Chapter 536: Want to make money off me? You

Zhang Qiang had only just returned from Wucheng when he found out about Li Long collecting large brooms.

Having worked on a construction site with his brother, Carpenter Zhang, for a period of time, Zhang Qiang could tell at a glance that Li Long was using public work to earn his own money.

Telling the team members that a large broom with a handle was three yuan and without a handle was two-fifty was actually a high price.

But Zhang Qiang felt that Li Long must have made quite a profit from it!

It was possible he was making one or even two yuan per broom!

The reason his brother, Carpenter Zhang, had kicked him back from Wucheng was that he had been taking too many kickbacks.

Carpenter Zhang had subcontracted a project from the city and hired temporary workers, providing them with fifty yuan a month, including room and board.

He had arranged for Zhang Qiang to be in charge of logistics and procurement, mainly for the staple food and vegetables in the workers' canteen, as well as miscellaneous construction items.

Carpenter Zhang didn't dare let Zhang Qiang handle the large-scale construction materials; his younger brother was short-sighted and greedy for small gains. Handling small things was fine, but Carpenter Zhang was afraid that if he handled the big things, he would ruin the project, which would be troublesome.

However, he had still underestimated Zhang Qiang's ability to be greedy. Originally, Carpenter Zhang had set the food standard for each worker at seventy cents a day. Don't look down on seventy cents; at this time, seventy cents was already quite a lot.

After all, it was communal dining. Those who have been in charge of logistics know that the more people eating together, the better the food will be for the same standard. Seventy cents for one worker alone couldn't buy anything good, but if ten or twenty workers were all at this standard, the food would be very good.

But after working for a month, the workers wouldn't do it anymore and went to Carpenter Zhang, saying the food was too poor.

Carpenter Zhang brought Zhang Qiang over to ask about the situation. Zhang Qiang played dumb and even turned the tables, saying the workers were making trouble; if it came to it, they could just hire more. Anyway, with a salary of fifty yuan a month, there were plenty of people who wanted to work.

Carpenter Zhang wasn't stupid; he immediately started checking the accounts, and this check made him furious.

The food Zhang Qiang was putting into the workers' mouths cost less than forty cents per person!

Seeing that his brother had found out, Zhang Qiang hurriedly explained, saying that he himself had been taken advantage of by the bosses selling vegetables and meat outside, and asked Carpenter Zhang to forgive him once.

Carpenter Zhang didn't listen to his explanation and directly kicked him back.

Although Zhang Qiang was kicked back, the people in the village didn't know that; they only knew he had stayed in a big city for a while, worked for a while, and then returned.

With Li Long as a precedent, no one looked down on Zhang Qiang.

"You guys don't know, right? People over there use paper to wipe their butts, high-quality paper, and the name sounds very nice, called toilet paper!" Zhang Qiang sat in the store, chatting with a group of people. "Unlike us here, we all use dirt clods to wipe our butts, and some people just use the corner of the toilet wall... disgusting!"

"I know, I know, Li Long's family uses toilet paper, it's soft and crinkly." A young man immediately answered, "Last time I went to help them put mud on their roof, I saw that paper in their toilet when I went to use it."

Li Long again!

Zhang Qiang frowned, then relaxed again and said:

"Hmm, he's been to Wucheng, so naturally he learned it. That stuff isn't cheap... Also, the toilets over there are flush toilets! A big row, and after you finish pooping, water flushes it away in a while..."

At this time, some public toilets in Wucheng were no longer dry toilets with pits, but had been changed to centralized flush types. Some people should still have memories of the long rows of troughs.

"Also, there are already cars on the streets in Wucheng, much cooler than tractors, they aren't that loud, they have a driver's cabin, and you don't freeze in winter or get hot in summer..."

Zhang Qiang tried his best to describe the advancement of Wucheng.

The people surrounding him listened intently. There was no helping it; in this day and age, even though the two places were only a little over a hundred kilometers apart, most of the young people in the whole team wouldn't necessarily have been to Wucheng even ten years later.

Their life range, before the age of forty, was basically fixed around Maxian, and occasionally being able to go to Shicheng was enough to talk about for a long time.

The older ones who came from the mouth, even if they passed through Wucheng, only passed through the train station, and then took a car to get here; they had neither the time nor the money to stroll around Wucheng.

After much talk, Zhang Qiang still managed to win over quite a few people.

After all, Li Long was relatively aloof; apart from Tao Daqiang and Yang Yongqiang, other young people couldn't get close to him.

Hearing Zhang Qiang talk like this, they felt he was quite capable too. If they could get rich like Li Long, following him wouldn't mean buying a tractor, but at least they could buy a bicycle like Tao Daqiang, right?

Of course, if they could have a formal job like Yang Yongqiang, that would be even better.

Seeing that the timing was ripe, Zhang Qiang began to swindle:

"Look at Li Long's family life, isn't it very good? That's also money earned by finding ways. Just take this broom tying; we tie one, he gives three yuan for one with a handle, and two-fifty for one without. He makes quite a lot of money from us here..."

No one spoke; this was very normal.

Why should he bring work for everyone to do? To learn from Lei Feng? No one likes to be a saint. So Li Long taking a cut from it was something everyone felt was normal.

Some even defended Li Long:

"Last year there wasn't even this much; the team had to take a portion. This year the team isn't taking any, and Li Long let us earn the portion the team took, which is already very good."

"Yeah, yeah, this year tying a large broom is fifty cents more than last year; he's a pretty good person!"

Some helped out, some didn't speak.

Zhang Qiang took a fancy to this point, and when everyone stopped talking, he put on an appearance of knowing everything:

"Hehe, that's exactly what he wants, earning both money and a reputation! Last year the large broom was one price, this year it must be another price, otherwise why would he raise the price for you?

Not just the large broom, rice, flour, and meat have all gone up in price, so can't the large broom go up? But he doesn't say this, so naturally, others don't know."

"Who cares if he raises the price or not, as long as I can earn money." A young man who couldn't stand Zhang Qiang always speaking ill of Li Long spoke directly: "I don't have the ability to take on such work, but he took it on and still gave the work to me, and I can earn money, so I think he's a pretty good person."

"Exactly. How much money he earns is his ability. He can hand this work to us to do and let us earn money, so I have to thank him. I'm not talking anymore, I'm going back to sleep; I still have to go cut Jiji grass tomorrow."

"Let's go, let's go." Another one also left.

Several of the people surrounding him left, and there were seven or eight people left.

"Are there any more of you who want to leave?" Zhang Qiang wasn't surprised. Li Long had been in the village for more than a year, so naturally, there would be some supporters; if there weren't any, then he would be too much of a failure as a person.

"Not leaving, right? Then I'll talk about the real business." Zhang Qiang looked at the boss, then lowered his voice:

"I'm thinking of doing this business too; you guys sell the large brooms you've tied to me. I'll also give two-fifty for one here, so you won't lose money, right?"

Selling to Li Long was two-fifty (three yuan for one with a handle), and selling to Zhang Qiang was also two-fifty; actually, there was no difference.

But everyone knew that if they sold to Zhang Qiang, they would offend Li Long, so some people hesitated.

"Don't worry, the one competing with Li Long is me, not you. If you feel uneasy, then you don't have to sell them all to me; leaving a portion to hand in to him is fine too, so at least when he has any thoughts, they will definitely be mainly directed at me."

Zhang Qiang's last words dispelled everyone's concerns, and some people smiled and said:

"Brother Qiang, what are you saying? Selling to anyone is selling. Two-fifty, okay! I have over eighty at home; I'll pull them to your house in a while? But it's agreed, this has to be paid in cash—Li Long pays in cash."

"Cash... okay!" Zhang Qiang gritted his teeth, "No problem. But you'd better call more people, otherwise, my money is stored in whole amounts, and it's not easy to break if it's too little."

Hearing Zhang Qiang say this, some people felt relieved. Someone with so much money stored in the bank naturally wasn't someone who lacked money.

Think about his brother, Carpenter Zhang, who was considered the richest person in the village before Li Long; he definitely had a lot of money. Even if Zhang Qiang was a bit worse, he couldn't be much worse.

So overnight, there were three or four hundred more brooms in Zhang Qiang's house.

This scared his wife to death.

Zhang Qiang's wife was an honest and dutiful person from the village and had never seen this before. She guessed Zhang Qiang's intention and tried to persuade Zhang Qiang to stop at night.

"That Li Long is not someone to be trifled with. Last year the Hu family used reed brooms to compete with him, and in the end, he still made them lose everything! Don't learn from them, isn't it good for us to live a peaceful life?"

"Live a peaceful life? Living a peaceful life is a fate of being poor!" As soon as Zhang Qiang heard about living a peaceful life, he exploded:

"Others eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, and you want me to live a peaceful, poor life? I won't! I also want to eat meat and drink alcohol, I also want to earn money! This is a man's business, don't you worry about it!"

It was no wonder Zhang Qiang would get angry. After he got into trouble in Wucheng, Carpenter Zhang knew his younger brother wasn't cut out for this line of work, so he gave him a sum of money and told him to go back to the team to live a peaceful life.

But Zhang Qiang wasn't reconciled. Having seen the bustling world of the big city, how could he be willing to return to the poor countryside?

He also wanted to earn money and live a good life!

So when he heard the words "live a peaceful life," he inexplicably wanted to get angry.

Li Long hadn't returned yet, and some people were thinking of getting the money first, so they sent the brooms to Zhang Qiang's place.

Zhang Qiang didn't collect everything either. Li Long had managed the quality of the large brooms very strictly last year, and he knew this. So he also required strictness; those that weren't tied tightly naturally weren't collected.

But the people in the village could see that his strictness was far from Li Long's. So they still liked to send them to him and take the money and leave directly.

The money Zhang Qiang brought back decreased rapidly, and the piled-up brooms became more and more.

Tao Daqiang hadn't tied many brooms these past few days; his wife was about to give birth, so he had been taking care of her. But he still knew a little about the situation in the village. Li Long hadn't returned, and someone specifically told Tao Daqiang about this matter, wanting him to reveal it to Li Long.

After all, this could be considered digging into Li Long's corner.

Actually, Li Long himself felt it too. He had called Xu Chengjun a few days ago; logically speaking, although each family needed time to cut Jiji grass, to be honest, with the current big sun, Jiji grass dried in two days, and some families still had stock.

If they really tied them up, they could have tied several hundred in these few days, right?

But Li Long went to find Xu Chengjun and used the loudspeaker to announce that he had returned and could collect large brooms.

As a result, there were only a few dozen large brooms sent over!

This number was seriously insufficient!

Combined with Tao Daqiang's words, Li Long understood that someone was making trouble and causing obstruction.

Actually, according to the time given by Li Xiangqian, a few dozen a day was definitely not enough.

However, Li Long felt that it was still necessary to give the people in the village a reminder, a chance.

Or rather, give some people a reminder and a chance.

!.

He went specifically to Xu Chengjun's house again and broadcasted it with the loudspeaker:

"Notice, I am Li Long. This work of tying large brooms was taken on by me, so, send the large brooms to me; as long as they are qualified, I will pay on the spot.

I heard that some people have also started collecting large brooms; no problem, everyone can collect them. However, not everyone can sell large brooms, so I hope some people will be a little wiser."

After announcing this three times, Li Long turned off the broadcast. Xu Chengjun had things to do at home these past two days and hadn't been able to manage these things. Hearing Li Long say this, he immediately asked:

"Xiao Long, what happened?"

"Carpenter Zhang's younger brother, Zhang Qiang, took some brooms away." Li Long said calmly, "The brooms I'm collecting here aren't enough."

"What does this guy want to do?" Xu Chengjun was a little annoyed; although Li Long wasn't going through the team to tie large brooms now, at least he was letting the people in the village do the work and letting the people in the village earn money, and he could also earn a little.

Someone was causing obstruction, and he certainly wasn't willing. Suddenly he thought of a question and asked:

"How much money is he offering?"

"Two-fifty, the same price as me."

"Then what money is he earning?" Xu Chengjun was puzzled.

"I guess he wants to hoard the brooms and then bargain with me when it's almost time to deliver."

Just hoarding for speculation, not a very wonderful method.

"This guy... I'll go find him!" Xu Chengjun asked himself if he still had some face.

"No, no." Li Long waved his hand, "Team Leader, I was just reminding you. If he doesn't listen to advice, then don't blame me for being impolite."

"What? You want to bring people to clean him up?" Xu Chengjun asked; if it really came to that, he would still have to persuade him.

"Clean him up for what?" Li Long shook his head, "I don't have that leisure, and I'm still a law-abiding citizen; I won't do anything illegal. I'm just letting him learn a lesson."

Li Long didn't make it clear, and Xu Chengjun didn't figure it out either.

However, after Li Long left, Xu Chengjun still went to find Zhang Qiang. He didn't want any major disputes in the team.

"Team Leader, you're not right to do this." Hearing Xu Chengjun's persuasion, Zhang Qiang said with a fake smile:

"You allow Li Long to collect brooms but not me? He collects at two-fifty, and I also collect at two-fifty; I didn't cheat anyone, the price is clearly marked, and I pay upon seeing the goods. What, this isn't allowed?"

"It's not that it's not allowed, aren't you clearly competing with him? Do you also have work assigned from above?" Xu Chengjun was fishing for information from Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang wouldn't say it; he shook his head and said:

"Team Leader, this is a trade secret, so I can't say. Now I'm neither breaking the law nor violating regulations, so you can't say anything about me. If you have tied brooms there, you can also bring them to me; I'll also collect at two-fifty, how about that?"

Seeing that this person was impervious to reason, Xu Chengjun stopped caring.

He didn't believe Zhang Qiang could beat Li Long.

After the household responsibility system was implemented, the team leader's prestige had declined, and those like Zhang Qiang who had been out and seen the world didn't even put the team leader in their eyes.

In his view, after the household responsibility system, the team leader's authority wasn't even as good as the cadres in charge of water. At least if they wanted to pinch you, they could still pinch you.

Li Long pulled these few dozen brooms and returned to the county.

He didn't tell Gu Bo Yuan about this, nor did he tell Gu Xiaoxia.

Even for his older brother and sister-in-law, he didn't let them do anything; they just did what they were supposed to do.

Thus, a relatively strange side appeared in the team.

Every household was tying large brooms, but for the large brooms tied, on the surface, Li Long had returned, so many people sent the brooms to the Li family.

And secretly, many sent the brooms to Zhang Qiang's house.

Zhang Qiang slowly felt the pressure. The brooms in his house were now piled up to nearly a thousand, and he had paid out over two thousand yuan; the money Carpenter Zhang gave was almost at the bottom.

Originally, following Carpenter Zhang, he had saved some money; if he put all this money out, he would have absolutely no money left.

With so many large brooms piled up in the courtyard, could he break even?

After Zhang Qiang wavered for a moment, he immediately became firm.

Not enough money, borrow!

He found Wang Cai Mi and used Carpenter Zhang as an excuse.

Although Wang Cai Mi still owed the team quite a bit of money, he still had some money in his own hands.

I don't know what psychology it was, maybe it was really for the sake of Carpenter Zhang's face, but Wang Cai Mi really lent Zhang Qiang some money.

When Li Long pulled over a thousand large brooms to the big courtyard, Zhang Qiang came to find him for a showdown.

He couldn't hold on anymore.

He had spent the money Wang Cai Mi lent him, and he had also given IOUs to many people.

Now there were nearly two thousand large brooms piled up in his courtyard.

He heard that Li Long's task for large brooms was five thousand. He originally thought that if he could control at least three thousand, he would be able to bargain with Li Long.

But right now he really couldn't hold on anymore.

Originally he thought that by paying for two thousand large brooms in the early stage, his credibility would be established, and he could let others sell the large brooms to him on credit, and he would pay later.

But except for a few who believed him, others still wanted to see cash and directly turned around and gave the large brooms to Li Long.

This bunch of idiots!

Zhang Qiang cursed in his heart, but he also knew that this was basically the end.

Zhang Qiang came to find him, and Li Long wasn't surprised at all.

This guy himself wanted to cut off his own path and then take the opportunity to raise the price.

So Li Long looked at his expression with disgust and ignored him.

"Li Long, don't blame me for being unrighteous; I'm doing this openly and honestly. For those large brooms in my courtyard, you add five cents to each one, and I'll let you pull them all away!"

Although Zhang Qiang was a little uneasy in his heart, he spoke with great confidence:

"I think the time for you to deliver is almost here, right? The large brooms are still far from enough, right? I know that even if you add five cents, you still have a profit. I'm just letting you earn a little less, and I've also helped you check the quality, concentrating the large brooms, saving you some trouble. How about it, give me a straight answer?"

"A straight answer?" Li Long sneered after hearing this:

"Okay, I'll give you a straight answer: keep those large brooms of yours, I don't want a single one!" (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 537 =====