Chapter 39: Sabotage

As soon as Qiao Wang saw Su Qianqian, he leaned forward and asked, "Where are we going to kiss?"

Su Qianqian blushed instantly, paused, and said, "Brother Shen, we are talking about business. Do you know that Su Qianyue is harvesting vegetables tomorrow?"

Qiao Wang corrected, "It's the brigade harvesting vegetables, not her personally. What do you want to do?"

Su Qianqian mocked, "Brother Shen, I heard she stood out today. What if the tractor breaks down? Can the vegetables be successfully sent to the cooperative tomorrow?"

Qiao Wang gave a treacherous smile. He hadn't been satisfied with being intimate with Su Qianqian every day recently. He had long had designs on Su Qianyue, but he suffered from having no excuse to approach her.

If he really broke the tractor, the tractor wouldn't start tomorrow morning, and no one in the village would know how to fix it except him. At that time, it wouldn't be difficult to threaten Su Qianyue for some benefits.

"The tractor is at the brigade, I'll go see it now."

Su Qianqian followed behind Shen Xunbao to the threshing floor. The two found the tractor in the dark. Qiao Wang used the moonlight to pull out the wiring plug of the tractor's starter motor and loosened the oil pipe clamp.

He didn't dare to damage it too obviously, deliberately faking it as a situation where the tractor had damage due to long time. Anyway, the motor couldn't start now, and the oil pipe was leaking. It definitely wouldn't start tomorrow morning.

The village was full of mud-legged people, no one knew how to fix cars. In a critical moment, it wouldn't be difficult to threaten Su Qianyue for some benefits by fixing the car.

Thinking this way, Qiao Wang showed a successful smile. He took Su Qianqian to mess around in the grass pile, and the two returned to the Educated Youth Courtyard late at night.

The next morning, before dawn, the chickens hadn't even crowed.

The threshing floor was brightly lit. The six groups lined up in order. The villagers were carrying baskets or crates, with neatly arranged vegetables inside. Some honest and dutiful ones even washed the mud off the vegetable roots, fearing that the inspection wouldn't pass.

Li Zilan kept accounts, Liu Chunxing and Chen Min one collected vegetables, one weighed, and the group had a clear division of labor.

Xiang Jianming walked back and forth, looking at the vegetables everyone had carefully prepared, very satisfied. Su Qianyue saw that everything was going smoothly and asked Brigade Captain Xiang, "Does the tractor have oil? A mat should be padded in the carriage to separate it, so the vegetables at the bottom are cleaner."

Xiang Jianming smiled happily, "The mat is prepared, everyone put the vegetables on the car according to the variety now."

After he finished speaking, he inserted the key into the ignition switch. After turning the key, he found that the engine only had a "click" sound and no reaction to start.

Xiang Jianming's heart skipped a beat. He tried again with trembling hands, but the engine still didn't react.

Su Qianyue saw that the Brigade Captain's face was not good, so she leaned over to ask what was going on. After Xiang Jianming finished speaking, he was sweating. Su Qianyue's eyes rolled and she passed the word, "Pei Huaiye works in the machinery factory, right? Find him to try?"

Xiang Jianming called his eldest son, "Shian, hurry up and call Pei Huaiye, the tractor can't start! Hurry!"

The villagers who were close heard this and were so scared they didn't know what to do, "Captain, such an important thing, why didn't you check the tractor in advance?"

Xiang Jianming was so angry his beard was shaking, "Who said I didn't check! It was fine when sending President Zhang back and forth yesterday, and I checked it specifically before turning it off. Unless someone came to make trouble in the middle of the night, how could a good car break down!"

"Which damn thing is not doing human things!"

"Then what should we do now, Captain? It's already four-twenty, can we still leave at four-thirty?"

Everyone was anxious. Su Qianyue saw a familiar figure in the distance, and the tension on her face was instantly relieved.

Pei Huaiye nodded to Brigade Captain Xiang, sat on the tractor in three or two moves, and checked, "The wiring plug of the motor has been pulled out, and the oil pipe clamp has also been loosened by someone."

"Can it be fixed?"

Pei Huaiye didn't speak, his hands didn't stop, and he started the fire in less than three minutes, "Captain, it's done, you try."

Xiang Jianming and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly urged Pei Huaiye, "Don't get down, you drive, I'll sit in the back."

Pei Huaiye glanced at Su Qianyue and sat in the driver's seat carelessly.

Su Qianyue hurriedly lowered her head, pretending not to be very familiar, and got into the car mixed with several team leaders.

Just like that, Pei Huaiye drove the tractor with hundreds of jin of vegetables and a dozen people to the Hongqi Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

Zhang Dongfeng arrived at the cooperative at five o'clock. He had agreed with the Shuangshui Brigade yesterday that the tractor would arrive at the county at five-thirty sharp, but it was already five-thirty-five, and the vegetables hadn't arrived yet.

Unloading, placing, updating vegetable prices, etc., all take time.

The cooperative had to open at seven o'clock, so it couldn't be delayed for too long.

Just as Jiang Meng was about to say something sarcastic, the sound of the tractor came from not far away.

Zhang Dongfeng hurriedly came out to greet, "Brigade Captain Xiang, you finally came! Qianyue, your handwriting is good, come and write the prices. Chen Yan, you organize manpower to help unload from the back door."

The people brought by Xiang Jianming and the employees of the cooperative worked together to unload all the vegetables to the cooperative. Chen Yan found someone to weigh them, and finally concluded that the total weight was six hundred and fifty jin of vegetables.

Jiang Meng shouted loudly inside, "President, didn't you say you only wanted five hundred jin yesterday? Why did you send so much? Otherwise, if you can't sell it, your village will be responsible?"

Zhang Dongfeng and a group of vegetable harvesting team leaders were so scared their faces turned white.

Su Qianyue smiled brightly, "It will definitely be sold out, maybe it won't be enough!"

Jiang Meng sneered, "Su Qianyue, don't lift a rock and drop it on your own feet!"

Zhang Dongfeng calculated the accounts in the office with the finance officer, walked to the hall, and handed the money and receipt to Xiang Jianming, "Brigade Captain Xiang, the vegetable money today is thirty-two yuan and five cents in total. I gave you all small change so it's easy to distribute to the villagers."

Xiang Jianming held the money, his eyes turning red. The cooperative settled the money for them before they even started selling.

"Thank you, President, we'll wait a little longer. If the vegetables can't be sold today, we will return the excess money."

President Zhang didn't expect Xiang Jianming to do this, was stunned for a moment, and then smiled, "Then you go to the backyard and sit, the hall will be full of customers in a while."

"No need to go to the backyard, we'll just wait outside." Xiang Jianming brought seven or eight people, fearing to affect the business of the cooperative, and the group walked to the door, leaning on the tractor and staring at the entrance of the cooperative.

At seven o'clock, the cooperative opened on time, and people came to the cooperative to purchase at intervals.

The Hongqi Supply and Marketing Cooperative had few vegetables, and few people came in the morning on weekdays.

A morning passed, and really not many people came in to buy vegetables.

Xiang Jianming was so worried he kept smoking his welding cigarette one after another.

"Dad, we've been hungry since morning, let's go eat something first."

Xiang Jianming had no appetite, but he couldn't let everyone go hungry, so the group found a state-run restaurant nearby and sat down.

Su Qianyue didn't eat in the canteen, and seeing that everyone was not in high spirits, she followed to the state-run restaurant.

Xiang Jianming and his party had no appetite, each ordered a bowl of plain noodles, nine cents.

Li Zilan felt a little distressed, spending more than half of the money earned today at once.

Pei Huaiye handed over money and coupons and added three dishes: dry-fried green beans, mushrooms with green vegetables, and stir-fried meat with green peppers.

Su Qianyue was on the left of Li Zilan, and Pei Huaiye sat carelessly on her right, greeting everyone to eat dishes together, and also moved the meat dishes to her side without a trace.

This action looked to others like Pei boy himself wanted to eat meat. Only Li Zilan saw clearly that Pei Huaiye was taking care of Su Qianyue, and he looked at her from time to time in the gap of speaking.

Although it was just a short glance, the fiery love in his eyes couldn't be hidden.