Chapter 127: Hey brother, what are you doing, doing crosstalk with me?

Sent off Li Yihu.

Li Jiaci leisurely brewed a pot of tea.

Just as he was sipping tea, the petty traders outside the factory had already been redirected by Hong Bo to the newly opened warehouses; nevertheless, the gate remained bustling.

What Zheng Degui could only dream of obtaining was merely Li Jiaci's everyday routine.

The workers had long grown accustomed to this situation and calmly began preparing shipments.

He had drunk half the tea.

Wang Zhen appeared before Li Jiaci.

He had just sat down, hadn't even caught his breath, when he exclaimed excitedly: "Brother, on my way here I saw the road full of big trucks; if Liu Jiang hadn't taken a convoy away, I'd have been blocked from getting in!"

"That's hardly an exaggeration!"

Li Jiaci smiled and poured him a cup of tea.

Wang Zhen lifted his teacup, still feeling delighted by the earlier scene.

A smile wouldn't leave his face.

"Hey brother, did you already prepare to hit him with a counterstrike?"

"As soon as your price cut news came out, it caught Zheng Degui off guard—he not only lost business, but even his associates abandoned him!"

"There's an even more shocking matter—do you know his subordinate Wu Gang?"

"Hey, you'd never guess—this guy actually defected to Wang Li's side!"

"Now he's just a odd-job worker at our Song and Dance Hall!"

It seems Wang Zhen had been holding back a lot to say.

He sat down without even sipping tea, just chattering nonstop.

Li Jiaci shook his head: "I really didn't expect Wu Gang to defect to Wang Li."

But this wasn't really surprising.

Wu Gang used to follow Zheng Degui, doing nothing but thug work.

After leaving the Nian Yong Timber Mill, he surely sought work he was familiar with.

The biggest malignant force in Pingzhou is the Wang Family.

Wu Gang's defection to the Wang Family was a natural choice.

Wang Zhen took a sip of tea and pursed his lips.

"There's plenty you don't know!"

"This kid even said he switched sides because Zheng Degui's factory couldn't hold on!"

"To squeeze you out of the market, Zheng Degui didn't hesitate to borrow a lot from the bank; now he can't repay it and the bank is demanding payment!"

"Because of severe losses, Zheng Degui can't even pay his workers' wages, and many workers are protesting!"

"Of course, that's nothing—there's something you'd never guess!"

Upon hearing that, Li Jiaci put on a curious expression and leaned in.

Wang Zhen didn't beat around the bush, saying directly: "Zheng Degui's timber is all smuggled in from Bei Xiong Guo; the two sides signed an agreement splitting monthly profits fifty-fifty!"

"Whoa!"

"You wouldn't believe it? Heh, Zheng Degui hasn't been paying as agreed these past months, and Bei Xiong Guo has had enough!"

"You tell me about it..."

"I reckon Zheng Degui is about to run into serious trouble!"

"Tsk!"

"It's not like you, brother, to stand here doing crosstalk with me!"

Wang Zhen was speaking with gusto when he suddenly realized something was off.

"How does this guy keep jumping in on every line!"

After another glance at Li Jiaci's half-smile, Wang Zhen furrowed his brow slightly and understood everything.

All these matters, Li Jiaci had already figured out long ago.

It's just playing along with him!

Wang Zhen clicked his tongue.

"You know all this yet you're still putting on an act in front of me?"

Li Jiaci grinned so wide he couldn't close his mouth, picked up his teacup and tapped it against Wang Zhen's.

Then he explained: "Brother Wang Zhen, I rarely see you this excited, so I wanted to hear you talk more."

"How could I not be excited?"

"Earlier I once worried this factory would go under!"

"And yet you act like nothing's wrong, taking this lot out to eat, drink, and have fun!"

"But I never expected you to suddenly launch a counterstrike, instantly reversing the situation!"

"Although good things often meet obstacles, but next time don't pull this stunt again!"

"My heart can't take it!"

Wang Zhen deliberately patted his chest.

His face showed lingering anxiety.

Li Jiaci couldn't hide the smile at the corner of his mouth.

"This trick only needs to be used once!"

Wang Zhen nodded, then asked: "How did you find out about Zheng Degui's dealings with Bei Xiong Guo? Wu Gang said Zheng Degui kept it watertight—aside from him, no third party knew!"

Li Jiaci's eyes darkened.

Every step he takes now is inseparable from the bloody lessons of his past life.

Although he has been reborn, he occasionally still feels unreal, thinking that everything before him is merely a dream after his death.

Memories of his past life constantly surface in his mind; with his eyes closed he can foresee the fates of the people around him.

Including Zheng Degui.

Li Jiaci clearly remembers that at this time Zheng Degui had the support of Bei Xiong Guo, which allowed him to hold a position not to be underestimated in the Pingzhou timber market.

But smuggling is after all illegal, so Zheng Degui outwardly claims that his timber is all transported long-distance from remote mountainous areas.

To make the lie true, he spared no expense, hiring a Car Fleet that specifically picks up the timber shipped by Bei Xiong Guo at the dock, then has the Car Fleet leave Pingzhou, make a roundabout trip, and deliver it to Mu Cai Chang.

The cooperation between the two parties progressed very smoothly, but Zheng Degui is a person with ambitions higher than heaven; seeing that this method could make money, he wants to make even more money, directly monopolizing the Pingzhou timber market.

During that period, the timber merchants of Pingzhou were driven by him to the point of unbearable suffering.

And this despicable method was also used against the reborn Li Jiaci.

In his previous life, not long after, the leaders of Huaguo and Bei Bang Guo would start new negotiations over border trade issues, proposing new regulations, after which the smuggling of timber would no longer be viable.

Bei Xiong Guo naturally also knew of this change, urgently suspending its cooperation with Zheng Degui and recalling the remaining payment in advance.

However, the other party did not close the door completely, but said that if circumstances changed, they could renew the cooperation at any time according to market conditions.

After receiving the news, Zheng Degui began taking out large loans from the bank, preparing to shuffle funds—borrowing from the bank to first pay Bei Xiong Guo, then using his recent earnings to replace the bank loan, leaving him with a considerable surplus.

Li Jiaci's move is not a countermove but a time lag.

Using the memories of his past life and the methods of the present, he catches Zheng Degui off guard.

What intelligence can a profiteer blinded by greed possibly have?

When Zheng Degui sees the scene of a bustling courtyard, he only thinks of seizing the opportunity quickly and trampling the opponent into helplessness.

So.

If Zheng Degui had stayed law-abiding and made a fortune quietly, instead of plotting to monopolize the timber market and drive out other timber merchants, how could he have fallen into Li Jiaci's trap?

So, in life, one must not be too reckless.

Otherwise, once backlash arrives, it will be 'when the wall falls, everyone pushes,' and there will be no way to turn the tide.

But Li Jiaci cannot speak these words to others; he can only keep them silently bottled up inside.

After all, to people of this era, time travel and rebirth are things they have never heard of.

Even if he explains future events coherently, they will only be taken as amusing nonsense.