Move bricks at a construction site?
Although Liu Yanbo was sincere, it still sounded as if he answered the question half-heartedly.
Fortunately, Li Liang had already mentally prepared himself, and Ji Ruyan was already accustomed to it.
She knew him only from the surface, but not his heart.
*Idiom: One may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature.
Considering the lack of information about Liu Yanbo’s past, he was too mysterious. So mysterious that people thought that any decision he made would be a matter of course.
Li Liang pondered for a moment, ignoring Liu Yanbo's ridiculous-sounding answer, he asked: "Liu, are you interested in real estate?"
"You don’t need to answer now, listen to Uncle Li's words first." Li Liang continued: "Liu, I investigated you. Not only did I investigate you, but also many people from different social circles in Haishi have been looked into you in these past two days. You came to Haishi three years ago. Apart from yourself, no one knows who you were before that. But judging from how you’ve lived in the past three years, you want to be an ordinary person, and live the most ordinary life possible. Isn’t that true?"
Liu Yanbo flicked the ashes of his cigarette and smiled: "Uncle Li, I’ve always been an ordinary person!"
"Doesn’t seem like it." Li Liang directly shook his head denying it, and said with eyes that seemed to be able to see through a person. "Liu, your “ordinariness” seems more like an act. Especially in the first year, you appeared in Haishi, you acted too deliberately."
Li Liang turned the conversation around, and asked: "You used to work as a waiter at Belle Restaurant on Happy Street, for several months, didn’t you?"
Liu Yanbo nodded in agreement and waited for Li Liang to continue.
Li Liang lightly sighed: "During that period, there was once a time where you were helping a customer open a wine bottle, and you accidentally dropped the corkscrew on his steak. So the customer got the bottle of red wine you opened and poured it right on your head in the presence of all. Still not satisfied, he smashed the bottle on your head. Afterward, not only did your boss refuse to help you, but also asked you to apologize to the customer in public. In the end, he fired you and deducted your salary for two months. Liu, did this happen?"
This was more than two years ago. Since Liu Yanbo didn’t resist at the time and neither pursued revenge afterward, it became a trivial matter in his three years of living in Haishi. Even if he were to find that customer and confront him about it, the man may not even remember that he ever bullied him.
Such a small matter like that had been brought up. It was clear that Li Liang made sufficient preparations before coming. His investigation was very detailed.
Liu Yanbo didn't feel embarrassed or angry when the incident was mentioned. He smiled and lightly said: "Yes, that’s right."
"Liu, do you know what a real ordinary person would do if they encountered such a thing?" Li Liang asked with a smile.
What would they do?
Liu Yanbo had never really carefully thought about it, so he shook his head.
At this time, Ji Ruyan had finished brewing some tea, helped Li Liang and Liu Yanbo fill their cups, then sat quietly back next to Liu Yanbo and continued to listen silently.
Li Liang pinched out his cigarette, drank a sip of tea, and said: “Ordinary people also get angry, and they know what they can or cannot tolerate. When mistreated or humiliated, they may resist very fiercely. Especially if the money they earned from their hard work was being threatened by another; they would fight for their lives, because that is the foundation of being a breadwinner, and it is how they survive. In a situation like yours, if it was any other person, a more sensible person would have sought legal help; and an irrational person would drag the other to the bottom with him.”
“You might say: I’m just an ordinary wage earner, what’s the point of picking a fight with rich and powerful people? But could you really have not fought back?” Li Liang asked and then answered himself: “If it was 2 years ago, I might have believed that you endured it because you couldn’t fight back. But looking back now, I don’t believe it a single bit. You crippled a tyrannical gangster like Xue Long in public. How could you be afraid of the owner of Belle Restaurant? So, the biggest reason why you chose to be patient at the time was probably that you didn't want to draw attention to yourself and let others discover that your 23 years of blank records. "
"Liu, when real ordinary people are faced with unfair situations, they might give in at times, but they would never continue to retreat again and again. And they might have to tolerate a lot, but never to the extent as you do.
People have always been divided into different categories.
Whether it was under the feudal rule of ancient times, or in a civilized society based on democracy. The category of ordinary people was comprised of those who had no money, no power, and no background status...
They lived at the lowest level of society and had to live a repetitive life of working every day from dawn to dusk.
Working hard simply for their daily necessities had long since worn away their edges, making them evasive, weak, and helpless. Turning them into true "ninjas".*
*The Chinese characters that form the word ninja literally means ‘person who endures’
But ordinary people were not inferior. They were also humans, and also had self-esteem. Some even had higher self-esteem than upper-class people.
So when bullied, ordinary people would resist. They may not be able to make a strong counterattack every time, but they would remember all the injustices they had suffered in the past, and when it became too much to bear, they would finally explode with an unbearable rage that no one would be able to handle.
Wasn’t it evident?
Throughout history, how many dynasties and nobles in this world were not destroyed by ordinary people?
Therefore, do not bully others.
There will never be a second person in the world like Liu Yanbo.
“Ha~” Li Liang sighed softly and lamented, "Everyone has a lifestyle that they have long been used to, and when they suddenly want to swap into another lifestyle, they usually do some cover-up. Liu, it seems you didn’t execute it well."
Liu Yanbo's execution really wasn’t good enough, otherwise, he wouldn’t have attracted so many people's attention now.
After thinking about it carefully, he also agreed with Li Liang's statement, but he didn't understand a few things he had said: "Uncle Li, does this have anything to do with you letting me do real estate?"
Li Liang lit a cigarette once again and slowly said, "Liu, whether Huang Jiucheng's death had anything to do with you or not, judging from how things are now, you’ve already been targeted by many powerful people. The reason why these people haven’t sent anyone to find you yet was that one, your past is too mysterious, which makes people wonder what kind of hidden cards you might have; and two, because they’re busy dividing up the goods that Huang Jiucheng left behind after his death. But your mysterious past won’t keep them away forever. And sooner or later, Huang Jiucheng’s goods will also finish being divided between them. Only then will your troubles really begin."
"You’re no longer a loner as you were before when you first appeared in Haishi. Now you have a wife and friends. It's impossible to just pick up and leave, but then what will you do to resist the upcoming trouble?" Li Liang's expression became serious, he said: "If you’re still not willing to reveal your past, then you can only start from scratch and find a way to gain more power to protect yourself and the people around you."
Li Liang who was a public servant had nothing to hide: "In this society if you have money, you have power. Real estate happens to be one of China's fastest legitimate businesses to make money."
"Liu, I said so much already but I just wanted to make sure you know one thing with all this, no matter whether you want to do it or not, you can no longer live the life of an ordinary person."
After Li Liang finished speaking, he smoked silently and took a sip of red tea.
He wasn’t worried.
The one who should be worried was Liu Yanbo.
The enemies hid in the shadows, while he was under a bright spotlight! The situation was very bad!
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