"Boss, Qi Tai has started releasing the goods!"
A man in a drab gray cotton overcoat rushed into the house. When he reached Master Zheng, he stopped and said breathlessly, "Boss, Qi Tai has received a batch of fruits and vegetables and is delivering them to his regular customers. At the same time, he's also putting them up for sale in his market. The quality is much better than ours, but the price isn't higher."
"Where are the people we sent to keep an eye on him? Have they found out who's supplying him?" Master Zheng's face darkened upon hearing this. He mentally reviewed the other black market forces in the county. They didn't have that many goods, so it shouldn't be them.
"Haven't found anything yet," the man said softly, looking down.
Master Zheng slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Useless trash!"
He started building his black market empire in the county town ten years ago, and it has now grown to a considerable size. Just as his power was flourishing, a dark horse suddenly appeared – Qi Tai.
Qi Tai emerged out of nowhere five years ago, starting as a small gang of a few people. In just five years, he occupied nearly half of the market share in the county and became the number one force.
During this period, no matter how much Zheng Erye's power suppressed Qi Tai, it could not stop Qi Tai's rapid development. Qi Tai was surpassed and became the second largest power.
They thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to weaken his power, but to their surprise, he dodged it once again.
"Go and invite Zuo Jun to dinner tonight. Tell him I have something to discuss with him," Master Zheng ordered.
Zuo Jun is another sizable organization in the black market, ranking third in terms of power.
Master Zheng wanted the two sides to join forces to defeat Qi Tai, then divide up Qi Tai's territory and restore his former glory.
As heavy snow fell from the sky, Zhao Honghui walked down an alley in the county town, leaving a trail of footprints.
During this period, he helped Ye Xingchang investigate the people who appeared in the vicinity before and after the loss of the secret treasure.
After the list was completed, they rushed to the county town to hand it over to Ye Xingchang.
As soon as he entered, Ye Xingchang hurriedly told him to warm himself by the coal stove and poured him a cup of hot water. "Give me a call and I'll come find you."
“It’s alright, I’ve finished checking. Here’s the list.” Zhao Honghui took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ye Xingchang. “That day, Yao Yao went to the commune to buy bedding, and I rode my bike home with her.”
Ye Xingchang took the list and saw that the top two names were Zhao Honghui and Xie Yuyao. He chuckled and said, "Your names don't need to be written down."
Zhao Honghui took a sip of hot tea, his heart filled with complex emotions, but his expression showed no guilt: "This is the complete list of names I have identified. There may be others yet to be found, or perhaps the people who were following us are already hiding in the mountains. I have not found any suspicious individuals involved in transporting the treasure."
Before setting off, he had already rehearsed his story with Yao Yao, making slight adjustments to the time and place of their meeting to ensure there would be no flaws.
“Alright, I’ll send people to investigate one by one, hoping to make a breakthrough.” Ye Xingchang put away the list and talked about the recent changes in the black market.
"Many people from other black market forces have come to Qi Tai's territory to dump goods and disrupt his market. He just lost a large amount of supplies and was weakened. His rivals launched a price war, trying to take advantage of his weakness."
Zhao Honghui frowned: "Is he going to hold on?"
“Qi Tai has been developing in the county for many years and has his own powerful backers in the government, so he is not afraid of being tricked,” Ye Xingchang said. “Now that his competitors are waging a price war, I plan to give him financial support.”
"With his abilities and methods, and with your support, he will surely be able to go even further." Zhao Honghui was well aware of his family background. If he gave his full support, Qi Tai would definitely be able to surpass his opponent in terms of wealth.
Ye Xingchang looked directly at Zhao Honghui: "What he needs more than money are supplies."
Zhao Honghui understood what he meant, but he couldn't make decisions for Yao Yao's affairs.
After returning to Qingshan Village, Zhao Honghui told Yao Yao about the black market.
Xie Yuyao was a little worried: "Is there a good chance of winning against two opponents?"
"It was a bit uncertain before, but now that we have Ye Xingchang as an outside helper, things will be much better." Zhao Honghui told her about the financial support Ye Xingchang had mentioned.
After hearing this, Xie Yuyao asked, "So what are we supposed to do?"
"up to you."
"If we provide agricultural supplies, regarding security..."
Safety was their top priority, and Zhao Honghui had already thought it through: "Don't worry, Ye Xingchang won't investigate, and Qi Tai is too busy to deal with his own problems. As long as we're careful, there shouldn't be any major issues."
“Then let’s stick to contactless transactions and deliver the goods to a few different locations,” Xie Yuyao said as she thought. “During a price war, ordinary people can benefit a lot. I just don’t know if Qitai will monopolize the market and set high prices in the future.”
"Based on my understanding of Qi Tai, he probably wouldn't need basic necessities. As for luxury goods, those are for the wealthy, so I don't know about them." Zhao Honghui didn't make any sweeping statements for Qi Tai.
Xie Yuyao nodded: "It would be good if ordinary people weren't harmed. By the way, if his competitors launch a business war, will they use the red armbands to trip him up?"
“Each of them has their own backers, so his opponents shouldn’t be foolish enough to destroy their own foundation. But anything can happen, so it’s best to avoid the black market for now and also suspend the braised meat business.”
Xie Yuyao nodded: "Those people might lose their minds and fight to the death if they realize they can't win."
"If the other party were to use official channels, Qi Tai would have been notified in advance to disperse the crowd."
"What about Qi Tai himself? Will he be assassinated or something?" Xie Yuyao thought of those movies about Shanghai gangsters and Hong Kong gangsters fighting for territory in later years.
"What are you thinking?" Zhao Honghui said with a wry smile. "Although they do sensitive things, they dare not take lives. At most, they might fight, use the authorities to cause trouble, or seize territory."
As the two were chatting, Yang Shumei and Zhao Jianbin walked back from the front yard.
Xie Yuyao then told them about the black market turmoil in the county town, and Yang Shumei agreed wholeheartedly, "Then let's stop for now, lest we lose more than we gain."
Zhao Jianbo asked, "Will it affect the commune?"
“I’m not sure either. Tell Yu Wenjiang to be careful. If it doesn’t work out, let’s stop.” Xie Yuyao didn’t know anything about the black market in the commune, and since Yu Wenjiang needed money, she let him decide for himself.
“Then I’ll go tell him.” Yang Shumei ran to the front yard again, and when she came back, Yu Wenjiang had also come over.
"Sister Yuyao, I heard from Sister Shumei that I can only do business introduced by acquaintances in the family compound, is that okay?"
"Sure, as long as you're confident," Xie Yuyao said with a smile.
Yu Wenjiang is a natural-born salesman. During this period, he has been doing very well in the town and has accumulated a lot of old customers on his own.
What's even more remarkable is that after Yu Wenjiang earned an income, he discussed it with his elder brother Yu Wenbo and decided to return the remaining donations to everyone according to the proportion of donations made by the educated youth team.
Therefore, even though everyone knew he sold braised meat in the commune, no one was jealous or tried to sabotage him.
The only destabilizing factor, Jiang Yan, learned from past mistakes and after repeated warnings from Li Weidong and Wu Lihong, also settled down.
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