A penny can be a hero's downfall

  Liu Ziguang couldn't help but think about it and immediately called back to ask Wang Zhijun: "Zhijun, how much did you spend in total?"

  Wang Zhijun calculated the cost for him: "A sand dredger costs around 1 million, and if we really want to do it, one ship is definitely not enough. Two ships would be at least 2 million. The river sand dryer and selector machine will also cost nearly 1 million. We need to hire at least a dozen workers, rent cement ships, and rent mud-headed trucks, all of which require prepayment. Most importantly, there's the big head of the village contract fee. Originally, Zhu Lao Er's annual fee was 100,000, but now I've agreed with the village on an annual fee of 500,000, paid in installments, with an initial payment of 100,000. Calculating all this, the upfront cost is at least 500,000."

  "Has anyone gone to the bank to ask about the loan?" Liu Ziguo reminded.

  "I went to the county agricultural bank and asked, but they simply don't lend money unless there's collateral or a guarantee. But we're poor and have nothing valuable, and besides, they said they won't lend such a large amount to an individual, only to corporate entities. It's really ridiculous - if I had 500,000 yuan to register a company, why would I need to borrow money?"

  It seems that the bank loan is not feasible, 500,000 yuan, although it's not a large amount in Liu Ziguang's eyes, but after all, it's not as easy to get money as it used to be, and it's really difficult for him to come up with 500,000 yuan in a short period of time.

  Liu Ziguang didn't speak, Wang Zhijun said again: "The village's contracted payment must be paid, I've used up the money for building a house, but it's still not enough, my family is too poor, I really can't do anything about it, Ge."

  In order to run the sand field, Wang Zhijun stopped building his own house, but Liu Ziguang changed his mind and said: "Zhijun, we can't stop building our house, the villagers are all watching. If you stop building the house, people will think that we don't have enough funds and won't trust us. You continue to build the house, I'll think of a way to get the money."

  Hang up the phone, Liu Ziguang thought for a moment, his brothers were all poor and couldn't be relied on. His sister-in-law's cancer was a bottomless pit, they could barely take care of themselves, where would they have spare money? Although he had a good relationship with Pockmark, they didn't have any other dealings, even if something happened, they wouldn't look for him, let alone himself, so this path was also blocked.

  After some deliberation, Liu Ziguang still picked up the phone and dialed his home number.

  "Mom, are you at home? I want to start a business with friends, can you lend me some money?"

  As soon as she heard that her son wanted to start a business, his mother was very enthusiastic: "Great, Mom will sponsor you, is 3,000 yuan enough?"

  Liu Ziguang was speechless for a moment, and after a while, he said: "Mom, we want to do big business, at least several hundred thousand."

  "Oh no, that won't do, you've never done business before, what if you get cheated? You can't just mess around with these things."

  Liu Ziguang helplessly hung up the phone. His old mother had outdated ideas, and she was used to saving money by being frugal. She couldn't bear to take risks. In her mind, doing business meant buying hundreds of pairs of socks at a wholesale market and selling them on a street stall, or pushing a tricycle to sell roasted sausages at night markets. The concept of dredging sand was completely foreign to her, and it was impossible to explain it to her.

  No choice, so I called Bei Xiaoshuai again. Bei Xiaoshuai listened for a moment and said: "Brother, don't worry, I'll think of something."

  An hour later, Bei Xiaoshuai replied: "Brother, I've prepared 50,000 yuan for you, come home to get it at noon."

  At noon when Liu Ziguang rode his bicycle back home, after entering the house he found his parents sitting solemnly on both sides of the octagonal table, with a newspaper package placed on it.

  "This is......" Liu Ziguang said suspiciously.

  "Xiao Guang, your mom told me this morning. I've thought about it carefully, and you're not young anymore. If you don't start a business and make something of yourself now, it'll be too late. Since you have this idea, as parents, we can't not support you. Here's 30,000 yuan, our family's savings. Take it."

  As he spoke, Dad opened up the newspaper package, revealing three neat stacks of cash inside.

  For a moment, Liu Ziguang felt his face burning and his nose sour. Eight years ago, his parents had given him 20,000 yuan of their life savings to invest in the stock market, only to lose it all within months. Now that he wanted to start a business, they were once again willing to part with their hard-earned savings without hesitation. Parents would always be the most reliable support for their children.

  "Xiao Guang, take this 30,000 yuan, your father and I have low salaries, working hard from dawn till dusk but can't earn much. This is for you to buy a house, be careful...". His mother started nagging again, but Liu Ziguang didn't show any impatience, listening very seriously and nodding occasionally: "Mom, I know."

  The door was knocked, Liu Ziguang turned his head and shouted "come in", a yellow-haired head stretched in, it was Bei Xiaoshuai, he also held a newspaper package in his hand, after coming in, he first greeted Grandpa Liu and Grandma Liu, then opened the newspaper package and said with pride: "50,000 yuan, count it."

  Bei Xiaoshuai, who was always crying about being poor, surprisingly took out so much money, leaving Liu Ziguang somewhat perplexed. However, since he urgently needed the money now, he couldn't care less about that. He pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Bei Xiaoshuai: "Alright Xiaoshuai, you've helped your brother out of a big jam."

  "It's nothing, speak up if you have something to say." Bei Xiaoshuai lit a cigarette, with a self-satisfied expression.

  "Bang bang" The Liu family's door was knocked again, and before they could respond, two people rushed in. The man in front was furious, holding a feather duster, and it was Bai Xiaoshuai's father. Behind him was Bai Xiaoshuai's mother, also with an angry face.

  Looking at Bai Xiaoshuai again, his face turned white in an instant, and Liu Ziguang immediately understood what had happened.

  "You little scoundrel, you've actually stolen money from home! See if I don't beat you to death!" Old Uncle Bei shouted sternly, brandishing his feather duster.

  "Xiao Shuai, is the savings book at home taken by you? Hurry up and tell mom, don't make dad angry." Xiao Shuai's mom pulled her husband back while persuading her son.

  "What's it to you if I took it? Your money is mine, I have an emergency, really." Bei Xiaoshuai was so anxious that his face turned red and he jumped up and down shouting.

  "How dare you be so stubborn, watch me beat you to death!" Old Bei held the feather duster high, but couldn't bring himself to hit hard. No wonder, from young to old, he had never been able to bear hitting his son hard. Otherwise, Bei Xiaoshuai wouldn't have ended up like this today.

  Bei Xiaoshuai's mother had already discovered the money on the table and understood what was going on. She pulled her husband over to Liu's father and said, "Uncle, this money is our savings from over a decade, we were planning to use it for our child's down payment on a house and wedding. Last time his aunt wanted to buy a car and borrow money, we didn't even lend it to her."

  The old father and mother together cast their eyes on Liu Ziguang, Liu Ziguang didn't say a word, took out 50,000 yuan and handed it to Old Bei Shu, explaining: "I wanted to do some business, borrow money from my brothers, but I didn't know that Xiao Shuai stole the money for buying a house, I couldn't take this money, Uncle, you take it back."

  Lao Bei Shu said: "Xiao Guang, it's not that I don't want to lend you money, but I really have difficulties."

  Liu Ziguang nodded in understanding, but Bei Xiaoshuai's face turned red with anger and he shouted: "Old man, if you dare to take this money back today, I will cut off our father-son relationship."

  Lao Bei's uncle was so angry that he almost choked, but he couldn't do anything about this stubborn son. He held 50,000 yuan in his hand, and it was neither possible to give it nor not to give it.

  With a "slap", Liu Ziguang gave Bei Xiaoshuai a loud slap on the head: "How can you talk like that, and speak to your parents like this? Apologize at once!"

  Then Bai Xiaoshuai's parents stared at their son, who was usually unruly, and lowered his head with yellow-dyed hair, saying in a low voice: "Dad and mom, I'm wrong. I shouldn't have taken the money from home."

  It's really strange, the son has become so obedient. It's true that every evil person will be ground down by another evil person. Old Bai uncle gritted his teeth and took out 10,000 yuan, saying: "Uncle is not a person who doesn't keep his promises, this 10,000 yuan is our investment in Xiaoshuai's business, Xiaoguang you must take it."

  Liu Ziguang didn't pretend either, took it on the spot, wrote a receipt with a brush and handed it to Old Bei Shu, saying: "Thank you, Uncle Bei."

  In this way, Bei Xiao's face was saved and his complexion improved a lot.

  Bei Xiaoshuai and his family left, Liu Ziguang looked at the 40,000 yuan on the table, still worried, this is still far from enough, not even half a sand dredger can be bought.

  The door was knocked again, and Liu Ziguang thought it was Bei Xiaoshuai coming back. He said irritably, "Haven't you been beaten enough?"

  "Hehe, dare to hit me?" A voice as sweet as a canary's, it was Fang Fei who had arrived, carrying a backpack on her shoulders, wearing jeans and sneakers, dressed like a female student.

  "Huh, Fang Fei, how did you get here?" Liu Ziguang stood up and casually pushed the money on the table into a corner.

  "Why can't I come? Today is my day off, so I came to visit Uncle and Auntie. You think I'm here to see you? Hmph." Fang Fei said with her hands behind her back and a pout on her face.

  "Oh, Xiao Fang is here. Mother, pour her a glass of water." As soon as the old mother saw her future daughter-in-law, she smiled and picked up the thermos to pour a cup of water, then gave a hint with her eyes to the old father. The old father understood and stood up saying: "Right, I'll go buy a newspaper."

  "I should also go out and buy some vegetables." Mom said.

  The old couple pretended to slip away, giving their son and Fang Wei the house. As they walked out of the courtyard, looking back at the low and humble big mixed courtyard, the old father sighed and said: "When can we be relocated? We don't want much, just give us a set of rooms so that our children have a place to get married."

  "Just wait a bit longer, I've heard it's almost here. We've managed to get through the past decade or so, what's a few more years?" said Mom.

  ……

  Inside the house, Fang Fei hehe smiled and pointed at Liu Ziguang: "What good things are you hiding, not letting me see?"

  Liu Ziguang sneered: "I didn't hide it, just a few hundred thousand yuan, which was gathered by my family for me to do business with."

  "Is that enough? Not enough? I have another card here that can be swiped." Fang Fei asked with wide eyes.

  "You've just started working, how much money can you have? Don't be so busy." Liu Ziguang said nonchalantly.

  "Hmph, I heard it all from the doorway earlier. You've been borrowing money everywhere but didn't think of me, which really gets my goat. Now you're looking down on me? This card is very powerful, it can withdraw 50,000 cash."

  Goodness, a cash withdrawal of 50,000 yuan, that must be some kind of high-end card! Liu Ziguang's eyes widened as he stared at Fang Fei. Fang Fei thought he was suspicious, so she took out a China Merchants Bank platinum card from her wallet and waved it in front of him.

  But Liu Ziguo still shook his head and said: "Five hundred thousand is still not enough. This business of mine requires at least five million in cash."

  "Five hundred thousand...!" Fang Hai exaggeratedly covered her mouth.