Reborn in 1981, starting by smashing my iron rice bowl.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Liu Weidong simply took three ten-yuan bills from Li Kun's hand, then took out six yuan from his own pocket and stuffed it back into the other person's hand.

This completely baffled Li Kun, who asked in bewilderment, "Comrade Liu, what do you mean by this?"

"Today, the price of eggs at the supply and marketing cooperative is 1.2 yuan per jin. Wu Fei broke 20 jin of my eggs, so I'll charge 24 yuan in compensation, not a penny more or less!" Liu Weidong first calculated the amount, then said to Wang Jianzhong, "Please have Captain Wang vouch for me; I didn't ask Wu Fei for a single extra penny!"

Wang Jianzhong didn't know what to say, so he could only nod and say, "Yes, I can vouch for it!"

Li Kun quickly advised Liu Weidong, "Comrade Liu, don't overthink it. This is just Wu Fei's family expressing their apology and compensating you for your losses; there's absolutely no other meaning behind it!"

"I've received the compensation for the losses, but as for the apology, forget it. If apologies were enough, what would we need the police for?" Liu Weidong said with a cold laugh, then turned to Wang Jianzhong and said, "Captain Wang, I believe the police officers will uphold the law impartially, right?"

"That's a must, don't worry!" Wang Jianzhong replied with a wry smile, feeling that he shouldn't have come at all, and now he was in such an awkward situation.

"Alright, now that things are settled, I'll be going." Liu Weidong stuffed the twenty-odd yuan into his pocket and said sincerely to Wang Jianzhong, "Thank you for your hard work, Captain Wang. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting for so long!"

Wang Jianzhong quickly replied solemnly, "Comrade Liu, please don't be so polite. This is simply our duty, it's what we should do. I understand what you mean, and I believe there will be a result soon, so please rest assured!"

"Thank you!" Liu Weidong nodded to Wang Jianzhong, didn't even glance at Li Kun, and walked straight out of the restaurant.

Hao Jianjun was completely confused. He only realized the matter was over when he saw Liu Weidong leave. He quickly rushed up and said, "Hey, Brother Weidong, wait for me!"

Liu Weidong smiled and said to his good friend, "It's getting late, let's fill our stomachs first. I just received Wu Fei's compensation, I'll treat you to a good meal!"

When asked about this, Hao Jianjun looked puzzled and asked, "Brother Weidong, why did you only accept twenty-four yuan from them? That kid was going to give you a thousand yuan. Why didn't you even accept the money that was offered to you?"

In early 82, one thousand yuan was almost equivalent to two years' wages for a worker in a state-owned factory, which was indeed a large sum of money. No wonder Hao Jianjun asked that question.

However, in Liu Weidong's eyes, who was used to seeing the world, this amount of money was nothing special. He could earn it back quickly if he wanted to.

More importantly, taking this money would be a hot potato. Although Li Kun didn't say it explicitly, Liu Weidong knew very well that as long as he accepted the money, it would be equivalent to reconciling with Wu Mingpeng and his son, and the two would be released soon.

But Wu Fei's biggest crime right now is that he acted like a scoundrel towards Wei Wanqing. If Liu Weidong were to unilaterally reconcile with her, not only would the strong woman be unhappy, but even Wei Guohui would have reservations.

In Wei Guohui's eyes, Liu Weidong would then become someone who uses his influence to seek personal gain. And in the process, Liu Weidong would even sacrifice Wei Wanqing's legal rights.

If Liu Weidong really did that, it would be tantamount to completely severing ties with Wei Guohui and his daughter. How short-sighted must he be to do that for a mere thousand yuan?

However, given Hao Jianjun's slow-witted nature, explaining the key points to him was far too difficult. So Liu Weidong simply said casually, "This matter is very complicated, so don't ask. Just know that this money is not easy to get and will cause us trouble!"

Hao Jianjun had always trusted Liu Weidong implicitly, and upon hearing this, he immediately slapped his thigh and said, "I knew that guy surnamed Li didn't look like a good person. Turns out he was setting a trap for us. Luckily, we didn't fall for it!"

Liu Weidong's idea was correct; that very evening, Wei Wanqing went to her father's house to complain.

The strong woman recounted what had happened and then said to Wei Guohui with dissatisfaction, "Dad, Wu Mingpeng has gone too far! He's blatantly protecting his nephew who's being a hooligan in the street! It's a good thing Wei Dong was here, otherwise your daughter would have been bullied today!"

Wei Guohui knew his daughter was exaggerating, but the nature of the matter was indeed very serious. So he frowned and said in a deep voice, "I understand. According to you, Wang Jianzhong's handling of the matter was fair. I will inquire about the follow-up situation tomorrow."

"Okay, that puts my mind at ease!" Wei Wanqing nodded, picked up her bag, and said to her father, "I'm off now. I still need to find a factory to roast melon seeds tomorrow, I'm so busy!"

Since his daughter brought it up, Wei Guohui casually asked, "Have you finalized everything regarding the melon seeds?"

The strong woman said happily, "Luckily, I went to the printing factory with Weidong today. He persuaded Director Li without much effort, and the matter is all settled. I never realized before, but this guy is really capable!"

"Yes, that's good." Wei Guohui nodded calmly, but secretly felt something was off.

Wei Guohui knew that his daughter had always had high standards, and there were very few people she could approve of. But now, when she talked about Liu Weidong, she not only looked at him with admiration, but even with a hint of respect, which greatly surprised Wei Guohui.

The next day, as soon as he arrived at work, Wei Guohui asked his secretary to find out about what his daughter had mentioned the day before.

With *** personally overseeing the matter, his subordinates naturally dared not be careless. By noon, a detailed report had been delivered to Wei Guohui.

Wei Guohui carefully read the report and found that what was written there was almost exactly the same as what his daughter had said, so he couldn't help but frown slightly. Wu Fei was acting like a hooligan in the street, and Wu Mingpeng was trying to protect him; that was indeed extremely outrageous.

However, after seeing that Liu Weidong refused the Wu family's high compensation offer and only accepted money for the eggs, Wei Guohui's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed. This young man was not only capable but also very tactful, which Wei Guohui greatly admired.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Guohui wrote a line on the report: "It is recommended that this be handled seriously in accordance with laws and regulations."

Even the county government issued instructions on this matter, and the fate of Wu Mingpeng and his nephew was self-evident. They would definitely lose their jobs, and Wu Fei, who tried to grope Wei Wanqing in the street, would go to jail!

For Liu Weidong, the fate of these two men was irrelevant; what mattered was making money as quickly as possible. So a few days later, he and Hao Jianjun went to Gonggeng Village again.

Ma Yongxian did not disappoint Liu Weidong; this time, he collected more than 400 jin of eggs from several nearby villages. Liu Weidong, following the usual practice, exchanged these eggs and excitedly delivered them to the state-run restaurant in the county town.

To Liu Weidong's surprise, he ran into an old acquaintance here – Manager Wang from the state-owned store was also there.