Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

Jingxi Coal Mine, Purchasing Department

"Chen Weiguo, you came back empty-handed again?"

Chen Baoshan from the Purchasing Department glared at Chen Weiguo with a look of disappointment.

"Oh, uncle"

"Uncle, what do you mean uncle? You should address him by his position during work."

Before Chen Weiguo could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Chen Baoshan.

"Chief Chen, don't worry, I will definitely complete the task this month. Who knows, I may be able to complete the tasks for the remaining months of this year in one go."

After saying that, he picked up the water cup on the table and drank a glass of water to quench his thirst.

"Oh my, Chen Weiguo, you are amazing. You are exaggerating more and more."

Looking his nephew up and down, Chen Baoshan didn't believe a word of it. This guy had been bragging for two months, and he hadn't completed a single task in the past two months.

It started blowing again at the beginning of this month, just like it did at the beginning of the last two months.

How do you think Chen Baoshan could believe this?

"Uncle, no, Chief Chen, what's that look in your eyes? As long as you can help, there will be no problem with this year's mission."

Well, after hearing this, Chen Baoshan completely lost hope. Although he also had doubts, for a moment he was still willing to believe Chen Weiguo.

"Hey, tell me, what do you want, kid?"

After all, he is my nephew. I can’t just watch him fail the task and be transferred to mine. That’s so dangerous!

"Uncle, don't worry, this time it's real. I have a big client who has a large amount of pork, no, it's wild boar."

In order to better achieve his goal, Chen Weiguo tried to exaggerate the amount as much as possible. After all, large quantities would provide bargaining chips.

"Really?"

Chen Baoshan was so excited that his voice involuntarily increased several times.

"Of course, but..."

"But, what? Tell me now."

"But they don't want money."

"No money? Then what does he want?"

"The minimum amount of coal is five tons, and there are some bills for daily necessities."

"hiss....."

Chen Baoshan took a breath, and his rotten tooth began to hurt again.

After looking at Chen Weiguo, he couldn't help but wonder, could it be that this kid had met an enemy spy?

Even if an individual wants coal, a hundred kilograms can last for a few months, but you ask for five tons of coal. What do you want to do? If something happens, are you going to live in seclusion in the mountains?

That's not right. Living in seclusion in the mountains means you don't need coal. There's nothing else in the mountains except plenty of wood.

Chen Baoshan asked softly: "Weiguo, who else knows about this?"

"No one knows except me and Li Dabao. Oh, Li Dabao is the purchasing manager of the textile factory."

Chen Weiguo was also a little confused. Something was wrong with this situation! There was nothing shameful about this, right?

"Okay, let's put it this way... um... although we do have a security department, it's obvious that this is no longer something we can handle. Let's call the police first."

After hearing what Chen Baoshan said, Chen Weiguo was dumbfounded.

What happened?

Why did you call the police while talking?

If you don't agree, then don't agree. I've never heard that if you can't complete the task, you need to call the police? Besides, it's just the beginning of this month. Are you so sure that I can't complete the task?

"No, uncle, isn't it just that I couldn't complete the mission? You can't send your nephew to the police station. I am your biological nephew!"

"Hey, kid, you haven't realized the seriousness of the matter yet. Don't you think there is something unreasonable here?"

"This, is not it, uncle, what did you think of? It can't be?"

Chen Weiguo then realized that his uncle was wrong.

"Enemy agents."

Chen Weiguo couldn't keep up with his uncle's thinking. How come enemy spies suddenly appeared?

Well, I should blame myself for quoting too high a price in order to complete the task.

"Uncle, uncle, don't call the police yet. It's not what you think."

Seeing that his uncle was about to make a call, he hurried forward to stop him. Otherwise, if things got out of hand, it would be bad for everyone.

"Uncle, I'm telling the truth. They wanted two tons, but I quoted three tons more to make it easier to bargain."

"Hey, kid, you still don't understand. This is not a matter of five tons or two tons. Think about it, who would need so much coal at once?"

Seeing that his nephew had not yet reacted, Chen Baoshan began to explain.

"Uncle, what are you saying? Who would build a new village in such a remote place?"

"What's going on? Tell me what's going on, kid. I'll analyze it for you."

Chen Weiguo recounted how he and Li Dabao went to Hope New Village.

"Am I really overthinking it?"

"Uncle, you are definitely overthinking it. Think about it, the enemy spies are barely hiding, so how could they go to such lengths to build a village?"

"That's right, now that you mention it, I was wrong."

Chen Baoshan also came to his senses and realized that he was wrong.

"Uncle, how about it? Can you get five tons of coal?"

"Five tons of coal isn't a lot. Every month, the coal trucks that leak more than five tons of coal are really like what you said. It's not impossible."

In this day and age, in addition to completing their own tasks, each factory will have so-called unplanned materials to exchange their own short supply of goods with other factories. For coal mines, five tons of coal is not worth mentioning. To put it bluntly, if the coal trucks are loaded with two less shovels, they can produce several tons in one or two months.

"Weiguo, five tons of coal only cost fifty or sixty yuan, which is only sixty or seventy kilograms of pork, not even enough to fill the gaps between our teeth."

Chen Baoshan's meaning was very clear. For a coal mine, sixty or seventy kilograms of pig heads were still too few. Even if they were cut into slices, they were not enough for each person.

"Uncle, don't worry about this. From what Liu Guozheng said, he can get a few wild boars at any time."

"real or fake?"

"Is this true? Uncle, you didn't see it. Liu Guozheng was pushing the stone roller like he was playing with it."

"You kid, why are you blowing it up for others? A small stone roller only weighs a few hundred pounds, and it should be no problem for people who work there regularly to push it."

"Uncle, that's not a small one. It's a big stone roller used in the countryside for threshing. It takes two oxen to pull it."

"So Liu Guozheng is also a martial artist?"

"It's hard to say. Even if he's not a martial artist, he must be born with supernatural powers."

"Weiguo, what are you going to do about this deal?"

"this....."

Chen Weiguo was a little undecided. Psychologically, the more wild boar meat, the better. It would be best to get five or six, so that this year's mission would be completed directly. However, he was a little worried about whether Liu Guozheng could kill so many wild boars.

"Uncle, how about this, let's get two this time. We're sure we can get two wild boars."

After thinking about it, I decided to be more conservative for now, so that the news would not spread out. If I fail to get it, it would not matter to me, but my uncle would be embarrassed.

"Okay, I'll go talk to the leader about the five tons of coal, and the rest will be in cash. We're also short of some bills."

Chen Baoshan thought it shouldn't be a problem. What is the most abundant in coal mines? Coal. If he wasn't afraid of being too shocking, he would really like to pay for it all with coal. On second thought, he decided to use five tons of coal. This amount was neither too much nor too little.

For the factory, this number is the easiest for the leadership to approve; for Hope Village it is also good because it exceeds Liu Guozheng's psychological expectations and is also a disguised way of making friends with Liu Guozheng and paving the way for future transactions.

"Uncle, shall we go there tomorrow morning?"

"I don't think it will be possible in the morning. The leaders are not here today. We will have to hold a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss it. After it is approved, we will need to arrange for vehicles. The earliest it will be in the afternoon is."

"No, uncle, can't we go in the morning? I'm afraid Li Dabao will get there before me."

Chen Weiguo was a little anxious. Now the disadvantage of going purchasing together became apparent. If Li Dabao got there first in the morning, he would be in danger again this month.

Chen Baoshan could naturally understand Chen Weiguo's mentality and laughed, "Haha, you silly boy, how could Li Dabao get ahead of you? Don't you think about how far the textile factory is from here? Believe it or not, that boy is still pedaling his rickshaw on the road right now."

"Hehe, too."

Chen Weiguo scratched his head. As he was about to complete the task, he was indeed a little nervous.

"Come on, kid, let's go to uncle's tonight and have a drink together."

"it is good."

....................

"Brother, you know what, this simple stewed mutton is really delicious, and the smell is not that strong."

After an hour and a half, Erlang and Liu Guozheng began to feast on the food.

"It's a pity that there is no coriander, pepper or radish, otherwise it would taste even better."

Although the taste is good, it still lacks a little bit. It would be perfect if it had some fruit charcoal oven baked pancakes.

A mouthful of mutton soup and a bite of sesame cake, that's what I call a satisfying meal.

When I have time, I must build a blast furnace and burn some fruit charcoal to make up for today's "regret".

"Coriander. I don't like it."

When Wang Erleng heard the word "coriander", he shook his head like a rattle.

"Erlang, you don't eat coriander, but do you eat nepeta?"

"Well, Jingcai doesn't like it either."

Liu Guozheng never thought that there was a person in Henan Province who didn't like to eat Nepeta tenuifolia.

"You kid, you don't know the delicious food of the world. Nepeta, eggs and cucumbers, make a cold dish, the taste is amazing."

Before the time travel, every summer, Liu Guozheng's favorite cold dish was a cold dish of eggs, cucumbers, and nepeta, minced garlic, and a few drops of sesame oil, followed by a bottle of iced beer. Just thinking about it makes me drool. Unfortunately, the conditions do not allow it now, otherwise I would have to make one.

"Brother, drink the soup, drink the soup, the soup tastes better."

After saying that, he served Liu Guozheng a bowl of mutton soup, then picked up a large piece of mutton leg and started eating.

"Hey, kid, it tastes good, why don't you drink it?"

"Brother, I heard from the elders in the village that all the nutrients are in the soup. Of course I can't argue with you."

"Okay, okay, okay! You are still quite smart, Erlang."

Liu Guozheng drank a mouthful of soup and also picked up a piece of lamb leg and started to chew on it.

They already had a good appetite, and the two of them were scrambling to eat, which made their appetites even better.

Mutton tastes more delicious.

For a moment, the sounds of chewing and swallowing were heard.

What's even more outrageous is that there is a sucking sound. Looking over, I saw that it was the sound of Wang Erleng sucking his fingers. He was eating so happily!

This guy can really come up with something special every time he eats.

It seems that no matter how many difficulties we encounter in life, we cannot ignore the charm of food.

Only food should not be missed, it can always bring comfort and happiness to people.

As the old saying goes: A full stomach makes you miss home.

Eat well, then you can sleep well!!!