Volume One, Chapter 3: Easily Repelling Wang Youfu

Lu Yang shouted, “Lu Yongchun, are you going to listen to me or not?”

Lu Yongchun immediately stood still and chuckled, “Little village chief, of course we listen to you.”

“But these people insult you! It hurts us, we can’t just stand by without fighting!”

Wang Youfu, seeing that the other side had steadied, quickly stopped a few people who wanted to start a fight.

“Lu Yang, you finally realize your mistake, huh? If you know, then have your people hand over the goods quickly!”

“Otherwise, when the police arrive, not one of you will get away.”

In this day and age, everyone had some respect—or fear—for the police.

But Lu Yang just smiled faintly, because he saw through these little tricks at a glance.

“Boss Wang, you did help us make some money before, so I won’t say much else.”

“Now leave, and I’ll pretend this never happened. But if you keep causing trouble here, I won’t be so polite!”

Wang Youfu thought that just mentioning the police would scare Lu Yang pale and make him back down immediately.

After all, he had used this tactic many times before.

Not to mention high school students, even a few college freshmen who had been there one or two years would be terrified.

“Lu Yang, don’t think just because you’re a high schooler the county officials can’t deal with you!”

“Fine! You call them! If you can’t get them to come, we can go with you to the county.”

“I want to see if the police will punish you swindling merchants or us farmers who earn an honest living with our own hands!”

Though Lu Yang spoke with a smile, every word was firm, clear, and carried a hint of official tone and the commanding presence of a decades-long village leader.

Wang Youfu was somewhat better off, but a few of his knowing henchmen behind him suddenly felt uneasy and glanced at Wang Youfu.

Wang Youfu was stunned too.

Indeed, he had once been a procurement officer for the county people's canteen.

But that organization had been disbanded a year ago.

Without a stable job, he began looking for loopholes and picking up scraps, specifically deceiving these unsophisticated rural villagers.

“Lu Yang, look closely at this, what is it?”

He pulled out a document from his pocket, printed with a block of text.

Hereby, the County People’s Government and County People’s Canteen specially appoint Comrade Wang Youfu as procurement officer.

All comrades from towns and villages under the county must cooperate with Comrade Wang Youfu to complete the tasks.

Lu Yang stepped forward, snatched the document from Wang Youfu’s hand, and without even looking at it, handed it to Lu Yongguo behind him.

“Wang Youfu, I’m not beating you because I don’t want this to escalate and upset the old village chief.”

“But if you remain obstinate, thinking a fake document can scare people, I will have to call out the whole village.”

Although Dayang Village was spacious and sparsely populated, the villagers lived close to each other, and there were over two hundred households.

The broadcasting station was right in Team Three.

Once Lu Yang called, the entire village would come running, and there would be nowhere for you to run!

“Fine! Lu Yang, how dare you go against us! I’m going back right now to tell the higher-ups, just wait to meet your doom!”

Fighting never solved anything.

Especially group fights like this, sometimes it only turns an advantage into a disadvantage.

Moreover, the old village chief Zhao Dezhu was against this matter; if he knew the team people had fought over this, he would definitely scold them.

Lu Yang wasn’t afraid of him, but after so many years, if it weren’t for his leadership, he wouldn’t have the status and benefits he had now.

One must be grateful, or else they are doomed to fail.

Lu Yang smiled faintly, “Alright! I’ll be waiting for you at Team Three!”

“Old Six, let’s go!”

After walking a while and seeing no one from Team Three following, Chen Lao Liu hurriedly said, “Brother Wang, is this matter just over like that?”

Wang Youfu sneered, “Youngsters, all you know is showing off and acting like bosses, but you don’t understand anything!”

“There are roughly two thousand jin of wild game in their team! Out here in these deep mountains and forests, no one comes to collect it!”

“He may have won today, but that game will soon rot and mold; then they’ll be crying to me to come pick it up.”

“Old Six, don’t go back yet. Keep an eye on Li Fugui’s place in Team Nine, and if anything happens, come tell me immediately.”

Li Fugui’s house was on the only road into the township from Team Three.

“Got it, Brother Wang!”

…

Watching Wang Youfu and his group walk farther and farther away, Lu Yongchun and others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, these were city people, and one of them was an official.

Not to mention the young people, even the village elders wouldn’t dare to do anything to them.

If not for Wang Youfu insulting Lu Yang, they absolutely wouldn’t have made a move.

“Little village chief, are we really just going to let it go like this?”

Lu Yongchun turned to Lu Yang, his eyes full of reluctance and some bitterness.

Everyone’s life was already hard, and they hoped to make some money to improve their living conditions.

Now it was worse than earning work points.

But the work in the fields was almost finished.

Only after the month after next when the grain was harvested would there be more work for them.

Because those small jobs were always done by others earning work points; they couldn’t just chase people off when there was no work to let others take over.

And with Wang Youfu gone, their money was no longer in sight.

Lu Yang smiled, “Forget it.”

“Huh? Then… what about the wild game?”

Everyone immediately erupted in concern.

“Yes, little village chief, the grain is about to ripen, and there’s plenty of wild game now; we’re counting on it to make money!”

“We’ve caught quite a bit these days; the team has pickled several jars already!”

“Little village chief, is there really no way?”

“There is a way, but we don’t rely on others—we rely on ourselves!”

As soon as Lu Yang said this, everyone quieted down, but their eyes still held doubt and worry.

If they could rely on themselves, the wild game would have been out of the mountains long ago.

Lu Yang saw their concern and said, “Rest assured, since I promised to solve this, I will.”

“Lu Yongchun, Lu Yongguo, you two come with me to the big yard to get the freshly pickled game from yesterday. I’ll record the types and quantities and then announce the numbers!”

It was still collective economy; whatever they did, everyone shared equally.

Hearing this, everyone immediately smiled happily.

“I told you, there’s nothing in this world that can stump our little village chief!”

“Little village chief, we were right to listen to you. When the folks in Team Nine see how we make money, they’ll be amazed!”

“We all trust you, little village chief. No need to report quantities; as long as you know, it’s enough.”

“Little village chief, you look worn out over this nonsense. Don’t bother bringing it—just deliver it to your house later.”

But everyone was truly poor; in one team of over twenty households, not a single scale could be found, so they could only count by number.

After collecting and counting, there were 15 wild rabbits, 123 bamboo partridges, 96 wild pheasants, and hundreds of small sparrows.

The sparrows were too small; the larger ones weighed about three hundred jin in total.

With so many items and such a long journey ahead, Lu Yang couldn’t carry it alone, so he called on Lu Yongguo and Lu Yongchun, his two little fans.

At one o’clock the next morning, the three of them pushed a chicken cart, carrying brushes and guns and holding torches, traveling through the dark to the county town.

The road was relatively safe; they encountered no beasts, but the mountain path was rough.

By dawn, they finally arrived at the county town.

The county town wasn’t large; Lu Yang had studied high school here for three years and knew it well, quickly finding the designated agricultural market.