yournovel Chapter 1427 Some people are even gifted at doing bad things.
Chapter 1427 Some people are even gifted at doing bad things.
When Liu Shanmin left, he didn't drive himself. He rented five trucks from the county transportation company and took away two trucks of white sugar and three trucks of canned goods.
These quantities were less than what Liu Gaolou had previously hauled, but Liu Shanmin didn't haul more. According to him, hauling them over was just a gesture, indicating that he was willing to talk when he returned.
Before this, the technicians and workers who had previously installed the cement equipment had returned. They were protected there, the construction was not affected, and their safety was guaranteed.
After the construction was completed, someone brought them over. After arriving at the port, Liu Gaolou helped them buy tickets to Shicheng, and then they came back to find Li Long.
There was nothing they could do; although their safety was guaranteed, they hadn't been paid.
When Li Long met them, Liu Shanmin had gone out for a walk and hadn't returned yet, so he didn't tell Liu Shanmin about it.
Regardless, the people over there really acted unfairly.
After Liu Shanmin left with his convoy, the cotton-picking work of the four teams had already begun.
After a large number of students, day laborers, and long-term employees moved into Team Four, the team immediately became lively.
Especially at night, the team's shop would suddenly become lively. Those who worked as long-term laborers and those who had sold cotton and settled their accounts would often buy some food at the shop, chat and gossip, or gather in groups of three or five to have a couple of drinks and wash away the fatigue of the day.
The western settlement has grown significantly. There was originally one small shop here, but now that there are so many people, the shop can't keep up with the demand. So Li Yun's family saw the business opportunity and quickly applied for a business license at the beginning of the cotton harvest and opened a new shop.
Or rather, a small shop.
To be precise, this whole thing was orchestrated by Li Yun's eldest son. Li Yun and Li Jianguo came to northern Xinjiang in the same batch. After settling down, as one of the few educated people in the village, his demeanor actually made some people think he could be used as an intellectual, so they sent him to teach at the brigade's primary school.
As a result, he was replaced by someone else. By the time teachers were recruited again in the early 1980s, he had already settled down and gotten married, but he still wanted to go back to teaching.
However, when the primary school in the brigade was recruiting again, it focused on diplomas. His high school graduation certificate could not be found in his hometown, so he was not hired.
Li Yun married earlier than Li Jianguo and had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son is 27 years old and already married. He and his wife are the ones running the store this time.
Li Yun wasn't entirely comfortable with running the store, so he consulted Li Jianguo. Li Long was nearby at the time and half-jokingly remarked:
“Just running a shop isn’t very interesting. Your eldest son has a big yard with a grape trellis. Why not have him set up a barbecue stall there, sell some beer, and put up a few tables with mahjong and cards? That would definitely attract business tonight.”
"Then... what if someone causes trouble?" Li Yun was timid and he was a little uneasy about opening a store. He wouldn't have been willing to do it if his eldest son hadn't insisted.
"Hey, this is our team, what trouble could possibly happen?" Li Long laughed. "Uncle, you have three sons, why are you afraid of people causing trouble?"
Li Yun laughed.
Regardless, he is proud that his family has three strong young men who can work.
He was able to stand up for his family and not be bullied. For that reason alone, Li Yun felt that his life had not been in vain.
So he started asking in detail about having a barbecue in his own yard.
Li Long had no intention of opening this business anyway. Li Yun, on the other hand, had come with his elder brother. Although they didn't interact much, his brother often mentioned that they were from the same hometown, so he casually mentioned some of the practices of merchants from later generations.
Li Yun was overjoyed to hear this and went back to tell his eldest son, Li Zhiqiang, about it. Li Zhiqiang was much more particular than Li Yun. He brought two bottles of wine, two cans of food, and some snacks to the Li family and humbly asked Li Long for advice.
Li Long also gave him some sincere advice. Although Li Zhiqiang didn't get along with them, he wasn't a bad person at heart and was very hardworking; he should be able to handle this.
So Li Zhiqiang's shop opened quickly. Their land was also incorporated into a cooperative, a different cooperative, so they didn't have much to do most of the time.
By evening, a barbecue grill was set up in front of the shop, grilling not only meat but also starch sausages and vegetables. At first, Li Zhiqiang was puzzled; he felt that Li Long's idea was inappropriate.
But Li Long told him that grilling was cheap, and even garlic could be grilled.
So Li Zhiqiang prepared some meat and vegetables. The meat was a bit more expensive, but the vegetables were quite cheap. Most of them were from his own fields, such as chili peppers and garlic.
The aroma of cumin wafted far and wide along with the smoke from the cooking fires, reaching the entire residential area.
How could those who had been picking cotton all day possibly endure it?
As a result, Li Zhiqiang's store became an instant hit, with the courtyard packed with people. Originally, it was planned to be run by the young couple, but they couldn't handle the workload, so they called their parents and siblings to help out, making it a lively place.
The ten kilograms of mutton that had been prepared were sold out long ago, and there was no time to go to the county to buy more mutton, so they could only go to Li Long and ask him to coordinate the slaughtering of a sheep at Lao Ma Hao to make do with the emergency.
Li Long was also somewhat surprised. It seems that everyone's spending power has increased now, a few years earlier than in the previous life.
Slaughtering sheep is definitely not a problem, and Li Long doesn't even need to do it himself. The old folks at Lao Ma's place will take care of everything perfectly.
To Li Long's surprise, Li Zhiqiang arrived at the Li family's new house on his bicycle at nightfall, carrying a bag of roasted meat and a case of beer.
Li Jianguo, Li Long, and Li Junfeng were chatting in the courtyard when Li Zhiqiang's arrival surprised Li Long.
After a few polite words, he accepted the gifts. He had originally planned to go and take a look, but it was too lively; even several teachers from the school had gone, so Li Long decided not to join in the fun.
Since they were so kind, he accepted it. They spread the food out on a small table in the courtyard, and everyone ate and drank, which was quite pleasant.
Halfway through their beer, Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang arrived. Although there was much more work to be done in the cotton fields this year, they had hired some young men from the village to help, making things much easier for the people in charge.
Seeing Li Long and his family eating and drinking there, Xie Yundong greeted the Li family and then said to Li Long with a smile:
"You guys have it so easy. When we went to Zhiqiang's yard, wow, dozens of people were there, making a huge fuss. There were three tables, some playing mahjong, some playing cards, and they couldn't even keep up with the barbecue!"
"Then why aren't you guys over there joining in the fun?" Li Long picked up the remaining roasted meat and shared it with Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang. "Freshly roasted meat tastes the best."
"Don't be so ungrateful," Xie Yundong said as he took the barbecue and ate it. "There was nowhere to sit over there. The stools at Zhiqiang's house, and the ones he bought temporarily, weren't enough. We borrowed the ones from the neighbors across the street. It was a mess, and we weren't comfortable staying there, so we came here."
Tao Daqiang asked, "Brother Long, I heard that you were the one who suggested Zhiqiang drive this car?"
Li Long handed them both beer, smiled, and said, "They were planning to open a shop anyway, so I suggested they expand their business, since just running a shop isn't very profitable."
Both of them nodded; that was indeed the case. After all, Team Four was only so big, and a few hundred people couldn't support so many stores. Zhiqiang and his team seemed to be doing well now, but that was mainly because they had opened up a new market segment.
Whether you can make money if you open a shop the old way is another matter.
Moreover, they could understand that even if the cotton pickers left now, when autumn and winter came, the villagers would be idle and have nowhere to go, so Zhiqiang's house would definitely be a good place.
Wouldn't it be better to play cards and mahjong there than stay at home?
The matter of Li Zhiqiang was just a pretext; Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang came to talk to Li Long about something else.
"Recently, a savvy businessman came to the village. He brought over some unemployed farmers from his hometown in Gansu Province to pick cotton here, and it's doing quite well," Xie Yundong said.
"This guy's name is Wang Yongcheng. He picked cotton here last year and the year before. He knows that there are many cotton growers in our team, but we are short of cotton pickers."
"Around July or August this year, they brought a group of people from their hometown, saying they would introduce them to cotton-picking jobs. They paid for everyone's train tickets upfront, and then brought these people here to pick cotton."
Tao Daqiang interjected:
"This guy is pretty shady. He takes a cut of one cent for every kilogram of cotton the people he brings in pick!"
The price of picking the first batch of flowers is only three or four cents, while the price of the second batch is higher, reaching five or six cents, with the average price reaching about five cents.
He makes a 10-cent commission per kilogram. If one person collects 50 or 60 kilograms a day, he'll make 5 or 6 yuan. If ten people work for 50 or 60 yuan a day, even if they only work for a month, they can earn a thousand yuan or so, which is quite a lot—mainly because he doesn't have to do anything.
Li Long estimated that this person probably brought more than ten people.
This is what intermediaries will become in the future; they just emerged as a market force and appeared relatively early.
Xie Yundong said:
“He brought twenty or thirty people with him this time. Most of them were taken away by the cotton growers in the team, but some were left behind. He plans to rent our house, settle these people down, and then lead them to fight as guerrillas and do odd jobs.”
"Has he not found a suitable family, or is he planning to earn money on his own?" Li Long asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
“He probably plans to make money himself,” Xie Yundong said. “I heard that several cotton farmers in the team are short of workers, so I went to talk to this guy surnamed Wang, but he didn’t agree—they probably couldn’t agree on the price.” Li Long nodded; it seemed it was still about money. This guy has good judgment and ideas; he should be able to get things done in the future. He’s not satisfied with just taking a cut; he wants to form something like a cooperative, where everyone works together, so he has leverage to negotiate prices with the farmers.
After all, at least for now, the flower pickers have the advantage in the fourth team.
Of course, whether it will work out is another matter. After all, there is no precedent, and farmers are not stupid; they won't be so easily manipulated.
Li Long didn't plan to get involved in this kind of thing. Anyway, the cotton in the cooperative was mainly picked by students, and he told Xie Yundong not to hire elementary school students, or even junior high school students, preferably not even first-year junior high school students.
It's inefficient and prone to problems.
Therefore, Li Long was not worried.
"He wanted to rent Daqiang's old house, but they refused," Xie Yundong said. "We came to ask if he had contacted you."
“They didn’t come, and even if they did, we wouldn’t rent it. Although our house might be demolished before the end of the year, we don’t plan to rent it to anyone else. Firstly, we don’t want unrelated people living in our own house, and secondly, we don’t need the money, so there’s no need.”
Li Long made the decision without even consulting his elder brother, and only after he finished speaking did he look at his elder brother, Li Jianguo.
Li Jianguo was swatting a mosquito when he saw Li Long looking at him. He shook his head and said, "You decide, we won't rent it."
"Alright," Xie Yundong said. "This guy surnamed Wang is fine, but I noticed some of the people he brought with him are glib and not very decent."
"Then we'll have to be careful," Li Long said. "Recently, quite a few things have been stolen from our team. They're going to rent a place soon, and it'll be hard to buy daily necessities. Who knows if they'll steal them?"
Tao Daqiang and Xie Yundong both nodded, and then Xie Yundong said that they should arrange for someone to be on duty in the cooperative's yard.
Although students live in the courtyard and teachers take turns on duty, this duty only means sleeping here at night and getting up to deal with any issues.
Xie Yundong's idea was to have the young people from the team stay at the cooperative. If something happened to a villager, it would be fine, but if something happened to a student or something went missing, that would be a big problem.
Li Long thought this idea was correct.
Getting students to help the cooperative pick cotton was quite a task in itself. From the initial mutual probing to the current mutual trust, the time frame was short, and the foundation of that trust wasn't very deep.
If some foolish individuals do go to the cooperative and negatively impact the students, it's hard to say whether the school will continue to cooperate with the cooperative in the next year or the year after.
Although the cooperative offers very good benefits, the school has more career options.
The two of them drank a few bottles of beer, chatted for a while, and then went back.
Li Long has been staying in the new house from time to time lately. Although he wants to relax, the cooperative's cotton is the foundation at present, and he can't be careless.
You can ignore it normally, but you have to be there when it matters.
Over the next few days, Li Long kept an eye on what Wang Yongcheng was up to. Fortunately, he was relatively well-behaved and disciplined in the village. The group he organized went to pick flowers and do odd jobs for others, and nothing bad happened.
Several households in the cooperative refused to rent, but they still found an old house in the eastern residential area to rent. They bought some old living facilities from others and started their business.
Because the fourth team had a lot of cotton fields, they always had work to do. Even if they didn't earn much, it was better than staying at home and not earning any money.
Wang Yongcheng didn't make any big moves. Li Long heard that one of the young men he brought was very talkative and often made others laugh. He also had a particular fondness for flirting with girls.
After picking cotton, or on rainy days, that young man would appear in the cooperative's yard, I don't know what he wanted to do, and then he would be chased away by the people on duty.
Then, in early October, Li Long heard some shocking news: the young man from Gansu Province had eloped with the homeowner's youngest daughter!
The homeowner's surname is Xu, and he is related to Xu Haijun's family, even closer than to Xu Chengjun's family. Xu Haijun has always treated the two girls like his own younger sisters. After learning about the incident, he immediately came to find Li Long, intending to bring the girls back.
Upon seeing the furious Xu Haijun, Li Long asked:
When did you find out they had left?
“In the morning,” Xu Haijun said, “both of them were gone when we had breakfast, and some of my sister’s clothes were also missing. My uncle panicked, and after checking, he found that the cotton picker was also gone. He knew something bad had happened. They probably left in the middle of the night.”
It's past ten o'clock now, Li Long calculated and said:
"Even if they leave in the middle of the night, they still have to take a bus from the county to get to Wucheng. The earliest bus to Wucheng departs at 10 a.m., so even if they leave now, we can still catch up with them."
"Let's set off now, taking more people with us. First, we'll go to the bus station and ask if anyone else is buying tickets like this. If so, we'll chase after the bus."
Li Long thought that the two people should have another way, which was to take a bus from the county to Shicheng, and then transfer in Shicheng to take another bus.
In any case, checking the station information first is the best approach.
This is when you see the unity of the cooperative. Xu Haijun drove with the four members of the Xu family in his car, while Li Long, Tao Daqiang, and Jia Weidong rode in Li Long's car. The two cars sped towards the county town, one after the other.
Xie Yundong and Liang Dacheng were stationed at the cooperative, in charge of picking cotton, as they couldn't afford to be short-handed here.
Xu Haijun handed over the thousand acres of land in the second team to his classmate. Anyway, it was only a matter of a day or two. The team leader there would help, so there wouldn't be any major problems.
When the car arrived at the bus station, Li Longcai recalled that similar things had happened in later generations, but not to the Xu family; rather, it was something that spread throughout the county.
A young man from Gansu Province tricked a girl into going to his hometown, where they had two daughters. The girl couldn't stand it and returned home with her children.
The reason was nothing more than domestic violence, plus the fact that the woman didn't acknowledge their daughter—they hadn't even gotten a marriage certificate.
But in this lifetime, it came to this girl.
Xu Haijun and the others went into the bus station to chase after the people. They came out quickly and told Li Long that the ticket seller remembered them. A young couple with a package had bought tickets to Wucheng and had been on their way for almost an hour.
"Let's go!" Li Long decided immediately. "The bus will stop at places like Letuyi, Dafeng, and Huxian along the way, so it's quite slow. It will take at least two hours to get to Wucheng. Let's drive faster and go straight to the Bayi Guesthouse bus station to wait."
The two SUVs immediately sped towards Wucheng. At that time, there were no speed limits, let alone any speed cameras.
Although there were many cars on the Urumqi-Yining Highway this season, Li Long and Xu Haijun didn't care about that at the moment. They took advantage of every gap and headed east, trying to go as fast as possible. They actually arrived in Urumqi in just over an hour.
Just to be on the safe side, after parking the car, the group split into two: one went to the Bayi Guesthouse to inquire about the train situation, and the other went to the ticket office to ask if they could buy tickets for the earliest train to Gansu Province.
Li Long led Tao Daqiang and the Xu family to the ticket hall. As soon as they arrived, they saw a man and a woman coming out of the hall.
The girl was none other than Xu's sister, who had been tricked and taken away.
The two Xu brothers immediately flew into a rage, stepped forward and squeezed the young man from both sides, and then started punching and kicking him.
The Xu family girl immediately exclaimed in surprise and wanted to step forward to help, but she couldn't stop her two cousins at all.
Chaos erupted immediately.
There were too many onlookers, and Li Long knew this wouldn't do. If they fought any longer, the police would arrive. He immediately told Tao Daqiang to take Xu's sister to the car, while he went over, grabbed the two Xu brothers, grabbed the young man, covered his mouth, and ran away.
They moved so fast that by the time the crowd reacted, they had already disappeared.
Next, it's just a matter of slowly preparing it.
(I'm not feeling well today, I'm dizzy, that's all for now) (End of Chapter)