Zhang Liunian took the money and put it directly into his pocket, then placed the braised meat on the table, "This is the braised meat for you, uncle."
Zhao Zhijie took it with a smile, "You're thoughtful."
"It's only right."
"The food factory called again, saying you need to deliver seven hundred catties of lobsters and two hundred and fifty catties of braised meat this afternoon." Zhao Zhijie was very happy for Zhang Liunian, thinking that he had received calls from the food factory for two consecutive days, and all of them requested an increase in quantity.
But Zhang Liunian only said indifferently, "I know."
His expression puzzled Zhao Zhijie, who looked him up and down and asked with concern, "You don't seem happy to receive this news?"
"No, I'm happy."
"You're not even smiling, how can you be happy?"
"..." He just suddenly thought of what Fang Yan and his second brother had done, and couldn't be happy for a moment.
"I am happy, who wouldn't be happy to earn more money!" Zhang Liunian tidied up his thoughts and began to smile.
Zhao Zhijie didn't suspect him and chatted with him for a while longer before Zhang Liunian left.
Leaving the machinery factory, Zhang Liunian delivered fifty catties of braised meat to Mu Mingliang.
Finally, he returned to the construction site and collected forty yuan from the old man selling noodles before heading home.
From then on, Zhang Liunian had over a thousand yuan on him.
On the way back, just as Zhang Liunian had feared, they encountered the eighteen thugs again at the intersection from that morning.
Seeing these people, Zhang Qian finally understood why Zhang Liunian had asked him to prepare something useful.
He knew he was being targeted!
"If you want to pass here, leave your travel money," the leader shouted, then crossed his arms and waited for Zhang Liunian to hand over the money.
In fact, this was just an excuse. Regardless of whether Zhang Liunian gave them money or not, they intended to rough him up.
"Travel money? Ziteng, Xiaoqian, let's show them what 'life-taking money' means." Liunian parked the tractor, pulled out the hoe handle, and walked towards them.
"Good," the two responded, also pulling out their tools and following behind Zhang Liunian.
"You still want to resist? Look at how many of us there are compared to you. By sheer numbers, we can wipe you out." The leader saw Zhang Liunian walking towards them with two helpers and was extremely disdainful.
Zhang Liunian wouldn't waste time arguing with them. He swung the hoe handle at the leader.
Seeing this, the other party calmly raised his own wooden stick and met the blow.
"Clang!" With a sound, the two wooden sticks collided. The vibration transmitted from the stick to the leader's hand, causing him instant pain and forcing him to let go of the stick involuntarily.
Zhang Liunian, holding another stick, seemed unaffected by the vibration. Taking advantage of the other party dropping his stick, he immediately swung a second blow, knocking him to the ground.
After dealing with the leader, Zhang Liunian swiftly moved on to the others.
Zhang Liunian single-handedly dealt with all eighteen thugs. Zhang Qian and Du Ziteng had no chance to contribute.
Having knocked everyone down, Zhang Liunian found Zhang Ziteng and Du Ziteng staring at him with their mouths agape. He couldn't help but remind them, "What are you stunned for? Go and collect their life-taking money."
If they dared to rob him, Zhang Liunian, they should be prepared to be robbed in return.
"Oh, okay." Zhang Qian and Du Ziteng snapped back to reality and began to search for the money.
"Brother Liunian, it's all here," Zhang Qian presented the money to Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian glanced at it and said, "Split it evenly, let's go home." Then he started the tractor.
Zhang Qian was stunned and stepped onto the tractor, "That won't do. Du Ziteng and I didn't contribute much. This money should belong to you, Brother Liunian!"
Du Ziteng sat beside Zhang Qian and seconded, "Indeed, we didn't help much."
He felt that their presence or absence wouldn't have made a difference in the fight, so they shouldn't take the money.
"I said split it evenly, so it's split evenly. Count how much there is?" Zhang Liunian's attitude was firm, and he didn't mind splitting it with them.
"But we didn't do much," Zhang Qian still hesitated.
"I didn't help either," Du Ziteng had the same thought.
"We'll divide it like this. Are you guys still babbling like this, are you men?"
"..."
Faced with Zhang Liunian's resolute stance, Zhang Qian had no choice but to agree.
After dividing the money, all three were very happy.
Du Ziteng gleefully looked at the hundred yuan in his hand and suddenly felt that following Zhang Liunian was incredibly great. Yesterday he got a watch, and today he got money. This was much better than hanging out with his disreputable friends.
Wait, he hadn't even mentioned how he would repay the money for the watch yesterday. Now he had a way to repay the debt!
"Brother Liunian, I still owed you fifty-nine yuan for the watch yesterday, I'll return it to you now." Du Ziteng took out fifty-nine yuan and handed it over.
Seeing him do so, Zhang Qian remembered that he also had debts and immediately returned the money he owed to Zhang Liunian.
Zhang Liunian did not refuse and took the money, putting it in his pocket.
Before long, the three of them returned to the village. Zhang Qian went to the educated youth dormitory after eating at home.
Zhang Liunian had dinner with Du Ziteng. After the meal, Zhang Liunian immediately got busy. After confirming that the lobsters and braised meat were ready, he began preparing the lobster sauce.
To make lobster sauce, he first needed to make the base sauce, and the ingredient for the base sauce was glutinous rice paste, which was made by every household in Zhangjia Village.
As the name suggests, this sauce required glutinous rice.
He soaked the freshly bought glutinous rice in water to steam it tomorrow, then he began to mix the braised powder, grinding the twelve initial ingredients into a very fine powder.
During the process, he needed to wear a mask because the smell was strong, but Zhang Liunian didn't have one, so he just tied a piece of cloth around his mouth and nose.
By the time he had prepared all the necessary items, it was also time to deliver the goods to the food factory.
The three of them set off together again.
This time, they delivered 700 catties of lobsters and 250 catties of braised meat, which earned Zhang Liunian a total of 780 yuan.
"Zhang Liunian, wait!"
Just as he stepped out of the food factory's kitchen, Zhang Liunian heard Fang Yan's voice. He paused, turned around, and saw Fang Yan walking towards him slowly.
Fang Yan was a woman under thirty, with a delicate and lovely appearance, far from the unparalleled beauty of Jiang Qingqing.
"Director Fang, what is it?" Zhang Liunian asked proactively, seeing her walk up to him but remain silent.
Fang Yan looked at Zhang Liunian, who seemed as if nothing had happened, and hesitated for a long time before asking, "Are you alright?"
As expected, the formula was what she wanted, and his second brother was merely helping her.
Zhang Liunian raised an eyebrow, "Did you hear that I was harassed by you?"