No Shooting Your Mouth Off in the Village

With so many people and such an enormous workload,

problems were bound to arise.

But as long as nothing went seriously wrong, the punishment generally wasn't too severe.

It wouldn't cost anyone their job or anything like that.

For example, if thirty or fifty jin of goods were missing, there might have been a problem during weighing, or during loading.

Some might also have fallen off along the way without anyone noticing.

All sorts of things could happen.

So if something like that happened, the person responsible would be criticized and might even be fined.

But since it was an honest mistake, the work unit generally wouldn't demand full compensation or anything of the sort.

Most of the time, a token fine to teach the person a lesson was enough.

People nowadays were simple and kind, and there was still plenty of human warmth in the way they did things!

They couldn't drive someone to the brink over a minor problem.

Well, unless there was a grudge, or the person really didn't know how to behave.

Of course, to stop people from getting ideas, an occasional incident was one thing.

But if someone kept making mistakes, they would have to be investigated!

Precisely because everyone was kind and straightforward, they had even less tolerance for wrongdoing!

Their inability to accept even a hint of bad practices was the fundamental reason society's morals were so good!

The village chief said that Liang Xin was a child from their own village.

His business was the village's business.

Naturally, everyone would be extra careful when weighing and loading the goods, striving to make sure nothing went wrong!

"Uncle, sorry for the trouble."

"I'll head home first. Once I'm done, I'll come back and have a chat with you!"

"No need. You'd better hurry home and see your parents and grandparents. You've been gone so many days, they're probably worried sick!"

This time, Liang Xin merely thanked the village chief in words, without taking anything out to corrupt him.

After all, he had casually made up a story about having some very powerful relatives.

His simple, trusting coworkers had all believed him.

But if he tried to pull that on the villagers, no one in their right mind would believe him!

We've all lived together for decades. How could we not know what your family's situation is?

Where would you get such impressive relatives?

I'd say you're just shooting your mouth off!

If that happened, how embarrassing would it be?

Liang Xin finished the handover with the village chief, who had promised to help arrange everything, so he didn't linger.

He went outside and found the two men tending to the venerable oxen.

On a short-haul trip, they had to load up and haul the goods away as soon as they arrived and finished the handover.

They basically did the loading themselves.

It wasn't that their farmer brothers wouldn't help.

Their farmer brothers had their own work to do.

They had to work in the fields and earn work points to feed their families.

Medium-haul trips were a little different.

There was plenty of time to load the carts in the afternoon.

So there was no hurry.

Besides, the venerable oxen had been on the road for most of the morning, so they needed to be taken care of first.

Unharness them, feed them grass, and give them water.

The carts could stay here. There was plenty of time to load them at a leisurely pace that afternoon.

Besides, honestly, each man had just one cartload, and the ox carts couldn't carry all that much. How long could it take?

Once the carts were loaded, there was nothing more to do. Their time was their own! They could do whatever they liked!

Then they would spend the night at the village committee office, harness the venerable oxen to the loaded carts the next morning, and drive them back.

That would complete the whole job.

Come to think of it, in terms of average workload, the daily workload was actually lower than on short-haul trips.

That was one reason many people liked medium-haul work.

"Brothers, sorry, but you know I've been sick these past few days."

Liang Xin had barely begun when the two men smiled.

They knew something good was coming.

Loading the carts wasn't particularly hard work. At least, compared with the work their farmer brothers did, it was a great deal easier!

Although the two of them would have to do the work of three,

it still wasn't much.

Getting a whole pack of cigarettes for that was a good deal.

And what was more, the cigarettes he gave them were high-grade ones with filters!

They figured that if these cigarettes were sold, they would cost at least as much as Lotus cigarettes.

Forty-five fen!

At least!

From now on, they would be working with Xiao Liang for the long term. How comfortable!

It was better than working with Old Li!

They really hoped it could go on like this forever!

And better yet, that Xiao Liang could stay sick forever!

Though it was a little unkind to think that way,

that was what the two of them truly felt in their hearts!

"Xiao Liang, we know. Since you haven't recovered yet, hurry home and rest."

"And you must be homesick too, right? Go on home, go on."

The two men deftly accepted the cigarettes from Liang Xin and urged him to leave.

"Here, have one of mine."

"Xiao Liang's cigarettes really are good. Too bad we might not get to smoke them again."

"Yeah, Xiao Li's giving us three packs for one. That's a fantastic deal!"

"These do taste better, but a cigarette's a cigarette. What difference does it make what you smoke? With three packs for one, we can smoke as much as we like and even save some. How great is that!"

Liang Xin had already left, so naturally he couldn't hear their conversation.

Before they left, Li Haiyang had secretly spoken to the two men.

If Liang Xin gave them cigarettes again, and they were those high-grade export cigarettes, he was willing to trade three packs of Economy cigarettes for one when they got back!