Rebirth 78: After being jilted at the altar, I reached the pinnacle!

Li Hanliang was startled. What? I'm breaking the law by helping to catch criminals?

"Aren't you going back to the city? I'll give you a ride," Fang Qingquan said casually, and got into the car first.

Li Hanliang wiped away a cold sweat. So he had enjoyed a privilege and gotten a free ride in a police car?

Since we're being treated this way, why be so polite?

Li Hanliang nimbly leaped into the police car.

Back at the police station, Fang Qingquan deliberately made a big show of arresting the five people, attracting a crowd of onlookers.

Li Hanliang understood her intention; she wanted to lure the snake out of its hole and throw Jing Wenqiang into disarray.

"What a formidable young woman," Li Hanliang sighed inwardly as he walked toward the steamed bun shop.

He startled Zhou Weijun as soon as he entered the door.

Old Zhou stared at him wide-eyed. The man who had never flinched even when he was on the battlefield was now utterly astonished. "Hanliang, what brings you back? Did you catch him?"

He had originally planned for ten days, and that was the fastest possible scenario.

But Li Hanliang's speed is amazing! He didn't even arrive in ten hours? It wasn't even dark yet!

“Of course, they’ve all been taken to the police station and locked up,” Li Hanliang said, sitting down and about to grab an ice cream when he suddenly smelled the aroma of minced meat. “Uncle Zhou, what’s this?”

Zhou Weijun hurriedly called out, "Lanfang, come out quickly and see your boss!"

Immediately afterwards, a sweet voice came from the kitchen, "Hey... coming, Uncle!"

Just hearing that voice made Li Hanliang feel his bones go weak.

Soon, he saw a girl with a single-shoulder braid, black and shiny hair, and fair and delicate skin walking over.

"Hello, boss." The girl had red lips and white teeth, a cheerful personality, and a sweet fragrance wafted over as she spoke.

Li Hanliang felt as if the scene before him was a dream, and wondered if he had fallen asleep and fallen into the Land of Illusion.

"Hanliang, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and get to know Lanfang!" Zhou Weijun shoved him.

Li Hanliang then snapped out of his daze, extended his hand, and introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Li Hanliang, the owner of the steamed bun shop. But from now on, you can just call me Brother Hanliang, don't be so polite!"

“What brother?” Zhou Weijun laughed. “Hanliang, Xiao Liu is twenty-three this year, two years older than you!”

"Huh? Twenty-three?" Li Hanliang was genuinely surprised.

I wonder if it's because rural girls dress in a rustic way that they look so young?

He felt that the girl in front of him, dressed in a red floral dress, looked as fresh and beautiful as if she had just turned eighteen.

Especially the girl's full breasts, which looked as if they were brimming with vitality and well-nourished by the farmer's grain. This girl was so beautiful that just standing in front of him made him feel as if he were surrounded by the sweet fragrance of a young girl.

"Brother Hanliang, I am indeed twenty-three years old." Liu Lanfang said somewhat embarrassedly.

Li Hanliang realized he had been presumptuous, so he quickly raised his hand to let her sit down, saying, "Don't be busy for now, let's chat for a while."

Li Hanliang then gave her two popsicles.

Since Old Zhou is too old to eat cold food, Li Hanliang thoughtfully poured him some hot tea.

During the ensuing conversation, Li Hanliang learned that Liu Lanfang was not only two years older than him, but had also already been married.

Unfortunately, her husband died in the first year of their marriage.

"The day after our wedding, he went out to work in a mine in the west, and he never came back..." Liu Lanfang still couldn't hide her sadness as she said this.

“My in-laws said I had cursed him to death because of this incident, and they kicked me out. My family also disliked me and didn’t want me anymore. I had nowhere to go, so I came to Anfeng County to work. I lived alone in the county hotel, working as both a waitress and a night watchman.”

Li Hanliang sighed upon hearing this.

I never imagined that a girl with such a sunny and cheerful smile could have such a painful experience.

Zhou Weijun said, "I met her when I went to have dinner with an old comrade. I felt sorry for her, a young girl all alone in a foreign place, so I often took care of her. But even so, there were still quite a few hooligans who would harass her in the middle of the night."

“It’s not good for her to always live outside. I see there’s a small house behind your shop, right? Hanliang, why don’t you go live in the backyard and let Lanfang sleep in the shop at night? That way, it’ll be easier for her to get up early the next morning and open the shop to sell steamed buns.”

Having said all that, how could Li Hanliang possibly let a young girl keep watch for him?

“Uncle, Lanfang, don’t refuse. I’ll decide this matter,” Li Hanliang immediately decided. “From now on, I’ll sleep in the shop, and Lanfang can stay in that little room in the back.”

"Lanfang, just stay here and work hard. As for your wages, I won't shortchange you. I'll give you twenty yuan every month from now on, and I'll hire you as the general manager of our steamed bun shop."

Li Hanliang didn't ask for a random price, and it's even less likely that he was blinded by beauty.

He had just smelled the filling Liu Lanfang had prepared for the steamed buns, so he knew that with Liu Lanfang's culinary skills, her salary would be double if she were employed in a high-end restaurant.

However, Liu Lanfang suffered because she was a girl.

Although women's equality is advocated in this era, highly technical jobs are still generally occupied by men.

Girls like Liu Lanfang, who were born into poverty but were beautiful, could only work as waitresses.

"Twenty? Twenty?" Liu Lanfang looked at Li Hanliang in disbelief.

Like Li Hanliang, Zhou Weijun didn't think the price was high. However, compared to Li Hanliang, who was the one who paid, Zhou Weijun, as the introducer, was naturally very grateful.

"Hanliang, thank you so much. Your discerning eye can be said to have changed Xiao Liu's fate!" Zhou Weijun said, clasping his hands in a fist salute to Li Hanliang.

Li Hanliang was placed on a high platform, feeling like he was about to be completely fooled by this old man and young man.

He immediately grabbed her hand and gave her another employee perk, "Come on, Lanfang, the boss will take you to buy work clothes!"

"What? There are work uniforms too?" Liu Lanfang felt like she was dreaming.

Zhou Weijun looked at the two of them with a satisfied smile.

Li Hanliang took the two to a department store, and then to a nearby restaurant where they ordered four dishes and a soup. The three of them enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

After the three of them had finished eating, Li Hanliang escorted Old Zhou back to the technical school, and then led Liu Lanfang back into the shop.

The two were chatting and gazing at the moon when Li Hanliang suddenly heard someone shout, "Hey, Li Hanliang, you're really something! You've already found a new girlfriend in just a few days!"

Li Hanliang looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young woman with fashionable curly hair, wearing the uniform of the county guesthouse, riding a brand-new Flying Pigeon bicycle toward him.

On the back of her bicycle sat a beautiful girl in flowing white clothes—who else could it be but the ethereal Pei Shuxin!