the next day

Wang Qiang drove his truck to Qiantou Township.

It was already close to 9 a.m.

Back then, cars were a rarity. As soon as Wang Qiang's truck entered the village, children would chase after it.

When they arrived at the township government building, Wang Qiang saw that it wasn't much bigger than a traditional courtyard house.

A sign hangs above the dilapidated cave dwelling.

Wang Qiang parked the truck in front of the door.

Afterwards, Li Yong and I got out of the car and went to the township government.

"Old Li, what brings you here?"

Li Yong took Wang Qiang to the local official in charge, who was an old classmate of his named Zhao Bin.

"I wouldn't come here unless I had a reason. Let me introduce you, this is Comrade Wang from City 49."

As Li Yong spoke, he introduced Wang Qiang to Zhao Bin, and at the same time took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and handed it to Zhao Bin.

Zhao Bin naturally took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear. He then casually took the whole pack of cigarettes from Li Yong's hand.

"You know, I bet you're a night owl. You never come into the house unless there's something good going on."

"Your cigarettes are good."

Li Yong laughed. "You're practically robbing me. Fine, if you do this for me today, I'll give you a gift."

Zhao Bin chuckled as he stuffed the cigarette into his pocket. "What can I do? You know how dirt poor we are around here."

"Some families only have one pair of pants, and whoever goes out wears it."

Zhao Bin poured out his grievances, talking about the poverty in the area.

Li Yong pulled Wang Qiang aside and said to Zhao Bin, "Comrade Wang is a money-making machine."

"That's great! We're just waiting for the God of Wealth to arrive."

Zhao Bin looked Wang Qiang up and down. He was young, fair-skinned, but tall and imposing, with a certain air about him.

As they talked, the photo led the two to a meeting room, which was actually just a cave dwelling with a rough wooden table and two long benches.

"Here's a note from the county; take a look."

As Li Yong spoke, he handed the approval slip from the county to Zhao Bin.

Zhao Bin looked at the note with a troubled expression.

"This is half of our entire township's production. What will we do if we can't complete the remaining tasks?"

Although Zhao Bin said this, it was, after all, a task assigned by his superiors.

Seeing Zhao Bin's expression, Wang Qiang said, "Brother Zhao, don't worry, the price is negotiable. I'll definitely give you a fair price."

When Wang Qiang announced the price, Zhao Bin's face lit up with joy.

“Okay, as long as what you said is true, Comrade Wang, I will definitely take care of it for you.”

"But this won't happen overnight. You guys sit here and have some water while I go and make arrangements."

After Zhao Bin finished speaking, he went out. Wang Qiang followed him outside and brought He Yuzhu, Qin Huairu, and the others who were still waiting in the car to the conference room.

He Yuzhu diligently wiped the stool for Qin Huairu, then took a bowl and poured her a bowl of hot water.

"Sister Qin, you must be thirsty from the journey. Have some water first."

Yesterday, Qin Huairu deliberately got close to He Yuzhu to try and annoy Wang Qiang, but Wang Qiang didn't care at all. This left Qin Huairu feeling disappointed, and she saw He Yuzhu trying to curry favor with her again.

Qin Huairu ignored him. She walked straight to Wang Qiang's side, seized the opportunity, and plopped down on the ground, leaving the others dumbfounded.

He Yuzhu felt even worse. He sat there alone and gulped down the bowl of water.

The group remained unusually quiet in an eerie atmosphere.

About an hour later, it suddenly became lively outside, with a lot of noise and the sound of sheep bleating.

The group exchanged glances, stood up, and walked out.

Once outside, I took a look.

They discovered that, without them noticing, several hundred people had arrived, each herding several sheep, some with five or six, others with more than a dozen.

Zhao Bin was speaking: "Everyone, don't panic. Comrade Wang from the city said that all the sheep are wanted, and anyone who disobeys will not get any."

There were two township officials maintaining order at the scene. Even when the county magistrate came, it was never this lively, with people shouting and sheep bleating.

When Zhao Bin saw Wang Qiang come out, he exclaimed, "Look everyone, Comrade Wang is here!"

When Wang Qiang saw so many people and so many sheep, he was a little stunned. He was afraid the truck wouldn't be able to fit them all.

"Please let Comrade Wang say a few words!"

Wang Qiang was forced into this situation and had no choice but to climb onto the truck and stand on a high place.

"Everyone, ah, this sheep, right? It's a good thing because people need to eat mutton, so they need to buy sheep. So why buy sheep? Because they need to eat mutton, right..."

Wang Qiang said a few words, but the people below couldn't understand him and didn't know what he was saying.

An old man said, "I can't understand what he's saying. If he doesn't buy the sheep, then I've come all this way for nothing!"

Another old man said, "Yes, if he doesn't buy it, we'll throw a shoe sole at him!"

Wang Qiang's senses were heightened; he could hear everything around him clearly, including the old men's conversation. He broke out in a cold sweat—where was he?!

"We want as many as you have! Everyone, drive the sheep over there!"

Wang Qiang decided to take all the sheep.

"Silly Zhu, count it!"

He Yuzhu felt a little awkward listening to this, but he still had to listen to Wang Qiang, so he went over to count the items.

"Everyone, please line up properly and don't push!"

Zhao Bin and two other officers helped maintain order, and Li Yong joined them as well.

Qin Huairu, Li Man, and Chen Jing also came to help.

Pay on the spot.

We found a temporary place to pen up the sheep we had bought.

I didn't get a chance to rest until noon.

With over a thousand sheep already, Wang Qiang had already spent all the ten thousand yuan he brought.

Many of the later ones were just IOUs.

Many people were reluctant to sell after hearing that they would have to pay IOUs, but Wang Qiang had previously paid in cash and stipulated that payment would be made within three days.

Some people were tempted. Since they already had the sheep and were providing them with fodder, and there was nowhere to graze them in the winter, they figured they might as well give them to Wang Qiang.

Those who made money early went back and boasted about it, and in the afternoon even more people came to sell their sheep.

And so, Wang Qiang and his team worked all afternoon, finally finishing in the evening.

"How are we going to move all of these? There are several thousand live sheep!"

He Yuzhu was dumbfounded and asked Wang Qiang.

"It's alright, don't worry. Here's what I'll do: I'll transport a batch tonight, sell it, get the money, pay them back, and then transport the rest!"

"Everyone, please help load the truck!"

As Wang Qiang spoke, he got on the truck and asked He Yuzhu and the others to carry the cargo into the truck bed.

While everyone was distracted, Wang Qiang quietly opened his spatial dimension. Once the sheep was on the vehicle, he went straight into the space.

Because it was dark, no one paid much attention. They just thought the truck could carry a lot, how come it had hundreds of sheep and wasn't even full?

"Pack as many as you can, everyone hurry up!"

Wang Qiang urged them on, and in the freezing cold, they were so cold they couldn't think straight, they just mechanically loaded sheep onto the truck.