In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, late March.

South Zhili, Xuzhou, Hufu.

In a firewood room in the backyard.

Li Dingguo, a young man who is less than 18 years old this year, wore rather shabby clothes, had chains on his hands and feet, and was detained in this firewood room in a state of loss of personal freedom, and there were still many scars on his body from beatings, which made people very surprised.

By the way, what's going on?

Li Dingguo, a genius blasting boy, how did he become like this? Completely deprived of personal freedom, quite depressed, and fell into some kind of not good situation.

At this time, Li Dingguo, a young man who was locked up in the firewood room, still looked indifferent, and he didn't seem to be particularly worried, let alone show an expression of regret and fear.

Even though he has been locked up in this firewood room for a month, endured a lot of hardships, and suffered a lot of beatings, he still can't change his plans and ideas.

That's right.

At the beginning of this year, not long after the beginning of spring, Li Dingguo took out the millions of silver dollars he had saved in the past few years and sent them to his teacher Hu Wenting, hoping to let him accept them as a reward for the teacher, and then proposed to leave the Hu family for a period of time and allow him to go out and wander.

Five years.

Just give him five years.

During this period, he would return to Hu's house every year for the New Year.

Every year, the earned income will be sent back.

Five years later, he will continue to return to the Hu family's mine to work, serve and serve the Hu family, and will become more down-to-earth and will no longer run around.

After saying these words at that time, Li Dingguo felt that he was six or seven points sure, because his teacher Hu Wenting was a Confucian businessman and a very reasonable elder, and he would agree to his request, which was not excessive.

However, Li Dingguo miscalculated, encountered a situation with a low probability, and saw that the teacher Hu Wenting's face changed greatly on the spot, and then he was furious:

"What do you mean by this, in the past few years, the old man has given you food and shelter, married your most beloved baby daughter to you, and let you be the person in charge of explosives mining, and he is as kind to you as a mountain, and he can give you almost all of it, but I didn't expect to cultivate a white-eyed wolf!"

"Millions of silver dollars, how much money you gave me, does it offset the cost of the old man to train you? If you walk away, the explosives mining department loses its technical backbone, and then becomes incapacitated and disintegrates, and the loss in a month is hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, and you only come up with such a small amount of money to compensate, do you think that your value is too cheap, or do you think the old man is a fool?"

"No, teacher, I don't mean that!" Li Dingguo waved his hand again and again to explain.

"Hehe, white-eyed wolf, in addition to a lot of silver dollars, this little life of yours, the knowledge you learned in your head, all of them were given to you by the old man, without the old man's support, you would have been trapped and starved to death, and you would have entered the stomach of wild dogs! Now I want to betray the old man, and I hope that the old man will let you go and allow you to leave the Hu family to develop, hehe, are you thinking too beautiful, are you dreaming of the Spring and Autumn Festival?" Hu Wenting said in a rude tone.

"Teacher, I'm not a white-eyed wolf, I also said it, five years, only go outside for five years, see more scenery and the world, I will definitely come back later, I will continue to serve the Hu family mine, continue to be filial to the teacher, it is impossible not to go back." Li Dingguo explained.

"Enough, it's useless to say so much, you can't take a word seriously, the temptation outside is so big, it's easy to get bad, but it's even more difficult to keep your original intention, and with your blasting skills, it's not difficult to earn three or five hundred thousand silver dollars a year outside, and it's even more everywhere when you meet a woman who looks better than Xuan'er, temptation is everywhere, you actually said that you can keep your heart, it's impossible not to come back, hehe, will the old man believe these nonsense words of yours?" Hu Wenting sneered.

"Teacher, father-in-law, you don't even believe in my character?" Li Dingguo looked surprised.

"Your character is believed by the old man, but only if you stay in the Hu family, if you go outside to develop, no matter how many promises you make, the old man will not believe it."

"But I just want to go out and have a look?" Li Dingguo asked.

"If you insist on doing this, the old man can only destroy you, either break your legs or chop them up

Dog, hehe, don't want to go anyway." Hu Wenting showed a cold and fierce expression and said, there is no longer the slightest appearance of benevolence and righteousness of Confucian businessmen.

Li Dingguo took two steps back in fright, feeling incredulous.

It's changed.

Teacher Hu Wenting has changed.

It's changed dramatically, just in the last two or three years.

has become a female businessman, no longer talking about benevolence and righteousness, and now the most important thing is only the word profit, and her personality has become much more vulgar.

There is no way, this is mainly the fault of the social atmosphere, and the trend of money worship, which is extremely popular today, as well as the trend of comparing luxury, has been very successful, making Hu Wenting, a Confucian businessman, a mercenary female businessman, and an old fool who is extremely suspicious and has no trust in him.

The most fundamental reason is that today's money can be equated with "omnipotence".

As long as you have money, you can buy or build the most luxurious and comfortable house, and the level of enjoyment is no less than that of the emperor in the palace.

You can buy or rent the most comfortable transportation to experience the journey, so you don't have to worry about the fatigue of the journey.

You can buy Xujiazhuang's medical services, and you can easily live to be over 70 years old, which is simply longer than most emperors.

As for the resources of the opposite sex of beautiful women, as long as they have money, no matter how beautiful a woman is, they have a greater certainty, and they can get it by throwing money, and even experience the special customs of foreign countries, which is no worse than the emperor's enjoyment.

And so on and so forth.

Seeing this wealth list, the net worth list, and even the local chaebol list in Xuzhou, Hu Wenting once found that the Hu family's asset ranking was relatively low, in Xuzhou, after ranking in the top five, it was not his personal opinion that he was in the top three, so he felt depressed, and had the idea of catching up with the rankings, and slowly gave up some insistence, and introduced a lot of measures that he was unwilling to adopt in the past, thereby increasing the profit margin, but leading to an increase in the resignation of miners.

At this time, Li Dingguo, who has the best blasting technology, his value is naturally reflected, and if the Hu family wants to maintain the current scenery, of course, it is impossible to agree to let him go.

Hu Wenting finally said: "Either take out 10 million silver dollars immediately, or stay in the Hu family to work honestly, or destroy you as a person, and you can do it yourself."

"I still want to go out and break in, three years, how about giving me three years? Teacher, father-in-law, I will really come back." Li Dingguo pleaded.

"Impossible, not for three days!"

And then there was a bang!

Li Dingguo was imprisoned in the firewood room, unless he gave up the idea and plan to go out.

It's just that Li Dingguo's character is also the kind of thing that has been decided, he will not change and regret it, he just wants to do it desperately, and he doesn't want to be a worker for a lifetime, and he doesn't want to dedicate his life to the Hu family, even if he is very grateful to the teacher Hu Wenting for the help he gave him in the past, but the teacher has changed, and he has changed beyond recognition, not the gentle and reasonable person, just like a greedy miner.

So...... The talk fell apart.

Li Dingguo was imprisoned in a firewood room.

Every two to three days, someone will come over to do his ideological work, brainwash him, let him give up resistance, work honestly in the Hu family, enjoy the blessings, don't think about those who have nothing, it's not realistic at all, only in the Hu family, is the most suitable place for him.

This morning.

Squeak.

The door to the firewood room opened.

His wife Hu Xuan'er walked in with a few maids with food boxes in their hands, and saw her husband lying on the haystack, her face was quite pale, and she had no spirit in the past, Hu Xuan'er had a complicated face, and flashed an angry look, but she still leaned down in person, stretched out her hand and shook the man, and said, "Husband, wake up, I brought you something delicious, you can get up and eat something delicious."

"Oh, Xuan'er, thank you."

Li Dingguo sat up slowly, facing the sumptuous food in front of him, he didn't shirk, picked up the chopsticks and ate it.

The speed is getting faster and faster, after all, he can only eat half full every day, and he can feel hungry all the time.

Seeing the way the man was eating, the charm that exuded made Hu Xuan'er show a look of infatuation, but immediately her face sank again, and she said, "Husband, have you figured it out? Don't go out there and wander around, okay? In the future, live a good life with me, serve the Hu family well, and we will have five or six more children, isn't this kind of life very good, why can't you think about it, you have to go outside?"

"Xuan'er, I'm only seventeen years old this year, and before I was eighteen years old, I was confined to the Hu family, and I didn't even have the right to move around freely, and I couldn't even compare to the son-in-law in some people's homes, do you think this is good? Three years, let me go out for three years, take a good look at the outside world, take you on a trip with you, and then come back to continue to repay the teacher, my little wish, is it too much, why is it like this?"

Li Dingguo sighed helplessly.

"Hehe, husband, I'm afraid you haven't forgotten your original identity, you were born in a rogue, you were a hopeless miner, my father trained you, your wings were a little harder, you want to fly outside, and said that you will definitely come back, you believe it yourself, anyway, we don't believe it, husband, don't think about those unrealistic things, live with me steadfastly, and when you are fifty or sixty years old, when we are all old, wouldn't it be more appropriate to visit this great mountain and river, why go out now? With your blasting skills, you are not afraid of not being able to find a job, and it is no problem to contract a mine to do it yourself, you have a lot of choices, but the Hu family can't leave you, you say, if you stand in the perspective of the Hu family, will you tolerate such a talent leaving?"

Hu Xuan'er clasped her hands and asked him.

"This ......"

Li Dingguo was asked, and after thinking about it carefully, he actually felt that what she said was quite reasonable, not strong words, and it was difficult for him to make a strong rebuttal.

After thinking about it, I had to say, "Okay, you're right, but is this really suitable for me, I just want a little bit of freedom, the teacher suppressed me like this, and said that he would rather destroy me, and you don't stand on my side to speak, in the long run, in the Hu family, can I live more comfortably?" Three months, no, two months, give me two months of free time every year, allow me to walk around, take a walk, take a break, is that okay?"

"No!"

Hu Xuan'er said: "I want you to stay by my side all the time, you can't go anywhere, the Hu family can't do without you as a blasting talent, unless there are a lot of people who are proficient in blasting one day, and you don't need you anymore, you can be freed."

"I—"

Li Dingguo felt his face full of anger and shame, and said, "I am also a dignified man, not the dog of the Hu family, can you give me a personal treatment?"

"I can't." Hu Xuan'er said firmly.

"Then you better kill me, I want to be a human right, if I can only be a dog, I would rather die." Li Dingguo's head twisted to the side and said angrily.

"Hehe, it seems that you still lack training, a person from a rogue background, and you still want to be treated as a human being, don't you think your requirements are too much, your life is the Hu family, how to arrange it is our business, and you can marry a woman like me as a wife, there are still grievances, this is obviously cheap and good, come on, call me, give him a lesson, let him wake up!"

Hu Xuan'er was even more angry, and asked her subordinates to take out the whip, and she personally supervised beside her, and beat Li Dingguo severely.

Li Dingguo remained silent and resisted to the end with silent resistance.

Hu Xuan'er couldn't wait to snatch the whip, whip it in person, or open his brain, to see what he was thinking, obviously he didn't want to live a good life like a fairy, he had to want to get out of the Hu family, this bastard white-eyed wolf, made her angry liverache, and even thought about simply not wanting this white-eyed wolf man, but she was still a little reluctant, after all, the relationship for several years does not mean giving up.

Train.

I have to continue to train and train.

To be like a boiling eagle, stay up for another three months, five months, until this guy can't stand it and give it a good brainwash, so that he can stop thinking nonsense, return to reality, and do a good job of the role he should really play.

……

However, in the evening of the same day.

The door of the firewood room opened again, and someone easily pried open it with a wire, and then several men in black entered.

"Second brother, wake up, wake up, wake up, I'm hopeful, I'll come over with Wenxiu to save you." Sun Kewang turned on a small flashlight and shone the light on Li Dingguo's face.

"Second brother, hurry up and come with us, if you are discovered, it will be troublesome." Liu Wenxiu also whispered.

"Big brother, third brother."

Li Dingguo's eyes immediately widened, looked at them and said, "How did you get in, the Hu family is not so easy to enter."

"It's the secret rescuers of Xujiazhuang, who want to recruit you after learning about your situation and form a new "demolition team" to help build the "Haishan Railway...... We sneaked in smoothly with the help of Xu Jiazhuang, second brother, do you want to go out with us?" Sun Kewang explained and asked.

"Get out, of course get out!"

Li Dingguo's eyes lit up, and he said: "The whole Hu family treats me as a dog that can't leave home, and has no respect for me.

After thinking about it, at this moment, his whole person became transparent, and he didn't want to be bound by any traditional concepts anymore, he wanted to be a selfish person now, and only think about himself in the future.

"Okay, second brother, you've finally figured it out, let's go, let's leave together!" Liu Wenxiu praised.

"Let's go!"