Watching the two of them buy tickets and get on the bus, Zhou Haoting finally laid out the information he had gathered.
“What? The one who made the move was Zhou Qiaoqiao?”
After hearing Zhou Haoting’s words, Tian Tian felt like she was hearing a fairy tale. Zhou Qiaoqiao, such a vain, materialistic person, was actually the culprit behind He Cheng’s downfall? This result was simply unbelievable.
Zhou Haoting said, “Isn’t it absurd? Actually, I found out two days ago. But because I heard it from other people, the information didn’t feel accurate, so I kept verifying it and didn’t tell you.”
The He Cheng matter was fairly significant, so after it happened, it wasn’t easy to investigate. After finally waiting two days until things weren’t so tense, he finally learned the rough details from a few acquaintances.
It was simple. Zhou Qiaoqiao reported that He Cheng’s office had white powder, and quite a lot of it. In this era, other things might be negotiable, but when it came to white powder, there was zero tolerance.
Plus, the one reporting it was Zhou Qiaoqiao, the woman of He Cheng’s number one, and she was pregnant with his child. That made the report seem very credible. And they learned that their number two was coming from Hong Kong to Shenzhen that day and would go directly to the office.
So the authorities naturally made all kinds of arrangements and rounded everyone up at their door.
Hearing the words “white powder,” Tian Tian hissed. “They’ve got some nerve!”
Earlier she’d heard from Meng Ge that He Cheng didn’t dare do this on the mainland. She hadn’t expected—really hadn’t expected—that they’d actually been hiding goods.
“It should be someone under them secretly hiding it. Or else…” Zhou Haoting looked into the distance. “Or else, this was a frame-up.”
No matter how it happened, the result was that they were caught red-handed. And the amount wasn’t small. Plus with He Cheng’s background, in this wave, it was estimated that few of them would get off. And whoever could get off was most likely the one who’d made the move from behind.
As for Zhou Qiaoqiao, she was just a pawn.
It was just that, from the looks of it now, the one moving the pieces probably still had some conscience. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let Zhou Qiaoqiao and her mother go.
Tian Tian naturally understood the trick in it too. But she still found it unbelievable.
Such an underworld gang had actually been dismantled from within just like that. The one who made the move had to be an insider. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so familiar with He Cheng’s every move. Like this white powder—it wasn’t something you could just hide in any random drawer. That would be too low-level.
Thinking this way, Tian Tian really wanted to see the official case files. She really wanted to grab Zhou Qiaoqiao and ask who had put her up to it. This whole routine was almost no different from watching a Hong Kong movie.
“But most of He Cheng’s people are Hong Kong residents. Will they be repatriated?”
Zhou Haoting shook his head. “They have enemies in Hong Kong too!”
Enemies who saw He Cheng in trouble would only stomp on them a few more times. Hong Kong hadn’t returned yet, and the foreign governor wouldn’t care about your underworld unless someone stuffed money—lots of money to open the way. But was that possible?
Same old saying—underworld matters are settled by underworld means. He Cheng’s rivals wouldn’t give them a chance to turn things around.
Besides, Zhou Haoting felt there was more to it. But that was already at the official level, none of his business as a businessman.
The subsequent development of events was pretty much as they’d discussed.
Most of He Cheng’s power on the mainland was cut away. Their side in Hong Kong was also attacked by their enemies. Word was not much was left.
But looking at Meng Ge, who had suddenly appeared before her, Tian Tian was shocked.
By now, another month had passed since He Cheng was rounded up. It was already December, and Shenzhen’s temperature had dropped quite a bit. Tian Tian had put on a jacket.
The wholesale shop’s business hadn’t cooled with winter’s arrival. Instead, as the New Year approached, more and more wholesale customers came.
It was at this time that Tian Tian saw Meng Ge on the wholesale street.
Meng Ge was thinner than the last time she’d seen him in the village, but he looked spirited, without any sign of having been crushed.
Seeing Tian Tian, Meng Ge was briefly stunned too. Then he showed a smile that could be called a bitter smile.
“Meng Ge, come sit in my shop?” She was really curious how he had escaped disaster. Word was that of the people arrested in the office back then, basically all except a few peripheral small-time thugs had been sentenced. The number one and number two got at least ten years.
Because the case was so big, she hadn’t been able to find out about Meng Ge. He hadn’t gone back to the village either, so Tian Tian had assumed he’d run. But now he was here in front of her, which meant he hadn’t run.
Meng Ge saw what Tian Tian was thinking. Actually, he wanted to talk to Tian Tian about his experiences during this time too. He really didn’t know who else to tell.
After inviting him into the office behind the wholesale shop, pouring him a cup of warm tea, and bringing over a plate of mung bean cakes, Meng Ge ate for a while before finally saying, “You know about the He Cheng matter, right?”
Tian Tian nodded vigorously. “I even asked people to look into news about you, but I never found anything.”
Meng Ge said, “I appreciate it. Not just you—during this time, I haven’t even contacted my parents.”
Tian Tian sat up straight, feeling the important part was coming.
“Ah, a while ago I was sent with a few people to Shanxi on an inspection trip. When I heard about the trouble, I didn’t dare come back at all.”
Tian Tian understood. Then she immediately reacted. “Who sent you?”
Meng Ge didn’t answer. But Tian Tian understood instantly. “It was Xiao Ming who sent you, right?”
Meng Ge nodded. “We stayed in Shanxi for two months and only dared come back after seeing it was safe.” Naturally, when he came back, the job was gone too. Now he was taking some men’s clothing from a shop on the wholesale street and selling it as a street vendor.
“It’s all thanks to your inspiration that I started selling clothes.”
Seeing that he didn’t mention Xiao Ming, Tian Tian knew he didn’t know Xiao Ming’s current whereabouts. Anyway, neither he nor Lao Hei had been arrested.
That was a bit interesting to think about.
Thinking of Meng Ge’s several reminders in the past, Tian Tian said, “The several garment factories I work with all produce men’s clothing. Meng Ge, next time our shop goes to stock up, do you want to come to the factories with us and take a look?”
Meng Ge’s face lit up. “Great. I won’t be polite with you then. This opportunity is very important to me. Thank you, thank you.”
Tian Tian waved her hand. “No need to be polite. Meng Ge, come on. Let me introduce you to Niuzai, who’s in charge of purchasing. He’s from our village too. I don’t know if you two know each other…”
In the evening, Tian Tian took the bus to Zhou Haoting’s home appliance factory.
Zhou Haoting had been busy with work these past two days, so Tian Tian hadn’t let him pick her up after work. Instead, she took the bus straight to the factory and had dinner with him in the factory cafeteria.
During dinner, Tian Tian told him about Meng Ge.
“See, Meng Ge was sent away early. That shows He Cheng’s downfall this time wasn’t a coincidence.”
Zhou Haoting listened to Tian Tian’s analysis and nodded. “When they made the arrests before, quite a few peripheral people weren’t caught. And Xiao Ming and Lao Hei, the two active ones in Shenzhen, weren’t on the arrest list either. Now it seems both of them are connected to this matter. Especially Xiao Ming…”
Thinking back a few months, when this person had set his sights on Tian Tian, that was when he’d become wary of him. Now it seemed that the so-called interest back then had to be heavily questioned.
Tian Tian also thought about how she’d met Xiao Ming. Thinking carefully now, this person hadn’t done anything harmful to them from beginning to end.
From the initial so-called intention to introduce her to the boss, to the customs auction later, nothing he’d done had any actual negative impact on them.
Zhou Haoting said, “I had someone look into him before. But there was very little information. Judging by his methods now, he probably has a grudge against He Cheng.”
If there were no grudge, he wouldn’t have directly brought down his own gang. At the very least, he would’ve just killed the boss and taken his place.
Tian Tian felt the same. This person was like a mystery to her.
But no matter what, with He Cheng fallen, no one was eyeing their land anymore, and the factory and rental buildings could be built on schedule.
It was just that she was now curious why He Cheng had taken a fancy to their land in the first place.
At this question, Zhou Haoting gave the answer directly.
“There’s word from the province that Shenzhen is going to carry out old village redevelopment. Our plot—rumor has it the nearby plots have all been zoned into a new commercial district.”
Tian Tian knew about this. But the specific location of this commercial district had shifted. It just barely grazed their plot. But that didn’t mean their land wasn’t valuable.
After thinking for a moment, Tian Tian asked directly, “Are you interested in investing in land?”
Zhou Haoting put down his chopsticks and shook his head. “Investing in land has high returns, but it’s about the future, and it ties up too much capital. Right now, my home appliance factory and your wholesale business have fast returns and quick turnover. That said, we can pick up some cheap land first. Shenzhen is a special economic zone. Buying land now—anywhere—won’t be a loss.”
Tian Tian strongly agreed. Ten years later, housing prices would rise a lot. Although not to astronomical levels, the return on real estate investment wasn’t low.
After thinking for a moment, Tian Tian said, “Then I’ll have someone look for land?”
Zhou Haoting said, “Sure. I’ll have people keep an eye out too. If there’s anything with good value, we can snap it up first.”
Seeing this, Tian Tian started going over her savings.
Her household registration was transferred, the vegetable plot was bought, and after two months of rolling, her savings were back to nearly four hundred thousand. She’d set aside a hundred thousand to build the rental buildings. Another hundred thousand would stay at the wholesale shop as reserve funds. Of the remaining two hundred thousand, another hundred thousand would be reserved for buying land. The last hundred thousand would be the funds for the new project.
The new project was still clothing, but the target market was overseas.
Before that, she needed to find a channel.
Tian Tian wasn’t in a hurry. After dinner at Zhou Haoting’s place, she pulled out a stack of newspapers and started reading. The main purpose was to look for various trade fairs and exhibitions with “international” in the name.
To do foreign trade in this era wasn’t like ten years later, when you could send emails and find clients online. Now, to find clients, besides introductions from acquaintances, there were various foreign trade windows. And directly getting orders from the Foreign Trade Bureau.
Yes, these orders were official orders received from foreign countries. Factories then took orders from the officials to produce and ship goods.
But these orders wouldn’t go to ordinary factories. Much less ordinary people. So it wasn’t easy for an ordinary person to enter this industry.
Tian Tian planned to first understand the various channels. After that, register a new company, find a new place to produce goods. First build up a domestic brand. And along the way, find opportunities to do foreign trade.
In short, once the path was set, it was harder to go astray.
Zhou Haoting was also working. Recently, the home appliance factory had stopped producing electric fans. It had shifted toward small spin dryers.
A small spin dryer was a single-tub dryer with no washing function, only spinning. Compared to washing machines, this kind of machine was much cheaper. And it precisely hit the Guangdong market.
For no other reason than that, from winter to the following “returning south” season, Guangdong’s weather was changeable. There were often times when clothes were washed but wouldn’t dry. Buying a washing machine directly—many housewives were reluctant to spend on water, electricity, and the machine itself, so they wouldn’t use it even if they bought it.
But a spin dryer was cheap, and you didn’t have to worry about wasting water. You just washed clothes by hand and threw them into the spin tub to dry. It could greatly speed up how fast clothes dried in winter. And one more thing—the water spun out could be collected from the drain pipe to flush the toilet.
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