Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Time quickly passed to around 1 a.m.

Wang An, Wang Li, and Mu Xueli, along with Er Gangzi and his group of ten, drove two cars straight to the county town.

Gas was leading the way, followed by Mu Xue. Wang An sat in the passenger seat, while the three seats in the back were crammed with five people. There were even two people sitting in the trunk.

However, in this day and age, this is considered normal practice, and it's perfectly normal to carry even more people.

The truck behind was a large Jiefang truck, which was naturally driven by Wang Li. The passenger seat, which had two seats, was crammed with three people, but since none of the three were particularly overweight, it didn't look too crowded.

Even as May approaches, the nighttime temperature in Heilongjiang Province remains very low, and people have to wear thin cotton-padded coats to keep warm.

However, this was not a problem at all for Wang An and the others sitting in the car. The car was heated by firewood, and even wearing a cotton-padded coat would feel hot. Moreover, with so many people crammed together, it was impossible to feel cold.

More than 20 minutes later, the two vehicles arrived at the agricultural supply station together.

What was unexpected was that even at this late hour, the agricultural supply station was still brightly lit and bustling with people, almost no different from the lively scene during the day.

It's obvious that these people are waiting to buy fertilizer.

To be honest, people are willing to endure any hardship and any kind of fatigue in order to increase the yield of the land and grow more grain!

It was the dead of night, with strong winds and howling winds, and it was freezing cold. Yet, everyone was just standing there outside the gate, enduring the cold. Many of them were already wrapped in cotton-padded coats or tattered quilts, either sitting or lying on horse-drawn carriages or the trailers of hand-operated tractors, and had fallen asleep.

As the headlights swept across the area, the people mistook it for another fertilizer delivery truck, and smiles of delight spread across their faces.

Because as long as a truck delivering fertilizer comes, they won't just sit there idly; they can buy a few bags of precious fertilizer, no matter how many they do.

But when they discovered, under the dim moonlight, that the truck bed of the Liberation truck was empty and there were no chicken feathers in it, the smiles that these people had just put on immediately froze on their faces.

Because they know that if an empty truck comes, it's definitely not there to deliver fertilizer, but to steal it from them!

Wang An and the others didn't have time to pay attention to what these people were thinking, and drove straight to the back gate of the agricultural supplies compound.

After showing the delivery order and payment receipt given by Station Master Tang, the security guards at the gate finally allowed the two vehicles to enter the compound.

At this moment, it was observed that there were still people busy at the two entrances to the warehouse in the courtyard. These people were unloading fertilizer from the trucks into the warehouse, and they were almost finished unloading.

In other words, the 60 tons of fertilizer that Station Master Tang mentioned during the day is being unloaded.

Meanwhile, a horse-drawn carriage and a tractor were also loading the truck.

Wang An approached the warehouse manager, intending to immediately load the fertilizer, but the warehouse manager made excuses, saying:

"The fertilizer just arrived and hasn't been inventoried yet, so we can't take it away now."

Wang An asked subconsciously:

"When will you be able to finish inventorying the goods?"

The warehouse manager said rather impatiently:
"If you're quick, it'll be one hour; if you're slow, it'll be tomorrow morning. They'll all be off work by then, it's the middle of the night. What's the rush for you to come here now?"

It was the middle of the night, and most people had gone home from get off work, but Wang An's men clearly saw a tractor and a horse-drawn cart being loaded onto the truck. Therefore, the warehouse manager in front of them obviously didn't want to work!
After all, he still had to check the amount of fertilizer while people were loading the trucks and keep records at all times, but if the work was postponed to tomorrow, then another warehouse manager would take over.

Wang Li pointed to the tractor and the horse-drawn cart, and questioned the warehouse manager:
"Then why can they load it onto the truck? But it's not allowed here? Why is that?"

Upon hearing this, the warehouse keeper's expression immediately changed. He sneered and said with a face full of disdain:
"They're loading the previous batch of goods, which has already been inventoried. Yours is this batch, which hasn't been inventoried yet. What? You have a problem with that?"

The warehouse manager's arrogant attitude made you want to slap him a few times.

However, when dealing with the warehouse manager, violence won't solve even the slightest problem, and it will only make things worse.

The main reason is that although their job doesn't have any rank and they're usually lazy and nobody pays attention to them, in this era when fertilizer is extremely scarce, they can drag you down so that you can't take away a single grain of fertilizer.

In the end, all you can do is get your money back.

This is what is known as "It's easier to see the King of Hell than to deal with his underlings!"
Unfortunately, at this time, Station Chief Tang and his team would definitely not be on duty on Ling Island. If Wang An wanted to move the fertilizer away as soon as possible, he would have to deal with the warehouse manager in front of him.

If we wait until tomorrow morning, or more precisely, until dawn, then most of the fertilizer in the warehouse will have been taken away. Even if there is any left, there probably won't be much.

Wang An suppressed his dissatisfaction and said to Wang Li and Mu Xueli:

"Fifth Brother, Xue Li, you two go out first."

Wang Li glared angrily at the warehouse manager before reluctantly leaving, while Mu Xueli calmly agreed:
"Okay, brother-in-law, I'll head out now."

At this moment, only Wang An and the warehouse manager remained in the warehouse manager's office.

Wang An took out a dollar and placed it on the table, saying in a calm tone:
"Please help me out, bro."

At that time, one yuan was no small amount. This warehouse keeper could work himself to the bone all day and still not earn one yuan.

That's right, you can't even earn one dollar a day, that's a fact.

Because the job of warehouse manager is quite special, most of the workers are temporary.

Even for full-time employees, the monthly salary is only 28.5 yuan, but with bonuses, it may exceed 30 yuan.

However, warehouse managers' bonuses are not easy to earn, because they are earned without making any mistakes and without any accidents, big or small, occurring in the warehouse.

Because in this huge agricultural supplies warehouse, there are not only chemical fertilizers.

Besides fertilizers, there are also seeds of various crops, pesticides, veterinary drugs and feeds for poultry and livestock, farm tools and accessories, and various production materials such as plastic sheeting and tar paper.

With so many items in the warehouse, if a warehouse manager makes a mistake or any item is damaged due to improper storage, the bonus will be forfeited.

Therefore, apart from the heads of various departments who could earn more than 30 yuan a month, the vast majority of warehouse staff only earned 28.5 yuan a month.

As for temporary workers, there were even fewer, and their wages were about the same as those of Wang An's company's security personnel.

However, after Wang An placed the one yuan on the table, the warehouse clerk's expression changed slightly, but he didn't do anything else and repeated what he had said before:
"Wait until the inventory check is complete, then you can load the trucks." (End of Chapter)