MMB Chapter 2018: Those three are still tied up in the warehouse!
Chapter 2018: Those three are still tied up in the warehouse!
Chapter 2018: Those three are still tied up in the warehouse!
Even the best banquets have an end.
At 8:30 p.m., Zhao Youcai, with Chu Anmin on one arm and Sun Shaoqing on the other, staggered out of the Ruyi Hotel.
"Youcai, tell me in advance when you're coming, and I'll make arrangements for you." These were the words of Chu Anmin, who felt a little embarrassed that he was always taking advantage of Zhao Youcai.
"No need, Brother Chu, we'll wait for the snow. I'll slaughter two more pigs, and then I'll invite you to my house for pork." After saying this to Chu Anmin, Zhao Youcai turned to Sun Shaoqing on his right and said, "Brother Sun, you'll come too."
"Alright, Youcai!" Sun Shaoqing was so drunk he was practically slurring his words. He grabbed Zhao Youcai's arm and said, "When are you coming to Bingcheng? Come to my house. I can cook fish. I'll cook you a big fish."
At this point, Sun Shaoqing raised his hand and said, "I have a secret recipe for stewing fish. I'll teach you. It's all about what you put in it—watercress. Hey? Do you know what watercress is?"
“Hehe…” Zhao Youcai laughed, “What do you not know? It’s wild patchouli, you know. There are patches of it along the riverbank.”
What Sun Shaoqing said was indeed a secret recipe. In the TV series "Crossing the Guandong", Chuanwen went out to learn how to stew fish by letting cats put wormwood in the pot.
And Zhao Youcai was right; those things were everywhere along the riverbank and in the fields.
That's just how Zhao Youcai talks. Whether he's talking to a leader or a beggar, he always says what he thinks. He neither tries to curry favor nor puts on airs.
Sun Shaoqing and Chu Anmin both liked his personality, so the group enjoyed drinking and chatting together.
After lingering reluctantly in front of the hotel for a while, Zhao Jun drove Chu Anmin, while Lin Xiangshun drove Sun Shaoqing and his wife.
They first went to the Forestry Bureau's guesthouse to see off Sun Shaoqing and his wife, and then went to the Forestry Bureau's residential compound to escort Chu Anmin and his family to their doorstep.
The Chu family invited Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun into the house, but the two declined and drove back to the guesthouse.
When they arrived at the guesthouse, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan were just returning from the hotel.
While Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun were seeing people off, Wang Meilan was doing the accounting at the hotel, since in addition to the banquet, there were also drinks and other expenses.
After the Ginseng King Conference, the Zhao family became even wealthier, but they still needed to know how to spend their money. Grandma Zhao's rewards were generous, but the accounts still had to be meticulously recorded.
The guesthouse is occupied on the second and third floors. The third floor is full, but there is one double room and one triple room left on the second floor.
Wang Meilan arranged for Xie Zhong and Liu Lanying to share a room, Zhao Weipeng, Liang Xuemei, and Zhao Jinhui to share a three-person room, and the rest to share a large dormitory on the first floor.
There are four large dormitory rooms on the first floor, each capable of accommodating eight people. Two rooms for men and two rooms for women, they're quite spacious.
Zhao Weipeng, Liang Xuemei, and Xie Zhong and his wife all went upstairs, but Zhao Jinhui stayed on the first floor, wanting to squeeze into the dormitory with his brothers.
Although his brothers complained about his snoring, it was just talk; being with his brothers was always a happy thing.
These people all got up early today and have been busy ever since. The people from Xishantun even took a short break at noon, but Zhao Jun and his group haven't had a moment's rest all day.
But at this moment, none of them felt sleepy. They gathered in the easternmost room on the first floor. Four large steamed buns were placed on the large bed, along with a bag of money.
A group of people sat together, watching Zhao Jun keep accounts.
“Three million two hundred thousand ginseng kings…” Zhao Jun had just written these words when he heard Ma Yang behind him exclaim in surprise, “How much… um…”
Ma Yang had just shouted when Li Ruhai covered his mouth.
As soon as Ma Yang broke free from Li Ruhai's grasp, Li Tongyun lightly slapped him and warned, "Don't make a sound!"
Ma Yang immediately shut up. This kid was reckless, but he wasn't stupid. He had listened to Xing San's words on the mountain and now knew he couldn't mess with Li Tongyun.
"Three million two hundred thousand sea cucumber kings..." As Zhao Jun wrote these words again, Ma Yang trembled with excitement and clenched his fists.
Everyone was very happy at that moment. Although they didn't speak, their joy spread silently and filled the entire room.
“Three million two hundred thousand Phoenix Ginseng Kings…” Zhao Jun continued writing these words with his pencil stub, his hand moving slowly and awkwardly.
"Ah!" Ma Yang couldn't hold back any longer. He let out a strange cry, then covered his face with his hands and collapsed onto the bed.
Everyone was startled and turned to look. They saw Ma Yang curled up on the bed, his body trembling and making groaning noises.
Zhao Youcai had drunk quite a bit with his superiors, and his mind was a bit muddled at the moment. Seeing Ma Yang like this, he immediately shouted, "What's gotten into this kid?"
After shouting this, Zhao Youcai threw himself onto the bed, rushed to Ma Yang's side, and recited in a dramatic, rhythmic voice: "Lead the precious horse, brandish the divine whip, all troops return. First, we send the immortal over the Green Stone Ridge; second, we send the immortal to the White Cloud Peak; third..."
Before Zhao Youcai could finish singing his short version of the "Persuading Immortals to End the Song," he was pushed aside by Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan.
"What are you doing? We haven't sent the immortal back to his cave yet." Zhao Youcai said drunkenly, but Zhao Jun and Ma Sheng had already pulled Ma Yang up.
"Hehehe..." Ma Yang sat up, letting out a series of laughs. Anyone in the corridor who heard this would be startled.
"What are you doing?" Ma Sheng retorted lightly to Ma Yang, sounding annoyed.
"Hehehe... Brother... Hehehe..." Ma Yang couldn't stop laughing. He said to Ma Sheng between laughs, "Our family is rich."
Ma Sheng blushed at his brother's words. It wasn't excitement, but rather a feeling of utter embarrassment. Everyone was getting rich together, and no one had done what his brother had done.
“Brother, why didn’t you say so back then? Why didn’t you tell Xiao Yang first?” Li Baoyu said. Zhao Jun curled his lip and said, “Look, everyone wants to know. How could I possibly kick him out of that room? Besides, what can he do?”
"What should we do then?" Jin Xiaomei said, "If the child is so happy all night, won't the person be exhausted?"
"It's alright, it's alright, Auntie," Li Tongyun said. "In situations like this, just slap them twice across the face and it'll be fine."
"Stop joking, Xiaoyun." Wang Meilan thought Li Tongyun was joking, but Li Ruhai's eyes lit up and he said, "Really, Auntie, haven't you heard of Fan Jin passing the imperial examination?"
"Who?" Wang Meilan was taken aback. Li Ruhai said, "Fan Jin is an ancient person. That guy was so poor that he couldn't even stand up straight for half his life. Then he suddenly got into university and went crazy."
Hearing Li Ruhai's words, Ma Sheng looked at Ma Yang and felt that it was quite a good fit, so he asked Li Ruhai, "After that, just slap him a couple of times?"
"Yes!" Li Ruhai nodded emphatically and said, "Nobody could do anything to him back then. Luckily, his father-in-law came and slapped him twice, and that was it!"
"So Xiao Yang doesn't have a father-in-law either?" Jie Chen asked, and Ma Sheng replied without hesitation, "I'll do it!"
"Brother, I'm all better!" Ma Yang wasn't really crazy, he was just too happy for a moment. Seeing that he was about to get a beating, he quickly suppressed his laughter and said that he was fine.
"What a mess you are!" Ma Yang still got a punch from Zhao Jun. After scolding Ma Yang, Zhao Jun said irritably, "If something happens to you, how am I supposed to explain this to your sister when I get home?"
"Brother-in-law, hehe..." Ma Yang looked at Zhao Jun and continued to laugh. Zhao Jun glared at him and shouted, "Shut up!"
Ma Yang immediately shut up, and Zhao Jun sat down on the edge of the shop and continued keeping accounts.
After writing down how much each ginseng seedling sold for, Zhao Jun handed the paper to Li Tongyun and said, "Little Yun, when we get home, there's a ledger in my room. Your sister-in-law knows where it is."
Go back and get that book. See which seedlings were raised and who went to which place. I remember it all. Don't you know how we're going to split the profits?
Just calculate it according to that method, and you'll clearly figure out how much money each of us should get.
"Okay, Brother Jun, I understand," Li Tongyun replied, but then immediately asked, "Brother Jun, what about your expenses these past few days...?"
"No need for expenses," Zhao Jun waved his hand and said, "I'll cover all the expenses."
Zhao Jun said this because when distributing profits, the top earner takes 30% first, and then the rest is distributed; but when it comes to calculating the final share, the top earner shares the money with everyone else.
As the leader, I enjoy 30% of the profits, so I have to fulfill the responsibilities that come with it. The food I bring up the mountain and all expenses along the way are paid for by the leader, so there's nothing to complain about.
"Son." At this moment, Wang Meilan glanced at the four steamed buns on the bed and said to Zhao Jun with concern, "The big boss hasn't paid for those ginseng kings yet?"
"No, Mom, don't worry about it." Zhao Jun said, "Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, go to the post office and have Manager Ma call back. Then they'll arrange for someone to come and deliver the money order."
"Ah..." Hearing Zhao Jun say that, Wang Meilan asked again, "Son, what is a bill of exchange?"
“A bank draft is…” Zhao Jun paused for two seconds, organizing his thoughts before saying, “They can’t bring that much cash, so they go to the bank… and get a bank draft. For example, they can get a bank draft for me, and then I can go to Chuncheng to pick it up. They can write on the bank draft, ‘To Zhao Jun, to Chuncheng.’”
Once the draft is issued, the money is already in Kunming. They fly over and give me the draft, and the money is in my hands. If they want to back out, even the bank can't help them.
These days, there's no real-time money transfer; when doing business, large sums are handled with bank drafts.
And just as Zhao Jun said, once you have the bill of exchange and match it with the person in charge, you get the money.
"Uncle," Zhao Jun suddenly remembered something and asked Wang Qiang, "Do you have Brother Zhang's ID card?"
"I've taken it, I've taken it." Wang Qiang said, glancing at Wang Meilan before turning to Zhao Jun and saying, "Aren't you going to let us take it? It's all in your mother's bag."
“You two have to come with me tomorrow,” Zhao Jun said. “Nine million six hundred thousand can’t all be put in my name alone. Tomorrow, we’ll give all our money to Manager Ma and have him distribute it evenly, giving each of us a few hundred thousand. Then we’ll keep six hundred thousand, count it as our shares, and put it directly in Uncle Peng’s name so he can continue to charter the train cars.”
You can't let this money sit idle; otherwise, it will only depreciate.
Since there was business available in the forest area, Zhao Jun planned to contract out all the timber transportation business in all the large and small forest areas under the Shanhe Forestry Bureau.
This way, they can make money and also help those forest areas.
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhao Jinhui laughed and said, "This time my dad doesn't have money to invest, so I'll invest, hahahaha..."
Wang Meilan glanced at Zhao Jinhui, who was eager to seize power, and then asked Zhao Jun with a smile, "So, your Uncle Peng has to go too?"
"Go! He absolutely has to go," Zhao Jun said. "What if he doesn't show up when we transfer money to his name?"
After saying this, Zhao Jun paused slightly, then laughed and said, "After transferring the money to him, I told him to leave it in Chuncheng... and head straight to Shenzhen."
"The timber from those forest farms last year is probably all leased out. Let's secure the railcars first, then when winter comes again, our railcars can go straight to the farm. They're rushing to harvest, so we're rushing to haul it."
Actually, the timber transportation business is quite profitable, and more importantly, it's stable. These days, even families with large Liberation trucks are rare, let alone those who can charter entire wagons for transportation.
This business is uncontested, and it has Chu Anmin's support from above. Moreover, the amount of timber harvested by the forest farm is strictly controlled; they just haul it in according to the count, and the accounts are crystal clear.
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Li Tongyun suddenly realized a crucial point and immediately asked Zhao Jun, "Brother Jun, Uncle Peng is leaving with you tomorrow, so who will take us home?"
“Um…” Zhao Jun glanced at Xie Chen subconsciously before saying to Li Tongyun, “Liu Erbao will see your brother Chen off.”
As he spoke, Zhao Jun pointed out the window and continued, "Tomorrow morning, let's call home and ask my Uncle Li to dispatch a locomotive to pick up some of the people from Xishantun."
After that, Liu Erbao drove that big Liberation truck from the forest farm to take you all home. Once home, he drove my sixth uncle and brother-in-law up the mountain to take them and the truck back to the forest farm, while he and my brother Zhong walked back to Xinlengchang.
“Jun,” Zhou Jianjun said, “you don’t need to worry about the rest. After he drops us off, I’ll find someone to take them back.”
“Alright!” Zhao Jun had been waiting for this sentence. Then he said to Wang Meilan, “Mom, we might have to stay in Chuncheng for two days on this trip. Because if we call tomorrow morning, the earliest they can arrive from Gangcheng is the day after tomorrow, and it might not be until the day after that.”
“That’s alright, son,” Wang Meilan said. “You can stay as many days as you like, just be careful.”
"Don't worry, Mom," Zhao Jun said. "Tomorrow, some of the villagers from Xishan Village will go back, and I'll take another thirty people with me."
“Okay, take them all.” Wang Meilan said, “We’re not afraid of spending money. Eat and drink whatever you want when you go out. As long as you go safely and come back safely, that’s all that matters.”
"Pull another cannon." This was Zhao Youcai's addition.
"Okay!" Zhao Jun nodded with a smile. He used to be afraid of being robbed when he went out, but now he was actually looking forward to it.
If you encounter highway robbers, just push the mortar forward. Even if you run out of ammunition, how will those robbers deal with you?
"Brother-in-law," Ma Yang suddenly grabbed Zhao Jun's arm and said, "I want to go with you too!"
“I’ll go too, brother.” Li Ruhai grabbed Zhao Jun’s other arm.
Zhao Jun thought for a moment before saying to the two of them, "You two shouldn't go this time. Why? Because we've all left, and there's hardly anyone at home. What if something happens to you two at home..."
"Don't say that!" Wang Meilan quickly stopped Zhao Jun, saying, "Son, it's alright, we don't have any problems with our family. They're having fun, so you take them with you."
That's what he said, but Zhao Jun was still worried about his family. At this moment, he turned to look at Li Ruhai, who immediately let go of Zhao Jun's arm and said, "Brother, I'll stay home."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun looked at Ma Yang, who also said, "Brother-in-law, then I'll stay home."
After saying this, Ma Yang suddenly looked up and said, "But brother-in-law, if I don't go, who will pay my share of the money?"
“When it comes to our brother’s place, do you think he’ll treat you badly?” Zhao Jun said, pointing at Ma Sheng. Ma Yang blinked twice and fell silent.
The main problem was that Ma Yang and Li Ruhai were both underage and didn't have ID cards yet, so how could they open bank accounts? Otherwise, Zhao Jun would have actually taken them there.
"Alright, son, you can rest assured when you go out." At this moment, Zhao Youcai spoke up: "You have your dad at home, what are you afraid of?"
Normally, Zhao Jun was always on edge when he went out, fearing that Zhao Youcai would sneak out. But hearing Zhao Youcai's words now, Zhao Jun felt incredibly at ease.
"Okay, Dad," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "When I come back, I'll give you my jeep."
"You're just spouting nonsense." Zhao Youcai glanced at Zhao Jun and said, "Where am I supposed to drive?"
"Why don't you come up the mountain?" Zhao Jun laughed. "You can remove all the back seats, then take the dog up the mountain. Wouldn't that save you the trouble of walking?"
Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhao Youcai's eyes lit up. If he could really do that, he would be truly amazing.
However, Zhao Youcai suddenly remembered that when he was learning to ride a motorcycle, he had accidentally crashed into an old ox and ruined it. If he were to drive a Jeep like that… Zhao Youcai jolted awake, and the alcohol sobered him up a bit.
After comforting Zhao Youcai, Zhao Jun said to Wang Meilan, "Mom, don't worry these few days. I'll take care of my boss's business matters when I get back."
"Okay, son," Wang Meilan replied with a smile, but her expression immediately changed, and she slapped her thigh, exclaiming, "Oh my god, Wang Sanxi and the other two are still tied up in the barn!"