Reborn in the 70s: Pampered by Regiment Commander
Chapter 364 - 252: Whose Plan Is It?

Chapter 364: Chapter 252: Whose Plan Is It?

Xiao Yuwen had long forgotten about Lin Xiaohua and her daughter.

At the time, he left the mother and daughter behind because he was thinking of using them to get close to Chuxia, but now, with Li Xiaoru, whom he longed for day and night, staying by his side, within sight but out of reach, how could he spare a thought for Chuxia? He couldn’t even bother to take revenge on Zhou Mikang, of course, he hadn’t truly forgotten, but he was all too aware of his father’s vindictive nature—what was there for him to worry about? He would just wait and see a drowning dog struggle.

These days, Li Xiaoru has been accompanying him, caring for him meticulously, and speaking sweetly enough to melt his heart, but whenever he wanted to take things further, she always had various excuses to push him away. Clearly realizing she was doing it on purpose, he could only hold back his frustration.

No matter how much his father was thriving, he didn’t dare force anything in the hospital; as for going home, he hadn’t even considered it. With Zhou Aiping and her daughter watching him like tigers, what could he do?

So, what he needed to do now was to use this time together to develop feelings with Li Xiaoru, so that once they left the hospital, he could naturally coax her into bed. By then, whether to marry her or not would be entirely up to him.

Having figured this out, he felt better even if the tantalizing bait hung just out of reach every day. Taking advantage of the times when Li Xiaoru helped him wipe his body, he intentionally had her touch some private areas, or, when she wasn’t looking, he made some moves on her. This also made his days very enjoyable.

Therefore, when he received a call from Liu Zhenqiang telling him that Zhao Qiliang had gone to see Lin Xiaohua and her daughter, and that the mother and daughter wanted to escape, he was bewildered for a long while before he remembered who Lin Xiaohua and Zhao Qiyan were.

"...Director... Director?"

Having not heard a response from the other end of the phone for a long while, Liu Zhenqiang thought the line had disconnected so he hung up. Just as Xiao Yuwen, who had come to his senses and was about to speak, heard the beeping disconnect tone, he became so furious that his eyebrows shot up, and he called the operator to transfer him back to Liu Zhenqiang, unleashing a tirade of abuse as soon as the call connected.

Liu Zhenqiang felt aggrieved. He had spoken for a while and then shouted for a long time; without any response, he thought about hanging up and dialing again, only to find the line was continuously busy...

After Xiao Yuwen finished berating him, Liu Zhenqiang timidly asked, "Director, what should we do with the mother and daughter?"

"What do you mean, what should we do?"

"They seem to dislike the work there and want to switch places. Should we let them go, or what?"

"Dislike the work there?" Xiao Yuwen’s voice suddenly grew louder. "Isn’t that better than working in the fields in the countryside? And they’re still picky, who do they think they are?"

Feeling guilty, Liu Zhenqiang hastily agreed, "Yeah, yeah, the work in the countryside is much harder and more tiring than this. Those two are too ungrateful. If it weren’t for the Director, would the hotel even hire them?"

"You said they want to leave?" Xiao Yuwen snorted with contempt. "Then let them go. When they hit a brick wall out there, they’ll know whether they should be grateful to me."

"Yes," said Liu Zhenqiang, and he hung up relieved.

When he learned that Lin Xiaohua and her daughter wanted to escape, he was startled, uncertain of how Xiao Yuwen planned to use this mother and daughter. If they really ran away, how could he explain himself?

After much deliberation, he risked calling because he figured if Xiao Yuwen saw something special in the mother and daughter, he would immediately arrange easier work for them. If Xiao Yuwen showed an indifferent attitude, then it would mean keeping them was just to slap the Zhou family’s face, and his arrangements would have been absolutely correct.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Zhenqiang went to the room where Lin Xiaohua and Zhao Qiyan were confined.

This was a small storage room for spare tools. The mother and daughter were huddling on burlap sacks filled with bed sheets and quilts. At the sound of the door, they reflexively looked up. Seeing who it was, Zhao Qiyan rushed over like seeing a family member, "Big Brother Liu, if you hadn’t come, my mom and I would have been bullied to death."

"I’ve been busy these past few days and couldn’t come over," Liu Zhenqiang said, helping Zhao Qiyan settle next to Lin Xiaohua, "Comrade Liu." Lin Xiaohua nervously rubbed her hands and greeted.

"Ah..." Liu Zhenqiang sighed softly, "As soon as I got their call, I hurried over. I didn’t know they had arranged work like this for you. You’ve suffered."

"Big Brother, where is Director Xiao?" Zhao Qiyan asked urgently.

"Director Xiao..." Liu Zhenqiang hesitated, then said, "Didn’t he get hurt? He’s hospitalized. Before coming, I sought his opinion..."

Zhao Qiyan, interrupting him anxiously, "What does Big Brother Xiao mean?"

Hearing Zhao Qiyan change her reference from "Director Xiao" to "Big Brother Xiao," Liu Zhenqiang’s mouth twitched unconsciously as he sized her up, his twitch growing stronger. Did she not recognize her own standing, or did she truly think she was in a favorable position?

"What else do you expect Director Xiao to mean? He arranged jobs for you, essentially fulfilling his promise to you. What more do you want from him?

As for the nature of the work, to be frank, you are from out of town; how could pleasant and carefree jobs fall to you? If it weren’t for Director Xiao’s care, even if you begged to clean here, no one would keep you."

Zhao Qiyan became somewhat bewildered and disbelieving. Before she could speak, Lin Xiaohua became anxious, "Comrade Liu, if Director Xiao had said we were to stay for such work, why would we fall out with our family and still support him? Isn’t he being a bit too unscrupulous? Which hospital is he in? We’ll go find him."

"Big Brother Liu, please tell us Director Xiao’s address. I don’t want to hide it from you. If it weren’t for the prospect of a better life, my mom and I would not have stayed. We’ve had a falling out with our family, boosting Director Xiao’s image. If because of boosting his image we end up worse off, then that wouldn’t reflect well on Director Xiao either."

With a smirk, Liu Zhenqiang looked at Zhao Qiyan, "Do you know what Director Xiao’s status is?"

"Slightly better off than the Zhou family, I guess,"

"Do you even know what status the Zhou family holds?"

Zhao Qiyan reminisced for a moment before saying, "They should be about the same as the county head in our place, right?" Her tone carried a hint of uncertainty; evidently, because the Zhou family had fallen on hard times, she subconsciously felt that the Zhou family must be all for show now.

"County head?" Liu Zhenqiang chuckled, "You’re seriously underestimating the Zhou family. If we really get down to it, they’re about on par with the governor of your province, understand?"

Zhao Qiyan was stunned for a moment, but thinking about the Zhou family’s current situation, she said, "Aren’t they finished already?"

"The Zhou family is finished, but what I want to tell you is..." pausing for a bit, Liu Zhenqiang continued, "Director Xiao isn’t someone you can just seek out whenever you wish.

Put it this way, if it weren’t for the Zhou family, you wouldn’t even have a chance to exchange a single word with Director Xiao in your lifetimes. Now, getting to this point, he’s already gone above and beyond.

As long as you’re willing to stick it out here, and work for a few years, you might be able to become permanent staff. After that, you’ll be city people, and compared to being a farmer, just think for yourselves, whether this is better or staying in your old home is better..."

The mother and daughter were startled by the background Liu Zhenqiang described for the Xiao family; now both flustered, they were overwhelmed with uncertainty, especially considering their prior attitudes.

"Big Brother Liu, we... we’ll listen to you. Whatever you say, my mom and I will do it," said Zhao Qiyan.

Lui Zhenqiang had been waiting for her to say exactly this and immediately nodded: "Alright, you just continue working here with peace of mind. As soon as a suitable opportunity arises, I’ll find a way to help you become permanent workers."

"Really?" In unison, the mother and daughter asked. They hadn’t fully understood what Liu Zhenqiang had said just then, but now they were bursting with joy.

"However, there is one way to speed up the process for Qiyan to become a permanent worker."

"What way?" Zhao Qiyan’s eyes widened with eager anticipation.

"Marry a local," said Liu Zhenqiang.

Zhao Qiyan let out a sigh, "Where could I so easily find someone like that?"

At this moment, Lin Xiaohua reacted quicker than her daughter, "Comrade Liu, are you married?"

Liu Zhenqiang shook his head: "Not yet."

"You are a local here, right?"

"Yes."

"How old are you this year?"

"Thirty-two."

"Thirty-two, huh?" Lin Xiaohua furrowed her brows and eyed him up and down, "You... you don’t have any issues, do you? Otherwise, how could you still not be married at this point?"

Zhao Qiyan had figured out what her mom was getting at and gave Liu Zhenqiang a few glances, growing more dissatisfied the more she looked. Barely over 1.60 meters tall, as dark as charcoal, with a small nose and small eyes—bringing someone like that home, how embarrassing would that be? She couldn’t help but say, "Mom, are you inspecting Big Brother Liu’s household registration? Maybe Big Brother Liu hasn’t married because he’s got high standards and just hasn’t met the right one yet, right, Big Brother Liu?"

"Yes." Liu Zhenqiang, seeing Zhao Qiyan’s expression, knew what she was thinking and didn’t insist, just chuckled, "Qiyan, you’re flattering me. With my qualifications, how dare I be picky?

I was too busy with work in the past few years to focus on it, and now that I’m looking, I’m finding most women my age are already married. I’ve seen a few younger ones, but there’s always something I’m not satisfied with. Forget it, I’ve been single for so long, I can wait another couple of years, but in the end, she has to be the right one for me."

Zhao Qiyan nodded in agreement, "Exactly, exactly..."

Upon leaving the hotel entrance, Liu Zhenqiang’s mouth curled into a smile. Hmph, with standards like that, she can keep dreaming. Well, let her dream on; within a week, they’ll surely be crying and begging to marry him!

No sooner had Liu Zhenqiang left than the Group Leader responsible for Zhao Qiyan and her mother’s work came looking for them, hustling them to get to work like shooing flies. With the bait of becoming permanent staff dangled before them, they held back a belly full of dissatisfaction and followed the Group Leader out of the dormitory.

On the other side, Cheng Guo was currently troubled. After Wu Jingbo went home and asked his uncle, the answer was that it was not good to get involved with the Xiao family’s affairs for the time being.

Watching Li Xiaoru put on a fake smile to deal with Xiao Yuwen every day, he felt like he was suffocating from internal injuries. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote and recommend at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)