In 1992, a small village owner became the richest man in the village by owning a car.

Chapter 12 Noble Man
Yu Dawei was taken aback, somewhat puzzled as to why Hao Jianqiang would suddenly want to help him.

Duan Dahai suddenly slapped Yu Dawei on the shoulder: "You brat, with such a good thing, why don't you hurry up and thank Officer Hao?"

"Oh no, we should call him Director Hao now." Duan Dahai was well-informed in the town and knew Hao Jianqiang's character. Everyone in the town was happy for him when they heard the news.

"Don't talk nonsense, Deputy." Hao Jianqiang seemed to see Yu Dawei's doubts. "Isn't it all because back in your village, we confiscated guns and caught thieves? Those two petty thieves and I became role models in our town. It was all for show."

“But let me make this clear to you, this is one thing, and inviting you to dinner is another.” Hao Jianqiang said very seriously, “I simply admire your love for your wife.”

At this point, Duan Dahai and Hao Jianqiang couldn't help but smile, unable to suppress their grins.

Yu Dawei blushed deeply.

In the early 90s, the rural households in this area lived a relatively conservative life.

When guests arrive, women are not even allowed to sit at the table. They can only sit at the table and eat the leftovers after the guests have finished eating and left.

So when people say that a man dotes on his wife, it's usually with a hint of sarcasm.

But deep down, men feel more respect for husbands who dote on their wives.

In the village, it's considered good if the wife isn't beaten. How many men truly cherish their wives and treat them like treasures?

Yu Dawei changed into a cleaner set of clothes, put on a military overcoat, a dog-skin hat, and gloves, and followed Hao Jianqiang.

Duan Dahai was heating up leftovers on a small stove. Hao Jianqiang had invited him earlier, but he had declined.

He could tell that this meal might be a turning point in his younger brother's life.

While eating the leftovers, he flipped through the two books that Yu Dawei had pulled out: "Livestock Breeding Handbook" and "How the Steel Was Tempered." His wife is really easy to take care of; two old books are enough to keep her. Sigh, unlike my tiger-like wife.

As he spoke, he actually started to have some thoughts about it, and a surge of anger rushed from his abdomen to his head.

"Once Dawei gets used to the rules of my scrap collection in a couple of days, I can go home for a visit. Having a little brother like him is really not bad." Duan Dahai took a sip of baijiu and happily ate the leftovers.

----

Officer Hao led Yu Dawei to a restaurant in town. It was a two-story restaurant with a signboard with three large characters hanging at the entrance: "Silly Big Plate".

That fits the characteristics of this restaurant.

The two arrived at a small private room and, upon opening the door, saw a man in his thirties wearing a black woolen overcoat.

He was leaning back in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and taking a couple of sips of tea with his left hand.

"Qiangzi, have you been waiting long?" Officer Hao took off his down jacket, letting the chill dissipate quickly.

"You know you've kept me waiting, huh? Where have you been? It's been so long!" Hou Wanqiang complained irritably, then noticed Yu Dawei following behind him. "And who is this?"

For some reason, Hou Wanqiang felt a sense of familiarity when he saw Yu Dawei, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

"Oh, this is the young man I told you about, the one from Lao Yu Village who caught the thief. His surname is Yu, and his name is Yu Dawei." Officer Hao led Yu Dawei to sit opposite him. "Today, I was helping Grandpa Li sell scrap metal, and I saw him repairing an excavator."

"You have an excavator?" Hou Wanqiang was taken aback, looking at Yu Dawei in surprise. The more he looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.

To be able to own an excavator at such a young age, he must be quite wealthy. However, Yu Dawei had only heard of such a person in town. He looked at Hou Wanqiang with equal surprise.

The reason is simple: his uncle, who is also his father's older brother, had some dealings with this person.

The old man's wife, who is also Yu Dawei's aunt, is surnamed Hou. She is from Minquan Village, Jialiangzi Village.

The old lady had four sisters, but her only uncle's family had three boys and one girl, the second of whom was Hou Wanqiang.

The old lady's biological mother died early, and her father also passed away the year after she got married.

So Yu Dawei remembers that when his aunt and uncle went back to their parents' home, they always went to his second uncle's house.

Yu Laonian was doing well in the village, and with his father's help, Yu Dawei's uncle's family was also doing quite well.

However, the Hou family was not doing well, so the eldest aunt would occasionally take some of her own grain to help her second uncle's family.

On one occasion, when he was in junior high school, Yu Dawei and his cousin from his uncle's family carried fifty kilograms of rice to the Hou family to help them out.

Yu Dawei never expected that the Hou family would start to turn their fortunes around in just a few years.
He didn't answer Hou Wanqiang's question about whether Hou Wanqiang had an excavator. According to seniority, he had to follow his cousin's way of addressing Hou Wanqiang as "Second Uncle".

As soon as Hou Wanqiang finished calling out "Second Uncle," he stood up abruptly, staring at Yu Dawei in shock.

"You are, you are my brother-in-law's eldest nephew! Dawei!" Hou Wanqiang slapped his forehead. "I knew it, I knew he looked familiar!"

Hou Wanqiang reached out and patted Yu Dawei on the shoulder: "You've grown up so much. The other day, Lao Hao mentioned a young man surnamed Yu in Yujiatun who caught a thief. I just thought he was a relative of yours, I never imagined it was you! Didn't you go to Hohhot to study? When did you come back? And you're driving a car now?"

Yu Dawei smiled wryly. Those who didn't know his second uncle would never have imagined that this guy was actually a chatterbox in private.

Of course, you only do this with people you know well; otherwise, you'll see this person with a long face every day, like someone owes them a fortune.

“I came back a couple of years ago and have been staying in the village ever since. I received the excavator a couple of days ago and it’s being repaired,” Yu Dawei explained simply.

Officer Hao, standing nearby, was also full of surprise: "So you two are related? Qiangzi, that's not very polite of you. You never told me you had relatives in Yujiatun."

“Dawei’s aunt is my cousin. When we were little, she always took us up the mountain to catch birds and down the river to catch fish. After she married my brother-in-law, she continued to help my family. You know how poor my family was a few years ago.” Hou Wanqiang said with a sigh. “In recent years, I have taken the men and women of the village to work on construction sites, and I have come back less often. I haven’t seen my aunt for several years.”

In fact, he had guessed it. Ever since he was able to earn money to support his family outside, his eldest sister seemed to think that the Hou family could hold on, so she stopped caring and stopped trying to curry favor with him.

Only people who truly care about you would do this.

Hou Wanqiang had always wanted to go back to his hometown and visit his elder sister in Yujiatun when he had time.

But these past two years have been filled with work one after another, and now I've taken on a road repair job, so I'm constantly busy.

This afternoon, he and other contractors had lunch with the project leaders from Luhe Town to finalize the project schedule and construction details.

After finishing, I remembered my childhood friend in town, whom I hadn't seen for quite some time, so I thought I'd have dinner with him that evening.

"Since you know each other, do I need to introduce you?" Officer Hao glanced at the two of them. "Never mind, let me tell you. Dawei, Qiangzi and I were in the same class in elementary school, and we were also from the same village."

"So this meal is all family, so please feel free to eat."

(End of this chapter)