Chapter 27: Ideals are plentiful, reality is bony

Two days later.

Lu San Yi got up early in the morning and went to Mu Cai Chang.

He had made up his mind; even if he had to refund ten thousand of the twenty-thousand deposit, he would drive Li Jiaci and his group out.

But when he opened the gate of Mu Cai Chang, he was dumbfounded.

In the huge courtyard, only a white minivan was parked.

The timber that used to pile up like a mountain was now gone, not a single piece left.

"Holy shit?"

"Did the house get robbed?"

Lu San sprinted toward the house, wanting to ask what was going on.

But before he could reach the house.

The minivan's door was opened from inside.

Immediately after.

Li Yihu jumped out of the vehicle, smiling, and said to Lu San: "Good fellow, what a coincidence—I was just about to look for you, and you came first."

"What's up?"

"You knew I was coming today to settle accounts, so you came early?"

"What settle accounts or not."

Lu San pointed at the courtyard and said: "Where's my timber? How is it all gone?"

Seeing him like that.

Li Yihu's face was full of bewilderment.

"The timber is gone."

"Of course we sold it."

"Sold?"

Lu San stared speechless: "How did you sell it?"

"How was it sold?"

"Is this a question a human could ask?"

Li Yihu looked at Lu San as if he were an idiot.

And he couldn't be bothered with this guy, casually grabbing a black plastic bag from the control panel and tossing it to Lu San.

"Seventy thousand, not a penny less, and the house keys are inside too."

"Hurry up and check the money, and see if the keys are the right ones."

Lu San now had no mood to count the money.

He never expected this.

Li Jiaci and his group actually managed to sell all the timber in this courtyard.

Even these days, in his dreams he imagined smoothly reclaiming the timber factory, then selling the stored timber unchanged to Brother Zhang for a tidy profit, and taking his wife and kids out shopping everywhere, reaping a sea of envious looks.

But now.

There isn't a single piece of timber left in this courtyard—how is he supposed to keep doing business with Brother Zhang?

Seeing him still dazed.

Li Yihu immediately became displeased.

"Can you hurry up, damn it?"

"I've got things to do; I don't have time to waste here with you!"

After hearing Li Yihu's words.

Lu San's expression remained wooden.

Seeing this, Li Yihu could no longer tolerate it.

He stepped forward, opened the plastic bag, and casually pulled out a few bills, waving them in the sun.

"See? This is all real money!"

"Then, one two three four five six seven—seven bundles, not a penny short, exactly seventy thousand!"

"Also, these two keys—one for the factory gate, one for the house door—are both here."

"My brothers are still waiting for me in the city; I don't have time to hang out with you, you idiot!"

After saying that, Li Yihu jumped into the car, floored the accelerator, and vanished from Lu San's sight.

He was inside the car.

Li Yihu kept cursing Lu San's ancestors.

And indeed his brother was right—this Lu San really is a moron!

After Li Yihu left.

Lu San held the money, standing in place for a while.

Suddenly, his wife's words rang in his ears.

"If delivery isn't on time, you must pay five times the penalty."

Five times the penalty.

Calculated at one hundred thirty per unit, that would be six hundred fifty.

And the contract clearly states six hundred cubic meters of timber, meaning that if he follows the contract, he would have to pay the other party three hundred ninety thousand!

Upon thinking this far.

Lu San's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

He hurriedly ran to open the door, came to the landline in the main house, and dialed the logging field's number as recorded on the wall.

Waiting for the call to connect.

Lu San quickly said, "Hey! Li Ge, do you still have timber? I need to restock!"

A lazy voice came from the phone: "Yes, how much do you want?"

"Six hundred cubic meters!"

Lu San shouted urgently.

The other party said, "Okay! But you need to transfer the payment first!"

"No problem."

Lu San said, "I'll go make the payment right away, but please send it as soon as possible."

The other party asked again, "Do you want the good grade or the lower grade?"

Lu San gritted his teeth and said, "Same as before, half good, half bad!"

"Hmm."

"Let me calculate it for you."

The other party said, "Six hundred cubic meters, half good half bad, total is 171,000!"

"What?"

Lu San widened his eyes: "171,000? Are you robbing me? Even 1,500 cubic meters before didn't cost this much!"

"Has the price gone up?"

The other party said, "Now the good grade is 350 per cubic meter, the lowest grade is 220, do you want it?"

"No..."

"The price increase can't be that huge, I... hey, hey? Fuck your mother!"

Hearing the dial tone from the phone, Lu San cursed angrily.

Immediately after, he unwillingly tried calling another logging field.

However.

Those calls he made either went unanswered, or if answered, they directly told him a price that broke his heart.

After the last call was finished.

Lu San felt his vision go dark and collapsed with a thud.

"171,000, 390,000, 171,000, 390,000..."

Lu San kept muttering those two numbers.

In the end, he still dialed the first logging field he called and ordered six hundred cubic meters of timber.

Of the 171,000 yuan he paid, an additional 1,000 yuan was a high-interest loan he borrowed on the spot while making the call.

But compared to 390,000, he could still tell which was lighter and which was heavier between 171,000.

In the afternoon.

Zhang Ge brought people to the timber factory to pick up the wood.

Seeing Lu San walk out, Zhang Ge still maintained his arrogant attitude.

"How is it?"

"Is the six hundred cubic meters of timber ready?"

"Count it yourself!"

Lu San no longer had his former good attitude toward him.

Seeing him like that, Zhang Ge frowned but said nothing, then immediately directed the workers to load the timber.

It was also during the time the workers were loading the timber.

Zhang Ge came up to Lu San and handed over the payment for the six hundred cubic meters of timber.

And it was also while Lu San was lowering his head to count the money.

Zhang Ge cleared his throat and said, "Boss Lu, does what you said earlier still count?"

"What words?"

Lu San turned his head and glanced at him.

"About the money..."

Zhang Ge rubbed his fingers and said, "You wouldn't have forgotten because you were drunk, would you?"

"Hah!"

"Of course I didn't forget."

Lu San smiled extremely coldly.