Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chen Daming was so angry that his face turned blue, and he asked, "Are you saving us?"

Liu Ming crossed his arms and looked proud, "Yes, that's what I did. Do you want to pay?"

Chen Daming gnashed his teeth in anger, but he knew he couldn't deal with Liu Ming. He could report Liu Ming, but that would mean he could no longer ride in the company's cars. The team leader was Wang Qiang, Lin Meng's uncle, and they had a very good relationship. Moreover, the drivers were united, and once he was blacklisted, no one else would care about him.

After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Daming decided to give in. He would get his revenge sooner or later, and he was not someone who could be easily bullied.

"Okay, that's one dollar!"

"Okay, then give me the money!" Liu Ming said lazily.

Chen Daming had no choice but to take out a crumpled dollar from his pocket with a painful look on his face. The painful expression was like cutting his flesh.

Liu Ming took the banknote without hesitation and put it directly into his pocket.

"Can I take this car now?"

"Okay!" Chen Daming let out a long sigh and pulled the door handle of the passenger seat.

However, before his hand touched the car door, it was suddenly opened by Liu Ming.

"What are you going to do? I've already paid!"

"Yes, you paid, but that's only for the back car. If you want to sit in the driver's seat, that's fine, but you need to pay more."

Chen Daming was so angry that his face turned red. He pointed at Liu Ming and scolded him: "Liu Ming, you!"

Liu Ming looked at him expressionlessly, without any guilt, and said, "Think it over carefully before you answer. I don't accept refunds here." There was no room for negotiation in his tone.

Chen Daming scolded Liu Ming fiercely in his heart, but chose to endure it. After all, he spent a dollar and didn't want to sit in the cab at this time, but this trip was different. This time the truck was fully loaded with steel and was very heavy.

If the vehicle bumps while driving and the cargo falls over, won't it all fall on him?

"So, if I take the middle car, how much will it cost?" After Chen Daming finished speaking, he felt uneasy again and added: "If there are other conditions, please tell me as well."

Liu Ming smiled and said, "If you want to sit in the middle, just pay an extra fifty cents. As for your equipment, I'll give you another fifty cents because we're neighbors."

Liu Ming knew Chen Daming's temper. Once something fell into his hands, he would try it no matter how bad it was. In the past, when Chen Daming went to the countryside to show movies, he got two hens from the villagers. Such hens were worth at least three to four yuan in the market, but Liu Ming only took two yuan, which was his maximum limit.

Chen Daming was shaking with anger, but he couldn't resist. He had to take this car, otherwise the money he had paid long ago would be wasted. Liu Ming exploited him little by little like this, and Chen Daming was completely powerless to resist.

Liu Ming said calmly: "Just pay fifty cents more."

Chen Daming stood motionless, looking at Liu Ming angrily.

"If you're not willing to pay, I really don't care. Besides, you'll get some benefits from discussing this with your colleagues, and everyone will be happy to follow suit."

Chen Daming knew that many of his colleagues had opinions about him. If they could get a little benefit in charging fees, no one would be unwilling to do it.

Chen Daming looked at Liu Ming angrily and clenched his fists. But he realized that he could not defeat him and could only surrender.

"Okay, fifty cents is fifty cents!" he said angrily, determined to get revenge one day.

Xu Damao was smart and quick-witted, and soon understood the secret. He gritted his teeth, opened his wallet again, took out a coin from it, and handed it to Li Weidong.

This time, Li Weidong did not stop him and let Xu Damao get on the car smoothly. However, the co-pilot seat did not belong to him, so he had to curl up behind the driver, feeling very uncomfortable.

It should have been an easy and pleasant mission, but before it even started, Xu Damao had to pay two yuan for the bus fare. He was full of dissatisfaction, but he was thinking about how to make up for this loss.

When he came back to his senses, his eyes happened to fall on Niu Meng. In the past, he didn't pay much attention to Niu Meng, but now observing closely, he found that Niu Meng became more charming and beautiful.

Not only was her face more delicate, but her figure was also quite good. This made Xu Damao feel a strong impulse in his heart, and his former reputation as a prostitute was now back. After marriage, he had restrained himself a lot because of his fear of the Lou family, but now seeing Niu Meng's charming figure, his old habits were hard to suppress, so he asked with a frivolous smile: "Niu Meng, do you have a partner? Do you want me to introduce you to someone?"

When Niu Meng heard these words, he immediately turned around to look at Xu Damao, then picked up the wrench beside him and threw it over. Xu Damao jumped away in shock and hit his head on the roof of the car. He could only smile bitterly in pain.

He was about to fight back, but Li Weidong glared at him fiercely and he immediately retreated. If he angered Niu Meng, he would at most get beaten up, but if he angered Li Weidong, he might not even be able to get out of the car.

Thinking that he had already spent two yuan on the fare, Xu Damao decided to swallow his anger. On the rest of the way, he didn't say anything, and even when Li Weidong and Niu Meng were chatting, he was very careful and didn't dare to interrupt.

However, when he noticed something in Niu Meng's eyes when he looked at Li Weidong, he couldn't help but feel both envious and jealous of Li Weidong.

More than an hour later, the car finally arrived at Nanshi Commune, where the team leader and management were already waiting for their arrival.

The granary of Nanshi Commune was an old building before liberation, which could no longer meet the needs. In order to properly preserve public property, they decided to build a new granary with a steel structure to ensure its long-term stability.

They had applied for steel at the beginning of the year, but due to the heavy workload of the steel mill, it has been delayed until now. As soon as he got off the car, the team leader held Li Weidong's hand tightly and shook it continuously.

"Comrade, thank you for your hard work this time. Did you have a smooth journey?" the captain asked with concern.

"It's okay, just the road conditions are a bit bad. But fortunately the weather is fine. If it rains, it will be troublesome." Li Weidong replied with a smile.

The captain said with emotion: "Yes, our commune has no money to repair the road now, but next spring, I will lead everyone to level the road, which will not only facilitate your transportation, but also our transportation."

"That's a good idea!" Li Weidong said, "but I suggest you learn from the oil field commune. The last time I went to the oil field commune, they had built a new gravel road. Although it's not as good as asphalt and cement roads, it's good enough for the current situation."

The captain listened carefully to Li Weidong's suggestion, became more enthusiastic towards him, and eagerly invited Li Weidong to come into the house to drink water. However, the projectionist Xu Damao, who had been the focus of attention, has now become a redundant existence.

Although he was treated well, the difference between his treatment and that of Li Weidong was huge, which made Xu Damao feel very unbalanced. This was also natural, how could watching a movie be compared with building a granary?

Since they were here, they naturally had to have lunch. Moreover, Li Weidong still remembered the pomegranates from Nanshi Commune, so he naturally didn't want to leave so soon.

Lunch was porridge, which has a very meaningful name, and is actually corn porridge. Although it is a rough porridge, the captain's wife is good at cooking it, adding cabbage and coarse salt, and it tastes very good.

After dinner, Li Weidong asked Niu Meng to stay in the commune to supervise the unloading, while he went to the village according to the captain's instructions. At this time, there was no private contract to plant fruit trees on the hills, and the villagers planted them in front of and behind their houses.

When the fruits are ripe, they pick them at nightfall and sell them at a nearby market, using the money to buy salt for their family and their children's tuition.

Although this behavior seems a bit out of line, in remote villages, villagers are of the same clan and care about each other very much, and no one will report it. Even the cadres in the commune and town turned a blind eye to it. Li Weidong asked the team leader a long time ago to know which pomegranate tree has the most fruits and the best taste. He just casually asked the children playing nearby and easily found the target.

Behind two small mud-brick houses, there are two red pomegranate trees. The owner of the pomegranate trees is a hunchbacked old man. He took the cigarette handed over by Li Weidong, sniffed it gently, and then clamped it on his ear. "Child, do you want to buy pomegranates?" he asked.

"Yes, but you only have two trees. I need more," Li Weidong replied.

"Oh, that's great. We have as many as you need." Before Li Weidong could finish, the old man shouted in the yard, "Gousheng, go call your second and third uncles. Someone wants to buy pomegranates."

Although pomegranates are delicious, they cannot solve hunger. If they can be sold for money, it would be a good thing. Moreover, it takes dozens of kilometers to deliver them to nearby towns. Soon after, fruit farmers in the village came one after another. Li Weidong bought more than 500 kilograms of pomegranates at a price of 5 cents per kilogram. There were so many pomegranates that they filled three bags. He could not carry them all by himself, so he had to borrow a wheelbarrow from the villagers to carry them back.

The steel on the truck had just been unloaded, and Li Weidong called Niu Meng, and the master and apprentice worked together to stuff the three bags into the cab. If they were placed in the truck bed, I'm afraid they would only be able to use them to make juice. After saying hello to the team leader of the commune, the master and apprentice embarked on the return journey. After the truck started, Niu Meng took out a basket of eggs, saying it was a gift from the team leader. No matter how she refused, the team leader insisted on not taking it back. Li Weidong reminded her: "Accept it, you may encounter similar situations when you drive by yourself in the future. Remember, there is nothing wrong with accepting things, but don't accept things that you shouldn't accept, especially in rural areas. Farmers' lives are not easy, and we can't take advantage of them."