Chapter 26: Reporting

Chen Dong now understood that Liu Lan was someone who wouldn’t bite. Right in front of her, he told Xiao Ling to keep her distance from Liu Lan in the future.

Liu Lan’s face turned red with anger upon hearing this, but she quickly thought of her own agenda and mustered up a smile that looked worse than crying. She turned to Chen Dong and said, “Uncle Chen, I actually came to see you about something. I was wondering if you could step outside with me for a moment.”

“Can’t you see I’m eating? I don’t have time,” Chen Dong rolled his eyes at her blatant disregard.

Since Chen Dong wouldn’t go outside with her, Liu Lan took a deep breath and finally said what she had prepared to say: 

“Uncle Chen, since you’re not coming out, I’ll just say it. I need you to give me some money, and when you return to Kyoto, you can ask my dad for it.”

“Ah?”

Chen Dong was taken aback by her words.

Not just him, but Xiao Ling and the others were also stunned.

They didn’t think Liu Lan would be so shameless as to say something like that.

Even if Chen Dong didn’t know her, it would be hard for any of them to ask someone to lend them money first, and then go home to demand it from their parents.

How embarrassing!

“Is it Liu Lan? Let’s not even talk about borrowing money for now. How do you think your parents treat you? Do you really think they’d give you money to live here?”

Chen Dong knew that Liu Dazhi and his wife were notoriously preferential toward their son over their daughter in the textile factory.

Their son was spoiled rotten, even becoming a chubby kid in these times of scarcity, while their daughter was not allowed to study and had to manage chores both inside and outside the home.

Given this situation, if he lent Liu Lan money, it would just be throwing it away.

“Uncle Chen, my parents generally don’t care much about me, but I am still Liu Dazhi’s daughter. They can’t just watch me struggle to live in the brigade, can they?” Liu Lan persisted, trying to appear pitiful. “Please, Uncle Chen, just lend me the money; my parents will definitely pay you back.”

“Don’t say that. My money didn’t come from the wind. If I lend it and it goes to waste, your mom would skin me alive, right?”

Chen Dong wasn’t foolish enough to lend her money. Seeing that Liu Lan was about to speak again, he simply stood up and walked into Xiao Ling’s room, shutting the door behind him.

Liu Lan watched as Chen Dong dodged her, and seeing Xiao Ling and the others laughing at her, she angrily moved to tip the table over.

Fortunately, Feng Xiaoming was quick on his feet and managed to kick her away, avoiding an ugly scene.

“Just you wait!”

Liu Lan, wincing in pain, stood up and glared daggers at everyone in the room before limping away.

“Finally gone! Who does she think she is? I don’t even know her, yet she has the nerve to ask me for money. Does she think my money grows on trees?”

With Liu Lan gone, Chen Dong walked out and began to murmur complaints to Xiao Ling.

“Uncle Chen, let’s eat quickly; you’ll probably have your hands full tomorrow,” Xiao Ling interjected with a smile, trying to steer Chen Dong back to his meal.

Before long, the group was lively again.

What they didn’t know was that Liu Lan didn’t return to the front yard after leaving the backyard; instead, she limped her way to the commune.

She was going to make a report, accusing Chen Dong and Xiao Ling of speculation and profiteering.

And the brigade leader not only didn’t stop them but also allowed these two to casually buy and sell with the other villagers.

The members of the committee, upon hearing this report, were rubbing their hands in anticipation.

They hadn’t received reports in a long time, and if they could catch these people this time, they wouldn’t just make them beg for mercy; they’d ensure they took a layer of skin off them as punishment.

Thus, after dinner, the villagers of the brigade couldn’t help but come by the educated youth point, inquiring about what items were needed to exchange for defective fabric.

“Grandma, I’m not picky about anything, like vegetables, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and other dried goods, but the weight needs to be a bit more.”

Li Lin never intended to use the leftover fabric to exchange for money.

But her parents had bought it with their own money, and she couldn’t let them lose out.

Originally, she was worried that there was no reason to send things from the market in the commercial building to Kyoto by mail.

Now, there’s a reason. Using leftover fabric to exchange for dried goods, wild goods, and then mailing them back to her family, so her parents can taste something fresh, is not a bad idea.

“Okay, okay, my family doesn’t have much, just dried vegetables, mushrooms, and other things. I’ll go home and get them for you.”

The old lady said, taking small steps, quickly walking back to her home.

The surrounding women heard this and were excited to go home and get their things.

It didn’t take long for everyone in the production team to know what was needed to exchange for the leftover fabric.

In a short time, people who had finished their work for the day and were preparing to sleep got up from their beds, preparing to exchange their goods for fabric.

They were afraid that if they were late, the fabric would be gone, and they would miss out.

Just like that, the production team, which was originally supposed to be sleeping, became busy, and the area around the know-your-own-point became lively.

However, before they could get too excited, the people from the committee caught someone and obtained the evidence.

Those people didn’t listen to Li Lin and Chen Dong’s explanations and directly gestured to their subordinates to take all the people who were speculating and hoarding away.

Fang Mingyi sensed that the situation was not right and quietly jumped over the wall from the know-your-own-point to the production team leader’s home to explain the situation and borrowed a bicycle to rush to the commune.

Hu Yingying arrived late, but she luckily met the production team leader and asked him to find someone to send her to the supply and marketing cooperative in a cow cart so she could make a phone call to use her connections.

Li Lin had helped her so much, and if something happened to her, Hu Yingying would feel guilty for the rest of her life.

Zhang Jun heard Hu Yingying’s intention and led her to the accountant, explained the situation, and then personally drove the cow cart to take Hu Yingying to the commune.

He came to the commune to use his connections as well.

But it wasn’t for Li Lin.

It was for the entire production team.

If the people from the production team were all taken away by the committee, the team would definitely become chaotic.

He didn’t want the team he had protected with great difficulty to become a mess because of a small matter.

On the other side of the production team, the accountant gathered all the young and strong people to surround the committee’s people at the know-your-own-point.

“What do you mean? Don’t you know we’re from the committee?” the head of the committee said with a gloomy face.

The accountant didn’t back down and replied, “We know you’re from the committee, but you’re arresting people without distinguishing between right and wrong. Are you bullying our production team?”

The committee’s people were not afraid, and instead, they became more arrogant and said, “We received a report from the masses, and now we have the evidence. What can you explain?”

The accountant heard that someone had reported them and glanced at the people, then said lightly, “It wasn’t someone from another production team who reported us. It was someone from your own team. Could they be jealous of us?