken care of Yang Wei during festivals, he couldn't understand the harsh scolding - what exactly was happening?
With no alternative, Li Xingkui had to find Li Xingmao and throw the document at him.
By the time Li Xingmao had finished reading the entire document, he was so infuriated that he almost passed out!
This was cutting off Li Xingmao's source of wealth!
Years ago, Li Xingmao had almost spent all the family's money to buy connections, allowing him to contract the forest to the west of the village at a very low price. From then on, he started on the road to wealth.
Starting with logging and selling raw materials, to opening a furniture factory, and then a furniture store in the county, Li Xingmao had created a one-stop operation. From raw materials to finished products, the logging field, furniture factory, and furniture company all operated under his name.
With this, furniture production costs were controlled to the minimum. He had significant influence in the county. It could be said that Li Xingmao was a furniture industry tycoon in the county, easily earning millions every year.
Now, without permission to log, his cost advantage in timber was gone. What could Li Xingmao compete with against other furniture companies?
"Your dad is staying at the county hospital, and yet, he's really stirring up trouble. When did you come back? Why didn't you go to the hospital? You used to seem obedient as a kid, how did you become so contrary when you grew up?" Li Xingmao said.
"Whether I've become contrary has nothing to do with you. But you got the first part of your sentence wrong earlier. My dad's stay in the county hospital was caused by you all. The one stirring up trouble isn't him, it's me!" By the end of his words, Zhao Yang's eyes were spitting fire, and he struggled to conceal the rage in his heart.
"You? Just with you, you believe you can cause such a thing?" Li Xingmao said with a cold laugh.
Zhao Yang smirked faintly, with a flash of cold light in his eyes: "Look down on me, huh? Let me tell you, you're now like a crab in a pot, ready to be deep-fried or steamed whenever I please."
Upon hearing Zhao Yang's words, Li Xingmao felt uneasy, and at that moment, his cousin, Li Xingcai, suddenly asked, "Zhao Yang, did you really do this?"
The document that had come by fax that morning seemed to suggest Zhao Yang knew everything, which meant that even if he wasn't the one who did it, he was at least one of the informed parties.
"Didn't I just say so? My dear uncles and older male relatives, you all watched Zhao Yang grow up. When has Zhao Yang ever deceived you?"
Zhao Yang's smile was a bit sinister. In Li Family Village, if there was one person who could make everyone's head ache, that person would inevitably be Zhao Yang.
The things Zhao Yang had done, one could not finish reciting even in three days and three nights.
From the age of six, Zhao Yang had always been a troublemaker in the village. Ever since Xingkui had branded Zhao Yang as a jinx, he had been despised by everyone in the village. But if anyone dared to insult him, calling him "bastard" or "jinx," they would surely suffer great misfortune within three days.
But no matter what Zhao Yang did, he indeed never lied. He owned up to his actions. Even when the villagers hung him from a tree and whipped him fiercely with rattan switches, he would clench his teeth and not beg for mercy.
The people of Li Family Village knew Zhao Yang's character well, so this made the rage in Li Xingmao's eyes burn even fiercer.
"Li Xingmao, you're really ruthless, forcing my dad to move my mom's grave. Are the Li family humans and all of the Zhao family dogs? Listen up, Li Xingmao, I'm back this time and not leaving. You dared to pressure my dad to move the grave behind my back, and I'm sparing your ancestors' graves out of consideration for our shared village. The document this morning was just a warning. If you dare to contemplate moving my mother's grave again, heh, I'll make sure your whole family meets a bad end!"
By the end of his tirade, Zhao Yang's fierceness was on full display, his figure like a fearsome overlord from hell, sending chills through everyone present!
Originally, Li Xingmao had the advantage of having more people with him, his demeanor aggressive and domineering. Now, however, he was completely overwhelmed by Zhao Yang's imposing aura.
Among those present were Li Xingmao's relatives and hired workers. Some had always felt in their hearts that Li Xingmao was in the wrong. To insist on moving someone else's grave for one's own benefit was simply against all that was fair and just.
Not having righteousness on their side, they could not muster up any firmness in front of Zhao Yang.
Zhao Yishan was an honest man who always behaved kindly towards others. With Zhao Yang not at home and the family having no support, Li Xingkui was taking advantage of that to pressure Zhao Yishan. Now that Zhao Yang had returned, the situation was getting complicated.
"Damn it, I'll kill you, you bastard!" His source of income had been cut off, effectively breaking Li Xingmao's backbone. Consumed with fury and humiliation, Li Xingmao snatched an axe from someone next to him. Flexing his arms, he swung with both hands, aiming a fierce blow at Zhao Yang's head!