It is said that this is the coldest Spring Festival in recent years, and there was frost on the ground last night.
In the area of the Purple Bamboo Forest, apart from the big banyan tree at the edge of the field and some bamboos on the roadside, there is no green plant anywhere else. It is bare everywhere, and there is only dry grass in other wastelands.
The people brought by Lao Mai gathered by the bamboo, there seemed to be more than a dozen of them, all of whom were temporarily pulled here from the shacks on the construction site. Before Ye Zhao's side showed up, they seemed quite capable, but then a bunch of people from the other side came, and each of them looked difficult to deal with, so they immediately became a little timid.
Except for a few people who were leading the group and pretending to smoke, everyone else just squatted on the ground and smoked.
Who wants to fight on New Year's Day? The wages the boss gives them are not worth a fight.
Just now, when the bulldozer master got off the vehicle to go to the toilet, seeing that his own people were not capable enough, Old Mai seized the opportunity and the fat man climbed onto the front of the bulldozer. If Ye Zhao did not give in, he would not get off. He wanted to win by using his wits!
Old Mai glanced at Ye Zhao's side, which was strong in manpower and even Zeng Erqiao had come to join in the fun. Then he looked at his own people, who looked listless. The contrast was so tragic that it made him angry.
He stood on the nose of the plane with his hands on his hips. Old Mai wasn't actually very fat, but he had a big belly. He couldn't even see his feet when he lowered his head. After listening to what Old Kai, who was mediating and acting as a peacemaker, said, he waved his hand and said, "Let her pay 20,000 yuan."
The old driver came forward and stood in front of the bulldozer and advised: "Twenty thousand is too much! Are you robbing? Your sand and stones are worth a few thousand at most. I let you take them away a long time ago. If you didn't, now they have become the foundation of someone else's house. If she is willing to compensate you with a few thousand, you'd be grateful. How dare you ask for twenty thousand!"
Old Mai counted on his fingers and told him: "This is river sand! Not sea sand! You know there are constructions everywhere now, and you can't buy river sand in the whole city of Shenzhen. River sand is so expensive! I transported it from Dongguan City, and the travel fee is more than what you said."
Lao Kai said with a "tsk". "Who cares how much the shipping fee is? You quoted too high a price and they just ignored you! There's no point in calling the police."
"Hey, Lao Kai, we are relatives after all. You are the one mediating, why are you so biased? Don't worry about it, go and ask her for the price first!"
Seeing that Lao Mai was uncivilized, Lao Kai could not persuade him, so he had to walk back to the side of the road and said to Ye Zhao, "Lao Mai spent tens of thousands to transport this sand from Wancheng. Now he only wants 20,000. He will leave after you pay him."
Twenty thousand? That’s a lot! You’re just dreaming!
Ye Zhao said: "If I don't pay him, he's going to eat, drink, defecate and urinate on the front of the car and won't be able to move? Or can he dig up the sand and transport it away?"
Lao Kai: "How can we transport it away? The sand and mud are mixed together and cannot be used."
Guipi smoked a cigarette and complained, "If I didn't have to rent this bulldozer every day, I would just leave it hanging on the car."
It was not easy to be a mediator. Lao Kai asked Ye Zhao helplessly, "How much compensation can you give me? I'll go talk to him."
Aunt Qiao didn't wait for Ye Zhao to refuse and said directly: "Give him a hair! He is making trouble here on New Year's Day! Seeing that there are so many of us, he went to the front of the sports car to play tricks. How shameless!"
Lao Kai: "I am anxious!"
Ye Zhao said: "I gave him a chance to transport it, but unfortunately he didn't cherish it. Uncle Kai, you heard it with your own ears..."
Lao Kai took out a cigarette and held it in his hand, but he didn't light it. He just asked, "So what are you going to do now?"
Ye Zhao was firm: "Tell him to get off the truck immediately and stop hindering our work and wasting our time. Otherwise, he will sue me instead of me."
"Even if you don't pay for the sand, it will cost you a lot of money to fill this area and buy earth, plus the freight. You might as well just give him the money for the earth."
Ye Zhao pointed to the extra soil in the distance and said, "I don't need to buy soil. Look, there is still extra. I can sell some to him."
Neither side is a good person, neither side is reasonable, and neither side is willing to give in. Lao Kai is really out of luck to have gotten into this situation. He sighed and trotted off to tell Lao Mai.
The sound of firecrackers came from afar. From New Year's Eve to now, the sound of firecrackers has hardly stopped.
Ye Zhao looked back and saw Brother Xiang riding a motorcycle right beside her. She walked over and chatted with him for a few words, and then Brother Xiang rode away on the motorcycle.
Lao Kai came back and said that the other party was willing to pay 10,000 less.
"I told you I won't give you a penny."
"You really won't pay a cent? He's not a big boss, just a contractor. It's not easy to make a little money..."
"Since it's not easy to make money, why don't you cherish it. He pretended not to hear when he was asked to take it away. He just wanted to take up the space for free and take advantage of me, a little girl from another place! He deserves it! A contractor with no manners like him will have a hard time in the future. Does he really think he can make a lot of money and act arrogantly by contracting the work of Fortune Building?" Ye Zhao sneered. There will be a day when the developer will owe the builder the project fee, and the builder will owe money to contractors like them. Hard days are yet to come.
How could Lao Kai have predicted this? In his opinion, Lao Mai would be a hot commodity in the future: "He is short of money now, but when he gets the project payment, he will be much richer than the rest of us. There is no need to offend someone like him, right?"
"It's all thanks to you, Uncle Kai. You owe him 500 gambling debts and you're not afraid of offending him, so why should I be afraid?"
"He and I are distant relatives! It's okay to owe him a little money. We are different."
The two sides argued back and forth for a while. Ye Zhao heard the sound of a motorcycle. Zeng Xiang came back. She said to Lao Kai, "I'll give your distant relative one more chance. Let him get off right now. Otherwise, if he makes a fool of himself later, I won't take care of him."
"What are you going to do? Don't let the driver force the car to drive. If he falls down and the bulldozer is not well controlled, he will be crushed."
"Then why don't you inform him immediately."
Lao Kai was being ordered around by both sides and was so busy that he was dizzy. He ran to the bulldozer and persuaded Lao Mai to get off.
Old Mai got angry and spat on the ground. "If they have the guts, just tell them to drive over me! If they don't dare, they are bastards! Screw you! Outsiders are showing off their power in our land!"
He was still cursing when he saw a teenager getting off a motorcycle with a bag in his hand.
Lao Mai stared at the other person coming over and asked Lao Kai, "Who is this?"
"Qiaojie's son. He's quite brutal! Some time ago, he beat five people alone in front of their own home and almost crippled them, but he ended up being stabbed!"
Old Mac is nervous and won't use force. Just pull him off the front of the car. He also brought people with him!
"Aqiao! Come here!" He shouted to the workers standing beside the bamboo forest.
Ah Qiao didn't hear clearly, so he ran over. Halfway through, he heard Lao Mai yelling, "Come here! All of you! What are you doing?!"
The workers then walked over. Dai Xiangrong, the kitchen assistant, was afraid that his own people would suffer, so he also wanted to lead his men to rush in, but was stopped by Ye Zhao.
"You guys don't have to go, Brother Xiang can do it alone." Too many people would hinder Brother Xiang's performance.
Zeng Xiang walked to a place a few meters away from the bulldozer and stopped. He held a lighter in his hand and took out a row of red objects from his bag...
Before Old Mac could react, red firecrackers exploded right under his feet!
Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!
He was so scared that he covered his ears and jumped from side to side!
Another row was thrown over!
Your mother! Old Mac rolled and crawled off the front of the car!
The people he brought with him were stunned for a moment, and had not yet decided whether to rescue the boss. As a result, row after row of firecrackers were thrown at them like raindrops, and the group of people were so scared that they ran away in all directions!
The bulldozer driver took the opportunity to back up. Old Mai was covered in dust and was so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time. When he looked again, he found that not only Lao Kai, but even his own people were running faster than him.
Ahh! Old Mac is so angry that he is about to explode!
The boy was playing with his lighter leisurely, with half a bag of firecrackers in his hand. Obviously, he hadn't had enough fun yet.
"I'm going to call the police! I'm f**king calling the police!" Old Mai yelled incoherently! His foot was injured by the firecrackers and it was still stinging and painful!
This kid Zeng Xiang!
Lao Kai gritted his teeth, not knowing what to say.
As he walked out, Lao Mai cursed, "Don't leave! Wait here, we're going to call the police! Qiao! Where's your car? Go call the police! Now!"
A Qiao hurriedly rushed to the roadside and drove out to call the police.
Ye Zhao watched coldly. She saw that they were in such a bad state that they couldn't cause much trouble. The canteen still had to prepare lunch. She asked Dai Xiangrong and a few security guards to stay, and the other canteen employees went back first.
Not long after, two policemen came. They were probably not from Zengwuwei Police Station, and no one knew them.
The police asked what was going on.
The evil old Mai was the first to complain, saying that the unscrupulous boss had filled up all the sand and gravel he had stored here, and also set off firecrackers to injure him.
The police came to question Ye Zhao again. The girl didn't look very old. "Is this your land? Where are your parents?"
As he said this, he glanced at Aunt Qiao behind Ye Zhao.
Aunt Qiao said hurriedly: "She bought the land herself. She is 18 years old and an adult."
"Then tell me about it."
Ye Zhao said: "Uncle policeman, it's New Year's Day, thank you for your hard work. My place was forcibly occupied by that big-bellied contractor..."
Old Mai interrupted Ye Zhao: "That's not the case. I rented her place..."
The police turned around and warned: "Don't interrupt others when they are talking."
"I didn't rent the place to him. Ask him if he can show me the lease contract. I asked him to clear away all the sand and gravel five days ago, but he refused. I had originally arranged for a bulldozer to level the land during the New Year, but he refused to move the sand and gravel, so I had no choice but to fill it all up underneath. You see, the ground was originally lower than the road surface, but now it's level with the ground, and we'll have to dig it again when we build the house in the future." Ye Zhao spoke like a victim.
Old Mac listened and shook his head. He had underestimated the girl. It seemed that she had long been determined to embezzle his sand and stones. "Look at what you are saying. You used all my sand and stones to fill the foundation, and you are still pretending to be innocent. This is all money, Sir!"
Ye Zhao sneered: "Since it's all money, what's the point of throwing it on other people's land? It's money to you, but it's a burden to me. I have to do the construction. If I don't fill in the bottom, am I sending you a wealth building?"
"You did it on purpose! If you don't compensate me, this matter will not end. Think about where you are?!"
Ye Zhao whispered: "Uncle police, he is blackmailing me."
The policeman warned Lao Mai: "Comrade, please talk nicely!"
Old Mac: "You have to compensate me."
It is impossible to lose money. Such people will only know the pain after suffering a great loss.
Ye Zhao didn't bite back, which was the greatest mercy. She said, "I asked you to take it away but you didn't. I'm almost done with the construction and you came to obstruct me. You are deliberately extorting money!"
"You are the one who is blackmailing me! You are blackmailing me!" Old Mai was speaking incoherently.
The policeman had roughly understood what was going on. He asked, "Do you accept financial mediation?"
The so-called economic mediation by the police must be a matter of one person making concessions, and in the end Ye Zhao still has to give Lao Mai a sum of money. Ye Zhao expressed that he would not accept the mediation.
The policeman was helpless, so he said to Old Mac, "If the other party doesn't accept mediation, I can't do anything. This is a financial dispute. If you want to claim compensation, you can only sue in court. Of course, it doesn't mean you can get compensation by suing. You may not get a penny, and you still have to pay the litigation fees."
The other party refused to accept mediation, so the police would not care? Old Mai turned around and pointed at Zeng Xiang and said, "He set off firecrackers to hurt me on purpose! Can you take care of this, sir?"
"This is not Hong Kong. Don't call me Sir. Call me Police Comrade." The policeman seemed to be annoyed by being called Sir. "How did he hurt you? Where did he hurt you?"
"He threw the firecrackers at my feet and everyone saw it."
"Where did he throw it? And where were you? Describe the situation in detail."
Old Mai pointed to the bulldozer in the distance and said, "I was... I was standing on the front of the bulldozer, and this guy threw the firecrackers at me, causing me to fall off the front of the bulldozer."
"Where were you standing? On top of the bulldozer? Do you know that this is very dangerous?!" the police officer said, "If something goes wrong, people will die!"
Aunt Qiao said, "It's New Year's Day and we are not allowed to set off firecrackers. We are setting off firecrackers in our own place, hoping for a prosperous year! Is that not okay? Who told you to stand everywhere! You are ruining other people's fun!"
Old Mai: "Qiaojie, your son threw firecrackers directly at other people. I almost lost my life, and you didn't discipline him! No wonder he was stabbed on the street! He is not a good person!"
Aunt Qiao couldn't bear to hear people talking about Zeng Xiang being stabbed. She immediately flew into a rage: "What nonsense are you talking about?! Don't blame me for cursing you on the first day of the new year! You fat bastard! You shovel!"
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, someone cursed his entire family to death. Old Mac jumped up and said, "Come on, curse me again!"
In her own territory, Auntie Qiao was still afraid of him? She put one hand on her waist and pointed at Lao Mai with the other hand, "What's wrong with scolding me again? What are you doing here in the New Year's holiday, you Hexi boy, coming to our Zengwuwei to cause trouble? The one who teases first is a slut! Damn fat man! Don't give birth to a child without a care!"
Old Mac was so confused by the scolding that he said, "Try to scold me again!"
Are you asking for trouble? Aunt Qiao continued to speak without hesitation: "Idiot! Low B and low energy! Shit eater! Death row and street thief..."
Ye Zhao was stunned by Aunt Qiao's powerful output. She and her brother Xiang looked at each other and tacitly kept silent.
Lao Kai didn't dare to pull Qiao Jie, he quickly pulled Lao Mai away: "Stop arguing, stop arguing! One thing is one thing, don't bring up other things!"
The police were annoyed by the constant swearing and yelling, "Alright, alright! Shut up! Speak properly! No more swearing!"
Ye Zhao looked at Lao Mai: "Didn't you say you almost lost your life? Can you show us your wounds?"
The police also pointed at Lao Mai and asked: "Where are you injured?"
"My foot is injured!" Old Mac went to pull up his trouser legs, but it was difficult, so his younger brother A Qiao quickly squatted down to help him roll up his trouser legs.
Old Mai's face was dark but his legs were quite white, but on his snow-white calves, there was not even a red spot, let alone a wound.
Aunt Qiao pointed at him and scolded: "You call this being injured? Are you made of mud?!"
Old Mac was confused too, "It hurts so bad! It was red just now! But since you guys delayed for so long, the redness and swelling have gone away!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone around him laughed.
The poker player who came with Qiaojie laughed and said, "Should we take you to the hospital? Maybe your bones are broken!"
Old Mai was speechless for a moment. After thinking for a while, he still felt unwilling to accept it: "Ah... Police comrade, he threw firecrackers at me, so many people saw it! They can testify!"
Today's contractors are really uneducated and unreasonable. Ye Zhao said, "Everyone saw it, that's right. We set off firecrackers on our own land on New Year's Day. Who told you to run around? We set off firecrackers, and even three-year-old children wouldn't be scared. You scared yourself! If you get hurt, I'll pay for your medical expenses! But you weren't hurt! To put it bluntly, you're just blackmailing me."
"Ouch!" Old Mac really pretended, "My bones hurt! Police comrade, my bones hurt!"
Aunt Qiao: "Bone pain? I think you don't have any bones?"
A gust of north wind blew, and the smelly policeman frowned. He knew that the contractor was not injured, but he could not directly conclude that he was lying, so he shook his head and said, "Take a few steps and see. If there is really a problem, go to the hospital for a check-up."
It is very unlucky to go to the hospital on New Year's Day. Old Mac is quite superstitious. He knows that even if he goes there, they won't be able to diagnose the injury. He doesn't want to go and just wants to stay here.
"If they don't want to pay me, then they should dig out the sand and rocks, sift them and return them to me!"
Police: "I emphasize again, if you have a financial dispute, you should go to court. If you are not injured, please go away. We are also very busy on New Year's Day."
The police came to question him just now, and the bulldozer driver just parked aside and didn't work.
Seeing the police walking out, Old Mac glanced at the bulldozer. He was thinking about repeating the old trick and climbing onto the front of the bulldozer while no one was paying attention. Before he could run over, firecrackers started popping under his feet again!
Old Mai was so scared that he rolled back and crawled! Dai Xiangrong and the others laughed so hard that they fell over and booed!
Lao Mai: "What are you laughing at! Police comrade! Look! Look! They're throwing firecrackers at me again!"
Seeing him running so smoothly, the police couldn't help but say, "It seems like his bones are not injured! He runs very fast."
Old Mac: “…”
Another policeman said, "I'm warning you! If you don't leave now, you'll be the one who suffers if you really get hurt!"
Old Mac: "How can you just ignore it?!"
The policeman warned Zeng Xiang: "Handsome boy! Don't throw it at people!"
Zeng Xiang made an OK gesture to indicate that he had received it.
The police officer then said to Lao Mai: "It is not illegal for people to set off firecrackers in their own place. We police have no right to interfere!"
Guipi yelled at the driver to hurry up and then came over to give Lao Mai a cigarette: "Lao Mai! Don't interfere with our work. I have a contract for this job and I don't charge by the day. I'm different from you. You make a lot of money and you don't care, but I'm working hard on New Year's Day."
"I can't get over this!"
Gui Pi patted his shoulder and said, "Why don't you wait for the village committee to go to work and go find Secretary Wang? They haven't broken the law. It will be more useful for you to find the village committee than the police."
Lao Mai took the cigarette and watched Guipi light it for him. He thought that at this point, he could only ask the village committee for help.
"I just can't swallow this!" he said it again, and it seemed that he was really angry.
Gui Pi put his arm around his shoulders and walked forward as if they were brothers, giving him face and letting him step down.
Aunt Qiao and her poker friends murmured, "Paper tiger! Look, it just ran away in disgrace."
After everyone had dispersed, Ye Zhao stood on the side of the road and watched Brother Xiang set off firecrackers, staining the ground of the purple bamboo forest with a thin layer of red paper.
The first day of the Lunar New Year is the time to be prosperous.
Brother Xiang left her a row of firecrackers, "Let you try it."
"I don't dare." The girl who was so majestic in front of a large group of people just now shook her head like a pitiful little girl, saying that she didn't dare to set off firecrackers by herself. "I'm afraid that if I get nervous, it will explode before I can throw it."
Brother Xiang handed her the lighter: "You light it, and I'll throw it."
Ye Zhao was so scared that she didn't want Brother Xiang to know how timid she was. She turned on the lighter, tried it, then retracted her hand. She still didn't dare to light the fuse.
The flame of the lighter flickered in front of his eyes. Brother Xiang put the fuse of the firecracker to the flame. Before Ye Zhao could react, the firecracker had already exploded in the distance.
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!
Ye Zhaoxian tried to save face: "I'll have some firecrackers for the New Year next year."
Brother Xiang smiled and said, "Let's go back."
Later, Lao Mai went to the Zengwuwei Village Committee to ask for an explanation. The village committee sent someone to find Ye Zhao, but Ye Zhao did not go on the grounds that she had no time to go to school. Aunt Qiao went to help her deal with it once or twice, but after a few times, the matter was finally left unresolved and Lao Mai did not get a penny.
From then on, even though Old Mac became an enemy of Ye Zhao, he couldn't do anything to Ye Zhao, so he could only deliberately make trouble when voting on the highway expansion. He didn't expect that his deliberate mischief would end up helping Ye Zhao a lot, but that's a story for later.
Ye Zhao checked a lot of information and found out that there were no formal multi-year university police schools in Hong Kong City, only police training schools. Before applying, one had to enroll in other schools normally.
If you have a high level of education, you can be promoted to a higher position in the police station in the future.
Ye Zhao looked at several universities in Hong Kong and pointed at the top-ranked University of Hong Kong, "Take the exam here!"
Zeng Xiang, who was feeding Douding, raised his head and looked at Ye Zhao with a look that said, "Do you think so highly of me?"
He said, "It shouldn't be too difficult for you to take the test."
At present, HKU does not recruit students from the mainland. Ye Zhao smiled and said, "I can't even get a two-way permit to Hong Kong City approved, and I'm still taking the HKU entrance exam. I can only help you with tutoring. Brother Xiang, with your IQ, if you study hard, you will definitely be admitted."
Zeng Xiang: "How come you are more confident than me!"
"Of course I have confidence in the students I tutor!" Ye Zhao took out a stack of papers and said, "This is the Form 6 examination papers I asked Liang Xin to buy. Compared with ours, the questions there are much simpler. Liang Xin also promised to help me get the questions for the admissions exams of the University of Hong Kong in recent years. Let's work together to crack them."
It is very easy for Zeng Xiang to study at the University of Hong Kong. The Luo family just needs to donate some money as a token of his appreciation, and he can get in based on his own abilities. Can he do it
"You can!" Ye Zhao sat upright, and she said seriously, "Come on! Do the test! If you fail, it will be my failure!"
Zeng Xiang stared at her. He couldn't let her fail!
The boy picked up the pen and began to do the homework diligently. Aunt Qiao saw the two children staying together every day just to study, and she couldn't help but have tears in her eyes. When had her son Xiangzai ever studied so seriously? He didn't go out to play during the New Year, but was doing homework at home!
That day was the morning of the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Xiangzai was doing his homework as usual, while Ye Zhao was leaning against the window reading a magazine.
A bicycle bell rang in the yard. Ye Zhao leaned out and saw Ni Meng coming again on his broken bicycle.
Seeing him go upstairs, Ye Zhao went out quietly and closed the door. When she opened the door, Ni Meng just arrived at the door.
Ni Meng laughed and said, "You have opened your third eye!"
"I can tell from the sound of your bicycle bell that it's Uncle Wang coming even from across the street." Ye Zhao teased the red envelope obediently, "Congratulations on your prosperity, Uncle Wang."
Ni Meng was prepared and handed over two red envelopes, "Let's get rich together! One for you and Zeng Xiang."
Ye Zhao accepted the red envelope and let Ni Meng into the house.
Ni Meng said, "I went to my relatives' house during the New Year and heard that Old Mai had a fight with you guys and lost miserably? The people of Hexi Village are too self-righteous."
"He wants to ask the village committee to coordinate."
"Don't worry about him. Let him look for it. Anyway, you must not give up. Don't pay him a penny. People like this don't know how heavy their heads are until they suffer losses."
Aunt Qiao came back from shopping and saw Ni Meng. She smiled and asked, "Hey, Ni Meng, happy new year."
Ni Meng laughed and said, "Congratulations on your prosperity, Qiaojie, what vegetables did you buy?"
"Home-cooked food, what kind of food can there be? What are you doing here today?"
Ni Meng then said to Ye Zhao, "It's still Zeng Laojiu's land. His family came back from Hong Kong today. He took a look around and said that you have prepared the land. He asked if you really want to buy it. He wants to talk to you."
"Gui Pi said there was too much dirt, so I told him to just clear Zeng Laojiu's piece of land. If he minds, I'll have someone dig it up and take it away."
"Of course I don't mind. I'm so happy. Do you have time? I'll go call him over. He really wants to sell the land to you."
(End of this chapter)