PFC Chapter 510 Are you sure it was yesterday?
Chapter 510 Are you sure it was yesterday?
The opportunity came quickly. Two nights later, someone else came to scout the location.
This time, Li Xiangyang was smarter. He didn't alert the other party but instead secretly followed them.
On a dark and windy night, Li Xiangyang followed two shadowy figures silently, like a cheetah.
These two were clearly much more cautious than the three Ma Youtians from last time. They circled the purchasing station several times, observing the terrain and taking precautions.
"The security bars are installed quite securely, making it difficult to break in," one of them said in a low voice.
"The boss said if all else fails, just set this place on fire and burn it down," another said menacingly.
Upon hearing this, Li Xiangyang was startled. Arson? That's far more serious than theft!
He held his breath and continued eavesdropping.
"Arson is too dangerous, what if we get caught..."
"What's there to be afraid of? It's all because that Li Xiangyang is ungrateful and stole the boss's business. The town's mountain produce business originally belonged to the boss, but now this kid has messed it up."
“So what do we do now?”
"Go back and report first, and see what the boss says."
As the two finished speaking and were about to leave, Li Xiangyang quickly retreated into the shadows.
Once they were out of sight, Li Xiangyang quietly followed.
The two walked all the way to the town and finally entered a courtyard that looked very grand.
Li Xiangyang hid outside the wall and could only hear voices coming from inside.
"Mr. Ma, we've already scouted the place. The purchasing station is heavily guarded; it's difficult to make a move."
Boss Ma? Li Xiangyang frowned. He knew a few bosses with the surname Ma in the town, but the one with the most power to do business in mountain products was Fatty Ma, Ma Qingfu.
"Useless!" a gruff voice came from inside. "You can't even handle this simple task, what use are you?"
"Mr. Ma, please calm down. How about we just send a few people to smash up that recycling station?"
"What are you smashing? Things are tense right now. The county is cracking down on market order. Do you want to push me into a fire pit?" Ma Qingfu lowered his voice. "Let me tell you, this Li Xiangyang is no simple man. I heard he has connections with people in the Forestry Bureau."
Li Xiangyang sneered inwardly; as expected, it was Fatty Ma who was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Ma Qingfu opened a mountain produce purchasing point in the town, monopolizing the business in several surrounding villages and driving down prices, leaving the villagers angry but unable to speak out. Since Li Xiangyang's purchasing station opened, offering fair prices, many villagers have switched to delivering their produce to him.
"So, what does the boss mean?"
"First, find a way to ruin his reputation so that no one dares to do business with him," Ma Qingfu said sinisterly. "Spread rumors that his purchasing station uses cheating scales, which is why he pays high prices."
"Will this move work?"
"Of course it's possible. If one or two people cause trouble, others might not believe it, but if a lot of people do it, it might not have much impact on old customers, but what about new customers?"
Li Xiangyang gritted his teeth as he listened, never expecting that this Fatty Ma to be so insidious.
Just as I was about to hear more about the specific plan, the dog in the yard suddenly started barking.
"Woof woof woof!"
"There are people outside!" Ma Qingfu said alertly.
Li Xiangyang dared not linger and quickly left quietly.
It was already past midnight when they returned to the village. Li Xiangyang was furious, but he knew that what he had just heard was not enough to convict Ma Qingfu.
Back at the purchasing station, Li Xiangyang did not immediately tell Wang Ergou the news he had overheard.
He knew in his heart that a seasoned veteran like Ma Qingfu must have a backup plan. The most important thing now was to wait and see and let the other party make the first move.
Sure enough, some people came to cause trouble the next afternoon.
A tall, thin middle-aged man led two men who looked like villagers into the purchasing station with an aggressive air.
"Is Mr. Li here?" the tall, thin man shouted. "We're here to settle the accounts!"
Zhang Weiping, who was organizing the goods, quickly went up to them: "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"
"What's going on?" The tall, thin man slammed the weight on the scale. "Your purchasing station uses a cheating scale! My family's mountain produce clearly weighs five jin, but it's only three jin here!"
Zhang Weiping looked bewildered: "Brother, this is impossible, our scales are all standard..."
"Standard my foot!" another villager yelled. "I brought ten pounds of dried mushrooms yesterday, and you only weighed six pounds! Isn't that cheating people?"
The purchasing station was immediately abuzz with discussion, and the villagers who were queuing up all stopped to watch the spectacle.
Li Xiangyang came out of the inner room and looked calmly at the three men: "Gentlemen, let's talk things over slowly. Which village are you from? Who weighed your goods yesterday?"
Seeing Li Xiangyang emerge, the tall, thin man became even more confident: "I'm Liu Datou from Donghe Village. Yesterday, that little girl surnamed Zhao weighed the mushrooms for me."
"Zhao Xiuying?" Li Xiangyang's heart skipped a beat. Zhao Xiuying was still in the county town taking care of her mother and hadn't returned at all. "Are you sure it was yesterday?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Liu Datou said matter-of-factly. "It was yesterday afternoon when I brought ten pounds of dried mushrooms, and she only weighed out six pounds for me!"
The villagers watching nearby began to whisper among themselves:
"No way, Mr. Li has always been quite fair..."
"That's hard to say. When business gets big, people start thinking about ripping people off..."
"You're right. From now on, when I sell things, I'll have to weigh them at home."
Li Xiangyang listened to the murmurs and sneered inwardly. Ma Qingfu's tactic was indeed insidious; he deliberately chose to cause trouble when Zhao Xiuying was not present, making it impossible for anyone to confront him.
“Alright,” Li Xiangyang said calmly, “since you say there’s something wrong with our scales, let’s verify them in front of everyone.”
He turned to Zhang Weiping and said, "Go and bring out all our scales, and calibrate them in front of everyone using standard weights."
Liu Datou's expression changed slightly: "You... what do you mean by this?"
"What do you mean? Prove your innocence, I guess." Li Xiangyang smiled. "If our scale is truly faulty, we'll not only refund the price difference but also provide double compensation. But if there's no problem..."
He looked at Liu Datou, his tone turning cold and sharp: "Then we need to thoroughly investigate who is spreading rumors and slandering us."
Zhang Weiping quickly brought over several scales and a set of standard weights. Li Xiangyang had specially bought these from the county to avoid any disputes.
“Come on, everyone watch,” Li Xiangyang said, picking up a one-pound weight and placing it on the scale. The pointer accurately pointed to the one-pound mark.
He then tried weights of five jin and ten jin, and without exception, they were all accurate.
The villagers who were watching whispered among themselves:
"The scale is fine..."
"Then what's the story with these people?"
Seeing the situation was turning sour, Liu Datou tried to argue, "You must have switched the scales at the last minute! We weren't using this one yesterday! Just because it's fine now doesn't mean it wasn't a problem yesterday. Seeing me make a scene, of course you wouldn't dare to do anything tricky now."
That makes sense, but the guy has a bad reputation. Someone in the crowd recognized him: "I know him! He's a good-for-nothing from Donghe Village, always running errands. He wouldn't have time to pick mushrooms!"
"Yes, yes, I've seen him before. He was arrested for theft a few years ago!"
……