Shuangling: Braving the Rapids

In late autumn, the weather suddenly turned cold, but the sales of liquor at Chengdong store were soaring. With the business booming, problems also followed.

One day, a middle-aged bald man came to the saleswoman Tingting with a bottle of liquor, throwing a tantrum and insisting that the liquor was fake, demanding ten times the compensation.

Tingting, lacking work experience, was naturally unable to handle this situation. The young woman anxiously wrung her hands. Just then, Cheng Dong arrived in time. He took the dubious "fake alcohol" and receipt from Tingting's hand and said to the sleazy-looking bald man:

"Please calm down, let me see what happened..."

Cheng Dong tossed the bottle a couple of times in his hand, and the moment the cap was opened, a pungent smell of industrial alcohol hit him. Cheng Dong immediately realized it was fake. He then carefully examined the receipt; the signature was crooked and messy, clearly a deliberate forgery, but the stamp was exactly the same as the one in the store.

Cheng Dong realized the seriousness of the problem; this bald man was no ordinary bald man, but most likely a member of a professional extortion gang.

In the past, Cheng Dong would have taught the man a lesson and sent him to the police station. But now, with the business environment deteriorating, there are a lot of criminals at every stage, from manufacturers to distributors. If the methods of dealing with them are not flexible enough, businessmen like him will suffer in the end.

"These people are ruthless. It's not that I'm not afraid of them, but this girl, Tingting..."

Thinking of this, Cheng Dong hesitated for a moment, then decided to pay a small amount of money to avoid further trouble. He secretly gave the middle-aged man a small sum of money and left behind the fake liquor and the fake receipt.

A serious incident occurred in Jinhai District, Zhong'an City, where someone died due to the sale of unpackaged liquor.

An investigation revealed that the batch of toxic bulk liquor was produced by farmer Wang Huaqing using industrial alcohol mixed with tap water. Even more alarming, the investigation team found a large number of empty branded liquor bottles in his workshop, indicating that the toxic liquor may have been circulated into the market under genuine packaging.

Yanghe City, located less than 100 kilometers from the provincial capital Zhong'an, was among the first to be affected. Recently, a joint inspection team established by Yanghe City conducted a comprehensive investigation and rectification of the liquor market, unexpectedly uncovering a major case lead—through supply chain tracing, they identified Zhang Laifu, a counterfeit liquor dealer from Yanghe. This man was a primary distributor for Wang Huaqing; yes, this was the same "Zhang Nao" who had proactively approached Cheng Dong in the sweltering summer to promote his liquor!

After the poisoned liquor incident broke out, Zhang Laifu hid like a rat every day. The reason he was reluctant to flee was because he had a hundred or so boxes of "brand-name liquor" that he had bought from Wang Huaqing.

This was the goods he had risked his entire fortune for. Now he had lost his proper job, and the goods had become his death warrant. The more Zhang Nao thought about it, the angrier he became. He gritted his teeth and made a tough decision to exchange the fake liquor for money to run away with.

After making all the plans, Zhang Laifu rode his extended gasoline-powered tricycle out the door.

"Hey! Tingting, you've put something on your face today, you look much better than before!" Zhang Laifu parked his car in front of Chengdong Wholesale Store and looked Tingting up and down with a sly grin.

"Our boss isn't here! You'll have to wait for him to come back before you unload the goods," Tingting replied irritably.

The young girl didn't have a good impression of Zhang Nao. When she first started working there, he was clumsy and often tried to cheat on the quantity of goods, which annoyed Tingting.

"Tsk tsk tsk, look at your pouting lips! You don't like me that much?" Zhang Laifu leaned forward, his skin thicker than a city wall corner.

"Who told you to block the warehouse door while unloading last time? I had to carry more than ten boxes myself!" Tingting's pent-up anger burst forth.

"Oh, you're still holding a grudge? I was in a rush that day! I forgot to give you the invoice, and your boss still hasn't settled the payment!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Tingting immediately retorted. "My boss told me that your orders are all paid for one month's worth of goods with a deposit, and any payment will be for the previous order!"

Zhang Laifu scratched the back of his head, gave an awkward smile, and thought to himself, "This girl is much smarter than when she first arrived. Oh no, it looks like it'll be difficult to settle the bill with drinks today!"

His eyes darted around, and he said with a grin, "Tingting, it's one thing to be pretty, but you're also so smart. I bet in a couple of years you'll be a boss lady! Hahaha!"

"you!"

Tingting's face flushed red, and she was about to curse when Zhang Laifu laughed strangely again: "Oh my, why is your face red? Don't be shy in front of your good-for-nothing brother. I'll talk to Brother Dong later and have him marry you! Hehehe!"

Zhang Laifu's duck-like laughter provoked Tingting to spit and curse repeatedly, but the more she cursed, the more energetic Zhang became. Finally, Tingting, annoyed to the point of stamping her feet, shouted, "Zhang Laifu, get out of here! Don't delay our business!"

"Okay, okay, I'm not kidding anymore. I'll unload the goods right now, don't worry! This time I'll just put them in the warehouse for you, okay?" Zhang Laifu turned around, grabbed the tricycle side panel, and started moving the drinks.

"Did you tell our boss how many boxes to unload?" Tingting had dealt with Zhang Laifu more than once or twice, and she was always careful to prevent him from cheating her.

"I just talked to Brother Dong on the phone. He said he wants fifty cases of liquor. Don't believe me? Have him page you later." Zhang Laifu said without batting an eye, pretending to take off the pager from his waist.

"Never mind, never mind, you can unload it first. The boss is probably still driving right now, don't distract him!" Tingting waved her hand and said.

"See! What did I tell you? You're cut out to be a boss lady. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to stand it!" Zhang Laifu was really good with words. He coaxed the girl so much that she forgot about the process of opening the box and inspecting the goods.

In no time, all fifty cases of liquor were in storage. Before leaving, Zhang Laifu handed the invoice to Tingting, saying, "Tingting, keep this safe. Have Brother Dong sign it later. This batch is a special supply from Maotai Town; it's very precious!"

Tingting clutched the receipt, worried about how to pay the bill, when Zhang Laifu suddenly shoved his pager in front of her face: "Look! Brother Dong told you to give me the envelope under the counter; that's the payment from last time!"

The young girl carefully checked the pager message—it did indeed say "Get the envelope under the cashier," but the sender number was a fake number set by Zhang Laifu's accomplice.

Even so, Tingting was still hesitant, but she couldn't resist the other party's persistent pleading and handed over the envelope in a daze. It wasn't that she was naive; it was Zhang Nao who was too cunning. He had planned to cheat her and even figured out Cheng Dong's habit of storing money.

And so, Zhang Nao, clutching the bulging envelope, whistled as he left, leaving the fifty cases of liquor labeled "Special Supply" in the warehouse. If the liquor was genuine, Cheng Dong wouldn't suffer any loss; after all, he had paid Zhang Laifu for the previous batch. But this liquor was counterfeit, and who knew what kind of trouble it would cause!