Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

There were only four people eating lunch: Zhou Rui himself, his grandparents, and his younger sister.

So we didn't finish the leftovers from last night; there's still quite a bit left.

Zhou Rui poured all the remaining venison topping into a large bowl, mixed it with two bowls of venison rice, and gave one bowl each to his grandparents.

Zhou Yong'an made a few excuses as usual before accepting, for a simple reason: the Zhou family could now eat meat almost every day.

After lunch, Zhou Rui prepared to do something big.

Go find tea farmer Zhang Chengyun to discuss cooperation and contracting.

Zhou Rui has abandoned his initial idea of ​​hiding his talents, since his little stories are being told throughout the village.

Let's just drop the pretense and be completely open about it, turning this little story into a major event that will shock the entire village.

This time, Zhou Rui doesn't plan to use his father's protection to do things anymore, since there have already been some rumors to set the stage.

Zhou Rui washed the dishes and chopsticks before leaving the house; his grandmother washed them with him.

I glanced at the time; it was 12:30 PM.

The sun was already high in the sky outside.

Zhang Chengyun's house is located a short distance to the right after leaving the Zhou family's house, also on the side of the country road. However, it is not a brick house like Li Dehua's or Zhao's houses, but just an ordinary adobe house.

A few years ago, Zhang Chengyun used some of the money he originally intended to use to build a house to invest in a tea plantation, but now the situation is getting worse and worse.

After years of losses, his funds had dried up. Under various circumstances, he took the advice of the Taoist priest Zhang Sheng and quickly found someone to take over.

After walking for a while, Zhou Rui passed the fork in the road behind the mountain and walked a distance further before finally arriving at a mud-brick house that was even larger than the Zhou family's.

The area in front of Zhang Chengyun's house was bustling with activity today, as many villagers, both men and women, gathered there.

Zhang Chengyun himself was standing in the middle of the front yard of his house, looking worried and trying to comfort everyone.

"Fellow villagers, I promised you that I would settle all your wages as soon as this season's tea is sold. I, Zhang Chengyun, keep my word."

"The tea plantation is losing a lot of money right now, and I'm trying to find a solution. Please give me some time, okay? I'm really begging you all."

Zhang Chengyun was very humble and looked exhausted; he had been dealing with this matter for several days in a row.

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion broke out in the crowd.

"Zhang Chengyun, how can we trust you? We haven't even been paid for last time's work yet, and our whole family is starving and waiting! If I had known it would be like this, I would have been better off working in town."

"Besides, the wages you offered were so low. We helped out of consideration for our fellow villagers, but now we can't even get paid. How can we trust you?"

"Yes, Old Zhang is right. His two kids are still hungry and waiting for their wages."

Another person echoed this, and then the man who spoke first continued:

"Zhang Chengyun, I don't want to escalate things too much because we're family, but you need to give us an explanation! No matter what, you have to pay us our wages today!"

Zhou Rui watched this scene unfold. He had been wondering why there wasn't a single tea picker in the tea garden this morning, even though it was supposed to be the season for picking autumn tea.

He had initially thought it was because the time for tea picking hadn't come yet, and Zhang Chengyun was waiting for the new buds to grow a bit more before picking them. But now it seems the workers have gone on strike.

Many people came here, mostly families with wives and children, all seeking an explanation because several months had passed since the last tea picking, and their wages had not been settled.

Unlike later generations, in this era, most families could barely make ends meet. If they had no expenses for a month or two, it would be enough to disrupt their already meager lives.

Among them, those families with many members face the greatest difficulties.

These families find it difficult to make a living solely by farming, and they have to do other odd jobs or side jobs during the off-season to survive.

Zhang Chengyun's face turned liver-colored, and he stammered for a long time without being able to give a coherent explanation.

However, the man who started it all wouldn't let it go and continued to incite the crowd to cause trouble. As things were getting out of control, another person in the crowd stepped forward.

It was none other than the Taoist priest Zhang Sheng.

"Fellow villagers, calm down. There's no use in being anxious. Tea is hard to sell right now, and the price isn't good either. Even if you skin Zhang Chengyun alive, you still won't get any money."

Taoist Zhang Sheng was quite respected in the village because he performed rituals for the dead, and funerals couldn't be held without him.

In addition, the prestige accumulated by his master over two generations eventually brought the noise of the crowd to a gradual end.

Seeing this, Zhang Chengyun finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

Zhang Sheng was someone he had found, and he had spent two packs of cigarettes as a favor, which was quite a price to pay, as he was truly desperate.

In today's situation, if no one with enough authority to convince the public steps forward, the situation will escalate, and then it will be too late.

Seeing that his words had some effect, Zhang Sheng pressed his advantage and continued to appease the crowd.

"Fellow villagers, I know that some families are waiting for rice to cook, but things have already come to this, and Zhang Chengyun did not do it on purpose."

"He's trying to figure something out, please be patient and wait a bit, okay?"

Zhang Sheng was trying his best to control the situation, but the person who spoke first was still relentless. The other person's tone softened slightly, but still carried a tough attitude as he said:

"Taoist Zhang, I respect you, and we are all from the same clan. I don't want to make things difficult for you, but we're running out of food. What am I supposed to do?"

"I understand you all, but who understands me...?"

As the man spoke, his tone gradually softened.

Zhou Rui watched silently from the side. This was the most realistic situation at present, and it would be the same in later generations. The whole family relied on that meager salary to make a living.

As a result, the bosses' casual "wait a little longer" made many honest, hardworking, and taciturn people wait day after day.

Many of them waited until their families were destroyed and their lives were ruined.

Zhou Rui sighed deeply in his heart. He was helpless about it. You could say he was heartless, but seeing this scene still pained him.

But what could he do?

After the man finished speaking, Zhang Chengyun seemed to be acting out of sympathy, or perhaps it was a pre-arranged charade with Zhang Sheng.

He stood in the center of the crowd, and once again raised his voice and shouted:

"Fellow villagers, how about this? For those families with few able-bodied members or many children and elderly people, I'll settle half of the payment first, and the rest will be settled after this autumn tea is sold out."

"I'm so sorry everyone, please try to understand each other."

As soon as Zhang Chengyun finished speaking, a commotion arose again in the crowd. The tea workers whispered among themselves. After Zhang Sheng's initial reminder, they all realized that Zhang Chengyun really didn't have any money. What could they do?

You can't just forcibly take it, that would really be considered causing trouble, and you might end up in jail.

Finally, after whispering amongst themselves, the crowd reached a consensus and agreed to this solution.