Era: Starting with the struggle to refuse being taken advantage of

Both of them had things to do, so Wang Chengpeng naturally wouldn't linger at Xia Mingyue's place any longer and immediately rode his bicycle to the next house.

Seeing Wang Chengpeng riding further and further away, Xia Mingyue looked around and finally gritted her teeth and walked towards the village office building.

Although telephones are useful, they are a rarity; not everyone can install one in their home like Wang Chengpeng.

Therefore, if Xia Mingyue wanted to contact the outside world, she naturally had to borrow a phone from the brigade.

Wangjia Village treats its villagers fairly well; they lend their phones to anyone who can afford to pay for a phone call.

So Xia Mingyue didn't have to put in much effort and quickly obtained temporary access to the phone.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Mingyue quickly dialed the number on the dial pad, dialing that incredibly familiar phone number.

After a brief exchange, a very authoritative voice quickly came from the other end of the phone:

"Mingyue, why are you calling me at this time?"

The voice was incredibly majestic, and just listening to it gave people immense pressure; even Xia Mingyue felt the pressure.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Mingyue voiced her guess:

"Grandpa, I think things might have taken a turn for the worse."

“A comrade from my village has already received a notice for political review, but I haven’t received one.”

After a brief silence, a voice finally came from the other end of the phone:
"It's normal that you haven't received the background check notice. After all, the timing of the background check notices varies from school to school."

"Mingyue, when did you lose all your patience? You actually called me over such a trivial matter."

Faced with her grandfather's reprimand, Xia Mingyue began to explain:

“Grandpa, of course I wouldn’t contact you about something uncertain.”

"But...but the comrade who received the political review notice applied to the same school as me."

"I know my grades; they definitely exceeded the admission score for Fudan University."

Upon hearing this, the stern-faced old man on the other end of the phone immediately frowned, as if he didn't quite understand why this had happened.

After a long pause, as if he had figured something out, he asked:

"Mingyue, do you know what you're saying?"

Even knowing that her grandfather couldn't see, Xia Mingyue still nodded vigorously and said:
"Grandpa, of course I know what I'm talking about."

"If this hadn't happened, why would I be making this call to you?"

“You taught me from a young age that I should have integrity and never take what doesn’t belong to me.”

"But you also taught me to have backbone, and that if anyone dares to take my things, I should break their claws."

After a moment of silence, Xia Mingyue's grandfather finally replied:
"Mingyue, I know about this."

The moment those words were spoken, the other party hung up the phone.

Xia Mingyue, however, was not worried but happy, because she could clearly sense a trace of anger in her grandfather's last words.

Grandpa is angry, and some people are going to be in big trouble.

Thinking of this, Xia Mingyue subconsciously looked in the direction Wang Chengpeng had left, and murmured:

"Comrade Wang, this time you are no longer fighting alone."

"You're so silly, always thinking you can solve all the problems by yourself."

……

Just as Xia Mingyue finished making the phone call, Wang Chengpeng had already walked out of the educated youth settlement.

Song Sixi was more open-minded than he had imagined, or perhaps he was just pretending to be. He seemed completely indifferent to the matter, only saying that he would wait patiently.

Seeing that the other party could handle it, Wang Chengpeng did not linger and went directly to the next stop.

People have varying degrees of closeness and distance, but what Wang Chengpeng cares about most is the feelings of his good friend Wang Zidong.

When Wang Chengpeng arrived at Wang Zidong's house, he ran into Wang Jianhua.

However, this usually cheerful old man now looked rather worried, and the moment he saw Wang Chengpeng, he rushed over as if he had seen a savior:
"Cheng Peng, it's good that you're here."

"Zidong is holed up in his room. You...you should go and check on him."

Wang Jianhua didn't know what to ask Wang Chengpeng to do, so he just told him to go and take a look.

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengpeng knew that something was wrong with Wang Zidong, and without thinking of anything else, he rushed to Wang Zidong's room.

Winter nights come exceptionally early. Although it is not completely dark yet, some poorly lit rooms are already dark.

When Wang Chengpeng pushed open the door to Wang Zidong's room, he was met with a dark scene where he couldn't see anything clearly.

As soon as the door was pushed open, Wang Zidong's dejected voice came from inside:
"Dad, I'm fine, I won't say anything more. Just do your own thing and don't bother me."

Having located the window, Wang Chengpeng pushed it open, letting the sunlight stream in.

Following the direction from which the sound came, Wang Chengpeng said with amusement:
"Dad? I don't have a son as big as you."

"Dongzi, sleeping in the middle of the day is no good. Get up quickly and come to my house for a drink."

The only way to relieve worries is to drink Du Kang.

Recognizing Wang Chengpeng's voice, Wang Zidong stirred, but still didn't get out of bed; only his voice had regained some strength.
"Pengzi, what brings you here? Did you come to see me make a fool of myself?"

"Do you think I made the wrong choice to study? I should have gone to work in a factory earlier. I wasted such a good opportunity."

Listening to Wang Zidong's self-pity, Wang Chengpeng directly pulled back the blanket covering Wang Zidong and said somewhat speechlessly:

Do you think I'm the kind of person who would travel a long way just to see someone make a fool of themselves?

"Besides, I didn't see any jokes here, except for that 'Dad' you just called out."

Seeing that Wang Zidong still didn't react, Wang Chengpeng continued:

"Dongzi, have you misunderstood something?"

"Do you think that all the political background check notices for admitted college students are sent out together?"

"How could that be? Some schools are near and some are far, and some are fast and some are slow. How could they all move in the same direction?"

"Don't even mention a difference of one day, I think it's possible for it to be ten days different."

Seeing that Wang Zidong's condition was really not right, Wang Chengpeng directly increased the time from one week to ten days to avoid any unexpected events.

Upon hearing Wang Chengpeng's words, Wang Zidong was clearly stunned for a moment, then seemed to realize what was happening, snatched the blanket back from Wang Chengpeng's hand, and covered his head with it.

If what Wang Chengpeng just said is true, he felt that his performance just now was extremely embarrassing.

If there were a big hole in the ground right now, he would definitely crawl into it without hesitation. But Wang Chengpeng wasn't about to let him off the hook for his self-deception; he pulled the blanket back up and teased him:
“My dear son, why are you covering yourself with a blanket when you’re already carrying clothes? Come home with your father and have a drink.”

"Today is a great day, something wonderful has happened. Aren't you planning to have a drink with your dad?"

"Although I don't have any good wine, I have plenty of my own homemade beet wine, enough to keep you sober until you drop."

After realizing he had done something stupid, Wang Zidong's face burned with embarrassment, and he could no longer remain a coward.

He jumped off the bed and punched Wang Chengpeng.

"Don't be so vulgar."

Just as his fist was about to strike Wang Chengpeng, he stopped in time, ultimately only giving Wang Chengpeng a light pat.

Wang Chengpeng's banter helped Wang Zidong feel a bit better, and he was no longer as listless as before.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Come on, let's go to your place for a drink. This good thing is definitely worth celebrating."

"Don't complain about how much I can eat and drink when the time comes, after all, you asked for this."

Faced with Wang Zidong's boastful words, Wang Chengpeng simply smiled dismissively:

"Trying to bankrupt me? I don't think you could do it even if you brought ten more pigs."

"Alright, time waits for no one, let's go now."

"I'll prepare some suitable snacks to go with the drinks, and we can eat and chat at the same time."

Seeing that Wang Zidong had finally cheered up, his family breathed a sigh of relief and didn't even tell him to come back early.

After all, Wang Zidong was going to Wang Chengpeng's house. Could there be a more reassuring place?

……

Time flies, and five more days have passed in a flash.

Wang Chengpeng was reading at home when he unexpectedly received a phone call.

Very few people know his home phone number, no more than ten in total, and no one knows who called him.

As soon as the call connected, Song Wenxin's angry voice came from the other end:

"Wang Chengpeng, I already told you I don't need your help, why did you still step in? Don't be so disrespectful."

"This matter has been resolved, the culprit is out of the picture, and the news about the political review and physical examination should reach your village tomorrow."

Faced with Song Wenxin's questioning, Wang Chengpeng was also somewhat bewildered:
"Take action? Since I've agreed to let you do your thing, it's naturally impossible for me to interfere in this matter."

Hearing Wang Chengpeng's explanation, Song Wenxin belatedly realized that she had probably insulted the wrong person, and immediately said somewhat embarrassedly:
"Then I must have misunderstood you."

"This matter was proceeding in an orderly manner, but then another force suddenly intervened."

"Although this force wasn't particularly strong, it was enough to embellish the situation. It quickly routed the opponent and completely secured the victory. The main reason I called this time was to tell you about this."

Recalling the outcome of this incident in his previous life, Wang Chengpeng considered a possibility, but instead of stating it directly, he fabricated one:
"Perhaps someone couldn't stand by and watch, so they went along with it and helped out."

"Don't worry about the process. The outcome of this matter will be good in the end, so you don't need to think too much about it."

Wang Chengpeng paused here, then joked:
"Since your Song family has won this time, it seems I should tell you something: congratulations on your Song family reaching a small peak."

In the past, Song Wenxin would have been happy to bring her family to such a high position.

But the thought that Wang Chengpeng had moved beyond such small-scale activities and gone to a bigger stage in Shanghai made her feel somewhat unhappy.

After the battle was won, the subsequent cleanup of the battlefield was also extremely important and kept everyone very busy.

Song Wenxin didn't say much to Wang Chengpeng before hanging up the phone and continuing to sort through her spoils.

On the other side, another person was also somewhat surprised that the matter ended so quickly.

This person was none other than Xia Mingyue's grandfather, who had given her a push from behind.

However, he didn't take the matter to heart. After making sure that no one had stolen his granddaughter's work, he completely ignored it.

Almost half an hour after Wang Chengpeng received Song Wenxin's call, Wangjia Village welcomed Liu Guodong's visit again.

To be honest, Liu Guodong is still completely bewildered.

When he received the message that so many students were to be notified to participate in political review and physical examination, he almost thought he had misheard.

In his view, it is already a great blessing for a village to produce one college student. These college students are not like cabbages in the field, how can they sprout up one after another like mushrooms?

One good thing about Liu Guodong is that he doesn't dwell on things he doesn't understand; he just focuses on doing things well.

In order to expedite the implementation of this matter, Song Wenxin made a special effort to make Liu Guodong realize the seriousness of the situation.

That's why Liu Guodong rushed over as soon as he received the news.

Because there were simply too many people, Liu Guodong didn't go to notify them in person this time. He just told Wang Fucheng the news and asked him to help spread the word.

Finally, he said with considerable emotion:

"I wonder if the feng shui of Wangjia Village is better, otherwise how could so many college students come from there? This is unprecedented."

"I think you should stop calling this place Wangjia Village and just call it Zhuangyuan Village instead."

"Hey, if I tell the directors of other communes this at the next city meeting, they probably won't believe me."

Although the Four Olds had been destroyed, people still tended to rely on ghosts and gods for things they didn't understand.

Only Wang Fucheng knew that there was no such thing as good feng shui; it was always Wang Chengpeng who was bearing the burden alone.

If he hadn't selflessly shared so many textbooks back then, how could Wangjia Village have produced so many college and junior college students?

After hearing Liu Guodong's words, Wang Fucheng shook his head and said:
"What 'Top Scholar Village'? Our place is simply called Wangjia Village. If we're going to change it, it should be called Dapeng Village!"

Seeing that Liu Guodong seemed puzzled, he didn't offer an explanation and continued:

"Director Liu, this is a matter of life and death for the candidates, and there is no room for ambiguity."

"I'll go and inform the candidate's family now that a political review meeting will be held tomorrow."

"Look... I'm just too busy, so I won't keep you here any longer."

Hearing Wang Fucheng's obvious order to leave, Liu Guodong smiled dismissively and said:
"I understand, but the candidates' situation is more important."

Even though Liu Guodong is Wang Fucheng's superior, he doesn't dare to go too far with Wang Fucheng right now.

It's important to know that Wang Fucheng has more than just Dapeng Sugar Factory behind him; he also has access to so many college and vocational school graduates, making his future incredibly promising.

But the most terrifying person is Wang Chengpeng, who stands behind Wang Fucheng—a man whose true strength will never be known. (End of Chapter)