met free Chapter 171 Holy Father, Prepare to Die (20)
Chapter 171 Holy Father, Prepare to Die (20)
She knew that Li Shi would never refuse such empty fame.
In front of those aunties, Xia Mingwei frankly admitted, "How could it be fake?"
The aunt looked at Li Shi with even more fervor after receiving confirmation. As long as Li Shi hadn't changed, that was all that mattered!
In the past, Xia Mingwei always stopped Li Shi from doing "good deeds"!
But after spending these past few months together, they realized that Xia Mingwei had deeply understood her mistakes. Moreover, Xia Mingwei promised them that once Li Shi returned, she would never stop him from doing "good deeds" again!
Such an exciting thing deserves to be confirmed again and again!
"That stone, you won't be going out again anytime soon, will you?"
Thinking of those days that felt like living hell, Li Shi shook his head firmly.
"That's good, that's good! Seeing you like this, your aunt can finally rest easy!"
After saying this, she laughed happily. Li Shi didn't understand why, but he was also touched by her genuine feelings and grinned as well.
But soon he found he couldn't laugh anymore.
After returning home, he continued his butcher business. Perhaps due to the hardships he endured during his corvée labor, he developed numerous health problems. As night fell, he felt weak and achy all over.
Moreover, for some reason, many people come to him for help every day.
If Li Shi used to do "good deeds" by helping others every now and then, his situation is completely different now!
Even if he doesn't actively help others, those who "need help" will come to him on their own.
For the sake of being called a "great person," he had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree.
Thus began the scene where he would go to Grandpa Wang's house at the village entrance to grind grain before dawn, go to Sister He's house to plow the fields under the midday sun, and go to Old Man Wang's house to tidy up the house in the evening.
It is no exaggeration to say that this period was not much better for him than the period when he was serving his corvée labor!
Sometimes, before you've finished one task, the next person asking for help comes knocking.
What's even more troublesome is that whenever he looks distressed, those people always use various excuses to criticize Li Shi.
"You were willing to help the Niu family with their corvée labor before, so why won't you do this little thing when I need help?"
"I heard other aunties talking about this before, and I thought you were a good person! I never expected you to be so two-faced!"
"You help everyone else with their chores, but you refuse to help me! Do you look down on me because I'm old?"
"Your good reputation isn't just for deceiving people and spreading rumors, is it?"
……
Hearing these words, Li Shi felt utterly helpless. Their every word weighed on him like a mountain, making it hard for him to breathe.
When he was serving in the military, he was sustained by the belief that he would go home. Now that he's back home, he finds that life at home isn't much better.
Perhaps the only advantage is that while doing so much work, I don't have to be whipped by the supervisor!
Under such intense workload, Li Shi fell seriously ill after only half a month.
He lay in bed, feeling a wave of pain all over his body.
Xia Mingwei came to his bedside again, looking down at him, "How was it? How did it feel to do a good deed?"
Upon hearing this, Li Shi felt as if he had just woken up from a dream. It turned out that Xia Mingwei had foreseen all of this all along.
He struggled to get up, but found himself unable to move and could only fall back onto the bed due to the pain.
Xia Mingwei rested her chin on her hand and said casually, "Right now, you only have two choices. The first is to refuse everyone who comes to you for help from now on. Of course, if you refuse them, they will become angry and ruin your good reputation."
"The second point is to continue to help with all this hard work. As for how long your body can hold out, that depends on your own fate!"
"No matter what, I will respect your choice!"
Xia Mingwei smiled and said to Li Shi.
Hearing this, Li Shi felt even more desperate. He knew then that Xia Mingwei was telling the truth. Right now, he had no other choice but to follow these two paths.
He was either working himself to death or being scorned to death. Faced with his own life, he suddenly felt that all his reputation was no longer important to him.
So after he recovered, he refused all those who came to him seeking help.
No matter what they said, his heart remained as hard as a stone, unmoved.
These people initially tried to persuade Li Shi with good intentions, hoping to continue to take advantage of him. But no matter what they said, Li Shi remained unmoved, which made them lose their temper.
They figured that since persuasion wasn't working, they'd have to resort to force. They wanted to teach Li Shi a lesson and show him that they weren't people to be trifled with!
So the group secretly plotted and decided to strike while Li Shi was out. And so, Li Shi was tricked into having a sack put over his head by the very "poor man" he had once helped.
Even as the sharp pain shot through his body, Li Shi still couldn't believe it. He had spent his entire life doing good deeds; who could possibly be so hostile as to try and harm him like this?
He tried to scream for help, but no sound came out. He could only curl up and silently endure it all, praying that it would all end soon.
At this time, Li Shi had only just recovered from a serious illness a few days ago, how could he withstand such an ordeal?
Due to their lack of restraint, Li Shi was once again severely injured!
Xia Mingwei, who happened to be passing by, couldn't bear to see him suffer and "kindly" took him home.
Because of his severe injuries, Li Shi could only lie in bed and rely on herbal medicine to stay alive, so he couldn't help but question the meaning of life.
The thought of the village's swift and unpredictable attitude chilled him to the bone. He hadn't expected that simply because he hadn't met their demands, they would treat him so cruelly! And their attack was clearly aimed at taking his life!
What's most infuriating is that he was trapped in a sack and had no idea who the culprits who beat him were! This made his attempt to report to the authorities and ask them to intervene a pipe dream.
When he was bedridden again due to injury, not one of his former close brothers came to visit him!
At the same time, Li Shi also suspected that his injury might have been the work of one of them!
He thought that since there was no place for him in the village anymore, he had to recover from his injuries and leave as soon as possible!
Otherwise, he would have lost his life here sooner or later!