Chapter 330: Chapter 327: 327 I Just Smile

“`

Feng Jun’s five elementary school classmates, all of whom had played together since childhood, had a very good relationship and there was nothing they couldn’t talk about.

At the dinner table, Er Pang started to complain, saying you gave Liu Jiagui too much face, if it were me, I’d be too lazy to bother with him.

Er Pang’s name is Dou Jiahui, and he was the second fattest in class during elementary school—the fattest being Feng Jun, whose given name is Jun.

The Dou Family in Chaoyang was well-known, but the clan wasn’t large, having only about fifty to sixty members in total.

Er Pang’s great-grandfather had come to Chaoyang alone and fathered six sons, four of whom had died in fights due to various disputes.

Those four sons left behind four grandsons, and the two who survived had eleven grandsons themselves.

In other words, Dou Jiahui had a total of fourteen uncles, who fought with others… and four more died.

The remaining ten uncles sought to take revenge and in the process, four more died, including one who massacred two families—both families were police officers.

Currently, he only had six uncles alive.

And along with Dou Jiahui, there were a total of nine male cousins—this was because of the family planning policy, otherwise, who knows how many brothers there might have been.

One of his male cousins had killed someone during a fight and the government had no choice but to sentence him to death.

When this cousin’s funeral took place, even the deputy county head came to express condolences, and everyone at the police station chipped in.

There was no helping it, this family was too damn terrifying, when one brother died, another one stepped up.

The government wasn’t foolish either; Er Pang’s father had been co-opted and was currently serving as the deputy director of the Chengguan Police Station. His position wasn’t high, and his work was a bit muddled, but with just a glare, all the hoodlums would kneel down.

In recent years, the Dou Family brothers didn’t have any notable achievements, but who would dare to underestimate them?

Er Pang had a pretty good temper, but even if he said this in front of Liu Jiagui, Liu wouldn’t dare to express any dissatisfaction.

Feng Jun simply smiled at Dou Jiahui’s contempt without taking a stance.

During the drinking session of the elementary classmates, Gazi was mainly pouring drinks—he was a year younger than the rest, so if he didn’t pour, who would?

After having their fill of drinks and food, Gazi timidly asked, Brother Jun, your business is getting big now, do you need more people?

Working as a security guard at the hotel really had no future; it was fine for supporting oneself, but starting a family was out of the question.

Since Brother Jun had made himself a place in Zhengyang, he definitely wanted to go there. As for this kind of move, he had no psychological discomfort whatsoever—he had always hung around with Feng Jun since childhood.

The only concern was, he had a history of epilepsy, which barred him from applying to many positions because of his medical history.

For example, he once had the opportunity to take out a loan to buy a truck for transportation, and he also had the chance to work in a factory.

But because of his epilepsy, these opportunities were delayed, as no one would dare to employ him—what if you had an episode on the road, what then?

Feng Jun was very close to Gazi; why was Lu Xiaoning called Gazi? Because he was straightforward in his dealings from a young age.

That wasn’t stupidity, but a dislike of deceiving people; he felt obligated to speak up about things that he found disagreeable.

During his time out in the world, Feng Jun had met many people. Wang Haifeng certainly couldn’t compare to Mou Miao in terms of closeness, but not even Mou Miao could be considered as dependable as Gazi.

Epilepsy… I might be able to cure it for him! Feng thought to himself, then nodded, “Alright, come with me later on. There wasn’t much hope in the last couple of years, but now I think I might be able to arrange something for you.”

Er Pang showed his teeth in a grin, “Big Feng, arrange something for me too, there’s really no fun staying here.”

“Who in other places knows about the Dou Family from Chaoyang?” Feng Jun glanced at him. “You get in touch with my second uncle, help me keep an eye out if there are any neglected mountains nearby available for lease. If there are, I might come back.”

“The Dou Family from Chaoyang counts for shit, it’s all just empty prestige, doesn’t earn a dime, everything is just bullshit,” Er Pang muttered bitterly, “Why do they say ‘impoverished and aggressive’? Because you’re too poor, so poor that all you have left is aggression… said the demon.”

He had always been secretly in love with his middle school classmate Yao Jing. Yao Jing is now an anchor for the county television station. Although no one dares to mess with the Dou Family in the county, Yao Jing’s current boyfriend hails from a director of the provincial state-owned assets commission. She is busy trying to transfer to the provincial capital.

“Think of a business that makes money,” Feng Jun raised his glass and downed it, “if you’re short of cash… just let me know.”

“Alright, drink less,” interjected Tie Dun, an elementary school classmate who worked in the south; he was good with people, “Big Feng has to get up early tomorrow.”

Get up early, Feng Jun? Fat chance. His impression of Liu Jiagui was very poor. If not for some other considerations, he wouldn’t have agreed to lend the car—the 200 yuan red envelope, as if I care?

Liu Jiagui took this bride-picking very seriously; he was really fed up with being the director of the family planning committee. If given the choice, he would rather stay in the office of the county government rather than being marginalized like now.

Family planning had never been an easy department; in the past, people would curse at you to your backbone for escorting them to get abortions. In the last few years, it had relaxed a bit, and they were able to make some extra income through allocated quotas, but then the two-child policy came out… This official position really became untenable.

Ever since the county head who appreciated him had left, he had been on a downward trajectory and was eager to hitch himself to a higher branch, and now was the opportunity.

“`

At 5:30 in the morning, Liu Jiagui arrived at the large roundabout on the edge of the county town, watching everyone coordinate the vehicles.

The roundabout is the necessary route to the downtown area of Yunyuan City, making it the most suitable place to gather the vehicles.

Today, Liu Jiagui was not in charge, so he only arranged for three cars, none of which were low-end, with his Jetta not quite making the cut.

However, the best they had was an Audi A6; no higher—news had gotten to everyone rather late.

By six o’clock sharp, the motorcade had almost all arrived, totaling nineteen vehicles including the lead car, symbolizing longevity.

But by now, only eighteen vehicles had come, and the supervisor was getting anxious, “Whose car hasn’t arrived?”

Liu Jiagui was hopping mad, “My car, my car is one short… it’s on its way here.”

“Then make it quick,” the supervisor said dissatisfiedly, recognizing this family planning director who usually spoke quite politely, but what time was it now? Favouritism wasn’t going to cut it in times like these.

So he commanded coldly, “Tell him he has only five minutes; if he can’t keep up, he’ll have to follow us along the main road.”

Liu Jiagui could not afford to care about the man’s attitude at this point and hurriedly called Feng Jun again. After the call, he still cursed resentfully, “Damn it, like dog meat—can’t be put on the table.”

Feng Jun arrived almost exactly at the five-minute mark.

When Liu Jiagui saw the car, he exploded, “Fuck… didn’t you know to wash your car?”

This car had traveled all the way from Zhengyang, where there was still snow. Although the snow on the roads had been cleared, one could imagine how dirty the vehicle was, as the rear window was completely covered with a layer of mud, obscuring any view.

Feng Jun rolled down the window to look at him, “I came back yesterday. I drank till midnight; where could I wash the car?”

He was lying; everybody had dispersed at nine-thirty the night before.

When the supervisor saw the sorry state of the car, he couldn’t help glaring harshly at Liu Jiagui, “Look at this mess you’ve made!”

Liu Jiagui felt incredibly wronged. I told him, it’s Chao Ying’s daughter getting married, damn it, and he dares to come without washing the car!

But at this point, it was too late to say anything. He waved Feng Jun over urgently, “Get out of the car and quickly go to the nearby repair shop to fetch a bucket of water. Wipe it down a bit; anything’s better than no effort.”

Feng Jun sat in the car, not moving an inch, looking at him with a half-smile.

“You’ve grown some guts?” Liu Jiagui got even angrier, initially wanting to berate him thoroughly, but after thinking it over, considering that he was dealing with a successful university graduate, he had to swallow his pride and chuckled bitterly, “Xiao Jun, aren’t you just trying to show up President Chao?”

Feng Jun just kept looking at him and smiling, saying nothing.

As Liu Jiagui was about to nag some more, the assistant supervisor came over, handed Feng Jun two red balloons, and issued instructions swiftly, “Here, tie these to your rearview mirrors. The car is so dirty; after we get to the city, find a moment to wash it.”

After all, fetching the bride was bound to be a hectic affair. Although Feng Jun’s car was dirty, the bride’s family still provided him with two packs of premium Zhonghua cigarettes.

However, the next problem arose; among those fetching the bride, no one wanted to get into the dirty Passat. In the end, two young kids got in, both around fourteen or fifteen, distant relatives from the mountains.

Once the two kids were in the car, they were quite quiet. They couldn’t appreciate how luxurious the interior of the car was; even an ordinary sedan seemed a remote luxury to them.

All nineteen vehicles were ready, but the people weren’t all there yet. Dragging on until 6:30, when the sky began to lighten, the motorcade finally set off.

Setting off at this time, the roads weren’t too busy. The assistant supervisor had managed such matters often and was finally able to relax, “No worries, we have a time buffer. It will be enough, and it’s almost dawn. Tell the cameraman to take some shots on the way… Damn, avoid that dirty Passat.”

Among today’s cars, there were three Passats, but he didn’t need to specify which one; everyone knew which he meant.

From Chaoyang County to the city center is only about thirty kilometers, and they could make quick progress. It took about fifty minutes to reach the couple’s place, arriving around 7:30.

The motorcade got there, with two cars having fallen behind on the way but they quickly caught up.

In Yunyuan City, the tradition of a new bride returning home is quite grand. Having seen it several times, Feng Jun didn’t get out of the car, just rolled down his window and sat at the wheel, smoking.

One of the young kids, out of curiosity, asked him, “Didn’t the supervisor give you Zhonghua cigarettes? Why don’t you join in the joyous occasion instead of smoking your own brand?”

Feng Jun glanced at him, smiled, and replied, “I’m not too fond of the hard-boxed Zhonghuas. I find these a bit more enjoyable to smoke.”

The kid peeked at the short cigarette in his hand and blurted out innocently, “That cigarette looks fun being so short. Uncle, can I have one for my dad to try?”

The cigarettes Feng Jun smoked were not cheap: Grouse 1619, a thousand yuan a pack, five yuan for a single stick. When he heard the boy’s request was for his father, he didn’t hesitate and handed over an entire pack, “Take it.”

Respecting one’s parents is certainly praiseworthy.

(Updated, calling for monthly votes.)