Xu Laosan stopped what he was doing and said, "You have to pay me at least one thousand kilograms. I'll pay you the remaining two hundred kilograms after you peel them. Otherwise, I'll just give them to Zhou Laoyao."
Seeing this, the youngest Xiong had no choice but to nod and say, "Okay, I'll give you one thousand kilograms of money first." Get these first, then send a batch of goods over and get the money.
"It's a cool breeze, let's weigh it quickly!" Xu Laosan moved the bamboo basket to the scale. The two of them weighed and reported the numbers at the same time, while Shen Lianfang kept taking notes in the notebook.
Half an hour later, Xiong Laoyao counted out five hundred and fifty yuan and gave it to Xu Laosan. He took it, counted it, started the tractor and drove towards the bridge head.
A drop of rain fell on Xiong Laosan's eyelids. He looked towards the top of the mountain in the east. He didn't know when the top of the mountain was covered with dark clouds. He hurriedly picked up the rope and said, "Lian Fang, it seems to be raining. Tie the rope quickly."
Chen Lianfang hurriedly moved the scale onto the cart. The two of them tied the rope in a hurry. As they pulled the cart to the stone bridge, raindrops began to fall like grains.
"Oh no! I told you to build the baking house before harvesting the mushrooms, but you didn't listen..."
"Where will the money come from to build a baking house?" The youngest bear shouted angrily, desperately pulling the cart up the slope. The cold raindrops fell on his heart, making him feel cold...
After the rain, the slope was extremely slippery. Pulling something weighing thousands of pounds, the couple used all their strength to climb up the steep slope.
Without even taking a breath, they rushed the goods back home. Zhou Sufang hurried forward to help move the bamboo baskets to the eaves and stack them.
"Youngest, call your sister-in-law and the others to help wash it together? Otherwise it will get rotten."
Chen Lianfang cried, "Even if they are washed, they will still go bad if there is no place to dry them!"
The youngest bear had a gloomy face and said in a deep voice, "First wash the wet ones and hang them in the empty room, then light two fires to dry them. For those that were not wet by the rain, wait until the rain stops before washing them."
"That's a good idea. I'll go call your sister-in-law and the others." Zhou Sufang wore a straw hat and ran to the Xiong family as fast as she could. She told the couple about the situation and said, "Big brother, go help the youngest one. When he makes money, he will remember your kindness."
Boss Xiong said, "Then you have to tell him that we can go and help, and we will pay you as usual."
Zhou Sufang nodded quickly, "I'll tell him!"
Only then did the elder Xiong and his wife take an umbrella and go to the youngest Xiong's house with her to help.
As soon as he entered the house, Big Brother Xiong shouted at the top of his voice: "Youngest, we can help you, but you have to be paid three dollars a day, just like the youngest Zhou family."
This is his brother. He recognizes everything except money. How can he be nice to him?
The youngest bear said angrily, "I'll give it to you, but you have to handle it with care and don't damage the mushrooms."
"Don't worry, it's not like we haven't done it before!" When Boss Xiong saw that he agreed to pay, he responded readily.
Their family is not like Zhou Huaian's. They have a water pipe coming down from the back mountain. When it's not raining, they go to the ditch behind the house to wash. But when it rains so heavily, they have to draw water from the well for washing.
Several people were busy around the big wooden basin. After a while, the youngest Xiong and his wife could not bear to watch any longer, "Brother, sister-in-law, mushrooms are easy to spoil, please be gentle."
Boss Bear looked at the broken mushroom cap in his hand with a look of embarrassment, "It was too light, I really didn't mean to do that!"
He really didn't mean it, but Gan Xiuqin did. She felt that they were all from the same mother, so why should the Xiong Laoya couple be the bosses while she and her husband had to work as farmhands for them?
The youngest bear had a gloomy face and said, "You and your sister-in-law have already broken a few flowers. If you keep going like this, I will deduct your wages."
When Gan Xiuqin heard that her wages would be deducted, she said hurriedly, "Okay, we will be careful!"
…
Over there, Xu Laosan saw that it was raining, so he quickly covered the bamboo basket with the tarpaulin and drove into Zhou Huaian's yard at high speed.
The villagers waiting to sell mushrooms in the yard were crowded on the steps to avoid the rain. Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian looked up at the tractor and said, "Huaian, for the sake of Director Xu and the previous relationship between the two families, don't say any more to him. Just take the goods."
He felt so frustrated. If it were someone else, he would have asked Xu Laosan to drive the tractor away immediately today!
"Got it!" Zhou Huaian looked at the tractor that went straight to the backyard and whispered, "We can't deal with people like Xu Laosan in the future."
Seeing his gloomy face, Yang Chunyan pointed at the rain and fog in the sky and said, "Don't be angry. Didn't you say that the youngest Xiong's family hasn't built a roasting house yet? Do you think it's a good thing for him to buy those red mushrooms today?"
Last year, they dried red mushrooms to sell, and they only bought from a few families. When it rained, the quality of the mushrooms was completely different from those dried in the sun.
Not only do the dried mushrooms that are dried on rainy days look ugly in color, but some even have mold spots.
That bastard Xiong Laoyao loaded more than a thousand kilograms of goods at once, and it was raining, and there was no drying room.
It's simply that the old man hanged himself because he thought his life was too long.
"That's right!" Zhou Huaian laughed in glee, turned his head and teased his son who was chewing his feet in the cradle, "Good boy, stop chewing your stinky feet, and ask grandma to cook something delicious for you."
Xu Laosan arrived at the backyard, turned off the engine, and jumped off the tractor as if nothing had happened. "Oh, we finally got here."
Zhou Huaiqing glanced at the bamboo basket on the tractor, turned his head to look at Zhou Huaiping, and said silently: "Brother, something is wrong!"
Zhou Huaiping took a look and said, "Xu Laosan, the new tractor you just bought has broken down. You need to ask the people at the agricultural machinery station to take a look at it!"
Xu Laosan smiled and said, "I plan to go and see them after I'm done with this busy period!"
Zhou Huairong turned his head and took a look at the obviously fewer bamboo baskets in the truck bed. He looked at him and said, "Third brother, there are a few fewer goods today?"
"Yes!" Xu Laosan was too guilty to look at him, "We only received more than 300 kilograms of first-class goods today, and we don't know what's going on!"
Seeing that Zhou Huairong was silent with a sullen face, Father Zhou stepped forward and said, "Xu Laosan, first untie the tarpaulin and unload the goods. We will sort out yours after we have sorted out Huaiqing and the others."
"Yes!" Xu Laosan started working diligently.
After unloading all the bamboo baskets, Zhou Huairong went to the front yard and called Zhou Huaian to the main hall, "Youngest, Xu Laosan only sent twelve baskets of first-class goods this time, and the rest were all second-class. It seems that the rest were all sold to Youngest Xiong."
"Brother, don't pay attention to him!" Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "I wish that bastard Xu Laosan would sell the remaining 300 kilograms to that bastard Xiong Laoya!"
Zhou Huairong looked at his happy face and suddenly remembered the situation when his family harvested red mushrooms last year without a drying room. "I understand."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "There's no need to talk to Xu Laosan. I don't think Secretary Xu knows about what happened today. Let's make plans after he comes back and asks about the matter clearly."
Zhou Huairong smiled bitterly, "Even if Secretary Xu knew, what can we do? Although our family is not poor anymore, we dare not go against the Xu family!"
Zhou Huaian also wilted after hearing this, "Yeah, if they crush us to death, it's just like crushing an ant!"
"It's better not to offend others if you can! Alas!" Zhou Huairong sighed, walked out of the main room, and went to the backyard carrying a bamboo basket.
When Xu Laosan returned home to eat, the rain had stopped. When he arrived at Zhou's house, he saw the family eating around the table. The tractor was loaded with bamboo baskets that had been copied. "It's time to eat!"
"Yes, eat some more!" Zhou Huaian said with a faint smile.
Xu Laosan rubbed his stomach and said, "No, my mom cooked cowpea porridge, and I ate two big bowls."
"I'll give you the money!" Zhou Huaian put down the bowl, took out the money he had prepared long ago from his bag and handed it to him, "Go there tomorrow and tell Uncle Xu how he is! I'll go there someday when I'm free to see if there are any good herbs?"
"Okay! Okay!" Xu Laosan agreed guiltily, started the tractor and drove out of the yard, going straight to Xiong Laoyao's house, "Laoyao, have you copied the bamboo basket?"
The youngest Xiong came out of the house sweating profusely. "How can it be so fast? You put the tractor here, and I will load it in for you after I have copied it."
"Alright!" Xu Lao San held out his hand, "Give me the remaining 110 first."
"Third brother," the youngest bear said with a smile, "I'm a little short on money, I'll give it to you in two days!"
"No!" Xu Laosan refused. "Zhou Laoyao's family always pays for goods at the same time as delivery. I have to give an account to my old man when I go back."
The youngest Xiong said with a bitter face, "Third brother, I'm sorry! I really have no choice. I don't have much capital and can't compare with others. Please wait for a few days and I will definitely give you the money."
Xu Laosan said firmly: "No, you have to give it to me now!" He had already regretted that he should not have sold the mushrooms to him just for the sixty yuan. He really ended up losing more than he gained.
"Then I have no choice." The youngest bear pointed at the bamboo baskets on the steps and said, "Why don't you take all these mushrooms and sell them to the youngest Zhou?"
Now he really wants Xu Laosan to take those mushrooms away so that he can suffer less loss.
"You~" Xu Laosan grabbed his collar, pointed at his nose and said unhappily: "No wonder I said you are a shameless villain and didn't allow me to sell mushrooms to you."
The flesh on the youngest bear's cheeks trembled a few times, and he spread his hands and said, "I really have no other choice. Either I return the mushroom to you, or I'll wait for two days and give it to you when I have it."
Seeing his dead pig fearless expression, Xu Lao San had no way to deal with him. He looked at him with gritted teeth and said, "Two days is a few days. Give me a definite answer!"
"Three days, then you can come and get the money!" The youngest bear said, "If the sun is shining brightly tomorrow, I will ask for another 1,000 kilograms, and I will give it to you in three days. Then I will give you an extra 50 yuan."
After hearing this, Xu Laosan was a little tempted, but then he thought of his old man's gloomy face, and he suddenly came to his senses. He thought to himself: If I get a few hundred more dollars from him, the old man will beat me to death.
"Let me make it clear to you, you have to take the money in one hand and the goods in the other! Without money, you can't even eat!" (End of this chapter)
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