Courtyard House: Purchasing Agents' Comeback from the Great Famine

Wang Feng rode his bicycle away from Qin Family Village. In a secluded spot, he took out 100 jin of cornmeal, two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes, and two bottles of Lotus liquor. After tying the items to the back of his bicycle, he headed towards Lu Family Village.

Lujia Village is only two villages away from Qinjiazhuang. It only takes him fifteen minutes to get there by bicycle, and if the road weren't so bad, it wouldn't even take ten minutes.

Qinjiazhuang belongs to Hongxing Commune, and Lujia Village belongs to Hongqi Commune. However, both Qinjiazhuang and Lujia Village are located on the edge of the commune area and are not far apart. His previous procurement area was in Hongqi Commune, but after the MCA transferred the procurement department, he gave this area to the MCA.

Wang Feng used to come to Lujia Village to buy things, and the militiamen were all familiar with him. He gave the militiamen two Daqianmen cigarettes and then entered the village.

"Uncle Lu, Uncle Lu."

As soon as Wang Feng arrived at the old village chief's house, he shouted into the house.

A short while later, the old village chief came out smoking his pipe.

"Wang Feng, it's you! You haven't been here for quite a while."

"Hehe, Uncle Lu, I have other things to do, so I've left this area to Ma Hua. Come on, Uncle Lu, have a smoke."

When Wang Feng saw the old village chief, he smiled and took out a Daqianmen cigarette from his pocket and handed it to him.

The old village chief took the cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag: "Your cadres' cigarettes are still the best."

"You haven't been coming to our store to buy anything lately, is it because you need Uncle Lu's help again?"

The old village chief looked at Wang Feng expectantly. The year was not good, and his family had thirteen mouths to feed. If he could still get several thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes from Wang Feng like before, that would be great.

Wang Feng waved his hand and smiled awkwardly: "Uncle Lu, I don't need your help right now, but I came to see you on Lu Banxia's behalf."

"Banxia?" the old village chief murmured. "What happened to Banxia? Wasn't she taken away by her uncle, a major general?"

Wang Feng nodded and smiled, "Uncle Lu, it's like this. After Lu Banxia was taken away by her uncle, he arranged for her to work at the steel rolling mill. Now we're colleagues. She knew I was coming to Qin Family Village today, so she asked me to bring you some things to thank you for your help before."

As he spoke, Wang Feng took the cornmeal off the back of the bicycle and then took out a hundred yuan from his pocket.

"Uncle Lu, Lu Banxia knows that the harvest is not good now and that your family is large. She knows that you are having a hard time, so she asked me to bring you 100 catties of cornmeal, two packs of cigarettes and two bottles of wine. Oh, and I also brought you 100 yuan."

"No, no, no, how can I accept this? Go back and tell Banxia that I appreciate your kindness. As the village chief of Lujia Village, Banxia was considered one of our villagers back then. I can't just watch her starve to death. Besides, I didn't help her much. Moreover, when Banxia left, she gave me a hundred catties of cornmeal."

The old village chief waved his hand repeatedly in refusal. Although he was short of money and food, and accepting the money and food would make his family's life much better, he had principles and could not do such a thing as taking advantage of others.

When he saw the old village chief refuse, and heard that Lu Banxia had given the old village chief a hundred catties of cornmeal before leaving, he knew that the hundred catties of cornmeal was the one he had given to Lu Banxia. However, since Lu Banxia's uncle, a major general, had come to visit, he naturally didn't need it anymore, so he gave it to the old village chief instead.

"Uncle Lu, please don't be so polite. Lu Banxia is living a very good life now. She has a job and an uncle who is a major general. What can't she have? She told me that if it weren't for your help back then, she might have starved to death. This money and cornmeal is what she earned from working these past few months. Please accept it without worry."

Hearing Wang Feng say this, the old village chief was deeply moved. He accepted the hundred yuan Wang Feng handed him and nodded in agreement.

"Alright, since you've brought everything, I'll shamelessly accept it. But please tell Banxia that she doesn't need to send me anything anymore. I won't accept anything you bring. Tell her to take good care of herself."

"Alright, Uncle Lu, don't worry, I'll pass on the message to Lu Banxia. Uncle Lu, I need to go back to Qin Family Village, so I'll be leaving now."

"Okay, go ahead and do what you need to do."

Wang Feng rode his bicycle away from Lujia Village. He didn't expect the old village chief to be so considerate. If it were Qin Huairu or Jia Zhangshi who got close to a major general's niece, they would have wanted to suck Lu Banxia dry. Why would they turn away benefits that were offered to them?

However, the old village chief was unwilling to continue accepting Lu Banxia's supplies, which made things a bit difficult. After all, the old village chief had helped Lu Banxia before, which could be considered as saving her half a life. Now that Lu Banxia had become his woman, he had to repay this favor.

Wang Feng is that kind of person. He repays kindness with kindness and avenges wrongs with wrongs. No matter who has been kind or unkind to him, he will never forget them for the rest of his life.

Moreover, he is now incredibly wealthy, possessing 280 tons of gold and $22 billion in paper money. Anyone he wants to help, as long as they are not fools, can live a life of luxury.

On his way back to Qin Family Village on his bicycle, Wang Feng sighed inwardly. He decided to deal with this matter later. He could find jobs for the old village chief's three sons after a while, as a way of repaying the old village chief for his help to Lu Banxia.

Back in Qinjiazhuang, it was only 11 a.m. when he entered his father-in-law's house and saw Qin's father sitting inside drinking tea.

Wang Feng stepped forward, offered him a Zhonghua cigarette, and said with a smile, "Dad, have a smoke."

Qin's father took the cigarette, lit it, poured Wang Feng a cup of tea, and asked, "Is everything settled?"

Wang Feng nodded: "It's all done, Dad. You shouldn't be going to work in the fields this afternoon, right? I asked Second Uncle to invite Eldest Uncle over. We'll have a good drink together at noon."

Qin's father waved his hand: "It's the busy farming season now, how can we just stop working? We'll just have a little bit of alcohol at noon."

"Hehe, that works too."

"By the way, Wang Feng, how did it go with what you said about going to the Northeast to buy supplies?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Feng took a sip of tea, feigned a sigh, and said:

"The matter was settled, and my boss gave me a bonus. However, I was promoted too quickly recently, and my boss is worried that people will gossip about me. He wants me to take a few years to reflect before promoting me again."

Qin's father stubbed out his cigarette: "That makes sense. You've only been working for a year, and you've already been promoted from a regular purchasing agent to a deputy section chief. A few months ago, you were promoted from level 18 to level 17. That's a really fast promotion. It would be strange if no one had any complaints. But you're still so young, take it slow."

"Dad, I understand."