dkrc Chapter 97 Something Happened
Chapter 97 Something Happened
On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Jiang Haiping prepared to go home.
He pushed his bicycle from the yard to the seawall, with a bag of sweet potatoes and two bottles of pickled vegetables by Lin Xiu'e strapped to the back seat.
The ledger was tucked into the pocket of his work clothes, and the salt stains on the cover had multiplied several times over.
He was bending down to tighten the rope on the back of the car when Hong Xiaobing ran over from the other side of the seawall.
This time, I wasn't running breathlessly; I stumbled and almost fell on the gravel.
"Brother Haiping." Hong Xiaobing's voice trembled.
Jiang Haiping put the rope down and looked at him.
"My third uncle is in trouble."
Jiang Haiping propped up his bicycle by the roadside.
"It's not about the boat. It's about the cargo." Hong Xiaobing's throat seemed to be blocked by something, and each word was squeezed out. "My third uncle helped someone transport a batch of fertilizer from the supply and marketing cooperative warehouse in town to the village on the other side. When they got there, the person receiving the goods said that thirty bags of fertilizer were fake, with less than half of them containing urea."
He wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve, which was dirty, and left a black mark on his face, but he didn't care.
"The person who received the goods reported it to the Industry and Commerce Bureau. The supply and marketing cooperative doesn't acknowledge it, saying that my third uncle switched the goods on the way. My third uncle was detained at the town's Industry and Commerce Bureau and didn't go home last night. My aunt cried all night."
"Have you found out who switched the packages?" Jiang Haiping took his hand off the back of the bicycle.
"I don't know. My third uncle said the boxes were sealed when the goods were moved out of the supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse, and he didn't even open them."
But the recipient insisted that the seal on the box was incorrect when it arrived, while the supply and marketing cooperative warehouse said there was no problem when it was shipped.
"Both ends are pushing, and he's stuck in the middle, a transporter." Hong Xiaobing's voice suddenly became hoarse as he spoke, his eyes reddened, and he rubbed his eyes hard with the back of his hand. "My mother told me to come find you. My uncle said the service station knows Director Sun."
Jiang Haiping stood on the seawall without moving.
A north wind blew, knocking his collar askew, and he reached out to button it up.
Then he untied the rope from the back of the bicycle and took the bag of sweet potatoes off, placing it on the gravel road. "I won't go over there for now." Hong Xiaobing was stunned, opening his mouth but no sound came out.
"The town's industrial and commercial bureau is not something the service station can handle. The fake fertilizer issue is different from ship repair; the service station has no right to investigate the supply and marketing cooperative's accounts." He pushed his bicycle back into the yard and propped it up under the loquat tree. He took the pickled vegetable bottle out of the bicycle basket and placed it at the entrance to the kitchen, then turned to the kitchen and said, "I won't be going back today."
Lin Xiu'e stood up from the doorway of the kitchen.
She heard Hong Xiaobing's words, took off her apron and put it on the windowsill, then stood under the loquat tree.
Old Fang walked out of the workshop, a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced at Hong Xiaobing, and then at Jiang Haiping.
"Who's in charge of the Industry and Commerce Bureau?" Lao Fang asked.
"They said his surname was Ma."
"What the hell?"
"Ma Desheng".
Old Fang took the cigarette out of his mouth and remained silent for a while. "Ma Desheng and Ding Fugui used to deal in used ship parts together in Baishakou. After Ding Fugui was investigated, he returned all the used ship parts to the service station and went back to his old ways. He had some connections with Ding Fugui."
He put the cigarette back in his mouth, looked at Jiang Haiping, and said, "He's not from the service station. He's a slick guy."
Jiang Haiping leaned against the loquat tree trunk.
He touched the ledger in his pocket, then touched the half-old newspaper.
He took out the old newspaper, unfolded it, and glanced at it. The words listed on it were still there, but he only had one thing on his mind right now.
As long as this batch of counterfeit fertilizer is listed with the local industrial and commercial bureau, Hong Laosan's suspicion will remain undiscovered.
The supply and marketing cooperative shirked its responsibility, and the receiving party used it as a scapegoat. Even if the service station achieved the second-best group ranking, it didn't even have the right to speak in front of the industry and commerce bureau.
"I'm going to see Director Sun." He straightened up. "Wang Cunzhi mentioned last time that Director Sun has acquaintances in the supply and marketing system."
"Director Sun is in a meeting in the county today and won't be back until this afternoon."
I'll go this afternoon.
"I'll go with you." Old Fang took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked off the ash.
He turned and went into the workshop, took a clean work uniform and put it on, then folded the rag on the tool rack and placed it on the water ladle.
In the afternoon, the two took a ferry to the county.
It took more than half an hour to walk from the dock to the county bureau. The plane trees on the street were bare, and the wind made pedestrians wrap their cotton-padded coats tightly.
Several bicycles were parked at the entrance of the county bureau, but Wang Cunzhi's Jialing 70 was not there.
The lights were on in Director Sun's office. The ashtray on the desk was half full of ash, and an open document lay beside it.
After listening to Jiang Haiping's words, he did not answer immediately. He stood up, walked to the office window, opened the window a crack to let the cold wind in, and then turned around.
"I know about the fake fertilizer issue. The industry and commerce bureau already issued a notice yesterday."
The case is currently under the jurisdiction of the Industry and Commerce Bureau. The supply and marketing cooperative's warehouse receipt states that it is genuine fertilizer, and the warehouse exit records also match.
There was no handover document signed during transport, and the driver couldn't provide evidence that the goods were counterfeit when loaded. The local industry and commerce bureau could only detain the driver. He closed the window. "Did Hong Laosan take the blame for someone else?"
Jiang Haiping nodded.
"You need the service station to handle this. The service station is a ship repair shop and has no administrative connection to the fertilizer case." Director Sun sat back in his chair. "But there's one thing."
If Hong Laosan has no history of falsification and the supply and marketing cooperative has no evidence to prove that he switched the goods, the case can only stop at the point of "suspected involvement during transportation".
The longest detention period is 48 hours. It's almost Chinese New Year, and the industry and commerce bureau isn't letting up.
"He doesn't usually do anything shady." Old Fang stood at the office door, holding a cigarette between his fingers without smoking it.
"He had run up a debt at the service station. After the Frost's Descent solar term, he couldn't pay it back, so his wife pawned her dowry bracelet to pay it off, but I didn't accept it." Jiang Haiping's voice was not loud.
Director Sun looked up at him. "You confiscated it."
"The service station's rule for credit is to pay half by the due date. He's already paid it off, and he still owes the remaining 150 before the New Year. This guy isn't the type to cheat. He's even given up gambling."
Director Sun picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.
The phone rang for a while before someone answered. He said a few words into the receiver, interspersed with a few words in the local dialect, which Jiang Haiping couldn't quite hear.
After hanging up the phone, Director Sun wrote a few words in his notebook and looked up at Jiang Haiping.
"The Industry and Commerce Bureau said the detention period ends tomorrow afternoon. If no one can produce solid evidence that Hong Laosan switched the items by tomorrow afternoon, the person will have to be released."
But this matter won't end there. The supply and marketing cooperative lost a batch of fertilizer, and they will continue to investigate the source. If the source of the counterfeit goods can't be found, even if Hong Laosan is released, he will still be a suspect.
Your service station isn't a fertilizer testing station; you can't get involved in the rest.
"Understood." Jiang Haiping stood up.
"There's one more thing." Director Sun flipped the notebook to the back and wrote a few more words, "After he's released tomorrow afternoon, tell him not to go to anyone else to transport goods. He should rest until the New Year."
As I left the county bureau, the north wind lashed my face, harsh and cold.
Jiang Haiping turned up the collar of his work clothes and stood by the roadside waiting for Wang Cunzhi.
After waiting for a while, Wang Cunzhi's Jialing 70 pulled up and stopped in front of the county bureau.
He got out of the car, carrying a brown paper document bag, and quickly walked over when he saw Jiang Haiping and Lao Fang.
"Hai Ping, I heard about it. The supply and marketing cooperative spoke to Director Sun about Hong Laosan's matter this morning." He tucked the file bag under his arm. "The supply and marketing cooperative's intention is to trace the source of the counterfeit goods."
I've been following up with the business registration authorities. If no one can produce evidence of him switching the items by tomorrow afternoon, he'll have to be released.
"Director Sun said so."
"There's something else." Wang Cunzhi opened the file bag and pulled out the bottom half of the document. "The supply and marketing cooperative is involved in more than just a batch of fertilizer. They noticed a discrepancy in the inventory last month, but they didn't investigate further."
This time, after discovering the counterfeit goods, they started investigating from the beginning and found that more than thirty bags of fertilizer had been switched.
The perpetrators must have been acting in collusion; someone smuggled counterfeit goods into the warehouse and then secretly sold the genuine products.
He stuffed the document back into the file bag. "Hong Laosan was in the transportation business and just happened to be on this trip. He was unlucky, but he's not the main culprit. The main culprit is inside the supply and marketing cooperative. The Industry and Commerce Bureau has already detained three people; there will be an explanation before the New Year."
Jiang Haiping stood on the steps in front of the county bureau and went through the things he had memorized.
Hong Laosan can be released tomorrow afternoon.
Ding Fugui knew an old man named Ma who had some connections with the person handling the case.
There were corrupt officials in the supply and marketing cooperative, and Hong Laosan was a scapegoat who got caught up in it.
The service station couldn't clear Hong Laosan's name, but at least it allowed him to spend the New Year away from home.
"I'll go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau to pick him up tomorrow afternoon." He took his hand out of his pocket.