Chapter 173 Finally a discovery!

Chapter 173 Finally a discovery!

Chapter 173 Finally a discovery!

At noon, Jia Dongming finished his lunch in the small canteen of the Security Department. Considering that there was nothing to do in the afternoon, he said hello to the office and rode his bicycle towards the outside of the steel mill.

Yesterday, Jia Dongming went to the blacksmith shop for reconnaissance. Using his Eagle Eye skill, he discovered that there was a high-power radio in the underground secret room below the blacksmith shop. This alone was enough to prove that there was something wrong with this blacksmith shop.

When Jia Dongming was communicating with Zhang Huanchun yesterday, Zhang Huanchun told him that the branch had been investigating this blacksmith shop for more than a month but had not yet gained anything. This forced Jia Dongming to come here again to see if he could find some valuable clues.

After riding for about twenty minutes, Jia Dongming finally arrived near the blacksmith shop and immediately discovered that several subordinates from the Security Department were scattered not far from the blacksmith shop, watching every move in the shop.

When Jia Dongming discovered his subordinates, he pretended not to recognize them and continued riding his bicycle, circling the blacksmith shop, and finally stopped at the door of a teahouse diagonally opposite the blacksmith shop.

"Comrade! Welcome. Our store has the best Biluochun, West Lake Longjing, Pu'er tea, green tea, scented tea and Gaosu. Which kind of tea would you like to drink?" Jia Dongming parked his bicycle and just walked into the teahouse. A clerk immediately came up to him and tried to sell the tea in their store to him.

When Jia Dongming heard the clerk's question, he first found a seat near the window, then smiled and asked the clerk: "Comrade! Please give me a pot of green tea and a plate of melon seeds."

When the clerk heard what Jia Dongming said, he immediately said to him, "Comrade! A pot of green tea is 85 cents, and a plate of melon seeds is 5 cents, so the total is 90 cents!"

When Jia Dongming heard the price quoted by the clerk, he took out a dollar from his pocket and gave it to the clerk. Then he sat down and looked through the window at the vehicles and people on the road outside.

"Comrade! Your tea is here. Here is your ten cent change! Please keep it." Soon, the clerk came to the table where Jia Dongming was sitting with tea and melon seeds. After placing the food on the plate on the table, he put the ten cents in front of Jia Dongming and said to him with a smile.

Jia Dongming saw the dime the clerk put in front of him, picked up the money and put it in his pocket, then picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea. Then he ate melon seeds and drank the tea, while his eyes occasionally glanced at the blacksmith shop diagonally opposite.

While Jia Dongming was sitting in the teahouse drinking tea and observing the blacksmith shop, a security guard squatting on the roadside saw Jia Dongming sitting in the teahouse drinking tea with a comfortable look on his face. He immediately showed an expression of admiration on his face and murmured to himself in his heart: "The director is worthy of being the director. He can find such a comfortable way to go out and take a job. This is the correct way to do surveillance work. I must learn from the director in the future."

Just as Jia Dongming was sitting in the teahouse drinking tea with a comfortable look on his face, a middle-aged man dressed as a farmer walked into the blacksmith shop with a cloth bag in his hand. He smiled and shouted to the master in the blacksmith shop: "Master Ye! When I was chopping trees two days ago, I accidentally hit my hatchet on a stone, and it broke. How much do you think it would cost to repair my hatchet?"

Master Ye heard the middle-aged man's question, took the axe from him, took a serious look at it, and said to the middle-aged man with a smile: "Comrade! Your axe needs to be reforged. The repair cost is one dollar."

When the middle-aged man heard what Master Ye said, he felt his pocket with an embarrassed look on his face, then took out a few dimes and said to Master Ye timidly: "Master Ye! One dollar is really too much. Can you make it cheaper? After all, it's really not easy for us country people to make a little money."

Master Ye saw the middle-aged man take out a few dimes from his pocket, saw the middle-aged man's shy expression, and showed an embarrassment on his face. He replied: "Comrade! It's not that I don't want to give you a discount, but our blacksmith shop is public, and everything is clearly marked with prices. I can't give you a discount."

When the middle-aged man heard what Master Ye said, he showed a conflicted expression on his face. After a while, he counted out fifty cents and handed it to Master Ye. Then he answered, "Master Ye! I'll give you fifty cents first, and I'll pay you the rest when I come to get the axe. Do you think this is okay?"

Master Ye couldn't help but sigh when he heard the middle-aged man's request, and answered: "Alas! These days, it's not easy for anyone. I'll charge you fifty cents first, and you must remember to pay the rest when you come to get the axe tomorrow." When the middle-aged man heard Master Ye's answer, a happy smile immediately appeared on his face, and he hurriedly thanked Master Ye: "Master Ye! Thank you, I promise to pay you the money when I come to get the axe tomorrow."

Jia Dongming, who was sitting in the teahouse, used his Eagle Eyes and Super Hearing skills to monitor everything that happened in the blacksmith shop when he saw the middle-aged man walk into the blacksmith shop. Through the conversation between the two, Jia Dongming did not find anything abnormal, so he moved his gaze from the blacksmith shop back to the teahouse.

At the intersection next to the blacksmith shop, a security guard saw the middle-aged man walking out of the blacksmith shop, then exchanged glances with his colleagues not far away, and then followed the middle-aged man from a distance, carrying an empty load.

Jia Dongming sat in the teahouse for about half an hour. Seeing that there were no customers at the blacksmith shop, he decided to go back to the steel rolling mill first.

"Comrade! Why are you leaving when you haven't finished your tea yet?" Seeing Jia Dongming was about to leave, the clerk in the teahouse immediately came forward and asked him enthusiastically.

When Jia Dongming heard the clerk's question, he smiled and replied, "Comrade! My wife used the kitchen knife at home to chop bones and ended up breaking it. I saw a blacksmith shop opposite your teahouse, so I thought I'd go and see if there were any thicker kitchen knives and buy one to help my wife cut vegetables."

When the clerk heard what Jia Dongming said and learned that Jia Dongming was going to the blacksmith shop to buy a kitchen knife, he showed an expression of wanting to say something but hesitated. Finally, he couldn't help but suggested to Jia Dongming: "Comrade! If you want to buy a kitchen knife, I suggest you go to the supply and marketing cooperative. The things in that blacksmith shop are extremely expensive."

When Jia Dongming heard what the clerk said, he felt as if he had grasped very important information, and hurriedly asked the clerk: "Comrade! Is there anything special about the kitchen knives in this blacksmith shop? Why are they so expensive?"

When the clerk heard Jia Dongming's question and thought about the changes in the blacksmith shop over the past year, he subconsciously shook his head and replied, "Comrade! In fact, I don't know what the difference is between the kitchen knives in this shop and those in the supply and marketing cooperative."

"When Old Feng was running this blacksmith shop, the business was very good. Three months ago, Old Feng returned to his hometown in Shanxi to spend his retirement because of his old age."

"The new Master Ye doubled the price of iron products in the blacksmith shop within a few days after he arrived. Since then, the business of this blacksmith shop has been getting worse day by day. If it weren't for the public-private partnership now, this blacksmith shop would probably have closed down long ago."

After hearing what the clerk said, Jia Dongming finally understood what was wrong with this blacksmith shop. He smiled and replied, "Comrade! Our Party and government are still good! If it were during the National Development period, this blacksmith shop would definitely have closed down."

When the clerk heard what Jia Dongming said and thought about his current life, he immediately agreed with a smile: "Comrade! You are right. When we opened a teahouse before, those black people would come to the teahouse to ask for money at any time. If we didn't pay them, our teahouse would not be able to continue doing business."

"Although our teahouse is now a public-private partnership, it has government protection and we no longer have to worry about blackmail. Although we earn less money, it is safer and we don't have to worry about doing business like we did in the past."

After hearing what the clerk said, Jia Dongming smiled and said goodbye to the clerk. He habitually looked towards the blacksmith shop with his eagle eyes. As a result, he found that Master Ye was already in the secret room in the basement. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand and comparing the contents with a thick book. On the table next to him was the axe with the wooden handle removed.

(End of this chapter)