Ever since Su Yang mentioned the word divorce, Xia Heyu has been distraught. She thought Su Yang would continue to suppress her and not let her divorce like he did in her previous life.
She didn't expect it to be so easy, so easy that she couldn't react.
What happened on the street spread throughout the entire commune in less than a day. Xia Heyu's parents were questioned whenever they went out. No matter how much they loved Xia Heyu, they could not accept such continuous humiliation and simply announced that they did not have a daughter like Xia Heyu.
Sun Xiaojuan was angry that Xia Heyu had embarrassed her son outside, so she gave her a severe beating when Xia Heyu came back that day. The next day, she forced Su Yang to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau with her to get the divorce certificate she had been longing for, but Xia Heyu was not happy.
She took some things from Su Yang's house and went home, but was thrown out by her eldest brother before she even entered the house. Xia Heyu finally couldn't hold back her tears in front of the neighbors who were watching her. She took the things and went straight to Su Zhengtang's house.
Zhu Yuemei didn't let her in either. She had already divorced Su Yang, so why did she want to stay at home their house? Did she think the Su family didn't have enough jokes?
Xia Heyu stood in front of Su Zhengtang's house, feeling very confused. She didn't understand why after being reborn, she didn't change the bad situation of her previous life, but instead made her situation worse and worse.
After knocking on the door for a while, Su Zhengtang and Zhu Yuemei were obviously at home, but they still didn't come out to open the door. Xia Heyu burst into tears. She stood there for a long time and knocked on the door of the educated youth center next door.
She knew that two female educated youth had gone out to build their own houses, so there must be vacant beds in the previous dormitory. She was not big, so squeezing in with them would not be a bother to them.
It was already dark. It was Wang Shanxi's turn to cook today. He was washing the dishes when he heard someone knocking on the door. He came out. Seeing Xia Heyu with a pile of luggage, he frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Xia Heyu tilted her head and looked into the room: "Wang Zhiqing, I want to stay at your Zhiqing camp for a while. Do you think it's okay? I won't live here for free. I still have my high school books. I'll lend them to you. I know you are all short of books. I'll lend you books for review. It will also be helpful for you after the college entrance examination is resumed..."
Xia Heyu just remembered about the resumption of the college entrance examination, mainly because the college entrance examination had nothing to do with her in her previous life. Her academic performance was always at the bottom of the class, and she only got her diploma by cheating.
Su Yang's grades were pretty good, and he was admitted to a teachers' college in his previous life, otherwise he wouldn't have the money to spend so much.
Wang Shanxi was so excited when he heard her say that the college entrance examination would be resumed, but he quickly realized that whether the college entrance examination was resumed was another matter. Even if it was resumed, it would not be difficult to get high school textbooks. But if Xia Heyu was allowed to live in the educated youth camp, regardless of whether the policy allowed it, given her personality, it would be easier to invite a god than to send him away.
The atmosphere in their youth training center is quite good now. They must not let it become a mess because of Xia Heyu.
"I'm sorry, Comrade Xia. It's not that I won't help you, but this is a youth settlement, and all the people who live here are educated youth. It doesn't comply with the regulations for you to live here, so you should find someone else to help you."
After Wang Shanxi was done speaking, he was afraid that Xia Heyu would continue to pester him, so he slammed the door shut. He turned a deaf ear to Xia Heyu's knocks again.
He stood in the yard. The late autumn wind was cool, but it could not blow away the fire in his heart.
Jiang Youtao and others also heard the knock on the door. They could vaguely hear Xia Heyu's voice in the room. Out of curiosity, they went out to ask Wang Shanxi.
Wang Shanxi invited them to the kitchen to talk.
Zhou Zhenfeng was still not there. The weather was cold and Zhao Rongguang had not been out recently. After a while, everyone gathered in the kitchen.
Wang Shanxi suppressed his excitement and tried to speak in a calm voice, "Xia Heyu knocked on the door just now and said she wanted to stay at our educated youth camp. She said she wasn't staying here for free, and she lent us her high school textbooks so that we can get good grades when the college entrance examination is resumed."
After hearing the first few sentences, Li Yunying and the others were still thinking that Xia Heyu was dreaming, but after hearing the latter part, they were all very excited.
"Will the college entrance examination really be resumed? Is the news accurate?" Li Yunying was the most excited. She couldn't help but walk forward for a long time.
Zhao Rongguang also stood up and stared at Wang Shanxi. It was too difficult to get a place in the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Program, even if Zhao Rongguang's family had connections. Zhao Rongguang had always dreamed of going to college, and he wanted to go to college. Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night and found himself sitting in a university classroom.
Nowadays, if you want to go to university, you have to rely on local recommendations. It is extremely difficult to get a place. The college entrance examination has been abolished for many years. Suddenly, they heard that it can still be taken. Thay are all people who have studied for many years. Who wouldn't be excited?
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei knew the course of history. They knew that the college entrance examination would be resumed in two years. Jiang Youtao planned to wait until next year to reveal some news to Li Yunying and the others. According to their personalities, they would study hard even if there was a slight chance.
Next year will only be the 75th year, and there are still one or two years before the college entrance examination, which is enough time for them to review well.
Gu Nianwei's thoughts coincided with Jiang Youtao's.
But now that Xia Heyu has told them in advance, they don't have to waste their efforts. Otherwise, it would be quite troublesome to explain the source of the information.
Wang Shanxi took a deep breath and said, "No matter whether this news is true or false, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, we should prepare. If such a day really comes, it is better for us to prepare in advance than to be unprepared."
Wang Shanxi said to everyone earnestly, "Our country has been without talent for too long. Even if it doesn't recover in the next two years, it will recover sooner or later. We must cheer up and work hard. Tomorrow I will go to the county town to find some textbooks. Starting from the day after tomorrow, we will study for half an hour every day after dinner."
Wang Shanxi is the leader of the educated youth point, and everyone listens to him.
Li Yunying covered her face and sat on the ground, tears streaming out from between her fingers.
For eight years, she thought she would have to stay in the countryside for the rest of her life and she had accepted her fate. But in the end, she actually saw hope.
Even if it was just a tiny bit, it illuminated her gloomy life.
Li Yunying's crying made the others cry as well. Every educated youth was deeply moved after hearing such a thing.
Zhang Huihui and Zhao Yonglan have only been in the countryside for a few months, but they have already experienced the hardships of a farmer. If possible, they certainly would not want to farm for the rest of their lives.
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei were unwilling to do so either. They were both born in the future, and from birth to the time they traveled through time, they had never worked on the ground for a single day. They could live a comfortable life, so who would want to suffer so much?
After the small meeting, Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei walked towards their house together.
Jiang Youtao asked Gu Nianwo: "Weiwei, do you want to go to college?"
Gu Nianwei wanted to go to college. The first batch of college students after the resumption of the college entrance examination produced many talented people. All those who went to college were, without exception, pillars of their respective fields. Gu Nianwei admitted that she did not have such great ambitions, but she still wanted to visit the universities of that era and feel the learning atmosphere of universities of that era.
"Of course!"
Jiang Youtao held Gu Nianwei's hand and said, "I want to go too. Let's go together."
In her previous life, Jiang Youtao was struggling to make a living and the orphanage was financially short. She had to rely on herself if she wanted to study. Jiang Youtao had been working everywhere since she was in high school to support herself in school, but in the end she only got into a second-tier university. In this life, she had such an opportunity and she wanted to go to a top university.
"I want to be admitted to the capital. Let's work hard together." Jiang Youtao's words made Gu Nianwei turn her head and look at her. She had good grades when she was in school. After leaving school for many years and starting to study again, Gu Nianwei didn't know how her concentration would be. But she saw the raging fire in Jiang Youtao's eyes.
Gu Nianwei felt that at this moment, the ambition in Jiang Youtao's eyes lit up this starless night. She thought that she should always remember this night when her good friend, her comrade-in-arms, asked her to climb to the top of the motherland's university together.
She smiled. "Okay," she replied.
No one at the educated youth site slept well that night. Early the next morning, Wang Shanxi went out in a hurry. Jiang Youtao and others were absent-minded when they went to dig hemp stalks that day.
They peeled the hemp stalks for two days in a row, and most of the stalks were peeled off. Then Jiang Youtao and the others stopped rolling hemp ropes and making shoe soles.
When they returned to the educated youth point, Wang Shanxi had already returned and he also brought good news. He ran to all the high schools and recycling stations in the county and finally collected all the textbooks for high school, even those for junior high school.
Before it got dark, Zhao Rongguang went to find a few large wooden boards to make a blackboard stand. Gu Nianwei contributed two bottles of ink, and everyone worked together to paint the boards black. Wang Shanxi took out the chalk that he had bought from several places.
Everyone ate absent-mindedly that night, and the blackboard outside was half dry after dinner. Everyone was anxious and disappointed. No one wanted to wait until tomorrow to start studying.
Wang Shanxi said, "Since no one is sleepy, let's start tonight. We'll start with the junior high school textbooks. We'll consolidate the knowledge we know, and we'll just relearn the knowledge we don't know. The first class will be Chinese. Everyone take pens and notebooks to write down the content of the first class."
That night, in the small kitchen of the Liushugou Youth Dining Center, four or five kerosene lamps lit up the room. The enthusiasm of the eight people at the Youth Dining Center was enough to warm up the night.
During the intermission, Jiang Youtao thought of Zhou Zhenfeng who had not even returned to the educated youth center recently: "Everyone who has money in their hands recently should keep it carefully. I heard from Aunt Xu that Zhou Zhenfeng has been playing with Liu Erhua's son Sun Goudan outside recently. They are playing big, and I guess Zhou Zhenfeng doesn't have much money left."
Xu Dazui did say this to Jiang Youtao, and Jiang Youtao was not afraid of verification.
Zhao Rongguang frowned, "I know he's playing with money. I tried to persuade him, but he scolded me. I guess he lost a lot. Our money is hidden, don't worry. But keep the door of your room closed. I'm afraid he'll go to your room and steal after losing a lot of money."
Zhao Rongguang only found out about Zhou Zhenfeng's gambling at Zuoyou'an. He wanted to talk about it last night, but he forgot about it when the college entrance examination was resumed. Zhao Rongguang felt that it was necessary to remind him. No matter how useless Zhou Zhenfeng was, he was still a man. If he broke into the house of the female educated youth center late at night while they were sleeping, the consequences would be disastrous.
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei are not afraid of this. With Jiang Youtao's current strength, she can lift him up with one hand. Gu Nianwei is quite skilled, and if a real fight breaks out, even the two Zhou Zhenfengs are no match for her.
But it's always a good idea to be careful.
Jiang Youtao thought for a moment and said, "Aunt Xu said the day before yesterday that there were too many mice in her house and she wanted to buy some mousetraps. I'll tell her tomorrow to buy a few more and put two by the door and window before going to bed at night."
As the person with the most money in the educated youth center, Zhao Yonglan panicked: "Please buy a few for me too, I want to put a few in my box too."
Whenever Zhao Yonglan thought about what Zhou Zhenfeng had done to her before, she felt uneasy.
"Okay, I'll bring it to you." Anyway, you have to pay for it. Uncle Manzhu from Xu Dazui's family always goes to the commune twice a week, so it's just a small thing to bring it for free.
Zhao Yonglan felt unsafe: "I will go to the commune to buy it myself tomorrow."
Zhao Yonglan was going, and Liu Yingjun and Zhang Huihui thought about it and decided to go with her. The main reason was that Jiang Youtao said last time that Xia Heyu wanted to plot against her. Although she had not taken any action for such a long time, it was obvious to all that Xia Heyu had great hostility towards Zhao Yonglan.
As they said, I am not afraid of smart people's schemes, but I am afraid of stupid people making blind moves.
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei did not plan to go to the commune. Gu Nianwei wanted to go to the county town. She had not been there since the last accident, so she had to go and take a look to feel at ease.
Jiang Youtao also wanted to go. She had eaten a lot of melons in the village during this period. She didn't save any other things, but she saved a lot of melon seeds. Those with a bad smell were inedible, so she had to sell them, otherwise the more they accumulated, the more her backpack would be unable to hold it in.
The two decided to go together, and then separate to do their own things when they arrived at the county town.
When she went back to sleep at night, Jiang Youtao browsed the system mall and bought a stack of oil paper. She had learned from her experience in selling melon seeds last time. It was good to use a cup as a measuring cup, but if someone didn't bring a bag with them, she couldn't fit a cup of melon seeds in her hand, which was a bit inconvenient.
Fold the oil paper into a triangle and put one or two melon seeds in a small bag. It is not only difficult to leak, but also easy to take. Jiang Youtao sorted the melon seeds overnight, put different flavors in different bags, and wrote the names on them with a pen to prevent taking the wrong ones.
As the night deepened, Jiang Youtao blew out the oil lamp and went to sleep. However, Gu Nianwei, who lived next door, was busy for nearly an hour before she went to sleep.
Although she said she would no longer sell things on the black market, making money is addictive. After enjoying the days of earning money every week, she hasn't seen any money for a month, and her heart feels like it's being scratched by a cat's claws.
She hadn't paid attention to it before, thinking that grain was a scarce commodity and would surely be easy to sell. She forgot that the craftsmanship level in this world was not up to par and the rice she sold was of too good a quality, making it easy to be targeted.
She planned to sell some things that were in line with the existing craftsmanship in this world and were not conspicuous, and sell a certain amount of goods to make room for the space.
After breakfast the next morning, everyone agreed to go out together.
Today is neither a market nor a festival, so there are not many people on the road to the commune. When they arrived at the commune, Zhao Yonglan and the other two went to the supply and marketing cooperative, while Jiang Youtao and the others boarded the bus to the county town.
After arriving at the county town, the two agreed on the time to go back and then parted ways.
Jiang Youtao found a deserted place, dressed up, and headed towards the cinema.
As she walked, she chatted with the melon-eating system: [ Tongzi, do you have a pill that can temporarily change one's appearance after taking it? Every time I go to sell something like this, I have to put on makeup in advance. This is really hindering my steps to becoming the richest man in the world! ]
The melon-eating system didn't expect Jiang Youtao to be so shameless: [ It is recommended that the host raise the pillow a little higher when sleeping at night. In your dreams, don't even think about being the richest man in the world, even the Jade Emperor is unworthy of you. ]
Jiang Youtao sighed, thinking that the melon-eating system had become more and more intelligent since it was upgraded. The artificial idiot it once was was gone forever: [ Stop making jokes, get to the point, is there anything. ]
Recently, Gu Nianwei's awakening level has been steadily increasing, and now it has reached 80%. Jiang Youtao has also saved a lot of melon coins. She also randomly obtained a lot of melon coins by eating the melons in Xia Heyu and Su Zhengtang's book. After adding them together, the balance is nearly 300.
Jiang Youtao felt that she was fine again.
The things in the melon-eating system are all-encompassing, including pills that can temporarily change a person's facial features. It knows Jiang Youtao's personality, so it only prepares the cheapest ones.
Low-level Disguise Pill: Ten pills in a bottle, each pill can last for five hours after taking. You will change back to normal after five hours, two hundred melon coins per bottle.
Jiang Youtao: Sorry to bother you.
But she still felt a little unwilling after thinking about it, so she negotiated with the system: [ Tongzi, look at it, you have to have a trial package for everything you do these days. This 200 melon coins transaction is not a small amount of money. If you don't provide a trial package, I haven't seen any effect, so I really don't want to spend money to buy it. How about this, you give me one pill to try first, and I'll buy it if it works well. What do you think? ]
Afraid that the system would not take the bait, Jiang Youtao also gave examples of many sample packs that supermarkets in the future made to attract customers. She talked for nearly two minutes until hisher mouth was dry.
The melon-eating system was a little young after all. It quickly searched the Internet in the future and found that what Jiang Youtao said was indeed true. It looked for a few more reports and said after reading them: [ Okay, the sample package has been distributed to the system backpack, please check it. ]
Jiang Youtao felt that this upgraded system was just as stupid as before. It was probably an illusion that it had improved its IQ. Wasn't it still a little idiot that lost its way after being fooled?
She opened the system backpack and poured out the pills in the white porcelain bottle. She remembered the system's introduction to the low-level Disguise Pill and took out a knife to divide the Disguise Pill into five equal parts.
One pill can last for five hours, but she only needs two hours. Isn't it the best solution to eat two-fifths?
Jiang Youtao's idea was feasible. She found a place and took a disguise pill. Her whole appearance changed drastically, turning into the same appearance she had when she went to sell melon seeds last time. At the same time, a countdown appeared on the system panel.
Jiang Youtao was not panicked at all this time.
She swaggered to the edge of the cinema, and not long after she arrived, she was stopped by someone. Jiang Youtao looked closely and found that it was an acquaintance.
"Big sister, why don't you keep your word? Last time you said you would come to sell melon seeds every weekend, but I didn't see you for several times." The young girl was the first customer when Jiang Youtao came out to sell melon seeds last time.
Jiang Youtao smiled and said, "Isn't it the autumn harvest time? How can I be absent at this time? Would you like some melon seeds today? There are four flavors today: salt and pepper, green tea, garlic and cream. The cream ones are the sweet ones you bought last time."
As Jiang Youtao spoke, she took out a small bag that was specially prepared for people to taste and gave some to the young girl.
When the young girl saw the four different flavors of melon seeds in her hand, her eyes widened. When she heard Jiang Youtao say that the melon seeds were cream flavored, she was even more surprised: "Is cream the cream on cream cakes?"
Jiang Youtao gave the young girl a thumbs up and said, "Sister, you really know what you are talking about. Let me tell you, I'm the only one that sells these cream melon seeds. You can't buy them even in the capital of Shanghai."
Jiang Youtao was not lying at all. If you wanted to eat so many flavors of melon seeds, you had to wait until at least the 1990s.
The young girl had always been obsessed with sweet melon seeds. When she heard Jiang Youtao say that they were cream-flavored melon seeds, the image of this thing instantly became even better in her mind.
Following Jiang Youtao's introduction, she tried the green tea melon seeds with a strong tea flavor, and also the pepper and garlic flavors, and loved them very much.
She ate melon seeds while talking to Jiang Youtao: "My name is Zhang Dezhen, I work in the cinema here as a ticket seller. What's your name, sister?"
Jiang Youtao would of course not reveal her real name. She thought for a moment and said, "My name is Ying Taotao."
"What a nice name." Zhang Dezhen first praised Jiang Youtao's name, and then stated her purpose: "We also sell snacks in our cinema. I'll take all the melon seeds you have. I won't bargain with you. I'll give you three cents."
The melon seeds sold by Jiang Youtao taste good and it is an exclusive sale, so Zhang Dezheng is not worried about not being able to sell them.
She was straightforward, but Jiang Youtao was wondering if she had asked too low a price. Since ancient times, things are expensive because they are scarce. Three cents for a basket of melon seeds was not a small amount, but Zhang Dezhen's attitude of not talking about the price made Jiang Youtao very uncomfortable.
The feeling was like when she went to buy something and the boss was thinking about buying it for fifty yuan, but she offered twenty yuan, and the boss agreed without thinking.
Zhang Dezhen was a little nervous when she saw Jiang Youtao didn't say anything. She wondered if her price was too cheap. After all, she had never tasted melon seeds of this flavor. Last month, she went to a meeting in the city and heard her colleagues talk about the taste of a lot of cream melon seeds. She also went to a cake shop to see what cream cakes looked like, and they smelled good.
You can imagine that these cream-flavored melon seeds are not cheap.
She thought for a moment: "Five cents per one ounce, any more won't work, I don't have enough authority." Zhang Dezhun has been working in the county movie theater since she was sixteen. She is twenty years old this year. She was promoted to the leader of the ticket sales team in June. She has only a few people under her. If the price is too high, the director will not agree.
These melon seeds have such a unique taste that when they enter the cinema, she divides them into half a pound per bag and sells them for four or five cents. Many people buy them. Most of the people who can afford to watch movies are couples. Who can't afford to spend four cents?
Jiang Youtao was not unwilling to sell it for 3.31 cents, but Zhang Dezhen had already raised the price on her own initiative. If Jiang Youtao insisted on selling it for 3.31 cents, wouldn't she be a complete fool?
"Okay, I have six pounds of butter melon seeds, and four pounds of pepper and salt, green tea, and garlic flavored ones, a total of 18 pounds. According to the price you gave, one pound is 50 cents, a total of 9 yuan. But you have to wait a moment, I have to go find my companion to get the remaining melon seeds."
Zhang Dezhen nodded: "Okay, I'll wait for you here, and you can come back soon."
Jiang Youtao nodded at her and left. She opened the floor plan of the county town, found an alley where no one passed by and hid in it. She put the packed melon seeds in the space into a large sack, carried it and went around people to the place where she had an appointment with Zhang Dezhun. Zhang Dezhun was still waiting there, with a scale beside her.
Jiang Youtao did not go to the cinema with Zhang Dezhun to make the transaction, but walked to a secluded place on the side. Jiang Youtao took out the melon seeds from the bag, and Zhang Dezhun weighed them one by one. After finally settling the bill, she happily counted out 9 yuan and gave it to Jiang Youtao.
"If you still have melon seeds in the future, just come to the cinema and find me. I'll take as many as you can," said Zhang Dezhun.
Jiang Youtao was very satisfied to have a wholesaler like Zhang Dezhen who was straightforward and didn't like to talk too much. She stuffed all the melon seeds that she had specially reserved for people to taste into Zhang Dezhen's hands and said, "Okay, that's it. I'll contact you directly next time I have the goods."
Zhang Dezhen looked at the extra half pound of melon seeds in her hand, and the smile on her face became more sincere. Who doesn't like someone who knows how to deal with things?
After the transaction was completed, Jiang Youtao helped Zhang Dezhun carry the melon seeds into the cinema and then left. Zhang Dezhun carried the melon seeds to his office, then went to the supply and marketing cooperative next door to buy a piece of oil paper and packed all the melon seeds into half-liang bags.
Then she took out a small blackboard with movie scripts on it and wrote the name and price of the melon seeds on it, and placed it behind the blackboard where the movies were being written in the theater. She also placed the melon seeds according to their names on the shelf behind the ticket counter.
Ticket seller Xiao Liu has a good relationship with Zhang Dezhen. Seeing her doing this, she was a little worried: "Sister Zhang, is it okay for us to do this?"
Zhang Dezhen was not panicked at all: "It's fine, why not? I went to the city yesterday, and the movie theaters in the city were selling snacks. We are following the superior unit. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. What are you afraid of?"
Besides, Zhang Dezhun felt that she was generating revenue for the cinema, and she was not going to pocket the money alone, so she was not worried at all.
As the two were talking, a girl in a red shirt stood by the counter, staring at the words on the blackboard: "Comrade, the cream melon seeds you write here, is it the same kind of cream cake?"
When business came to her, Zhang Dezhen put on a sincere smile and responded enthusiastically: "Yes, yes, you can try it." Zhang Dezhen imitated Jiang Youtao and took out a little bit of each kind of melon seeds for everyone to try. She was reluctant to give more, so she gave a small handful to the girl in red, about six or seven seeds.
After eating, the girl in red immediately decided: "I want two packs. What flavor are these green melon seeds?"
Zhang Dezhen immediately grabbed a few for her to taste: "It tastes like green tea, try it."
After taking a melon seed in her mouth, the girl in red decided to order two packs. After thinking it over again, she ordered another pack of the remaining two flavors.
After the girl in red left, Zhang Dezhen was still a little dazed. The melon seeds were sold too cheaply. She made 24 cents easily. She bought the seeds at 5 cents per ounce, and after splitting them into half an ounce packages, she sold them at 4 cents a package. She made a net profit of 3 cents. She sold 3 ounces and made 9 cents.
Zhang Dezhun's hand holding the money was trembling slightly.
After a good start, the sales of melon seeds became better and better. By 7:30 when she got off work, the net income from the sale of melon seeds alone was 2.7 yuan.
It's only half a day, and her monthly salary is only thirty-six!
Zhang Dezhun didn't react until she got home.
Seeing her distraught look, her father asked, "What happened to you? Did Liu Qianjin bully you?"
Zhang Dezhun shook her head, told her father about selling melon seeds, and let her father taste the melon seeds she brought back.
Her father also tasted a little and said, "The county is now vigorously cracking down on illegal speculation, but it is targeting food and industrial products that are in short supply on the market. Agricultural and sideline products such as melon seeds are scarce, but not unavailable. Now that the autumn harvest has just passed, there are many families growing melon seeds. It is allowed for villagers to sell their own products to the government."
"The girl you mentioned was able to research so many flavors of melon seeds. It's obvious that she is very talented. You should make a good friend of her and make her a good friend."
As Zhang Dezhun's father spoke one word after another, Zhang Dezhun's heart, which had been shaken by money, instantly stabilized.
Reselling is not allowed now, so it is useless even if she is tempted. What she needs to do now is to make friends with Ying Taotao, just like her father said.
·····
While Zhang Dezhen was talking to her father, Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei were walking back to Liushugou in the dark.
The two of them had a fruitful day in the county town. Jiang Youtao successfully found a reliable distributor for her melon seeds, and Gu Nianwei had figured out the current situation of the black market and sold some of the things she had.
Compared to Jiang Youtao's small business that made eight or nine yuan a day, she made three or four hundred yuan today. This price is of course less than the purchase price of her batch of goods, but with inflation in the future, what can be bought with one hundred yuan now may not be bought with one thousand yuan in the future.
So all in all, Gu Nianwei did not suffer any loss.
She also discovered that Lin Jianzhong was also reselling things on the black market.
How ironic! Two months ago, he was the high and mighty director of the supply and marketing cooperative, threatening her to marry him with something he hadn't even verified yet.
Things change. In just two months, she was still working as an educated youth, but he had fallen from being the director of the supply and marketing cooperative to becoming the speculator he had tried so hard to catch.
Gu Nianwei felt relaxed all over.
It was a little after seven and not yet completely dark, but still foggy. The two walked hand in hand, not in a hurry at all.
After entering Liushugou Village, the dog raised by Accountant Xu in the village began to bark loudly, which was particularly harsh in the dark night. After this dog, several other dogs joined the barking, but they were soon stopped by their owners.
Before they arrived at the educated youth point, they saw from afar Li Yunying and Wang Shanxi standing outside the yard waiting for them with a kerosene lamp.
The two of them suddenly felt warm in their hearts and quickened their pace.
Li Yunying saw that it was them and hurried over to greet them: "I heard dogs barking in the village, so I guessed that you should be back, so I came out to greet you. Why are you back so late? Did you have a smooth journey?"
"Everything went smoothly. What else happened? Why did you come out to pick us up?" Gu Nianwei had been with Li Yunying for a longer time. If nothing serious had happened, Li Yunying and Wang Shanxi should have been studying at this moment.
They was so enthusiastic about studying last night, it's impossible for it to cool down to this level in less than a day.
Jiang Youtao also looked at Li Yunying.
Li Yunying looked around, asked them to go into the house, and whispered, "Let's go back and talk."
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei looked at each other, and they followed Li Yunying into the yard. Wang Shanxi followed them and closed the door.
The two did not go back to the cabin, but followed Li Yunying into the dormitory. As soon as they entered, they saw Zhao Yonglan leaning against the wall with a quilt in her arms. Her eyes were red and swollen like peaches, obviously she had been crying. Zhang Huihui next to her also had slightly red eyes.
"What's going on?" Jiang Youtao asked.
Li Yunying put the kerosene lamp on the table: "Today, Yonglan and her friends came back from the commune. When they passed by a ravine near Zhangjia Village, a thirty-year-old bachelor from Linjia Store ran out. He took advantage of Yonglan's inattention and carried her away. Liu Yingjun and Huihui chased him for a long distance before catching up with him. They had a fight with the old bachelor and finally got Yonglan back."
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei were both shocked: "Is there any law left? He actually robbed someone in front of so many people!"
Jiang Youtao knew that the old bachelor was very brave. If he wasn't brave enough, he wouldn't have done what he did in the book, knocking Zhao Yonglan unconscious and imprisoning her. But she didn't expect him to be so brave. There were three people with Zhao Yonglan, and one of them was Liu Yingjun!
No matter how young Liu Yingjun is, he is still an adult man. How dare he! How dare he!
When Zhao Yonglan thinks about it now, she still feels trembling all over.
Gu Nianwei was thinking about the kidnapping cases that broke out in later generations. She knew very well what the kidnapped girls had to endure.
Just thinking about that kind of hurt made her feel uncomfortable all over.
"Where is that old bachelor?" Gu Nianwei asked, her fists hanging by her side clenched tightly. If the old bachelor was in front of her, she would smash his head off.
Zhang Huihui took a deep breath and said, "Yingjun and I have tied up the old bachelor. He is now trapped in a trap left by a hunter on the mountain near Zhangjia Village. We have discussed with the store manager and others. When it gets dark, we will fish him out of the trap and send him to the police station."
They couldn't send it during the day, and they didn't even dare to show any sign of abnormality.
Being kidnapped by a man was unheard of in Zaoxiang Commune. If this matter were to be made public, it would surely be widely spread, which would not be a good thing for Zhao Yonglan.
There are always some disgusting people in this world. They don't care whether things are right or wrong. They only think with their half-eaten brains. They only say that flies don't bite seamless eggs. Otherwise, why doesn't that old bachelor rob others but only rob you, Zhao Yonglan? It must be because Zhao Yonglan hooked up with him and made him hungry that he acted like this.
Some moralists would even say, who knows how long Zhao Yonglan has been carried away, maybe she has already done something good. They would put the dirtiest and most vulgar speculation on Zhao Yonglan, and even worse, they would ask Zhao Yonglan to marry the old bachelor.
This world is always so unfair. In matters between men and women, it is always the women who are condemned. Just like the matter between Zhao Chunhua, Luo Xuemin and Su Changshan, both parties were obviously wrong and should be blamed, but Zhao Chunhua had to bear more.
Jiang Youtao immediately said to Li Yunying: "I'll go too. I'm strong."
Jiang Youtao did not hide the fact that she was very strong during this period, and the entire youth cadre center knew about it.
Li Yunying nodded: "Let's all go. When we mention the old bachelor, one group will escort him to the police station, and another group will knock on Director Yang's door. Director Yang of our Zao Township Youth Office is an upright person. After Wang Yuan's incident, he has paid extra attention to the work of the educated youth. If something like this happens, he will help us."
"Good."
Zhao Yonglan wiped her tears and said, "Damn Xia Heyu, I've never provoked her before. Why would she plot against me? I will get my revenge sooner or later."
Zhao Yonglan had been skeptical about what Jiang Youtao said before. After not seeing Xia Heyu take any action for such a long time, she was still laughing in her heart that Jiang Youtao had made a mistake. On the way to the commune today, she talked about this issue with Zhang Huihui and Liu Yingjun. Although they thought they should be on guard, they still felt that Jiang Youtao was making a fuss.
As a result, she was slapped in the face before she had even finished saying this.
Zhao Yonglan cheered up. The night was getting deeper. Around nine o'clock, Wang Shanxi knocked on their door. Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei went back to the house, put on their coats, and followed the group outside.
There were few entertainment activities in those days and everyone went to bed early. They did not take the road at the entrance of the village, but went directly through the hill behind the educated youth site and took a detour through the fields.
They left so quietly that even the Su family, who lived next door to them and whose yard was next to theirs, didn't notice them.
After leaving Liushugou, Gu Nianwei and Zhao Rongguang turned on their flashlights.
None of them spoke, and they walked quickly all the way. In less than twenty minutes, led by Liu Yingjun, they found the old bachelor who was curled up in a trap with his hands and feet tied and his mouth gagged.
The old bachelor had been in the trap for an entire afternoon. He would shout at first, but unfortunately this section of the road was quite remote, and no one except the people who dug the trap would pass by. As it was getting dark, the old bachelor dared not shout anymore, fearing that the loud noise would attract wild animals from the mountain.
Suddenly seeing the bright light, the old bachelor opened his eyes suddenly and cried out.
Zhao Rongguang gave the flashlight to Wang Shanxi and jumped into the trap, stepping on the old bachelor's right ankle. The old bachelor's face suddenly became distorted and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Liu Yingjun threw down a hemp rope made by the aunties in the village. It was specially used to tie up animals and was absolutely strong.
Zhao Guangrong tied the hemp rope around the old bachelor's waist. Jiang Youtao, Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying stepped forward to pull the hemp rope. With the combined efforts of the three, they quickly pulled the old bachelor up.
Before he could stand firm, Zhao Yonglan came up and slapped him twice. Before he could react, Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei pretended to be casual and kicked him each.
Jiang Youtao was very strong, and Gu Nianwei used her skill, kicking where it hurt, and the old bachelor wailed.
As soon as he shouted, Zhao Rongguang jumped up and slapped him: "Be quiet, if you dare to make any more noise, we will take you to the mountains and bury you in a hole."
The old bachelor immediately thought of the female educated youth who had killed more than twenty people in the Zhang family. A hot current rushed out from three inches below his navel, and he dared not shout.
No matter how brave a person is, he is afraid of death.
Zhao Yonglan went up and kicked him twice. She wanted to kick him again, but Jiang Youtao stopped her and said, "Don't waste time. I picked up a big stick for you. We'll beat him on the road later."
Zhao Yonglan didn't rush forward again.
A group of people walked forward around the old bachelor. Zhao Rongguang and Wang Shanxi were dragging him with the rope. Jiang Youtao, Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying were stationed in the left, right and back to ensure that the old bachelor could not escape.
Zhao Yonglan held a big stick and hit the old bachelor with it every few steps she took.
The old bachelor didn't dare to make any noise, for fear of being buried alive.
Without alarming the people in the villages along the way, they arrived at the commune. Liu Yingjun took Zhang Huihui to Director Yang's house to look for him, while Jiang Youtao and others took the old bachelor to the police station.
The person on duty at the police station was an old acquaintance of Jiang Youtao and the others. When he heard what Wang Shanxi said, his expression changed instantly.
He walked forward a few steps and pulled out the cloth that was gagged in the old bachelor's mouth. The old bachelor immediately knelt down in front of the police.
"Comrade Public Security, Comrade Public Security, you must save me. These little bastards said they want to bury me alive." He burst into tears and crawled towards the trouser legs of the public security officer as he spoke.
The police kicked him away and said, "Don't you know what you did? If it were me, people like you should be buried alive."
The police already knew what had happened, so they asked Jiang Youtao and the others to wait outside while he carried the old bachelor to the interrogation room.
How could the old bachelor be a match for the experienced police officers? When Director Yang arrived, he interrogated the whole story.
The police took the transcript and asked Zhao Yonglan, the victim: "Do you have a grudge against Xia Heyu? Lin Laizi said that it was Xia Heyu who gave him the idea to rob you."