Chapter 848: Suspicion of Gloating

This trip to the county seat, besides picking up glass, Wang An also needed to order another batch of bricks from the brick factory.

The current situation was that not only did Wang Li's family not have enough bricks, and Mu Xueli's family not have enough bricks, but even Wang An's own family had run out.

The first two families lacked bricks because they were building their houses larger.

As for Wang An's family, it was because the courtyard was too large and the perimeter walls were too long; after finishing all the houses, livestock pens, and fish ponds, there weren't enough bricks left to build the courtyard walls.

It had to be said that Wang An's new house was a massive investment.

Rumbling and clattering along the way, Wang An arrived at the county seat, and after a bit more clattering, he reached the brick factory.

This season was the peak period for house building, so the business at the county brick factory seemed quite decent.

When Wang An had visited last time, there wasn't a single worker to be seen in the entire factory, aside from the bricks, tiles, and the factory director, Hao Dayou.

Now, however, mule carts, horse carriages, four-wheelers, and walk-behind tractors were all parked in the factory, loading bricks.

Most notably, the dense stacks of bricks and tiles Wang An had seen last time had already decreased by nearly half.

Life at the brick factory had finally taken a turn for the better.

Parking his four-wheeler outside the yard, Wang An strolled leisurely into the factory.

Being familiar with the way, Wang An walked straight to Director Hao Dayou's office.

At this moment, Hao Dayou's image was completely different from last time.

Wang An remembered that during his last visit, Hao Dayou wore a tattered, floral-patterned cotton jacket, with uncombed hair and an unwashed face; he looked completely disheveled, looking every bit like a goat herder.

The current Hao Dayou, although wearing work clothes, was very clean; one look and you could tell he hadn't been doing manual labor.

Seeing Wang An, Hao Dayou was naturally overjoyed and greeted him with a face full of smiles

"Aiya, isn't this my brother Xiao An? Hahahaha... Quick, sit, sit. I just got some good tea a few days ago; I'll brew you a cup to taste, hahahaha!"

It had to be admitted that even though they were both factory directors, the difference in how they carried themselves was truly like heaven and earth!

Comparing the cement factory director Bai Zhihong to the brick factory director Hao Dayou before him, to put it bluntly, Bai Zhihong couldn't even be considered a decent human being.

Day after day, he put on great official airs and always acted like he was superior; one wondered if he got tired of pretending to be so arrogant every day.

Seeing Hao Dayou's enthusiasm, Wang An also laughed loudly and said

"It's still my Brother Hao who treats me best, hahahaha! I've been missing you for a long time, so I just came over, hahahaha..."

After Wang An finished speaking, Hao Dayou pretended to glance around and said

"Is that so? Do you really miss me, or are you just pretending? If you missed me that much, you came empty-handed?"

But as soon as Hao Dayou finished speaking, he burst into "hahahaha" laughter again.

It was clear that Hao Dayou didn't treat Wang An as an outsider.

Despite Hao Dayou saying this, Wang An didn't look embarrassed at all. Instead, he said with a beaming smile

"I definitely couldn't come empty-handed. It's just that no matter what I brought, it wouldn't be as sincere as bringing Brother Hao a big piece of business, hehehehe..."

Hearing this, Hao Dayou pointed at Wang An with his hand and said with a fake serious expression

"Alright, Brother Xiao An, with those words, you've truly opened my heart wide. Why else do I say it has to be you, brother? You know exactly what your big brother needs, hahahaha."

It was evident that Hao Dayou was genuinely happy.

And so, the two of them smoked and drank the "so-called good tea" Hao Dayou mentioned, chatting simply for a while.

The reason it was called "so-called good tea" was that the tea Hao Dayou served was actually the kind of loose-leaf tea sold at the supply and marketing cooperative.

Fortunately, this tea wasn't the crushed tea dust Hao Dayou had used to entertain Wang An last time.

After chatting for a bit, Hao Dayou took the initiative to ask

"Brother Xiao An, how many bricks and tiles are you planning to get this time? You have no idea, looking at those bricks in the yard right now is truly fucking frustrating."

Wang An smiled and said

"Before I came over, I saw that the County Second Middle School had already started construction. Surely they couldn't be hauling bricks from out of town?"

Hearing this, Hao Dayou's face immediately filled with helplessness

"They certainly need a fair amount of bricks and tiles, but they aren't settling the bill right now. Fuck, they say they'll only settle the account once everything is completely finished. Just imagine this day after day."

At this moment, Hao Dayou was genuinely annoyed. Burning bricks all day without seeing any money was indeed frustrating enough.

Wang An was stunned for a moment and blinked, not knowing how to respond.

Mainly, building a school was a government matter. As for how the government coordinated and handled it, how could an ordinary citizen know?

After thinking for a moment, Wang An asked

"Any word on the government building? It should have been approved by now, right?"

Hearing this, Hao Dayou still showed no sign of joy and said

"Yeah, it's approved, but it's the same fucking thing as building the school; I can't see a dime of money either, sigh!"

To be honest, after hearing Hao Dayou finish, Wang An almost laughed out loud.

It was just that Hao Dayou's experience as a director was truly miserable.

Whether it was the government building or the school, the volume of work was quite substantial.

However, there was no sign of money, and the key was that Hao Dayou still had to find a way to pay the workers' wages.

It had to be said that nothing in life is easy.

Although Wang An wanted to laugh, he forced himself to hold it back. If he laughed out loud now, it would really be inappropriate, as it would seem a bit like "gloating over someone's misfortune."

Wang An took a sip of water and then comforted him

"Anyway, the money will come sooner or later. How could the big government possibly cheat you out of your money?"

Hao Dayou finally nodded and said

"Yeah, that's true. I just have to keep offsetting the debts year by year until I get the money back bit by bit. Hmph, just saying 'the money is coming' won't work."

Although Hao Dayou said this, Wang An suddenly realized that things might actually develop exactly as Hao Dayou described.

Mainly, whether in this era or the future, when is a government not short on money?

Before Wang An could respond, Hao Dayou asked again

"Anyway, Xiao An, you still haven't told me how many bricks you want to order this time?"

Because he had already calculated everything at home, Wang An said without thinking

"I'll take another 400,000 bricks. Then my younger brother and my brother-in-law each want 100,000 more, so that's 600,000 in total."

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Hao Dayou said with a face full of smiles

"See, it's still my Brother Xiao An who comes through! If I had a customer like you every year, I'd never worry about selling these bricks, hahahaha..."

(End of Chapter)