Popular Support
When Yu Bing saw that so many people had been implicated, she knew that she definitely couldn’t fool them anymore, so she picked up her certificate and handed it over. “Mr. Wang, this is my identification.”
After Mr. Wang took the certificate, he looked at Yu Bing suspiciously. “You’re the director of a food factory?”
Yu Bing stood upright in front of the village chief Mr. Wang and stared straight back as she said with a nod, “Our factory needs a lot of flour, but the flour factory doesn’t have enough flour at the moment. In order to increase production, we can only buy some more in private.”
“There was excess flour at Mr. Wang’s house, so we thought that we might as well ask Mr. Wang to help us collect more. I know that your village’s flour production is very high. If you report me, the villagers involved will be arrested together, so why don’t we cooperate?!”
!!
historical
After Xiao Sheng finished speaking, he took a few steps forward and smiled at the villagers kindly. “Do you still have any excess flour at home? If you do, our food factory will accept it. You don’t have to go out to the black market to trade. It’s so dangerous. We’re offering you guys direct service now.”
Everyone just came to watch the commotion, but when they heard this, they couldn’t help but whisper.
“My eldest son is preparing to get married, but the girl said that she wants a 200 yuan betrothal gift and a sewing machine. These can’t be bought without 300 to 500 yuan. We haven’t even gathered enough money for the wedding banquet. We were worrying about how to get the money.”
“Who doesn’t worry about money? If we can exchange flour for money, it’s worth it even if we have to eat coarse grain! Otherwise, if we encounter a headache or fever, we won’t even be willing to go to the village’s medical center to buy prescribed medicine.”
“The supply companies only offer 0.16 yuan a catty. I wonder how much they will offer?”
“I won’t sell it at this price. Let the village chief report them!”
Some people were bold enough to ask directly, “How much will you pay per catty?”
Seeing this, Mr. Wang immediately shouted, “What are you shouting for?! What do you guys want to do? Are you all trying to get caught?”
Xiao Sheng ignored the village chief and replied, “0.26 yuan!”
“My family can gather 50 pounds!”
“My family can sell 60 pounds!”
… .
Upon hearing this price, the villagers who were short of money became excited and emboldened. With people taking the lead, the remaining people naturally began to feel tempted as well.
Everyone was afraid of poverty. Although the village’s production wasn’t bad, they couldn’t exchange it for money. Everyone’s hearts ached when they sold the food that they had worked hard to plant at such a low price.
Some chose to announce the number loudly, while others whispered to each other.
“This price is not bad. My family can gather 100 pounds to sell!”
“Although I’m tempted, I’m afraid of getting arrested.”
“The law doesn’t punish the masses. We didn’t do anything outrageous. How can they arrest the entire village? If they really dare to arrest us all, we’ll kill those people from the Commerce Bureau and say that they want to force us to our deaths and won’t give us a way out. We’ll cry at the entrance of the county government!”
“That’s right. In the future, if you don’t have money for treatment, go to the cadres’ houses. If they won’t let us earn any money, they should give us money when we need it!”
When the village chief heard these words, he was so angry that he turned around and glared at Xiao Sheng. “Stop enticing the people in the village to do illegal things!”
Xiao Sheng pursed his lips and restrained the amusement in his eyes. “This is called popular support. Besides, we’re not going to the black market to trade. We’ll go straight back to the food factory to produce the goods. Don’t worry, it’s very safe!”
Seeing that the situation was completely different from what she had imagined, Lin Bi panicked and shouted at everyone, “What do you guys want to do? You guys actually want to break the law with them?! If you guys dare to cover up for them, I’ll report you guys. I’ll go to the commune to the county! I don’t believe they’ll turn a blind eye!”
A woman about the same age as Lin Bi stood up. “Lin Bi, stop causing trouble here! Resolve the internal conflicts in your Wang family yourself. If you dare to implicate us, we’ll make sure your family can’t survive in the village!”
“That’s right! It’s your business if your family doesn’t sell it, but if you dare to stab us in the back, I’ll be the first to punish you!”
Those who wanted to sell flour all criticized Lin Bi.