Tercer matrimonio - Capítulo 104
If there's a sudden cold snap in spring, greenhouse vegetables are relatively safe. Even though the plastic sheeting has been taken down, it can always be quickly retrieved and replaced, minimizing losses. However, it's a different story for open-field vegetables—they only need a thin layer of film, and once it's removed this year, it can't be used again next year and has to be thrown away as garbage. Most people's plastic sheeting is currently at the town's garbage disposal station; if a cold snap occurs, they'll be devastated.
Thinking it over, maybe I should go and try to persuade a few more of my relatives tomorrow...
At four in the morning, the village was fast asleep, pitch black without a single light. The celestial dog bit off half of the crescent moon, emitting a faint, clear glow.
Qiuhe got up to urinate in the middle of the night, felt his way to the outhouse with his eyes closed, then felt his way back with his eyes still closed. When he reached the window, for some inexplicable reason, he squinted slightly to look out at the courtyard.
"Oh no, it's snowing!"
First came shouts, then barking dogs. Lights flickered on in neighboring courtyards, and many heads of households, not even having time to put on their cotton-padded coats, ran barefoot into their yards. Some, less resilient, collapsed to the ground, unable to rise, wailing and lamenting.
"Oh no, another cold snap in spring..."
The damaged bougainvillea
Li Changsheng woke up looking terrible. Xia Lin went downstairs to get the school uniform pants he'd left at his house yesterday, and soon came running upstairs: "Sis, my brother seems to have caught a cold."
Shanglin is astonished. He caught a cold? Even someone as strong as an ox like Li Changsheng can catch a cold? The weather is quite warm. Unless this kid sneaks out to play in the middle of the night, there's no way he could have caught a cold.
She went downstairs to look, puzzled. Xia Lin reminded her to wear more clothes, saying it was very cold outside.
She was even more puzzled; the weather had been getting warmer day by day since the New Year, so what was wrong today? She found her coat, put it on, and then went downstairs. The door to Changsheng's house wasn't closed properly, and as soon as she pushed it open, she was immediately chilled by the cold air.
This is practically an icebox!
Changsheng poked his head out of the bathroom, his face covered in soap suds, and squinted: "What are you doing down here?"
He was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt when he washed his face. Shanglin was stunned when he saw this: "Xialin said you have a cold..."
He quickly wiped his face a few times, nonchalantly saying, "It's nothing, I just left the window open while I was sleeping, and it's snowing outside."
Shanglin was astonished. Logically speaking, after the second day of the second lunar month, the cold snap might last for a few more days, but it shouldn't be enough to cause snow.
Changsheng's fever hadn't subsided after morning self-study, and he developed a cough. He refused to go home and rest, no matter how much we told him. We had no choice but to go to the school clinic and get some cold medicine. The school doctor was very impatient and rude. Without even taking his temperature, he immediately wanted to give him an IV drip.
Shanglin was unwilling. It wasn't a severe cold, so there was no need for an IV drip. Frequent IV drips would weaken the body's resistance.
The school doctor rolled her eyes at her. Their salaries were tied to performance; the more expensive and numerous the medicines they sold, the higher their bonuses. Theoretically speaking, whether in this life or the next, in large hospitals or small clinics, the doctors are all equally corrupt and ruthless.
During a Chinese class, someone peeked out the window, attracting the attention of the whole class. The Chinese teacher stopped lecturing and went out to inquire. After a short while, she came back in and beckoned: "Qiu Shanglin, there's an emergency at your home."
Qin Gu was waiting outside, her face full of anxiety. When she saw her come out, she grabbed her without saying a word and said, "Your teacher asked for leave. Let's go to the village first."
The vegetable company provided her with a car last year, which is parked outside the school gate.
After getting on the bus, Qiuqin's expression remained unchanged, her brows furrowed in worry. She quickly explained, "It snowed heavily last night. All the new varieties we developed were frozen and damaged. Everyone went to the two technicians to demand an explanation, and there's a commotion right now."
She asked in surprise, "Aren't there also plastic greenhouses?"
Qiuqin sighed: "That's the problem—Xiao Chen said there wouldn't be a cold snap this spring, so he told everyone to remove all the plastic sheeting. Overnight, I calculated that the direct losses in just a few neighboring villages alone reached 400,000 yuan, not to mention other places. President Cheng rushed to the Third Base this morning, and I heard that the losses there were also considerable."
When they arrived at the field, almost the entire village had turned out and were arguing around the house where the two technicians lived. The two technicians were so frightened that they hid inside the house and dared not show their faces. Xiao Chen was a strong-willed man, and his legs were weak with fear, but relying on the fact that no one could do anything to him through the door, he kept talking back, making excuses and shirking responsibility.
Shanglin didn't get off the bus. Even if she did, it wouldn't solve the problem.
The farmers suffered enormous losses, almost crippling them.
This season's new varieties weren't just a financial loss for them; the company also invested heavily. Seeds were expensive, not to mention the costs of later cultivation, fertilization, and pest control. Losing a season's worth of vegetables, along with the cost of seeds and labor, means the farmers essentially lost their entire year's income—they're certainly not going to give up easily.
Some hot-tempered men grabbed hoe handles and charged toward the door.
She thought for a moment and then instructed, "Go and tell everyone that we will return the money for this season's vegetable seeds to them at the original price, and each household will be compensated for a certain amount of their losses. We will make sure that no one suffers a loss."
Qiuqin was shocked; "How can that be? Our company has already invested so much in the early stages. Nobody wants this kind of natural disaster to happen, but when it does, it's a huge sum of money. The company doesn't have many expenses on its books; almost all of them have been invested in this new product."
She hesitated, then said, "There's more, there's more..."
"Just say what you have to say," Shang Lin said calmly.
“I always felt that our company placed too much emphasis on technical personnel, which was actually a bad thing. This incident proves that the technical personnel interfered too much in agricultural matters. In fact, many people have told me that Xiao Chen and his team’s work methods are too simplistic and crude, and they do not respect the vegetable farmers… This is not only the case in Qiujia Village, but also in other places.”
Shang Lin nodded: "Let's solve the immediate problem first. We can't just watch it escalate into a riot. It's okay for the company to suffer some losses, but we can't let the farmers suffer big losses—the farmers are the foundation of our business, and if we harm their fundamental interests, we'll lose the support of the people in the future."
After a moment's thought, he said, "I'll transfer the money to the company account this afternoon. You and Cheng Chong calculate the losses, and if all else fails, we can sell the land we bought the year before last."
Qiuqin was shocked: "But that piece of land..."
“There have been rumors lately that a chemical plant is going to be built nearby. Once the plant is built, the land will be essentially useless, so it’s better to sell it sooner rather than later.” She didn’t feel any regret. In recent years, for the sake of the company’s development, she has sold more than one or two plots of land, and to be honest, she was heartbroken.
The land will have to wait another ten years—no, five.
The price could increase at least fivefold, at which point her assets would be astronomical, more than she could ever count. However, time waits for no one. The company needed to expand, she needed to do charity work, build a primary school, and support impoverished students... Having been given a second chance at life, she had to try things she couldn't do before.
The sudden drop in temperature caused losses far exceeding their expectations. Shanglin had to use one of his savings accounts to cover the losses. However, it later proved that their approach was correct. In recent years, several companies have followed Bougainvillea's example, leasing land and signing purchase contracts with farmers. However, they completely shirked responsibility for this natural disaster, remaining indifferent as the farmers suffered heavy losses.
Ultimately, they lost the trust of these vegetable farmers.
But that's a story for later. To put it simply, Shanglin didn't get out of the car; she had the driver take her directly back to school. It was nearly noon, and the students were all having lunch.
As soon as she entered the school gate, she heard some shocking news—
Ji Yunwen knocked Li Changsheng unconscious!
She circled the school for a long time but couldn't find Li Changsheng or Qiu Xialin. No one could even tell her clearly where they had gone.
Just as he was getting angry, Wang Wei walked by with his head down, and Shang Lin grabbed him: "Where's Qiu Xia Lin?"
Wang Wei looked up and saw it was her, and was taken aback: "Shanglin..."
She asked impatiently, "Where is Qiu Xialin?"
They're birds of a feather, conspiring together in evil. Wherever Li Changsheng is, Qiu Xialin is sure to be there, and within five steps of Qiu Xialin, you can always find Wang Wei. Shanglin never doubted the cohesion of their small group.
Wang Wei stammered, "Sis...actually...it's not Changsheng's fault, really, it's not his fault..."
Shanglin angrily demanded, "Where exactly is he?" She planned to grab him by the collar and force him to confess if he continued to remain silent.
Wang Wei pointed timidly: "Men's restroom."
The basic school buildings of No. 5 Middle School were poorly constructed, but the toilets were exceptionally luxurious, a stark contrast to the dilapidated dormitory buildings. The three-story building was covered in dark red tiles, and even the corridor railings were intricately carved. As Shang Lin listened to Wang Wei's fragmented account of the events, his gaze swept over Li Changsheng's thin but prominent shoulders, and then he saw several of his classmates supporting Ji Yunwen behind him. Ji Yunwen looked like a wilted eggplant, with blood still lingering at the corner of his mouth, a testament to the force of Xia Lin's punch.
After the second break, the school suspended morning exercises for some reason. Changsheng wasn't feeling well and rested on his desk. Ji Yunwen asked someone to tell him to meet him at the parallel bars on the playground. The parallel bars were in the most secluded corner of the playground, separated from the vast farmland outside by only a not-so-high wall. At that time, many people were playing basketball on the basketball court, but there was no one near the parallel bars.
According to eyewitness accounts, when Li Changsheng reached the parallel bars, Ji Yunwen was already sitting on them, and they exchanged a few words, one at the higher end and the other at the lower end. Later, Li Changsheng leaped onto the parallel bars, and the two spoke face-to-face—note the detail: their knees were touching, appearing very close.
Later, Ji Yunwen pushed Li Changsheng off the parallel bars, and Li Changsheng fell heavily onto the uneven, gravelly ground, his elbow bleeding.
Later, during the lunch break, by sheer coincidence, Qiu Xialin and Ji Yunwen bumped into each other in the restroom. Enraged, Qiu Xialin punched Ji Yunwen, slamming him against the corridor railing. The two fought fiercely, and only by moving Li Changsheng, the imposing figure, could they finally be separated.
Ji Yunwen was quite skilled, ranking in the top ten of the school's one-on-one fighting leaderboard. Unfortunately, he was up against Qiu Xialin, who never minded using underhanded tricks and tripping him up, and with a group of his buddies pretending to break up the fight but actually taking sides, Ji Yunwen was bound to suffer losses.
Xia Lin helped Chang Sheng up, who was engrossed in lecturing him. Neither of them noticed Qiu Shang Lin watching them from a short distance away. Ji Yunwen, on the other hand, pushed through the crowd, fiercely wiped his mouth, and strode up to her, his face contorted with rage.
"It's either me or them, it's either them or me, the choice is yours!"
Looking at his changed expression, Shanglin felt a deep sense of helplessness welling up inside him.
How did things turn out this way between them? They were so harmonious, so happy, and so carefree together... She blamed herself. If it weren't for her, Ji Yunwen would still be a simple high school student, perhaps arrogant, perhaps domineering, perhaps a little haughty, but he would never have turned into the ferocious person he is today.
Changsheng and Xia Lin also looked over. Changsheng's body was still weak, leaning on Xia Lin's shoulder, but his back was still straight. His lower lip was tightly pursed, and his slightly raised chin made him look particularly resolute.
Xia Lin's expression was somewhat complicated. She was indignant, worried, and a little guilty, avoiding Shang Lin's gaze.
She sighed deeply in her heart.
Her head was slightly lowered, her fair and delicate face turning bluish-white from the cold weather. Her long eyelashes fluttered, casting tired shadows below her eyes.
"Xia Lin, take your brother to the hospital."
Ignoring Ji Yunwen's shock and disbelief, she walked to Li Changsheng's side, took his other arm, and the three of them slowly left under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
Ji Yunwen stared wide-eyed at their retreating figures. Li Changsheng turned around and glanced at him.
It's hard to say how much meaning was contained in that glance. Was it mockery? Relief? Sympathy for the loser? Pity? Or the arrogance of victory?