*Chapter 93: At the End of One’s Rope, Yet a Path Appears (Part 1)*
Hanging up the phone, Hou Weidong felt a deep sense of unease. It was unsettling to think that gentle and innocent Xiaojia could speak directly with the Vice Mayor of Shazhou City, while he remained stuck in the remote mountains of Shangqinglin, struggling in obscurity. This disparity weighed heavily on his mind. Standing on the main street of Yiyang, he felt momentarily lost, unsure of which direction to take. It was only then that he realized he had forgotten to tell Xiaojia about the over one hundred thousand yuan he had earned from the quarry.
He tried calling her again, but she had already left her office.
Back at the hotel, Zeng Xiangang’s door was still closed. Hou Weidong knocked several times before hearing any movement from inside.
When the door finally opened, Zeng Xiangang poked his head out, his hair a mess and his eyes heavy with sleep. Hou Weidong suddenly remembered the phone call from the previous night and chuckled. “Director Zeng, you must have had another lively night. You really need to take care of your health.”
Zeng Xiangang poured himself a glass of water and took a large gulp, seemingly waking up fully. He said, “A young woman came looking for me last night. Hey, hey, the girls from the countryside are just different—generous, enthusiastic, with skin as smooth as silk.” He checked his watch and suggested, “Mad Dog, since we have nothing to do today, why don’t we go to Shazhou and have a proper time?”
Looking at Zeng Xiangang’s high spirits, Hou Weidong teased, “Director Zeng, living up to your background as a stonemason, you certainly have incredible stamina. But you should pace yourself. Enjoy life by savoring it slowly.”
Zeng Xiangang laughed along. “It’s damn satisfying. No wonder everyone wants to be rich.”
Hou Weidong had originally planned to return to Shazhou, but since Xiaojia was busy, the trip would lack its purpose. Returning to Wu Hai County would take seven hours round trip, which was exhausting. So, he said, “Let’s go back to Shangqinglin. The Sha-Yi Highway project is about to start. We need to gather the workers from Yinggang Quarry for a meal and begin preparing materials from the day after tomorrow. If we don’t prepare now, we’ll be caught off guard later.”
Only then did Zeng Xiangang turn his attention to serious matters. Sitting on the bed with his legs crossed, he thought to himself, “Yinggang Quarry’s output is fixed. When the Sha-Yi Highway demands a massive amount of stone, one quarry won’t be enough. I need to start work on my own small quarry as well.”
Hou Weidong and Zeng Xiangang were thinking along the same lines. He said, “I’ve opened another quarry at Goubewan. You need to hurry and develop the quarry on your back mountain too. The Sha-Yi Highway will require an enormous amount of stone. We must run at full capacity to ensure we can supply enough.”
Relieved, Zeng Xiangang said, “I’ll start preparing as soon as I get back.”
Hou Weidong reminded him, “You still need to handle the relevant paperwork for your small quarry. Having complete documentation will make it easier to deal with large companies.”
Zeng Xiangang didn’t say anything more, and the two dropped the topic to discuss how much money Yinggang Quarry needed to invest and how much material to prepare.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, October arrived. During these few months, several things had happened:
Duan Ying was successfully transferred to the Yiyang Newspaper, becoming a journalist. In an effort to report on Qinglin Town, she went deep into Shangqinglin but failed to meet Hou Weidong. Yang Xinchun, who worked at the postal agency, left a message for Hou Weidong on his pager. Hou Weidong did not respond.
Ren Lindu, whom Hou Weidong had met at the Party School, smoothly assumed the position of Secretary of the Youth League Committee in Lishan Town.
Liu Kun had also been busy during this period. Since County Magistrate Li was in charge of transportation, and it was a year of heavy transportation construction, there was a great deal of work. Liu Kun followed Magistrate Li, working until he was dizzy with exhaustion. However, due to the limited positions in the County Government Office, Liu Kun’s title did not change.
Hou Weidong, exiled to Shangqinglin, had grown increasingly indifferent to his career prospects. During this time, Xiaojia performed excellently in her role as Deputy Director of the Construction Commission Office. In mid-August, she had accompanied Director Xing of the Construction Commission to Yiyang County. Secretary Zhu and County Magistrate Ma personally hosted the reception, and the atmosphere was jovial. Due to the tight schedule, Xiaojia only left a message on Hou Weidong’s Chinese pager, and the two did not meet.
What troubled Xiaojia most was the intense pursuit launched by Bu Gao, the son of Vice Mayor Bu. His advances were becoming increasingly aggressive, showing no sign of stopping until he achieved his goal.
Bu Gao graduated from Fudan University and was a few years older than Hou Weidong, having just turned thirty. He was an arrogant yet talented young man. After working for several years at a first-class construction company in Lingxi Province, he struck out on his own and became the boss of a small construction firm. He had extended his reach into the Shazhou construction market, expanding rapidly. By chance, he had met Zhang Xiaojia when she had just started working at the Construction Commission Office. Love at first sight led him to pursue her relentlessly.
Xiaojia had decisively rejected Bu Gao’s advances, clearly stating that she had a boyfriend and was only willing to remain ordinary friends with him.
Zhao Xiaojun, the son of Qinglin Town Party Secretary Zhao Yongsheng, had used Gao Zhiyuan’s connections to get assigned to the Construction Commission, working as a regular staff member in the Engineering Section. When he first arrived, Zhang Xiaojia had found opportunities to reprimand him twice. This left Zhao Xiaojun frustrated and bewildered. By a rare coincidence, he learned that Zhang Xiaojia’s boyfriend worked at the Qinglin Town Government. Understanding the situation, he complained bitterly to his father.
Zhao Xiaojun was the only university graduate in the Zhao family and the apple of his mother’s eye. Hearing that he had suffered grievances at the Shazhou Construction Commission because of Hou Weidong, he scolded Zhao Yongsheng severely.
Over the past six months, Zhao Yongsheng had continued his fierce rivalry with Qin Feiyue, each displaying their skills with mixed results. Gradually, Zhao Yongsheng realized that Hou Weidong was not a staunch subordinate of Qin Feiyue; his primary interest lay in running the quarry.
After careful consideration, Zhao Yongsheng found an opportunity to visit Dushi Village and share a few drinks with Hou Weidong. At the dinner table, emboldened by alcohol, Zhao Yongsheng said, “Hou Weidong, you’ve done well in Shangqinglin this year. Facts prove you are a good comrade. Starting tomorrow, your position as Deputy Head of the Working Group will be restored. If you wish to come down the mountain, you can submit a request to the organization.”
At this time, the construction of the Sha-Yi Highway had just entered its peak. Because the stone from Shangqinglin was of the highest quality and had the lowest mining cost, the crushed stone from Shangqinglin was one yuan cheaper per cubic meter than that from the Luopan Quarry in Yiyang, and its quality was superior. Therefore, the crushed stone for the Sha-Yi Highway mainly came from Qinglin Mountain. Once construction proceeded normally, the daily demand for slab stone and crushed stone was enormous. Yinggang Quarry, Goubewan Quarry, Zeng Family Quarry, Qin Family Quarry (opened by Qin Dajiang), the small quarry opened by Tian Dadao, and the quarries opened by Xi Zhaoyong and several others all operated at full capacity, barely managing to meet the stone supply.
The largest quarry was the Goubewan Quarry, independently run by Hou Weidong. It adopted a terraced mining model, an experience Hou Weidong gained after visiting a large quarry in Shazhou City. Other small quarries used a vertical mining method, with working faces that were high and steep.
At this point, Hou Weidong’s attention was entirely focused on the quarry. The position of Deputy Head of the Working Group held no attraction for him. However, Zhao Yongsheng was the Party Secretary of Qinglin Town, the biggest local power broker. Since the local power broker had sent a signal of reconciliation, Hou Weidong accepted the offer without hesitation. He stated, “Secretary Zhao, thank you for the organization’s trust in me. I believe one should rise from where one falls. May I stay in Shangqinglin for now, work hard, and do more practical things for the people?”
Hou Weidong currently had no official power or authority, and it seemed he had no intention of seeking promotion. As the saying goes, “Those who desire nothing are invincible.” Even if Zhao Yongsheng wanted to target him, he had few means left. Having received the task from his son and wife, he had been somewhat worried. Seeing that Hou Weidong was a sensible person who understood the situation and had a broad mind, Zhao Yongsheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
What worried Hou Weidong most was the matter of the quarry. Every day, trucks shuttled in and out of Shangqinglin to haul stone. Logically, the bosses of the Shangqinglin quarries should have been happy. However, the Sha-Yi Highway project adopted a method where the quarry bosses fully advanced the funds. After a round of construction boom, all one hundred and sixty thousand yuan Hou Weidong had controlled had been invested, leaving him with no cash on hand, while there was still no sign of the project payments.
On October 19th, several quarry bosses gathered in the old courtyard in Shangqinglin to discuss how to resolve this issue. As a founding figure of the quarry industry and the owner of the largest quarry, Goubewan, Hou Weidong naturally became the core of the group.
“Mad Dog, what can we do? If the Transportation Bureau doesn’t pay, the quarries will have to stop production.” Tian Dadao had scraped together over thirty thousand yuan to open a small quarry, hoping to ride the wave of the Sha-Yi Highway construction and get rich quickly. Who knew that after a few months, all the borrowed money was used up, and he still owed over forty thousand yuan in electricity bills, water fees, land compensation, land occupation fees, and wages. The villagers working at the quarry threatened to quit if they didn’t get paid.
Zeng Xiangang, who had over one hundred thousand yuan in assets a few months ago, had a quarry on his back mountain that was slightly smaller than Yinggang Quarry, ranking third among all quarries in Shangqinglin. To make more money, the Zeng Family Quarry had operated at full capacity, shipping out more stone than Yinggang Quarry. Therefore, his investment was relatively larger. Now, aside from the profits on paper, his family was penniless. He hadn’t tasted pork for a month. Fortunately, his family’s pond still held hundreds of jin of fish; otherwise, he would have gone a month without meat. Having had the previous experience of collecting debts, he felt more at ease. He sat aside smoking while the others complained bitterly.
To open his quarry, Qin Dajiang had borrowed ten thousand yuan from Hou Weidong and taken out a loan of twenty thousand yuan. These thirty thousand yuan disappeared like a clay ox thrown into the sea. He had borrowed from all his relatives and friends to scrape together another twenty thousand yuan, which also vanished quickly as the project progressed.
Slapping the table, he said, “The Transportation Bureau is too domineering. How can they handle things like this? Let’s unite and stop supplying them with stone. Let them come begging to us.”
Tian Dadao chimed in, “If they piss me off, I’ll blow up their office with some explosives.”
Xi Zhaoyong, lacking courage, spoke up, “Nonsense. If you blow up the Transportation Bureau, who will we ask for money?”
Hou Weidong, the youngest, was the most calm. He said, “Say less. Don’t speak in anger at a time like this. If we strain our relationship with the Transportation Bureau, do we still want to do business in the future? Let’s talk about practical solutions.”
Qin Dajiang looked miserable. He said, “We can’t afford to drag this on. Mad Dog, let’s go to Director Zeng of the Transportation Bureau together and explain our actual situation. We need to get some money, no matter how little.”
Everyone agreed with Qin Dajiang’s proposal. Hou Weidong feared that if these men went to the Transportation Bureau, their anxiety might lead them to speak rashly and ruin a good opportunity. He specifically warned, “We can see Director Zeng, but we must be polite and restrained. We cannot offend him. Tian Dadao, either don’t go, or don’t speak. Your foul mouth makes your words too harsh. Besides Shangqinglin, Luopan Mountain in Yiyang County also produces stone. Although their quality is inferior to ours, it is usable. If we really offend Director Zeng, the trouble will be great.”
Hou Weidong called Director Zhu to make contact. Director Zhu then reported to Director Zeng, and they agreed to meet the following afternoon.
On the phone, Director Zhu could not explicitly state it, but Director Zeng’s attitude was clear: proceed according to the original agreement. If they didn’t work, there would be no future cooperation.