Chapter 45: National Day

Previously, the caretaker at the asset office mentioned that some small thieves were eyeing the aluminum ingots, and fearing for their security if left there, Li Xian decided to move them to the rest center for safekeeping after receiving the asset transfer slip.

The large warehouse for storing the aluminum ingots was not far from the rest center, so the move was convenient.

At the compound, seeing Li Xian return with a beaming face, Zheng Weishi, Wu Shengli, and others, who were in the middle of a "company meeting," were curious and quickly asked if he had some good news.

Li Xian grinned and waved the asset transfer slip in front of them: "See this? Even though you didn't lend me the money, I still got those aluminum ingots! Haha…"

After speaking, he ignored the puzzled expressions of the old men and went straight to the rest center's office, where he found Director Lao Xue. During his time there, he had become familiar with most of the people in the rest center. Lao Xue, the director, was quite amiable and usually had a good relationship with him.

Upon hearing that Li Xian wanted to use two warehouse spaces, Lao Xue immediately handed over the keys to those two warehouses.

With the warehouse arranged, Li Xian quickly found a truck and workers. After some busy work, he managed to transport all the aluminum ingots from the asset office.

More than twenty tons of aluminum ingots, while not very large in volume—about the size of ten refrigerators—were quite heavy, and it took two trips with the tractor to move them.

As the tractor rumbled into the rest center and workers struggled to move the shiny aluminum ingots into the warehouse, Zheng Weishi and Wu Shengli watched with disapproval.

"This kid… really pitiful."

"Yes, he worked hard for a month and ended up with a pile of scrap metal…"

Earlier, while Li Xian was fetching the ingots, they had thoroughly discussed the value of the ingots and the possibility of their appreciation.

The conclusion was clear: they had little value and would not appreciate.

So now, their view of Li Xian had shifted from seeing him as crazy to feeling pity...

Only Li Xian was happily directing the workers to neatly stack and arrange the ingots.

Once all the ingots were neatly placed in the warehouse, Li Xian felt a sense of unprecedented satisfaction as he looked at the result.

He couldn't help but gently touch the stack of ingots, reminiscent of the silver pile in "The Royal Scribe," and imagined the scene of these ingots being converted into cash, noting the AI chemical symbols and A00 markings on each ingot.

Earlier Chinese technical standards came from the Soviet Union, and "A00" was the Russian grade in Soviet standards. Twenty years later, this became known as standard aluminum, representing 99.7% purity. Most aluminum castings required this material.

Although they seemed like just aluminum ingots now, Li Xian knew that with the spring breeze, these ingots would turn into real money!

It was September 30th, and in just over ten days, the 14th National Congress would be held. Li Xian swore he had never looked forward to a country's decision-making meeting like this before.

In the evening.

Happy Li Xian bought some wine and meat, and asked the chef at the cafeteria to prepare a big feast. He invited Zheng Weishi, Wu Shengli, Wang Linhe, and a group of old men, along with Director Lao Xu, to join him.

With October 1st approaching, he needed to visit the 89 Forest Farm. He knew that the people at the rest center were not short of money, so he could only show his appreciation through a banquet.

Additionally, after a month of renovation work, the house was nearly finished. Although he had promoted the exterior tile work, there was still a big surprise waiting...

Furthermore, since Li Pi was also on vacation tomorrow, Li Xian planned to return to the 89 Forest Farm for a few days and would need these people to help look after the ingots.

During the meal, everyone was naturally concerned about Li Xian spending over sixty thousand on the ingots. Wu Shengli, after a few drinks, urged Li Xian to return the scrap metal to avoid rust and difficulties.

Li Xian could only smile and remain silent.

The next morning, after arranging things at the rest center, Li Xian rode his motorcycle to the dormitory of the Forestry Bureau First Middle School.

Li Pi had already packed up, and upon seeing Li Xian, he immediately greeted him with a big grin.

"Second Brother, why are you here? I was planning to head to the forestry technical school to find you after finishing packing."

Li Xian patted his younger brother, who was now shorter than him, thinking he might miss him at the technical school if he didn't wake up early.

During this busy period, Li Pi was unaware of Li Xian's renovation work.

Li Pi was displeased as he was patted on the head: "Second Brother, can you stop patting my head? Grandpa says that being patted too much will stop me from growing taller!"

Li Xian was irritated by this! Li Pi's genes were a serious hindrance to the next generation. Before his time travel, his height and appearance had always been a painful issue.

How painful? Let's put it this way: from elementary school to high school, he was always the tallest in his class during morning exercises.

It was heart-wrenching!

At that time, every time Li Xian complained about it to his father, he would receive a swift kick in response.

Now that he found the source of the genes and was in a different generation, he couldn't tolerate it. He gave Li Pi a kick and said, "Nonsense! Your height will be stuck at 1.68 meters! How is that related to patting your head?"

Other students in the dormitory saw Li Pi getting kicked and laughed. Embarrassed by his peers' looks, Li Pi packed up and left with Li Xian.

However, when he saw Li Xian's Lucky 250 motorcycle, he couldn't hold back.

In this era, motorcycles were extremely attractive to sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys. Li Pi circled around the motorcycle and kept asking how he got it.

Li Xian grinned and briefly explained his recent renovation work. This amazed Li Pi, making him forget the recent beating and express admiration with a "666" emoji-like reaction, calling his second brother impressive.

Sitting on the motorcycle made Li Pi feel incredibly cool. He greeted familiar classmates along the way, and his smugness made Li Xian feel embarrassed and want to stop the motorcycle and give him another beating.

Having not returned home for a long time, Li Xian took Li Pi for a tour around the Forestry Bureau, bought some rare treats for the family, and got new outfits for Li Pi and himself. After spending the entire morning shopping, they sped back home with their large bundles.

Facing the dusty road and the setting sun, when they arrived at the forest farm, it was already late afternoon. As they entered the farm gate, Li Xian saw the red tour bus parked by the roadside, surrounded by a large crowd.

The noise and commotion from the crowd were quite lively!