Substitute Driver's Notes

Chapter 31 The Beautiful Qiantang

Wang Fuyou nervously grabbed Li Wei: "You can't fight, fighting will delay the loading."

Turning around, he bowed and scraped to the security guards: "Look at all these cigarette butts on the ground! Besides, this rain can't possibly cause a fire! We can't even light them with a lighter. Please, be so kind as to not make things difficult for us! Please take care of us!"

The leader who had spoken tilted his head and thought for a moment, perhaps thinking that Wang Fuyou's words made sense: "Alright, it's not easy for you guys to drive long distances in big trucks, so we'll take care of you this time and just buy you a pack of cigarettes."

"Ah! It's raining so hard, we don't know where we can buy cigarettes. We have a few packs in the car. Can each of you five take one pack?"

"Oh? Let me see it."

Wang Fuyou took out a cigarette from his pocket.

"This cigarette is too cheap, I don't want it, it should be at least ten yuan or more."

Li Wei said with a stern face, "Don't go too far. We smoke this cigarette too, what's wrong with it?"

"Tch, you think you can compare to us, you lousy truck driver?"

"What's wrong with you? You act like you're some high and mighty person, like this is all you're worth, take it or leave it."

Several men glared at Li Wei angrily: "What? You're not happy with this, kid?"

Wang Fuyou smiled apologetically, "Don't be angry. I'll give you ten yuan, you can go buy it yourself, okay?"

The foreman hesitated for a moment: "No, you can't give that to a beggar. It has to be at least fifty."

"Fifty is too much. Look at us, it's not easy for us either. The boss won't reimburse us for this. How about I give you fifteen?"

"Absolutely not, we won't get any. Give us forty dollars and we'll let you two go."

"What? That's too harsh. We work ourselves to the bone all day and only earn a few dollars? Twenty? If it's more than that, I'll have the boss here sue you."

"Alright, alright, enough with the nonsense. I'll be lenient with you this time, so hurry up and pay me."

They took the twenty yuan and left.

Before leaving, he patted Wang Fuyou on the shoulder: "You're a good guy, you know how to handle things, much better than your buddy. You should probably fire this guy! It's raining quite heavily today, so be careful when you smoke."

After saying that, he pointed to the old, broken wooden planks soaking in a puddle not far away: "Don't throw cigarette butts there, they can easily cause a fire."

Li Wei stared blankly at the pile of broken wood completely submerged in water.

After everyone left, Wang Fuyou spat out a mouthful of phlegm that went far away: "What the hell is he? He brags about making a measly thousand yuan a month. I'd just treat it like a beggar's treat. Brother Wei, another cigarette, please?"

The thief escaped and then used a carrying pole to dabble in his newfound skill; Li Wei was utterly impressed.

He went out in the rain to get a piece of wood, lit a cigarette, and then, bored, used a lighter to light the wood.

"Old Wang, my lighter burned out, and the wood isn't even dry. Are you crazy to give them money?"

Wang Fuyou took a deep drag on his cigarette, the thick smoke swirling in the rain: "Do they really think I'm stupid? Don't they know they're just looking for trouble? Just watch! These guys have tasted success and will cause trouble everywhere. We don't have time to deal with them, but one day they'll mess with someone they can't afford to offend, someone who can crush them with a single finger."

"Holy crap, Lao Wang, you're so cunning? I'd better be careful."

Wang Fuyou immediately broke character: "I just felt it wasn't worth fighting over a few dozen yuan. I wasn't thinking about that at the time. I'm just making excuses for myself now!"

Li Wei chuckled: "I figured you weren't that cunning. By the way, if you're such a coward, how did you even get arrested in the first place?"

Wang Fuyou wore a wry smile: "I drank too much, and the people at the next table scolded me for talking too much. After a few words, they started hitting me, and I couldn't just stand by and do nothing! In the end, it turned into a brawl, and we all ended up in work. Damn! Who's the coward?"

Li Wei glanced at him sideways: "What's wrong? Aren't you scared? Want to spar with me?"

Wang Fuyou paused, then waved his hand and shook his head: "Fighting is not good. I'm an intellectual type, I don't fight."

"Tch, you think you're so smart, a complete brute?"

"Hey! Wow! I'm a little hungry. Wei, are you going to eat? We have big bowls of noodles in the car, both braised and spicy. What flavor do you like? I got some fresh boiled water at the Qingshan service area late at night, it's really delicious."

"Braised, I guess! I don't like spicy food."

Stomping through the water and getting soaked in the rain, the two ran back to the car.

Wang Fuyou smelled the instant noodles with satisfaction: "With this rain today, they must be going to work late. They usually don't have time to eat. This is great."

"Didn't you say you still had milk, bread, and sausages? Take them all out and have some; this bowl isn't enough!"

"You really believe me? I'm just kidding! The boss gives each person thirty-five yuan a day for food. Who can afford to buy that stuff? Just have something to eat. If you're still hungry, do you want some of those moldy pancakes? I'll take you out for a big meal after we unload the cargo. It'll be all you can eat."

Li Wei exclaimed in surprise, "Only thirty-five yuan?"

"They're all about the same. People with a budget of forty all smoke five-yuan cigarettes, and some who are thrifty smoke four-and-a-half-yuan ones. Our boss buys six-yuan cigarettes for us, so we actually make a profit."

"You're acting like this with cigarettes that cost six yuan? Even petty thugs smoke cigarettes that cost ten yuan or more."

"The boss said the pancakes are two yuan a pound, and the pickled vegetable dumplings are one yuan each. If we buy eight yuan worth of pancakes and two pickled vegetable dumplings, it'll only cost ten yuan for three days, saving each of us a hundred yuan!"

Thinking about his childhood, Li Wei nodded in agreement: "That makes sense!"

"Nonsense! What era are we living in? Still eating pickled vegetables every day? Last night, you ate more than I did in the big stew we ordered. There were free pickled vegetables right there, why didn't you go eat them?"

"It's just a big stew with so little meat, why didn't you order another dish?"

"That one dish costs eighteen yuan, and you're going to eat a pound of pancakes yourself. Restaurants here are so expensive! I have to be careful. If I spend too much, the boss will give me a long face, and then you'll have to go and get reimbursed!"

"Didn't I give you five thousand yuan?"

"Gas costs around 1,800 yuan, and tolls for the round trip are over 2,000 yuan. Add in food, lodging, and all sorts of bribes and favors, and you're lucky if you can get 300 or 400 yuan left when you get back. Once, Da Zuo was so tired that he fell asleep and his gas was stolen. He had to borrow money from the freight station to get home."

"With so many cars parked on the side of the road, why wouldn't they steal them? Most of us are in our cars, are thieves stupid?"

"Brother Wei, even though you might be good at other things, when it comes to this kind of work, you're really a newbie. We have several hundred liters of gas in a tank, and the tiny gas tank in a car isn't enough to make a thief work."

"Time for noodles! It's so nice to have noodles to eat."

The two slurped their noodles in silence, heads bowed.

Just then, someone knocked on the car door: "Come out and hold up the tarpaulin, we're unloading."

Li Wei, with noodles in his mouth, turned his head and saw a thin, short man holding an umbrella standing next to the car.

Wang Fuyou put down the bottom of the car and leaned over, saying, "Okay, you go get the car, we'll be right there."

Li Wei said discontentedly, "You should at least finish eating!"

After watching the short man leave, Wang Fuyou said in a low voice, "We made him wait for a minute, but he dared to make us wait for an hour. We'll eat when he gets back."

With no other option, the two got out of the car in the rain, lifted the tarpaulin, and held it up one in front of the other to shield themselves from the rain, while waiting for the forklift to arrive.

The short man opened the warehouse door, drove a forklift out, picked out an item, and then went back inside without doing anything else.

"Brother Wei, go check what's going on?"

Li Wei put down the heavy tarpaulin, jumped out of the car and went to the warehouse, where he saw the short man drinking milk and eating bread.

"Boss, why aren't you uninstalling it?"

"Can't you see I'm eating? Just you wait!"

Li Wei glared: "We were just eating, and you called us and we came out. Couldn't you have eaten first and then called us? Are you kidding me?"

"I'm just worried you'll be in a hurry. Let me unload first. I'm having a hypoglycemic episode, and I feel dizzy when I work, so I have to eat first. If you want to expedite the unloading, you'll have to pay. Otherwise, we'll talk after I finish eating."

Li Wei rubbed his temples: "How much?"

The short man gave a sly smile: "Twenty."

"It's not up to me to decide; I need to go back and ask my colleague."

When Li Wei ran back and told him, Wang Fuyou sighed and took out twenty yuan: "Give it to him, otherwise this guy will definitely need to poop again after he finishes eating. He won't be out for at least an hour, and it's not even that dark. In some places, it costs thirty or forty yuan."

"You knew perfectly well why you made me run errands?"

"Isn't it good for you to exercise? Life is about movement."

"I'll exercise my ass!" Li Wei ran to the warehouse again in the rain.

He took the money and put it in his pocket. The short man's low blood sugar immediately subsided. He put the milk on the forklift and said, "Go back and set up the tarpaulin. It'll only take ten minutes at most."

Li Wei ran back to the carriage and held up the tarpaulin with both hands.

You wouldn't guess that the short guy is a forklift expert. With the roar of the forklift, he swerved left and right rapidly, managing to make the ugly, broken forklift look beautiful.

The goods were unloaded in less than ten minutes.

Wang Fuyou ran over to find someone to sign the document, and when he returned, he and Li Wei rolled up the tarpaulin and piled it up in the carriage.

"Brother Wei, go get some laundry detergent and wash your hands. Now you can eat with peace of mind."

He entered the warehouse with a forced smile and borrowed a water hose to wash his hands.

I received a big eye roll from the warehouse manager. Only after I explained that I was just washing my hands did she point out the location of the water pipe.

Back in the car, looking at the layer of cold oil floating on the instant noodles, the two suddenly lost their appetite.

"Just throw it away. We can eat something better when we get to the loading area," Wang Fuyou said with a big smile.