"Nothing particularly happy happened, I just had a couple of drinks with Weidong at the restaurant," Wang Tiezhu said, his face flushed.
"Oh, you're eating out now."
"Well, after delivering the mushrooms, the restaurant owner insisted that we stay for a drink. And let me tell you, the food at the restaurants in the city is really delicious."
"What did you all eat?" The villagers watching were very interested.
In 1992, material life was not as abundant, and eating out was a luxury for rural people.
"Bachelor Chicken, and there's also something called Ants Climbing a Tree," Wang Tiezhu said, hiccuping as he drank.
"A bachelor chicken? What, that chicken hasn't even found a wife yet, and you guys have already eaten it?"
The villagers burst into laughter.
“What do you know? The person who invented this dish was a bachelor, not a chicken who hadn’t found a wife!” Wang Tiezhu said, showing off his newfound knowledge.
"Oh, so what kind of dish is 'ants climbing a tree'?"
"It's...it's minced meat stir-fried with glass noodles."
"Huh, minced meat stir-fried with vermicelli? Such a fancy name, as if they're afraid people won't understand it!" The villagers shook their heads repeatedly.
"Stir-fried vermicelli? How can that compare to ants climbing a tree? You're just country bumpkins who've never seen the world."
"Alright, alright, you think you're so worldly-wise? You went out with Li Weidong and you can even use foreign slang now."
"I'm too lazy to argue with you guys. I'm going home to sleep." Wang Tiezhu let out a burp and started walking home.
At this moment, Widow Zhang grabbed his arm: "Don't go! You haven't told us yet what you and Li Weidong went to Yinan for?"
"We just harvest mushrooms and then deliver them to the city."
“We know all that. Now let me tell you something we don’t know. You must have made a good profit on this trip, right?” Widow Zhang winked at Wang Tiezhu.
"That's for sure. Do you know how much money he gave me when I went with him? Two hundred, a full two hundred."
"two hundred?"
Widow Zhang's eyes widened. She farmed at home and only earned a few hundred yuan a year.
Li Weidong gave Tiezhu two hundred yuan as soon as he made a move.
She looked at him with disbelief: "What nonsense! You only helped him for two days, and he gave you two hundred yuan? Does Li Weidong's money grow on trees?"
"Who said I was bragging?"
Wang Tiezhu, who had already been drinking, got drunk after being choked by a remark: "Li Weidong's money, although it didn't come from thin air, is much easier for him to earn than ours. Let me tell you, do you know how much he made from these two truckloads of mushrooms?"
"How many?"
"I don't know the exact amount, but it was a big black bag filled to the brim."
"That would cost two or three thousand yuan, wouldn't it?"
"More or less."
"My goodness!" Widow Zhang exclaimed in shock. "These two truckloads of mushrooms are enough for one greenhouse, plus the two greenhouses that haven't even matured yet. Won't they make a fortune of ten thousand yuan a year?"
"Who knows? Anyway, we'll make a good profit," Wang Tiezhu said.
"Li Weidong has really made something of himself! At this rate of making money, he'll be a millionaire sooner or later!"
“I used to hold him when he was little. Back then, I felt that this kid was destined for great things and was destined to be a big boss. See, I was right.”
"Wei Dong is a really good guy. I heard from the brigade secretary that he plans to lead us to grow mushrooms and get rich."
"That's for sure! From now on, we can't call him Li Weidong anymore, we have to call him Li the Great Philanthropist!"
Wang Dahua stood to the side, listening to everyone's excessive praise of Li Weidong, her face extremely ugly.
The bottle of mixed emotions in my heart was also overturned!
It was sour, bitter, and unpleasant.
This money should have been theirs to earn! It was them!!
If it weren't for Li Weidong, that ungrateful bastard, breaking off relations with them, would they have gone through all that trouble to sell mushrooms, only to fail to sell a single one?
It's his fault!
It's all his fault!
You bastard! You piece of trash!!
They're relatives, the kind of family that's still connected even if their bones are broken. And now, he's going to put aside blood ties and lead other people to grow mushrooms.
Isn't this siding with outsiders?
Thinking of this, she couldn't hold back any longer and said with a cold laugh, "Ha, you really think he's a good person?"
The group, who had been chatting enthusiastically, suddenly fell silent.
All eyes turned to Wang Dahua.
“His aunt, what do you mean by this?” Widow Zhang asked.
"It means exactly what it says. That Li Weidong is a heartless ingrate. How could he have good intentions in leading you to commit such a heinous act?"
Widow Zhang frowned: "Then tell me, what's wrong with him?"
“I’ve been scammed by him before, so how could I not know? He’ll definitely pretend to help you build sheds and guide you in planting, and even say he’ll help you find sales channels. But once the mushrooms are sold, he’ll take a huge cut from each pound, making you work hard for a year, only to end up working for him for nothing.”
I've long since figured out his methods.
He's a complete ingrate, a bloodsucker. If I were you, I wouldn't dare associate with him; I'd stay far away from him.
"Really?" Widow Zhang didn't believe it. She stared at Wang Dahua with a smile and said, "But I heard that a few years ago, your family was still in debt. Since you got together with Li Weidong, not only have you paid off the debt, but your life has also gotten better and better. You've cut more pork from Pan Dajia than Li Weidong's family, haven't you?"
“I can testify,” Zhu Zi’s mother also stepped forward: “I live next door to them. Do you think I don’t know what their family was like a few years ago? They are all lazybones. They don’t farm properly, nor do they go to the city to work. They just idle around every day. That’s how they accumulated this huge debt.”
"If it weren't for Li Weidong's help these past two years, we probably wouldn't be able to make ends meet anymore, right?"
"Yes, I know about this too. Li Weidong has helped you so much, what's wrong with taking a small cut? He not only provides mushroom bags and technology, but also manpower, effort, and sales channels."
You even called them ungrateful wretches? If you ask me, your family is the real ungrateful wretches! Isn't your family's behavior like eating from the bowl and then cursing the cook after putting it down?
"That's for sure! They call themselves relatives, yet they talk badly about others behind their backs all the time. I spit on them!"
The crowd grew increasingly excited as they spoke, their emotions running high.
They pointed at Wang Dahua, spitting as they spoke.
Knowing she had angered everyone, Wang Dahua turned pale and prepared to leave.
But just then, someone shouted loudly from not far away.
"What are you all doing standing here? Hurry up and go to Li Weidong's house, they're installing a telephone there."
"What? Install a telephone?"
"This is quite a rare thing. Let's go take a look."
In a flash, the crowd that had been gathered at the alley entrance rushed toward Li Weidong's house.
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