Chapter 170: Caught? The End
Chapter 170: Caught? The End
end of June.
A dozen days later, Li Kailang transported a batch of iron blocks from the countryside back to the steel mill.
Along the way, he witnessed small blast furnaces and small coke ovens springing up like mushrooms after a rain beside the fields, densely filling the entire field of vision.
Thick black smoke drifted out of the blast furnace chimneys, blending with the gray sky.
Li Kailang felt a little heavy-hearted, and muttered to himself: "It seems that the incident really happened."
Li Kailang saw that the secretaries of various villages responded to the call and took dozens of villagers to the mountains to cut trees and dig coal.
The village chief also brought his people up the mountain to look for mines and smelt iron.
The villagers gave up their traditional farming and threw themselves into this vigorous steel-making movement.
They built hundreds of small blast furnaces and coke ovens on the edge of fields and in open spaces, and worked day and night using traditional methods to smelt iron and steel into iron blocks.
Li Kailang looked at the iron blocks they smelted, and most of them did not meet production standards.
But Li Kailang was powerless. He could only silently accept the iron blocks and transport them to the steel rolling mill.
The most worrying thing happened. Compared with taking care of the farmland, the villagers seemed more willing to devote themselves to steelmaking.
After finishing their daily work in the fields, they went to the small blast furnace to make steel.
As for Li Kailang himself, he still had an important task to complete: transporting grain.
"Fortunately, the food is almost delivered. As long as we deliver the last batch today, the matter will be over."
The food storage that had lasted for more than half a month was finally coming to an end, which made Li Kailang feel relieved.
All the food in Master Zhang Jinwu's yard was sold out in just a few days.
A total of more than 4 kilograms of food.
Zhang Jinwu's family alone accounted for nearly 2 kilograms, including Lu Wenjiang's.
The rest went to other residents of the yard, and when divided equally there was more than 600 kilograms.
After we finish collecting the last batch of food for the courtyard tonight, Li Kailang will be free.
"It's so easy to make money! I made more than 1500 yuan in one go." Li Kailang's mood became cheerful.
He sold it to Zhang Jinwu and Cui family at a price slightly lower than the market price.
The residents of the courtyard houses purchased the houses at black market prices.
A pound of rice costs 0.17 yuan in the market, double that in the black market to 0.34 yuan, but Li Kailang only costs 0.3 yuan.
This means that the price is 4 cents cheaper per kilogram, which is undoubtedly a considerable saving for the residents of the courtyard house.
Jia Zhang did not dare to cause trouble over the price, otherwise their Jia family would have no food.
Li Kailang makes pure profit from these grains, without any middlemen, and earns the difference in price.
Take the Jia family as an example. They consume at least 100 kilograms of food every month, which is 600 kilograms in half a year.
This does not include the baby in Qin Huairu's belly.
From the Jia family alone, Li Kailang earned at least 150 yuan.
1斤大米就要3毛，10斤3块，100斤30块，600斤就要180块。
Of course, these 600 kilograms of food are not all rice, but also include cornmeal, potatoes, sweet potatoes and other foods.
Even if I replace these, it will cost at least 150 yuan.
Although the others did not have as much as the Jia family, they still had around 120 or 130 yuan.
If they bought it at the market price, it would be only half the price, but they bought it from Li Kailang.
Li Kailang still calculated according to the black market price.
There are more than a dozen households in the entire courtyard, and together they have contributed at least 2 yuan to Li Kailang.
Besides, if I go to Zhang Jinwu's place, I will get at least 500 yuan.
At night, Li Kailang finally delivered the last batch of food and returned home.
Yan Bugui came to his house.
Yan Bugui was the last one to pay the money in the courtyard.
Yan Bugui felt bad about the large amount of money and hesitated for a long time before taking it out until all the grain had been delivered.
Li Kailang also allowed him to hand it in late.
"Xiao Li! You said you made so much money from us, can't you make it a little cheaper?" Yan Bugui asked tentatively.
Yan Bugui felt sorry for the money he had, so he bought 150 yuan worth of grain, just like the Jia family.
But the Jia family mainly bought a lot of fine grains, while Yan Bugui mainly bought coarse grains.
Li Kailang refused: "Uncle, you can't say that. Don't I need money to buy food?"
"Besides, the price I give you is much cheaper than the black market. I just make hard-earned money."
"You know, a few days ago, a cart of food was lost. I was very kind and didn't ask you for money. I paid for it all myself."
After a pause, Li Kailang continued: "How about you give me some extra money, and I'll give you a discount."
Yan Bugui immediately showed an embarrassed face and waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no! I was just joking, let's just pay the price."
Just kidding, the truckload of food that Li Kailang lost was all rice, and it was also worth 150 yuan.
The incident of losing food happened late one night five days ago.
As usual, Li Kailang walked out of the courtyard, strolled outside for a while, and then pushed a cart of grain.
When Li Kailang approached the courtyard pulling a cart loaded with grain.
Suddenly, a loud voice sounded in the darkness:
"Who? Who's there?"
The voice was full of vigilance and seriousness.
Li Kailang looked in the direction of the voice and found that it was the police.
It’s still an acquaintance—Xie Yong.
"What bad luck!" Li Kailang's heart sank suddenly. He cursed softly, then immediately pulled the cart and ran forward quickly.
"Stop, don't run!" Xie Yong yelled, trying to get Li Kailang to stop.
But how could Li Kailang stop? He pulled the food and ran forward with all his might.
At the same time, everyone in the courtyard was waiting for Li Kailang at the gate.
When they heard the police's roar, they were immediately frightened and lowered their bodies for fear of being discovered by the police.
The few residents standing in the corner did not dare to show their heads again, for fear of attracting the attention of the police.
One held his breath, afraid of being discovered.
"Uncles, what should we do now?" asked a resident.
"What else can we do? We have to hide! Are we going to go out and catch Li Kailang?" Liu Haizhong answered without hesitation.
"But if we don't go out, won't the food in the cart be gone?" the resident said anxiously.
"It's better to be gone than to be caught?" Yan Bugui analyzed calmly.
"But we all bought the food from Li Kailang. What if he gets caught and betrays us?" asked a resident.
This issue immediately caught their attention. If Li Kailang was caught and betrayed them, they would be in trouble.
Cui Yuan suddenly suggested: "Let's go out now and pretend to catch Xiao Li, but secretly help him escape. Isn't that better?"
This can not only help Li Kailang escape the police pursuit, but also protect themselves from being implicated.
After hearing Cui Yuan's words, everyone felt that it made sense.
"That's what you said."
Then, Yan Bugu looked at Yan Jiecheng in the corner:
"Jie Cheng, stick your head out and see if there is anyone else outside?"
When Yan Jiecheng heard this, he immediately became frightened:
"No, no! Listen to the noise. If I stick my head out and get discovered by the police, won't I become Li Kailang's accomplice?"
Xie Yong's shouts were still echoing outside.
Yan Jiecheng was afraid that they would sell him out. If he had known this, he would not have taken on this job.
Hearing this, everyone looked at Liu Guangqi at the gate.
How could Liu Haizhong let Liu Guangqi do such a dangerous job?
Liu Haizhong looked at Liu Guangtian and said, "Guangtian, go open the door and let a crack open to see."
When Liu Guangtian was feeling thankful, a word from Liu Haizhong instantly pushed him to the bottom.
"what!"
"What?! I told you to go, so just go. Why are you dragging your feet?" Liu Haizhong said angrily.
"Oh!" Liu Guangtian responded helplessly and came to the door.
Liu Guangqi had already vacated his position for him.
Liu Guangtian turned around and saw everyone looking at him, and he knew he couldn't escape.
I encouraged myself in my heart and planned to open a small gap.
Cui Yuan, who was standing by, watched them dragging their feet and became anxious. He ran to the corner and stuck his head out to look outside the yard.
"Cui Yuan, what happened?" Yan Bugui's voice had just fallen.
"Don't run!" At this moment, a loud voice suddenly came from the door.
The sound frightened Liu Guangtian so much that he stepped back, and the others also squatted down, not daring to make any sound. Cui Yuan was frightened and subconsciously shrank back, but then he realized that he had to save Li Kailang and immediately stood up again.
But when he saw Li Kailang was several dozen meters away from Xie Yong, he felt relieved.
the other side.
When Li Kailang was discovered, he no longer had any hope for the residents of the courtyard house.
But the speed of a cart pulling four or five hundred kilograms of grain is definitely not as fast as Xie Yong's.
Li Kailang muttered to himself: "The only way to avoid Xie Yong is to enter the planting space."
Pulling the cart, we turned a corner carefully.
"Don't run!" Xie Yong's voice came from behind, watching the cart disappear from his sight.
Li Kailang's heart tightened, he knew that Xie Yong was about to catch up!
Li Kailang calculated the distance, and when the cart completely entered the corner, Li Kailang drove the cart into the planting space.
"Don't run!"
Xie Yong rushed to the corner, but found that there was no one in front.
"Strange! This shouldn't happen!" Xie Yong was puzzled.
"How come there is no one around the corner?"
He clearly saw Li Kailang pulling a cart passing by here, how could he disappear in the blink of an eye?
Xie Yong walked forward a few steps and found a corner not far away.
"He should be able to escape from here!" Xie Yong muttered to himself.
He rushed into the corner without hesitation.
However, he did not find any trace of Li Kailang.
An hour later, Li Kailang took off his nightgown and walked out of the planting space carefully.
Because Xie Yong shouted, people from the surrounding yards came out, but when they didn't find anyone, they went home.
At this time, the surrounding yard had returned to calm and no one was lingering outside.
Li Kailang looked around cautiously, and after making sure there was no danger, he walked towards the courtyard.
When he arrived at the gate, he looked around again to make sure no one was waiting outside. He knocked on the door twice.
"Bang, bang!" Two soft sounds.
The people hiding outside the door were instantly awakened. After hearing the familiar knock on the door, Liu Guangqi opened the door.
Li Kailang walked straight into the yard.
As soon as Yan Bugui saw Li Kailang, he immediately stepped forward and asked anxiously:
"How is it? Xiao Li, are you okay? Is the food okay?"
Li Kailang: "Am I okay? You all saw that I am standing right in front of you fine, right?"
Liu Haizhong followed closely behind and asked nervously, "What about the food? Has the police taken it away?"
Li Kailang spread his hands and shrugged, "What else can it be? Of course it was taken away by the police."
"You don't think I can outrun the police while carrying hundreds of kilograms of food, do you?"
After hearing this, everyone felt that it made sense.
"Xiao Li, what was the food in that cart you lost?" Yan Bugui asked again.
Li Kailang threw away the food, and they felt that they had their own reasons.
Looking at everyone's curious eyes, Li Kailang suddenly wanted to play a prank.
"The food on that cart is all rice." Li Kailang replied.
In fact, what kind of food it is is decided by Li Kailang on the spur of the moment.
Hearing this, everyone instantly became uneasy.
If it was other food, they might consider sharing, but not rice, which is so precious.
They only eat it a few times a month. If Li Kailang really threw away so much rice, how could they afford it?
Jia Dongxu was the first to speak out: "Then we don't have to bear the responsibility for the lost food. After all, it was you who lost the food. There is no reason for us to bear the responsibility."
The more I talk about it, the more it makes sense.
Sha Zhu agreed, "Yeah, we didn't touch the food. You took it away. You can't ask us to pay for it."
Xu Damao also agreed: "Li Kailang, if you lost other food, I can still help you share it, but you lost such a valuable thing, I can't help you even if I want to."
The three of them took the lead in causing an immediate change in everyone's mentality, and they did not want to share the lost food.
They all echoed, "Li Kailang, it wasn't us who lost it, you can't blame us for it!"
Seeing this, Cui Yuan stood up and spoke for Li Kailang:
"If you weren't all so scared and didn't dare to come out to help, Xiao Li wouldn't have thrown away so much food."
Sha Zhu immediately retorted: "Cui Yuan, what do you mean by that? You are blaming us. It's not us who lost the food."
Cui Yuan sneered: "If it weren't for all of you procrastinating, you wouldn't dare to go out and help find someone."
"Look, everyone in other courtyards has come out to look for someone, but you are the only ones still standing guard here."
"If Xiao Li is captured, where will you get food?"
Jia Dongxu argued unyieldingly, "Hey, Cui Yuan, what do you mean? It's not like we didn't come out to look for her. We also looked outside the yard."
"Looking?" Cui Yuan sneered: "You guys just pretend to look outside the yard. Even if you come out to look, it will be a huge joke."
"Look, everyone in other courtyards has gone out to look for it, and you are the only ones looking in the courtyard."
After being pointed out by Cui Yuan, everyone felt a little embarrassed.
They were indeed afraid of being discovered, so they waited until there were more people outside before they dared to come out to look.
Listening to their conversation, Li Kailang also understood what happened.
If they had really come out to look for him earlier, they might have been able to hold Xie Yong back and he wouldn't have to enter the planting space.
But fortunately, they didn't come out, otherwise I would have been hard to explain myself.
Looking at Cui Yuan who still wanted to defend himself, Li Kailang gently grabbed his shoulders and signaled him not to speak.
He understood that Cui Yuan had good intentions.
Li Kailang then looked at everyone and said directly:
"Everyone is responsible for their own actions. I lost the food myself, so I am responsible for it alone. No one else needs to share the responsibility."
Hearing Li Kailang's words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
A bowl of rice worth 150 yuan would cost eight or nine yuan per person if divided equally.
For these low-income workers, this accounts for almost one-third of their wages.
With this money, they could have several nice meals.
Cui Yuan also wanted to persuade Li Kailang not to be so impulsive.
Cui Yuan felt that it was unfair for Li Kailang to bear so much alone.
But Li Kailang just patted Cui Yuan on the shoulder and signaled him to stay calm.
"Li Kailang, this is what you said, we didn't force you!" Jia Dongxu immediately agreed.
"Yeah, we didn't ask you to do anything, you wanted to do it yourself." Sha Zhu also agreed.
Although the others did not say it explicitly, they all felt the same way.
They didn't want to be involved in this trouble, and they didn't want to pay for Li Kailang's mistakes.
"Don't worry, once something is said, it can be taken back. I said I will take the responsibility, so I will take the responsibility myself."
"Besides, you've already given me the money and the amount has been decided. It's no use for me to go back on my word!"
"That's right!" everyone said.
The money was paid in advance, and the amount of food required was also agreed upon in advance. If there was anything short, they would ask Li Kailang to settle the bill.
"Okay, everyone, go home. There is no food today, and there will be no food delivered in the next few days. I want to stay out of the spotlight."
"When it's available again, I'll let you know in advance."
Hearing this, everyone left.
Cui Yuan looked at Lu Kailang and didn't understand why he had to bear the responsibility of the 150 yuan of rice himself. It was 150 yuan, not 15 yuan.
Li Kailang didn't even make 150 yuan from the Siheyuan, so he would have to lose money on it.
"Come to my house and I'll explain to you!" Li Kailang gestured.
When they got home, Li Kailang briefly explained the situation to Cui Yuan.
"Brother Cui, thank you for speaking for me, but don't worry, the food was not taken away by the police. I hid it." Li Kailang explained.
Cui Yuan was relieved to hear that the food was not lost, but he was still confused.
Li Kailang went on to explain: "I'm just trying them out. If they can share the burden, I don't mind taking more."
"But this is good, because we can see clearly what kind of people they are. So far, the result is not bad."
After hearing this, Cui Yuan understood Li Kailang's intention.
After the matter became clear, Cui Yuan left Li Kailang's home.
(End of this chapter)