In 1959, what's wrong with me pedaling a tricycle?

Li Zhong returned home from get off work at 6:50.

"You're back, kid. I've got something I wanted to tell you."

Wang Xingguo asked, "Grandpa Li, tell me about the trust store first. What exactly happened there?"

Li Zhong nodded, went to close the door, and then whispered, "Some people think there's still room to make money at the night market and want to arrange for someone to take over. We all think it's a good thing that someone is willing to take over, so we didn't interfere too much. This is also beneficial for eliminating the ledgers. You should know how flimsy your old ledgers were, right?"

Wang Xingguo understood what Li Zhong meant: the grain recorded in his ledgers did not match the actual grain taken out. However, the old ledgers were no longer available; they had been burned when the system was reformed.

He rubbed his face and then asked, "Grandpa Li, what about my Uncle Yongli and Brother Xingye? We finally got them promoted to director and deputy director, they can't just disappear like this, can they?"

Li Zhong said helplessly, "You don't know anything. Their cadre status wasn't approved because of those people. Otherwise, why would they make a fuss? Some people are ignorant and were indeed encouraged to let you go back to be the director. In reality, they are taking advantage of their ignorance to prevent their promotion applications from being approved."

Wang Xingguo was dumbfounded. "No way? It's been so long and it still hasn't been approved? When I was transferred from the transportation company, wasn't my promotion very quick?"

Li Zhong explained, "You passed through so smoothly before because the old leader spoke up. Who is the old leader? Who would dare not pass through quickly when he speaks? But their situation is different now. Those people are blocking all sorts of review procedures, dragging out each process for a week. Do you think that can take a long time? The main reason is that we think it's quite suitable for them to manage the trust store. It will be easier to deal with the accounting issues later. It's all because of cleaning up your mess, you brat, understand?"

Wang Xingguo understood now. He nodded and said, "If I have my Uncle Yongli and Uncle Xingye voluntarily withdraw, will their jobs be fine?"

"No problem, they just want to control this trust store, they won't do anything to them. This is what I wanted to talk to you about, just get them to back down and show they're willing to follow our arrangements. We can also see who's handling things for us, so at least we'll have some idea of ​​who's going to do it for us in the future."

"I see," Wang Xingguo thought, "then I'm relieved."

He nodded and said, "I understand. I will ask Uncle Yongli and Brother Xingye to step down. Whoever takes the position will take it."

Li Zhong lowered his voice and asked, "Xingguo, are your channels still able to procure supplies?"

Wang Xingguo said with a bitter face, "Grandpa Li, to be frank, you should be able to guess what those supplies were, right? They were all stolen from Hong Kong. There's really nothing left, so I gave them all to you at once. Unless you let me go back and lead another heist, I can't get these things back no matter what."

To be honest, Li Zhong stared at Wang Xingguo for a while after hearing his words, and then asked, "You really managed to bring back another batch of stuff? How come you dare to know just anyone? We've investigated so many people, and we haven't found out who colluded with you to bring back these things."

Wang Xingguo's heart tightened, but after hearing that nothing had been found, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He said with a look of disgust, "Investigate my ass! Did any of those things even go into my pocket? And you still want to investigate me for this? Aren't those people hauling back trainloads of supplies too? Do you think I don't know? How many people are secretly adding trainloads of goods to bring back smuggled goods that were previously supplied to the black market and are now supplied to the night market!"

Wang Xingguo spoke with conviction because this phenomenon does indeed exist!

Did the supplies at the night market just fall from the sky?

Every single one of the night market managers had someone backing them up, even Er Gouzi was no exception. Otherwise, how could he have gotten so much tobacco and alcohol before?

Li Zhong took out a cigarette and offered one to Wang Xingguo. After they lit them together, he sighed and said, "I can't really say anything about this. Everyone knows what's going on. I can't control everything. Just make sure you and the old leaders take good care of you."

Wang Xingguo couldn't help but ask the question that had been nagging at him: "Grandpa Li, I don't understand, why is it that out of so many members of my Wang family, it's me?"

Li Zhong's eyes flickered, and he hesitated, but in the end he shook his head and said, "I can't go into details with you. Anyway, among your Wang family members, only you and your siblings are the ones we need to take special care of. Just know that, and don't ask why. I can't tell you that much."

Wang Xingguo never understood why, despite so many sacrifices in the Wang family, he was the one who received the most care.

He couldn't understand it.

Logically speaking, they themselves said that Uncle Yongchang's father and second uncle sacrificed themselves to protect the wounded retired leader. Shouldn't Uncle Yongchang's family be taken care of more?

But that's not how it works. Instead, whether it's the eleventh uncle in the clan or the old leaders, they all show favoritism to him.

This is what Wang Xingguo can't understand.

But Grandpa Li wouldn't tell him that Wang Xingguo was actually quite annoyed by this kind of thing. What was there to hide?

After leaving the Li family, Wang Xingguo returned home. His older brother had also come home from get off work and was waiting for him to come back so they could have dinner.

Wang Xingguo opened a bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), and while pouring the liquor, he asked his older brother, "Brother, things aren't going well at your factory right now, are they?"

Wang Xingbang nodded and said, "Yes, the situation is a bit bad. Since the second half of last year, we haven't had a single meal with meat. This year it's even worse. The grain coupons we hand in aren't even enough for our lunch. It seems the factory can't even get grain to subsidize us anymore?"

Wang Xingguo sighed, "Sigh, it's like this everywhere now. I originally thought your factory was smaller and would be better, but it turns out there's not much difference."

Wang Xingbang asked, "Second brother, how's the food provided by your workplace? You're never home, we don't even know if you're eating enough, it's really worrying."

Wang Xingguo knew this older brother's character; he wasn't just saying it, but genuinely worried about not having enough to eat.

That's just the kind of person he is; otherwise, Wang Xingguo wouldn't respect this older brother so much.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xingguo decided not to hide it from them and told them the truth: "I don't know how to say it, but when I'm on a mission I eat compressed biscuits, those military-grade compressed biscuits. You guys have no idea what they taste like. They can keep you from feeling hungry for six or seven hours, but they're really hard. And you have to eat them dry and then drink water to keep you full for a bit longer. If you soak them before eating, you'll be hungry again in four or five hours."

Everyone fell silent, knowing that Wang Xingguo would definitely suffer during his business trip, but who could have imagined it would be this bad.

Wang Xingguo had no choice; that's how it is when you're on a mission. You can eat the train's food when you return, but during transport, you can't eat anything from outside. You have to ensure everything is foolproof and that no one can come into contact with the transported supplies.