Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

After sending Zhang Lin home, Yu Qiutang was not in a hurry to leave. Zhang Lin happened to want to thank them by offering to have a simple meal in the evening, so he did not refuse.

The dinner was simple. Zhang Lin’s wife was pregnant, so it didn’t make sense to ask others to cook too much.

There are two women and an old man in Zhang Lin's family, which really proves his words, with old people above and young children below.

During the meal, Yu Qiutang continued to ask about some matters concerning the coal mine indirectly, and learned that Zhang Lin was mining coal at the Liukou Coal Mine in the town, which was also the largest state-owned coal mine in Liukou Town and met all the qualifications.

People living near the town, if they have the slightest connections, will come to work in this coal mine, where everything is guaranteed.

I drank some wine while eating.

Although it is loose liquor, it has the foundation of Fenjiu, so it still tastes good.

Lao Qin didn't drink because he was driving.

Yu Qiujiang's alcohol tolerance fluctuates, sometimes he can't drink bottomless cups or he gets drunk after half a cup. Today he was drunk with half a cup. Only Yu Qiutang has a good alcohol tolerance, and he and Zhang Lin drank a lot.

Especially when he saw Zhang Lin's wife going to rest, he was even more reluctant to stop.

At the end of the drink, Zhang Lin's tongue began to swell and couldn't move around in his mouth. Yu Qiutang took the opportunity to ask about the operation mode of the illegal coal mines in their village, and Zhang Lin revealed everything he knew.

Later, his wife came to her senses again and helped him inside.

Yu Qiutang and his companions then said goodbye and left.

The three of them had just left the yard and before they went out the gate when they saw two people coming in from the gate, one old and one young.

The older one was probably in his fifties or sixties, wearing a baseball cap, a blue cloth jacket, and a pipe in his mouth. When he saw Yu Qiutang and the other two, he looked alert.

The young man next to him was tall and strong, with a stern look on his face, thick eyebrows, and eyes as big as bells, staring at them viciously.

Yu Qiutang and the other two glanced at him, nodded, and prepared to leave, but as they passed by the old man, they were stopped.

"Where are you guys from?"

Yu Qiutang did not answer, but looked at Yu Qiujiang, who immediately understood what was going on. He took two steps forward and asked coldly, "What does it have to do with you?"

The old man was stunned. He didn't expect to meet such a tough guy.

He turned around and looked at the young man next to him. The young man also took two steps forward. As he walked, the ground seemed to tremble twice under his feet.

Yu Qiujiang looked at the man indifferently and secretly made himself alert.

Yu Qiutang was naturally prepared as well.

Yu Qiujiang has several hundred kilograms of strength, and most people cannot beat him, but if they meet a tough guy, they can only do it themselves.

I haven't fought with anyone in a long time. I wouldn't say that I'm itching to do it, but I do feel a bit aggressive.

Just when the situation was tense, the old man stopped the strong man beside him and said with a smile: "If you are outsiders coming to our village, we must know your purpose. This is our rule. I am the head of this village. My name is Wu Laokuan."

Yu Qiutang saw this and smiled, "So it's the village chief. We didn't come to your village on purpose. We just happened to meet a pregnant woman asking for help, so we sent her home.

You can ask the owner of this house. Now that the person has been sent, we will leave naturally. There is no need for the village chief to worry about it."

Wu Laokuan nodded: "I will ask, but you have to wait. You can leave only after I have asked clearly!"

Yu Qiujiang's expression suddenly changed.

Yu Qiutang's tone turned cold when he heard this, "You need a reason to keep us here."

"What reason do you need? This is our rule here. It's the same for everyone."

"If that's the case, we can't have a good conversation."

After hearing what Yu Qiutang said, the sturdy man next to Wu Laokuan took a big step forward without saying anything, and was about to grab Yu Qiutang's clothes. However, he was pushed away by Yu Qiujiang and retreated several meters.

With this push, everyone except Yu Qiutang was stunned.

Not to mention that the sturdy man subconsciously looked at his hands, Wu Laokuan was shocked, and even Lao Qin was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that Yu Qiujiang didn't talk much and didn't show off, but he was so strong.

That sturdy guy must have weighed more than 200 pounds, but he was pushed so far away even though he used all his strength.

"You guys are fine?"

Yu Qiujiang is not like Yu Qiutang, who can still remain rational. He is annoyed when people yell at him. He can even scold his grandmother, let alone these strangers.

After a moment of hesitation, the sturdy man became angry and rushed over again, punching Yu Qiujiang in the face. Yu Qiujiang dodged to the side and hit the man on the back with a cannon hammer.

The guy who was being hit seemed to be hit by a sledgehammer. Although he didn't fall down, his body was shaking and he didn't catch his breath for a long time.

Yu Qiujiang didn't give him a chance to react. He kicked him again in the knee, knocking his heavy body to the ground. Then he stepped back and stood next to Yu Qiutang.

Yu Qiutang just sneered, "Village Chief, should we continue to fight or talk about reason?"

Wu Laokuan looked at the burly man beside him, then at Yu Qiujiang, knowing that he had met a tough guy today. However, he had seen a lot of storms after all, so he just sneered and said, "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, but you actually started fighting first. It seems that you don't want to leave today..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhang Lin's wife ran out and hurriedly came to stand between the two groups of people.

"Village chief, this is all a misunderstanding. They are not here to cause trouble. They just want to send us home. I was going back to my mother's house. On the way back, I had a terrible stomachache, so they sent me to the hospital.

Then they sent us back and invited us to dinner. It was nothing special. They were just customers who came to buy coal from us. "

He then said to Yu Qiutang: "Uncle Wu is our village chief. You want to discuss coal business? You can talk to our village chief. He knows everything."

Zhang Lin drank too much inside, and his wife had to step in to mediate.

Yu Qiutang didn't want to go too far and make the situation irreparable, so he said coldly: "Whether to discuss business or not, we need to talk about it later. I think the people here are really simple and honest."

Zhang Lin's wife was very embarrassed.

Yu Qiutang continued, "That's it, we'll leave first."

After saying that, without even looking at Wu Laokuan, he went outside.

When they reached the gate, they saw Wu Laokuan chasing them from behind, shouting, "Wait, wait, little brother, let's talk it over."

Yu Qiutang turned around and looked at Wu Laokuan with a smile.

It looks like I won’t say anything for now, so you have to perform well in front of me first.

Wu Laokuan is worthy of being the village chief in a place like this. He is also a person who can take on responsibilities and let go of things.

He could see at this moment that Yu Qiutang was definitely not an ordinary person, so he thought that no matter what his intention was, the most important thing was to keep the person stable. He suddenly stopped being as arrogant as before, and his waist became much softer.

"Look, we didn't know you were here to discuss business. I apologize to you. I'm sorry. Little brother, you are a magnanimous person. Don't mind it~"

Yu Qiutang wanted to say, you old man are arrogant at first but respectful later, it's really funny. How could I not see what's in your mind?

But then I thought, the other person is also a smart person, he must know that he already understands the whole story, but he still does it, which is actually an attitude. He is telling himself that although we know each other tacitly, I have made my attitude clear, and it depends on how you react.

In this case, Yu Qiutang is not a fool.

Willing to take advantage of the opportunity.

"We don't mind it, but the problem is that you didn't give us a chance to explain since you came in. We couldn't leave, and you sent people to attack us. If we didn't have a stronger brother, we would have been severely punished by you, my brother."

"Hey, little brother, it's not like there's no acquaintance without fighting. Now that we know it's a misunderstanding, let's not talk about it anymore."

"Well... okay, we are not the kind of people who would argue too much. The village chief has been so polite. If I continue to be stern, wouldn't it be ungrateful?"

"No, no, how could that be?" Wu Laokuan smiled like a flower, which made Zhang Lin's wife next to him not knowing what to do.

"Well, Zhang Lin's wife, please go back. Don't spread what happened today. Do you understand?"

"I know, I know. We are keeping our mouths shut."

"Also tell Zhang Lin about this. He has a big mouth and he wants to pour out everything when he drinks."

"I know, I know."

It seems that Zhang Lin's wife is very afraid of Wu Laokuan. Even though she is pregnant, she still nods every time Wu Laokuan speaks and her attitude is very respectful.

Yu Qiutang looked at her belly and suddenly remembered that Zhang Lin's family already had two daughters, and he didn't know how the third child would be born. Since Wu Laokuan was the village chief, he didn't say anything when he saw this situation.

This village really doesn't play by the rules.

"Three of you, please give me some face and let's talk somewhere else?"

Yu Qiutang laughed and said, "Why, you think it's inconvenient to deal with us here, so you want to change the place?"

"No way, little brother, don't say that. I've already said that we were just a misunderstanding. Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, let's not talk about the previous matter."

Yu Qiutang just smiled but didn't say anything.

Wu Laokuan saw it, rolled his eyes, and said, "Little brother, what's your name?"

"Zhang San."

Wu Laokuan smiled awkwardly, knowing that it was a fake name, but it was difficult to expose it. He just realized more deeply that Yu Qiutang and his gang were not easy to deal with.

"Brother Zhang, Zhang Lin's wife just said that you came here to discuss business?"

"If you don't want to talk about business, are you here for sightseeing? Is there anything fun here that's worth my visit?"

"That's right," Wu Laokuan nodded, "In that case, let's find a place to talk and see if there is a chance for cooperation."

Yu Qiutang shook his head. “Could it be that Village Chief Wu still has connections at the Liukou Coal Mine?”

"That Liukou Coal Mine... Oh, the one in the town you mentioned."

"Do you have other Liukou coal mines here?"

Yu Qiutang did not reveal the information he had previously obtained from Zhang Lin. When he repeated it here, he could also serve as a confirmation. Zhang Lin's one-sided statement alone might not be accurate.

"That's not the case. But since you've come here, you should know some of our inside information. The best coal in our province is in Zhongyi, and the best quality coal in Zhongyi is in Liukou.

So, you say, in the same place, Liukou Coal Mine digs out good coal, so the coal dug out by other mines is completely unusable, that's definitely not the case, right?"

Yu Qiutang: “What do you mean?”

At this time, several people had already arrived outside the door. Wu Laokuan even closed the door of Zhang Lin's house and said with a smile: "I mean, if your original intention is to make money and do business, then instead of going to Liukou Coal Mine, it would be better to get coal directly from us."

"Are you talking about smuggled coal?"

Yu Qiutang's voice changed slightly, and he seemed a little surprised.

"What's the difference between private coal and public coal? If it can catch fire, it's good coal, right? Can it be that his public coal burns more vigorously than ours?"

"Haha~"

Yu Qiutang suddenly laughed, and Wu Laokuan was a little at a loss.

"Brother Zhang?"

"Oh, I mean, you are the village chief, how can you do such a thing? Don't you know that it is illegal to open a coal mine privately?"

"This one……"

After hearing this, Wu Laokuan did not rush to answer immediately, but looked at Yu Qiutang for a while, and found that Yu Qiutang was smiling all the time and was not so righteous and stern, so he laughed and said:
"It's all coal, why do we have to separate them so clearly? I'm just worried about the village. You know how hard it is to be a village chief? There are thousands of people in the village, young and old, all waiting for food. If I don't find a solution for them, who will?"

Yu Qiutang nodded: "That's true. If an official doesn't serve the people, he might as well go home and grow sweet potatoes."

"The village chief is a worthless official. He is just caught in the middle and suffers. Okay, let's not talk about this. How about it, Brother Zhang? I have revealed all our secrets to you. What do you think?"

"Well..."

Yu Qiutang pondered for a moment and said, "How about this, it's too late today and we are a little tired, let's talk about it tomorrow morning."

"Well... okay, where do you live?"

"It's not certain yet. Maybe I can go back to live in Zhongyi City. There's nothing fun here."

"Then how about..."

"No, we want to get to know the surrounding area first. If there is anything we need, we will trouble you later."

"That's fine too."

The more indifferent and distant Yu Qiutang was, the more polite Wu Laokuan became. "Since Brother Zhang has other plans, we won't bother him any more. But we have to agree that if you need anything, you must consider us."

Yu Qiutang nodded and said with a smile: "Of course, but I still need to confirm the situation in your village. Can you make a decision?"

Wu Laokuan said without thinking, "Sure, as long as it's a matter for our village, I can barely finalize it. After all, I've been the village chief for some years, and the villagers will still give me some face when I speak."

"That's best."

Yu Qiutang said goodbye and left with Lao Qin and Yu Qiujiang.

Behind him, Wu Laokuan kept smiling until the lights of the jeep gradually faded away, but his smile faded slowly like an old photo and disappeared into the night.

"Go and call Er Gouzi for me."

He ordered the strong man beside him.

The strong man turned and left, while Wu Laokuan turned around, opened the door of Zhang Lin's house, and walked in with a gloomy face. (End of this chapter)