Chapter 44: Everyone Wants to Make Money!

Li Xiangdong saw Hou San’s sudden attentiveness and knew he was up to no good.

Besides, this guy couldn’t hide what he was thinking at all; it was written all over his face!

He directly refused, “I won’t trouble you. I’ll go myself.”

Just then, Ah Zhe returned after washing his lunch box. Li Xiangdong handed his own lunch box to him and said, “Ah Zhe, help me wash my lunch box. I’m going to get another serving of food.”

“Sure, you go ahead.”

Ah Zhe felt that something was off between the two of them, not knowing what they were up to. He took the lunch box and walked towards the sink again.

Under Hou San’s resentful gaze, Li Xiangdong picked up the meal tickets and lunch box on the table and walked towards the food window.

“Two servings of stir-fried pork slices and one serving of scrambled eggs with tomatoes!”

The auntie serving the food took the lunch box and meal tickets. With three clangs of her large ladle, she filled the box with food and placed it at the window.

The auntie asked, “Young man, you just started working here, right? I saw you sitting with Hou San. Are you friends? You’re quite the family man, bringing so much food back at once.”

Li Xiangdong replied with a smile, “Auntie, you’re right. I just started today. But Hou San and I are not friends, we’re brothers. And I don’t have this many meal tickets; these are all Hou San’s.”

After speaking, he took the lunch box and left. The auntie watched him and muttered to herself.

Hou San has a brother?

Doesn’t he only have two older sisters?

Besides, Hou San was notoriously thoughtless in the section!

He’s actually thinking of bringing food home for his family? Could it be that he’s grown up, become sensible, and knows how to be filial?

The line for food was getting long. By the time Li Xiangdong returned with a full box of food, Hou San had already finished eating and washed his lunch box.

Li Xiangdong asked, “Hou San, where are we going to rest at noon?”

“To my dad’s office. In the afternoon, I’ll take you two to report to the union and the office in the train station building up front.”

Hou San was somewhat absent-minded, still heartbroken over the meal tickets he had just lost.

“Then let’s go and make room for our colleagues who are coming to eat.”

The three of them came out of the cafeteria. Li Xiangdong took the Daqianmen cigarette that Ah Zhe handed him and passed it to Hou San, “Smoke?”

“I’ll smoke! Why shouldn’t I?”

Hou San immediately took the Daqianmen, lit it, and took a deep drag, “I must smoke back the value of the meal tickets you took from me!”

Ah Zhe, standing to the side, said with dissatisfaction, “Hou San, that’s my cigarette! I knew something was off with you two. So the food Dongzi just got was paid for with your meal tickets, Hou San!”

With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, Li Xiangdong took out three meal tickets from his pocket and stuffed them directly into Hou San’s pocket.

“This Hou San was showing off a stack of meal tickets to me. I kindly reminded him, and he mocked me for being jealous of his tickets. So, don’t I have to teach him a lesson? I’m already planning to make money with you two, how could I possibly scrounge three meal tickets off him?”

“Go ahead and show off, Hou San. When your dad finds out the meal tickets are gone, he’ll definitely come after you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

With his meal tickets returned, Hou San was overjoyed. He didn’t understand any of that “warn you” stuff!

“Brother Dong, are you planning to take us to make money by transporting goods from other places back to Beijing?”

Ah Zhe had a look of confusion and asked curiously, “What are you two talking about? Transporting goods to make money?”

“You don’t know?”

Hou San was delighted. So there really was someone who didn’t know.

Ah Zhe urged Hou San, “I don’t know. Quick, tell me what’s going on.”

Seeing Ah Zhe asking him for guidance, Hou San stuck out his neck, tilted his head back, and said cockily, “In our railway system, the most sought-after positions are the ones that follow the trains. Don’t look at our low salaries, but as long as you can go out on a trip with the train and bring back some stuff from outside, you can make a lot of money.”

“I’m not bragging, I’ve even seen people get on the train with an IV drip. You might think they’re dedicated to their job, but actually, they’re just reluctant to miss out on the extra money they can make from a trip!”

Ah Zhe swallowed, his voice trembling, “Hou San, what you’re saying is too outrageous. Doesn’t anyone manage this?”

Seeing that Ah Zhe actually didn’t believe him, Hou San got a little angry, “We’re all our own people, who would manage it? You’ll know when you get on the train. Everyone is doing it, and no one cares. Even the inspectors on the train, they only check the ticket sales revenue, they don’t care about this at all.”

Ah Zhe asked, “Don’t the railway police care either?”

Hou San slanted his eyes, “What do you think? You think they don’t do it too?”

“How hateful! Then won’t we be rich in the future?”

Ah Zhe beat his chest and stomped his feet, “You don’t know, I almost decided not to come to work. I thought being a crew member meant serving people and wasn’t a good job!”

Hou San was stunned by what he heard. Everyone said he wasn’t sharp, but he felt Ah Zhe was even dumber, his brain even less functional!

Ah Zhe suddenly grabbed Li Xiangdong, “Dongzi, you knew too, didn’t you? No wonder you kept persuading me not to change my position this morning. Were you deliberately trying to see me make a fool of myself!?”

Li Xiangdong chuckled, neither admitting nor denying it. He did indeed have the intention of watching Ah Zhe make a fool of himself, but he didn’t expect Hou San to expose it so quickly.

Ah Zhe said excitedly, “If we can make money every time we go out on a trip, then aren’t we going to be rich?”

At this moment, Hou San threw a bucket of cold water, “You can’t make money on every trip. You can only bring back valuable things from the south. From other places, you can at most bring back some food.”

Ah Zhe said nonchalantly, “Bringing back some food is fine too. When we get back, we can just resell it…”

Li Xiangdong directly interrupted Ah Zhe’s fantasy, “And then get caught for speculation and profiteering, get sent to the Xishan Quarry, and spend your future playing with a sledgehammer, smashing rocks.”

“Pah, pah, pah!”

Ah Zhe spat three times, “Dongzi, can’t you wish me something good!”

Li Xiangdong smiled, “You can ask Hou San if that’s a possibility.”

Hou San gave an awkward laugh, “Everyone just brings things for their own people. No one goes out to speculate and profiteer.”

Seeing Li Xiangdong’s gaze sweep over, he confessed honestly, “Alright, some people have indeed been caught for speculation and profiteering. I don’t know if they were sent to the Xishan Quarry, but I do know that a couple of years ago, one guy was directly executed by firing squad!”

Hearing Hou San’s words, Ah Zhe shivered and began to have second thoughts, “This is too dangerous. I think we should forget it.”

Seeing his unpromising look, Li Xiangdong said, “I have a way for us to make money steadily, with little risk.”

As soon as Ah Zhe heard this, his spirits were immediately lifted. Even Hou San pricked up his ears, wanting to hear what good idea Li Xiangdong had.

Seeing Li Xiangdong stop halfway through his sentence, the two said in unison, “If you have a way, just say it!”