Xiao Jiu is a woman of action; when Zhou Yue is unable to intervene, she needs to stretch her muscles.
Marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and she absolutely cannot give them a chance to cause trouble.
What's more, the Zhen family has no bottom line. During several negotiations, Zhen Tielin stared at them like they were merchandise. It's disgusting to even think about it.
So she casually dropped the imported watch from her wrist; even though it was secondhand, it was still 70% new.
The price in China can reach 500 RMB, and it's not something you can just buy if you want to.
Out of the corner of her eye, Xiao Jiu caught a glimpse of the Zhen family picking up the child, and a smile crept onto her lips as she began to secretly observe the family.
As expected, they dared not wear it out, so they thought of selling it as stolen goods.
They didn't know how much the watch was worth, but they knew it could only be sold on the black market.
Second-hand goods stores are all legitimate shops and should provide relevant receipts from the time of purchase.
It's troublesome. They don't have the guts. If they get caught as thieves, it would be a huge loss.
The black market is thriving now, mainly because the authorities aren't very strict with it.
Even when cracking down on speculation and profiteering, someone needs to report it so that they can be caught red-handed.
Otherwise, if you give some money and pull some strings, you can basically get out.
Most of those sentenced were either used as examples or were maliciously framed.
She knew that a watch might not be able to do anything to the Zhen family.
So when Zhen Niu, Zhen Tielin's second son, went to the black market to trade the watch, she secretly followed him.
After they completed the transaction, they double-crossed each other, each giving the other a beating, and then dragged Zhen Niu to the middleman.
He sold the watch, which cost 500 yuan, for 300 yuan. He also took more than 100 yuan from the dealer and accepted it all without hesitation.
As soon as they got the money and the watch, a bucket of ice water was poured over them, leaving them completely soaked.
They immediately sobered up, and after realizing they had been tricked, they began to suspect each other and instantly started fighting.
The Zhen family hid nearby, waiting and waiting, but no one came. So they followed the direction of the transaction.
Seeing that the two were actually fighting, there was no need to hesitate; of course, we had to help Zhen Niu!
After the middleman suffered a loss and left cursing, the Zhen family also began to curse and complain about Zhen Niu, who had gotten nothing.
None of the Zhen family noticed that the middleman hadn't gone far, but had followed them to the military district guesthouse.
Then he hurried back to report the situation to his boss.
Although the Zhen family kept talking about being robbed on their way back, the middleman didn't care about that.
They've traveled all over the country for years, and no one has ever dared to snatch goods from them so blatantly.
Now that they have lost both the money and the goods, and can't find the murderer, they can only blame the Zhen family.
He lost a total of 480 yuan and a watch.
The 1980s were not a small number; who could swallow this insult?
Especially when they saw this family all rushing out to find a restaurant to eat at mealtimes, they became even more certain that they were being double-crossed.
At first, I was wary of them staying at the military guesthouse. After asking around for several days and finding out that they were a bunch of scoundrels, I was completely relieved.
As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Once targeted by these black market people, within two days, they were forced to hand over the money they had extorted from Hou Jiayu.
But they had already spent all that money, leaving only a few dozen yuan, not even enough to cover their initial investment.
Several strong men and women were sold to illegal coal mines.
No business can generate as much revenue as buying and selling people.
In just three days, of the four generations of the Zhen family, only those over fifty and under ten years old were sent back.
When they arrived, there were more than twenty people, but now only Zhen Tielin and his wife, Zhen Lang and his wife, two granddaughters, and two grandsons remain.
Zhen Lang's wife cried so bitterly, calling for her son and her grandson.
However, the other side had a large number of people and was verbally threatened.
"You old bastards, behave yourselves. This is what you owe us. Once we've made enough money, they'll be released naturally."
We spared your lives not to cause us trouble.
Get as far away as possible and stay out of the way in Harbin. If we run into you again, you'll be in big trouble.
"Your granddaughter will be all grown up in two years. If you've thought it through, you can send her to us."
If it weren't for a benefactor who intervened and spared their lives, they would have let the tiger return to the mountain and brought trouble upon themselves.
When they revealed their lewd and shameless smiles, Zhen Tielin was terrified. "Let's go, let's go right now, let's go right now!"
Once they were out of their sight, Zhen Lang's wife and her mother-in-law, Lin Saihua, started yelling that they were going to call the police.
"Such a big thing happened, more than a dozen people, and they were just sold off like that? Go find Zhou Yue and ask him to take care of it."
These days, everyone is supposed to follow the law, right? We can't just stay in the military guesthouse and do nothing, can we?
"At the very least, we could go find that Hou Jiayu!"
"Even if we need to call the police, we have to send the children back first. Are you comfortable leaving them here?"
Lin Saihua wiped away her tears. "Yes, yes, let's go back first, settle them in, and then come out to call the police."
...
The next day, the family checked out of the guesthouse without saying a word and left in a sorry state.
Whether they can find the people who sold their sons, daughters-in-law, daughters, and sons-in-law when they come back is anyone's guess.
After all, the people in the black market rotate between several territories. If something happens here, who's going to stay and wait for you to call the police and get arrested?
Of course, she didn't go all the way; she deliberately revealed the information she had overheard to Zhou Yue.
"There's no time before the New Year, let's talk about it after the New Year! It's not a bad thing to let them suffer a little."
Since they're not related by blood, he has no pity for them. It's not too late to shut down the illegal coal mine after the New Year.
Zhou Yue didn't inquire about the details of the drinking session; he was content as long as the outcome was satisfactory.
After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, relatives began to flock to Heilongjiang Province from all directions.
The journey from Los Angeles to Harbin in Heilongjiang Province is a full 2,000 kilometers, and at current train speeds, it would take at least 30 to 40 hours.
This doesn't even include the time spent stopping to replenish supplies, especially as the road becomes increasingly difficult to traverse further northeast, with ice and snow everywhere.
It's normal to spend three days on a train.
Tang Cuimei is well-off and can't bear this hardship, so she plans to come by plane.
After all, it's a full 3,500 kilometers from Guangzhou to Harbin. Under these circumstances, it would take a week to travel by train instead of by plane.
Apart from Tang Cuihong, who plans to set off right on time, Tao Zui, Tao Ran, Tao Qing, Tang Cuixiang, Tang Cuihua, Tang Cuifeng, and Tang Cuilan have all set off after the Lunar New Year.
Including the time spent waiting for the bus, stopping, and transferring, you need at least four days of relaxed preparation.
Fortunately, they all sent Zhou Yue a telegram before they set off, informing him of their train numbers, so Zhou Yue only needed to arrive at the station on time to pick them up.
Tang Cuiju, who lives far in the northwest, travels 2,300 kilometers from Yinchuan to Harbin. Tang Cuilian, who lives in Wushi in central China, travels about the same distance to Harbin. Both sisters have endured hardship and, unable to afford plane tickets, have opted to travel by train instead.
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