PDLP Chapter 2001 Zhao Jun's Pre-Meeting Arrangements
Chapter 2001 Zhao Jun's Pre-Meeting Arrangements
Chapter 2001 Zhao Jun's Pre-Meeting Arrangements
The two jeeps belonging to the Zhao family bumped along the way, crossing mountains and ridges, and finally left the war preparation highway as darkness fell, heading towards Yong'an Village.
As they approached Yong'an Village, Zhao Jun, who was driving the first jeep, saw a large Jiefang truck coming from the opposite direction.
Zhao Jun didn't pay much attention at first, because whether entering the city or crossing the ridge, the return journey should have been from the east. However, the Liberation Army trucks on the other side were coming from the west.
But then, the large Jiefang truck started honking its horn.
Upon closer inspection, Zhao Jun realized it was indeed Jie Chen's Jiefang truck.
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback: "Why did my mom and the others come back from over there?"
Just then, both cars stopped at the intersection leading to Yong'an Village. At this moment, Zhao Jun saw Wang Meilan and Zhao Youcai sitting in the car.
"Dad, Mom, how did you get back from the west?" Zhao Jun asked. Zhao Youcai answered before Wang Meilan could, "Your mother bought more than forty quilt covers and sent them to the Western Hills to have them washed."
"Ah..." Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun immediately understood Wang Meilan's intention and praised her, "Mom, you've thought of everything!"
“Right, son, haha…” Wang Meilan laughed, “Mom also bought pillowcases, pillow towels, and slippers, and sent them all to Xishan.”
After saying this, Wang Meilan said, "At first I thought we should wash them at home, but then I thought I had a lot to do tomorrow, so I delivered them to them."
"Mom, didn't you give them some money?" Zhao Jun asked. Wang Meilan replied, "I did, but they kept saying they didn't want it."
Hearing Wang Meilan's words, Zhao Jun said, "Alright then, if you don't want it, forget it. We'll make it up to them later when we have the chance."
“Yes!” Wang Meilan said, “I’ll have them go up the mountain to pick vegetables tomorrow morning, and I’ll pay them for the vegetables in full.”
The banquet the day after tomorrow not only needs cucumber fragrance, but Zhao Youcai's Lin Hai Peacock and Lin Hai Golden Rooster dishes also need to use wild mountain vegetables.
After June, there are no wild vegetables left. But when wild vegetables come into season in spring, women in the forest area will gather a lot of them, some pickled and some dried.
The Zhao family also dried some, but with so many people, they ate it quickly.
When Wang Meilan went there, she told the women of Xishantun to prepare any cucumbers and bracken they had, as she would come back to collect them the next day.
"Hey, why don't you two go home and chat?" Zhao Youcai couldn't help but urge Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan on, seeing that they were talking nonstop.
About five minutes later, the three cars stopped outside the Zhao family compound, and the barking of dogs in the backyard filled the air.
Everyone got out of the car and saw that two jeeps and a Jiefang truck were already parked in front of the Zhao family's house.
These three vehicles were arranged in advance by Zhao Jun, who asked Zhou Jianjun to borrow them from the forest farm.
To this end, Zhou Jianjun also found three drivers from Yong'an and Yongsheng to drive their vehicles to the Zhao family compound after get off work.
Li Dayong and his wife Li Dazhi took this bus back.
After getting off the bus at their destination, Li Dayong gave each of the three drivers a pack of Yingchun cigarettes and didn't invite them to stay for a meal.
At this moment, Wang Meilan stood in front of the Zhao family compound, her eyes sweeping over the six cars parked around her, and she couldn't help but feel a little excited.
After many years, her home was rebuilt.
Wang Meilan believes that after this ginseng king conference, she, the richest woman in Yong'an, will become the richest woman in the whole country.
"What are you grinning about? Come inside!" Zhao Youcai's words suddenly ruined Wang Meilan's good mood.
Wang Meilan glanced at Zhao Youcai and followed the others into the courtyard.
A group of people rushed into the house and saw the old lady, Lin Xue, and Li Tongyun hurriedly heating up the dishes and rice.
"Oh my goodness!" Wang Meilan exclaimed in surprise when she saw the food on the table. "Where did you get this huge wooden stand?"
“Mom, Xiaoyun bought those.” Ma Ling praised Li Tongyun to Wang Meilan and the others, saying, “And the horse meat and horse ribs were also bought by Xiaoyun at the market.”
"Mmm." At this moment, as the old lady brought the cold dishes to the table, she echoed Ma Ling's words, saying, "That girl paid for it all. I offered her the money, but she refused."
Upon hearing this, Wang Meilan looked at Li Tongyun, who was smiling radiantly. For some reason, Wang Meilan felt that this girl was a bit strange.
Just then, Li Dazhi and his wife also sensed something was wrong. Lin Xue's smile vanished, and she asked Li Tongyun, "Hey? What mischief were you up to while you were away from home?"
"Huh?" Li Tongyun was taken aback. Li Dazhi stood up and shouted at her, "Who did you fight with this time?"
"I didn't!" At this moment, Li Tongyun was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristling and shouting, "I didn't do anything!"
"Hey? What are you two doing?" The old lady quickly spoke up for Li Tongyun: "You brought it over to the girl this morning, and she's been sitting with me ever since."
As she spoke, the old lady pointed to the fried fish on the table and said, "The maid cleaned all of these fish."
The old lady's words were reliable, but precisely because of this, everyone felt that Li Tongyun was acting strangely.
"Oh, right, Xiaoyun." At this moment, Zhao Jun remembered something and immediately asked Li Tongyun, "Did Manager Huang and the others call today?"
"Coming, coming!" Li Tongyun said hurriedly upon hearing this. "Brother Liu, whom we helped last time, also called."
As she said this, Li Tongyun took out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Zhao Jun, saying, "Brother, look, nine people will arrive tomorrow at noon, all recruited by Manager Huang. Nine people will also arrive in the afternoon, but five of them are here because of Manager Huang, and the other four were recruited by Brother Liu."
"Ah..." Zhao Jun took the paper and frowned upon reading it. Not counting Liu Jinrong, there were eighteen other guests listed.
Now, four jeeps are parked outside the Zhao family compound. Each jeep, excluding the driver, can seat four people.
Four times four equals sixteen, and there are still two guests. Are we supposed to make them squeeze into the passenger seat of the Liberation truck?
At this moment, Wang Meilan noticed Zhao Jun's predicament and stepped forward to ask him, "What's wrong, son? Is there no room in the car?"
"Hmm." Zhao Jun scratched his head, looking somewhat worried. "I really didn't expect so many people to come. Didn't Manager Huang say that the big boss from the capital wasn't coming?"
"Oh, son," Wang Meilan laughed, "Mom was worried that not enough big bosses would come. Isn't it better if as many as possible come?"
"Brother Jun." As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, Jie Chen called out to Zhao Jun, "How about we ask my second brother-in-law to borrow a car when we get to Shulan tomorrow?"
As the manager of the supply and marketing cooperative, Sun Haizhu was a prominent figure in Shulan. He could easily borrow a car for a few days by using his connections.
But Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "That won't be in time, Xiao Chen. Aren't they letting us pick them up at noon? We have to leave home at three o'clock."
Originally, there was no mention of guests from the capital, so Zhao Jun's plan did not require so many vehicles, nor did it require such a rush.
But now, not only have several more people arrived, but they also need to be at Chuncheng Airport before noon tomorrow, which requires the Zhao family to leave home early.
"Hey? Jun," Zhao Weipeng asked Zhao Jun, "Does the forest farm still have any jeeps?"
"That's all." Li Dazhi answered Zhao Weipeng, pointing out the window with a wry smile. "Our forest farm only has these two jeeps. One belongs to the Party Secretary, and the other to us farm managers. We've already borrowed them both."
This really shows how powerful the Zhao family is. If someone else tried to borrow a car from the venue like this, it might not have worked.
"Oh dear!" Just then, Zhang Yuanmin sighed and said, "After this conference is over, I'll buy a Santana."
"I'll buy too!" Jie Chen echoed. Over the past year, the two of them had been with Zhao Jun the longest, followed by Wang Qiang and Li Baoyu.
"I..." Li Ruhai was about to say that he wanted to buy one too, when he heard someone outside shout, "Me too!"
Everyone was startled by the sound and turned to look at the door. The door was pushed open and Ma Yang stepped in.
Upon seeing Ma Yang, the others were unfazed, but Ma Sheng and Ma Ling's expressions darkened.
"Brother-in-law!" Ma Yang rushed into the house and approached Zhao Jun, saying, "If we sell all those ginseng kings, I'll get a good share of the money, won't I?"
Zhao Jun sized the young man up and down, but instead of answering his question, he asked in return, "What?"
At this moment, Ma Yang excitedly counted on his fingers and said to Zhao Jun, "When I get the money, I'll buy that sedan chair, and then I'll buy a big jeep."
As soon as Ma Yang finished speaking, Ma Sheng pulled him away from Zhao Jun. Ma Yang wanted to say something, but Ma Sheng's fierce glare silenced him.
"Buying a car is a matter for later," Zhao Youcai said slowly, turning to Zhao Jun. "The key question is, what are we going to do tomorrow? Should we go to Yongxing now and borrow one?"
It's definitely not going to work tomorrow morning, because Zhao Jun and the others have to leave at 3 a.m., and they can't possibly go to the Yongxing Brigade to borrow a car at 2 a.m., can they?
"It's alright." Zhao Jun waved his hand, beckoning Li Baoyu and the others to sit at the table, and said, "We'll leave as usual tomorrow. After we're done, we'll go to Qiaotou Village and borrow from Lao Shao's family."
"Hey, this works!" Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, the Zhao family members' eyes lit up.
"Right?" Zhao Jun smiled faintly, then looked at Wang Meilan and asked, "Mom, the cannon was borrowed back, wasn't it?"
"Yes, son," Wang Meilan said. "As you said, two of the gates are in our big courtyard, and the other one is being pulled behind the car."
“Okay.” Zhao Jun took the rice bowl from Li Tongyun and said, “Tomorrow morning, the five of us—me, my second brother, Baoyu, Xiaochen, and Jinhui—will all drive off in the jeep, and then we’ll get a Jiefang truck. We’ll go up the mountain to pick up thirty people and head to Lingnan. We’ll stop at Qiaotou Village first, and then drive all the way to Chuncheng.”
Zhao Jun was going to Xinlengchang to pick up these thirty-odd people in order to protect the group of bosses who came from the south.
“Nephew, what about us?” Wang Qiang asked. Zhao Jun replied, “Uncle, those of you who can’t drive shouldn’t go. We’ll follow behind, that’s enough.”
"The day after tomorrow, you all need to get up early and escort our bunch of idiots down the mountain, straight to the venue."
After saying this, Zhao Jun looked at Zhao Weipeng and said, "Uncle Peng, I'll have to trouble you then."
"What's the trouble?" Zhao Weipeng said. "It's all a family matter."
At this moment, Zhao Jun took the chopsticks that Li Tongyun handed him and continued to say to Zhao Weipeng, "Uncle Peng, the day after tomorrow, please deliver these to the meeting place for us first, and then wait for a call from the supply and marketing cooperative."
At this point, Zhao Jun looked at Li Dayong and said, "I'll finalize things with Lengchang tomorrow morning, and then we'll send seventy people down early the day after tomorrow. Our train car doesn't have a single carriage, does it?"
"Then the locomotive will take this carriage down, and I'll assign seventy people to pull it down..."
"Ah, I understand, Jun." Before Zhao Jun could finish speaking, Li Dayong said, "Don't worry, I'll make a call to coordinate as soon as I get to the unit tomorrow. I definitely won't let anything be delayed."
"Okay, Uncle." Zhao Jun said, "After the car leaves, give my Uncle Peng a call so he can pick people up at the train station."
After saying this last sentence, Zhao Jun looked at Zhao Weipeng, who quickly said, "Don't worry, Jun, your uncle never makes a mistake."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun smiled at Zhao Weipeng. He didn't let the second group of people on the mountain go down the mountain with the Liberation truck because Bangchui Baozi and the women in his family all had to sit in the back of the truck that day, and it would be inconvenient for so many men to squeeze on.
Although Zhao Jun's current arrangement is a bit troublesome, he might as well use the resources he has at home.
"Sister-in-law." Zhao Jun suddenly looked at Liu Mei. Liu Mei instantly understood why Zhao Jun called her, but she looked at Li Tongyun and said, "I wasn't home today, Xiaoyun, um..."
"Ah!" Upon hearing this, Li Tongyun quickly replied to Liu Mei, "My aunt Liu has brought them all over."
After saying this, Li Tongyun said to Zhao Jun, "Brother Jun, those banners are still in your and my sister-in-law Ma Ling's room."
Zhao Jun planned to have 180 people drill in the courtyard of the meeting venue, firstly to protect the safety of the venue, and secondly to deter any troublemakers.
But with so many people, it's definitely not okay for them to just wave guns around and shoot.
So, Zhao Jun had Liu Mei take two rolls of red cloth back to her parents' home and asked Teacher Liu to write several banners for militia training. They could hang them on the wall of the meeting venue the day after tomorrow, and then they'd have a perfectly legitimate reason to stand up for themselves.
"Son, these are the dishes for the two banquets the day after tomorrow." Wang Meilan handed the menu to Zhao Jun again. By this time, the heated food had already been served, but no one had touched their chopsticks.
The important business is at hand, and Zhao Jun has to leave early tomorrow, so if I think of anything, I need to deal with it as soon as possible.
"Wow!" Zhao Jun's eyes lit up as he looked at the menu.
"This dish is really good, Mom." Zhao Jun looked at Wang Meilan, who smiled and said, "Your dad ordered this from someone."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun turned to look at Zhao Youcai, who was slightly raising his head, looking like he was waiting to be praised.
"My dad's amazing," Zhao Jun complimented Zhao Youcai, then asked, "How's his cooking?"
Wang Meilan pursed her lips and shook her head. Jin Xiaomei chimed in, "Jun, it's a far cry from doing things with you."
Hearing Jin Xiaomei say this, Zhao Jun looked at Wang Meilan again.
“Then there’s no other way, son,” Wang Meilan said. “That’s called Ruyi Grand Restaurant. They say it’s the best place to eat in Shanhe County.”
“Yes.” Li Tongyun, standing next to Zhao Jun, nodded and said, “Xiaoxue said that it’s the most prestigious restaurant in her area.”
Hearing Wang Meilan and Li Tongyun say this, Zhao Jun blinked.
Just then, Zhao Youcai said to Zhao Jun, "Son, don't worry. Dad will go to their kitchen the day after tomorrow. If all else fails, Dad will go himself."
"Oh my!" Zhao Jun was shocked to hear this. He never expected Zhao Youcai to support him so much at this crucial moment.
But suddenly, Zhao Jun felt something was wrong. He glanced to his side and saw Li Tongyun smiling at him.
"What are you doing, Xiaoyun?" Zhao Jun asked. Li Tongyun replied, "Can you take me with you the day after tomorrow? I want to go and see what's going on."
“Me too!” Ma Yang chimed in, drawing an angry glare from Li Tongyun.
Li Tongyun's anger was not without reason; she believed that if she took the initiative to go, Zhao Jun might agree. But if Ma Yang were to come along, it seemed that no one could go.
Sure enough, Zhao Jun glanced at everyone around him and said, "Alright, let's eat first, we can talk about other things later."
Upon hearing this, Ma Yang looked disappointed, while Li Tongyun glared at him again.
Everyone took their seats, picked up their bowls and chopsticks, and began to eat.
Because the two groups returned late, the old lady didn't make the children wait. At this time, Zhao Hong and a group of children who had finished eating were playing in the village.
During the meal, Zhao Jun suddenly remembered something and said to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, we have some important guests coming the day after tomorrow. How about we get them a couple of black bear paws to eat?"
In terms of conditions, this small county town was definitely not suitable. Therefore, Zhao Jun wanted to let these bosses from big cities try something different.
"You kid." Zhao Youcai glanced at Zhao Jun and mumbled, "Do you think the city is like our mountain? They don't have anything there."
"No, Dad," Zhao Jun said, "Don't we still have two black bear palms in our refrigerator?"
“I have another refrigerator at home,” Zhang Yuanmin said, followed by Li Baoyu, “I have one too.”
Previously, the five masters competed for the ultimate spear technique, hunting down four black bears and striking them with eight palms.
Zhou Chengguo took one home, the Xue family father and son took one, and gave one to the Ma family and one to Liu Mei's family, leaving four.
Zhao Jun and the others didn't touch a bite, because they had eaten too much before and were already tired of it.
"Who are those four tables enough for?" Zhao Youcai said, "You brought a hundred people down from the mountain, that's ten tables. Nineteen guests came, that's two more tables. And our family, that's at least three tables, right? That makes a total of fifteen tables..."
"That's not right, Dad." After hearing this, Zhao Jun quickly stopped Zhao Youcai and said, "I still have a lot of clients to contact, you need to add three more tables."
"Oh my god, that's eighteen tables?" Zhao Youcai had just finished speaking when Wang Meilan at the next table said, "It's okay, I'll call that big restaurant tomorrow morning and ask them to prepare twenty tables for us."
Wang Meilan is wealthy, and she's willing to spend money. But in her daily life, she's definitely not a wasteful person. This arrangement was made in case of unforeseen circumstances and too many people coming, leaving them without food.
Zhao Youcai is meticulous in his daily life, but sometimes he can be a little petty.
But right now, he knew his son was doing something big, so Zhao Youcai didn't say a word more than necessary. He only said to Zhao Jun, "Son, if we're talking about twenty tables, those four black bear palms won't be enough."
"Dad, if it's not enough, we can give it to the guests." As soon as Zhao Jun said this, Zhao Youcai frowned and said, "Can we do that? If you give this to the guests, what will those people on the mountain think? We, the Zhao family, will never do something like that—fawning on the powerful and belittling the weak!"
“It’s not that bad, Dad,” Zhao Jun said. “Don’t we have private rooms? Let the guests go to the private rooms. We won’t give them black bear paws outside, but we’ll give them braised pork, fatty pork, as much as they want.”
“Okay, that works.” Wang Meilan at the next table responded to Zhao Jun’s suggestion and said to Zhao Youcai, “Dad, listen to your son.”
Normally, even if Zhao Youcai agreed, he wouldn't have been very happy about it.
At this moment, Zhao Youcai said without hesitation, "Then I'll take out those black bear palms tomorrow, apply the medicated oil, clean them up, and take them directly the day after tomorrow."
After saying this, Zhao Youcai paused for a moment and then said to Wang Meilan, "Lan, remember to remind me tomorrow that we need to soak and prepare the deer tendons in advance, otherwise we won't have enough time to prepare them the day after tomorrow."
"Jun," Li Dayong said to Zhao Jun after Zhao Youcai finished speaking, "I heard from Jianjun the other day that you asked him to take leave?"
“Ah,” Zhao Jun said, “I’m afraid we won’t have enough people the day after tomorrow. The group that came down from the mountain is on the outskirts, and the people in front of and behind the houses must be our own. We can’t let them get too close.”
"Should I ask for leave?" Li Dayong asked. Zhao Jun replied, "Uncle, you can't ask for leave. If you do, who will handle the train dispatch?"
"Oh, right!" Li Dayong slapped his thigh, annoyed. "How could I have forgotten about that?"
"Jun, I'd like to ask for leave." These words were spoken by Li Dazhi. Although he didn't own any shares in the ginseng company, he was still a member of the group.
"Sixth Uncle, if you're not busy, you should take a leave of absence." Zhao Jun had almost never used Li Dazhi, but this matter was of great importance, and having another one of his own people would provide more security.
“Brother Jun, if my dad goes, I’ll go with you!” Li Tongyun said, “If anything happens, I can protect you.”
“Brother-in-law, Dad can go too!” Ma Yang interrupted Li Tongyun again and said to Zhao Jun, “I’ll go back and ask Dad to take leave, and then we’ll both go the day after tomorrow.”
Zhao Jun pursed his lips and completely ignored him.
After a satisfying meal, Jin Xiaomei and the others washed the dishes and put away the leftovers.
At this moment, Wang Meilan took out a small notebook and introduced the guesthouse to Zhao Jun.
“Son, we’ll be staying at this guesthouse for the next two nights. There’s not enough room for all of them,” Wang Meilan said. Zhao Jun replied, “That’s alright, Mom. If there’s not enough room, we can find another guesthouse. We can’t book the whole place. We can have Brother Xie take them there.”
"The guests, and even our own people, are all staying at that guesthouse you booked, Mom. We booked it all; there are no outsiders, right?"
"Okay," Wang Meilan responded, and then started talking to Zhao Jun about the sofas, tables, chairs, and electric fans she had bought.
Zhao Jun was pleasantly surprised by Wang Meilan's purchase of an electric fan. These past few days have been the hottest part of summer, the muggy heat is unbearable, and having an electric fan is truly wonderful.
At this point, everything that needed to be discussed had been discussed. Several members of the Zhao family gang had to get up early the next day, so after Wang Meilan cleaned up the mess, the various gangs dispersed.
After seeing everyone off, Zhao Jun wanted to go back to his room to rest. He was exhausted after a long day, and he would have to travel again tomorrow.
Just then, Wang Meilan called out to Zhao Jun, "Son, Mom has something to tell you."
"What's up, Mom?" Zhao Jun thought it was about meeting preparations, but Wang Meilan was talking about how she and Zhao Youcai had met Wang Sanxi and Niu Xiaoshan in Shanhe County.
Zhao Jun frowned as he listened; he hadn't expected to encounter something like this.
Wang Meilan then told Zhao Youcai about his plan, but Zhao Jun shook his head after listening.