A few days ago, Guo Daming and Li Xiangchao finished harvesting the wheat fields in Longshui Village and drove the harvester back to the village.

After attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the cannery, Li Xiangdong sent him off to expand the market in the neighboring Xiaocheng County and Jingtao County.

The fields are still flooded, making it impossible to plant corn. Li Kang led his men to dig fish and shrimp pits on the saline-alkali land next to the river.

Besides working at the cannery, the women also take their children fishing, and even that isn't enough! People from other villages come to the cannery every day to deliver fish.

The women could only spare a few moments to steam white flour buns and sugar triangles to take back to their parents' homes.

Previously, Liu Donglai held a meeting with all the commune secretaries in the county, encouraging them to turn sprouted wheat into maltose and sell it to raise money for disaster relief.

In addition, everyone is encouraged to find their own business opportunities, start community-run or team-run collective enterprises, and provide work relief.

Now, the Lijiapo Cannery has people who specialize in buying maltose for three cents a pound, with cash payment.

Of course, some clever people went to the county supply and marketing cooperative and the commune supply and marketing cooperative to sell them. Some people sold them for 33 cents a pound, and some sold them for 35 cents a pound.

Don't underestimate these three or five cents; in those days, one cent could buy three boxes of matches.

However, Huichuan County is a small place, and it can't sell many kilograms of sugar before it becomes saturated. The supply and marketing cooperative won't buy it, so it has to be sold to Lijiapo Cannery.

Because money is involved, Wang Zhenbo is now personally leading Li Qing to purchase fish and maltose from other villages, with two militiamen providing close protection.

Now, more than half of the more than 400,000 people in Huichuan County know about Lijiapo.

When Lijiapo is mentioned, people feel both envious and jealous.

"How did they manage to give birth to a child prodigy? He got harvesters for the village and opened a cannery! Wow!"

"The feng shui of Lijiapo is excellent. It is sandwiched between two large rivers, a place where outstanding people and talents are likely to emerge!"

"What genius? I think he's just a reincarnated Huang Shiren, a Zhou Bapi! All he does is embezzle our hard-earned money!"

"That's right, all the hard work we put into making maltose only gets us three cents a pound, and he just sells it back to us and makes half the profit!"

"This is infuriating!"

However, no matter how mixed Li Xiangdong's reputation was, and no matter how much people envied, resented, and hated Lijiapo, they still went to Lijiapo to sell fish and malt sugar with smiles on their faces, and their mouths were full of compliments.

This sour and astringent feeling intensified when he saw the children in Lijiapo eating white flour buns. The children in his family were so hungry that they were pale and thin, and they couldn't even afford a sorghum bun!

Why should I?!

This feeling suddenly erupted when the aunts at home went back to their parents' home, and they would hurl sarcastic remarks at the aunts who were clearly eating and drinking well.

She was mild-tempered, but when she was angry, she would put the steamed buns and sugar triangles in her basket at her parents' house and go home without even having a sip of water.

Some of them, with their fiery tempers, would retort directly, "You're all too incompetent to follow my example, Shanyin! You get so angry just because I can eat my fill! Are you even my brother? You're really something!"

After saying that, he carried the basket home untouched. They had already scolded us, why should we keep trying to be nice to them?

Whoever eats this snow-white steamed bun will surely think it's a good thing.

My great-aunt passed away, and the family was filled with complaints again. The white steamed buns were so delicious and fragrant, but they were taken away before I could even take a bite!

You should wait until we've finished our steamed buns and sugar triangles before you start complaining!

This kind of thing doesn't just happen in a handful of villages; it happens in almost every village.

Over time, some people started to have wicked ideas. It is said that Lijiapo Brigade still has hundreds of thousands of kilograms of wheat and oil stored in it!

It wouldn't be too much to ask us to get something to eat!

As the saying goes, it's not the thief you should fear, but the one who has his eye on you.

Li Xiangdong noticed during his recent strolls around the village that some people, after selling their fish and sugar, would linger and peek furtively at the brigade headquarters' warehouse.

For three consecutive days, he noticed that the same group of people came to sell fish every day. After they sold out, they would give children candy made of maltose to make them talk.

After the men left, Li Xiangdong called out to the child they had been trying to get information out of him, "Little Jingang, what did those uncles ask you?"

Little King Kong tilted his head and said, "That uncle gave me a piece of candy."

Ha! The little brat even knows how to negotiate with me now.

Li Xiangdong pulled a chocolate bar with a liqueur filling from his pocket. "Whoever comes up with the best answer, I'll give this chocolate to them!"

The children cheered when they saw the beautiful gold-edged purple wrapping paper and eagerly recited the questions the men had asked them.

...

"Is there anything else?"

"No!" the children said in unison.

Li Xiangdong tossed the chocolate-covered liquor into the air, ignoring the children's scramble for it, and went home.

From the children's words, we can roughly piece together the intentions and whereabouts of these people.

They probably wanted to sneak into the warehouse and steal grain while the joint defense team was changing shifts.

But how will they transport such heavy grain and oil?

Whether carried by people or pulled by a vehicle, it will be quite a commotion.

They can come in during the shift change, but they will inevitably be discovered when they leave.

Furthermore, the brigade's warehouses are guarded day and night by designated personnel. How could they possibly avoid this person?

Li Xiangdong sorted out his thoughts and walked home. As soon as he entered the door, he saw his sister, Li Zhen, starting a fire and cooking.

"Xiangdong, you watch the fire and don't let anyone out! I'm going to wash the rice!"

"Okay, go ahead."

Li Xiangdong sat on a small stool, poking at the fire in the stove with iron chopsticks.

yes!

fire!