280 Neighbors (2/2)

”Other than being one of the leaders of Blackwater Company, Khun Sa is also a major drug dealer in the Golden Triangle. He had close ties with the Dragon Gang of Jiangcheng. After the Red Scorpion Mercenaries got into trouble, he asked the Dragon Gang to help him investigate,” Gu Zhanguo said, ”and you happened to be in their sights during that period, creating many problems for their gang operations. So the Dragon Gang identified you to Khun Sa as the one who destroyed his Red Scorpion Mercenaries.”

Xiao Luo was stunned, and he couldn't imagine how he could've gotten himself entangled in an international network of crime.

...

The next morning, Xiao Luo got up early and started cleaning the house.

His grandparents had lived in the house since it was built and maintained it, but as they were getting on with age, they couldn't clean the house as thoroughly as they wished.

He started by first wiping the glass windows, the tables, the cabinets, and mopping the floor.

For the whole morning, Xiao Luo was kept busy, carefully wiping every nook and cranny that was usually overlooked during cleaning.

When he went out to refill the bucket of water, a middle-aged lady living just next door looked surprised when she saw him and said, ”Hello, aren't you Little Luo? You are back for the new year?”

Xiao Luo smiled and greeted the lady. ”Hi, Aunt Taoxiu, yes. The company is closed for the holiday season, so I've come back for the new year.”

All the men in Luo Village shared the surname Xiao, as they were descended from a common ancestor. Their middle names were determined by their generation in the family tree, and funnily enough, many of his peers were of the same generation as his own father, so he had to address them as 'uncle' according to custom. This was something that Xiao Luo had been eating at Xiao Luo for quite a while now.

Xiao Luo had no idea what the middle-aged lady's maiden surname was, but he remembered her well because she often visited them ever since he was a young lad. His grandma addressed her as Taoxiu, so he just called her Aunt Taoxiu. At the same time, Xiao Luo used to be close friends with her son, Xiao Ping, when they were young. Xiao Ping was two years older than him.

Aunt Taoxiu had a rather loud voice, so when the neighbors heard that Xiao Luo had returned, they all came out to greet him. Very soon, there was a small crowd outside his home.

Xiao Luo was raised to be courteous, and he was a patient man by nature, so he greeted all the seniors that had come to greet him.

”Little Luo, you have gotten a lot more handsome in the one year since I last saw you. I heard last year that you had a girlfriend, why didn't you bring her back to meet your family?” a dark-skinned woman said.

A thin middle-aged man smiled and agreed. ”She is right, it's about time you start a family. Back when I was your age, my son was already seven or eight years old.”

Xiao Luo smiled warmly at him and replied, ”Such matters all depend on fate. When the time is right, everything will sort itself out.”

”Fate is a vague concept that cannot be explained easily, it still depends on you to make an effort to seek the right women out. Our country carried out a census recently, and there are 30 million more men than women. In other words, there will be 30 million men without a wife. Little Luo, you must try harder. Even if you are in no hurry, think of your parents and your grandparents, who will all be worried.” The thin middle-aged man shared his opinion, which got the crowd nodding their heads.

The dark-skinned woman who was now munching on sunflower seeds concurred and said, ”That's right, look at Xiao Qiudong, he is the same age as you, and he has a son now. He's hosting a feast at home tomorrow, and his wife is from Taiwan. The whole Luo Village knows about it. If you don't put in more effort, he will outshine you.”

Xiao Luo merely forced a smile and nodded his head, as he knew they meant well. But he didn't intend to stand there and continue getting bombarded with more questions and suggestions, so he informed them all that he still had to clean the house and hurried back inside.

”You people shouldn't pressure him like this, I'm sure that deep down inside, Little Luo must be anxious as well. You all should know that he is the only one of his age that hasn't gotten married in our village.” Aunt Taoxiu felt for Xiao Luo and came to his defense.

”We didn't scold him or anything, but this Little Luo has set too high expectations for himself. It's not good for him, and he may find himself in an unfavorable situation outside,” the thin middle-aged said, standing with his arms folded, confident in his assessment of Xiao Luo.

The dark-skinned woman sighed heavily, weighing in on what the thin middle-aged man had said. ”Huh, Xiao Qiudong didn't even go to university, now he is getting project contracts at the city of Zhoukou. He is earning so much over the past two years, and he even bought himself a house in the city of Zhoukou. Now look at Little Luo, he has been to a second-tier university, but in the end, he is just working for other people. Despite having studied so much, he can't compare to Xiao Qiudong's little finger.”