The waiter then brought beer glasses to the table, and Dong Qing opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Su Wei.
Su Wei said, "I don't drink alcohol."
Dong Qing said, "You have to drink a little alcohol before driving at night; it helps you relax before bed."
Su Wei had never tried beer or spicy liquor before, and she found it difficult to get used to beer at first. After taking a sip, she exclaimed, "Why is beer so awful?"
Dong Qing laughed and said, "You'll get used to it once you start drinking it. I'll have two bottles of beer by myself tonight."
After finishing her meal, Su Wei drank two bottles of beer and felt dizzy.
The plate of fried peanuts was barely touched; Dongqing had the restaurant pack it up. He only ate half of the pound of beef. After packing it, he handed it to Su Wei, saying, "Take this home as a snack."
Su Wei didn't say anything, nodded and took the peanuts and beef. After finishing their meal, Li Yuzhu and Su Wei walked out of the hotel together and headed towards the courtyard of the local products wholesale department.
The next day, after breakfast, Li Yuzhu and Su Wei went into the post office to make a long-distance call.
In those days, making long-distance calls was very difficult. It required a switchboard operator to manually transfer the call. A village might only have one old-fashioned telephone, the kind that's hand-cranked, and it would take a long time to get the call connected.
Not bad, the person who answered the phone happened to be Su Wei's second uncle. Su Wei said, "Second Uncle, this is your niece, Su Wei."
After such a serious incident involving Su Wei, her second uncle received a phone call and asked, "Daughter, I heard from your father that you were in a car accident with someone. Are you awake?"
"I'm sorry to have worried you, Uncle. I woke up the day before yesterday afternoon..."
My second uncle was overjoyed to hear this. He said, "I'll tell your parents the good news in a bit. Is there anything I need for your call?"
Su Wei then told her second uncle about Dong Qing buying the tractor. Her second uncle said, "That couple has been kind to you. Sell them the tractor at the lowest price, five thousand yuan, and you can drive it away when you get back!"
Su Wei covered the microphone and said, "My second uncle said, five thousand yuan, is that okay? If so, it's settled."
Li Yuzhu was quite satisfied with the price and had Su Wei place the order over the phone, saying she would pick up the car when she got back.
At 8:30, Dongqing received the payment and they drove back.
In the afternoon, Dongqing drove his car into the tractor manufacturing plant. The plant had ready-made large trailers, which were also dual-wheeled with front and rear axles, and were about the same size as the trailer of Dongqing's current tractor.
However, the vehicle did not have a guardrail, so Dongqing asked the factory to weld one in the afternoon.
The railings welded in the factory are beautiful, and the paint is the same as the trailer, making them look like original parts. The railings that we make ourselves can't compare to the originals.
After Dong Qing paid, the staff attached the trailer to the back of the tractor trailer. Driving at night without taillights is impossible, so they connected the taillights of the trailer to the power supply of the trailer.
The tractor pulled out two large trailers, which looked like a long dragon.
After driving all night, we arrived back in our hometown the next morning and drove directly to Su Village.
Dongqing took a look at the tractor, a Dongfanghong 80 model with an original cab. The vehicle looked very nice. After inspecting the vehicle, Dongqing paid the village in cash.
The car has been sitting for too long, the battery won't start it, and there's no gas in the car. I don't know who emptied the gas tank.
Dongqing put a can of diesel fuel from his car into the tractor. Suwei's second uncle called a few people to push the vehicle, remove the new trailer from the other vehicle, hang it on this vehicle, connect the brake air pipe, and connect the taillight wire.
Dong Qing said, "Su Wei, you can rest at home for a day. Load the goods this afternoon, and wait for me on the highway at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."
Su Wei felt much better after running the bus with them, as if she had forgotten all the unpleasantness of the past. She said, "Okay, you guys go ahead. I'll be waiting for you on the road before seven o'clock tomorrow."
Dong Qing said he would see them tomorrow, and the couple each got on a tractor and drove towards the city.
They drove back to the county town, took the car to a repair shop, and had the mechanic replace the battery, change the engine oil, and inflate all the tires.
Finally, I adjusted the lights; lighting is crucial for a sports car at night.
They then drove to a gas station and filled up both cars.
After filling up the gas tank, Li Yuzhu said, "Honey, our autumn crops are all ripe. Can you and Su Wei take one car and make a trip first? I'll drive back to our hometown and harvest the corn there."
Dongqing said, "Two mu of corn isn't worth much. Forget it, let your dad come and harvest it."
Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "Why does that sound so unpleasant to me? Isn't my father your father?"
The father-in-law is also a father figure. Dongqing tried calling his father-in-law and mother-in-law "father" and "mother" respectively, and his wife's words weren't exactly nitpicking. Dongqing then realized his slip of the tongue and laughed, "Is 'our father' okay?"
Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "He's our dad, so okay, let's give the corn to him and let him farm that land from now on."
Dong Qing was quite wicked, laughing, "Let him plant it? Who does he think he is?"
Li Yuzhu said irritably, "Your dad, your own dad, how boring!"
Dong Qing smiled without saying anything, and he and his wife each got into a vehicle, started the tractor, and headed back to his father-in-law's house.
The season quickly came to an end. After more than four months of work, the couple had managed to get their products listed with wholesale companies in counties and cities within a 1,000-kilometer radius. This saved them the trouble of finding sales channels. They could just wait for phone calls at home, deliver goods when someone wanted them, and rest at home for a couple of days when no one wanted them.
Every time I come back from a trip, I detour to my second sister's house. If someone calls to order goods, I deliver them to my regular customers.
Back in the county town, Dong Qing parked the car in front of the bank. He jumped out and went to the back, saying, "Su Wei, you drive home first. Tomorrow morning, drive to the porcelain factory in town to load the goods."
It had become a routine for Su Wei to return home, park her car at her own house, and then drive to the porcelain factory the next day to load goods.
For the past few months, Dong Qing has been paying Su Wei a monthly salary of 500 yuan, including a bonus. This is the amount a strong laborer earns in a year. She has been fortunate to have met a good boss. If she had a different boss, he would not have paid her such a high salary for the same job.
Su Wei said okay and drove home.
After Su Wei left, Dong Qing left the payment from the previous trip and deposited the money in the bank.
After getting into the truck, Li Yuzhu said, "Drivers are really exhausted. We haven't had a single day off since we started hauling goods. If no one wants any more cargo, let's rest at home for a few days."
Dong Qing said, "Of course we can, but I'm worried that someone might want to order more goods and won't let us take a break."
Loading is different now than in the past. In the past, a truck could be filled up at one factory, but now there aren't many porcelain factories that can fill a tractor up in one go. The goods produced are all emptied by them.
In addition, everything is loaded according to customer orders. No matter how many types of goods are needed, a factory can only produce a few types of porcelain. One factory simply cannot load them all. It is necessary to go to several factories to fill the truck, and the loading time is much longer than before.
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