Volume 4: The World of Great Conflict Chapter 0465: The Bottom Line of a Businessman
"Uncle Yaohua, what's the matter?"
Nan Yi was chewing a roasted lamb egg when the school beauty handed him the phone.
"Nan Yi, an acquaintance of mine has had some problems in Xiangkeng. Can you please arrange for someone to go and help?"
"How big of a deal?"
"It's nothing, actually. My acquaintance swam over there and worked on a construction site for three months. On the day when he was supposed to get his salary, the uniformed police came to arrest him. As a result, he didn't get paid and now he has no money to eat."
"Oh, I just want money, Uncle Yaohua, is there a phone number I can call?"
"Yes, he left me a public phone number. I don't know if I can get through." Xian Yaohua said.
"Then call him now. If he can get to Temple Street in two hours, just ask him to come over now and take a taxi. I will pay for him."
"Nan Yi, are you in Xiangkeng?"
"Yes, I have something to do. I will be leaving in two days."
"Okay, I'll call now."
"Well, that's it for now."
After Nan Yi hung up the phone, Nan Ruoyin handed him two skewers of roasted pig eyes, "Dad, try it, it's delicious. Once you bite it, the eyeballs will burst out and bounce in your mouth."
"You did it on purpose. You didn't order the normal things, but ordered roasted lamb eggs, lamb kidneys, and roasted pig eyes. Tell me, did you order anything more bizarre?" Nan Yi took the roasted pig eyes, stuffed two of them into his mouth, chewed them, and said.
"I also ordered roasted pig brain and roasted silkworm pupae. Dad, here are pig tails. Do you want some?"
"You can order whatever you want, but pig tails are not as delicious as your tails. Come over here and let daddy take a bite. Let me see if you want some chili."
Nan Yi opened his mouth covered with seasoning and pounced towards Nan Ruoyin in a scary manner.
Nan Ruoyin's little hand rested on Nan Yi's chin, giggling, the father and daughter ate while making noises, having a great time. The two of them didn't eat very fast, just now Xian Yaorong called again, saying that his acquaintance had come to Temple Street.
After finishing the barbecue, Nan Yi ordered two servings of double skin milk. When the dessert was served, a middle-aged man walked towards their table stiffly.
"Nan Yi?"
"I am, are you Uncle Tugen?" Nan Yi asked as he stood up from his seat.
"Yes, yes, I am Huang Tugen. Yaohua asked me to come here." Huang Tugen nodded hurriedly.
While speaking, his eyes unconsciously glanced at the leftovers on the table.
Nan Yi saw this and carefully observed Huang Tugen's face. He was covered in sweat and his cheeks were flushed, probably because he had been running. His eye sockets were sunken and he looked a little pale, probably because he hadn't eaten for a few meals.
"Uncle Tugen, the Jidi porridge next door tastes great. I was just about to order a few bowls to eat. You haven't eaten yet, right? Let's eat together."
"No, no, no, I've eaten." Huang Tugen swallowed and said politely.
"Eat a little more even if you've already eaten. It would be embarrassing for you to just stand by and watch us while we eat." Nan Yi said as he called the waiter from the barbecue restaurant over and asked him to go next door and order six bowls of Jidi porridge and a few bottles of beer.
After a while, the guy came over with a few bottles of San Miguel beer, which were chilled and at just the right temperature.
Nan Yi didn't even need a bottle opener. He pinched the bottle cap with three fingers and pulled it up to open it. He picked up the upside-down glass on the table and poured a glass for Huang Tugen first. "Drink a glass first to moisten your throat."
Huang Tugen looked at the light yellow, cold beer in the cup and couldn't help but gulp it down again. He looked up at Nan Yi, then hurriedly picked up the glass and gulped it all down.
Nan Yi poured him another glass of wine, then took a new glass and poured himself one.
"Uncle Tugen, how many people are working on the construction site with you?"
"Six. We came here together."
"Where do you live now?"
"In a dilapidated house in Sham Shui Po."
"Besides farming ?" Nan Yi asked.
"I can do a little carpentry work. I've also worked as a bricklayer and repaired bridges before."
"What kind of bridge? A stone bridge? A reinforced concrete bridge? Or a steel structure?"
"Stone Arch Bridge."
"Oh, Uncle Tugen has ever been to school?"
“I went to primary school for three years.”
"Uncle Tugen, judging from your accent, you should be from Yanzhou, right?"
"From Oura."
"Oh, Yangcheng and Shencun are actually pretty good now , why are you still going to Xiangkeng?"
"A third child was born earlier this year."
"Being punished?"
"Quite a lot." Huang Tugen said calmly.
"Oh, tell me about working at the construction site. Why is it such a coincidence that uniformed police officers come to check on you on the day you are supposed to get paid?"
"We were introduced by someone who came here with us. The boss of that construction site was quite friendly. He would even make soup for us during meals. However, he was not very quick with the salary payment. It was originally agreed that he would pay us once a month, but he kept delaying it. Finally, he said that he would pay us on the day the work was completed. As a result..."
Nan Yi understood as soon as he heard it. How could such a coincidence happen? This was obviously a setup. The contractor of the construction site clearly didn't want to pay the workers.
"What's the name of the boss at the construction site?"
"Ye Chengcai."
“Where is the construction site?”
"On the edge of Diamond Hill, near Po Kong Village."
"Village house?"
"It's a village house. Five or six of them were built together. When we went there, the frame was already completed. We mainly did the interior decoration."
"Well, how many days did Ye Chengcai promise to give you?"
"I am considered a master chef and I get paid 80 yuan. The others are considered laborers and I get paid 45 yuan a day."
"Then the other people will get 5,000 for three months, and you will get 8,000, a total of 33,000. I will help you get your wages back, and I will charge you 3,000 as a commission."
Nan Yi said as he took out a stack of 500 Hong Kong dollars from his pocket, counted out 60 of them, and placed them on the table closest to Huang Tugen. "Here's the money, I'll take care of the rest."
Huang Tugen looked at the money on the table, then looked at Nan Yi, then looked down at the money again. After hesitating for a while, he pushed the money to Nan Yi and said, "I can't take this money. We won't get our wages back. Just lend me 2,000 yuan first. After we have food to eat, we can go out and find a job. I'll pay you back as soon as we get paid."
Huang Tugen didn't receive many years of education, but he still knew how to calculate wages. The total wages of the six of them were only about 27,000 yuan. Nan Yi on the opposite side said that he would take 3,000 yuan as a kickback from them, but in fact he paid out 3,000 yuan in advance, obviously out of pity for Xian Yaorong's sake.
"Uncle Tugen, just take it. Just because you can't get your wages doesn't mean I can't get them. Don't worry, I will definitely not lose money. I will go find the Ye Chengcai you mentioned. Not only can I get your wages, but he will also have to pay for my errands."
"Can you really get it?"
"Really? I still have some energy in Xiangkeng, so this little thing is no problem. Let's eat, no more talk. The porridge is here, let's drink it."
As Nan Yi was speaking , he happened to see a waiter from the shop next door coming over with a tray containing several bowls of Jidi porridge. He stopped talking and helped the waiter to bring out the bowls of porridge, placing one bowl next to the loess.
"Uncle Tugen, you go first. You probably haven't eaten for several meals. Drink something liquid first to fill your stomach, otherwise it will hurt your stomach."
Nan Yi could only say this now, and not when he placed the order just now. If he said it then, it would hurt Huang Tugen's self-esteem. But it was different now. The two of them had already started chatting, and they were no longer so guarded in their hearts, and they were not so distant.
Nan Yi once went hungry and hadn't eaten for three and a half days. He had to rely on drinking water from the public toilet to fill his stomach, but he never thought of accepting charity from others. He would rather look for food in the trash can when he couldn't bear it anymore.
The first egg tart he ate came from a trash can.
According to Nan Yi's opinion, it is understandable to use some tricks and do some despicable things in business. The business world is a place where people eat each other, and no good person can survive.
But no matter what, there should be some bottom line. We cannot bully the poor and we cannot deny others the money they need to live.
Nan Yi has decided to take care of Huang Tugen's matter. He wants to deal with that guy named Ye Chengcai. No matter what reason Ye Chengcai has for doing this, Nan Yi will teach him a lesson.
