Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

"The conditions are very simple."

Liu Bei raised his hand, pointed to his mother Zhao Da'e, then to Lin Wanqiu, Zhao Chunyan, and Su Yuehe, and finally to the three children huddled behind Su Yuehe.

"Make Fan Xibei and Zhao Liuzhi kneel down and apologize to my mother, my three ex-wives, and my three children in front of the whole village."

Wow~

These words caused an uproar among many villagers.

"What?" Fan Xibei thought he had misheard.

"I told him to kneel down and apologize to my mother, my three ex-wives, and my three children." Liu Bei repeated, emphasizing each word clearly.

Upon hearing this, Fan Xibei immediately exploded, "Liu Bei, are you crazy? I'm a grown man, and you want me to kneel down to a bunch of women... to them? That's one thing, but now I have to kneel down to three little kids?"

"Let me tell you, don't even think about it. I will not kneel! I would rather die than kneel!"

Zhao Liuzhi waved his hands repeatedly, "That's right. I won't kneel either! Liu Bei, don't push your luck!"

Fan Sanyuan maintained his smile and lowered his voice, "Xiao Bei, isn't this condition... a bit too much? They're men, after all. If you make them kneel down, how are they supposed to face others afterward? How about... we change the conditions?"

Liu Bei glanced at Fan Sanyuan.

"Alright. For your sake, Party Secretary, I can change my terms."

Fan Sanyuan breathed a sigh of relief, "Sure, sure, go ahead."

"Let them both roll all the way home from here."

"..."

Fan Sanyuan's smile froze on his face.

"Hiss~"

The surrounding villagers all gasped in shock.

From Liu Bei's courtyard gate to Fan Xibei's house, there is a stretch of village road between them, at least three hundred meters.

It's even further to Zhao Liuzhi's house; you have to turn a corner, and it's about 400 meters away.

If it rolls all the way over there...

Good heavens, that means I'll turn into ashes!

That's a really ruthless move!

"Liu Bei! You—" Fan Xibei pointed at Liu Bei, his face trembling with anger.

Fan Sanyuan was also embarrassed. He moved his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.

"Two conditions, choose one." Liu Bei spread his hands. "Either kneel, or get out. If you don't want to, that's fine too."

He turned to the three police officers and said politely, "I'm afraid the three of you will have to make this trip again. These two are unwilling to apologize, so please take them back and detain them for a few days. By the way, make sure they eat plenty of moldy steamed buns, otherwise they won't learn their lesson."

The leader of the three police officers nodded, took out handcuffs, and took a step forward.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Seeing the police officers approaching, Zhao Liuzhi was the first to give in.

Detaining someone for a few days isn't scary, but once you're in jail, you'll have a criminal record.

Although Zhao Liuzhi is a lackey, if he gets married and has children in the future, and his children need to get things done, they will be in real trouble if they can't pass the political review.

"I...I'll get out."

Fan Xibei glared at him, "Zhao Liuzhi, you spineless coward—"

"Brother Northwest!" Zhao Liuzhi exclaimed anxiously, "If you go in, you'll have a criminal record! With a criminal record, nothing will be convenient! You'd better think this through!"

"..."

Fan Xibei opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He certainly knew what a criminal record meant.

His wife already thought he was useless, and if he were to get another criminal record, he was sure she would cut his two ounces of flesh off with a pair of scissors at night.

"Fine! I'll get out then." After a dozen seconds of silence, Fan Xibei had no choice but to squeeze out five words through gritted teeth.

"That's more like it!"

Liu Bei smiled slightly and gestured for them to proceed.

"Gentlemen, please begin your performance!"

"..."

Fan Xibei gritted his teeth and lay down on the ground under the watchful eyes of the villagers who were watching the commotion.

Zhao Liuzhi immediately followed suit.

Then, the two of them rolled like logs all the way to their respective doorsteps.

Dust billowed up on the road.

Fan Xibei's faded blue cloth jacket turned yellowish-brown after being rubbed on the muddy ground for less than ten meters.

Zhao Liuzhi fared even worse; he had only rolled five or six meters when he landed on a pile of cow dung, and a foul stench immediately wafted out.

"Ha ha……"

The villagers watching the spectacle couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Some people laughed so hard they squatted on the ground, while others slapped their thighs and stomped their feet.

Several children followed behind, shouting as they ran, "Get out of here! Get out of here! Fan Xibei and Zhao Liuzhi, get home!"

The two rolled further and further away, becoming increasingly disheveled.

Seeing this, Fan Sanyuan narrowed his eyes.

Only after the two figures disappeared at the end of the village road did Fan Sanyuan cough a few times.

"Xiao Bei, what happened today... was due to my lack of consideration. Please be magnanimous and don't hold it against me."

"How could that be?" Liu Bei replied with a smile.

"Okay. If there's nothing else, I'll head back now!"

"Please take care!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fan Sanyuan and the three policemen walked away without looking back.

His back view showed him smiling, but his hands were clenched tightly.

Liu Bei watched Fan Sanyuan's retreating figure.

"You old fox! You're quite the actor! I'll remember today's score!"

Seeing that the village secretary and the police had left, and there was no more excitement to watch, the villagers left in twos and threes, but they didn't forget to look back a few more times at the logs stacked in Liu Bei's yard.

"Dazhuang, keep moving."

"Alright!"

Li Dazhuang rallied several workers and got them back to work.

Thirty logs were unloaded from the tractor and stacked on the open ground east of the house.

after an hour,

Li Dazhuang came over, covered in sweat. "Xiao Bei, all done moving!"

"Dazhuang, why don't you stay for dinner?" Zhao Da'e invited.

"Auntie, no, thank you. The tractor was borrowed from the next village, we need to return it quickly." Li Dazhuang wiped his sweat, grinned at Liu Bei, and said, "Xiao Bei, we'll be going now!"

"Okay. I'll treat you to drinks another day."

"Rat-a-tat-tat~"

Soon, the three tractors slowly drove away.

Zhao Da'e circled the pile of wood three times, touching and smelling it repeatedly. Suddenly, she turned around and punched Liu Bei in the chest.

"You brat! Why didn't you show me the proof sooner? You scared your mother so much her legs went weak! Were you trying to scare your mother to death?!"

"Mother, I didn't mean to—"

"Still being stubborn!" Zhao Da'e punched him again, but not hard; it felt like a tickle on Liu Bei's chest.

Liu Bei didn't dodge; instead, he reached out and put his arm around his mother's shoulder.

Zhao Da'e was stunned for a moment.

This son has never hugged her since he was a child.

"Mother, I will never let you suffer like this again."

Zhao Da'e's nose tingled, and she turned her face away, saying, "It's easier said than done."

She said that, but she didn't push her son's hand away.

"Tch!!!" Zhao Chunyan rolled her eyes. "All you do is show off. You had the proof but didn't show it until the very last minute. Were you watching a show or acting? I even argued with Fan Xibei for you just now, almost losing my voice! What a waste of my breath!!!"

Thanks.

"Who cares about your thanks!" Zhao Chunyan snorted and turned to walk towards her room.

Lin Wanqiu stood next to the wood without moving.

She walked up, her gaze sweeping over the neatly stacked logs before finally settling on Liu Bei's face.

What are your plans for the next step?

"Keep hunting and fishing, save up some money." Liu Bei patted the cross-section of the nearest log. "Once we've saved enough, we'll hire someone to measure the land, draw up plans, and set up stakes. We'll try to finish the foundation before winter so we can start building the wall in the spring."

"Is that so?"

Lin Wanqiu stared at Liu Bei's profile for a long time.

She had seen everything he had done these past few days.

Hunting, selling for money, buying cloth, buying medicine, selecting timber, dealing with Wang Mazi, protecting family members... each and every one of these was a real and substantial undertaking.

For the first time, she felt that this man wasn't faking it; he had genuinely changed.

"Late Autumn?" Liu Bei turned around.

"Um?"

"What are you spacing out for?"

"No, you're overthinking it!" Lin Wanqiu quickly looked away. "I'm going to cook."

She turned and took two steps, then stopped, without looking back, and asked softly, "Did you eat the noodles from last night?"

"have eaten."

Is it cold?

"Not too cold. Just right."

"That's good!"

Lin Wanqiu entered the kitchen with light steps.

Su Yuehe led the three children slowly over.

Panpan held Niannian's hand, while Liu Bao followed behind, playing with his toy gun.

Just as he walked up to Liu Bei,

"ah!!!"

Niannian suddenly screamed.

"What's wrong?"

Everyone turned around at the same time.

Zhao Da'e was startled, Su Yuehe turned pale, and Zhao Chunyan poked half her head out of the room.

But then I saw Niannian squatting on the ground, her hands supporting her knees, her little head almost touching the ground, staring intently at something.

"Dad! Look! Two grasshoppers are fighting!"

Everyone looked down.

Sure enough, there were two grasshoppers on the ground, one green and one yellow, kicking and stomping at each other with their hind legs, locked in a fierce battle.

"This girl..." Zhao Da'e patted her chest, "She scared the crap out of me."

Su Yuehe was both annoyed and amused. She squatted down and pinched Niannian's cheek. "Why are you shouting so loudly, you child?"

"Dad, look! They're fighting so fiercely!"

Niannian's eyes sparkled as she watched with great interest.

Liu Bei squatted down and looked at the two grasshoppers.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.