Chapter 27: The Value of the Elderly Group

As Li Xian expected, the call was indeed from Li Jie, informing him that Zhang Yaba had completed the work. On the phone, Zhang Yaba was also making his characteristic noises in agreement, which made Li Xian chuckle.

Talking on the phone with someone who can't speak properly was quite an odd experience.

After instructing Li Jie to relay the message to Zhang Yaba to find a vehicle and immediately send the coffins over, telling them to deliver them directly to the retirement home the next day where he would be waiting, Li Xian hung up the phone.

Thinking that he had work the next day and didn't want to tire himself out, he went back to the dormitory and made do with one more night.

The next day, Li Xian slept in again until the sun was high in the sky. After washing up, without bothering to eat breakfast, he headed directly to the retirement home.

As he walked, he mused on how inconvenient communication was during this time. In another twenty years, what could be handled with a simple WeChat message now required advance phone calls and planning.

The efficiency of communication was really low.

By this time, mobile phones were already available, and the most common type was the "Big Brother" phone often seen in Hong Kong movies. But with Li Xian's current financial situation, he couldn't afford or justify using one.

A "Big Brother" phone cost over 10,000 yuan, not to mention the exorbitant fees for global communication; the monthly rental fee was 50 yuan, and it cost 0.5 yuan per minute to talk, with both incoming and outgoing calls being charged.

However, pagers had become quite popular.

Even though Li Xian found these one-way communication devices, which could only receive something akin to text messages, quite silly, having one was better than nothing, and the price of over 1,000 yuan was acceptable.

With some money in his pocket now, he began to consider getting one.

When he arrived at the retirement home, he found a group of old men engaged in activities in the courtyard.

Most of these old cadres had families within the bureau, but generally, those who moved into the retirement home were widowers. Living alone was too lonely, and with the retirement home's good environment and medical facilities, they had all moved in.

The activities of these old men typically revolved around the "three classics": Mahjong, chess, and poker. But it seemed that this group of old colleagues, who had worked together for decades, could always find new ways to play the "three classics."

When Li Xian arrived at the courtyard under the guidance of the gatekeeper, he saw Old Man Zheng and Old Man Wu in the middle of a heated argument.

From their argument, Li Xian roughly deduced that Old Man Wu was trying to take back a move in chess.

When they noticed Li Xian's arrival, the two men abandoned their game, called out to him, and soon attracted the attention of the other elderly folks.

"Hey, kid, we thought you had absconded with the money!" Old Man Zheng teased, always quick with his sharp tongue.

"How could I, with my ID and student card both held by you? Even if I wanted to run, I couldn't get away from the Forestry Bureau."

Old Man Wu, who had just narrowly avoided losing the chess game, wasn't in a good mood and asked, "So, did you finish the work?"

Li Xian proudly informed them that the first batch of seven coffins was completed and would be arriving soon.

The group expressed their satisfaction with the efficiency, but upon learning that the exact time of arrival was uncertain, they dispersed to continue their own activities.

Soon, the courtyard was alive with the noise of people playing Mahjong, Poker, and calling out, making the retirement home lively again.

With nothing else to do, Li Xian squatted down next to Old Man Wu and Old Man Zheng to watch them play chess.

Old Man Wu was a terrible chess player with a bad temper, completely outmatched by Old Man Zheng.

During their idle chatter, Li Xian learned that Old Man Wu's full name was Wu Shengli, and he was the former head of the Forest Protection Department of the Forestry Bureau. Although this position might seem unimportant, it actually held significant power. The Forestry Bureau itself was a bureau-level unit with many people under its administration. The Forest Protection Department, in fact, was equivalent to the later Forest Police, managing the entire forest area under the bureau.

Old Man Zheng's full name was Zheng Weishi, and he was the former head of the Forestry Bureau's Administration Department. This department was in charge of setting the logging quotas for the bureau's sixteen forest farms, managing transportation, and issuing timber transport permits within the province—certainly a position of considerable authority.

Li Xian was surprised by the backgrounds of these two seemingly ordinary old men and flattered them, saying, "The value of the elderly group in our retirement home is quite high!"

"Hah!" Old Man Zheng clearly found Li Xian's comment to reflect a narrow perspective. He pointed to another elderly man playing poker nearby, whose face was covered in paper slips, and said, "You're impressed by just a department head and a section chief? You should learn about him—our retired Forestry Bureau Director, Wang Linhe. He just retired recently."

Li Xian looked for a while before recognizing him as the same old man who had previously pointed out his use of newspapers to cause a panic and engage in speculation.

Though surprised by the lineup at the retirement home, Li Xian didn't think much of it.

After all, they were all retired, weren't they?

At that moment, Old Man Wu and Old Man Zheng's chess game had reached a critical stage, with Old Man Wu still on the losing end.

Seeing him struggle, Li Xian offered a few tips. These were tricks he had learned in QQ games later on, and they quickly put Old Man Wu in the lead. It wasn't long before Old Man Zheng was checkmated.

Old Man Wu was overjoyed and immediately began boasting about his victory. Wang Linhe, who had been playing poker nearby, was curious and came over. After hearing about the tricks, he couldn't help but glance at Li Xian.

Old Man Zheng was furious, pointing at Li Xian and scolding, "Don't you know the saying, 'A true gentleman remains silent while watching chess'? You rascal, why aren't you in class during the day?"

Li Xian grinned and replied, "What classes? We've already been assigned our jobs."

Wang Linhe immediately asked, "Where were you assigned?"

"Sanitation Department."

Li Xian answered truthfully.

"Sanitation?" Wang Linhe frowned, "I remember you told me you studied horticulture. At the very least, you should have been assigned to the Street Office, where there are positions related to horticulture. What are you doing in sanitation?"

Li Xian chuckled, "Cleaning out latrines."

This career path left the old cadres utterly stunned.

Old Man Zheng even choked on his tea and sprayed it out, exclaiming, "Did you throw your principal's child into a dry well or something?"

Li Xian hadn't planned on discussing these matters in front of unrelated people.

However, he considered that these old cadres had all retired from within the Forestry Bureau's system and might still have some influence. If nothing else, just to annoy Wu Guohua, he decided to share the story of how Wu Guohua had tried to bribe him and also mentioned how Liang Yonghe had jumped off a building due to the job assignment.

After hearing his story, the group fell into a silent reflection.

No one understood the dark sides of the Forestry Bureau better than these old hands. In fact, within the system, many of the people present weren't entirely clean themselves.

But even if they weren't clean, they operated within the rules. Wu Guohua's actions in this situation had clearly crossed the line.

Zheng Weishi smacked his lips, thinking that Li Xian was sharing this story with ulterior motives. He said, "Kid, how about I pull some strings for you? You could go and meet with your principal, Xu Zhengguang, and see if you can get your job assignment changed?"

Li Xian quickly declined, "No need. I've made up my mind. There's plenty of opportunities out there. In this day and age, no matter what you do, you can still succeed. There's no need to cling to the school's assignments."

Wu Shengli, sitting beside them, slapped his thigh and said, "Now that's ambition!"

Seeing that Li Xian wasn't interested in his offer, Zheng Weishi quietly shook his head. But noticing Wang Linhe deep in thought next to him, he had an idea.

"Sigh, I'm just an old man who's retired now, not of much use anymore, only able to help make connections. Since you have your own plans, we won't interfere anymore. After all, we're getting old, too old."

Li Xian noticed that when Zheng Weishi said this, Wang Linhe's thick eyebrows furrowed deeply.

At that moment, the sound of a tractor engine echoed from the entrance of the retirement home.

Li Xian quickly stepped out of the courtyard to see four tractors with trailers, each carrying coffins, parked at the gate.

The people on the tractors were busy securing the wheels with stones from the roadside.

Besides Zhang Yaba and his two brothers-in-law, Li Xian was surprised to see that Wang Qinghe and his brothers, as well as Li You, had also come along!