freenovelworld Chapter 1988 In the Name of the People
Chapter 1988 In the Name of the People
Standing at the entrance of the courtyard, Li Xiangnan looked at the dense crowd in front of him and felt a sense of calm.
These eighty or ninety people almost completely blocked the alley, forming a dark, dense mass that gave people the creeps.
No sooner had three groups of troublemakers left than these 'masses' came to cause trouble again. With Li Xiangnan's usual way of thinking, he couldn't possibly think that this was just a coincidence!
Ninety-nine percent of the time, it was a series of coordinated attacks by the people behind the scenes!
According to the information brought by Song Yi, the top five families among the ten families in Yanjing and the few families that were on vacation in the afternoon are the most fond of using some underhanded methods to target others. Li Xiangnan has already learned this lesson from Director Qian, Director Luo and Director Zhou!
Without a doubt, these people who were manipulated were probably part of their scheme!
Since it's a conspiracy, there must be ways to thwart it!
Li Xiangnan squinted and looked over, and found that these people were wearing cotton-padded jackets of various colors, and at first glance they did look like residents of the neighborhood.
But he always had a sharp eye, and after scanning the area, he quickly spotted the problem.
Although these people were dressed plainly, their posture, breathing, eyes, and even rhythm all exuded an indescribable neatness and strangeness.
"Brother Nan..." At this moment, Song Ziming seemed to have noticed something was wrong and immediately leaned over to whisper a few words in Li Xiangnan's ear.
Li Xiangnan looked over in the direction he was referring to and nodded slightly.
really!
He saw several familiar faces.
The middle-aged man who was shouting the loudest at the front was called Xu Er.
Li Xiangnan remembered him; he had seen this man at the gate of the Shangguan family's house the last time he went to Xishan Farm. He was the gatekeeper there.
He had also seen the woman with the pointed mouth and monkey-like face next to Xu Er before; she was the old maid of the Shangguan family.
"Heh." Li Xiangnan sneered inwardly, then whispered to Song Ziming, "I didn't expect it to really be someone from the Shangguan family! Ziming, your intelligence work paid off!"
Ever since he learned from Shangguan Wanqing that the Shangguan family had been monitoring the Li family for decades, Li Xiangnan hadn't been idle either. He specifically asked Song Ziming to monitor them in reverse, and figured out who all the members of their family were.
Song Ziming naturally knew all these people.
Yesterday, Shangguan Wanqing also gave me some information about the Shangguan family. Combined with Zi Mo's intelligence, these people are not a threat!
"Neighbors, be the judge! What kind of banquet is the Li family planning? It's been going on for days, with all this noise and nonsense every day. We can't stand it anymore! Are we not allowed to rest? Are we not allowed to live our lives?"
At this point, Xu Er had already started shouting at the top of his lungs.
The women around him chimed in, "That's right! Just because he's a doctor doesn't mean he has special privileges! No family can stand this kind of noise! I live nearby and they're driving me crazy! I really can't take it anymore. I'm insisting that the Li family cancel their wedding banquet! It's so upsetting!"
As soon as these two took the lead, the group behind them immediately joined in the commotion.
"Yes, yes, it's too noisy!"
"Yes, it's been so many days, and the wedding banquet hasn't even started yet, and we're already making such a fuss. How are we supposed to live our lives if the banquet actually starts?"
"Stop the Li family's wedding banquet! Boycott the Li family's wedding banquet!"
"We want peace and quiet, we don't want special privileges!"
The noise grew louder and louder, attracting the actual residents on both sides of the alley to crane their necks and look out.
Wang Defa got anxious and stepped forward to argue, but Li Xiangnan grabbed him.
"Don't rush!" Li Xiangnan whispered to him, then raised his voice to Xu Er, "Comrade, you say we're disturbing the peace? Who am I disturbing? May I ask which alley you live in? And what's your house number?"
Xu Er was taken aback, seemingly not expecting him to ask that, and replied stiffly, "I...I live in Zhuan Ta Hutong! What's wrong?"
"Zhuanta Hutong?" Li Xiangnan was so angry he laughed. "What a coincidence! I have a friend who lives in Zhuanta Hutong. He said it's three streets away from here, at least a kilometer! Even if it's noisy here, how could it travel a kilometer? That's a far-fetched analogy."
Xu Er's expression changed. "Bullshit! I... I'm here to visit relatives, is that not allowed? I just find it noisy!"
“Sure, of course!” Li Xiangnan continued, “Then may I ask where your relative lives? I’ll go over and apologize to him. What’s his name? Maybe I even know him!”
Xu Er opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.
Seeing this, the woman next to him immediately chimed in, "What, what, what? We're not here to check your household registration, we're here to give feedback! Your wedding banquet is disturbing the peace, you must stop!"
"Yes, we have to stop!" a young man behind her shouted immediately, and the crowd erupted in a clamor again.
Li Xiangnan remained calm and composed. His gaze swept over the man and woman and landed on the person who had spoken earlier. He recognized the man as a servant of the Shangguan family, someone who had served him tea earlier.
"Of course you can offer suggestions!" Li Xiangnan said calmly. "But offering suggestions is one thing, but blocking the road like this and affecting the neighbors' access is called inciting a disturbance, not offering suggestions!"
"So what if we block the road?" Seeing that Li Xiangnan couldn't out-argue him, Xu Er started to act tough: "Go ahead and call the police! We'll definitely support them when they come!"
As soon as he said this, the group of people behind him immediately began to surge forward, blocking the alley even more.
Now things are really messed up. Tomorrow the Li family is having a wedding banquet, and many people who were helping to move ingredients and materials, as well as borrow tables, chairs, pots and pans from neighbors, are stuck at both ends of the alley, unable to move forward or backward.
Even several residents who genuinely wanted to enter or leave the alley were pushed and shoved back as soon as they stepped out of their doors.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?"
An elderly woman was even pushed and stumbled.
"Get out of here, you old woman!" a man rudely waved his hand.
Upon seeing this, Li Xiangnan's eyes turned cold.
It seems that I can't be polite anymore.
If these people keep blocking the way until night, then tomorrow's wedding banquet really can't be held!
Unexpectedly, the Shangguan family, in conjunction with ten families in Yanjing, couldn't handle their own affairs through their overt tricks, so they resorted to this underhanded tactics!
"De Fa!" Li Xiangnan's eyes turned cold, and he immediately turned to Wang De Fa and whispered a few words of advice, "Go make a call quickly, I'll hold them off!"
“Okay!” Wang Defa’s eyes lit up, he nodded vigorously, and turned to go back to the courtyard.
Li Xiangnan then looked at Xu Er again: "Hey Xu Er, how well are you guarding the Shangguan family's gate?"
These words, though not loud, struck Xu Er like a thunderclap, making him tremble instantly.
"What...what did you say?" Xu Er's face turned ashen.
“I’m telling you!” Li Xiangnan chuckled, “Xishan Farm, Shangguan Wuji’s old house! Aren’t you supposed to be their gatekeeper? What? Shangguan Wuji won’t let you guard the gate today?”
He paused, and before Xu Er, whose face was as white as paper, could react, he looked at the woman beside him: "And you, Aunt Gao, you've been a maid in the Shangguan family for seven or eight years, why aren't you helping with the cooking today? What brings you here to complain about disturbing the peace?"
He then looked at the young man and said, "Hey Xiao Ma, aren't you working as a servant in the Shangguan family? How come you have time to come here and offer your opinions?"
boom!
After these three sentences were spoken, the three men's faces turned as pale as paper, and cold sweat poured down their foreheads!
How did Li Xiangnan know all this?
The three of them exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding wildly!