Chapter 130: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 130

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

In Niu Chunsheng's view, twelve thousand yuan to contract a small Western-style villa occupying one hundred fifty square meters and three stories tall would absolutely lose money!

He didn't understand the construction trade all that well, but his merchant's keen nose gave him the most direct intuition.

Li Xiulan, however, said with a smile:

"Won't lose! We've calculated it! After hiring Dajun Shu and Hongwei to work together, this project should be done in half a year; if it's finished in half a year, the total labor cost is nine thousand yuan, and even not counting our own wages, we still earn three thousand yuan in contracting fees!"

Wang Zhanggen also said:

"We've calculated it, definitely won't lose!"

Niu Chunsheng's face showed surprise:

"You've calculated wrong! This is obviously going to lose money!"

Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen both couldn't help but stare blankly.

"Chunsheng, we've already calculated it, won't lose!"

Li Xiulan said so.

Niu Chunsheng's face wore a complex bitter smile:

"I don't know how you two do your sums; how about this, let me calculate it once for you, and you see if my figures are right!"

"You hired my wife's uncle and Zhou Hongwei to do the work, each person's daily wage is thirty yuan, right?"

"Right, no mistake! That's the price!" Li Xiulan nodded.

Niu Chunsheng then said:

"Just the two of them alone, wages are sixty yuan a day, a month is sixty times thirty, equals one thousand eight hundred yuan, half a year, times six months, that's ten thousand eight hundred yuan!"

Niu Chunsheng was speechless inside; he really couldn't understand how such a simple arithmetic problem could be miscalculated by both Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen, husband and wife.

Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen immediately stared blankly again.

They hurriedly picked up pens and calculated on the spot themselves!

"Strange, before I clearly calculated only nine thousand total, how come now the two big workers alone need ten thousand eight hundred?"

Wang Zhanggen's scalp went numb.

He didn't know that when he calculated before, although he kept saying he'd figure wages for three big workers and two small workers, he actually only figured one big worker and one small worker, so that's how he got the low price of nine thousand!

He was careless, but didn't bother to double-check repeatedly, resulting in such a major blunder!

Most fatal of all, Li Xiulan actually trusted him that much, didn't calculate it herself, just believed the result he came up with!

Now Niu Chunsheng helped calculate once, and only then did their scalps go numb.

Ruined!

If they really took this project at twelve thousand, wouldn't they lose even their underwear?

"You definitely calculated wrong; at twelve thousand contracting this project, there's no profit. Why don't you go negotiate with the owner, see if the price can be raised a bit!"

Niu Chunsheng said so.

Li Xiulan hurriedly said:

"Okay, in a bit I'll go talk to Zhang Zhongtian! He's so reasonable, he should be able to raise the price!"

Although Li Xiulan said this, she had no confidence inside, because she and Zhang Zhongtian had already signed an agreement.

That day when she returned from Zhang Zhongtian's home, Zhang Zhongtian gave her a contracting agreement, clearly written with a total contract price of twelve thousand, and Li Xiulan had already signed and pressed her fingerprint on it!

After seeing Niu Chunsheng off, Li Xiulan immediately complained to Wang Zhanggen with displeasure:

"Back then I let you do the math, and you actually got it wrong; you're really something, this is just a primary school arithmetic problem, and you couldn't figure it out!"

Wang Zhanggen couldn't save face; he knew this matter he bore primary responsibility, but he felt it couldn't all be blamed on him.

"I calculated the result and you didn't even look carefully, just went and quoted Zhang Zhongtian in one go, how can that be my fault?"

Li Xiulan huffed angrily:

"I'm going to find Zhang Zhongtian right now; if the price can't be changed, you're responsible!"

Li Xiulan, carrying an anxious mood, came to the Village Committee Office.

At this time Zhang Zhongtian was in the Village Committee Office doing work.

"Secretary Zhang, I've come to talk to you about something..."

Li Xiulan's face wore a polite, ingratiating smile.

Zhang Zhongtian looked up, saw Li Xiulan arrive, and hurriedly welcomed her in to sit:

"Xiulan, you're here, come in and sit; I've already picked the groundbreaking day, it's the day after the Yuanxiao Festival Festival Festival opens, that's an auspicious day!"

Li Xiulan smiled bitterly:

"Secretary Zhang, I want to tell you, last time we quoted, we quoted wrong; do you think you could..."

"Quoted wrong?" Zhang Zhongtian's face showed stunned surprise, and he hurriedly cut off Li Xiulan's words: "How can it be quoted wrong? At the time you yourself opened your mouth with the price; I originally budgeted twenty thousand, but you quoted twelve thousand, and the agreement's already signed — you wouldn't be trying to go back on it, would you?"

Li Xiulan smiled bitterly, asked weakly:

"This agreement, really can't be reneged on? We recalculated, at twelve thousand we fundamentally don't make money..."

Zhang Zhongtian's face was full of speechlessness:

"That I don't care about; the agreement's signed. If you go back on it, then don't do my project; I'll find someone else. Back then I chose you and your husband because I saw you two as trustworthy, with a good reputation; never expected before work even starts you'd want to tear up the agreement — what kind of thing is that?"

Li Xiulan knew she was in the wrong; the price was her own offer, can't blame Zhang Zhongtian!

Zhang Zhongtian actually knew everything long ago; he himself is a contractor, has contracted expressway projects, so he'd long since figured the labor costs clearly, budgeted twenty thousand which was already him pressing the price low, but completely didn't expect Li Xiulan would foolishly quote twelve thousand — that's a windfall he wouldn't refuse, so at the time he had Li Xiulan sign the agreement with him, nailing the matter down so Li Xiulan couldn't go back on it!

One can only say that this Zhang Zhongtian appears polite and considerate on the surface, but in reality his cunning and treacherous essence is hard to conceal.

Whether it was initially when he ran for Village Cadre, or later when he contracted the Expressway project, or even now scheming against Li Xiulan, he has always pushed matters to Profit Maximization.

"Alright then, I'll go back and discuss it with my husband some more……"

Li Xiulan could only leave in a dejected and bedraggled state.

Fortunately, this agreement does not contain any mention of a penalty for breach of contract.

Even if Li Xiulan gives up this project, she will not suffer any financial loss.

This also counts as the only shred of mercy Zhang Zhongtian has left.

If he had added a breach-of-contract penalty to the agreement, wouldn't that have directly driven Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen to their deaths?

Actually, it's not that he didn't want to add a penalty; rather, he knew Li Xiulan and Wang Zhanggen were very poor — demanding a penalty from them would be practically no different from demanding their lives. He couldn't push them too hard, otherwise Wang Zhanggen would likely turn desperate and do something extreme.

After all, Wang Zhanggen once took a Knife to hack at Yang Dafu — Zhang Zhongtian has always kept that matter in mind; he absolutely cannot follow Yang Dafu's old path.

"Zhang Zhongtian is unwilling to adjust the price. He says since we signed the agreement, it cannot be changed, so either we don't do this project, or we have to do it at this price."

Li Xiulan returned Home and explained the situation to Wang Zhanggen.

Li Xiulan also said: "How about we just don't do his project? Anyway, there's no breach-of-contract penalty or anything!"

Wang Zhanggen smoked with his head bowed, and said:

"A person cannot be without Credit/Trustworthiness! Otherwise the reputation we've painstakingly built up would just collapse! And besides, we just recruited Lin Dajun and Zhou Hongwei — at this time it's also not good to go tell them we're not doing it."

Li Xiulan was immediately Stunned/Surprised, her face full of disbelief:

"You mean, we continue doing this project?"

Wang Zhanggen said with Determination:

"Do it, we must do it! Even at a loss we do it! Anyway we must uphold our Credit/Trustworthiness!"