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

Chapter 241 The Prey Caught in the Spider's Web

This Liu Yanran is definitely not someone to be trifled with!
After receiving the intelligence from Zhu Hong, Wang Chengpeng quickly made a judgment in his mind.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to go to town the next day to look for Xie Shaohua.

Fearing complications might arise, he needed to finalize the matter as soon as possible and plunge Liu Yanran into an abyss of no return.

Otherwise, if this woman gets the chance, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause.

……

The next day, Wang Chengpeng got up very early, had a simple breakfast, and then rode his bicycle to the Revolutionary Committee.

After making a brief inquiry, Wang Chengpeng found Xie Shaohua, who was working in the office.

After briefly explaining his purpose to Xie Shaohua, Wang Chengpeng simply looked at Xie Shaohua, waiting for his reply.

After a long pause, Xie Shaohua shook his head and said, "This matter is probably not easy to handle."

"After all, Liu Yanran is pregnant, so how to handle this situation requires consideration from many aspects."

"After all, although she is very bad, the child in her womb is innocent."

"But don't worry, I will never tolerate any bad people."

"I, Xie Shaohua, assure you here that I will absolutely ensure that Liu Yanran receives the punishment she deserves."

"I never expected that Liu Yanran, who looks so delicate, would be so vicious. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she has the heart of a snake and a scorpion."

"Letting such people go unpunished is a failure on my part, Xie Shaohua."

Hearing Xie Shaohua's confident assurance, Wang Chengpeng breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Even the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee have said so, so there's no way this matter can go wrong.

Thinking this, Wang Chengpeng exclaimed dramatically:

"With Director Xie vouching for me, I can finally rest easy."

"Director Xie is truly dedicated to the people. If we can successfully eliminate this scourge, Wangjia Village can return to its former peace and tranquility."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Wang Chengpeng left the Revolutionary Committee and returned to Wangjia Village.

Despite Liu Yanran's disgraceful actions, the villagers of Wangjia Village still had to continue living their lives as usual.

The sugar factory, which carries the hopes of the entire village, has become increasingly sophisticated with the intensive training of its workers.

Everything is ready now, and we are just waiting for the sugar beets to be harvested so that we can start production immediately.

Although Xie Shaohua assured him, Wang Chengpeng still felt somewhat uneasy.

This week, Xia is a city dweller, so perhaps he has a way to rescue Liu Yanran that he doesn't know about.

Since Xie Shaohua had already made such a guarantee, he couldn't press the matter any further and could only use his own methods to make the matter more secure.

With that in mind, Wang Chengpeng decided to continue sending Zhu Hong to keep watch near the Liu family's residence.

Wang Chengpeng wouldn't dare to relax until he saw Liu Yanran, this troublemaker, being taken to the shooting range.

After all, the other party always manages to resurface just when you think everything is settled, and then stage a clumsy attempt to frame you.

……

While Wang Chengpeng was going about his daily life as usual, Zhou Xia was also busy.

Liu Yanran is right. He may not have much sense of responsibility towards Liu Yanran, but he is afraid of losing his life because of her.

Therefore, he put extra effort into rescuing Liu Yanran.

After quickly tidying his clothes, washing up, and even applying hairspray to give himself a stylish young man's hairstyle, Zhou Xia leisurely went out the door.

To prepare for today's date, he took a day off from work in advance, hoping to get things done quickly.

Although telephones were a rarity in this era, and call charges were extremely expensive.

That's why many people time their phone calls precisely, in order to save on phone bills.

Zhou Xia, being a junior manager at the Hongqu Textile Factory, wasn't restricted in making phone calls and quickly sent an invitation to Li Dan over the phone.

After a few dates, the naive Li Dan fell in love with Zhou Xia, who was very good at disguising himself.

Upon receiving Zhou Xia's invitation, Li Dan practically jumped for joy.

After all, she was always the one who took the initiative to ask Zhou Xia out, and Zhou Xia always seemed indifferent to her.

How could she not be excited about Zhou Xia's first initiative to ask her out?

The two met at a teahouse. After chatting for a while, Zhou Xia offered to take Li Dan to see a movie.

In this era, watching a movie is a luxury, which is why projectionists are so sought after.

Generally, only young couples are willing to spend a lot of money to see a movie and satisfy their spiritual needs.

After all, when even material life is not abundant enough, who would pursue an unnecessary spiritual life?

Watching a movie? Could it be that Brother Xia is trying to define their relationship?
Li Dan's cheeks instantly turned bright red, but she was unwilling to miss this hard-won opportunity, so she immediately nodded in agreement.

The movie was playing loudly enough and the content was exciting enough, but Li Dan had no interest in appreciating it at all; her mind was completely focused on Zhou Xia.

Although she sat upright, she kept stealing glances at Zhou Xia.

She looked at him with extreme caution, especially after she clearly saw his appearance, she immediately recoiled as if she had been electrocuted.

However, this innocent girl is deceived and manipulated by the cunning Zhou Xia, and will soon fall into his trap.

Under the subsequent deliberate pretense, Li Dan quickly raised a question:

"Brother Xia, is the movie not good? You seem a bit distracted."

"Could it be that you've encountered some kind of difficulty? Don't worry, tell me. I'll definitely help you if I can."

Like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, Li Dan couldn't wait to show Zhou Xia her love for him.

With a sigh, Zhou Xia said, "I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have invited you to the movie."

"I originally wanted to take care of you for the care you gave me before, but I never expected it would cause you so much trouble."

"I'll handle my own affairs, you don't need to worry about it. Let's just enjoy the movie."

After saying that, Zhou Xia pretended to be strong and continued watching the movie, which made Li Dan next to him even more uneasy.

Even though Xia Ge was busy, he still cared about my feelings and went to the movies with me. He must really like me.

Perhaps in this lifetime, only Brother Xia will treat me so well!
Thinking this through, Li Dan finally mustered up her courage as the movie ended and took the initiative to say to Zhou Xia:
"Brother Xia, do you still consider me your friend?"

Zhou Xia was taken aback for a moment, then answered:

"Of course we're friends." And that's all!
Of course, the last sentence reflects Zhou Xia's true feelings; he wouldn't be foolish enough to tell Li Dan his real thoughts.

Hearing Zhou Xia say that he was his friend, Li Dan's heart began to beat faster and faster. She said:
"Since we are friends, it is only natural for friends to help each other."

"Judging from your appearance, you must have something bothering you. Why don't you tell me? Maybe I can help you."

Seeing Li Dan offer to help him, Zhou Xia thought to himself that it was time to close the net.

He was like a spider meticulously weaving a giant web, and Li Dan was the prey who had accidentally fallen into the web, with nowhere to escape.

Deliberately feigning a troubled expression, Zhou Xia hesitated for a moment, then, as if having made up his mind, slowly spoke:

"I shouldn't have bothered you with this, but I'm incompetent and have no way to solve it."

At this point, Zhou Xia sighed again and said, "This is actually about a distant cousin of mine."

"She was young and accidentally met a scumbag who played with her feelings and tricked her into getting pregnant."

"If that were all, it would be alright. After all, as long as she aborts the child, my distant cousin would still have a chance to survive."

"But this scumbag is really too vicious. He actually took advantage of his familiarity with my cousin to have someone forge a recording of my cousin having an affair, and then reported it to the Revolutionary Committee."

With her eyes wide open and her face full of disbelief, Li Dan exclaimed:

How can there be such bad people in the world?

"So how is your cousin? Is she still alive?"

Seeing that Li Dan had been fooled by his story, Zhou Xia continued to fabricate facts that did not exist at all, saying:
"My cousin is pregnant, but she's still alive."

"But this is only temporary. My cousin can't bear the label of having promiscuous relationships. Death awaits her."

At this point, Zhou Xia suddenly slapped himself hard, then apologized to Li Dan, saying:
"Comrade Li, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told you about my family's troubles."

"I've just been troubled by this for so long that I really couldn't find anyone to talk to, which is why I've been talking a lot."

"It's alright, I'll handle my cousin Liu Yanran's matter in Wangjia Village myself, you don't need to worry about it."

"By the way, now that the movie is over, I'll head back first."

"It's not that I don't want to see you off, it's just that I've been so busy with this matter lately that I really don't have the mood."

"Don't make plans with me during this time, I probably won't have time to keep them."

Looking at Zhou Xia's obviously swollen face with heartache, Li Dan hesitated to speak, but ultimately remained silent.

The feeling of liking someone is like missing them terribly if you don't see them for a day.
She found it hard to imagine that she wouldn't see Zhou Xia for many days.

After a moment's thought, Li Dan quickly understood the crux of the matter.

Zhou Xia was simply too busy with his cousin's messy affairs to be able to go on a date with her.

If I help him solve this problem, then he'll have time to go on a date with me, right?
She could surprise him with this, and maybe he'd be so touched that he'd agree to marry her.

Thinking this, Li Dan's eyes lit up. She didn't stop Zhou Xia from leaving, but quickly returned to her home.

His father was a leader in the Revolutionary Committee, so resolving this kind of injustice was a piece of cake.
Thinking this, Li Dan pedaled her bicycle faster, eager to help Zhou Xia resolve the matter.

Although Zhou Xia kept telling Li Dan not to help him, he deliberately told Li Dan the names of the villagers.

With Li Dan's family's capabilities, finding Liu Yanran after learning these two pieces of information would be a piece of cake.

The thought of being able to quietly help Zhou Xia get rid of his big trouble soon made Li Dan so happy that the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

Then we can take advantage of the situation and tell Zhou Xia the good news. Wouldn't that make things happen naturally between the two of them?

Unfortunately, Li Dan was too happy to see how strange Zhou Xia's expression was.

Her self-righteous cleverness was actually just an inevitable choice made under Zhou Xia's mental control.

……

Li family.

As Li Dan recounted her story, Li Weiguo subconsciously frowned.

He wasn't a naive and innocent girl like Li Dan; in fact, just from Li Dan's description, he could tell that there was definitely something fishy going on.

You're kidding, the Revolutionary Committee members aren't stupid, how could they not distinguish between fabricated evidence and real evidence?

Although there is a probability of perjury, the probability is so low that it is negligible.

Looking at Li Dan's happy face, Li Weiguo was at a loss.

It was obvious that his silly daughter had been deceived.

Should I tell her the truth directly and tell her to stay away from that man named Zhou Xia, or should I take another path?

Thinking this, Li Weiguo said solemnly, "Daughter, my dear daughter, do you really love that man named Zhou Xia so much?"

Li Dan's face quickly flushed crimson, and she instinctively lowered her head, saying coquettishly:
"Dad, don't talk nonsense. Xia Ge and I are just friends, the most ordinary friends."

Touching his chin, Li Weiguo knew exactly what Li Dan was thinking, and immediately laughed, saying:
"Oh? So you're just ordinary friends."

“Since we’re just ordinary friends, I don’t need to help you with this. After all, I’m a very busy man and don’t have time to deal with such trivial matters.”

Upon hearing Li Weiguo's answer, Li Dan was stunned and said:

"Father, how can it be a trivial matter that an innocent female comrade has been wronged?"

"Is this how you usually do your job? This is incredibly irresponsible."

Li Weiguo almost burst out laughing and said:
"That's how I usually do my job. Do you think I'd report you, daughter?"

Although she adored Zhou Xia, Li Dan wasn't purely love-struck and wouldn't do something as drastic as reporting her own father.

She just pouted and sulked, not even bothering to give Li Weiguo a kind look.

Seeing this, Li Weiguo shook his head slightly, thinking to himself that his daughter had grown up and had her own ideas.

However, given my daughter's cunning, if I let her develop on her own, she'll probably be devoured by others until there's nothing left but bones.

Therefore, Li Weiguo still has to put in a lot of effort in this matter, otherwise his silly daughter will really be sold out and still help count the money.

Although Zhou Xia is clearly not a good person, as long as his daughter is happy, that's all that matters. Under Li Weiguo's care, what trouble could a mere Zhou Xia possibly cause?
Thinking this, Li Weiguo spoke up:

“My daughter, it’s not that your father doesn’t want to help you, it’s just that we have no legitimate reason to do so.”

"I can help you if you want, but he must agree to marry you."

“After we get engaged, we’ll be family. It’ll be more legitimate for me to help you then.”

Trying to get something for nothing? No way!
Since he wants to use his daughter and himself, then Zhou Xia must marry his daughter!

(End of this chapter)