Chapter 169: The truth is revealed?
Chapter 169: The truth is revealed? Let’s do it together
After leaving Cui's house, Li Kailang returned to his room and turned into the planting space.
He has no shortage of food. Now he just needs to find a good time to deliver it to Zhang Jinwu and Lu Wenjiang.
It was impossible for Li Kailang to carry hundreds of kilograms of food one by one.
When Li Kailang arrived at the planting space, he came to build a cart.
The structure of the cart cannot be replaced entirely by wood.
If you are short of rubber tires, you can go to the transport team tomorrow and get some from the warehouse.
Looking at the cart made of birch wood, Li Kailang tried to pull it and it was not very heavy.
Li Kailang muttered to himself: "By the way, let's build something small so that we can use the bicycle to pull it instead of pulling it by hand."
The next day, Li Kailang went to the steel mill and got some rubber tires. When the time comes, he just needs to stick them on the wooden tires and they will be ready for use.
After returning home, Li Kailang couldn't wait to modify the cart.
After a while, Li Kailang clapped his hands as he looked at the brand new cart.
"Okay, these finally look good, we can start shipping them."
The cart had a shiny, dark brown exterior that was painted with tung oil by Li Kailang.
The wooden tires are also protected by rubber, which only reduces the noise during transportation.
Looking at the completed cart, he said: "Now we can start transporting food."
Li Kailang turned his head and looked towards the planting warehouse.
This morning, Zhang Jinwu, Lu Wenjiang and Cui Yuan gave the food money to Li Kailang in advance.
Li Kailang naturally could not sell it according to the black market price. He must sell it at the rural purchase price, which was much cheaper.
"Xiao Li, the grain station doesn't charge this price, so don't pay for it yourself." Zhang Jinwu said seriously.
He was worried that Li Kailang would use his own money to advance them, and he also knew the price of grain at the grain station.
"Don't worry, Master. I didn't pay for it. I bought it from the countryside. The price must be much cheaper than the grain station."
Hearing this, Zhang Jinwu understood, but even so, he still gave Li Kailang the price according to the grain station.
Li Kailang naturally couldn't accept it, "Master, this is too much!"
"If I tell you to take it, just take it. You bought so much food from them, why don't you give them some? How can you buy more in the future?" Zhang Jinwu said.
Zhang Jinwu thought more deeply than Li Kailang, and he did not intend to make it a one-time deal.
If the grain harvest is really poor in the future, he also plans to buy it from the countryside.
He didn't know that all the food belonged to Li Kailang.
Unable to refuse, Li Kailang had to accept it.
"By the way, Master, I will deliver the first batch of food to you tonight, around nine o'clock in the evening, please keep an eye out."
Zhang Jinwu nodded, "Okay, I get it. Be careful. If you encounter an inspection, don't take the food, just run away."
"If the food is gone, you can buy more, but you can't go in!"
"Don't worry, Master. I know what I'm doing." Li Kailang assured.
Seeing this, Zhang Jinwu said no more.
Most of Lu Wenjiang's food was kept by Zhang Jinwu.
The yard where Lu Wenjiang lived was a quadrangle with two entrances. He lived in the middle yard, which made it very inconvenient to transport grain.
At the same time, the composition of the residents in Lu Wenjiang's yard is very complex, including people from other units, such as doctors, supply and marketing cooperatives, and schools.
Lu Wenjiang was worried about them, fearing that some of them might let things slip.
Therefore, he just dug a hole in the ground at home and put two or three hundred kilograms of grain in it, and the rest of the food was kept with Zhang Jinwu.
He didn't tell his family the specific details, but just asked them not to make it public.
At night, while everyone was asleep, Li Kailang opened his eyes and quietly left the yard.
Wearing a nightgown, Li Kailang went straight to a place not far from Zhang Jinwu's yard.
The distance is not far, but the place is close enough to observe the surrounding movements.
Li Kailang looked around and after confirming that there was no one else there, he quickly took out a cart and deftly loaded three or four hundred kilograms of grain on it.
These grains are rich in variety, including rice, corn, cornmeal, sweet potatoes and potatoes, all of which are staple foods that can be stored for a long time.
"Knock knock--" the sound of soft knocks on the door echoed in the night.
Zhang Jinwu had been waiting outside the gate. When he heard the noise, he immediately called out to the other residents behind him and then opened the door.
I was almost scared to death when I saw Li Kailang dressed in black.
Zhang Jinwu stuck his head out and looked around carefully. After confirming that there was no one else, he waved his hand to indicate that it was safe.
"Come on, hurry up!" Zhang Jinwu ordered in a low voice.
They began to move the food in a tense and orderly manner. No one spoke during the whole process. Only the slight sounds of moving and breathing echoed in the air.
Li Kailang also glanced at the corner of the wall and saw his master's wife and several women sticking their heads out, looking outside vigilantly.
"Huh——" Finally, all the food was moved.
Everyone felt relieved, sweat appeared on their foreheads and their backs were a little wet.
It's not just because of tiredness, but more because of the fear of being on edge.
"This is the first time I've seen so much food." A resident murmured to himself.
"Yes! With so much food, we don't have to worry about food shortages." Other residents echoed.
Having experienced difficult times, they fully understand the importance of food.
For them, apart from life and death, the most frightening thing is not having enough food to eat.
Now seeing so much food piled together, their hearts were filled with comfort and hope.
"Xiao Li, now that you've delivered the goods, you should go back quickly and don't let anyone find you," Zhang Jinwu instructed.
Li Kailang nodded, "Don't worry, Master, I know what's going on!"
Zhang Jinwu was still worried and reminded again: "Don't think about it, go back quickly and don't let anyone notice."
"Okay, I'll go back now!" Li Kailang pulled the cart and looked outside vigilantly.
After seeing that it was safe, he pulled the cart and left quickly.
After Li Kailang left, Zhang Jinwu looked at the residents and gave them a serious warning:
"I don't need to remind you what you should and shouldn't say about tonight. If anyone ruins our plans, don't blame me for being rude!"
A resident hastily expressed his opinion: "Don't worry, Lao Zhang, everyone has spent money, they won't say anything nonsense, nothing happened today."
"Yes, yes! I was sleeping the whole time and didn't notice it."
The residents quickly expressed their opinions and said that they would keep the secret strictly.
Seeing this, Zhang Jinwu nodded with satisfaction, "Okay, this matter will not end so quickly, move the food to the cellar, there is not much food now, there is no need to divide it."
The residents had no objection as they still had surplus food at home, and rather than dividing the spoils unequally, it would be better not to divide them at all.
Everyone started to get busy again, moving the food into the cellar for storage.
This situation continued for several days.
No matter how careful Li Kailang is, what is supposed to be discovered will eventually be discovered.
Yan Bugui’s home, in front of the bed.
"Boss, do you know what Li Kailang has been doing these days?" the third aunt asked curiously.
"This Li Kailang seemed to be transporting grain, and quite a lot of it. I saw him pulling a cart to a yard." Yan Bugui explained.
"Transporting food!" The third aunt exclaimed with a surprised expression on her face.
"Is Li Kailang doing some kind of business?"
One night, Yan Bugui woke up to urinate and accidentally saw a figure flying in from the wall. He was so scared that he almost peed his hand.
When Yan Bugui saw the figure entering Li Kailang's house, he knew it was Li Kailang this time.
He didn't care at the time, thinking that Li Kailang was just going to the black market to buy and sell some things.
After all, everyone has gone to the black market to make a living.
In the next few days, Yan Bugui got up twice at night to go to the bathroom, and both times he saw Li Kailang coming back, which made him very curious.
Tonight, he decided to follow Li Kailang quietly to find out what was going on.
Li Kailang was very fast and he almost lost sight of Li Kailang.
But because of this, Li Kailang was unable to discover Yan Bugui's existence.
Yan Bugui was waiting in the middle for Li Kailang, but he was unwilling to give up and searched for a long time.
Finally, Li Kailang arrived at the gate of the yard, pulling a cart full of things.
The people in the yard were also very careful. They first looked around and confirmed that there was nothing unusual before starting to move things.
Yan Bugui was afraid of being discovered, so he didn't dare to look any longer and ran back home early.
"Boss, why don't we go and persuade Li Kailang? He's buying and selling grain, and this is no small matter. What if we get caught?"
"After all, Li Kailang has helped you before. We can't just leave it alone. If Jia Zhang finds out, that would be bad news."
"It's a good opportunity for us to return the favor."
The third aunt said this to thank Li Kailang for rescuing Yan Bugui.
If it weren't for Li Kailang, Yan Bugui would have to stay in the detention center, which would not be a good thing for Yan Bugui.
If he was really caught, even if he stayed for a day, Yan Bugui would not be able to successfully upgrade in the past period of time.
"Okay, it's the weekend tomorrow, I'll go talk to him." Yan Bugui replied.
The next day, at noon, Li Kailang woke up leisurely as usual.
The results of the past few days are also very gratifying. We have moved at least 1500 kilograms of grain back and forth.
Li Kailang looked at the sunlight outside the window and thought to himself:
"Now the situation is not tense. Starting tomorrow, I will move more food, 400 to 500 kilograms or 500 to 600 kilograms at a time, and move all the food as soon as possible."
If the planting space could be exposed, Li Kailang would have wanted to prepare all the food at once.
"Dong Dong~"
Hearing the noise, Li Kailang shouted, "Who is it? Here they come!"
"It's me!" Yan Bugui replied.
Li Kailang muttered: "What does Yan Bugui want to talk to me about?"
"Squeak-"
After opening the door and looking at Yan Bugui with a mysterious look on his face, Li Kailang felt a little strange.
But he still welcomed him in and poured him a glass of water.
After sitting down, Yan Bugui got straight to the point: "Xiao Li, it's not good for you to go out so often these nights. I'm worried that others will find out."
Li Kailang was startled, thinking that Yan Bugui had discovered that he had delivered food, and he quickly denied it:
"Uncle, are you dazzled? I was at home all night and never went out."
Seeing Li Kailang's quibbling, Yan Bugui advised again: "Xiao Li, stop pretending. I have seen you go out every day when I woke up at night these past few days."
"If you keep doing this, what if someone reports you and you get caught by the police?"
But Li Kailang still concealed it and denied it quickly.
Seeing this, Yan Bugu told the whole story and pointed it out directly. "Xiao Li, stop lying. I secretly followed you yesterday. You were pulling a cart full of things to a yard."
"I went to that place this morning. It's a courtyard with a courtyard entrance."
Seeing that the truth was revealed, Li Kailang was speechless. It was no use trying to cover it up.
His heart sank and he began to think about how to deal with this problem.
"Uncle, tell me, how can you not tell anyone?" Li Kailang said bluntly.
He didn't believe that Yan Bugui was just here to remind him, he must be trying to extort something from him.
Yan Bugui looked at Li Kailang's eyes and felt a little hesitant.
He was conflicted, and finally he said righteously: "Li Kailang, how can you think like that? Although I like to calculate, I don't want everything."
"You saved my life before, so yesterday's incident is just a repayment of your kindness. From now on, we don't owe each other anything anymore!"
Li Kailang was shocked when he saw Yan Bugui being so upright.
He never thought that Yan Bugui had such a side in his heart.
But Yan Bugui's heart was also bleeding. This was a great favor, and he also wanted to extort something.
But just extorting things is not as good as building a good relationship with Li Kailang.
In his eyes, Li Kailang will definitely be a promising person in the future, so he should build a good relationship with him while he is still young.
If anything happens in the future, he will be able to help.
Li Kailang's eyes rolled around as he looked at Yan Bugui's insincere words. It was obvious that he had bad intentions, and he was almost deceived by Yan Bugui.
Li Kailang thought to himself: "No, I must not give Yan Bugu the handle, I have to find a way!"
At the same time, I also blamed myself for being too careless and being discovered.
Li Kailang thought about it and decided that the best way was to drag Yan Bugui into the water.
This way, Yan Bugui will not tell anyone about his secret.
Once he tells it out, he won't feel good.
This way, he will no longer have any leverage over her!
Li Kailang stood in front of Yan Bugui, his eyes full of sincerity.
He said in a deep voice: "Uncle, I will tell you the truth. What I am transporting this time is indeed grain."
"You don't know, the countryside is now engaged in steel production, and people are starting to stop doing farm work. There may not be enough food next year. Uncle, do you want to buy some food to store it?"
Yan Bugui looked at Li Kailang and asked tentatively, "Are you saying that there might not be enough food?"
Li Kailang nodded heavily. While talking with Yan Bugui, Li Kailang focused his attention on what was in front of him.
Just then, a figure rushed in hurriedly: "What? Not enough food?!"
Looking at the figure rushing in, Li Kailang and Yan Bugui showed a hint of disgust in their eyes.
The person who came was Jia Zhang, and the two didn't know how she overheard.
"Ms. Jia Zhang, why did you come into my house for no reason?" Li Kailang asked bluntly.
Jia Zhang pretended to be righteous and stern: "Why? I see you are sneaking around, you must be up to no good."
"I'm here to keep an eye on you and see what bad things you want to do!"
Jia Zhang saw Yan Bugui looking mysterious when he entered Li Kailang's house and even looked outside.
In her eyes, she had done nothing good.
It just so happened that she was planning to cause trouble for Li Kailang, as Li Kailang had caused her to go to jail, and she wanted to take revenge.
Jia Zhang changed the subject: "Don't worry about me, Li Kailang, tell me, what do you mean by not having enough food?"
Since it was about food, she had to pay attention to it.
As someone who has experienced the war years and has lived a life of luxury for so long, Jia Zhang doesn't want to go hungry.
Seeing that Jia Zhang was determined to get to the bottom of the matter, the two were too lazy to talk to her.
"If you don't tell me, I will report you!" After saying that, she turned around and ran out.
As he ran, he shouted, "Help! We are running out of food!"
Her voice instantly attracted the attention of the residents in the yard.
In this day and age, food is life. Who can sit still after hearing such news?
They all put down what they were doing and hurried to the front yard.
Yan Bugui looked at the third aunt next to him and asked with some dissatisfaction: "How did you check the door? How did Jia Zhang run in?"
The three aunts explained somewhat awkwardly:
"I just went back to the house for a while, and I didn't expect her to take this opportunity to run in. I couldn't stop her even if I wanted to."
Seeing this, Yan Bugui sighed and stopped blaming the third aunt. The most important thing now was to stop Jia Zhang's nonsense.
Fortunately, Jia Zhang was just shouting in the yard and did not run out.
Liu Haizhong and others ran to the front yard and asked anxiously, "What? Is there really no food?"
When Jia Zhang saw that everyone had come, she felt even more proud.
She pointed at Li Kailang and said, "It was Li Kailang who said there was no food. I asked him, but he didn't tell me."
"I think this Li Kailang must want to keep the food for himself and not tell us."
After hearing what Jia Zhang said, everyone's eyes were focused on Li Kailang.
Liu Haizhong took on the airs of the Third Uncle and asked, "Xiao Li, this is not a joke. Food is a big deal. Tell me what's going on?"
"You have to tell me everything about this, or you can't leave."
Looking at Liu Haizhong who was in full swing, Li Kailang glanced at him slightly and was too lazy to answer.
"Li Kailang, the uncle is asking you a question! Hurry up and answer it!" Sha Zhu shouted from the side.
"Silly Zhu, how do you talk to me? Do you want to get beaten?" Li Kailang said bluntly.
At this time, Yi Zhonghai came over, his tone was relatively gentle:
"Li Kailang, can you please tell me what is going on with this food shortage?"
Seeing Yi Zhonghai being so polite, Li Kailang's expression improved a little.
"You have to ask questions in a proper manner, one by one, to show that you are capable. If I don't tell you, what can you do to me?"
"Ah! Do you want to fight?" Li Kailang pointed at Sha Zhu and Jia Zhang and said bluntly.
When Jia Zhang overheard this, Li Kailang knew that this matter would not end well. With Jia Zhang's big mouth, she would wish everyone to know about it.
It's the same whether you're driving one sheep or a flock of sheep. Just drive them all together.
Although Li Kailang didn't want to bring Jia Zhangshi, Yi Zhonghai and others, he was afraid that a single bad apple would spoil the whole barrel.
Seeing Li Kailang being so arrogant and domineering, the two men didn't dare to say a word. They really couldn't beat Li Kailang.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Li Kailang didn't waste any words and simply explained the reason to everyone.
"The food shortage is not just now, but in the future. People in the countryside are all working to make steel, and no one is taking care of the farmland."
"I'm worried that the farmland will be left idle and abandoned, and tomorrow's harvest will be poor. So I'm preparing in advance and storing some food."
"Of course, it's just the beginning now, so it's not certain yet. Do you want to believe it or not?" Li Kailang spread his hands and said indifferently.
After hearing Li Kailang's words, everyone's expression changed.
Older people have experienced days of hunger and have a deep affection for food.
When it comes to food shortage, their nerves immediately become tense.
"Xu Damao! Is what Li Kailang said true?" Yi Zhonghai suddenly called out his name.
Xu Damao originally wanted to tease Yi Zhonghai, but when he saw everyone staring at him, he knew that now was not the time to joke.
He pondered for a moment and nodded: "It's almost the same as what Li Kailang said."
With Xu Damao's confirmation, the last bit of doubt in everyone's mind disappeared.
"Xiao Li, can you get some food for our yard?" Yan Bugui asked tentatively.
Since Li Kailang could get food for that family, they might be able to do the same.
After hearing Yan Bugui's words, everyone looked at Li Kailang expectantly.
Food is rationed and people receive a fixed quota every month. If you want to buy food, you have to go to the black market.
But the black market is expensive, and they want a lot.
"I can help you get some food, and you don't need tickets, but the price cannot be based on the price at the grain station."
They understood what Li Kailang meant. It was obvious that Li Kailang had channels to buy large quantities of food from the black market.
But Li Kailang meant that the price was more expensive than at the grain station, but cheaper than on the black market.
"Yes, yes!" Yan Bugui agreed immediately.
Although he is calculating and stingy, he still has his own opinions on major issues.
As long as food supply can be guaranteed, a slightly higher price is acceptable.
After hearing what Yan Bugui said, everyone agreed to buy the grain.
Just when everyone reached a consensus, Jia Zhang interrupted at an inopportune moment:
"Don't be fooled by this guy. He is definitely trying to make a fortune from this."
Her words made the atmosphere suddenly awkward.
Li Kailang responded bluntly: "Okay! Jia Zhang, if you want to buy grain, don't come to me. I won't help you."
"If you don't want to buy it, then don't." Jia Zhang was about to say something, but Jia Dongxu quickly interrupted:
"Buy, buy, buy, Li Kailang, my mom is just talking nonsense, don't take it seriously, let's buy it."
After saying that, he looked at Jia Zhangshi and said, "Mom, if you have nothing to do, go back to your room and don't cause any trouble here."
Jia Dongxu is usually responsible for purchasing food for the Jia family, and he knows how expensive food is.
This batch of grain is large in quantity, and his supplier cannot provide so much.
Li Kailang was able to provide a large amount of food, which was undoubtedly a timely help.
Seeing Jia Dongxu speak, although Jia Zhang wanted to refute, she couldn't say anything and could only snort coldly and leave.
After the troublemaker left, Li Kailang saw that everyone had the same opinion and said directly:
"If you don't have any objections, please sign up with me and tell me how much food you want to buy and pay the money so I can prepare in advance."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately came to Li Kailang to sign up, fearing that they would be the last one and would have no food.
Seeing this, Li Kailang was also very happy as he could make some money from the residents.
At the same time, the leverage Yan Bugui had over him also disappeared.
Kill two birds with one stone!
Most importantly, the help to the Cui family can be put on display instead of being done in secret.
The amount of grain to be stored is not one or two hundred kilograms, but four or five hundred kilograms, and the Cui family does not have that much space.
Even if there is, everyone can't eat enough. Your Cui family can eat enough, which will inevitably arouse jealousy.
Li Kailang also knows that people suffer unequally and not infrequently.
Li Kailang also knew the character of the other residents in the yard. This time he was dealing with the matter, not the people. Helping them was indirectly helping himself.
In the next three years, if he ate well, others would not have enough to eat.
In contrast, they were dissatisfied and reported him even though they could not find any evidence.
But if a toad lands on your feet, it won’t bite you, but it will disgust you.
(End of this chapter)