1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 75 Light (1)

Nine p.m.

The drizzle in the sky has turned into moderate rain, and there seems to be no sign of stopping.

In fact, according to the weather forecast I just checked, there will be light to moderate rain in the next three days.

As for whether it will clear up in three days, or turn into heavy rain... I'm sorry, with the current level of weather forecasting, I don't know.

………………

At the entrance of Dezhou Railway Station, there were more than twenty dilapidated long-haul Liberation trucks parked in a row, almost blocking half of the Yingbin Avenue.

To be honest, it's only because it's already night time that there aren't many cars on the road, and most of the buses have stopped running. Otherwise, such blatant behavior of occupying the road would definitely lead to a round of scolding, and if you come across someone with a bad temper, it would be normal for them to just roll their arms around and fight back.

People who frequent train stations and bus stations will recognize these shabby old cars; they're where the black car drivers make their living.

But what was strange was that these black cars that usually hid like rats not only parked openly at the exit of the train station today, but also strangely, they had no intention of soliciting passengers. Instead, they used the roof of the car as a fulcrum and propped up sheets of rain felt against the bamboo poles opposite.

Although the rain felts could not be connected together due to the long front of the vehicles, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that these old cars were building a temporary, extra-long awning.

After pressing the last brick tightly to make sure the rain blanket would not slip, a man quickly climbed down from the roof and got into the passenger seat. He then patted the rain off his body and complained, "Fuck, I don't know what's wrong with Boss Shen. He has to use a pager to call me in the middle of the night... It would be fine if he just called me, but you could also introduce some business to me... What the hell is this asking us to use our own car to set up the tent?"

The driver who was unloading the goods heard this and shouted in a low voice: "Shut up! Do you still want to work on this line?! Boss Shen called all the people here at once, there must be something important, otherwise who do you think would be willing to come out in the rain at night... Didn't you see that Boss Shen himself was leading the security team to maintain order?"

In the past month, Boss Shen and those water filling station owners have made a lot of money. In a good mood, they not only gave red envelopes to those who drove illegal cars, but also took the initiative to help them attract some customers and reduced some fees. With the small red envelopes + commissions + a surge in customers + a reduction in the amount of supply, they have been living a much more comfortable life in the past month than in the past. Therefore, they are really afraid of offending Boss Shen.

The co-driver stuck his head out to take a look, and indeed, he discovered that the square was crowded with people, and seven or eight railway workers in uniform were standing by to maintain order. Since yesterday, the news that a large number of migrant workers had been deported had gradually spread in their small circle, so he could naturally guess who were the people gathered in the square.

Turning his head to look at the things the driver was moving down, the co-driver muttered, "You said you were cooperating with Boss Shen's job, helping to build a rain shelter and temporarily accommodate those workers, but why did he rush us to find some things to do... After all, we are not going to provide them with good food and drink, right?"

Originally this was just a joke, but the driver nodded: "That's right... In this kind of horrible weather, if you don't give them some food to warm themselves up, what will happen if they get sick... Come and give me a hand, this thing is hard to lift by one person!"

The co-pilot reluctantly put his hand on the dirty gas stove: "But doesn't Momo Baizha have a store in the train station? Why do you want to cook these things here? We can't cook, but you won't ask us to be the cooks, right?"

The driver put the gas stove on the ground and took two gas cylinders from the car. "That's just a small shop, not even a small shop. How can it possibly handle the food for so many people? ... Don't worry, Qingfeng Food has urgently dispatched many people over. We just need to provide cooking utensils and a place, and they will naturally send people to cook when the time comes."

The co-pilot curled his lips: "If you ask me, Qingfeng Food Factory is being stupid this time... There are nearly 20,000 people coming and going at Dezhou Railway Station every day, and there are countless migrant workers who are blocked from returning... With just such a township enterprise, such limited manpower and financial resources, can they take it over?"

The driver sneered: "You're not smart enough and you won't admit it... Who told you that you have to take over all these people?"

"Please understand that the number of people passing through the Dezhou Railway Station every day is close to 20,000, but if we only count those who are heading to the province, it's probably only around 8,000 at most!"

"It's impossible that all of these 8,000 people are migrant workers... You don't count those on business trips, tourism, or visiting relatives?... If you count them this way, the number of migrant workers every day is at most around 4,000."

"Do you think they can resettle all of these 4,000 people? I'm telling you... it's impossible!"

"Didn't you hear what Lao Chen and the others said? They only plan to accommodate those who can't afford the bus and whose families live far away... If you add in the people from Texas and those who can afford the bus tickets... there will be less than 3,000 people at most... and that doesn't even include the group that left today... If we exclude that group, we will only need to accommodate 700 to 800 people tonight!"

The co-pilot nodded in understanding: "Seven or eight hundred people, that's barely enough... But what about tomorrow?... It looks like there are a lot of people stuck in various places. It will take five or six days to get back... Tsk tsk, three thousand people a day... If they stand in front of you, it will definitely scare people to death!"

The driver shrugged. "That's not something we can worry about. Anyway, let's get tonight's job done first. If Boss Shen gets mad, we'll be in trouble!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several teams of hesitant men walking timidly behind several Qingfeng employees, accompanied by a security guard.

"This is what... By the way, this is the shelter that Qianfu Township and Qimin Township of Lanling County specially entrusted us to prepare for the villagers... Our transportation capacity is limited now, if you feel sleepy at night, you can only bear with it and take turns to take a nap in the car... Come on, come over and take a rest to avoid the rain... Changfen, quickly set up the pot and make some food for the villagers to warm up!"

Looking at these dozens of people hesitantly following those Qingfeng employees and standing in front of the old car at the very end, the driver and the co-driver looked at each other with indescribable strange expressions.

Didn’t Qingfeng Food ask Boss Shen and others to build these awnings?

Isn’t Qingfeng Food from Shuanglin Village, Linyi?
But what the hell are Qianfu Township and Qimin Township?

………………

The train leaves the platform.

Lu Yingying, dressed in work clothes, was waiting anxiously. She looked at her watch from time to time, then turned her head to look at the dark crowd in the square. On the cardboard signs held by several Qingfeng Food employees behind her, the four big words "Welcome Home" were crookedly written.

Just as Tugou was complaining about the train being late again, a faint noise came over, and Lu Yingying was startled: "Here they come...Hurry up and hold up the sign."

There were a lot of people coming out, at least two or three hundred, but it was impossible that all of them were migrant workers who returned empty-handed... Tugou, a classmate who came from the countryside, could tell who their targets were at a glance.

These people are actually pretty easy to identify.

Here,
Wearing wrinkled, old ant blue;

Wearing a five-star hat;
Carrying or holding several colorful snakeskin bags;
A pair of thin trousers in earthy grey or grey-green.
Wearing Liberation shoes or worn-out cloth shoes,
With a rough face and a look of helplessness between his brows...

They must be migrant workers.

Of course, there are differences between migrant workers and domestic workers. With limited resources, Lu Yingying and her colleagues can only focus on those who need help the most.

As the crowd passed by, Lu Yingying cast her eyes on the dozens of workers who were dragging their feet at the back of the team, with dazed looks and wooden expressions. Then with a glance, the staff behind her immediately divided into several teams and went to meet them.

"Uncle, aunt, which village are you from?" Tugou spoke in an authentic dialect and stopped several fellow villagers who had just left the station.

Seeing someone stopping him, the middle-aged man in front looked wary and subconsciously hugged the snakeskin bag in his hand to his chest.

But when he saw that the other person was a pretty girl with a friendly smile on her face, the middle-aged man glanced at her neat and tidy work clothes, glanced at the sign held by the staff behind him, and hesitated for a moment: "I am from Litun Township."

Litun Township?
Carefully distinguishing the other party's accent, Lu Yingying thought for a moment, then blinked: "Zaozhuang... Litun Township in Tengzhou?"

The middle-aged man was stunned: "You know?"

Lu Yingying smiled even more warmly. In fact, she could only roughly judge where the other person was from by his accent. She had no idea whether he was from Litun Township or not.

But enough is enough.

Without saying anything, he put his arm around the middle-aged man's shoulders, gently pulled him aside, and then said loudly: "Uncle, we are from Qingfeng Food Factory, and the villagers know what's going on over there..."

"It's been raining in Texas these past few days. The villagers were worried that you wouldn't take care of yourself and get cold in the rain, so they specifically asked us to pick you up and take you back home..."

"Stand here and don't get lost. Follow us for a while, eat something to warm yourself up, and then we'll help you arrange a car... Don't worry, the villagers have already paid for the car, so just wait quietly."

The folks sent you to pick me up...the township or the village?
Lu Yingying's choice of words was somewhat vague and misleading. He immediately understood that someone from Litun Township had entrusted someone to pick him up.

The middle-aged man looked at the girl in front of him suspiciously, feeling his mind a little confused... When did the people in our village start to care about me so much?
However, this was the entrance to the train station, and Lv Yingying and the employees were all dressed neatly. In addition, the other party's familiar yet slightly strong style made him subconsciously dare not question it, so he just followed the arrangement and stood aside. Seeing the middle-aged man standing aside with a little uneasiness, Tugou breathed a sigh of relief, and then immediately turned around and walked towards the next target.

"Aunt~Where are you from?"

"Xinzhai Town? ...The Xinzhai Town in Yucheng?"

"Oh, what a coincidence... Hurry and stand still. The villagers have also entrusted us to pick you up... Is there anyone else from Yucheng behind you? If there is, come to me quickly!"

Twenty minutes later.

More than sixty migrant workers, carrying their luggage, were divided into five teams and hesitantly followed Lu Yingying and several staff members toward the square.

The occasional glances they gave each other were filled with weirdness and uneasiness.

These five teams came from different places and villages, and the farthest one even came from Weihai.

What is the origin of this Qingfeng Food? Why did all the villagers in my village ask them to pick me up?
Lv Yingying, the leader, seemed unaware of these people's vigilance. She led them to the group of tents in the corner of the square and shouted in a hoarse voice: "Uncle, aunt, the awning outside is full, so you can only stand in the tent for a while... We will get you something to eat first, and someone will come to count which village you are from... Just tell the truth, and we will reassign you according to the route and arrange you to get on the bus... But the bus is a bit tight now, so you may have to wait a little longer, so please understand, uncles and aunts!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at the oversized four-way tent in front of them that was built with a bunch of bamboo poles and rain felt, then looked at the tent next to it that was also crowded with people, and finally set their eyes on the several security team members who were patrolling nearby, and they felt a little relieved.

"middle!"

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and agreed.

They no longer had the money to buy the return ticket. Although the current situation seemed a little strange, it was worth taking the risk as long as it could allow them to return home.

Besides, including our side, there are at least five or six hundred people crammed into these large tents. With so many people together, are we still afraid of someone doing something bad?

Even if we don't take the risk, aren't there security guards at the train station?
Look at how these security guards came over in the rain to help in the middle of the night. This Qingfeng Food Factory should... be fine, right?

Just as they were thinking about it, a dozen young men in work clothes came in one after another carrying large baskets. With an unskilled smile, they handed a slightly hot hard shell box and a drink to them one by one.

"Uncle, aunt, let's eat something first... It's not much, but it can at least fill our stomachs... It's a little spicy, please forgive me... But eating something spicy can make your body warmer, right?... When your body is warm, it won't be so cold in the wind at night."

Smelling the tempting aroma coming from the box, the hungry middle-aged man opened it and saw that it was actually a box full of fried food.

After staring blankly for a while and swallowing, he carefully picked up a piece of fish tofu and put it in his mouth.

hiss~!

Spicy~spicy~spicy...so cool!

After shuddering, the middle-aged man felt his body warming up.

After looking at the box of delicious food that smelled of meat, the middle-aged man looked at Lu Yingying's back as she ran in the rain in the square with a small umbrella. Finally, his gaze fell on the right side of the square, the row of stoves lined up under the eaves, and the twenty or so young people who were busy shuttling between the outdoor stoves like ants.

Fellow villager...huh?

The middle-aged man felt something in his heart, and his body seemed to be getting warmer...

........................

As one of the event leaders designated by Yang Mo, Tugou not only shouldered the most difficult "drainage" task, but also had to shoulder part of the organization and coordination work at the train station.

"Team leader Lu, the gluten we brought here before has been used up... The kitchen staff asked me to come here and ask if I can make a phone call to ask when the next truckload of raw materials can be delivered?" A porter, sweating profusely, ran up to Lu Yingying and asked in a hoarse voice.

Lv Yingying, who was helping to change the gas tank, didn't even raise her head: "It's late at night, what kind of store would call you... Besides, the company doesn't only deliver to our store... other stores are more important... If the gluten is used up, use starch sausage to make up for it... If the starch sausage is not enough, add fish balls and fish tofu... No matter what, fill the box for me first... This is related to the effect of our promotional event this time, we must not cut corners!"

The porter responded, and Old Ding, whose face was covered in stains, ran over again: "Xiao Lu, more than a dozen pots have been frying for more than two hours, and the gas is a little insufficient... Can you think of a plan? Let's not fry anymore, but boil it... I'll get some honeycomb coal stoves. Although the firepower is a little low, one stove can last until tomorrow noon... It's just to make sure they are full, whether fried or boiled, it's all the same."

Lu Yingying shook the gas tank in her hand, then opened the valve, tested the stove fire, and stood up: "No! Manager Yang has said that we must not ruin our reputation after spending so much effort and budget on promotion this time... The food that comes out of our hands must not only be sufficient in quantity, but also must be fried, and the frying temperature must not be lazy!"

Lao Ding's face twitched. He was not a fool. How could he believe that today's emergency mobilization was really for publicity... In this year when supplies are not abundant, have you ever seen anyone use giving away free things as a means of publicity?

Besides, why don’t you take a look at whether those people are really potential customers for Silent Explosion?

However, although this kind of stupid thing that cost him money made him very sad, and he was even so angry that he was jumping up and down, but when he really did it, he also felt an indescribable sense of relief - it was this sense of relief that made him, who had been lazy for half an afternoon, willingly work non-stop until now, and by the way, Lu Yingying, who was busier and more tired than him, also let go of her grudges.

Lu Yingying didn't care what he was thinking. After a moment's silence, she said in a tone that left no room for negotiation: "Manager Ding, this public relations event is of great significance... You are the manager, and you have the most local connections among the people present... I don't care what method you use, you must get me enough gas cylinders... There are four trains arriving from other provinces tonight... The gas cylinders you get must be used until six in the morning!"

Yang Shidan once said, don’t easily believe what others say “can’t do it”. If you don’t force them, how do you know that they really can’t do it?
Snakes have their own paths and rats have their own lairs. When facing an experienced person, you just need to put as much pressure on him as possible within the scope of his duties.

As expected, seeing Lu Yingying's unquestionable attitude, Lao Ding thought about it, then gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! Team Leader Lu, please keep an eye on these dozen pots for me, I'll go find someone to help... Damn it, I don't believe that with so many friends, you can't get enough gas cylinders?... If it doesn't work, I'll knock on every door and bring their gas over!"

Seeing Lao Ding riding his 28-bar bicycle and speeding away in the rain, Lu Yingying breathed a sigh of relief. She was about to go over to the tent to calm everyone down, but she saw from afar a familiar-looking van suddenly stopped at the entrance of the train station.

........................

"PR... no, brand PR?"

"Who gave Yang Mo the power to make such a big move without the approval of the group meeting! ... The budget is 70! If my colleagues in the Finance Department hadn't reported it to me, I would still be in the dark!"

Under the light of the column lamp, Jiao Shouqiang's face turned ashen, and he stared at Qin Xin, Liu Xianfu, Lu Yingying and others as if he wanted to skin them alive.

70 yuan is definitely not a small amount of money in this era. The annual revenue of many companies is even lower than this figure. Yang Mo suddenly transferred so much money from the company account which originally had only more than 100 million yuan left. No wonder Jiao Shouqiang was so anxious - Qingfeng Food was about to promote the franchise project, and various expenses were another huge sum. If the franchise project used to announce the good news was temporarily shelved due to funding issues, Manager Jiao would even want to kill someone.

Liu Xianfu had a bitter face and looked helpless: "For such a big matter, I also think that the leaders should reach a consensus before making a decision... But Director Yang is the person in charge of the Operation Management Center!"

Jiao Shouqiang's expression became even uglier. "What's wrong with the person in charge of the Operation Management Center? Does Yang Mo still take the Operation Guidance Group seriously, and does he take me, the team leader, seriously? "

Seeing that this guy was about to explode, Tang Chaoxian on the side suddenly said calmly: "As the person in charge of the operation management center, Director Yang has the right to vote in the promotion, publicity, and operation of the project... In other words, if this big move is really for the promotion of Mo Mo Bai Zha, then he can make his own decision without the need for a group study... In fact, let alone 70, even if he transfers all the funds on the books of Qingfeng Food, we can't say anything... Of course, all this is based on the premise that the money is really used for publicity and promotion."

Tang Chaoxian's words were meant to remind Jiao Shouqiang that Yang Mo was the real operator of this tertiary industry pilot project. Under the premise that everyone's backers all tacitly agreed that "everything is based on performance", it is a favor for them to share the cake with you. But if you really think that you, as a team leader, can take yourself seriously in terms of operations, be careful not to bring shame upon yourself.

Jiao Shouqiang's eyes flickered a few times when he heard this. After taking a deep breath, he asked in a deep voice, "No matter what, a large amount like 70 still needs to be communicated in advance... Where is Manager Yang? Why don't you see him?"

Lu Yingying shook her lips and stood up: "Manager Jiao, Director Yang has something important to deal with..."

"Anything important to deal with?"

Jiao Shouqiang looked at the little girl who was said to have a close relationship with Yang Mo with an expression of disbelief.

Is there anything more important than staying on site to settle these returning workers?
Lu Yingying nodded: "Yes, Manager Yang said that what he is going to do is very important, more important than presiding over the on-site work..."

(End of this chapter)