Li Yong brought Director Wang from the Animal Husbandry Bureau and other staff members to his home. This was also an opportunity for him to become the head of Bajie.
Not only Director Wang, but also several other leaders in the bureau, deputy directors, section chiefs, and so on were invited.
Li Yong's house was very old, and many of the tables and chairs were crooked and overturned, but at this moment, the room was filled with the aroma of food.
Sha Zhu's cooking skills are impeccable; he prepared eight hot dishes and eight cold dishes. The portions were generous, and the food was delicious and visually appealing.
Li Yong kept urging, "Come on, come on, have a drink, Director Wang. Please try this authentic Sichuan cuisine."
He enjoyed the meal very much. His monthly salary of a few dozen yuan not only had to support his own family, but he also had to frequently help out his siblings.
Therefore, he rarely eats meat. On the contrary, the bureau chiefs eat in a better manner.
At this time, Wang Qiang was also thriving. He was tall and handsome. Because he had been cultivating in the Ruyi Spring, his Ruyi Fist technique could make him unaware of hunger and thirst.
Therefore, for Wang Qiang, whether he ate or not was not important; he kept toasting Director Wang.
"Director Wang, your surname is Wang, and mine is Wang too. We might have been from the same family 500 years ago. I really appreciate your help today."
"Hey, Xiao Wang, let's just have a casual get-together today, no work-related topics," Director Wang said, laughing as he took a sip of his drink.
"That's natural, that's natural."
"But Brother Wang, you've come all this way, I won't let you leave empty-handed." Director Wang, emboldened by the alcohol, addressed Wang Qiang as "Brother Wang," which made Li Yong extremely jealous. He had been offering gifts to Director Wang every year, but he had never seen Director Wang treat him so warmly before.
Director Wang said to Wang Qiang, "Brother, you've bought a lot this time, I won't go into details. But you should treat me to a small tip for your trouble. Everyone should buy a pair of shoes and a pair of socks."
Nowadays, everything is sold openly through centralized purchase and sales, with no profit sharing, silencing everyone and ensuring that no one can escape scrutiny later.
In fact, Director Wang knew that Wang Dou and his group would definitely gain a lot of benefits from this trip. He couldn't control how much they got, but he and his group would always get a share.
Without hesitation, Wang Qiang glanced at the people at the table. Everyone stared at him intently after Director Wang's earlier remark.
Wang Qiang laughed heartily. "Of course, everything is up to you, Brother Wang."
Director Wang shouted, "Good! You're truly a generous friend, Brother Wang. I'm determined to be your friend. Come on, everyone, let's have a drink!"
...
After Director Wang and the others left, Sha Zhu went inside and asked Wang Qiang, who was inside, "How did it go?"
Wang Qiang said, "It's settled. This is the approval note from Director Wang."
"So much, 10,000 jin of mutton!" Sha Zhu was stunned. How much would that cost? It seemed that in 1961, mutton in Tianjin was 76 cents a jin. More than 10,000 jin would be more than 7,000 yuan. But it was cheaper here; Director Wang approved a price of 40 cents a jin.
"Great! Let's hurry up and go!" Sha Zhu said anxiously.
"This is still a lot, and it's much cheaper than the mutton back home. It's too late today, so we'll take the slip and pick it up tomorrow."
At this moment, Li Yong struck up a conversation from the side.
"The place you went to is too far away, and there's no road access at all. It's all mountain roads, and driving there at night would be too dangerous. Let's go tomorrow."
"Okay, let's go again tomorrow. Sigh, why haven't Sister Qin and the others come back yet?" Sha Zhu noticed that Qin Huairu, Li Man, and Chen Jing had gone out to the street and hadn't returned yet.
"Yeah, it's getting dark, I hope nothing bad has happened." Wang Qiang also found it strange that it had taken so long.
The drunken Li Yong suddenly sat up on the kang (a heated brick bed), and the alcohol had mostly worn off.
"Oh no, have we run into bad guys?"
"Are there still bad people who dare to openly and brazenly abduct women in broad daylight?"
Wang Qiang thought to himself, since he had encountered Yiguandao before, there might be some evil organization or remnants of the Kuomintang around here.
“You don’t know how poor our place is. Many people in the remote mountain villages simply can’t afford to get married. So now there are a lot of people on the streets who abduct women and sell them to the remote mountain villages.”
Li Yong's words sent a chill down Wang Qiang and Sha Zhu's spines.
Wang Qiang said, "Then let's not sit here anymore, let's go out and look for it quickly."
The three of them immediately went to the street to look for it.
After searching for several hours in the west of the city, I finally found a donkey cart. It had several bamboo baskets and burlap sacks on it, all bulging.
The three people exchanged a glance. Then they stepped forward.
The driver was an old man in his fifties from northern Shaanxi. He wore a towel wrapped around his head, had a thin, dark face, a small goatee, and a pair of shifty, beady eyes.
Because Wang Qiang and Sha Zhu didn't understand the local dialect, Li Yong was responsible for negotiating with them.
After a while, Li Yong returned.
"It's from Qiantou Township. They said it was a shipment for the local supply and marketing cooperative."
The old man first tricked Li Yong back, then revealed a smug, wicked smile on his face.
"Qiantou Township? Isn't that the township where Director Wang gave us the approval slip?" Wang Qiang said, while secretly observing the old man out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes, that's the place. Let's look elsewhere!" Li Yong urged Wang Qiang, worried about his wife and daughter.
"This old man definitely knows the whereabouts of those three women. Follow him."
Just as Wang Qiang and his two companions were talking, a young man in his twenties arrived and exchanged a few words with the old man. He also pointed out the market to Wang Qiang and his companions, and then urged the old man to hurry up and leave the city.
Seeing the donkey cart start moving, Wang Qiang exclaimed, "Oh no! They're trying to escape! Chase after them!" Even as he spoke, Wang Qiang was already out in the air. After two training sessions, Wang Qiang's speed was far greater than that of an ordinary person.
Li Yong had no choice but to ride his bicycle with Sha Zhu on the back, pedaling furiously behind him.
The old man driving the carriage noticed Wang Qiang following behind and saying a few words to the young man beside him. The young man turned his head and looked at Wang Qiang with a fierce glint in his eyes.
He then instructed the old man to drive the cart around a bend in the mountain, then got out of the cart himself, taking a sickle in his hand. He told the old man to drive the cart ahead.
Wang Qiang arrived here. He saw this young man staring at him fiercely.
"Where is he?"
"I have no man, but I'll take your life." The young man drew his sickle and slashed at Wang Qiang.
Wang Qiang shifted his position and rammed forward, his shoulder striking the young man squarely in the chest. The young man was thrown seven or eight meters away, lying on the ground coughing up blood. The sickle in his hand had long since been discarded to the side.
"You ignorant fool." Wang Qiang stomped on the young man's chest.
"I'm giving you one last chance to speak."
The young man stared fiercely at Duan Fei, muttering something under his breath. Suddenly, a wisp of black energy emanated from the young man and wrapped around Wang Qiang's leg.
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