Volume 1: The Happy Life in the Ivory Tower Chapter 17: The Sail and Oar Smoke Disappears Amidst Laughter (4)

  "Daughter, call your dad down for dinner!"

  Shi Da Niang whispered to Shi Bao Ying, didn't eat in the morning, called her husband to eat at noon and was scolded by that stubborn old man. The master of the Shi family is a hegemon in the village and an old master at home. Knowing what happened these days, Shi Da Niang usually doesn't dare to disobey the old man's temper.

  "I'm not going." Shi Baoying hesitated, while her younger brother Shi Baogui grinned mischievously. Suddenly, their mother had a better idea and whispered to her son, "Baogui, go call your father down."

  "Don't go, don't think I don't know Dad is angry, beating me up is whose fault." Shi Baoguo was very clear about the situation. This time, Shi Dainiang was unhappy and grumbled that her children were useless, she had raised them in vain, her husband was also useless, she had served him in vain, and these relatives and neighbors were even more useless, they just watched as the Shi family faced such a big problem, but didn't come to help, only knowing how to count money when it was time to be happy, but not knowing how hard it was for their family.

  She had a lot of complaints, but it was also something that bothered Shi Bao Ying. From the morning when she went up to the second floor of the Shi family's house to discuss things, until noon, she still hadn't come down. It was strange to say, but in the four or five years she had been coming here, they had hardly exchanged a few words. This time, however, they had talked for an entire morning and into the afternoon. Shi Bao Ying hadn't gone over there either, just waiting for news. The longer it took, the more astonished she felt, and the greater the possibility seemed.

  What method is it?

  Shi Bao Ying also pondered for a whole morning, but no matter how she thought about it, it was all just going around in circles. As she sat at the entrance, bored and watching the raindrops, Xiao Bao Gui rushed back, panting and saying: "Mom, sister, they're back."

  "Who's back?" Shi Bao Ying didn't move or respond, her mind was still upstairs.

  "Genwa Ge, Da Biao Ge, and San Hai Shu." Shi Baogui said.

  "Come back, come back! You're a rare guest!" The mother rolled her eyes.

  "But they all came to our house, asking what to do with this year's harvest? We've been busy for a whole year, relying on the money from selling the cattle." said Shi Baogui.

  At this moment, Shi Bao Ying was so shocked that she almost fell to the ground, got up in surprise, and followed her brother rushing out of the big yard. They didn't all come back, Shi San Hai led the way, with sturdy young men behind him. People from various families in the village came to join in the excitement, and a quick-witted old woman shouted at Bao Ying, asking: "Big niece, what about this year's meat? In previous years, it was exchanged for money."

  "Let the village chief come out and say something, can't just wait blindly like this?"

  "There's still the braised food shop that can't be closed, or else what would Winter let our family's little doll do?"

  "If we can't sell it, can't we just sell it ourselves? Anyway, there are buyers everywhere, and it's not like we can't sell it."

  "Bao Ying, our whole village has been following your family's lead, we can't let everyone down, can we?"

  “…………”

  Look around, almost half of the village has arrived. You say one sentence, I say one sentence, and Shi Baoying is blocked. Three to five days can be waited, but with the butcher's shop closed and no news of meat purchases, it's no wonder everyone is getting anxious. That thing in his mouth needs to be fed every day, and after autumn, hay needs to be added, otherwise, it will lose weight and not make a profit. Shi Baoying faced the village's questioning, but was tongue-tied. It seems that he has little experience and hasn't been through this kind of situation before. He pulled his brother over and whispered: "Go quickly, call Dad down."

  At this moment, it's likely that no one can calm the situation down except for Shi family elder and Village Chief. Shi Baoguo hastily ran back home, rushed upstairs, but was surprised to see Dan Yong and his father sitting opposite each other, drinking wine from a bowl without any dishes, which is called "Gan Beng" in the village, something only idle bachelors would do. At this moment, he didn't have time to be puzzled, and shouted: "Dad, people are gathering at our door, my sister can't hold them back."

  "Go, I'll be right down." Shi Baoquan waved his hand and urged his son to hurry up. Bao Qi flew downstairs quickly. Only then did the old man move his legs, stand by the window and take a look, turn his head and scold Xian Yong with a smile: "You little bastard, you've thought it through thoroughly, even this is part of your plan. If I didn't agree, were you going to push me down from my position as village chief?"

  "Haha, I couldn't push it down, but you definitely don't want to come down either. Sometimes bad things can turn into good things, this opportunity is just right for us to concentrate our efforts and make a pre-war mobilization speech. Don't let people think that Old Master's blade has gone dull." Yan Rong flattered him with a sentence, his boot-licking was just right.

  Shi Baoquan smiled, and the two of them went downstairs together. By this time, the gloom had already dissipated, and Old Man Shi strode out of the courtyard with a vigorous gait, his figure standing tall on the porch for an instant, the entire scene frozen in time. The villagers, who had just been making a ruckus, stood quietly like utility poles in the rain.

  "What's wrong? Can't even sit still for a big deal like this? Look at your little accomplishments, if the sky falls down I'll hold it up myself, it's not your turn to go out and face the music. What are you yelling about, shouting like a donkey in heat after autumn?"

  The old man started by scolding, and then the one being scolded stood there with a silly expression, laughing loudly with his mouth wide open.

  Not having this level of ability can't be a village cadre, especially in a single surname village where one is both the clan leader and the village head. If you can scold, you can fight, if you can bully men and women, as long as people respect you, it's settled. Shi Baoquan was undoubtedly a hero among them, with one sentence that silenced the whole village without any dissent. He walked a few steps, staring at Shi Genwa, Da Biao, San Hai and several others with his donkey eyes. These people glanced at Shan Yong, clearly having guilty consciences in their hearts, all lowering their heads.

  That's right, there is a meaning to force the village chief on the road. If they just hide and dodge, the men in the village can't swallow this breath. The alliance of offense and defense is responsible for persuading the village chief by Dan Yong, and they are responsible for subduing the city, but it's not clear what the situation is like now.

  It won't be long before the truth comes out. Shi Baoquan walked a few steps, wiped the rain from his face, looked at the neighbors and fellow villagers standing in the rain, and couldn't help but think of the years when he was so poor that he had to lead the whole village to collect money by begging. These years have passed, life has gotten better, and people's hearts have slowly dispersed. He took a deep breath, raised his voice and said: "That's right, something happened this year, no need to hide it from everyone. The big clients who ordered goods in summer came to the village a few days ago, damn it! This group of bastards, picking and choosing, wanting to lower the price, one head less, they want to give us four hundred yuan less... Is this something human beings do? No, not even animals are like that. Old and young masters, can you say something, can we get them to follow the contract?"

  "We can't..." Thunderstruck, the crowd was stirred up, waving their fists and shouting.

  "So the old master took out tens of millions of subscription fees, and threw them away like toilet paper. The money can be forgotten, but we cannot let people look down on our Shihua Village men. Does everyone agree?" Shi Baoquan stirred up the crowd. The group of men below were like a donkey that had been fed too much, waving their fists and echoing the village chief in unison: "Agreed!"

  Shan Yong bit his lip, suppressing the laughter that was about to burst out. The crowd was mobilized in this way, as long as you had enough momentum, there would be a group of followers, but these followers also had conditions, that is, they had to have something to gain. At this time, Shi Baquan had already solved this problem, and naturally, his momentum was particularly strong.

  Now, let's get to the point. Shi Baoquan changed the subject and said: "I'll tell you something else, from the time I threw back the deposit, our sales channel was completely cut off. Those big shots in the city spread the word that if we don't sell to them at a low price, they will make sure that not a single donkey from Shi's village can be sold this year."

  These words are harsh, directly hitting the villagers' weak spots. Between supporting the village chief and sympathizing with Lu Qian's money, it was a difficult choice to make, and for a moment, everyone fell silent.

  That's the effect of turning back, Shi Baoquan's righteous indignation turned into a heroic and stirring speech, he waved his hand and said: "But everyone knows what I'm saying, I told them that our village is going to do something, even the king of heaven can't stop it. I also told everyone that the rice bowl is taken back by oneself, not begged for or knelt down for others to pity you, this year's livestock raised by everyone must not only be sold but also at a high price, whoever's income is less than last year, I Shi Baoquan will dismantle walls and sell iron pots to make up for the villagers.

  "Alright... let's listen to the village head."

  "The village head told us what to do, and we did it."

  The crowd was so excited, clapping hands and waving fists, with excitement radiating from their faces. It seems that the rumors of this small world's king are not exaggerated. This sentence alone is worth tens of millions of dollars. With that said, Shi Baoquan rolled up his sleeves and shouted to a group of robust young men: "What are you standing there for? San Hai, bring the kids to fetch water and firewood. Every family in the village will come first, and we'll take as much as we can carry. Tomorrow, I'll personally wield the knife and start slaughtering. We'll make our own way, and I dare anyone to stop us."

  This morning, young and old, surrounded Shi San Hua, slaughtered donkeys to make meat, the villagers counted him as a master, another group, Gen Wa and Da Biao led a group of young people, rushed to the hot pot restaurant, for a time, the villagers were running around in the rain, the smoke from the kitchen just rose, and some villagers had already come to line up with their donkeys.

  Shi Baoquan waited until everyone had dispersed, then turned around and gave Dan Yong a glance. He snorted: "You should also get out of here, finish the remaining tasks properly, if not, you'll still have no food to eat."

  As he spoke, he still had a bit of discontent and stepped into the courtyard. Shuang Yong smiled and was about to go to the braised meat shop to greet those accountants when Shi Bao Ying quickly followed him, blocking his path. She frowned, looking him up and down as if she were seeing him for the first time. Others may not understand her father's tone of voice, but his daughter did. Just now, her father had obviously regarded Shuang Yong as a business partner.

  "What am I doing?" Dan Yong became a little boy again in front of Shi Jie.

  "What did you say to my dad?" Shi Bao Ying asked.

  "Didn't say anything, just helped him find something back." Dan Yong said with a smile.

  "What is it?" Shi Bao Ying asked.

  "Courage and bloodline, you just saw it, the whole village has been found." said Shan Yong.

  It's an intangible thing, Shi Bao Ying also heard the public outrage, but not to the point of blindly following, looking at Dan Yong wanting to leave, he stretched out his hand and stopped him, asking: "Still want to wholesale sauce meat?"

  "Didn't we discuss this earlier?" Dan Yong said.

  "What if something happens again? Tao Chengzhang of Lürou Xiang, Qian Zhongping of Xinmin Roulian, and several old brands like Weiyuan and Xiang Shili are all obviously backed by Qin Junhu and Kong Xiangzhong. Can they let it go?" Shi Baoying asked worriedly, worrying about both her family's business and the person in front of her.

  "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Sister Shi, Kong Xiangzhong was arrested, didn't you know?" Shanyong said calmly, startling Shibao Ying who let out a cry and covered her mouth. She couldn't believe it at first, but thinking about her father's confident attitude earlier, she believed it immediately. If nothing unexpected happens, it's likely that Father won't be able to get out of this predicament.

  "Ah……" Shi Baoying was stunned to find that Shan Yong had left, and the words on her lips stopped. Shan Yong ran over to join the group of men from the village, who were laughing and tossing him high in the air.

  Shi Baojing looked on and smiled, although she didn't know what had happened, but she knew that this gloomy rainy day was coming to an end.

  …………………

  …………………

  "Ladies and gentlemen, citizens, good evening... Now broadcasting the latest news just received. This morning at around 10 o'clock, a large number of cattle appeared on many roads in the western suburbs of our city, causing traffic congestion and multiple accidents. After receiving reports of the incidents, our police officers, armed police, firefighters, and urban management personnel worked together to round up all the scattered livestock throughout the city by around 2 pm."

  After investigation, it was found that the batch of livestock belonged to Xiyuan Breeding Farm in the western suburbs. The relevant departments investigating the accident discovered that this batch of livestock was smuggled into our city without a license, and the management of the business premises was chaotic, with an excessively high breeding density causing a large number of livestock to escape from the enclosure, resulting in traffic chaos in the urban area. Currently, the person responsible for the accident has been detained by the public security authorities for investigation... ...According to another report, in response to the current situation where our city is a major consumer of donkey meat, Mayor Lu *** pointed out at today's on-site office meeting that we should require all relevant departments such as quarantine, disease control, inspection, and animal husbandry to conduct self-inspection and self-examination from the details, starting from small things, and always put the interests of the people first.

  Lanzhou evening news reported that the host's dignified and elegant appearance had always been Lei Dapeng's favorite, but at this moment, he was sitting on the sofa, picking his nose and admiring the host's smile. Suddenly, Lei Dapeng's infatuation disappeared, not only did he no longer have any evil thoughts, but he also thought that the host looked so cute. This news broadcast made him feel like he could put his heart at ease.

  But until now, Lei Dapeng still didn't understand that although they had clearly blown up the other person's livestock, why did they end up arresting the people who raised them instead.

  In a daze, I turned back to ask my dad: "Dad, does this cow need certification too? Is it like our university diploma, if there's no certificate the country won't recognize it... wait, even without recognition it's still a cow?"

  "They've been working for so long but still haven't made progress."

  A magazine flew over, Leiduo Bao was rummaging through the cabinet looking for something, explained a few sentences and then gave his son a glance, Leida Peng's heart was put at ease, not worried anymore, asked directly what dad was doing, Leiduo Bao finally found it, delighted, raised his hand and said: "This one."

  A large stack of blue and red books, Lei Dapeng was stunned, and then Lei Yu came out again: "Oh dad, you've bought all the graduate school books? What certificate do you want to get?"

  "Stupid kid, take these for your big brother." Leidobao threw over several books. Lei Dapeng flipped through them, and they were all kinds of certificates: health permits, business licenses, quarantine certificates... a whole bunch of papers that left Lei Dapeng confused: "What's going on? What is Big Brother up to now?"

  "Donkey Garden sauce meat wholesale department, is about to open... Your old man I occupied 10% of the shares ah, haha, you this dry brother, compared to you strong not just a little bit." Lei Duo Bao sat down, stroking his son's head said, Lei Da Peng's head was stroked, but not praised, angrily pushed away his father's hand and sulkily said: "Strong my butt, if not helped him, he mixed what... I say dad, why are you following us meddling in this?"

  "My silly son, this lucrative business, who wouldn't want to get involved? If one family rises up, several others will follow. We may not make the money, but someone else will come and grab it. It's not like we're not making a profit at all! Ah, Da Peng, I'm asking you, how much money does your brother have in his hands?" Lei Duo Bao asked.

  "There should be around 30,000 yuan." said Lei Dapeng.

  "Three to two million!?" Laiduo Bao was surprised.

  "What's wrong?" his son asked.

  "He's talking about 200,000 to 300,000 yuan with me, but the wholesale department doesn't bring in goods, and just opening up requires over a million. At this price for donkey meat, if we're short of 300,000 to 500,000 in working capital, it won't be enough... Is this guy playing me? Leidobao was stunned for a moment, they had discussed this on the phone a few days ago, and he was only responsible for handling the paperwork. But now that the paperwork is done, if they can't open up, it'll be a joke."

  Lei Dapeng stared at his old man with a silly expression, and chuckled as he teased him: "Dad, how can you be even more foolish than me? Their family has nothing but that broken-down house and small shop in Ma Village. I'm not the laughing stock of the village, am I? Compared to other things, he's actually better off than us. But if we're talking about being rich, then he really can't compare to our family. Haha..."

  Lei Dapeng finally found something to brag about, hehe, delighted. However, Lei Duobao thought this was no laughing matter, grabbed the phone and asked Shanyong a few questions. His face showed even more surprise, seemingly another unexpected event had occurred. Lei Dapeng leaned in to listen but before hearing anything, the call ended. Lei Duobao handed the certificate to his son and scolded: "You're stupid and still dare to argue! Shanyong's store is already set up, just waiting for the opening. The location is on Jiefang Road, a place where every inch of land is worth gold. Without tens of thousands of yuan, you can't even make a move. You should learn from this, don't be like your mom who only knows how to eat well and dress well... Take the certificate to Shanyong."

  Lei Dapeng sucked in his nose, rolled his eyes, and sulkily put the certificate in his pocket before heading out the door. As soon as he stepped out, his mother happened to be coming back home. Lei Dapeng's eyes darted around, and he pulled on his mother's arm, tattling: "Mom, Dad scolded us! He said I'm just like you, only knowing how to eat well and dress well."

  As soon as he spoke, his mother's face fell, and the river east lion roared, Leidabao, get out of here! What did you scold us two for? Is it not that I worked hard outside to make money, and you're having an affair again.

  Listening to his father's repeated admissions of guilt and apologies, Lei Dapeng burst out laughing and ran away in a flash.