sjar Chapter 305 Li Changqing Borrows 2 Yuan Without Hesitation
Chapter 305 Li Changqing Borrows 2 Yuan Without Hesitation
He rushed out of the office and just saw Lu Jinyang returning from the forest farm. He hurriedly told Lu Jinyang to inform Li Ju'an, shouting, "Go and call Li Ju'an over quickly. There's a long-distance call from the south. Tell him to come and return the call."
A phone call from afar can be shockingly expensive. Calls within ordinary neighborhoods are relatively inexpensive, but once you cross city boundaries, the price increases dramatically, accumulating by the minute at 20 cents per minute, depending on the length of the call.
Upon hearing this, Lu Jinyang was extremely anxious. Without saying a word, he strode off towards Changchonggou, determined to find Li Ju'an. Yang Dezheng watched his departing figure with great worry and could only sigh helplessly, "Why are those fields divided so far apart? It's really too far for the young man from the Li family to run back and forth like this."
No one wanted the dry land in Changchonggou when the land was distributed. Back then, nobody wanted to draw dry land; everyone wanted irrigated land near the village, and everyone preferred more fertile land. When Li Ju'an drew dry land and traveled a long way there, nobody thought highly of him. Now, Yang Dezheng feels a little guilty seeing Li Ju'an living so far away.
Although he felt bad about it, he thought the young man was easy to talk to and easy to get rid of. Otherwise, everyone needs water to irrigate the land, so who would be happy to be assigned to dry land?
Li Ju'an followed Lu Jinyang, panting, to the brigade leader's office. As soon as he entered, he saw Yang Dezheng looking at him with pitiful eyes.
Li Ju'an was taken aback, thinking: Captain Yang, what's wrong with you? What kind of eyesight do you have? Why are you sympathizing with me?
Lu Jinyang was also puzzled. He looked at Li Ju'an and said in a low voice, "What's wrong with you lately? You haven't been doing anything." Suddenly, Lu Jinyang clutched his chest, which was sore from running, and slapped his thigh, realizing what Yang Dezheng was thinking. He also said painfully, "Li Ju'an, your plot of land is too far away. Running back and forth like this is killing me. It's faster than the hunting dogs when we're gathering crops in the mountains."
Li Ju'an rarely heard Lu Jinyang make fun of him. He glared at him and said, "Then you're really not as fast as a hunting dog. You're overestimating yourself. The fastest runner in your Lu family is your brother Lu Zhiqiang. And that's only when he encountered a bear hunting den. He runs away as fast as lightning when he sees a black bear."
Lu Jinyang nodded and added, "And it would be even faster if Sun Weimin were here."
Lu Zhiqiang and Sun Weimin were chasing a bear when Lu Zhiqiang was chased for two miles. The whole village knew about it. Sun Weimin couldn't outrun a bear, but he could outrun Lu Zhiqiang. Lu Zhiqiang then worked hard and practiced running in the village every day, so that if Sun Weimin ever tricked him again, he could outrun him.
Squad leader Yang Dezheng spotted two young men standing at the door talking in hushed tones. He quickly and warmly invited them inside, saying with a smile, "Ju'an, your brother called. He said his name is Li Changqing. Call him back right away."
Upon hearing this, Li Ju'an took the phone number from the captain and slowly dialed the dial pad. It was a number from bustling Shanghai, with a special area code added before the landline, making it seem distant and unfamiliar. He dialed again and again, silently praying that Brother Changqing was alright and hadn't encountered any trouble.
Finally, a weary voice answered from the other end of the phone. It was Li Changqing's voice, sounding as if he hadn't slept for several nights. His voice was broken and intermittent, revealing his undeniable exhaustion and haggardness.
"Hey, Li Ju'an, do you have any money? Can you lend me some?"
Li Ju'an hadn't been in touch with his relatives for a long time, and the first thing they did was ask for money. He had just heard this sentence when he was holding the phone receiver.
Lu Jinyang, driven by curiosity, moved closer, but the undisguised volume of the phone receiver startled him, causing him to recoil slightly. He turned his face away, maintaining a delicate distance. His expression changed, and he whispered, "How come someone who's made a fortune in the south still needs to borrow money from our village?"
Yang Dezheng was a straightforward man. While slurping up his noodles and pickles, he said, "Is this Li Changqing? Li Changqing isn't having an easy time in the South either. Everyone needs money to do business. If you ask me, what's wrong with lending a hand when things are tough? Money can't buy brotherhood."
He was very generous and had excellent relationships with the villagers. He was also fair and reliable in handling affairs, which earned him the respect of the villagers.
Lu Jinyang, being a scholar, was quick-witted and offered a suggestion: "Even brothers need to keep clear accounts. Make Li Ju'an write an IOU. Don't lend money without an IOU, or he'll try to take advantage of you later."
Li Ju'an nodded to the two people and asked into the phone, "Cousin, what happened? How much money do you need?"
On the other end of the phone, Li Changqing practically roared, "Twenty thousand! Li Ju'an, lend me twenty thousand! Twenty thousand is all I need to turn my life around. I can get this batch of goods for just twenty thousand."
Li Ju'an remembered that when Li Changqing followed Zhang Yingnian south, he took two old gold bars from his grandfather, intending to use them as his first pot of gold. These two 10-gram gold bars were passed down from his grandfather to his grandfather. Because of this, his grandfather was so angry that he couldn't eat and shouted that his son was unfilial.
He asked, "Twenty thousand? That's too much. Did you talk to the old folks about it?"
On the other end of the phone, Li Changqing sounded irritable as he shouted, "Li Ju'an, I know you're rich. Your grandfather supported your education and spoiled you the most. I was the one who took care of your father when he was bedridden. Where were you going back then? Now that I'm in trouble, shouldn't you lend a hand?"
This kind of moral blackmail infuriated Li Ju'an. When his father fell ill and was bedridden, his family took turns caring for him. Later, with the illness escalating and no one around, his uncles couldn't bear it anymore and separated from the family, leaving his widow and orphan to grow up in the village, where they were bullied. They endured this for five or six years.
Hearing no response from the other end, Li Changqing's anger subsided slightly. He softened his tone and said, "Li Ju'an, we're family, you're my brother. Zhang Yingnian said you earn a lot running around in the mountains every day. Zhang Yingnian also knows from Boss Huang that you've made a fortune recently. Wouldn't it be better if you and I went to collect the goods together and make money together?"
Li Ju'an sneered and said, "Zhang Yingnian told you? You want to get me involved in buying and selling?"
Upon hearing this, Li Changqing could only swallow his anger and reassure him, saying, "It's not about buying and selling, it's about making a deal. Okay, if you don't want to do it together, lend me 20,000 yuan. I'll write an IOU with interest, and I'll pay you back double later."
In his previous life, Li Ju'an would have been truly generous and readily slapped his thigh to lend the money. Men from the Xing'an Mountains are known for their generosity, and they would certainly give face to a brother who wanted to borrow money. However, he knew Zhang Yingnian's character and also knew that Li Changqing was inexperienced and would definitely be deceived by Zhang Yingnian.
He asked Li Changqing, "What is Zhang Yingnian asking you to sell? It's so profitable, you need 20,000 yuan for your first pot of gold. What are you buying?"
"I collect cassette tapes. Oh, you wouldn't understand these high-end items even if I told you. Only wealthy families in Shanghai had tape recorders. When you listen to those little cassette tapes, let me tell you, these aren't ordinary tapes. They're copies of movies from Hong Kong. They're really exciting to listen to, and they sell very well. Shanghai bosses all love them."
Li Ju'an suddenly realized what was going on. These weren't legitimate cassette tapes for selling tape recorders. They were clearly copies of those risqué films featuring Hong Kong actresses—very lewd tapes that could only be sold discreetly on the street.
If Zhang Yingnian were to betray us, he would be even more ruthless than he was back then.
He said, "I don't have the money, I won't lend it. Brother, you'd better stay away from Zhang Yingnian, or you won't even know how you died."
On the other end of the phone, Li Changqing was so angry that he cursed loudly, spitting all over the microphone. He shouted, "Pah! Li Ju'an, you just can't stand to see me doing well, you can't stand to see me succeed. Just you wait and see, when I make a fortune and become a boss, you'll regret not doing business with me."
He grew angrier the more he thought about it, and as he hung up the phone, he cursed, "The poor are destined to be poor! You deserve to be poor."