Chapter 76

City No. 1 Hospital.

After the surgery, Yu Fuda woke up in the hospital. He gritted his teeth through the pain and looked down at his body, only to find that the area was empty—his “descendants” had been cut off!

Realizing this, Yu Fuda couldn’t catch his breath and fainted again.

When Yu Fuda regained consciousness, what awaited him was the cold, indifferent interrogation and written record from the police.

Police Officer Li sat by his hospital bed and asked, “Yu Fuda, your mistress, Liao Qing, has already confessed to us that over the past two years, you’ve embezzled public funds, accepted bribes, and caused a deficit of 120,000 yuan at Changyou Oil Factory and 35,800 yuan at Shunli Glass Factory…”

It turns out that one day, Yu Fuda’s mistress heard rumors that he was about to face trouble. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. If Yu Fuda was arrested and sent to prison, it would implicate her. She had many pieces of evidence of his corruption and bribery, and with Yu Fuda’s wife from the countryside already finding out about her existence and threatening to come to the city to deal with her, she couldn’t hold out any longer.

The mistress couldn’t bear it anymore, so after several threats, she took the account books and went to the police station to report him in an attempt to protect herself.

Yu Fuda’s wife was not an easy target. She had heard that not only had he kept a mistress in the city, spending money like water, but now the mistress was also using the account books to blackmail them. That very day, she grabbed a knife and stormed into the mistress’s house to confront her.

When she arrived, she found wardrobes full of silk and satin, televisions, radios, watches, and thick stacks of food coupons. She realized that Yu Fuda had spent a lot of money on his mistress over the years. An argument broke out between the couple.

Having lived in luxury for so many years, Yu Fuda couldn’t compare to the strength of a woman who worked the fields. In a fit of rage, his wife swung the large knife, and he didn’t even have the strength to resist. After being knocked unconscious, he was stripped of his clothes and thrown into the street.

Lu Siyuan, Yang Chenxing, Xu Le, and others couldn’t miss such a satisfying event. A group of young men from the streets, who had previously been part of the local youth gang, eagerly visited Yu Fuda in the hospital to mock him.

Xu Le looked at Yu Fuda’s groin, now wrapped in thick bandages but empty, and he finally felt a sense of relief in his chest.

Lu Siyuan, seeing Yu Fuda’s tragic state, smiled rarely. “Uncle Yu, is it comfortable lying in bed? My dad went to the factory to work before dawn. He has me and my mom, and our lives will keep getting better…”

These words pierced straight through Yu Fuda’s heart. Yu Fuda had no children, and his tragic state was entirely the work of his wife and mistress. Lying in bed, he glared angrily, coughing violently, as if he might cough up blood.

Yang Chenxing watched Yu Fuda with great enjoyment, feeling refreshed. In the past, it was always him who ended up suffering because of people like them. If it weren’t for Teacher Su, they wouldn’t have the current success.

Yang Chenxing increasingly felt that this turn of events was perfectly timed.

It was just right that Teacher Su stopped them from seeking revenge on Yu Fuda, and it was just over a week after Qin Lan’s incident… At the time, Teacher Su had said, “Civilized people do civilized things.” Was this her way of doing it?

Yang Chenxing didn’t know how she had done it, but he admired her to the fullest.

Never mess with cultured people, when they get serious, they’re truly ruthless! Pfft, pfft, pfft—Teacher Su is now a god in his heart!

—

Changyou Oil Factory.

After recording Yu Fuda’s statement, the police officer from the local station came to find Factory Director Lu. Officer Li said, “We found 420,000 US dollars at Yu Fuda’s home. Preliminary investigations show that he embezzled 450,000 US dollars from Changyou Oil Factory, which was meant for buying machinery and equipment.”

At this time, the exchange rate between RMB and USD was about 21.

It was only now that Factory Director Lu realized that the machinery had not been purchased for 180,000 yuan as he had believed! The equipment was only worth 90,000 yuan. No wonder it was faulty! Can cheap goods ever be good?

The funds for purchasing machinery at the oil factory amounted to 90,000 US dollars, which was equivalent to 180,000 yuan. At the time, Factory Director Lu couldn’t afford this amount, so he took out a loan from the bank in the name of the factory for 90,000 yuan, using the factory’s old equipment as collateral to borrow another 90,000 yuan. The old equipment was purchased with the factory’s funds and was considered collective property.

The plan was to replace the old equipment with new oil presses, but no one had expected that the new machines would be unusable. What was supposed to be a sure thing almost became the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

Suppressing his anger, Factory Director Lu completed his statement with the police.

In the evening, Su Ye heard on the radio news that the police had seized 30,000 US dollars from Yu Fuda’s home. Such a large sum of money left her astonished. After being here for so long, she had never even seen what a US dollar looked like.

Su Ye couldn’t help but feel ashamed. Her efficiency was too low—she hadn’t even earned 10,000 yuan in all this time.

Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind.

The money embezzled by Yu Fuda had been seized by the police, but its fate had not been decided yet. Would it be returned to the oil factory for its operations, or would it be given back to the bank, which would then convert the US dollars into RMB and return it to the factory?

Although the money would eventually return to the oil factory, there was a huge difference between getting RMB or foreign currency.

Foreign currency has many uses: purchasing foreign goods, going abroad for inspections, doing business with foreigners, and even studying abroad all require foreign currency. Even Su Ye had to admit that foreign technology and products were far ahead of domestic ones. This foreign currency had many potential uses!

The government sets a quota for how much foreign currency can be spent each year, and the cost of exchanging foreign currency through informal channels is many times higher than through official ones. Currently, the exchange rate between RMB and USD is 12, but on the black market, people have to slowly exchange it and sometimes even five yuan can’t get one dollar.

Su Ye quickly called Factory Director Lu, asking, “Does your factory still owe the bank any money?”

Factory Director Lu smiled bitterly and said, “Teacher Su, don’t worry, I sold the old equipment and paid off the bank loan. How could I dare to casually owe the bank money?”

She decisively said, “That’s great, Factory Director Lu. Listen to me—this foreign currency embezzled by Yu Fuda must belong to the oil factory!”

Su Ye had her eyes on the prize—why would she consider returning the money? Since the 90,000 US dollars had been allocated to Changyou Oil Factory, regardless of whether the money was spent or not, it belonged to the factory.

Even if the foreign currency wasn’t used, just keeping it could make money through informal exchange channels. Moreover, the factory could use it to purchase foreign products.

Su Ye could think of such a plan, so how could Factory Director Lu, who ran a big factory, not have thought of it? To obtain this foreign currency for buying new production lines, he had made no fewer than twenty trips to the bank and government offices. Fortunately, Changyou was a city-level bonus unit, so getting the approval was not difficult. For an ordinary person, getting foreign currency would be much harder!

Usually, Factory Director Lu would definitely act selflessly, and whatever the higher-ups decided about the use of this foreign currency, he would have no objections. However, after hearing Su Ye’s words a few days ago, Factory Director Lu began to entertain the idea of developing core technology for the oil factory.

He decided to send Lu Siyuan abroad for studies, to send a group of children to learn technical skills abroad! If this foreign currency was returned, it would be much harder to find ways to exchange more in the future.

Factory Director Lu pondered for a moment and then replied to Su Ye, “Thank you for the reminder, Teacher Su.”

After saying that, Factory Director Lu grabbed his bag and hurried off to the municipal government.

—

Yao Chunyu was reading the newspaper when she saw the news about the deputy factory Director of the oil factory embezzling funds. The police had seized 30,000 US dollars, and she immediately became interested.

Yao Chunyu set her sights on this foreign currency.

In the 1960s, individuals could only exchange foreign currency through government channels. However, the annual foreign exchange quota was limited, and government units and factories often couldn’t even get in line in time, let alone leave room for individuals to exchange foreign currency.

Yao Chunyu had been exchanging grain for gold for some time, but gradually, she was having difficulty exchanging it. Families like the Su family, who usually stockpiled gold, were rare, and gold was not as easy to carry as paper money.

As soon as she heard about Yu Fuda’s news, she quickly made arrangements through her connections to exchange some foreign currency.

On the weekend, Yao Chunyu took a bag of fine grain to her uncle’s house. The uncle called and inquired, “Comrade, our niece is planning to study abroad and is collecting some foreign currency. Oh… I see, okay, okay, I understand.”

After hanging up, he told his niece, “The committee member from the finance bureau said that the foreign currency has already been returned to the oil factory.”

Yao Chunyu frowned. “I previously inquired and heard that the oil factory had no plans to reclaim this foreign currency. Why the sudden change of heart? What would an oil factory need foreign currency for?”

Could it be that they replace machinery every year? Or that they can trade with foreigners?

Yao Shizhang smiled and said, “The city’s supply and marketing cooperative relies on this oil factory to supply the oil. If they’ve decided to take back the foreign currency, there’s nothing we can do about it. Don’t be upset. If you want foreign currency, I can find someone to help you exchange it slowly.”

Missed this opportunity, and it would be hard to exchange privately at such a cheap rate. But since the foreign currency had already been returned, there was nothing more Yao Chunyu could say, only feeling a bit unlucky.

Thus, Yao Chunyu began to consider exchanging foreign currency with Changyou Oil Factory. The next day, she brought a can of malted milk and a bag of fine grain to visit the newly appointed deputy factory Director of Changyou.

The new deputy factory Director was none other than Yang Xue’s father. Yao Chunyu had learned that his family was in a difficult financial situation, with several children in school. Bringing items like malted milk was the perfect way to approach him, people in this position were also easier to make connections with.

Factory Director Lu had a well-off family background, with ancestors who were big capitalists, so it wasn’t easy to bribe him with money.

However, when Yao Chunyu arrived at the workers’ dormitory, she recognized a familiar figure before even entering the door. Inside the small, run-down house of the Yang family, she saw Su Ye smiling and patting Yang Xue’s head.

Yang Xue’s mother teased, “It’s still Teacher Su who can handle her, whatever she asks, Yang Xue will do.”

Yang Xue’s father gratefully said to Su Ye, “The factory Director said that thanks to Teacher Su’s reminder, if we had waited a few more days, we wouldn’t have been able to reclaim the foreign currency. I never expected that foreign currency would be in such high demand.”

Ordinary people couldn’t have imagined how useful foreign currency was. Only those who needed to go abroad for work or study would exchange a little foreign currency at the last minute.

Su Ye smiled and shook her head, saying, “Nowadays, foreign countries can produce products like televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, and phones… many products that make life more convenient. If we don’t control it, our own people’s hard-earned production resources will be wasted on these capitalist ‘^[1]“sugar-coated bullets” is a metaphor that refers to something that appears attractive or desirable on the surface, but is ultimately harmful or dangerous. It’s used to describe a … Continue readingsugar-coated bullets.’ Now that the government has allocated this foreign currency to you, they hope you will make good use of it to create more value.”

Yao Chunyu’s grip on the fine grain and malted milk gradually turned into a fist.

It was Su Ye again… She didn’t expect her to be involved in this matter. Yao Chunyu had tried her best to avoid Su Ye, the lucky koi, but unexpectedly, she couldn’t avoid it. Since it couldn’t be avoided, she might as well test the luck of the lucky koi to see if it was truly as miraculous as they said.