Chapter 57

Not long after Chen Qiang’s family left, Shen Yiyi heard a knock at the door.  

When she went to open it, she saw that it was Chen Qiang.  

“Sister-in-law.” Chen Qiang said with a smile. “I’m looking for Brother Chen.”  

Shen Yiyi felt a little puzzled and turned around to call Li Chen. When Li Chen came out, Chen Qiang pulled him aside and whispered something to him.  

In the end, Li Chen turned back to Shen Yiyi and said: “Wife, I’m going to Chen Qiang’s house for a bit.”  

Shen Yiyi nodded. “Go ahead.”  

Then, Li Chen left with Chen Qiang.  

However, they did not go to Chen Qiang’s house. By this time, the sky had already turned dark. The two of them carried flashlights as they walked out of the village.  

Under a tree near the village entrance, a beam of light suddenly shone towards them. Li Chen and Chen Qiang headed in that direction, but the glare from the flashlight made Chen Qiang squint. He cursed: “Damn you, turn off the flashlight!”  

The person on the other side immediately turned it off and then called out in an ingratiating tone: “Brother Chen, Qiangzi!”  

As soon as Chen Qiang got close, he punched the man. “I saw the mark at home and knew it was you. Are you finally here to pay back the money? Hurry up! It’s been dragging on for so long!”  

“Qiangzi… cough, cough.” the man choked as Chen Qiang landed two heavy punches on his back. He coughed twice before hurriedly fumbling in his pocket and pulling out a small stack of banknotes, stuffing them into Chen Qiang’s hands.  

The moment Chen Qiang saw the money, he let go of the man and started counting it. He then pulled out ten bills for himself and handed the remaining twenty to Li Chen. “Brother Chen, this is yours!”  

After that, he took out twenty more yuan and tried to return it to the man, but the man refused. “This is my way of thanking you guys for lending me the money. Use it to buy some meat.”  

Hearing this, Chen Qiang didn’t stand on ceremony. He took ten yuan for himself and handed the remaining ten yuan, along with the two hundred, to Li Chen.

Li Chen glanced at the man.  

If Shen Yiyi were here, she would definitely be surprised to see that this man was actually an old acquaintance—the profiteer who had bought her watch, Zhou Fengshou!  

Li Chen asked: “How do you suddenly have the money to pay back?”  

Hearing this, Chen Qiang also found it strange. “You didn’t go robbing people, did you?”  

Zhou Fengshou had just caught his breath, but upon hearing this, he almost lost it again. “Is that really how you two see me? Are we still brothers or not? I may not be the most upstanding person, but I wouldn’t stoop to that kind of thing!”  

Seeing how angry he was, Li Chen and Chen Qiang exchanged a glance and believed him.  

Li Chen walked over and leaned against the tree, eyeing Zhou Fengshou. “You’re just here to pay back the money?”  

They were all brothers—who didn’t know what kind of person the other was?  

If Zhou Fengshou was really just returning the money, he would never have given them an extra ten yuan in interest. He was good at many things, but generosity was not one of them—he was notoriously stingy!  

Sure enough, Zhou Fengshou grinned ingratiatingly. Brother Chen still knew him best. Without further pretense, he asked directly: “Brother Chen, Qiangzi, are you two really planning to quit for good?”  

He didn’t say explicitly what he was referring to, but Li Chen and Chen Qiang understood immediately.  

Buying and selling. Smuggling goods.  

That was what Li Chen used to do. The money he had given Shen Yiyi had come from that business.  

Over the years, out of caution—and because his personal spending habits were modest—he had never been extravagant, so no one had suspected him.  

The two blue-brick tile-roofed houses he built had been his biggest expenses. However, at that time, he had coincidentally helped the Public Security Bureau capture a nest of enemy spies and had been rewarded with 300 yuan.  

Fearing retaliation from the spies’ associates, his involvement had not been publicly disclosed, but the village leaders were aware of it. Naturally, no one questioned where his money had come from.  

Later, after getting married and having Three Baos, he rarely engaged in that trade anymore, shifting his focus to his family instead.

Zhou Fengshou’s family was in the county town. He had no parents and no stable job, getting by on odd jobs. His greatest love was money. In the past, he had followed Li Chen in their ventures and had made quite a bit.  

However, later on, the only person who had ever cared for him—his grandmother—fell seriously ill. Her treatment had cost him a fortune, and he had even borrowed money from Li Chen and Chen Qiang. Despite his efforts, his grandmother still passed away two years ago.  

Since then, having no family to worry about, he often dabbled in small business deals under the table.  

As for Chen Qiang, he had always trusted Li Chen. When Li Chen decided to quit, he followed suit. With Li Chen’s advice, he spent his money cautiously, so no one ever suspected him.  

So now, when Zhou Fengshou posed the question, even Chen Qiang turned his gaze toward Li Chen.  

Li Chen remained silent for a moment before suddenly asking: “What good opportunity have you found?”  

In the past, whenever Zhou Fengshou had brought this up, Li Chen had refused outright. But now, his response was different—did this mean there was a chance?  

Zhou Fengshou grew excited, nodded, and began explaining the wristwatch business. He spoke fervently: “I’ve taken two at a time, twice now, and each time, they sold within an hour! One hour—earning twenty or thirty yuan! This is a huge profit, brothers!”  

“That old Hei even told me that he can get me fifty watches in one go, with a wholesale price of 150 yuan per piece. Even if we sell them at just 170 yuan each, that’s a profit of 20 yuan per watch! Fifty watches—that’s a thousand yuan in profit!”  

“Do you know what a thousand yuan means? If we were reselling grain on the Black Market, we’d have to sell at least one or two thousand jin to make that kind of money! Watches are way better than grain—they’re easy to carry and way less risky!”  

“Besides, this is just the lowest estimate! We can raise the price even higher! The year-end is approaching—there will be a surge in weddings, which means more demand for watches. And even if people have the money and ration tickets to buy from the department stores, that doesn’t mean they can actually get one! This is our opportunity!”  

The more Zhou Fengshou spoke, the more excited he became, as if the money was already in his hands.  

Even Chen Qiang, listening from the side, looked thrilled!

Only Li Chen remained calm.  

Zhou Fengshou observed Li Chen’s expression, unable to tell whether he had been persuaded or not.  

But one thing was certain—if they wanted to do this, they had to convince Li Chen. Aside from his skills, there was another crucial reason: Li Chen knew people. He could borrow money.  

Fifty watches at 150 yuan each meant a total of 7,500 yuan. That kind of money was rare even in the entire county, let alone finding someone willing to lend it.  

Neither Zhou Fengshou nor Chen Qiang had such connections.  

Thinking of this, Zhou Fengshou quickly shot a look at Chen Qiang, who was already tempted, signaling him to step in.  

“Brother?” Chen Qiang called hesitantly.  

Li Chen glanced at him. “You want to do it?”  

Chen Qiang swallowed hard. He did.  

He had never earned as much as Li Chen. Over the years, his expenses had piled up—his mother’s injury required medicine, and while his wedding hadn’t cost him much, buying a sewing machine had set him back quite a bit.  

Now, his wife was pregnant with his child. There would be so many expenses in the future, yet he had no money left—only the 100 yuan that Zhou Fengshou had just repaid him.  

“Brother Chen, winter is coming soon. We have time; we can give it a try. And besides—” Chen Qiang’s eyes darted cunningly as he struck at what his brother cared about most. “Brother, even if you don’t think about yourself, shouldn’t you at least think about Sister-in-law? She was raised in comfort—do you really want her to suffer with you?”  

He conveniently ignored the fact that Shen Yiyi’s family was wealthy.  

Because knowing Brother Chen, he would never take his wife’s family’s money for granted.  

So, even if Zhou Fengshou hadn’t come to him today, Brother Chen would still find a way to make money sooner or later!