Chapter 139: Mistake

  Luckily, he had done some homework and considered the worst-case scenario. He had studied the map of the mountainous area near Beixi Town, so he vaguely remembered the general location of the village and mustered up his courage to lead her in that direction.

  Fortunately, the two of them were lucky enough to find the natural village of Dagou Village by the mountain stream before sunset. Otherwise, they would have had to camp in the wild, which would have been a disaster.

  The villagers looked at the two unexpected guests with great curiosity, but they didn't dare to approach them. Liu Siyuan was so tired that he couldn't catch his breath and didn't have the energy to chat with them. He directly grabbed an old man and asked which house Village Branch Secretary Old Li lived in?

  The old man saw that he mentioned the name of Old Li, and his vigilance relaxed a bit. He enthusiastically led the two to the village branch secretary's home.

  Under the lead of the old man, Liu Siyuan knocked on Old Li's door.

  Lao Li's full name is Li Zhao Cai, which sounds very auspicious. However, in Da Gouzi Village, he seems to have a lot of prestige. The old man who led the way knocked on the door and heard him yelling in a bad mood: "Who is it? Don't knock on the door for no reason."

  The old man said: "Secretary Li, two people from the city have come to see you."

  Li Zhaocai grumbled with a fierce attitude, muttering that city people would come here at this time. As soon as the door opened, his eyes widened suddenly, and then an exceptionally bright smile appeared on his face. He said loudly: "Ah, what wind brought Secretary Liu here today? You came to Dagou Village without even notifying me in advance, Old Li? Oh, I understand that the leader is making a private visit incognito. Ah, I'll tell Old Zhao to call everyone in the village over, Secretary Liu of the town committee wants to give a speech to our fellow villagers..."

  Liu Siyuan was so exhausted that he didn't even think about talking, and hurriedly pulled him back, but unfortunately it was too late. Li Zhao's voice was particularly loud, and soon the entire village's villagers rushed to Li Zhao's door, making someone really embarrassed and could only pretend to say a few words.

  It's okay, over the years he has spoken more Mandarin, and now it's also a habit, for example, at the beginning, I represent the town party committee and the town government to visit our fellow villagers. How have you been doing lately? In the middle, we must affirm the work of the village branch, and praise the fellow villagers in the village. If there are any difficulties, please feel free to mention them. Finally, I believe that the future of our Dagou Village will be better.

  Then, under Li Zhao's lead, everyone applauded loudly, Liu Siyuan wiped his sweat and stole a glance at Xiao Yuheng, who had been hiding beside him watching the show, but saw that she seemed to be holding back a smile.

  This was Liu Siyuan's first time seeing her smile, and I must say, Xiao Yuheng looked especially beautiful when she smiled...

  Then Liu Siyuan said to Li Zhaozhai that it's too late today and can't go back to the town, so he asked Secretary Li to arrange a place to stay for the night.

  Li Zhao Cai said without hesitation: "Do we still need Secretary Liu's instructions? I've already arranged it, you can just stay at my place."

  Liu Siyuan took a look and indeed his family was the only one in the village with good conditions, so he agreed.

  Just then, they were about to finish dinner, so they added two more pairs of chopsticks. The two of them had dinner at Li Zhao's house. Liu Siyuan was a bit worried about Xiao Sao, and he glanced at her, only to see that she was quietly picking up a white steamed bun by herself and nibbling on it, which put his mind at ease.

  Liu Siyuan suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen Li Zhao's over ten-year-old grandson, so he casually asked: "Secretary Li, where is your grandson?"

  Li Zhao Cai chuckled and said: "My grandson is studying in town."

  Xiao Yuhan couldn't help but curiously interrupt and ask, "Where does the kid go to school? It's so late, why hasn't he gone home yet?" At this moment, she had a bit of a reporter's demeanor.

  Li Zhaocai sighed, "It's a helpless thing, Secretary Liu should know. Our kid goes to elementary school in the town, and it takes three hours to walk from our mountain village to get there. It's really not possible to come and go every day, so we can only rent a house in the town and let him stay there."

  Xiao Yuhan asked again: "A primary school student lives alone outside? Are you at ease?"

  Li Zhao Cai asked back with a strange expression: "What's not reassuring? Anyway, living with the other kids in the village, saving on rent, and having dinner together, they can also take care of each other."

  Xiao Yuhan still looked disbelieving, and Liu Siyuan explained for him: "The village has never had a highway, transportation is very inconvenient, children who want to go to school can only be sent to the town to rent a house, usually coming back once on weekends."

  Xiao Yuhan hummed and thought for a moment before saying, "Then why doesn't your town hurry up and repair the road to the town? Then the town can arrange school buses."

  Liu Siyuan was speechless with laughter and tears, fortunately Li Zhao Cai knew to help him block the question: "This young lady's words are too one-sided, Secretary Liu is not easy either. From our village's perspective, of course we hope to have a cement road as soon as possible, but the town has only so much income every year, where can they find spare money to fix the road? Moreover, our surroundings are all big mountains, and the cost of building a road is too high, we also understand the town's difficulties...... However, Secretary Liu, these two years the rent in the town has risen too fiercely, many families in the village can't afford to rent houses for their children to study, this way it's not a solution either."

  Liu Siyuan could only hastily express his attitude, and went back to ask about this matter. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xiao Yuheng give him a disdainful look, apparently ridiculing his bureaucratic thinking.

  Li Zhaocai never asked about the relationship between Xiao Yuheng and him from start to finish, it can be seen that he is also a person who understands human emotions and worldly affairs. He took the opportunity of Xiao Yuheng's departure to quietly ask Liu Siyuan whether to arrange one room or two rooms for tonight. Liu Siyuan hastily expressed that of course they would have two rooms. Afterwards, he explained that this girl was a reporter from the Central Committee who came to conduct a secret investigation. Li Zhaocai was frightened and hurriedly asked if his performance had any problems earlier. Liu Siyuan smiled and comforted him, saying that Secretary Li handled matters rationally, upheld principles, and performed extremely well.

  In the evening, Li Zhao Cai arranged a room for the two of them. Fortunately, his three-story house had many empty rooms. Liu Si Yuan was secretly worried about the sanitary conditions in the village and wondered how Xiao Sao, who claimed to be able to endure hardship, would fare.

  He was tormented for a whole day and was really exhausted, not even bothering about Xiao Yuhan. He almost fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed, but unfortunately, Xiao Sao didn't let him off. Less than an hour later, he was woken up by a knock at the door. He opened the door with a gloomy face and found Xiao Yuhan standing there with a cold expression. In his heart, he lamented that this young lady wouldn't even spare him so late at night.

  Xiao Yuhan looked at him with a drowsy and disheveled appearance, her face flushing slightly as she said in a very soft voice: "You accompany me out for a walk."

  Liu Siyuan was taken aback and casually said: "Go out? What's the point of going out when you can't even see your fingers outside?"

  Xiao Yuhan's face turned red with suppressed laughter, but she refused to answer his question. Fortunately, he seemed to have sobered up a bit and vaguely guessed something, asking: "Is it the outhouse?"

  As expected, she nodded and whispered: "You also said that outside it's dark and I'm a bit... alone."

  Liu Siyuan reluctantly put on his clothes and went back to the room to grab a flashlight before taking her to the outhouse outside the house. The sanitary conditions in rural areas were indeed not comparable to those in cities, with outhouses being built outdoors, just a simple shed, emitting a foul odor from afar.

  Xiao Yuhan frowned as she looked at the dirty and disorganized thatched cottage, smelling the pungent odor that filled the air. She hesitated for a long time, but ultimately, due to physiological needs, she reluctantly let Liu Siyuan stand ten meters away, watching him turn his back before starting to relieve herself.

  Unfortunately, she forgot to have someone cover her ears, and as a result, Liu Siyuan knew that the eldest sister had diarrhea just by listening. I guess it's because she usually eats too well, and rarely eats village food, so her spoiled intestines can't take it.

  Xiao Yuhan may have been severely affected by the 'bad environment' and diarrhea, which made her weak, and her mind was not very clear for a while. She didn't realize the problem until Liu Siyuan sent her back to her room and asked if she wanted the blanket when he said "there is a quilt in my room".