Zhang Qiang had only just returned from Wu City when he learned that Li Long was buying big brooms.
After working with his older brother, Carpenter Zhang, at the construction site for a while, Zhang Qiang could tell at a glance that Li Long was making money for himself off a public contract.
Offering the production team's people three yuan for a big broom with a handle and two yuan fifty without one was actually a high price.
But Zhang Qiang felt certain Li Long was making plenty off the deal!
He could be making one yuan or even two on every big broom!
The reason his brother Carpenter Zhang had driven him back from Wu City was that he had been taking far too much in kickbacks.
Carpenter Zhang had subcontracted a project from the city and hired temporary workers at fifty yuan a month each, with food and lodging included.
He had put Zhang Qiang in charge of purchasing supplies, mainly staple foods and vegetables for the workers' canteen, along with miscellaneous construction supplies.
Carpenter Zhang hadn't dared let Zhang Qiang handle the major building materials. His younger brother was shortsighted and liked petty gains. Letting him manage small things was fine, but with bigger things, Carpenter Zhang feared he might ruin the project and cause trouble.
Yet he had still underestimated Zhang Qiang's capacity for grabbing petty gains. Carpenter Zhang had originally set each worker's daily food allowance at seventy fen. That might not sound like much, but seventy fen was a fair amount back then.
After all, they were cooking communal meals. Anyone who had handled catering knew that the more people ate together, the better they could eat on the same allowance. One worker couldn't eat anything particularly good on seventy fen, but if ten