Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

In Wang Li's mind, after he finished speaking about this matter, his fourth brother should have started the car, carried a gun, and driven off with him, Huang Zhong, and even Mu Xueli to settle accounts with the coal boss.

What Wang Li never expected was that his fourth brother, who had always been very assertive and capable of doing anything, was actually quite different.

Now, they've actually chickened out!!
Seeing that Wang Li was silent and had such an expression, Wang An immediately knew what the kid was thinking.

However, Wang An didn't pay any attention. Instead, he took a puff of his cigarette and, with a playful smile, questioned Wang Li:
"What? You're not thinking that after something like this happened, I, as your uncle and brother-in-law, would have to fight tooth and nail with that coal mine owner for medical expenses, are you?"

Wang An's words were utterly devoid of any human warmth.

It's obvious that she doesn't care at all about her brother-in-law Shi Qinghe's injury, but the coal mine won't even pay for his medical expenses. She even seems completely detached from the matter.

Faced with Wang An's questioning, Wang Li was speechless for a moment, lowered his head, and stammered:
"No, no, I didn't mean that. I just came to ask you what to do about this. You know, my older sister came back crying, and as her younger brother, I can't just ignore her, can I?"

Before Wang Li could finish speaking, Wang An interrupted him mercilessly:

"Then why are you carrying a gun? And a Type 56 assault rifle at that? Holy crap! Are you trying to wipe out their whole family or something? You're pretty cocky, aren't you!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Li secretly glanced at Wang An, then smacked his lips without saying a word.

After a pause, Wang An continued:
"I'm not going to take the lead in this matter. Even though you're my brother-in-law's younger brother, and closer to me, I advise you to first see what the attitudes of the Shi family and the families of the injured workers are."

"If they all admit they've been wronged, why would I stand up for them? Holy crap, that's pure bullshit! I'm not their father, why would I care if they live or die?"

Wang Li then said:

"Yes, Fourth Brother, I know what's going on."

After Wang Li finished speaking, he added, still somewhat indignant:

"It's that Fourth Brother. If no one's going to take care of me, I'm thinking of going to stand up for my eldest sister. If something goes wrong, can you help me sort it out?"

Wang An was taken aback upon hearing this and asked:

"Get revenge? How are you going to get revenge? Are you going to shoot that coal mine owner dead?"

Wang Li said in a deep voice:

“If in the end the Shi family doesn’t care, and the families of the injured workers all accept it, I want to go to the coal mine to get my brother-in-law’s share of compensation. If they give it to me, great; if they don’t, I’ll shoot them all.”

Wang Li's words were delivered with such force and conviction that they were clearly not just empty talk.

Looking at Wang Li, who was now full of passion and fighting spirit, Wang An suddenly didn't know what to say.

If you call him foolish, what he did was clearly a display of courage to fight back and stand up for his family, so you can't really say he was wrong.

In fact, what he did was really dangerous, and he could very well get himself into trouble.

After thinking for a while, Wang An nodded and said:
"Alright, if in the end you all fail to accomplish anything, then for your second sister's sake, I'll help you get your brother-in-law's share of the compensation."

For some reason, Wang An immediately regretted saying those words.

Because so many days have passed since this incident, even Wang Xiaofeng has gone back to her parents' home to borrow money. If there were any real progress, the coal mine would have already paid the medical expenses to the hospital.

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Wang An felt that the matter was essentially over.

However, once spoken, words are like excrement; it's unlikely Wang An can take them back. After Wang An finished speaking, the two brothers remained silent for a long time before Wang Li finally said:
"Then I'll go home first, and wait for my father to come back so I can hear what he has to say."

Wang An waved his hand and said:

"Okay, let's go back and sort things out before we come back."

After Wang Li left, Wang Dazhu came over and said:
"Xiao An, is it easy to deal with your second brother-in-law Shi Qinghe's matter?"

Wang Dazhu overheard every word of Wang An and Wang Li's conversation. Although he didn't say anything, his worried expression was unmistakable.

Upon hearing this, Wang An looked up at his father's worried face and said with a smile:
"It's not a big deal, it's just a contest of who's tougher. If we're tougher, it'll be a breeze. If we're not tougher than them, then getting the money back will be a real challenge."

No matter when, the truth always lies within the range of cannons.

Wang Dazhu nodded and said:

"So what do you want to do about this? If you ask me, just ignore them. We don't have any dealings with Shi Qinghe's family. We don't even visit them once a year. Why should we bother with their business?"

Wang An said with a sense of helplessness:
"No matter what, my second sister also has the surname Wang. If we, as her family, just ignore it, it won't look right to others, won't it, Dad?"

Wang Dazhu nodded and said in agreement:

"That's exactly right."

The next morning, just after Wang An's family had breakfast, Wang Daliang and his wife, along with Wang Li and Wang Xiaorong's family of four, came over.

Of course, Wang Xiaorong came to school with Wang Xiaomei, Wang Xiaoli, Xiaolai, and Huang Ying.

After the five girls went to school with their backpacks, Wang Daliang and Wang Li, father and son, then told Wang An's family about Shi Qinghe and the others.

Just as Wang An had expected, the matter was indeed over.

The worst part is that Shi Qinghe was the most seriously injured of all the injured workers.

Other workers are mostly hit by flying coal chunks, resulting in broken legs or arms, but they can recover in a year or two.

Shi Qinghe was hit and sent flying by a huge chunk of coal that flew through the air.

The large lump of coal was sent flying more than ten meters away by Shi Qinghe. Fortunately, the place where Shi Qinghe landed was a large pile of coal ash left after coal screening, which provided a strong cushioning effect.

Therefore, it was fortunate that Shi Qinghe was able to save his life.

Although he survived, Shi Qinghe's injuries were extremely serious. He had nine broken ribs, severe bleeding from ruptured internal organs, a fractured left arm, a comminuted fracture of his right arm, a damaged lower back, multiple ligament sprains, and multiple soft tissue contusions.
In short, Shi Qinghe will definitely not be able to leave the hospital for a while, and it is unknown whether he will be able to work after being discharged.

Of course, the injuries were a fait accompli. What was most disgusting was that the coal mine only paid an extra month's wages and then dismissed all the injured workers, including Shi Qinghe.

The Shi family was naturally unwilling to swallow this insult, and most of the villagers went to the coal mine to fight. However, facing a group of gunmen and security personnel employed by the coal mine, the Shi family not only gained no advantage, but also suffered several more wounded.

The matter reached the commune, which only said it was verifying the situation and awaiting investigation and mediation, and then nothing more was said.

In short, the matter was essentially dropped; nobody cared, nobody asked, and who could do anything about the coal mine? (End of Chapter)