After returning, the goods had been unloaded. Zheng Zhihe said, "Let's go eat first, and then find a guesthouse to rest." Xia Rong didn't say anything and followed him. After all, she hadn't slept all night and had only managed to get through it by sheer willpower.
The two ate at a state-run restaurant and then booked rooms at the nearest guesthouse. They shared a room; Zheng Zhihe took off his shoes and lay down on the bed to sleep. Xia Rong washed her face and feet and lay down, thinking about the goods she had acquired this time. She didn't have time to visit the villages like before, and this time she had acquired a large quantity, which wouldn't sell quickly. She drifted off to sleep, lost in thought. It wasn't until dusk that she heard Zheng Zhihe yawn from the next bed and say, "Get up. Go buy some steamed buns for the journey. We need to hurry, or who knows what might happen." He then went to the bathroom to wash up. Xia Rong waited for him to finish before going in herself. After cleaning herself, she ran out to buy some steamed buns and a kettle of hot water before setting off.
When they arrived in their county, Zheng Zhihe let out a long sigh of relief and said to Xia Rong, "Go back and get some rest. It seems like there aren't any deliveries to make recently." He also needed to rest, as the experience had indeed been quite frightening. Xia Rong could sense that Zheng Zhihe's attitude towards him had improved a lot after this incident. Xia Rong thought to himself that this could be a blessing in disguise, as it seemed that delivering goods would be much more convenient in the future. Seeing that it was still early, Xia Rong carried his goods straight to the black market. There, he found a young man he'd done business with before; this time he was selling beef. Xia Rong led him aside, opened the bag, and said succinctly, "A thousand scarves, two yuan each, want them?" The young man, seeing the scarves were a nice color and of good quality, said, "Brother Rong, I want some, but I can't eat them all by myself." Seeing Xia Rong didn't respond, he added, "But I can find a few friends to share." Xia Rong nodded, "Okay, then hurry up, I'm in a rush." The young man smiled and said, "Brother, could you watch the stall for me? I'll be right back." He ran outside as he spoke. Xia Rong waited there for about an hour, and then the young man returned with three other young men of similar age. The four of them pooled together two thousand yuan and bought the goods from Xia Rong. Xia Rong took the money and went home.
When Xia Rong arrived home, his sister and father were still at get off work. He went inside to rest for a while, as he had been traveling all night and hadn't had a good rest. Xia Liang heard from her mother that her brother was back after get off work, so she didn't go in to disturb him. Not long after, Xia's father also came home, and the family had dinner together. Xia Rong then invited Xia Liang to his study to talk. After closing the door, Xia Rong opened the bag his sister had given him and poured all the money onto the table. Seeing the colorful bills, Xia Liang asked, "How much did you earn this time?" Xia Rong nodded and said, "This is the most I've ever earned in business." Indeed, he had earned 1,800 yuan on this trip, which was far more than his previous small-scale operations. Although he had earned tens of thousands of yuan before, it was all accumulated in tens or hundreds of yuan. This time, he had earned nearly 2,000 yuan in less than three days. Xia Rong told his sister about what happened on the road. Xia Liang was frightened and pulled her brother around to check him over, quickly asking, "Are you hurt anywhere?" Xia Rong smiled and said, "No, thanks to the big knife you prepared for me, otherwise, things might have been different. When you prepared it for me before, I thought you were making a fuss over nothing. If I wasn't afraid you'd get angry, I wouldn't have brought it." He laughed as he spoke. Xia Liang glanced at him sideways: "You don't listen to your sister, and now you're paying the price." Actually, Xia Liang was also frightened. Although she had heard of such things in her previous life, such things no longer existed in her era, so she just listened to them as stories and didn't take them to heart. She prepared the knife for Xia Rong just in case, not because she thought Xia Rong would definitely need it. It wasn't until Xia Rong experienced it that she felt it was real and something that could happen. Seeing his sister frightened, Xia Rong quickly comforted her, "Don't be afraid, it's alright now. Besides, those other drivers didn't encounter anything this dangerous when they ran away before. This was just an accident. We won't take that road again." He patted Xia Liang's head and added, "Don't tell Mom and Dad about this, I'm afraid they'll worry." Xia Liang nodded, "I know." The siblings sat and waited for Xia Liang to calm down. Xia Rong then counted out nine hundred yuan and handed it to Xia Liang, but she refused, "I don't want it. This is like money earned with your life on your hands. I don't want it." Xia Rong flicked her forehead, "What nonsense are you talking about? We agreed to split it 50/50. Just take it. Besides, weren't you risking getting caught collecting and selling eggs before?" After saying that, the siblings fell silent, both thinking about how difficult that time had been. They didn't have much capital, and after collecting the goods, they could only carry them on their backs and walk, their feet blistered and bleeding countless times.
The next day at work, the family ate noodles cooked by Xia's mother. Xia's father, who lived far away, rode his bicycle ahead. Xia Rong and his sister, who lived closer to the factory, strolled there leisurely. At the factory gate, they ran into Zhou Xiaohui. The little girl had recently blushed like a monkey's bottom whenever she saw Xia Rong. Before Xia Liang could even tease her, she dashed off. Xia Rong, left behind, reached out to call her, but before he could even speak, she was gone. Xia Liang almost died laughing. After parting ways, the siblings went to their respective posts. Just a few minutes after arriving at the office, they suddenly heard the loudspeaker outside shout, "All personnel, proceed to the playground for a meeting!" It was repeated three times. The others murmured amongst themselves, "What's going on? Why are we having a meeting for no reason?" "I don't know, let's go see." They all headed towards the playground. Xia Liang thought to herself, "It's probably about what happened to my brother on his business trip."
After standing in line on the playground, the factory leader went on stage to speak. Sure enough, it was about that incident. Zheng Zhihe had told his relative, who then discussed it with his office colleagues. They felt it wasn't a small matter; although no property or life was lost, the behavior was extremely egregious. They reported it to the factory director. Upon hearing this, the director was initially furious, then broke out in a cold sweat. If such a thing happened while he was still employed, even if it wasn't his fault, it wouldn't look good on his resume. He immediately called the police and specifically commended Comrade Xia Rong, which led to today's meeting. Ultimately, the factory decided to promote Xia Rong to a permanent position and reward him with a bicycle voucher. Others were envious, but only envious; they didn't want to experience something like that themselves. And so, Comrade Xia Rong was promoted to a permanent position in less than a month.
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