"The goods will arrive the day after tomorrow. I'll leave three for you then." Wang Zhen settled the bill and went into the house to get the passbook. "Let's go to the bank together."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian handed him the passbook and the slip, "Please put the money into each of these slips."
Wang Zhen took the passbook and put it in his bag, "Let's go together!"
"I'll drive the tractor over there and go straight from there later."
"Okay!" Wang Zhen closed the door, said hello to Yang Dongmei, and they went to the bank together. After taking out the money, they deposited it in several folders.
After Zhou Huaian put away the passbook and said goodbye, he drove the tractor back. As soon as he reached the bridge, he saw a curly-haired man wearing a flowered shirt and bell-bottom pants running towards him from Huanhe Road.
There were two young men with permed hair holding sticks behind them, chasing them and cursing, "Stop right there, you bastards..."
When Curly saw the man driving the tractor out of the corner of his eye, his eyes lit up. He quickened his pace and ran to the truck bed, grabbed the truck bed and climbed up.
Zhou Huaian stepped on the brakes, turned his head and looked at Curly who was clinging to the tractor and struggling to climb up. He cursed angrily, "Fuck~ It's so fast, and you still dare to climb up, are you crazy?"
Curly-haired girl grabbed the carriage board tightly, struggling to look up at him, "Youngest brother, it's me, Cai Ermei! Please help me out of our past friendship. If I'm caught by those hooligans, they will beat me to death!"
Zhou Huaian frowned and stared at him for a few seconds before recognizing him. "Favor? What kind of favor do I have with you? You are a bastard who can even abandon your wife and children, and you still want to talk about favor with me?"
Cai Ermei looked at him and begged, "Youngest brother, I was the one who let you down in the past. Please forgive me for the sake of the fact that we are from the same village..."
"Don't say we are from the same village as me. I feel ashamed to be from the same village as you who are worse than pigs and dogs!" Zhou Huaian cursed and turned around to see the two afro-haired guys chasing him. He released the brakes, increased the speed and drove Cai Ermei to the other side.
No matter what, they grew up together, he couldn't just watch him get beaten to death here!
Cai Ermei breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this, then her whole body went limp and she collapsed in the truck bed.
When Zhou Huaian reached the other side of the river, he saw that the afro didn't follow him anymore, so he stepped on the brakes and said, "Get off. If you dare to climb my tractor again, I'll hand you over to the police!"
Cai Ermei jumped off the tractor and asked, "Youngest, are Chunhua and her son okay?"
Zhou Huaian looked at him with disgust, "I don't know, it's none of my business!" He thought of what Xu Hongbing said about pairing Li Wu and Wang Chunhua together, and felt that it was better than following such bastards!
"Youngest brother, please go back and don't tell them that you saw me in the city. Just treat me as dead." Cai Ermei felt mixed emotions as she looked at Zhou Huaian, whose face was glowing and who was getting more energetic.
After all, I was no better than him. I thought that I could go to the city with a few hundred dollars and do something big and return home in glory. However, I didn't know that people in the city were much more cunning than people in the mountains, and soon half of my money was extorted.
By the time I want to turn back, it's already too late. Going back would be like living like a dog with its tail between its legs. It's better to stay out there until the day I die, then I'll be free.
Zhou Huaian looked at his swollen face and dirty flowered shirt and spat, "Fuck you, if you have the guts to steal women's money, then make some money out of it! You're just like a stray dog being chased and beaten by others, you might as well jump into the Ning River to feed the fish!"
"Youngest brother, I was wrong before. Please, for the sake of our childhood friendship, help look after my son." Cai Ermei said as she clasped her fists and bowed to him, then ran downstream along the riverside road.
"Your wife and children are almost someone else's, why are you still hanging around out there!" Zhou Huaian shook his head and released the brakes. The tractor emitted a puff of black smoke and rumbled up the slope.
When we arrived at Guanyin Mountain, we met Xu Erchun who was walking back with a tractor. He braked the tractor and asked, "Why are you out so early today?"
"There's not much cargo today, Xiaohui is staying at her in-laws' house, so I can run fast on my own."
"Tie the cart to the back and I'll pull it."
"Okay!" Xu Erchun happily tied the cart with him, "Drive slowly, don't let me knock it over!"
"Don't worry!" Zhou Huaian took out a cigarette and lit it for him, "I ran into that bastard Cai Ermei when I came back."
"Really?"
"He had his hair permed into curls and was chased like a stray dog... Seeing his horrible appearance, I couldn't bear it, so I gave him a ride."
"Fuck! I asked you to help look after your son, but you let them think he was dead!" Xu Erchun shook his head and sighed, "His son thought he was dead a long time ago."
"How do you know that?"
"Wang Chunhua went up the mountain to pick mushrooms every day, so she sent the child back to Fangtian and asked her mother to help take care of him. He was skinny and looked more and more like Cai Ermei when she was a child. I asked him if he still remembered his old man, and he said his mother said that the old man went fishing in the river and drowned."
"Alas!" Zhou Huaian sighed and waved his hand, "Let's go!"
"Okay!" Xu Erchun held the handlebars from behind and followed him to his home effortlessly.
When Xu Laosan came back, Zhou Huaian saw Secretary Xu coming too, and smiled as he stepped forward to greet him, "Uncle Xu, why are you back?"
Secretary Xu smiled and said, "I'll come back to see you!" Then he turned around and glared at Xu Lao San, "Why don't you send him to the backyard quickly?"
"Oh!" Xu Laosan drove the tractor to the backyard embarrassedly.
Zhou Huaian poured him a cup of tea, and the two sat down at the table. "I was busy the past two days, and today I can finally relax a little."
Secretary Xu took the cigarette he handed over and said, "There will be thunderstorms in a few days, and there will be more mushrooms after the rain."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "It's better to take it slow. Don't do too much at once. You will be so busy that you won't even be able to sleep well."
"Youngest," Secretary Xu looked at Zhou Huaian, who still treated him the same as before, and patted him with a smile, "Uncle came back today to apologize to you on behalf of the third brother..."
Zhou Huaian hurriedly said: "Uncle Xu, you are being too polite!"
"Okay, uncle was being polite." Secretary Xu took a sip of tea. "You are such a shallow-skinned person. You sold the first-class goods to Xiong Laoyao without telling me. If we hadn't quarreled over the hundred yuan, I wouldn't have known about it!"
Zhou Huaian looked at him in confusion, "What's going on?"
Secretary Xu took two puffs of his cigarette. "That day, there were more than 1,500 kilograms of first-class goods. They sent back more than 300 kilograms, and sold the rest to Xiong Laoyao. That bastard only gave him the money for 1,000 kilograms. He still hasn't paid for the remaining 200 kilograms."
"I asked him for it, but he said the mushrooms were damaged by the rain and a lot of them were damaged when they were washed. Some of them were infested with maggots before they could be washed out. I have to wait for them to get the goods and remit the money to me before I can pay him."
Zhou Huaian thought for a moment, "What Xiong Laoyao said might be true. His family hasn't received any goods since that day. When I was delivering goods to Ning'an today, I met Xiong Laoyao at Guanyin Mountain with two large bamboo baskets. He might have been delivering goods there as well."
"With only a few hundred yuan of capital, he wants to sell mountain products, and he uses all kinds of crooked means. If he doesn't lose money, who will?" Secretary Xu looked up at Xu Lao San who was walking over. "It's better to let them learn a lesson with more than a hundred yuan, so that they don't think that money is really easy to make."
"Old man, it was that bastard grandson of Xiong Laoyao who forced us to unload the things." Xu Laosan's face flushed, and he went up the steps and sat on the log stool.
You tell lies without even drafting them, do you think I'm as stupid as you?
Zhou Huaian lowered his eyes and smiled as he refilled Secretary Xu's teacup. "Uncle Xu, how do you like this tea? I'll get you a tube to take with you."
Secretary Xu saw that he had changed the subject and stopped asking, "It tastes good. Is it new tea from the mountains?"
"It's from my eldest brother-in-law's father-in-law's family. I heard from them that it's pretty good, so I asked them to help me pick some. I gave some to Wang Zhen and the boss in the provincial capital, and I left one for you."
"Then I won't be polite!"
"There's no need for us to be polite. Just tell me what you want to eat." Zhou Huaian smiled and got up and went to the main room to get a bamboo tube. "A big bamboo jar, perfect for tea leaves."
Secretary Xu took it, opened it and smelled it. "Not bad, it also has the fragrance of bamboo."
Zhou Huaian said with a smile: "I drink it like a cow chewing a peony. Wang Zhen said it tastes good, so I bought it."
Secretary Xu heard him change his address and asked with a smile, "Did Doctor Xiao Wang and your sister-in-law come to an agreement?"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "It's settled. Mr. Wang went to my mother-in-law's house to make the reservation himself."
"Yes, your father-in-law's family has a good tradition, and Dr. Wang is his master. Now they are relatives, which makes them even closer."
"Wang Zhen is a good person and so outstanding. We are happy for our sister-in-law!"
The two chatted for a while, and then Xu Hongbing and Fang Zhiqiang delivered the goods. Secretary Xu took Xu Laosan and left.
Xu Laosan glanced at the bamboo tube in his hand and curled his lips in disdain, "Zhou Laoyao is such a stingy guy. He didn't send so many good things from the mountains, but instead sent a tube of wild tea to the provincial capital!"
"Stupid as hell!" Secretary Xu was so angry that he hit him. "As the old saying goes, a loud drum doesn't need to be hit hard. Ever since you were old enough to understand, I have taught you to have a long-term vision in dealing with people and things.
Don't just look at the thing under the tip of your nose. For so many years, my lips have been worn out, but I still can't teach you to be smart. Look at Zhou Laoyao, I only taught him a few times, but you can't learn how to behave like him even if you study for a hundred years."
Xu Laosan muttered quietly, "He is stupid, but he is not your son! No matter how smart Zhou Laoyao is, he is not your son."
Secretary Xu stared at him, "Old Third, what did you say?"
Xu Laosan shrank his neck and said, "Old man, I didn't say anything. I just said why should I be afraid of him? We have the second father at home. How dare Zhou Laoyao disrespect you!"
"Ha'er!" Secretary Xu slapped him in anger, "I'm warning you! Don't go out and bully others and ruin your second father's reputation. If you dare to do that, I will cut off all ties with you."
Xu Laosan looked at him with an aggrieved expression, "How dare I ruin Second Father's reputation? I just thought that I sold some mushrooms to Xiong Laoyao, and there was no need for you to come back and tell Zhou Laoyao about that."
"You don't understand!" Secretary Xu looked at his expression and thought that no matter how dumb he was, he was still his son, so he pulled him over and said, "Do you think your second father is a high-ranking official?
I tell you, there is always a mountain higher than another. Even the officials in the flower market have to be respectful to old man Wang Zhen when they see him.
They are now in-laws with the Yang family, and the youngest couple has a good relationship with Doctor Wang. If everyone gets along well, it will be good for your second father."
Xu Laosan curled his lips, "The two uncles have no relationship, but I can't reach an agreement with Hongxiu's brother-in-law!"
"Pa~" Secretary Xu slapped him on the head, "You square-headed guy, you say the same thing as I say one thing! Get out of here and give me the money back." (End of this chapter)
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