The Great Era of Siheyuan

"You finally came back. How have you been in the countryside these past two days?"

When I arrived at the entrance of the steel rolling mill, the first person I met was Wang Jianjun, who was sitting in the shade at the door and looking drowsy. Seeing him, I immediately became energetic.

"Why, do you miss me so much?"

Li Wenqiang casually handed over a cigarette. He was lucky because he saw the cigarette ticket when he was buying things just now and bought it casually. Otherwise, the two of them would just chat!

"Of course! We all depend on you. Not to mention missing you, I want to find someone to follow you every day. If something happens to you, what will we do?"

Wang Jianjun said with an exaggerated smile, took the cigarette and lit it.

"It's better to rely on yourself than on others. I can help you temporarily, but not forever. I may run out of stock at any time. You should find a job and make money. I won't say more. It's the same as usual tonight. I'll go see how the project is going!"

Li Wenqiang said hello and left.

"Okay, take care!"

Seeing that Li Wenqiang was safe, Wang Jianjun was relieved. He was afraid that Li Wenqiang would have an accident outside, which would eventually affect his livelihood here. It would be best if he was fine now, and then he could sell some supplies to the steel mill every day in peace.

He walked to the construction site next door and took a look. In just two days, the main buildings here had been completed and topped off. Water pipes and pipelines were currently being installed. The progress of the project was astonishingly fast. It was all thanks to him hiring more people in advance, otherwise there would be no such fast progress.

After a quick look, I found that the people in charge here are Zhang Hao and Chen Weijie. The remaining Liu Yuan should be leading his people to continue building his yard in Houyuanensi Hutong.

Seeing that everyone was busy, Li Wenqiang waved to the two of them and called them over.

"Hi boss!"

"boss!"

The two men put down their work and ran over covered in sweat, panting and sweating like rain, their bodies covered in oil, their chests heaving, and they stood in front of Li Wenqiang waiting for instructions.

"You have done a good job in the past two days. Is there anything you need my help with?"

Li Wenqiang immediately affirmed their contribution, which instantly brought smiles to their faces.

"Boss, everything is going well, except for the tile issue you mentioned. The day before yesterday, I went to the Xisanqi Tile Factory in Haidian District, but I couldn't even get in. They refused to sell me any tiles. What do you think we should do about this?"

Chen Weijie said with a somewhat sad face.

"Nonsense, the Tile Factory is now supplying tiles to the Great Hall and the Workers' Stadium's "Ten Major Projects". Even if you go and ask for them, I wouldn't dare to put them up. Can't you find the porcelain shop I told you to go to? They can even make ceramic pipes, so it wouldn't be a piece of cake for them to make a few tiles, right?

Fortunately, I came quickly, otherwise you would have delayed the matter. There are still five days left, and it would probably be too late even if we asked them to burn it temporarily. Haven't you been to the porcelain factory? Find the place where they dump the discarded tiles, find a few more tricycles, and bring all their discarded tiles back for me. Then find someone who can draw to come and design a pattern, and paste the tiles for me. If we say we will paste the tiles, then we must paste the tiles, and we must be honest in our work!"

Li Wenqiang was really having a headache. Did he forget to ask the porcelain shop for a batch of tiles? Why did this idiot go to the porcelain factory to buy tiles?

"Those are discarded tiles. Will this work?"

Chen Weijie asked hesitantly.

"Nonsense, you have to do it even if it doesn't work. Otherwise, you go buy it? The same type of tiles as the Great Hall, which leader dares to object? Just do as I say, I'll give you 200 yuan to take care of their waste disposal people. In the future, we will take as much of this kind of waste as we can and try to get it all back. Remember to ask them clearly which part of the tiles are clearly divided, because this will cost money in the future!"

Li Wenqiang took out two hundred yuan from his pocket and gave it to him, reminding him worriedly.

He had thought it all out. When the tiles were pulled over, he would keep the same tiles as those in the Great Hall and place them in his own second courtyard. He would then lay them there when he had the chance.

When the porcelain factory moves in the future, this batch of goods will be out of print. The waste porcelain from the same period and source is not comparable to ordinary porcelain and has some special significance.

At worst, spend a little money and keep these things for later use. Find someone who can draw and design a good pattern, and these porcelains can also play their due role. Even discarded tiles are not something that ordinary people can expect, and I don’t know if he can do it!

"Okay boss, I'll go now!"

After saying this, Chen Weijie ran away without looking back. It was at least 20 kilometers from here to the Xisanqi Porcelain Factory. It would take an hour or so to take the bus even with stops and starts. He hoped that he could deliver the goods earlier tomorrow. He didn't expect to have the goods today.

Seeing that Chen Weijie had left and Zhang Hao was still standing there, Li Wenqiang could only find something for him to do.

"Okay, Chen Weijie is gone. I'll arrange a job for you. Find someone who can draw and come over tomorrow to teach you how to lay the floor tiles. Do you know what aesthetics is? It means that the work should be beautiful. No matter if you are engaged in craft aesthetics or architectural aesthetics, you must do a good job for me! I'll give you a basic price of ten yuan a day. No matter who it is, as long as he can lay the floor tiles well and beautifully, I will give him the money. Do you understand?"

Li Wenqiang said seriously.

Time is running out now, and the solidification time of cement is quite long. He cannot guarantee when it will be completed, and he also has to leave time for acceptance. He will be very busy these days!

"Understood, boss, just wait and see. I promise to get this done for you!"

Zhang Hao assured loudly.

"I guarantee it's useless. I want to see the results in a few days. How many squat toilets have been made at the porcelain factory?"

When Li Wenqiang said this, he remembered that he had ordered a thousand items from a porcelain shop last time and required at least a hundred items to be delivered today. He didn't know how many items they could deliver.

"Just over a hundred. I discussed with Chen Weijie and Brother Wang. They still need to continue building houses over there, so we'll put them here in the security department for the time being. If you think it's not suitable, I'll move out later!"

Zhang Hao said nervously. This was the first time he acted on his own and he was very unsure.

Hearing this, Li Wenqiang frowned again. He should distinguish his own products from those of the steel mill. These are all new products. What if someone with no eyes copies them? This thing is not difficult.

"Forget it this time. Just keep what you need here and move the rest back. I have a few friends living there now. Don't scare them. I'll find a place to pick them up in a few days!"

"Yes, yes, boss, I promise I won't do that next time!"

Zhang Hao hurriedly made the promise, feeling very nervous. He didn't expect that his boss would have objections to his first job. This was not a good sign.

"Okay, that's it, go get busy!"

Li Wenqiang waved his hand to drive the person away and went to find Li Huaide.

He wanted to test how large Li Huaide's shipping volume was. As time went on, the famine would eventually pass, and by then the price of grain would drop back to more than one cent, and then he would be in trouble.

From ancient times to the present, low grain prices have always hurt farmers. Who has ever seen anyone get rich by farming? If there is no famine, it is just hard-earned money. How can it be as comfortable as it is now?

He walked to Li Huaide's office with ease, knocked on the door and walked in.

At this time, Li Huaide was looking at the red-headed document on the table. When he heard the noise, he was about to get angry and see who was blind and didn't know the rules. But when he found out that it was Li Wenqiang, whom he had been thinking about, he immediately smiled, put down the document and stood up to greet him.

"I was counting on my fingers when you would come back, but I didn't expect you to come back so soon. How do you feel about being in the countryside these two days? Is there anything fun?"

Li Huaide waved his hand for him to sit down, smiled, poured a cup of tea and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.

"There's nothing fun about it. The people in the countryside are starving and can't afford to eat. There are also some stinky places on the road. You can imagine how difficult this world is!"

Li Wenqiang sighed.

"So you've been suffering in the countryside these days? Not really, right? Every time Xu Damao comes back, he brings a lot of things with him. He shouldn't treat you badly!"

Li Huaide said with some surprise.

"What are you thinking! I was saying that the people there don't live well, not that I don't live well. You know what, that commune is much better than your little canteen. They served me a big table full of delicious fish and meat, much more generous than your little canteen."

Li Wenqiang said jokingly.

"These rural leaders have ideological problems. The people below them can't even live well, so how can they be so extravagant and wasteful? I will report this problem to the leaders at the next meeting."

Li Huaide said in pretended anger.

"Don't talk nonsense. If you tell me, will I still be able to eat meat next time I go there?"

Li Wenqiang stopped him directly. Although he knew that he would not say anything, he still had to pretend. It was just like when the leader was speaking on the stage, you knew that he was farting, but you still said that his fart was good.

"In that case, let's forgive him this time. Now that you're back, what do we say about our next deal? Should we keep it as before or renegotiate it? What do you think?"

When Li Huaide said this, his eyes sparkled with a suppressed joy.

This time, Li Wenqiang left behind quite a lot of things before he left, tens of thousands of kilograms at a time, which instantly let him know his strength. If there were so many every day, then the money he made every day would be like running water.

"I'll give you as much as you want. The question depends on how much you can swallow. The price remains the same. But with such a large amount, can you guarantee that the people above won't know about it?"

Li Wenqiang said this and pointed upwards.

"Hahahaha, don't worry about this question. As long as I'm here, I can eat any amount. Just come forward without any worries!"

Li Huaide said happily.

"Really? I've contributed too much. It won't work without a big boss to support me. You better think about it. It will be bad if something goes wrong!"

Li Wenqiang said with a smile.

"Just put as much food as you can. To tell you the truth, I have someone above me. Do you feel relieved?"

Li Huaide said confidently.

"I see. Now it's up to you to do the next thing. Find a large warehouse near the steel mill, and I will be in charge of it from now on. You don't have to worry about anything. Just send someone to pick up the goods when the time comes. How do you do that?"

Li Wenqiang thought about it and looked at him and said.

"No problem. I can solve the warehouse problem for you right now. It's not far from next door. Our finished product warehouse No. 8 has not been used since we took over Zhenhua Steel Plant. It's probably leaking now. I'll give you the key. You can use it after you clean it up! I'll ask Wang Dawei to find the key tomorrow and give it to you tomorrow!"

Li Huaide said quickly, fearing that he would go back on his word.

"Okay, but since you mentioned it's leaking, isn't that a coincidence? My construction team has a lot of people, so we're good at checking for leaks and fixing them. I'll go to the warehouse tomorrow to take a look and give you a quote. We can't leave our steel mill in such a shabby state that people will laugh at us, right? I'll leave now if you're fine!"

Li Wenqiang did not suffer any loss and quickly put the blame on the steel rolling mill. He also wanted the mill to pay for repairing the warehouse, which made him very happy.

"You are such a good boy. I'll give you this job. You can fix it up quickly later to avoid the bad influence of the transport team running to the city every day!"

Li Huaide pointed at him and smiled.

"Okay, I'll find some more people tomorrow, and it will be finished by May 1st at the latest. I guarantee that it will be cleaned up!"

After saying this, Li Wenqiang left without looking back.