Chapter 32

After Li Ye arranged a few things with Hao Jian, he didn't bother with the malt sugar business anymore and told Hao Jian not to come to the school to find him unless there was something major.

Hao Jian was very obedient and didn't come for several days. It wasn't until the fifth day that he had Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng return the 26-inch Phoenix bicycle.

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng said: "That Hao Jian has some ability; the business is doing well. In these few days, we've sold over 1,600 jin of malt sugar, and it's estimated there will be more in the coming days.

Yesterday we managed to get a flatbed cart, so we don't need this Phoenix for now! It's inconvenient for you, Xiao Ye, not to have a bicycle, and this bike is a bit too eye-catching."

Li Ye nodded: "That's fine. You guys be careful; safety first, making money second."

"I definitely know that," Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng thought for a moment and said pointedly: "Don't worry! I'm keeping an eye on things!"

Li Ye could hear what Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng meant. This guy had probably already entered the role of "supervisor," keeping a close eye on Hao Jian, not afraid of him causing trouble.

Li Ye said: "As long as you have a count in your heart, it's fine. Anyway, you and Qiangzi have a share of the money earned. We'll split the money at the end of the month."

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng laughed and left.

In just a few days, he had an income of over thirty yuan, about the same as a month's wages for a big bricklayer at a construction company. It would be strange if he wasn't happy.

Time flew by, and more than ten days passed in a flash. By the end of the month, the *Lurking* novel written by Li Ye had reached the submission stage.

"Li Ye, are we only submitting to two publishing houses? Should we submit to more? I copy manuscripts very quickly; I can copy another one by tomorrow."

The little mute Watching Wen Leyu, while helping Li Ye put the manuscript into an envelope, tried to persuade him, unwilling to give up.

Li Ye smiled and said with great confidence: "Submitting to two is enough. Trust me, I guarantee you'll be able to get a commission on the royalties."

Watching Wen Leyu slanted her eyes at Li Ye and said with a hint of reproach: "Can you not always talk about money, money, money? I don't want any of your commission."

It turned out that when Li Ye asked Watching Wen Leyu to "proofread," he had said he would give her a "labor fee." Watching Wen Leyu hadn't paid attention at first, thinking it was a joke, but now that Li Ye mentioned it again, she felt it wasn't appropriate.

They were both so familiar with each other; why mention money?

Li Ye didn't argue with Watching Wen Leyu either, but organized the two thick envelopes and ran to the post office himself to pay the "overweight postage," mailing them to two publishing houses in the provincial capital and Island City respectively.

He was very grateful for the loose submission requirements of the publishing houses in the 80s. If he dared to play "multiple submissions" in later generations, he would just wait to be completely blacklisted by the editors!

A fickle person shouldn't even think about entering my sect.

As for what uncontrollable things would happen if two publishing houses accepted Li Ye's manuscript at the same time, that was impossible.

Because the word count of this novel was not small, Li Ye only mailed out the first quarter and very humbly noted at the end: "If you are interested in publishing, please mail back a contact phone number, and the author will present the full manuscript."

Once he got the phone number, it would be time to talk terms.

Coming out of the post office, Li Ye didn't return to school immediately.

Today was the day he had agreed with Hao Jian to split the money, and he needed to rush to Chenzhuang Township, thirty li away.

Originally, Hao Jian had intended to bring the money to the county seat to split, but Li Ye hadn't been to the malt sugar processing site yet, so he decided to go and take a look.

Li Ye rode the 26-inch Phoenix, slowly crossing the street against the sunset of the winter day, and saw the staff of the movie theater next to the street painting a large poster for *Lushan Love* on the poster board at the entrance.

*Lushan Love*, the classic movie that moved Li Ye's father's generation in his previous life. The love story between the white-rich-beautiful woman returning from overseas and the local male lead satisfied all the longings in the green hearts of that generation.

The actress who played the female lead, Zhang Yu, didn't know how many innocent boys' hearts she had stolen in their dreams.

In later generations, some big Vs commented that 80% of the credit for the huge success of *Lushan Love* lay in the female lead's identity as a wealthy girl returning from overseas.

If Zhou Yun were replaced by a country girl, no matter how loving she was with the male lead, and no matter how tortuous and moving their emotional experience was, it wouldn't have reached the sensational scale of the original play.

It was just that Li Ye looked at Zhang Yu's big round face on the poster and couldn't substitute it into the feeling of a "beauty of the era" at all.

Instead, it was the tall, thin, and taciturn Watching Wen Leyu who had appeared in his dreams once or twice.

Li Ye smiled and teased himself: "Sigh, an advanced aesthetic makes me so unusual."

Chenzhuang Township was thirty li away from Qingshui County. After Li Ye met up with Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng, it took them an hour to arrive after dark.

After Li Ye arrived, he found that Hao Jian's house was sitting alone on a dirt slope, at least two li away from the village.

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng introduced to Li Ye: "Hao Jian is an outsider. Because he married a beautiful girl from the village, he was squeezed out by the locals.

So when he was building the house, he was squeezed into moving far away from the village, which actually provided some convenience for our malt sugar processing."

Li Ye looked around and said: "With convenience comes disadvantages. It's too desolate. How is the safety?"

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng said: "It's fine for now. A few days ago, Hao Jian's wife's younger brother came over to help boil sugar. Plus, Qiangzi has been living here, and they've raised a few dogs. If you don't feel at ease, I'll just move over here too."

Li Ye pondered and said: "Let's see first. If it doesn't work in a few days, you can come over, and I'll give you an extra hardship fee."

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng smiled and didn't refuse. He was a smart person and knew what he should do and how much he should take.

Li Ye and Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng entered the courtyard and saw Hao Jian, Wang Jianqiang, and a thin young man in his twenties loading the cart.

There wasn't much concept of hygiene for food in this era. The dried malt sugar was directly loaded into washed chemical fertilizer bags and stacked on the flatbed cart one by one.

Li Ye counted, and there was about eight or nine hundred jin.

Seeing Li Ye and Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng enter the room, Hao Jian said to the thin young man: "Er Zhu, you go out and walk the dogs. Cui'er's mother, you go to the agency and buy two packs of cigarettes."

The thin young man untied the ropes of the two local dogs and took them out to frolic, while a very pretty woman led a little girl out the door.

The little girl looked back at Li Ye as she walked, thin and small, timidly making one's heart ache.

Li Ye asked Hao Jian: "How is your daughter's illness?"

Hao Jian said: "Still okay. It hasn't flared up in these days. When I save up some more money, I'll take her to a big hospital in a big city to see."

Hao Jian took Li Ye into the room, while Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng and Wang Jianqiang consciously stood guard at the courtyard gate, making it look like secret spies holding a meeting.

Hao Jian lifted a kang hole on the dirt kang in the room, pulled out a bundle, and said: "I don't think we can split the money once a month anymore. There's too much money. These days, when I lie on the kang, I can't sleep soundly."

"Too much money?" Li Ye said with a smile: "You bastard, when you first cheated me out of money, did you ever think there would be a day when you'd complain about having too much money?"

Hao Jian also shook his head and laughed sheepishly. When he was selling sugar at the school gate, he really wanted to treat Li Ye as a sucker. Who would have thought that in just a few days, everyone would be entangled in a gang.

"Pfft~ Pfft~"

Hao Jian patted the dust off the bundle and lifted it layer by layer, revealing stacks of banknotes inside.

"According to your instructions, I've already split the money in advance. Your share is 1,396.52 yuan. I bought five pairs of shoes according to the list you gave me, which cost 87.3 yuan...

I took a round number of 1,320 for you... My share is 950... Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng..."

Although Li Ye had also seen "hundreds of thousands" in his previous life, looking at the pile of banknotes that belonged to him now, he still felt a bit hot in his heart.

There weren't many ten-yuan or five-yuan notes in the thousand-plus yuan; most were two-yuan and one-yuan notes, a large pile of them.

And this was the result of Hao Jian trying his best to give the large notes to Li Ye; the other shares were all small change.

Li Ye put the money into his satchel and called Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng in, giving him nearly two hundred yuan as an "escort fee."

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng had expected this and took it calmly. However, when it came to splitting the money for Wang Jianqiang, this simpleton actually didn't dare to take it.

"Brother, it's too much, it's too much... I don't want it... I'll just be full... I can be full these days..."

Li Ye thought about Wang Jianqiang's family situation, so he put the money away and said to Wang Jianqiang: "I can keep this money for you first, but you must remember the amount yourself. This time you deserve 89 yuan. I'll give you 9 yuan first, and keep 80 yuan with me. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, Brother."

Wang Jianqiang happily took the nine yuan, his mouth almost splitting to his ears.

After all the money was split, Li Ye and Hao Jian agreed to split the money every half month in the future, and if the amount was too large, they would split it every ten days.

However, just as Li Ye was about to leave, Hao Jian handed a package to Li Ye and said: "This is the pair of shoes you asked me to buy for you in the provincial capital. Also, there's another thing.

A few days ago, the village cadre asked me what I was busy with these days. I covered it up, but I'm not sure if he'll ask again in the future. See if you can pull some strings and get some paperwork."

Li Ye's eyes narrowed, and he asked: "What strings? What paperwork?"

Hao Jian was a bit guilty, but still said: "I heard Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng say that your grandfather is in the grain system. The grain system used to have rural cooperative households for food processing..."

Li Ye glanced at Hao Jian coldly, pushed his bike, and left with Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng.

On the way, Li Ye asked Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng: "Did you leak my grandfather's identity to Hao Jian?"

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng laughed: "Do you think I accidentally leaked the bottom?"

Li Ye asked suspiciously: "Could it be that you deliberately told the old man?"

Watching Watching Watching Jin Peng said: "Xiao Ye, these days we are constantly buying raw materials like rice and glutinous rice. Do you think the old man didn't hear any wind? He is a former scout."

".........."

Li Ye was stunned for a moment and understood.

It turned out that when he thought he was planning everything, his family was already covering for him. Chapter 33: Capable Person