Chapter 23: Public Funds

The county town of Ya County was indeed not large. It had only one crossroad, with roads of varying widths. The wider one was Liberation Road, with buildings of different heights on both sides—mostly two or three-story buildings, but there were also a few four-story buildings.

The Supply and Marketing Cooperative was located in a three-story building. It looked quite big, but the top floor was used for storage and offices, so in reality, it only had two usable floors.

Of course, even these two floors were bigger than the family compound at the base, and they sold a wider variety of goods. For example, wardrobes and beds were not sold at the base’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so people had to come here to buy them.

Large items like bicycles, sewing machines, and electric fans could be bought at the base’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative, but they were often out of stock. If someone wanted to buy them, they had to register first. If they were lucky, they might wait for two or three months; if unlucky, it could take half a year or even a year. If they wanted to buy them sooner, they had to come to the county.

Today was Sunday, and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative was quite busy. However, the counters weren’t crowded because everyone was lined up in an orderly fashion.

When Lin Wei entered, she noticed that many young people in white naval uniforms were standing in line at each counter. Not only were they in line themselves, but they also maintained order, ensuring no one cut in line.

Of course, there were some unreasonable people. One man, seeing a familiar face while waiting in line, decided to cut in. Someone behind him voiced their displeasure.

When the young soldier heard the commotion, he went over to restore order, but the man refused and arrogantly asked, “Who are you? What’s it to you where I line up? Can you control me?”

The young soldier’s expression was serious: “I don’t care where you line up, but cutting in line is not allowed.”

The man wanted to argue, but the person who had helped him cut in was somewhat intimidated. He lowered his voice and said, “How about you go to the back?”

Upon hearing this, the man became angry and raised his voice, “Why should I go to the back? We’re not strangers. What’s the problem with me cutting in for a moment? Or are you afraid of him?”

He pointed at the young soldier. “Isn’t he just a soldier? What’s so great about that? Just because he’s a soldier, does that mean he can bully people? Which unit is he from? Do you believe I can write a letter to report him for bullying civilians?”

“Wait here with the children for a moment,” Zong Shao said quietly to Lin Wei, then pushed through the crowd and grabbed the man’s wrist, pressing it down.

During the process, Zong Shao’s expression remained calm, and he didn’t appear to exert much force, but the man’s veins popped out. When he was released, he immediately wrapped his left hand around his right wrist and rubbed it angrily, asking, “Who are you?”

The young soldier saw Zong Shao and quickly raised his hand in salute. “Deputy Battalion Commander!”

Zong Shao returned the salute, then said to the man, “I’m his superior. If you have an issue, talk to me.”

When the man heard the young soldier address Zong Shao as “Deputy Battalion Commander,” he was slightly intimidated. Although deputy battalion commanders seemed inconsequential in the family compound, in the larger base, they were highly respected.

Not to mention, Zong Shao’s strength was something others didn’t understand, but the man certainly felt it.

Although Zong Shao’s tone wasn’t particularly warm, it wasn’t harsh either, and he didn’t sound like he was siding with his subordinate. This made the man more audacious, and he retorted, “You’re right on time! This guy, a soldier, dares to bully civilians in front of everyone. Aren’t you supposed to take care of this as his leader?”

Upon hearing this man’s reversal of the truth, not only the young soldier but also others around them couldn’t take it anymore. One after another, they started speaking up:

“Clearly, you cut in line first! How can you blame others?”

“What do you mean by him bullying civilians? He’s just standing up for those of us who were cut in line!”

“Yeah, even the little girl didn’t want you cutting in, but you still insisted. How thick-skinned can you be?”

“That’s right, comrade! Don’t listen to his nonsense, don’t punish the good guys.”

After hearing the crowd’s comments, Zong Shao said, “Don’t worry, things will go as they should. I won’t wrong the good people.” He then turned to the young soldier and said, “Good job.”

The man, who had been scolded, turned several shades of pale and red. Upon hearing Zong Shao’s words, he became even more upset and asked, “What do you mean by that? Are you all planning to gang up on me?”

The “group” he was referring to wasn’t the onlookers but the other soldiers in naval uniforms. When the dispute started, they had gathered around.

However, when Zong Shao stepped in, the other soldiers didn’t speak up or join the crowd in scolding the man. After all, having too many people involved would give off the impression of bullying.

Upon hearing the man’s words, some of the young soldiers looked visibly angry, but Zong Shao remained calm and said, “I’ve understood the situation clearly. Now I’ll give you two choices: one, you go back and queue up properly; two,” he turned to one of the soldiers behind him, “you go to the police station and find a police officer to mediate. What do you think?”

Hearing that Zong Shao was calling for the police, some of the onlookers were stunned, but quickly, some of them realized that, yes, it was the police’s job to mediate such disputes!

Although this matter hadn’t reached the point where the police needed to be called, the man was causing too much trouble, and the police should indeed deal with him!

The crowd began cheering, “Call the police! Call the police!”

The soldier behind Zong Shao immediately moved, cutting through the crowd and heading outside.

The man immediately panicked. Although both the police and soldiers were public servants, ordinary people were more afraid of the police because, in their minds, the police were the ones who arrested bad people. If someone was on the police’s radar, they would be nervous.

Soldiers, of course, also arrested bad people, but when they took action, it usually involved gang-level situations and wasn’t something ordinary people typically dealt with.

Although soldiers from the base frequently came to the county town on holidays, they were disciplined and rarely argued with ordinary people. They were also willing to help others, giving off the impression of being approachable.

At the beginning, the soldier who had stopped the man from cutting in seemed serious, but he was young and inexperienced, clearly in his early twenties, so the man thought he could push him around.

But when the man realized the soldier wasn’t backing down, and when Zong Shao stepped in, the man thought better of it.

When Zong Shao went to call the police, the man finally relented. He quickly stepped out of line and said, “Alright, alright, I won’t queue up anymore. Is that good enough?”

Someone spat and said, “What queue? You clearly cut in line!”

The man hurriedly corrected himself, “Yes, yes, I cut in line, I won’t do it anymore. Is that okay?”

But he hadn’t taken two steps when Zong Shao grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. “Wait, did I tell you to leave?”

The man, his neck stiff, said, “I already said I won’t cut in line anymore.”

“You won’t cut in line today, but what about tomorrow? What about next time?”

“What do you want?”

Zong Shao’s expression remained unchanged. “Of course, I’ll call the police to do some ideological work on you. You can leave when you realize your mistake.”

The man’s face turned pale, and in a panic, he quickly knelt and begged, “I was wrong. I’ll never do it again. Please let me go!” While speaking, the man clasped his hands in front of him and bowed deeply toward Zong Shao.

Zong Shao moved aside and asked the others, “What do you think, should we let him go now, or wait until the police arrive before letting him go?”

The onlookers hesitated. Although the man had been quite arrogant earlier, it didn’t seem like a big issue. It felt a bit excessive to call the police over something like this.

Seeing the hesitation, the man quickly pleaded, “Please don’t call the police, please! If my company finds out, they’ll definitely mark me down, and I still have a wife and kids to take care of. I can’t afford to get a mark on my record.”

After hearing this, although some people mocked him for only being scared now, others spoke up, “Maybe let it go. After all, he has a wife and kids, and if this blows up, they’ll suffer.”

Zong Shao had only wanted to teach the man a lesson. Hearing the support from the crowd, he said, “Let it go this time, but next time I see you, even if I have to drag you, I’ll take you to the police station.”

“Yes, yes,” the man quickly nodded, and after waiting for a while without hearing Zong Shao speak again, he looked up with a forced smile and asked, “Comrade, can I leave now?”

Zong Shao responded indifferently with a sound of affirmation. The man immediately turned to leave, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly remembered the police and stopped to ask, “What about the police…”

Zong Shao shot him a look, “You want to see the police but don’t want to leave?”

“No, no, I’m leaving now!” The man quickly said, almost like his backside was on fire, and left in a hurry.

The crowd burst into laughter, with some even praising Zong Shao, while the two children clapped and said, “Daddy is so amazing!”

The young soldier who had spoken up first asked, “Deputy Battalion Commander, is that your son?”

“Yes,” Zong Shao responded, calling the two children over to greet people.

Lin Wei followed them, and after the children finished greeting, she smiled and said, “Hello.”

“Sister-in-law, hello!”

Due to the earlier incident, whether or not they were soldiers from Zong Shao’s battalion, everyone now recognized him and, along with the young soldier, called Lin Wei “Sister-in-law.”

It had to be said that the scene of so many young soldiers calling out “Sister-in-law” was quite impressive.

Other customers in the supply and marketing cooperative cast friendly glances, and some enthusiastic aunts praised Zong Shao’s family, commenting on how good-looking they all were.

After the family managed to extricate themselves from the crowd, the person who had said he was going to find the police returned. However, Lin Wei looked behind several times but didn’t see any sign of the police.

When Zong Shao began talking to someone, Lin Wei realized he had never actually intended to call the police; he had only wanted to scare the man. The person who had claimed he was going to call the police hadn’t gone to the station either but had been waiting around the corner of the cooperative!

Lin Wei finally understood. When Zong Shao finished talking to the person, he patted the other’s shoulder and said, “You can go on and shop, don’t worry about me.”

The other man glanced at Lin Wei and smiled, saying, “Got it, got it,” before walking off with the young soldier.

Watching their retreating figures, Lin Wei asked, “So this person is also one of your soldiers?”

“Yes.”

Getting a confirmation, Lin Wei understood fully. No wonder Zong Shao didn’t outright say he just wanted to scare the man—someone else had already figured out what he meant. It turned out they were familiar with each other.

As they spoke, the manager of the cooperative came downstairs. He first expressed his gratitude to Zong Shao, then complimented Lin Wei and the children before leaving.

Even though he was the manager of a state-run cooperative, he didn’t dare to say he would give Lin Wei and her family a discount.

However, he did make a small gesture by asking what they were planning to buy.

When he found out they were looking for fans, he immediately said, “The fans are upstairs,” and led them to the second floor, asking the sales staff to show them all the fans.

Originally, the manager wanted to explain the brands, features, and prices of the fans personally, but before he could open his mouth, Zong Shao said, “We’ll look at them ourselves, don’t worry about us.”

The manager, being a smart man, smiled and said, “Take your time. If you need anything, come to the third floor to find me.”

Zong Shao thanked him, and after the manager went upstairs, he continued to ask the sales staff about the features and prices.

In fact, the features of the fans were all quite similar, with differences in wind settings, how strong the wind was, and whether the fan could oscillate.

However, Lin Wei didn’t want to spend too much money on a fan. She picked two lesser-known brands that were cheaper, with fewer features, not oscillating, but having two wind settings. As for wind speed, the sales staff said they could let them try it out.

This was the kind of treatment one could only get when the leader was present. These days, sales staff had no performance requirements, and their attitude towards customers depended entirely on their mood. If they encountered a difficult customer, even if they were buying a big item like a fan, they might refuse to let them test it.

But since they were allowed to try it, Lin Wei didn’t hesitate to smile and say, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” the sales staff smiled, carrying the fan to an area with a socket, plugging it in, and turning it to the first wind setting, saying, “This is the first setting, you can feel it.”

Lin Wei bent down and put her face close to the fan, feeling the wind was quite strong. She slowly moved back as the wind continued.

When she was more than a meter away, she could still feel the wind, which was still quite strong, so she asked the sales staff to switch it to the second setting. The second setting was even stronger, but the fan blades made a louder noise, which was a bit annoying.

So Lin Wei asked to try another fan.

This one had weaker wind but also made less noise. Lin Wei found it hard to decide.

Seeing this, Zong Shao asked the sales staff to bring out the Hua Sheng brand fan for a try. Since the price of this fan was much higher than the two others, the sales staff specifically asked if they were sure they wanted to try it. Zong Shao didn’t hesitate and nodded, saying, “Let’s try it.”

Sure enough, the Hua Sheng fan was the best—it had the highest wind speed, the least noise, and the quality was obviously better, though it was too expensive.

Lin Wei continued to struggle with the decision.

Zong Shao, however, was quite generous and said, “Let’s just buy the Hua Sheng one.”

Lin Wei, who held the purse strings at home, glanced at him, “Are you sure?”

Zong Shao rubbed his nose and said, “I’m just making a suggestion. The money is in your hands, it’s up to you whether we buy it or not.”

Just as they were standing in front of the fan, Minmin, who had been quiet until now, turned and said, “Mom, let’s buy this one, it’s the best!”

Lin Wei was curious and asked, “How do you know it’s the best? What makes it the best?”

Minmin couldn’t explain, scratching his head and saying, “When Auntie said it was good earlier, didn’t you nod too? And Daddy thinks it’s good as well.”

Ruirui, who had been silent, concluded, “Everyone says it’s good, so it must be the best.”

Lin Wei had already thought the Hua Sheng fan was the best, but had hesitated because it was expensive. Now that all three of them said they should buy it, she relented and nodded, “Okay, let’s buy the Hua Sheng one.”

Even though she agreed quickly, she still felt a bit heartache when paying. Over a hundred yuan! Thinking about it, the other two fans were quite good as well. They each had their flaws, but they were cheap! The money saved could buy a lot of other things.

Seeing the pain on Lin Wei’s face, Zong Shao comforted her, “Money always has to be spent. Out with the old, in with the new.”

Lin Wei thought to herself, money is always better when it’s more, regardless of new or old, and seeing Zong Shao’s calm attitude, she couldn’t help but remind him, “This also includes your private savings.”

Zong Shao, hearing this, calmly responded, “It’s fine, I’m not upset.”

What he kept hidden in his hand was his private savings; the money he handed over to his wife was public funds.