Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1235 Steamed Buns with Braised Pork (Give +15 to Gentle and Refined)

While eating hazelnuts, Xiaohong suddenly remembered something and asked Xiaowei, "Hey, that guy surnamed Qi from the other day, were you really planning to bring him back and keep him around for ten or eight years?"

Xiao Wei looked up at Xiao Hong: "Why did you bring this up again? Your reaction time is way too slow!"

Xiao Hong said, "You just remembered, didn't you? I think you're really angry."

Xiao Wei shook his head: "Nonsense, just trying to scare him. Do you think the courts and police are our private property? We can't just do whatever we want with them!"

Xiao Hong said, "What if Sister Guifang doesn't tell him to leave, but says she's going to get him?"

Xiao Wei said, "Then let's bring him back. He's got a lot going on, and besides, he still has grounds to beat up government officials. Ten or eight years is bullshit; six months or a year is probably more likely. Zang Yuanwei is quick-witted and works very well with me."

Xiao Hong pinched Xiao Wei: "Do you think I'm stupid?"

……

On the 4th, Xiaowei and Chen Hui, along with five soldiers and two criminal police officers, flew to Shanghai with Zang Yuanwei.

Zhang Fu wandered aimlessly down the street.

He had lost a lot of weight, his hair was messy, and he looked listless.

He has been in Shanghai alone for over a month. At first, he stayed in a hotel, but now he's staying in a semi-basement state-run inn. He's out of money.

Smelling the aroma of pan-fried buns in the air, he swallowed hard, his throat bobbed, and he touched his pocket.

He's currently in an alley on the side of Fujian Middle Road.

Jiuyi Company is located on the sixteenth floor of Zhongyi Building on Fujian Middle Road.

He secretly took money from home to pay for the goods, rented a house to start a company, asked an agency to get a license, recruited people, and went out to distribute goods with great confidence. However, pharmacies and supermarkets did not want them. In more than a month, he only distributed three items and spent money to set up a stall in a shopping mall.

Then, the TV and newspaper broadcasts that Jiuyi Company had promised were also delayed. Only after he urged them many times did they finally air them perfunctorily on the Fengtian TV Education Channel, for only thirty seconds a day, and all during off-peak hours.

As his confidence and ambition waned day by day, Zhang Fu finally lost faith and called to say he wanted to return the goods.

When the contract was signed, Song Yidong assured everyone that returns were guaranteed.

But when he asked to return the goods, Song Yidong was nowhere to be found. The person who answered the phone was always that boy surnamed Li, or some girl he didn't know. They made all sorts of excuses and finally told him to ship the goods to Shanghai and then they would talk.

Then his family discovered that he had stolen money, and Zhang Fu completely broke down and ran away to Shanghai.

For the first few days, I could still see Song Yidong, but after that, he disappeared from sight.

Moreover, in the past two weeks, people from all over the country who signed contracts to purchase goods have been coming to Shanghai one after another. Everyone is in a similar situation: without GG (government support), they simply cannot sell their products.

Now everyone is crowding around Jiuyi Company every day, but they can't talk business unless Song Yidong shows up. They just listen to the salespeople taking calls every day, and people from all over the country keep coming in to ask if they want to join.

These people tried to grab the phone, claiming that the company was full of scammers, and blocked the company entrance, preventing people from entering or leaving. Then the police arrived and said that normal business could be conducted here, but if people caused trouble, they would be arrested and expelled.

The so-called expulsion means sending people to a detention center, and then having their registered residence location come to pick them up. The time frame is uncertain; it could be a few days, ten days, or even several tens of days, which would be a lot of suffering.

The shelters of that era were so bad that even members of the public respected them; they were no place for humans to live.

And so things dragged on day by day.

Walk to the end of the alley, and the exit is on a side road. There's a shady lunchbox stall there, catering specifically to low-income customers like laborers, vendors, cleaners, and migrant workers. You don't need to worry about the taste, and you can just turn a blind eye to the hygiene, but it's cheap.

Business here is always quite good. Around mealtimes, the narrow space is packed with people. Some buy food and take it away, while most just find a place to squat and eat, toss their lunchboxes aside, straighten their clothes and ties, and walk out of the alley as if they're back to normal life.

There's a saying that goes, "As long as I rinse my mouth promptly, you'll know whether I have vermicelli or shark fin stuck between my teeth."

Next to the boxed lunch stall was a steamed bun shop, also an illegal stall, selling Sichuan-style braised pork buns and handmade Northeastern dumplings. The buns were already steamed, but the dumplings were sold raw, so you had to take them home and cook them yourself.

Zhang Fu squeezed through the crowd and arrived at the steamed bun shop: "Give me five, two yuan for a steamed bun." He glanced at the boxed lunches next door, but steeled himself and looked away.

Without looking up, the shopkeeper handed over six steamed buns in a plastic bag. Zhang Fu took the buns, paid, and eagerly opened the bag, taking a bite before walking out of the alley while still eating.

"Hey, Mr. Zhang, haven't you eaten yet?" Mr. Li from Shandong and Mr. Liu from Tangshan, who were also there to return goods, happened to walk over and greeted Zhang Fu.

When Zhang Fu first started his company and was called "General Manager Zhang," he was overjoyed and felt like he was on cloud nine. But now, hearing those two words only fills him with embarrassment and shame.

After composing myself, I smiled and said, "I was just browsing around when I saw this Bashu Steamed Buns shop. It's been a long time since I've had them, so I bought a couple to try. Have you guys tried them?"

"You young people are so lucky, so carefree and always doing whatever you want." Boss Li chuckled. "I'll treat Miss Liu to some local food. It's supposed to be famous, but it's really not good. It's way too sweet, just bland and tasteless. Good food doesn't have much flavor at all."

Zhang Fugang had tried the local cuisine when he first came here. A small plate of food, about the size of a palm, cost twenty, thirty, thirty, or forty yuan. The taste was indeed a bit bland for Northeasterners. He nodded and said, "I'm not used to it. It really doesn't have much flavor."

Boss Liu, with her long, wavy, flaxen hair that rippled with every movement, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, "We can't just sit here doing nothing, can we? We need to think of something."

Zhang Fu said, "What can we do? The boss won't show up, and nothing we do with these people below is effective."

Boss Li said, "If we get everyone together, and the boss doesn't come, we won't let him work. It'll cause a scene."

Mr. Liu said, "I'm a woman, small and weak, so I can't make much of a fuss. But I'm going to his company today and jump off the building. I'm going to make a big scene."

Boss Li thought for a moment and said, "That's really a clever idea. You're a woman, so you can do it. If it were us men trying to pull this off, we'd probably have a hard time."

Mr. Liu said, "I'm out of options. My child is waiting for me to come home. Unlike you, I don't have anyone to take care of me. I'm just a woman with a child. I'm making a scene today, and if it helps, it'll make things easier for you."

Zhang Fu asked, "Sister Liu, how much money did you invest?"

Mr. Liu said, "Sixty-six thousand. I brought all the money from my family here. I'm just a small business owner, unlike you big bosses who are rich and powerful and don't care about tens of thousands of yuan."

Boss Li chuckled and asked, "So when shall we go?" He glanced at his watch: "It's a bit early now."

Boss Liu checked the time: "Ten o'clock, I guess even if that guy surnamed Song doesn't come, the vice president will be here by ten o'clock."

Boss Li nodded: "Okay, then it'll be ten o'clock. I'll go and arrange a meeting with those guys. Mr. Zhang, want to come along?"

Zhang Fu said, "No, I'll go back to the hotel for a while, and I'll go directly to their company at ten o'clock."

The three separated, and after Boss Li and Boss Liu turned the corner, Zhang Fu strode back to his hotel.

(End of this chapter)