Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 728: Chapter 718 Who is Li Shiguo

Li Hongjun immediately put down his chopsticks, put on his shoes, and left to pick up the visitor.

"Mom, who is Li Shiguo?" Pangpang asked curiously, holding his bowl of rice.

The expressions on his parents’ faces suggested that the visitor was someone familiar, but why had he never heard the name before?

Shen Yunfang was taken aback, then realized that back in their hometown everyone used nicknames and she had never actually heard the formal names of her brothers and sisters.

"Li Shiguo’s nickname is Goudan, now you know who is coming," Shen Yunfang said with a smile.

"Oh, it’s Brother Goudan," Manman said in an adult-like tone, drawing out her words.

Hearing this, Pangpang hurriedly ate faster, planning to take Brother Goudan out to play when he arrived.

Back in their hometown, it was Goudan and his other brothers who used to play with him and his sister. Now that the guest was coming to his house, it was his turn to take Brother Goudan out to play.

Just as Yunfang and the others had barely put down their chopsticks, Li Hongjun had already brought the visitor through the door.

Shen Yunfang was startled when she saw the youth following behind. Had it been outside, she really wouldn’t have recognized Goudan.

"What happened, how did you end up like this?" Shen Yunfang walked over and examined the young man up and down.

Goudan used to be a tall and sturdy kid, confident enough at sixteen to consider himself an adult, ready to go out and make his own way. But after a few months without seeing him, he had lost a lot of weight, his back was hunched, and the undershirt he wore was grimy, as if he hadn’t changed it for days. His hair was so greasy it was clumping, and most importantly, the boy’s face was devoid of any vibrancy.

"Auntie," Goudan called out, and then he almost choked up.

When he first saw his uncle at the door to pick him up, he had wanted to cry, but his uncle’s stern expression scared him into holding back. But now, seeing his aunt, he felt as if he had found his support.

"Hey, hey, don’t cry now, you’re in a state, let’s have your uncle take you for a bath. I’ll get some things ready, and you can pick out a few pieces of clothing to change into," Shen Yunfang said, pushing him away with one hand, clearly disgusted by his dirty entrance.

Goudan’s face turned beet red, and then he stammered, "Auntie, I don’t have any clothes to change into."

Shen Yunfang looked at him somewhat dumbfounded, her eyes searching around but indeed seeing no luggage.

"Alright, I’ll get some of your uncle’s clothes for you to make do for now," she said and went into the bedroom to find clothes.

"Mom, I want to go to the bathhouse with Dad too," Pangpang hurriedly shouted from the side.

"I want to go too," Manman declared, not to be outdone.

"What’s all this fuss about? You two just go with the flow," Shen Yunfang said, ignoring them.

"No, no, I want to go too," the two children started to act spoilt, tugging at her apron.

"Oh dear, I really can’t stand up to you kids, always wanting to join in on everything. You can go, but you have to buy your own tickets," Shen Yunfang simply couldn’t resist the children’s wheedling.

But she was also afraid of spoiling them, so she had to include a stipulation.

The military district issued bath coupons to each family every month, but for the Li Family, it definitely wasn’t enough, so afterwards, they had to buy their own tickets. Starting this year, as the two children’s demands gradually increased, the couple came up with a method to educate them. They would give a certain monetary reward for helping their mother with household chores, and this money the children could spend as they pleased. If they wanted to buy something, they had to save up for it themselves.

"Okay," Pangpang and Manman agreed, and scurried back to their room to dig into the frog’s belly; they carefully took out ten cents from their piggy bank.

By the time Shen Yunfang had finished gathering the family’s washing essentials, Li Hongjun and Goudan were already slurping down several bowls of plain noodles.

"Let’s go," Li Hongjun said as he put down his chopsticks.

So the family of four, plus one Goudan, set off for the bathhouse in high spirits.

Manman needed a bath, and being a girl, Shen Yunfang had to accompany her.

After waiting for an hour, everyone was refreshed and didn’t start chatting until they got home.

By this time Goudan, having taken a bath and put on clean clothes, feeling full and content, looked completely different from when he had first arrived.

"Spill it, why didn’t you go home but ran over here instead?" Li Hongjun was the first to ask.

A while back, Ma Liguo had called to talk about Goudan’s situation. Afterward, Li Hongjun had a discussion with his eldest brother and sister-in-law, deciding that it would be best for Goudan to return to his hometown and not venture out again until he was of age. Everything seemed settled, but within a couple of days, the child ran off to their place instead.

Goudan was most afraid of his second uncle. Looking at his stern face, he didn’t dare to speak his heart out.

"Why are you looking at your second uncle? Spit it out quick. If you ran away here secretly, you should call your parents right away so they won’t worry," said Shen Yunfang, also frowning.

"It’s not that, my parents know I came here," Goudan mumbled.

"Speak up, don’t mumble like that," Li Hongjun disapproved of such a timid child; he preferred those who were bold and outspoken.

Finally, under the pressure from his uncle and aunt, Goudan blurted out everything.

It turned out that after the New Year, he had followed a fellow villager to the Capital. There, he was introduced to a temporary job by that person’s recommendation. At first, it was fine, but then his coworkers found out that this little country kid actually had a place to live in the Capital all to himself, and they started to look down on him. Some even deliberately got close to him, hoping to mooch off his accommodation.

Though Goudan could be unreliable, he was a boy of his word. He had promised his aunt when borrowing the house that he would live there alone and wouldn’t bring any unrelated people over. No matter how much people tried to ingratiate themselves with him, he never wavered.

That just offended his coworkers, who would occasionally make things difficult for him. Goudan was going through his rebellious phase and couldn’t tolerate being bullied. He quit his job in a fit of anger.

After wandering on his own for a few days, he met someone who claimed to be able to get him a good job. Fearless as he was, Goudan poured his heart out to this person and revealed everything about his finances. Indeed, the person found him a job and kept borrowing things from Goudan, who, feeling brotherly and thinking they were good friends, happily let him use whatever he had. Slowly, all of Goudan’s possessions were no longer his. When it was time to get paid, that person came up with countless excuses to delay the payment. At first, Goudan endured it, believing his friend would pay him back, but two months passed, and when he didn’t have money even for food, he finally realized something was wrong. But when he confronted the person, they denied owing Goudan any wages.

Enraged, Goudan got into a fight. That’s how Li Hongjun and his wife found out, and Ma Liguo had to pull some strings to get him out of the police station.