novellhall Chapter 23 Emptying the Warehouse
Chapter 23 Emptying the Warehouse
"Damn it! You just wait!"
"Run! Don't let the city management committee catch you!"
Those who had taken advantage of the chaos to ambush Qiao An scattered like birds and beasts.
Qiao An didn't know how long she had been running, and now she was completely lost, unable to even tell which way was which.
She leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
The original owner's health was still not good; she used to be able to run 20 kilometers as easily as playing around.
There's a dead end ahead; we can't get out.
If we go back, it will be troublesome if we run into people from the Municipal Management Committee.
Joan used the handcart at the corner of the wall to climb over the wall and enter a house.
I had just landed and found cover when I heard a familiar voice.
"Damn it, that woman got away just now, but I remember her figure. If I see her again, I'll definitely recognize her."
Joan hid behind the vegetable jar and slowly peeked out half of her head.
After seeing his face clearly, Joan suddenly realized that this person was the thief she had bumped into at the market last time.
How come a thief is on the black market? Could he be the boss of Dongjiawan?
"Brother Mouse, why do we have to arrest that woman? What's so special about her?"
So his name is Mouse?
He lived up to his name, with a shifty, rat-like appearance.
"Didn't you see what she was selling?"
"Apples, eggplants, and green beans—these things are so rare these days!"
"If we find out where her channels are, we can monopolize them and who knows how much we can make?"
Joanne was right; they were indeed after the out-of-season vegetables she had.
"Brother Mouse, we have plenty of stuff in our warehouse, we don't need her measly little bit."
"Exactly, the stuff in this one room alone is worth at least four or five thousand yuan. Why bother targeting just one woman?"
Brother Mouse punched them twice in annoyance.
"I really want to see what's in your heads! Do you stuff all the shit you take into your heads?"
"Didn't you see that the markets are open now? The black market will be finished soon too."
"Besides this little bit of inventory, if we don't have a unique selling point, how will we establish ourselves in Wanzhou in the future?"
The two underlings who were beaten looked aggrieved.
"And another thing! Watch your step when you steal things in the future. If it weren't for covering for you two as you escaped at the market last time, would I have had to take action myself?"
"I almost got caught by a woman; it's still so unlucky to think about!"
"Got it, Brother Mouse."
"Brother Mouse, we'll be more careful in the future."
"What do you mean 'later'? Once this batch of stuff in the warehouse is sold, everyone should be more careful before the New Year. The police station is cracking down on us lately, so we can't let them find anything on us."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a knock came from the front door—three long knocks followed by two short ones.
"The people from the Municipal Management Committee have left, let's go out."
A few minutes later, the courtyard returned to quiet.
Joan emerged from behind the vegetable vat and looked at the only house in the yard.
They just said this is a warehouse, and there are several thousand yuan worth of supplies inside.
Come here.
We can't go back empty-handed.
Joan pried open the door and saw stacks of wooden crates and a small mountain of things covered with cloth.
She didn't have time to look, so she simply waved her hand and emptied the warehouse, putting everything into her spatial storage.
Qiao An returned the way she came, climbed over the wall, and circled around several times before finally getting out of Dongjiawan.
After rushing for a while, I finally caught the tractor that was heading back to the village on Monday afternoon.
Li Qiusheng saw someone waving, and only after the person pulled down their scarf did he recognize it as Qiao An.
"Joan, are you going back to the village?"
"Brother Li, the usual, I'll sit..."
Qiao An was about to offer to sit in the driver's seat for one yuan when she discovered that someone was already inside.
It was Old Lady Zhao from the village.
She was the village's barefoot doctor, and she didn't charge for minor illnesses or pains. She was highly respected by everyone.
Qiao An was too embarrassed to compete with Old Lady Zhao for the position.
"Brother Li, I'll sit in the back. Here's the money."
Qiao An gave Li Qiusheng three cents and climbed up the back of the shed.
There was almost no room left in the back compartment, and it took a while to squeeze in and finally sit down.
The tractor only runs on Mondays. Today I can take the bus back to the village, but tomorrow I'll have to walk.
Joan leaned against the hard metal plate behind the driver's cab and closed her eyes.
Consciousness enters the space.
The things we just collected from the warehouse are piled up outside the farm.
Joan lifted the cloth.
Good guy!
Two old-fashioned bicycles and one tricycle, all new.
There is also a Qiaoshou brand sewing machine.
The other boxes also contained good stuff.
Ten bags of rice and flour, five bags of cured meat, ten barrels of cooking oil,
Twenty bags of white sugar, ten packs of Daqianmen cigarettes, and eight bottles of Moutai.
Two boxes of polyester fabric, two boxes of woolen coats, and three boxes of leather shoes and rubber shoes.
The last three boxes smelled bad when opened.
Qiao An thought something was broken, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was fertilizer.
This is the lifeblood of agriculture, and the commune supplies very little of it.
The entire brigade of Lianchi Village can only receive a maximum of 200 jin (100 kg), which can only be used for topdressing during critical periods or for demonstration fields.
That's why the brigade composts its own fertilizer.
It's said that all these things added up to four or five thousand yuan.
This is undoubtedly a huge sum of money in this era.
Joan became happier and happier as she looked at it, and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Today, Xu Chunping and Feng Xiaoli also took a tractor back to the village.
Seeing Qiao An smiling with her eyes closed, they couldn't resist joining her to chirp crickets.
Joanne overheard them talking about her, but she was in a good mood today and didn't bother arguing with them.
The tractor drove all the way to the brigade's courtyard.
Joan jumped down from the back of the house and strolled home.
It's already six o'clock; the two kids must be starving.
As soon as she opened the courtyard gate, she heard footsteps coming from inside.
"Mom! You're back!"
Huo Ning ran towards her with her short legs, followed by Huo Chen who walked out at a leisurely pace.
"My baby!"
Qiao An squatted down and hugged Huo Ning, who was rushing towards her.
He kissed her little face hard and then tickled her little ticklish spot a couple of times.
Huo Ning was amused by her and kept laughing.
Huo Chen, who was behind, turned his head away, thinking to himself that his younger sister was being extremely sycophantic.
It's only been a few days, and they're already calling her "Mom" this and "Mom" that.
It turns out she was called Qiao An, the same bad woman as me.
He won her over in just a few meals.
Are you hungry?
Huo Ning rubbed his stomach. "Hungry."
"Go back to your room with your brother and wait. Mom will start cooking now."
Qiao An cooked sweet potato and cornmeal porridge, made some scallion pancakes, and finally stewed a small pot of pork, vermicelli, and cabbage.
Huo Ning clung to the window, tilting his head back to sniff.
"Have some self-respect. It's not like we'll never have another meal."
Huo Chen paused for a moment after he finished speaking.
Deep down, he seemed to hope that Qiao An could continue to be this good, and he even subconsciously believed so.
Qiao An's family ate dinner late, and by this time, several neighbors were already sitting in the yard chatting idly.
The aroma of meat and scallion oil filled the air.
"Whose house is this? Stewing meat so late at night? And the smell of scallion oil too. Are they trying to kill themselves?" Shi Amei rubbed her nose.
Wang Lei pointed behind him, "Who else could it be? It must be the house behind us."
"A young wife, eating and drinking well every day, isn't she afraid of gossip?"
Shi Amei spat on the ground, completely forgetting that her family had been able to eat meat these past two days thanks to Qiao An.
The old house where Qiao An now lives is right in front of the main house of Shi Ahua and Wang Lei.
"Mom and Dad, it smells like meat! I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat!"