Era: Life's Big Winner

Chapter 78 He Wentao Dies

It’s still 50 kilograms per tank.

After loading everything onto the truck, Fang Tianyi immediately transported them away.

Liu Hongchang rode his bicycle to catch up with Liuzi and the others, and had to go out to cook in the evening.

After being busy for nearly two hours, Liu Hongchang returned to the yard at around seven or eight o'clock in the evening.

"Are you back? Are you too hot?" He Wenhui had just finished taking a shower and was sitting under the eaves, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan.

"Where's Wenyuan? Didn't he say he moved here today?" Liu Hongchang looked around and asked with a smile.

He Wenhui smiled and replied, "She just said she would stay here during the day and had to rush back to cook dinner at night, so she wouldn't come over."

"My mother can't see me and can't leave without someone, especially when she gets up at night, she has to have someone watching her. Now that Wentao has gone to the coal factory, Wenyuan can't leave anymore."

Liu Hongchang nodded and moved the bicycle to the corner of the living room and parked it.

At this time, Wang Cuilan heard the noise and came out of the room with a handful of money in her hand. She handed it to Liu Hongchang and said with a smile:
"Six hundred kilograms of pickles cost 1800 yuan. The quantity was so large that Lao Fang delivered it after work in the evening."

Liu Hongchang took the money, counted it slowly, and asked with a smile: "Didn't he say that he would pay it at the end of the month?"

"Are you stupid? It's not just one or two hundred. Can you delay paying this much money until the end of the month?" Wang Cuilan rolled her eyes at him.

"Even if you're relieved, he's still embarrassed. He thought he wouldn't be able to sell many before, but he didn't expect to sell so many today."

"Also, do you want to wash the big jar for pickles at home? If you want to wash it, I happen to have some free time right now, so I'll go wash it."

Liu Hongchang shook his head and said, "No need to wash it. The older this pickle jar is, the mellower the flavor will be. Haven't you seen that Liubiju's pickle jars haven't been replaced for hundreds of years? They even hired a special master to repair them in order to preserve the flavor."

His big vat was accelerated by time and is no worse than those in old shops that are often hundreds of years old.

"By the way, I'm going to bring back all the pickles from the cafeteria tonight, so that I don't have to carry them back and forth from the cafeteria all the time. It's not a good idea to do this all the time."

Wang Cuilan agreed and said, "We have to bring it here. We don't feel safe leaving such valuable things in the cafeteria."

As they were talking, Fang Yongfu came over. He entered the room and asked with great interest, "Hong Chang, how many pickles do you have?"

Today he sold nearly 400 kilograms of pickles, making 90 cents per kilogram, which is much more profitable than running a noodle shop.

After tasting the sweetness, he planned to wait and see for a while, firstly to see if anyone would cause trouble, and secondly to see if the sales volume could be stabilized.

Not to mention selling hundreds of kilograms every day, even if we only sell a hundred or so kilograms, this business is worth continuing in the long run.

It’s also easy. You just have to pull the pickles over and start selling them directly without putting in too much effort. It’s much more efficient than selling noodles.

"A few thousand kilograms, right? As for the sauce, there is enough. If there is no more, we can process it at any time." Liu Hongchang replied.

The pickling time varies for different pickled vegetables. Some can be eaten after a few hours, while others may take two or three months.

There wasn't much else in Liu Hongchang's space, but there were so many vegetables that there was no place to put them, they were piled up like a mountain. Because of this, and in order to whet the appetites of several pregnant women, he thought of pickling them himself. It was an unintentional success.

"That's good. As long as I can supply it, I plan to switch my business to specializing in pickles in the future." Fang Yongfu said frankly with a smile.

Wang Cuilan said worriedly, "I'm afraid someone will cause trouble!"

"I asked Director Wang this afternoon and he said there's no problem selling small quantities at high prices," Fang Yongfu continued.

"But if the sales volume is like today, or even better, people will definitely be jealous after a while."

"If we want to keep this business going for a long time, we have to go through a public-private partnership and give up some of the profits. There's always a payoff!"

Although his noodle shop is also a public-private partnership, it is just a noodle shop and it does not specialize in selling pickles.

Moreover, they have little autonomy and have strict requirements on the prices of the various things they sell.

He is actually taking a big risk by selling pickles at a high price today.

The manager sent by the government only heard him say that he wanted to attract customers and revitalize the store, so he turned a blind eye temporarily. This would definitely not work in the long run.

Liu Hongchang pondered and asked, "Uncle Fang, go ask Director Wang if there are any small food processing workshops on our street that are on the verge of bankruptcy."

Fang Yongfu's eyes lit up and he said happily, "That's a good idea. Contract a factory and make it a public-private partnership. This way, there will be less trouble in the future. It's better to do it sooner rather than later. I'll go there right away."

After he left, Wang Cuilan asked in surprise: "Hong Chang, you don't really want to contract the factory, do you?"

"At most I can contract a small workshop. I mainly focus on qualifications, and the size doesn't matter." Liu Hongchang explained.

There is another point he didn't mention. Not only do large factories have higher contracting fees, but they also have to support workers, so they are not as flexible as small workshops.

After chatting for a while, He Wenhui helped prepare the bath water and called Liu Hongchang to take a bath.

Just after taking a shower and coming to the yard, Fang Yongfu came back from outside and said to Liu Hongchang excitedly:
"Hongchang, there are quite a few closed processing factories in the street, such as soy sauce factories, wine factories, pickle factories, vermicelli factories, etc. They are not large in scale and have no living space due to being squeezed by some large factories. Now there are no workers. In the past few years, all of them were diverted to other large factories. Only the name is left, which is just suitable for contracting."

Liu Hongchang was delighted to hear this and asked immediately, "Have you asked about the contract fee? How much is it approximately?"

"For example, the soy sauce factory can be contracted for a year for 30,000 yuan, but the government must hold 45% of the shares," Fang Yongfu replied.

"45%? Such a high proportion?" Liu Hongchang frowned when he heard this.

After opening the factory, the scale became a little larger and the output in the space was not enough.

Vegetables and other things have to be purchased, factories have to be rented, workers' wages have to be paid, and there are also taxes and various miscellaneous expenses, which account for a considerable amount of the cost.

In the end, you still have to hand over 45% of the profits. If you are not careful, you will only get a hard work fee, or even lose money.

Fang Yongfu said: "It's still negotiable. Some people who contract factories can negotiate up to 30%. It would be difficult to get any lower."

"30%, barely enough." Liu Hongchang's expression eased a little, "Let me think about it first." Fang Yongfu also knew that this matter could not be rushed, and nodded, "How about we go to the street to talk about it tomorrow?"

"Okay, around ten o'clock in the morning. I'm free then." Liu Hongchang agreed readily.

The deal was settled and Fang Yongfu said goodbye and left.

……

Xining Coal Plant.

At night, the moon is high in the sky.

He Wentao took a lot of effort to stand the bed upright, then crawled along the bed to the four square air vents.

The square hole is not small, about 50 centimeters long and wide. After all, it is a solitary confinement room, not a cell, so you can get out from here.

He Wentao stretched his head out to try, and was relieved when he was able to pass the opponent.

It was late at night, everything was quiet all around, the moonlight was dim, and I could just barely see the ground.

He Wentao took a deep breath of fresh air, turned around and stretched out his feet first.

After hesitating for a while, he hung the whole person on the edge of the square hole, gently let go, and then landed steadily.

He Wentao was very emotional. He tilted his head and stared at the office building with a pair of cross-eyed eyes. He gritted his teeth and said angrily:
"Hou Dunzi, just wait for me, one day I will make you live a life worse than death!"

After cursing a few words, he ran away.

On the roof of the office building, Houdunzi held a telescope and watched He Wentao escape. He sighed softly and murmured softly:

"Hong Chang, you are really ruthless! Wen Tao is really stupid. He needs someone to remind him how to escape."

Turning around and going downstairs to the office, Houdunzi took a document and looked through it quietly.

After a while, I heard hurried footsteps coming from the corridor. A security guard pushed the door open and said loudly:

"Oh no, Team White, someone's dead!"

"Dead? Who died? Was there an accident in the mine?" Houdunzi was shocked and stood up and walked out.

The safety officer replied: "It wasn't the mine, but the guy who came yesterday, he sneaked out at night and was crushed to death by a coal truck!"

"Isn't he attending the training? He is well fed and well provided for, why is he running around?" Houdunzi frowned and said angrily.

"Is he injured or dead? Have you confirmed it? How am I going to explain this to his family?"

The safety officer whispered, "He's really dead! Captain Bai, the dead can't be resurrected, so let's try to get the factory to pay more money!"

……

midnight.

Liu Hongchang came out of Wu Xiaoying's room with a comfortable look on his face. His whole mind was calm without any distractions.

At this time, Liu Yunchang came over with He Wenyuan, who was in tears and looked sad.

"Wuwu...something happened, brother-in-law, wuwu...Wentao was hit and killed by a car." He Wenyuan threw herself into his arms with tears in her eyes.

Liu Hongchang's face changed, and he quickly asked, "Hey, don't cry, tell me what happened?"

"Brother Dunzi just sent someone to inform us that Wentao ran around at night and ran into a coal truck, and then... woo woo..."

Liu Hongchang frowned and said, "Why is this kid so restless wherever he goes? What's the purpose of your coming here?"

"Mom asked me to come here to inform you, and asked you to help deal with Wentao's funeral." He Wenyuan choked up.

"Also, I want my sister to go over and keep mom company. She's heartbroken right now and she's almost dying from crying."

Liu Yunchang interrupted and said, "Wenhui is pregnant. If she knew about this, it would be hard for her to handle it."

"She will know about this sooner or later, alas..." Liu Hongchang sighed, pushed He Wenyuan away, went into the house to inform He Wenhui.

He Wenhui was half asleep when she was woken up by Liu Hongchang. She was distraught after hearing the news and burst into tears: "Wentao..."

Liu Hongchang sighed, hugged her and comforted her in a low voice, while He Wenyuan also stood aside sobbing and wiping tears.

Wang Cuilan and Wu Xiaoying in the room heard the noise and came over to ask what was going on. Liu Yunchang explained.

Then Wang Cuilan walked over and comforted He Wenhui:
"Wenhui, the dead cannot be resurrected, you must take care of the baby in your belly and don't be too sad."

"Besides, your mother-in-law is waiting for you to come back. It won't help if you keep crying like this!"

After a while, everyone in the Fang family got up.

He Wenhui cried for a while and her emotions gradually calmed down, so Liu Hongchang immediately sent her back to her parents' home.

As for He Wenyuan, he could only walk back.

When we arrived at Suxiang Hutong, we could hear Yu Qiuhua's crying and Gao Junling's comforting voice from far away.

After entering the house, Liu Hongchang asked in confusion, "Why is Sister Junling here too?"

"Dunzi brought a letter and asked me to come and look after it." Gao Junling said with a sigh.

(End of this chapter)