There are seventy or eighty households in Sunset Valley, but they are not concentrated together. There are a few wooden houses halfway up the mountain and two mud and thatched houses with courtyards next to towering trees. They are scattered and do not form a village.
The social workers arrived in the morning, a man and a woman, waiting by the big rock on the path leading into Sunset Valley.
Lu Ming knew the woman, Wei Chunli, who worked as a pyrotechnician's maid for Lu Ming when he first arrived in Sansha Town, Longgang.
In fact, Wei Sao's husband, Wei San, died in a conflict when Lu Ming was trying to enter the Sansha Coal Mining Industry. However, Wei Sao was more or less dominated by Wei San. At least she married him out of fear of Wei San, the gangster. Therefore, Wei San's death was a relief for Wei Sao.
Nowadays, Mrs. Wei has a special status in certain knowledgeable circles. She has worked for General Lu's family, so who wouldn't look up to her
She was wearing a light green women's suit and cream-white leather shoes, and looked very elegant. She was indeed from the Lu Mansion.
Seeing Lu Ming and his group arrive, she came forward and shook hands with each of them, "You are Lawyer Zhang, right?"
Lu Ming smiled: "Yes!" Looking at this young woman who seemed to have been reborn, he felt relieved.
When she left Lu Mansion, Mrs. Wei received a severance pay of 5,000 yuan. In addition, she had worked at Lu Mansion for two years and had received several thousand yuan in various bonuses. In total, she had saved about 10,000 yuan. In Montenegro, she was considered a wealthy woman.
She used the money to buy bonds to earn interest, and responded to the call of the New Life Movement Committee to work as a social worker, which was actually almost the same as a volunteer, with a mere 2 yuan subsidy per month.
But the Montenegrin bonds she bought actually have a good annual interest rate of about 6%, because the economy is growing rapidly, and the interest rate of Montenegrin bonds, which are similar to government bonds, is naturally high.
That is to say, Mrs. Wei earns about 600 yuan in interest every year, which is almost equal to the average income of the working class in satellite towns in the East China Sea, such as Beiguan. In today's Montenegro, she is definitely a high-income group.
After staying in Lu Mansion for more than two years, it seems that her perspective has changed. As for money, it is enough to have enough for daily life, but she still needs to do something meaningful.
That's why she became a social worker.
Come to think of it, it wasn't in vain that I was the host and guest in Lu Mansion.
When Mrs. Wei shook hands with Christine, there was a hint of surprise on her face.
Suddenly, he was startled again and turned back to look at Lu Ming.
Lu Ming remained calm.
My facial shape didn't change, but I wore thick black-framed glasses with large lenses and my hairstyle became fancy, like a completely different person.
But Mrs. Wei had been in Lu Mansion for more than two years, and she had seen me many times. Although they might not be able to communicate, she could still see me from afar.
Therefore, she might feel weird and think that she is a bit like "General Lu", but no matter what, she dare not say anything and can only hide her doubts in her heart.
"Ms. Wei, please tell me about your communication with the villagers here." Lu Ming said with a smile.
Wei Chunli sighed, "It's hard to communicate with the villagers here, but I've been here several times and I don't think it's impossible. If we can convince Zhao Shanpao, there's hope. Many villagers listen to him."
None of the children in Sunset Valley Village went to school, even though Wei Chunli had contacted the orphanage and was able to provide free food and accommodation for the children so that they wouldn't have to walk more than ten miles of mountain roads to and from school every day.
Wei Chunli then heard about the Glens Charitable Foundation and submitted a form to apply for scholarships for all school-age children in Sunset Valley Village.
The Montenegrin Special Region implements a five-year compulsory education system, which means that tuition and textbook fees are waived in the primary school stage.
However, paper, pens, and other school supplies still cost money, and for particularly poor families, it is still a considerable expense.
The problem of schooling for the children in Sunset Valley Village has now been solved with regard to food and accommodation. For the children, the only expenses are just the paper, pens, and other tools.
According to the application form filled out by Wei Chunli, she applied for a scholarship of 20 cents per month for each child, which is indeed enough to cover their study expenses, and maybe they can even save some money to buy some snacks.
The population of Sunset Valley Village is about 500 people. According to Wei Chunli's statistics, there are more than 40 boys and girls aged 7 to 12.
Children over the age of thirteen or fourteen here almost all help with housework like adults. Wei Chunli knows that it is useless to keep statistics.
Wei Chunli also made it clear in the application form that in the end, there will definitely not be more than 40 people who can go to school, and the scholarships needed will be calculated at that time, and the application will be submitted one by one.
However, Wei Chunli did not expect that the foundation's managers, Lawyer Zhang and Lawyer Chris, would be willing to come to this small mountain village to help with the work.
What was even more unexpected was that both lawyers were so young. The male lawyer looked like a street urchin with messy hair, but the female Western lawyer was really beautiful, with two ponytails. She should be less than 20 years old, but her deep blue eyes gave people a very mature and intelligent feeling, which was a bit inconsistent with her sweet appearance.
And a male lawyer... ? Wei Chunli shook her head. How could it be possible? She was a little neurotic.
"Zhao Shanpao? Then go find this Zhao Shanpao!" Lu Ming smiled.
In fact, in order to enter this small mountain village, the intelligence system had already investigated the villagers thoroughly, and Zhao Shanpao was a key figure.
He has a hot temper and is prone to using a knife.
He once joined the gang of Lao Chai, but returned to the mountain village after being pardoned. He is the backbone of the mountain villagers.
The tradition of Sunset Valley Village is that the villagers are probably used to listening to strong and fierce people.
"Okay, I'll lead the way!" Wei Chunli pointed to the path leading to the valley ahead, "We need to go down." After a pause, "This Mr. Zhao seems to have a bad temper, but he seems to care about the children's future. It's just that he thinks that going to school for a few years is useless and makes the children in the mountains weak. It's people from outside the mountains who are harming them and have a conspiracy..."
Speaking of this, Wei Chunli smiled bitterly.
Lu Ming said to Christine: "This Mr. Zhao used to be a bandit, but he was later pardoned."
Christine nodded gently: "The mountain folks are closed to information, but maybe those who have been bandits before may have some perspective."
Lu Ming said: "So, it's ironic..."
As they were talking, the group walked down the path. There was a cornfield in the ravine next to them. It seemed that this year was the year for planting. Now it was the corn maturity period, but the cobs did not look big, and the ears were black. The valley land was really lacking in fertility.
Moreover, if there is flooding, probably only tall crops such as corn and sorghum can still yield some harvest, provided that there is no severe flooding.
In the event of drought, drought-resistant crops such as corn and sorghum will be slightly better off.
"That's Mr. Zhao's home!" Wei Chunli pointed to the mud house next to the cornfield in the ravine ahead.
In front of the mud house was a ridge of fields, with the green tent swaying gently. Wei Chunli took a few quick steps, stood beside the ridge of fields, and raised her voice slightly: "Mr. Zhao, are you home? I am Wei Chunli, I was here the day before yesterday and this morning."
It was evening now, and fortunately the afterglow of the setting sun could shine into this valley, so it was not dark. The name Sunset Valley probably came from this.
"Get lost!" A loud shout came from the room. "I hate women who keep nagging me! I have nothing to say to you, get lost!"
Wei Chunli was stunned. She probably didn't expect that Zhao Shanpao would change his attitude faster than turning the pages of a book.
"Zhao Shanpao, do you want to be arrested? Why are you cursing at people casually? And the social worker lady from the county!" Du Dewang walked over with his beard puffed and eyes glared.
Lu Ming was helpless. Although he had no power at all, he still had great official authority. And it was obvious that in Du Dewang's eyes, social workers were also officials and would not tolerate being insulted.
All I can say is that traditional thinking is not so easy to change, and everything has to be done slowly.
"Oh, I was wondering who dares to shout and kill at my doorstep! Turns out it's Master Du!" A tall man walked out of the thatched hut. He had a fierce look on his face, his cloth shirt and trousers were patched up, and his bare feet were covered in black mud.
He was tall and strong, looking very oppressive. He looked at Du Dewang provocatively, "What law have I violated? Do you want to arrest me?"
Du Dewang said viciously: "General Lu promulgated the compulsory education law. If you don't abide by the law, you should be arrested!"
Zhao Shanpao clicked his tongue twice, "Don't use your tiger skin to make a big banner! What's the matter? Do you want to take revenge? Back then, your son had a front tooth knocked out by me, but he deserved it!"
Apparently, there was some old grudge between the two.
Du Dewang was accompanied by two attendants, both of whom were young and strong men. Of course, they were definitely hired by him, like the security guards at his home.
Du Dewang gestured to the two guards: "Tie up this gangster for me!"
Christine frowned slightly, and seeing that Lu Ming was just watching, she remained silent.
But Lu Ming suddenly came over, blocked her view, and said with a smile: "Chris, cover your ears and don't listen to what they say."
Christine immediately knew what he was going to do. She glared at him and whispered, "What a mess again!" But she still covered her ears with her hands and walked away until she was behind a big tree.
Zhao Shanpao on the other side would naturally not be tied up obediently. Even if one of the guards took out a box gun and pointed it at his head, Zhao Shanpao still roared with his head against the cold muzzle of the gun: "Come on! If you don't kill me, you are a son of a bitch!"
Peng was hit on the back of his head by a baton from another security guard. He staggered and nearly fell. He turned around and started wrestling with the man.
There was a bang of a gunshot, and it was the guard who fired the shot. But Ah Qi somehow got to the guard's side and pushed him at the moment he fired, and the bullet missed.
Zhao Shanpao was also stunned. At this moment, a small figure came out of the thatched hut and started crying loudly.
Zhao Shanpao looked at the black muzzle of the gun, then at his son at the door, and finally stopped struggling. He was pinned to the ground and tied up with ropes.
Du Dewang smiled at Lu Ming and Wei Chunli: "Well, the bandit has been subdued! I think the children's schooling will not be hindered!"
Wei Chunli frowned and said, "What are you doing? Let him go!"
Du Dewang smiled and said, "This will be handled by the court!"
Lu Ming looked at Du Dewang and nodded: "It turns out that Master Du had already prepared for this, and came here just for him. No wonder you, at your age, wanted to accompany us into the mountains!"
Du Dewang laughed and said, "Lawyer Zhang, you are joking. I never thought that this vicious person would resist the law and beat us up."
Lu Ming's face was not very good. He never expected that the security guard of Du Dewang's family would dare to shoot directly. If Ah Qi had not seen the opportunity early, Zhao Shanpao would definitely be shot. It seemed that he was shot in the leg.
But no matter what, if Zhao Shanpao was really shot, it was because he was careless and deliberately did not stop the conflict.
"Go call Chris over!" Lu Ming said to Ah Qi.
Over there, Du Dewang's men roughly pulled up Zhao Shanpao and pushed the crying child who was running over to them to the ground.
Wei Chunli was furious. She ignored the male social worker who was pulling her and walked over to him, saying, "Let him go! What right do you have to arrest him?!"
Du Dewang's face darkened slightly: "If you encounter a bandit, everyone has the right to kill him!"
"Mr. Du, I am Mr. Zhao Shanpao's attorney!" Christine walked back slowly and smiled. "Excuse me, why did you arrest my client? Do you have an arrest warrant? Or, as police officers, do you have reasonable suspicion?"
Du Dewang was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Lu Ming said, "Chris has made it very clear. She is Mr. Zhao Shanpao's representative lawyer. She doesn't know what happened. Unlike me, I witnessed the whole process and personally experienced the case. Therefore, I can only be a witness and cannot represent either of you. But as for your dispute, Ms. Chris can definitely represent one of you."
"Lawyer Zhang, please don't make such jokes. This little foreigner..." Du Dewang paused, "Is this Lawyer Ke a little foolish? Can you tell me?"
Lu Ming looked at him and said calmly, "No one is kidding you. You may be involved in kidnapping, attempted murder, intentional injury and many other crimes. Oh, and that's a baton, right? Where did you get it? It's also illegal to illegally possess police equipment. And that box gun, does he have a gun license? If so, what is it for? Is it allowed to carry it with you under non-specific circumstances? These may be big troubles!"
Du Dewang's face gradually darkened, "You are outsiders and don't understand, so it's better not to meddle in other people's business!"
"If you don't let him go, your guilt will become increasingly serious! Besides, who knows, someone might be willing to come to his rescue!" Before Lu Ming finished speaking, several young male officers from the office slowly approached him.
"Damn, you guys are a bunch of idiots..." The armed security guard didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He took out his box gun and wanted to fire into the air to scare away these young students who had never experienced the harsh treatment of society. At first glance, they were all city people who had just graduated from school and had no idea what they were doing.
"Oh..." He cried out in pain, but his wrist suddenly hurt, the pistol fell to the ground, and he fell down.
"There's a sheriff here, right? Miss Wei, go and report it." Lu Ming said to Wei Chunli who was looking at him in a daze.
Normally, the Civil Affairs Committee of a district is composed of one civil affairs committee member elected by each village. However, Sunset Valley Village is obviously completely isolated from the social system. No one votes, let alone runs for the village's civil affairs committee member.
However, Wei Chunli introduced the situation. Because of the special circumstances, a sheriff was stationed in this mountain village by the district security office to deal with possible petty thefts or disputes such as fights. In addition, it is also to prevent the resurgence of bandits.
Wei Chunli had been staring at Lu Ming blankly, but she came back to her senses and agreed in a panic, "Yes, yes, OK, I'll go..."
He turned and ran towards the path, and the male social worker hurriedly followed.
Du Dewang looked at Lu Ming with a gloomy face, then looked at Christine and nodded: "You are fine."
The old man made a gesture and left with his crutches. The two guards followed him. Although the guard with a gun picked up the gun, his arm hurt so much that he couldn't lift it. He covered his arm with his other hand and left groaning.
Here, a young officer in a peaked cap went to untie the ropes that tied up Zhao Shanpao, and Zhao Shanpao's son threw himself into his father's arms and burst into tears.
"Why are you crying?" Zhao Shanpao scolded, "Wipe the horse urine clean for me! You just know how to shed horse urine, it's useless!"
Obviously, she stopped resisting because she was worried that her son would get hurt, but she was extremely strict in front of her son.
Christine handed over a business card and said, "Mr. Zhao, please tell me all the details of the dispute now. We can choose to call the police or sue ourselves. No matter which procedure we take, I will provide you with legal professional assistance as your representative lawyer for free!"
Zhao Shanpao was stunned. "Do we still need to report to the police? Isn't everything okay? Thank you." He looked at Lu Ming again. "Thank you too!"
These two lawyers obviously helped me. They were well-dressed city people and kind-hearted people.
Zhao Shanpao tried hard to force a smile at the two of them.
"Mr. Zhao, this lawsuit must be fought! Otherwise, you will have endless troubles!" Lu Ming certainly didn't talk about the significance of this lawsuit. He thought about it and said, "How about this, let's go in and talk?"
…
When we returned to the RV, it was already late at night, around two in the morning. The moon was dim outside and the stars were sparse, but the night lights were dimly on inside the RV.
Sitting on the sofa, Lu Ming closed his eyes tiredly.
Although Zhao Shanpao didn't like lawsuits, he reluctantly agreed under Christine's persuasion that he would come here to meet up with the two of them tomorrow.
Then, go to the district security office together to report the crime.
This was also proposed by Lu Ming, who wanted to take a look at the operating styles of a series of institutions.
As for the children's schooling, there is no rush tonight, so I plan to talk to him about it tomorrow.
However, he felt inexplicably depressed in his heart. Leaning back on the sofa, Lu Ming let out a long breath.
The sound of water gradually stopped. When the door opened, Lu Ming turned around and looked.
Coming out of the bathroom, Christine was still dressed neatly. Although her hair was obviously wet, she still had it in a ponytail. She was wearing snow-white suspender jeans, goose yellow over-the-knee socks, and black leather shoes, all of which were brand new.
Seeing Lu Ming's strange look, Christine smiled gently, slowly sat down next to Lu Ming, and said softly: "Don't feel upset. The rural traditions of the Northern Territory have been a stubborn disease since ancient times. It is difficult to cure. You have only been here for three years, and there have been enough changes. Besides, don't we still have people like Miss Wei? This shows that the influence you have brought is still very large."
Lu Ming smiled bitterly in his heart. Wei Chunli was in his mansion and was someone who had been directly influenced by him.
But it is impossible for me to reach all the millions of people.
"Can I lend you my shoulder to lean on?" Christine suddenly smiled playfully.
Lu Ming was helpless and smiled, "We two are really, are we both a bit whining? We are both the most powerful people in the world, but we often make ourselves feel depressed. Do we need to comfort each other? Even though you didn't use my shoulder when I wanted to lean on it, I will definitely use your shoulder!"
He turned his head and gently rested his head on Christine's shoulder, then slowly closed his eyes.
Christine looked at him quietly, stretched out her slender hand, and gently stroked his hair.
Lu Ming suddenly sat up again, "No, no, if this continues, I'll really find a mother and become a mama's boy!" He looked at Christine with a wry smile, "Stop being like this, okay?!"
Somehow I felt like my mother was lovingly coaxing me to sleep, she was just short of sung a lullaby.
Christine looked at him quietly. "You were young and lost your parents before you were mentally mature. So, it's normal for you to lack maternal love..."
Lu Ming was stunned. Certain memories that had been suppressed in his heart came to his mind uncontrollably. He would never see his majestic father and kind mother again, without even a goodbye.
I don't know if I still exist in that world. If I suddenly disappeared, how would they suffer
I have never dared to think about it, but now, I suddenly feel endless sadness and boundless loneliness, which suddenly surged up and made me breathless.
Everything around me became distorted and depressing, and I felt like a helpless ghost, unable to find my way home forever.
Until, my head was gently stroked again, as if by the mother's kind hands.
Lu Ming slowly leaned back on the sofa and sighed softly, "I miss home!" But his heart gradually became at peace.
"God has arranged everything. In the future, we will all return to dust. Don't be afraid or sad. You will see your parents in eternal peace!"
Lu Ming nodded gently, and suddenly felt extremely tired. He murmured softly, "Yes, I'm not afraid. My parents, I hope they know that I am living a good life in another world..." His consciousness gradually became blurred.
…
When I opened my eyes, the sky outside was just beginning to darken, probably around four or five o'clock.
But after taking a nap for just two or three hours, I seemed to have had many strange dreams. In the dream, I saw my parents...
I touched the corner of my eye and it still seemed wet.
I let out a long breath, as if everything was vented in the dream. Now, I feel much better.
Suddenly, I was startled. It was the other side of the sofa. Christine was curled up in the corner, seemingly sleeping lightly. So when I moved, she woke up, tidied her long golden hair, and slowly sat up.
But when she curled up to sleep, half of her soft yellow socks had already been rubbed off. Now she sat up, and the right pair of soft yellow socks fell off completely, revealing her exquisite and flawless snow-white jade feet that looked like works of art. The hazy and translucent pink gem nail polish of the beautiful girl style made her jade feet look more delicate and charming. The beautiful upturned curve was tempting, and people could not help but imagine the pair of snow-white jade feet resting on the left and right shoulders, and the changes in the swaying curves when being conquered, how enchanting and beautiful it was.
"Are you feeling better?" Christine looked at Lu Ming and smiled slightly, with the dignity of His Royal Highness the Duke.
But then she was a little surprised, and looked down in the direction Lu Ming was looking at, then glared at Lu Ming, and hurriedly picked up the goose yellow socks and put them on her feet.
Lu Ming reluctantly withdrew his gaze, coughed, and moved towards her, smiling and licking his face: "Your Highness..."
Christine glared at him, and Lu Ming immediately stopped smiling. "Well, you should take a rest for a while. Sleep in the big bedroom. If Zhao Shanpao and the others come, I'll call you."