Because of Zhao Lei's incident, the banquet did not go smoothly, but Ye Zhou also became more aware of the power structure in the base.
Although Zhao Qing and Zhao Lei both have the surname Zhao, they are not related by blood. Zhao Lei was one of the first people to follow Zhao Qing. In order to show his loyalty, he changed his surname to follow Zhao Qing.
At the beginning, Zhao Qing probably didn't have his current status, so the two of them had always been sharing hardships. Under the pressure of heavy external crises, they had to stick together.
But after Zhao Qing successfully became the head of the base, the conflicts between the two began to be exposed.
Zhao Qing firmly controls the dominant power of the base. Even though he still needs to bow his head to various forces, Ye Zhou does not think that he is completely weak. Face can be given, but those forces have long been checking and balancing each other under Zhao Qing's long-term "support".
As long as several forces are still there and no one dominates, Zhao Qing can sit in that position safely.
And Zhao Qing would never allow any company to emerge.
Zhao Lei has no chance of winning. At least Ye Zhou can see now that none of the forces need Zhao Lei, who, like them, relies on violence to gain power, to become the new boss. And if Zhao Lei had enough force to directly overthrow Zhao Qing by violence, he would not have left just now.
But Zhao Qing didn't want to take action against Zhao Lei himself.
After all, on the surface, Zhao Lei is still his loyal supporter. As for the first batch of people who followed him, he would definitely kill them. Even if those who followed him in the past didn't say it, they must have had some thoughts in their hearts.
Other forces probably don't want to touch Zhao Lei either.
After all, with Zhao Lei around, Zhao Qing’s relationship with them will be closer, and he will have to give up more benefits.
This problem probably troubled Zhao Qing for a long time, so even though he knew that his approach was very obvious, as long as Ye Zhou could "fall into the trap", whether actively or passively, whether he could see through his thoughts or not, it would be a success.
Zhao Qing urgently needs a "third party force" to break the inherent power structure and ecological model of the base.
Ye Zhou, the newcomer who had people and supplies, naturally became the most suitable candidate in his eyes.
If it succeeds, that would be the best. If it doesn’t, it won’t cause any loss to him.
After all, Zhao Lei's men were also his, and he didn't want to weaken his own strength. The best way was to let Zhao Lei die alone, and then safely bring those people back into his sphere of influence.
Therefore, Ye Zhou didn’t think that Zhao Qing’s actions were too obvious. No matter how obvious it was, as long as it could achieve the goal, it was a good method.
At least after the banquet, Zhao Lei would never bypass Zhao Qinglai to do business with Ye Zhou.
But when Chen Shu returned to her residence, she still couldn't figure it out. She didn't want to go into the house because she had a smell on her body. She would rather stand outside in the breeze to get rid of the bad smell before going in. She and Ye Zhou stood in the corridor outside the stairs, watching the base and chatting late at night.
"So Zhao Qing wants to use us?" Chen Shu didn't understand. "How does he use us? He wants us to fight Zhao Lei, can't we just avoid him? Can he still point a gun at our heads and force us to fight Zhao Lei?"
Ye Zhou put his arm on the armrest and smiled: "No, Zhao Qing didn't mean that."
"He actually doesn't want us to fall out with Zhao Lei."
Chen Shu was even more confused: "What does that mean? He's already planning to have a fight between Zhao Lei and me, but he doesn't want us to have a falling out with Zhao Lei?"
Ye Zhou shook his head: "He just used us to show his attitude, to show that his relationship with Zhao Lei is very tense now. No matter what Zhao Lei does, it has nothing to do with him. Another thing is that Zhao Lei will think that he has a very close contract with me. At least when Zhao Lei doesn't understand the situation, he will think that I am his person."
"This way, even if Zhao Lei wants to come to me to buy something, he can't avoid Zhao Qing."
Ye Zhou looked up at the night sky: "If I'm not mistaken, Zhao Qing will come to me soon and create space for Zhao Lei and me so that Zhao Lei can buy something from me. Guess what he will let Zhao Lei buy from me?"
Chen Shu could hardly keep up with Ye Zhou's train of thought. It was just one thing, but when Ye Zhou talked about it, it seemed like many things. She said in a daze, "What?"
"Water." Ye Zhou, "Now I only sell water to Zhao Qing. Others will only think that Zhao Qing is the boss, and it is normal for Zhao Qing to distribute water. Moreover, Zhao Qing will not lose any of their benefits. No matter who is short of water, they will not be short of water."
"But can Zhao Lei buy it?" Ye Zhou asked Chen Shu.
Chen Shu finally thought of it: "Then... Zhao Lei is the real second most powerful person, and may even threaten Zhao Qing's position. What good will this do for Zhao Qing?"
Ye Zhou: "Of course there are benefits. We are the knife, but someone else is holding the knife."
Chen Shu finally became numb. She said expressionlessly, "Boss, I give up. I'm not talented in this area."
Ye Zhou smiled and patted Chen Shu on the shoulder: "It actually has little to do with us."
"Zhao Qing wants to buy things from me and use us. This means I will have more bargaining chips, which is not a bad thing." Ye Zhou calmed down after his initial anger. After analyzing the pros and cons, he found that Zhao Qing was really smart.
At least after he finished his analysis, he realized that being used by Zhao Qing was nothing.
Except Zhao Lei, everyone can benefit from it.
So even if Ye Zhou knew what Zhao Qing was going to do, he would not stop him, but would instead facilitate it.
If everyone is pursuing profit, Zhao Lei won’t live long.
Ye Zhou raised his arm and smelled his sleeve. After making sure there was no peculiar smell, he said, "Go back and take a shower and rest."
After watching Chen Shu walk into the room, Ye Zhou also returned to the room. He took a shower and changed his clothes first. Before he dried his hair, he went to see the boy who was already asleep. He pushed the boy's door open a little, and after making sure that the boy was lying on the bed, he went to blow dry his hair and went to sleep.
If Zou Ming hadn't been here, Ye Zhou felt that he would definitely not stay in this base for long.
But if we change the base, the situation will probably not be much better.
From the perspective of the base, a "merchant" with a large amount of supplies cannot become the pillar of the base. From the perspective of a ruler, a businessman who is deeply tied to his base will greatly weaken his rule and influence over the base.
It’s okay to do business for a short period of time, but once Ye Zhou wants to "settle down" in a base, the ruler of that base will definitely not agree.
In other words, Zhao Qing does not rely on force to rule this base, and the base has no production capacity, otherwise it is unclear whether Ye Zhou can come in.
Ye Zhou lay on the bed, reviewing what had happened during this period in his mind, and decided not to get involved in the base's affairs for the time being.
He also thought of another way to make Zou Ming safer after he left.
Since Zou Ming is still very weak now, he will give Zou Ming a tiger skin.
·
After a period of rest, Yang Yue was finally able to put down her crutches. Although she still walked with a limp, she could move normally. Cao'er also found a mask for her. If she felt uncomfortable going out, she could use the mask to cover the injured half of her face.
Yang Yue was very grateful for this.
She herself didn't dare to look at that half of her face. Once she saw it, it would immediately remind her of what happened on the night she was injured.
In the early morning before sunrise, Yang Yue put on a mask and went to the supermarket with Chen Shu and others.
The supermarket has a fixed daily customer flow, with people usually coming in to shop in the afternoon towards evening.
After the initial buying frenzy, people in the slums began to save "money".
Maybe they think the supermarket will not close for some time, so they want to save more money.
After arriving at the supermarket, Yang Yue began to help count the goods. Since she knew how to count, she was able to do this job. Although she was illiterate, she could memorize the corresponding characters for the names of each product by rote.
To her, words look more like graphics.
In the slums, people like her who can count are a minority, and there is no illiteracy rate because the entire slum is illiterate.
"You've come at the right time." Cao Er saw Yang Yue coming in and immediately walked over and said, "Two customers came, but they were scared no matter how I explained. You go and talk to them."
With Yang Yue, a local, around, Cao'er did feel a lot more relaxed.
Because Cao'er dressed neatly and decently, people in the slums were afraid of her, and also of the supermarket employees like Cao'er.
Often, even if a sentence is repeated more than a dozen times, people in the slums still don't understand it - it's not that they have intellectual problems, but that they simply don't dare to listen carefully.
Yang Yue smiled at Cao Er and said, "I'll be right there."
Yang Yue limped over to the person who was standing awkwardly next to the rest area.
Yang Yue didn't know these two people. In fact, she knew very few people. In the past, she almost always stayed in the tin house and seldom went out. Walking would consume strength and energy, so it was better for her to lie down in the house.
In front of him was a pair of brothers, both of whom were skin and bones. They lowered their heads timidly, thinking that Yang Yue was also a respectable employee, so they didn't even dare to glance at her out of the corner of their eyes.
"Where do you live?" Yang Yue's tone was very familiar as soon as she spoke, "I live in the front, in the tin house 104."
Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, the two brothers immediately breathed a sigh of relief and dared to look up at Yang Yue.
"We don't have a house," the older man whispered, "so we usually sleep on the roadside."
Yang Yue nodded, and she asked again: "Did you bring potatoes?"
The younger one couldn't help but nodded and said, "I brought it, I brought it all!"
The elder brother reached out and pulled his younger brother, who immediately shut up. Yang Yue pretended not to see it and just said, "Let's go and exchange the potatoes for money first."
In order to prevent the brothers from getting nervous, Yang Yue asked them when they were exchanging money: "Why did you come here just now?"
"Did something happen before?"
Living in such an environment, Yang Yue was almost forced to become a conspiracy theorist. She subconsciously believed that someone was not allowing the two brothers to come.
But my brother said, "I dare not."
Like most people in the slums, they did not trust this supermarket that suddenly appeared.
A potato can be exchanged for so many things? They won't believe it even if they are beaten to death.
They firmly believed by instinct that this supermarket must have some conspiracy. In the end, they dared to come over only after seeing many people around them had exchanged their items. However, many people did not dare to come over.
Less than one-third of the lower-class people actually exchange money and food from supermarkets.
After the two brothers received the "money" from Cao'er, they felt half relieved, but they were still hunched over. They looked to be in their twenties, but judging by their body shapes, no one would disbelieve them if they said they were in their forties.
When they got to the shelves and faced the rows of food, they didn't show much excitement. Instead, they shrank like thieves, just like other low-class people who came to the supermarket for the first time.
Seeing that they didn't dare to move, Yang Yue took two shopping baskets from the side, then picked up a large piece of bread and asked the two brothers: "Do you want this? Although it is relatively dry, it can be kept for several days. Others will go bad after more than two days, but this can be kept for at least a month."
The brothers nodded hurriedly.
But when Yang Yue asked about the third item, the younger brother finally couldn't help but raise his head. He whispered, "I heard them say that they have self-heating rice."
Yang Yue knew why he wanted self-heating rice, because in addition to the heating pack, it also came with a pack of water. Half of the pack was enough to barely heat the rice and the seasoning pack, and the other half could be saved.
If you are more ruthless, you can just save the whole bag. After all, the food in the self-heating rice is actually cooked, and they can eat it even if it is raw.
I've eaten raw potatoes, so what's wrong with not eating unheated cooked rice?
"Of course you can, but it will go bad the next day." Yang Yue led them to the shelf where self-heating food was placed. "If you want to buy something, buy what you need today and come back tomorrow to buy more."
Although Ye Zhou promised Zhao Qing that he would not sell water in the supermarket, he did not think it was selling water. After all, water is not a commodity, but just an "ingredient" in the commodity.
The younger brother immediately became happy. He grabbed his older brother's arm, pointed to a box of self-heating rice and said, "This has meat!"
Yang Yue smiled and said, "Almost everything is available. You can look at the pictures. What's in the picture is what's in the food bag."
After all, most people can’t read, so they just look at the pictures.
My brother couldn't help showing his excitement. He kept saying, "Okay, okay, come tomorrow, come tomorrow."
The younger brother then looked at Yang Yue cautiously. He finally couldn't help but ask, "Do you work here?"
Yang Yue was stunned.
She actually didn't know whether working in the supermarket could be considered a job.
After all, she had never actually met the supermarket owner.
She had seen him from afar, the man who was different from everyone else here. He was tall, handsome and elegant. He would hold the boy's hand and talk to the employees with a smile on his face. Every time he appeared, there was no room for anyone else in her eyes.
But she didn't dare to approach him, or even let him see her.
Every time Chen Shu said that the boss wanted to see her, she found ways to refuse.
So without a boss to speak to, she is not considered a formal employee, and she doesn’t even know whether she will get paid.
However, Yang Yue doesn't care about the salary. What she has now is something she can't get in return no matter what she pays for.
Yang Yue smiled and said, "No, I just came here to help."
The younger brother was a little disappointed, but he quickly asked, "Can we come and help?"
He was not the first to ask this. Yang Yue was about to follow the previous rejection template, but Cao Er came over and said, "Come on, we are just about to recruit someone."
The brothers' eyes widened, but before they could get excited, Cao'er said, "Come with me to the back to talk."
The brothers were so overwhelmed with joy that their previous vigilance disappeared. They immediately followed Cao'er to the small office behind the cash register.
Usually, Cao'er calculates income and expenditure here.
"Please sit down. You're welcome." After Cao'er led the two people in, she poured two glasses of water.
After two cups of mineral water were placed in front of the two brothers, all their doubts were dispelled. Two large cups of water were enough to buy their lives. Even if there was a sea of fire in front of them, they dared to jump.
"It's like this." Cao'er said after sitting down, "There are still many people in the slums who don't dare to come to the supermarket to shop."
The two brothers looked at each other and felt that Cao'er was talking about them.
Cao'er continued, "So when I asked you to do something, I didn't mean to ask you to work in the supermarket. The supermarket has enough staff now."
“But as long as you can dispel rumors in the slums and get more people to come and shop, even if there are no people in the slums who have never been to the supermarket, we will still pay you every month.”
Cao'er offered a condition that the two of them absolutely could not give up: "Three thousand per month for each of you."
The brothers were almost suffocating.
They took out all the potatoes this time, but only sixteen thousand were left.
This was all their savings. If the potatoes they saved from working in the slums in a month were exchanged for money, the two brothers would probably not have even a thousand dollars in total, because they had to eat on a regular basis, and they were two adult men, and they would not have the energy to work without eating.
My brother nodded immediately and said, "Yes, we are willing to do it."
Cao'er looked at them gently.
She was in a trance for a moment. For some reason, she saw the shadow of her biological brother in her younger brother.
She hadn't thought about her brothers and sisters for a long time. She didn't dare to think about them, because thinking about them would tear the wound open. Thinking about them over and over again would tear the wound open again and again until it was a bloody mess.
"As for where to live," Cao'er said, "I'll arrange it for you."
The two brothers were stunned by this series of surprises. They looked at Cao'er and then at the cup of water in front of them.
Cao'er: "Drink it. From now on, each of you will get a bottle of water every day."
There is nothing to say now. For the sake of such huge profits, even if the two brothers just wanted to take advantage at the beginning, they are now ready to work day and night for the supermarket.
Cao'er personally sent them out.
Looking at the two brothers who walked out with the water bottles hidden in their arms, she folded her arms, leaned against the wall and watched their backs.
She didn't know how long she looked until they disappeared from her sight, then she walked back.
Yang Yue noticed that something was wrong with Cao'er. After sending the two brothers away, Cao'er began to mechanically tidy up the things on the counter and wiped the dust more than ten times. Finally, she made up her mind.
"What's wrong with you?" Yang Yue came over cautiously to show concern for Cao'er.
Because Cao'er and Ye Zhou lived together, they didn't have much in common, and Yang Yue didn't dare to get close to her, so she was cautious in her concern.
Cao Er was stunned for a few seconds before looking at Yang Yue, then smiled and said, "Nothing, I just thought about the past, but it wasn't a good thing."
So Yang Yue stopped asking. She didn't like to expose people's scars, but she looked at Cao'er's smiling face and whispered, "When you smile, you look a lot like..."
Cao'er knew what she was talking about: "I learned it, isn't it very much like the boss?"
Cao Er became more lively after her attention was diverted: "The boss's smile is the kind that looks gentle but won't let people look down on you."
Yang Yue nodded: "It looks good."
Cao'er was very sensitive to something, and she immediately said, "The boss has no personal feelings."
In Cao'er's opinion, it is impossible for immortals to be with mortals, but she did not persuade them anymore. In her opinion, people like Yang Yue are just like her. Even if they have some ideas, they will not take action and will figure it out slowly.
When I think back on it later, it will be a very beautiful memory.
Yang Yue looked at Cao'er and smiled with difficulty: "I know it in my heart."
They didn't say anything else and went about their own business.
·
The brothers soon received new news when they went to the supermarket that night - they had a place to live, although it was still in the slums, although it was just an ordinary tin house.
"Are you really going to let us stay?" The younger brother kept asking Cao'er, fearing that Cao'er would suddenly change her mind.
So much had happened in one day that they were losing their minds.
Cao'er handed the key to her brother: "Go in and take a look."
After all, they were going to work for the supermarket, so after asking Ye Zhou for permission, Cao'er renovated the interior of the tin house and replaced the door. Cao'er took into consideration that these two people might be in danger in the future, so she put some thought into it.
The tin house looks no different from an ordinary one from the outside. Even the door is camouflaged. When you pass by the door, you can't tell any difference from an ordinary wooden door.
The interior walls have also been reinforced.
Inside the tin house, in addition to a complete set of tables and chairs, there was a paved floor with a four-piece mattress in the middle. There was also a simple wardrobe, which contained deliberately distressed clothes and pants according to the brothers' sizes.
"Do we really just need to persuade people to go to the supermarket?" The brother finally couldn't help but ask Cao'er who was standing next to him.
But my younger brother had already thrown himself on the bed without caring about anything, with his head held high and making a not-so-pleasant howling sound.
Cao'er nodded: "But I want to make it clear to you, if you do this, you will definitely offend the people doing business here. They may cause trouble for you or even attack you. The supermarket is not open 24 hours a day. You have to protect yourselves when we are not here."
Cao'er restrained her expression and said, "You still have one last chance to choose."
The two brothers calmed down. They knew clearly what kind of dangers they would face in the future if they agreed.
But just when Cao'er thought they would go back on their word, her brother suddenly said, "Even if we don't work for you, our lives won't be much better than what you said."
My younger brother also said, "At least we have water to drink and we won't be hungry."
The two brothers looked at each other and smiled: "Not a loss!"
Cao'er turned her head. She had once shared joys and sorrows with her brothers and sisters.
But she never had another chance.
"Come to the supermarket tomorrow morning and the water will be distributed to you in the morning."
After saying that, Cao'er left the tin house.
Her steps were so fast that it seemed like she was running.
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