novelden Chapter 141 Ningyue Prefecture, Part 1 (1)
Chapter 141 Ningyue Prefecture, Part 1 (1)
"What, you suspect..." Hua Yuansheng glanced at the old woman on the opposite bed with a sinister look.
Hua Lichu nodded: "It's always better to be careful than to make a mistake."
Hua Yuansheng: "Give me the things, I feel it's not enough."
Hua Antao shook her head: "You two are on the lower bunk, so give me your things. I'm on the upper bunk, and she won't touch anything there because she's afraid of making a noise."
However, according to Hua Lichu's observation, the old lady lay on the bed without moving all night.
Just as Hua Lichu was beginning to doubt whether she was overthinking things,
A gasp rang out in the carriage: "How did my bag get torn? Who the hell stole all my money?!"
One stone caused a thousand waves.
Everyone instinctively reached for their bags containing valuables.
Those who weren't robbed breathed a sigh of relief, feeling both fortunate and lingering fear.
The person who lost their belongings cried and wailed.
Hua Lichu looked up at Hua Antao, who was in the upper bunk diagonally opposite her. Seeing that the other woman was shaking her head, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Soon, several police officers from the train crew arrived.
They gathered the victims together and questioned them one by one.
However, there were no cameras on the train, and simple questions couldn't provide any useful clues.
Hua Lichu frowned, her gaze sweeping over the bed opposite her, then suddenly stopped abruptly: "Where's that old lady on your bed?"
The woman in the opposite bunk, puzzled, said, "You've gotten off the bus!"
Upon hearing this, the police officer on duty immediately realized there was more to the story.
"what happened?"
In an instant, everyone's eyes were focused on the woman on the opposite bed. She cowered behind the covers and whispered:
"Yesterday, there was an old lady who hadn't bought a ticket. I felt sorry for her because she had a child with her, so I kindly let her sleep with me. But I really don't know her, and I don't know anything about her..."
The police officer on duty frowned: "Grandma who didn't buy a ticket? Why didn't you report it?"
"I saw she had a child with her..."
As for why others didn't report it?
Hua Lichu guessed that they might be like her, thinking it's better to mind your own business and not get involved in things that don't concern you.
The police officer on duty was speechless: "When did she get off the train?"
"Just this morning, when it was barely dawn."
At that time, apart from passengers who were about to get off at their stop, everyone else was asleep, and no one would specifically keep an eye on an old lady.
One of the flight attendants slipped away, while the remaining officers began another round of questioning, trying to get more information.
Until the thief is found, everyone in this carriage is a suspect.
In other words, no one can get off the bus unless the thief is caught.
Fortunately, the police officers on duty were able to pinpoint the target very quickly.
With the cooperation of all parties, the old woman was quickly apprehended.
The woman in the opposite bed was utterly shocked: "She didn't get out of bed at all last night, how could that be..."
"What about the child she was with? He's never gotten out of bed either?"
"Then I don't know. The child was sleeping on the outermost side of the bed..."
Hua Lichu slapped her forehead. Oh right, why was she only paying attention to that old lady!
But what normal person would deliberately guard against a two- or three-year-old child?
The police officer on duty said, "These two are repeat offenders..."
It turns out that the old woman's visit to see her son was a pretense; her real purpose was to steal things along the way.
To be precise, it's possible that the old lady's first visit to her relatives was indeed true.
But after unexpectedly discovering that most people were not wary of children, she started to have wicked ideas.
This is the third time she has stolen something.
But on the previous two occasions, the old lady was more cautious and didn't steal much.
This time, perhaps because she had tasted success, or perhaps because she had been rejected, the old woman became angry and embarrassed.
She noted down the locations of several people who gossiped about her and were unwilling to help her, so she decided to go all the way and steal everything from them.
The train moved slowly along the tracks, making a deep, rhythmic "clang" sound, as if the pulse of the earth was beating.
The scenery outside the window slowly receded, with trees, houses, and fields passing by one by one.
Occasionally, the train will pass through a bridge or tunnel, and the scenery outside the window will change in an instant, but it will soon return to its previous tranquility.
As time went by, Ningyue Prefecture was finally approaching.
The three members of the family quickly packed their luggage, carried it to the door, and waited to get off the bus.
As the train arrived at the station, the doors slowly opened, and a breath of fresh air rushed into the carriage. At the same time, a sudden wave of scorching heat swept in.
The three members of the family didn't want to squeeze in with the crowd, so they stood quietly in a corner and waited until almost everyone else had gotten off before carrying their luggage off the bus.
The platform was packed with people.
Hua Lichu looked around, took a deep breath of fresh air, and turned to her grandfather and sister: "Let's get off at the train station first, and then take a bus to the wholesale market."
The train station was enormous, and it was the first time the three of them had ever been there. They wandered around inside for quite some time before finally getting out with the help of the staff.
Hua Antao pulled out a map she had bought beforehand and said, "There's no direct bus to the wholesale market from here. We have to take bus number 13 first, get off after 7 stops, and then take bus number 25..."
With a direction in mind, the three of them were no longer confused and started walking towards the bus stop.
Just to be on the safe side, Hua Antao got off at the bus stop and checked the route against the bus route chart.
Just then, bus number 13 arrived.
The three of them quickly got on the bus, as there weren't many people on the No. 13 bus.
Hua Yuansheng let his two granddaughters get on the bus first, urging them to find seats. Fearing the driver's displeasure, he repeatedly explained:
"I paid for the tickets for three people; we were traveling together."
The driver only cared about whether the money would be less than expected, and didn't care whether it was paid by one person or three people.
The bus swayed and rattled forward, and Hua Lichu looked out the window with curiosity.
This was her first time visiting Ningyue Prefecture in both her lives.
But she knew that this place would one day become a warehouse for the world.
Its products will reach every corner of the world.
So even if you gain nothing this time, you can still consider it as an opportunity to broaden your horizons.
Even a pig can fly if it stands in the right place at the right time, so why can't she seize the opportunity and take a big leap forward?
After swaying on the bus for over an hour, nearly two hours, the three finally arrived at their destination.
Hua Lichu raised her arm and glanced at her watch: "It's getting late. Let's find a place to stay first, and then go to the market tomorrow."
They finally found a guesthouse, but when they asked about the price, all three of them felt a pang of regret.
To save money, we only booked one twin room.
The two sisters slept in one bed, while Hua Yuansheng slept in the other.
Fortunately, the furnishings inside were quite nice and looked very comfortable.
Hua Antao touched the soft bed and said, "If we have time tomorrow, let's go for a walk around the neighborhood and see if there's any cheaper place to stay."
Staying here for three nights is almost equivalent to their food expenses for a month.
Even if you're rich, you shouldn't spend your money like this!
They traveled such a long distance; unless it's an emergency, they wouldn't be able to go back immediately.
The best approach is to find a place to stay as soon as possible, perhaps for ten days or two weeks.
After a good night's rest, the three generations of the family had a local breakfast the next morning, and then followed the directions of passersby to the wholesale market.
The streets were teeming with unfamiliar faces, people packed shoulder to shoulder, cars following one after another.
Small business owners carrying sacks of goods squeezed from one shop into another.
The first thing they ask is for prices and to order goods.
Here, you can hear different accents from all over the world.
On the streets and alleys, you can see people everywhere holding mobile phones and shouting orders.
People from Fujian call people from Guangdong "fellow villagers," and people from Guangdong and people from Jiangxi put their arms around each other like brothers. In short, they can call anyone "fellow villagers."
300 pencils for 9.9 yuan, 150 ballpoint pens for 19.9 yuan...
Five yuan a pair of leather shoes, three yuan a fashionable long dress... The three generations of the family stared at each other with their mouths agape, unable to calm down for a long time.
This price!
It's much less than the price they pay when buying goods from the provincial capital and stationery factories!
If we could solve the transportation problem, or rather, if we could wholesale goods from here and sell them in stores with the lowest possible transportation cost, wouldn't we be able to earn more?
After a moment's hesitation, Hua Lichu stepped into the nearest shop.
With the mindset of comparing prices from multiple vendors, Hua Li asked five different vendors about the same question.
However, these merchants had clearly agreed in advance that the transportation costs from Ningyue Prefecture to Tianyuan City were all roughly the same.
Hua Antao quickly did some mental calculations: "Pears, although the purchase price is low, the transportation cost is too high."
In the end, the profit is about the same as if we sourced the goods directly from the provincial capital.
"If only we could find a safe, reliable, and cheap transport company ourselves."
That being said, they barely know anyone, so where are they going to find someone safe, reliable, and cheap...? Wait a minute!
Hua Lichu's eyes lit up, and she grabbed Hua Antao's arm: "Sister, do you remember what Aunt Lian's husband does? I think he owns a transport team!"
Hua Antao nodded vigorously: "Yes! I heard Aunt Lian mention it!"
They had been renting a house from Li Lian for a year, but they didn't have many opportunities to run into Hua Zhigang.
Apart from the last time I bought a shop, I've hardly seen anyone else.
According to Li Lian, Hua Zhigang formed his own transportation team, taking on various transportation orders and frequently traveling all over the country.
Sometimes when I go to nearby places, I can go home and rest for two days after ten days or so.
But most of the time, the places I go are very far away, and sometimes I can't go home for two months.
But the two had a good relationship; no matter where Hua Zhigang went, he would bring Li Lian a gift when he returned. Sometimes it was a bag of mangoes, sometimes cosmetics…
Therefore, the style of Li Lian's clothes was very novel.
Specialties from all over the country often appear in our home.
Hua Lichu was very sweet-talking, and Li Lian liked her very much. Whenever she had something good, she would send it to her.
Of course, relationships between people can never be one-sided.
Whenever Hua Lichu develops a new product, she immediately calls Li Lian over to try it.
They would notify Li Lian as soon as the store launched new promotions. They would even proactively give her membership cards.
Hua Yuansheng pulled a small notebook out of his pocket, flipped through a few pages, and stretched out his arm to look at the words on it: "Should we call him? I have his phone number here."
Hua Lichu's eyes widened suddenly: "How do you have his phone number?"
"He gave it to me before."
Hua Lichu took the notebook and realized that it was filled with phone numbers!
There were donations from Hua Zhigang, Li Lian's family, the small shop in Huajia Village, and suppliers from the provincial capital...
The font above is crooked and huge.
But you can still feel the dedication and effort of the person who wrote it.
No wonder Grandpa suddenly asked the two sisters to teach him to read.
“You two are college students, how can a college student’s grandfather be illiterate? Isn’t that embarrassing for you two? I’ll learn one character a day, starting with your names…”
Seeing that he could help his granddaughter, Hua Yuansheng grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth: "I was thinking that when I'm out and about, I might need to find someone if something happens, so I brought this notebook with me."
"Grandpa, you're amazing!"
At 53, she's still diligently learning to write—what perseverance!
Having obtained the phone number, the three headed straight for a public phone booth.
To make it easier to contact clients, Hua Zhigang spent a lot of money to buy a mobile phone.
When he received the call, he had just switched places with someone and was resting in the passenger seat.
Seeing that it was an unfamiliar number, he answered without hesitation: "Hello?"
"Uncle Hua, I'm Hua Lichu, the Hua Lichu who rented your house. Do you remember me?"
Fearing that Hua Zhigang would be too busy with too many people, Hua Lichu added, "You even took us to buy a shop before."
Every time Hua Zhigang comes home, he hears his wife update him on the two sisters' recent situations, just like watching a TV series.
"A new Pear & Peach shop has opened near the school gate. It's a fried chicken and milk tea shop. The pearls in their milk tea are so delicious. I feel unwell if I don't drink it for three days..."
"Their shop introduced a membership card that offers a 8% discount on Wednesdays, which has attracted a lot of customers. I don't know what's wrong with those two sisters; they have so many ideas..."
"Peach's grades are amazing! I heard she's in the top 10 of her grade! Pear's grades are good too, getting better each time! Maybe these two girls will get into Tsinghua or Peking University? My house will be in high demand then! It's a house that Tsinghua and Peking University students used to live in! Who wouldn't want to share in their good fortune?"
He listens to her every time, and if his wife doesn't mention it even once, he feels like something is missing.
It's like watching TV and not seeing any new episodes—it just feels so unsettling!
Therefore, Hua Zhigang had a very deep impression of the three grandparents and grandchildren who rented his house.
They even pay special attention to them.
He always felt that these two little girls would achieve extraordinary things in the future!
But he didn't dare to think about how high he could go.
He's a roughneck, he couldn't figure it out either.
But the more this is the case, the more he looks forward to it!
They were even eager to know the result.
To be honest, he was really happy every time he heard that the two sisters had improved their grades or that the store had launched a new promotion!
If Hua Zhigang knew the word "cultivation," he would probably understand how he feels right now.
Therefore, upon hearing that it was Hua Lichu calling, Hua Zhigang immediately chuckled and said:
"I remember! Of course I remember! Why didn't you go to class... Oh, it's summer vacation. What do you need me for?"
Hua Lichu smiled as she listened to the enthusiastic and cheerful voice on the other end of the microphone.
"Uncle, where are you now? Are you far from Ningyue Prefecture? I have a business deal I'd like to discuss with you."
Upon hearing this, Hua Zhigang was even more delighted: "Ningyue Prefecture? Isn't that a coincidence? I happen to be in the city next to it!"