Chapter 70: The Live Treasure

Seeing that Li Jie was in relatively good spirits, Li Xian left the women's restroom.

Outside, Zou Ni was crying and lamenting, "Everyone in the forest farm knows about the relationship between Lao San and that young man from the Gao family. Now, Guo Guixiang publicly rejected Lao San. How will she ever get married in the forest farm again? What are we going to do from now on?"

Li You, already distressed, was even more agitated by the scene of his wife crying in the hospital, attracting some onlookers. He was fed up and said, "Enough already! Stop whining, we're still in the hospital! Go home and cry there if you want! Every day, I can't deal with this kind of nonsense from you!"

Seeing his father so upset, Li Xian tried to calm him down. He pulled the main culprit aside and said softly, "This mess is all because of this damn factory! We had a good life, and now look at us. Your sister's marriage is ruined because of this. Where am I supposed to put my old face in the factory now? Tell me, where am I supposed to put my face?"

Li Xian understood the fear of public opinion, but he thought these issues were trivial.

Living for oneself and being concerned with others' opinions must be exhausting, right?

"Then why don't you put your face on me? I don't mind being a thick-skinned person."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Li Xian was silent for a moment, then smiled awkwardly and said, "Dad, I'm really sorry about this. But I think Lao San being rejected isn't all my fault. With Gao Ming's mother's behavior, even if Lao San married into their family, she would still suffer. Sometimes a setback can turn into a blessing. This might be a good thing. You should relax and not take this so seriously, okay?"

After saying this, he ignored his father's enraged reaction and went to the doctor.

Li Jie didn't have much of an issue; taking two doses of fly medicine only caused her a day of diarrhea. After coming out of the doctor's office, he felt relieved.

He instructed Li You to take the mother and daughter to the retirement dormitory and, not wanting to hear any more complaints, left quickly.

Seeing his son dash down the stairs, Li You was so angry that he was shaking. Supported by Zou Ni, he held onto the wall, clutching his chest.

"I'll make sure you ungrateful ones make me die of anger sooner or later!"

Seeing Zou Ni only crying, he was even more furious.

"Stop being a wasteful woman and crying! Go buy some quick-acting heart-saving pills!"

The corridor of the hospital echoed with his roar.

...

Although Li Jie asked him not to contact Gao Ming, Li Xian couldn't let it go.

While others didn't know the situation between the two, Li Xian was very clear.

Though he remembered Gao Ming fondly, the current situation was different. His presence in this era was an anomaly, and often, it was these anomalies that tested people's hearts.

Without Li Xian, many issues might not have been exposed in Li Jie and Gao Ming's relationship.

From his perspective, Gao Ming and Li Jie's relationship had reached a point where one could describe it as a pig meddling with cabbage. If Gao Ming ended up abandoning Li Jie because of him, that was intolerable!

While thinking about this, Li Xian heard someone shouting behind him. Turning around, he saw the three young men from the bus.

The three had been waiting at the door for Li Xian and now ran over excitedly.

"What are you doing?" Li Xian frowned, thinking these guys might be up to something.

Seeing his wary expression, the three looked a bit awkward.

Xu Bing, the leader, scratched his head and chuckled, "Li Ge, haha, we've been pretty busy recently, huh?"

"Hmm?"

Seeing their awkwardness, Li Xian was a bit confused.

Zhou Yong, who was bowing beside him, nodded, "Li Ge, our sister Lao San had an accident last night. We brought her here."

"Right, right. Last time you saved us, today is our chance to repay you," Xu Bing quickly added.

Li Xian then relaxed a bit.

Through a bit of conversation, he learned that after losing face at the Eight-Nine Forest Farm, Xu San had abandoned these three and replaced them with new staff to manage the bus. It seemed that he had taken out his frustration on these three, leaving them to fend for themselves.

The three, having lost their organization, had ended up working for Wang Qinghe. Using their driving skills, they transported construction teams and materials between various forest farms.

When they heard about Li Jie's incident, they hurriedly brought her to the bureau with their tricycle.

After the three finished speaking, they all bowed deeply to Li Xian. "Big Brother, from now on, we'll follow you! No matter if it's climbing mountains or crossing seas, just say the word, and we'll be there!"

Seeing these three, Li Xian rubbed his forehead.

What kind of routine is this? The gangster style wasn't even popular back then!

But with his mind preoccupied, he didn't want to argue. Considering that if Gao Ming truly abandoned Li Jie, someone needed to handle the dirty work, these three might just be the right people for it.

He decided to let the three of them stick around and went to a telephone booth to call the forest factory's office to find Gao Ming. However, he was told that Gao Ming was away studying and wasn't home.

With this lead going cold, Li Xian had to set that matter aside and returned to the factory.

...

After Li Xian left, Xu Dequan, along with two machinery repair workers from the factory, adjusted the equipment and attempted another batch of paper. However, the results were still unsatisfactory.

Just as everyone was at their wit's end, Li Xian entered the workshop with the three young men.

After Xu Dequan explained the situation to him, Li Xian's brow furrowed. The key to producing toilet paper was the equipment, and if there was an issue there, he would be at a loss.

The three young men were different from the people in the forest farm. Seeing Li Xian managing such a large operation, they were thoroughly impressed.

Wow,

Xu San was so arrogant, but his subordinates only managed five buses. These two large factories, covering over ten thousand square meters with over a hundred workers and all sorts of equipment, were truly overwhelming.

This grand operation only made the three more determined to stick by Li Xian.

While Li Xian was troubled, Zhou Yong, the young man among them, mustered his courage and approached, "Big Brother, is there a problem with the equipment? Let me take a look?"

Li Xian eyed him skeptically, "Do you know how to fix it?"

On the way here, Li Xian had learned that one of the three was Xu Bing, who had worked as a ticket collector on the bus, another was Zhou Jun, a driver, and the last was Zhou Yong. Originally, the bus only needed two people, but Zhou Jun, who was a cousin of Zhou Yong, had lost his job due to theft and now worked with him.

Seeing Li Xian's skepticism, Xu Bing grinned and said, "Big Brother, don't underestimate Zhou Yong. He was quite skilled at repairing machinery back at the bus station!"

Hearing this, Li Xian pointed to the equipment and nodded, indicating Zhou Yong to give it a try.

The surrounding repair workers, noticing Zhou Yong's lack of professionalism, hesitated but stepped aside.

Zhou Yong took a screwdriver and, after starting up the production line, began inspecting the equipment from the pulping tank. When he reached the paper-making machine, his brows furrowed, and he stepped back.

He listened to the equipment and examined the beater, then instructed to stop the production line.

Once the power was cut, Zhou Yong quickly removed the beater's casing and disconnected the pressure regulation pipe. Then, a surprising scene unfolded.

He used the screwdriver to poke inside the pipe and pulled out a dead rat!

"Ugh! That's so disgusting, it's even got maggots!" Zhou Yong tossed the dead rat aside and spat.

Seeing this, Xu Dequan slapped his forehead in frustration, "The pipe was clogged, causing excessive pump pressure and the paper slurry to flow too fast. That's why the paper was too thick!"

After restarting the production line, sure enough, a layer of thin, dense, and delicate paper emerged from the machine.

Seeing this, Li Xian felt a huge sense of relief.

The toilet paper was finally a success!