webnovelvip Chapter 23 An Unexpected Surprise from the Construction Site
Chapter 23 An Unexpected Surprise from the Construction Site
Qian Dafa's wife, Lin Hui, is a typical "rich and idle person".
Besides beauty treatments and playing cards, her daily routine consists of shopping for bags. She has long forgotten the hard times she spent helping her husband set up a stall when she was young.
When Qian Dafa drove his Wuling Hongguang, a car that made noise everywhere except for the horn, and stopped at the magnificent entrance of the beauty salon, Lin Hui had just finished a 3,800 yuan facial tightening treatment.
She took off her sunglasses and stared at the dilapidated truck covered in yellow mud, thinking that some garbage collector had come to the wrong place.
Until the car window rolled down, revealing a face as black as if it had just been dug out of a coal pile.
"Get in the car." Qian Dafa, with a two-yuan Hongtashan cigarette dangling from his lips, had a more profound look in his eyes than when he was discussing projects worth hundreds of millions.
Lin Hui almost didn't recognize him.
She took two steps back, her high heels clicking loudly on the steps: "Qian Dafa? Have you lost your mind? Picking me up in this piece of junk? Don't you have any shame?!"
Several other wealthy women around her, who had also just had facials, were covering their mouths and snickering, their eyes piercing Lin Hui's back like needles.
Qian Dafa didn't explain, he just flicked the cigarette butt out, and it landed precisely in the trash can: "Stop talking nonsense, come up here."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a ruthlessness that he only possessed back when he was shirtless fighting for territory.
Lin Hui's heart skipped a beat.
Over the years, Qian Dafa had always been accommodating to her every whim, never daring to raise his voice. What had gotten into him today? She wanted to get angry, but looking into her husband's clear, bright eyes, she inexplicably opened the car door and got in.
The car was filled with a strong smell of sweat mixed with cheap tobacco, the smell that Lin Hui hated most—the smell of poverty.
The car bumped along westward, so much so that Lin Hui's freshly done haircut was about to fall apart.
The view outside the window became increasingly desolate, turning from asphalt to cement, and finally to a dusty dirt road.
Lin Hui panicked, clutching her Hermes bag tightly: "Qian Dafa, where are you taking me? We're not divorced yet! If you dare do anything reckless, I'll call the police right now!"
Qian Dafa ignored her and slammed on the brakes, crashing into the entrance of the "Hongtu Real Estate" construction site.
"get off."
Looking at the endless yellow sand and the roaring cement mixer, Lin Hui covered her nose in disgust: "Are you crazy? Why did you bring me to this godforsaken place?"
Qian Dafa pulled a dusty helmet from the back seat and shoved it into her arms: "Put this on."
"I'm not wearing it! It's filthy! It smells like scalp oil!"
"Put them on!" Qian Dafa shouted, making the car windows vibrate.
Lin Hui was startled, tears welling up in her eyes, but she dared not argue back. She reluctantly put the shabby hat on her head, looking like a rooster in distress.
It was two o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was so scorching it felt like it was going to melt you.
The construction site was sweltering, and the smells of sweat and cement assaulted the senses.
"Hey, Lao Qian's here? This is... his wife?" Foreman Lao Wang, shirtless, was directing the crane when he saw Qian Dafa leading a woman in, and his eyes widened.
The woman, dressed head-to-toe in designer brands, looked completely out of place in this environment, like a swan thrown into a pig farm.
"Brother Wang," Qian Dafa handed him a cigarette, "this is my wife, I brought her to see you."
Lin Hui was so shocked that her jaw almost dislocated.
Brother Wang? Her husband is the richest man in Changsha, and he's actually offering a cigarette to a foreman and calling him "brother"?
The workers around her stopped what they were doing and stared at Lin Hui as if she were an alien.
That look wasn't malicious; it was pure curiosity and a little bit of longing for beautiful things.
Lin Hui felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze and could only nod stiffly.
Qian Dafa ignored her and took off his shirt, revealing a body of fat that he hadn't really built up yet, but it was much firmer than the "mountain of flesh" he had half a month ago.
He walked to the pile of cement, skillfully bent down, squatted, and grabbed the corner of the bag in one smooth motion.
"Lift!" He grunted, and the 100-pound bag of cement was firmly placed on his shoulder.
Lin Hui was stunned.
She watched as Qian Dafa carried cement and walked heavily toward the mixer.
Each step left a shallow dent in the ground, the fat on his back jiggled with each step, and sweat instantly soaked the lower back of his camouflage pants.
Is this still the same Qian Dafa who even needs a bodyguard to open a bottle of mineral water?
In a daze, Lin Hui seemed to have returned to twenty years ago.
When they first arrived in Changxiang, they lived in a basement. Qian Dafa carried bags on the construction site just like that, in order to buy her a gold ring.
Back then, he was young and energetic. Even when he was so tired he could barely stand up straight, he would still stuff all those crumpled coins into her hands when he came home at night, grinning foolishly and saying, "Wife, save this. I'll let you live in a big villa someday."
Later, they had a villa, they had a luxury car, but the man who used to smile foolishly disappeared.
Instead, there was a greasy, fat man who reeked of alcohol and only knew how to throw money around.
She always thought that money corrupted people.
Only now, looking at that figure sweating profusely under the scorching sun, did Lin Hui realize that Qian Dafa hadn't changed; he had lost her and was now desperately trying to find her again.
"Sister-in-law, have some water." The worker who had just handed her the cigarette brought over a bottle of Master Kong instant noodles, water droplets dripping from the bottle between his fingers.
Lin Hui took it, and the coolness traveled from her palm to her heart.
She unscrewed the bottle cap, but didn't drink it; her eyes were fixed on her husband not far away.
After unloading a truckload of cement, Qian Dafa was exhausted and collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.
His face was covered in grime and sweat, leaving deep furrows, making him look incredibly disheveled, but his eyes shone with an alarming brightness.
His coworkers joked around him, and he laughed along, his smile genuine and unpretentious.
After resting for ten minutes, he got up again to carry steel bars.
Lin Hui stood there and watched for two hours.
As the sun began to set, whistles were blown at the construction site.
Qian Dafa dragged his leaden legs over, looking as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
He grinned at Lin Hui, revealing a set of big white teeth, looking incredibly silly.
"Honey, how do I look? I'm not any worse than those young guys, am I?"
Lin Hui's nose tingled, and she could no longer hold back her tears, which streamed down her face.
She stepped forward, took out the unopened handkerchief, and, without minding that it was dirty, carefully wiped the black ash off his face.
"Dirty, don't get your handkerchief dirty." Qian Dafa dodged backward.
"It's not dirty." Lin Hui grabbed his rough hand, stood on tiptoe, and kissed his sweaty, salty mouth. "This is the taste of home."
A commotion erupted around them, with whistles blowing deafeningly.
Qian Dafa's old face instantly turned as red as a monkey's bottom, and he chuckled foolishly, not knowing where to put his hands.
That night, Qian Dafa didn't go back to the villa that had no advantages other than its size. Instead, he took Lin Hui to a roadside food stall.
Two pounds of crayfish and a case of beer—the couple ate with gusto, their mouths greasy with oil.
Lin Hui stopped putting on airs and started peeling shrimp, eating even more voraciously than Qian Dafa.
After a few rounds of drinks, Qian Dafa let out a burp and looked at his wife with blurry, drunken eyes: "Wife, I'm guilty."
"Good to know." Lin Hui stuffed the peeled shrimp meat into his mouth. "Drink less alcohol and do more manual labor in the future. It's better than taking any tonic."
"I'll listen to my wife." Qian Dafa hugged her tightly. "From now on, let's live a good life together. Dr. Wang said this is called... what's it called again? Returning to simplicity!"
The next morning, Wang Minyu was sitting in the shop studying the book "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" when his phone vibrated.
[Dr. Wang, I feel much better! I ran five kilometers this morning without even getting out of breath! Thank you! I'm not going to this construction site anymore; I've invested ten million with Foreman Wang, consider it a shareholding!]
Wang Minyu replied quickly: [Congratulations on your discharge.]
Immediately afterwards, a crisp system notification sound exploded in my mind.
[Mission Complete: 'The Coal Mine Owner's Redemption'.]
[Rating: S-level. The patient achieved a perfect turnaround, transforming from physical weakness to mental strength.]
[Reward: 300 million RMB in cash, and the skill "Intermediate Herbal Medicine Identification" (You can now smell whether Old Wang next door added dried tangerine peel to his herbal medicine last night).]
Wang Minyu looked at the comfortable string of numbers on his bank card balance and felt great.
This money was both satisfying and cathartic, and it even saved a family along the way—a truly meritorious act.
Just as I was enjoying myself, Boss Liu burst in like a firecracker, almost knocking over the teacups on the counter.
"Xiao Wang! Something terrible has happened! This time it's really terrible!"
Wang Minyu didn't even lift his eyelids: "The sky is falling?"
"This is worse than the sky falling! Remember that 'Kangning Pharmacy' on the next street? That 'miracle doctor' Sun, he's got a medical accident!" Boss Liu held up his phone, the screen almost touching Wang Minyu's face. "The police are there, looks like someone died from what they've eaten!"