Chapter 3 The second story of the three villagers: the story of reimbursement

Let me set up a dragon gate formation, which is not as interesting as the dragon gate formation formed by the people of Mount Emei, but this is something I have personally experienced.You know, I specialize in financial reimbursement work in the Yamen.This job is very boring, what is there to do?Yes, I thought so too.But I don't know what the hell is wrong, but it just made me cast lots for the first time.You have to ask me to set up a Long Men Formation, if not, you will expel me from the cold bench.Mo Naihe, make do with it, let's put one up! Officer Wang, oh, it's time to call him "Sanjia Villager".He really looks like an old pedant from Sanjia Village.All in gray, from gray felt hat to gray clothes, gray shoes, and gray hair protruding from the gray felt hat.His face was also grey, with a gloomy look on his face.There was also a layer of dust on the clothes.According to him, his life is gray, and we see his mood is also gray.He is the most tasteless person.Everyone said that he had probably never eaten salt in his life, that he was listless in his work and tasteless in his speech; it was like an old pickle jar that had been opened, smelling shabby.So when the Cold Bench Association was established and everyone reported their own nicknames, we all reported them, but he couldn't report them alone, so everyone gave him the nickname "Sanjia Villager".He only knows how to bury his head in his office all day, burying his whole body in the mountain of account books and expense reports. It seems that he is determined to bring a large pile of account books to his coffin for office work.He doesn't hum or haha, and he rarely hears him say a word.Some people say that if you use a bar to press him from head to toe, you won't be able to press a fart.The rule of our cold bench meeting is that whoever gets the lottery will set up an interesting dragon gate formation that will make everyone calm down after listening to it.Our president, the Emeishan people, played the opening gongs and drums, and after setting up a very interesting dragon gate formation, it was our turn to cast lots for the dragon gate formation.Who knew that the first person to cast lots was the least eloquent "Sanjia Villager" among us.He pushed and blocked, but refused to let go. Everyone pushed him for a long time, and even threatened him to expel him from our cold bench. For the clerk, it was really the worst punishment—that's why he put it up.

As you all know, I do reimbursement work for other people.After doing reimbursement work all my life, I almost lost my own life.What I want to show is this story that almost cost me my life.Whether my old life will be reimbursed in the future is still uncertain! Of course I am also a small civil servant, as you know.My parents gave me a mouth to eat, but they didn't give me a pair of hands to grab food.What's more, my parents ordered me a golden girl since I was a child, and when I got old, I had to marry back.The law of nature is so ruthless, it keeps sending me a bunch of dolls with their mouths open to eat and naked to wear.But I can neither steal nor rob, and I have never learned 2, and naturally I have never killed others, and I don't have the nepotism of good sisters and sisters.As a family, the burden of life is like a ruthless whip, whipping on my back every day.what to do?Mo Naihe asked someone to borrow tuition fees and went to a fast-track accounting school.That's what I thought at the time: In this world, no matter what your business is, you always need to spend money, you have to keep accounts when you spend money, and you have to use accountants to keep accounts.I can earn a solid job by relying on my ability to calculate and keep accounts.That's it, one year to graduate.After entrusting people and giving gifts, I finally found a job as a trainee accountant in the procurement and transportation department of the County Grain Bureau.The salary is not much, as long as the work is thin enough to fill the stomachs of the whole family indiscriminately, so as not to starve to death, that's fine.

I'm on business the next day.Of course, I am not asked to take care of the important food in and out accounts, but only ask me to take care of the reimbursement accounts for daily miscellaneous expenses.This errand is easy to handle, as long as you register the daily odds and miscellaneous accounts (we call them "bean sprouts accounts"), and paste the invoices for each account on the paper.I did it very carefully and seriously, just like the teacher taught me in the accounting school, money, accounts, and vouchers are three things that are catchy.On those vouchers, not only the unit price, quantity, and total number of the goods are in line, but also stamped with the stamp of this firm and that store, it is agreed to be reimbursed in the account.Although this matter is rigid, it is very simple. As long as you follow the rules, the world will naturally be peaceful.I can live such a stable and leisurely life in this troubled world, no matter what, I should be self-satisfied.

But after a few days, there was trouble.Because a clerk came to reimburse him, saying that he went to the street to buy some loads of firewood and hired someone to pick them out.How much is the firewood, and how much does Lifu cost to carry the firewood? The money was spent, but there was no certificate.How can I get reimbursed?I opened the books I had read, and checked the reimbursement regulations sent by my superiors. That is, the firewood seller and Lifu, the firewood bearer, should each issue a receipt with a private seal to be considered a valid certificate.I thought this was inconsistent with the regulations, so I resisted the reimbursement and asked him to bring proof.The clerk was furious: "Hey, where can I find that fellow firewood seller He Lifu in the country to write a receipt and stamp it?"

I strived according to the book and the rules of my superiors: "That's what the book says, so it should be done according to the rules!" He was even more annoyed: "Hmph, I went to find them now, I'm afraid I have to wait for those two illiterate people to go to school and learn how to write receipts. What about Lifu, how much money did he earn?" I'm afraid it's not enough to use it all to engrave a private seal, and you have to pay for it to meet your brother's reimbursement procedures, right? Huh?" The colleagues around me laughed out loud.I was dumbfounded.

Another colleague stood up and challenged me: "??, I go shopping in the street. It's not easy to buy things now, not to mention inviting someone to a restaurant, but please sit in a teahouse. It is always necessary to smoke a few cigarettes." , Could it be that he said to others: "Dude, you smoked three cigarettes, give me a receipt, and I will take it back to our accountant Wang to meet his reimbursement requirements!" It made everyone laugh at me, a person who works by books and rules. What they said was reasonable, but it was inconsistent with the books given to us by the accounting school and the express regulations of the boss. What should we do?I had to ask my superior, an old accountant in the accounting department, for instructions.He saw me picking up a few books and going to meet the government regulations, so he laughed: "Why are you so circuitous? Just ask the buyer to sign and stamp the certificate." Then he advised me kindly: "There will be a lot of articles about reimbursement in the future. You can be called a model accountant if you insist on government regulations. But I'm only worried that you won't be able to eat this bowl of food."

Oh, I didn't expect it to be so serious. The next day, a section chief of our department came back from a business trip. He threw a stack of receipts on my desk and said, "I have been reimbursed." After saying that, he left carelessly. I hastened to check the travel expenses and receipts he had drawn.I found that some receipts were obviously altered, some changed tens into thousands, and some randomly added a circle after the number, thus increasing tenfold.Not to mention, even this is not enough to make up the numbers.How can this be reimbursed?I should have talked to him, but when I thought about it, the old accountant's words were still in my ears, don't break my job.So I took it to the old accountant for research.I said that this altered document is inconsistent with the chapter.The old accountant really frowned at my pedantry, and he said: "Just follow the report, why are you meddling in so much business!"

I said, "Did the superior find out?" He smiled: "You think the superiors are so clean, they can't win by making false accounts for a day, so how can they have the leisure to check your documents one by one?" Oh, I count a little more insight.But the number of documents can't make up, so it won't work!I objected again. The old accountant was terrified of my naivety.He said: "You come to this agency to mess around, how hard is the backstage? Do you know who is that Section Chief Zhang?" I explained that I had no background at all, and I didn't know who Section Chief Zhang was or what background he had.The old accountant had to teach me a lesson: "Hey, you're new to work, and you don't even know these things clearly. Can you get along? That Section Chief Zhang is our bureau chief's brother-in-law and our director's old cousin!"

But I still insisted: "The documents are not enough, this account is not easy to handle." The old accountant said: "The receipts are not enough, you don't know how to do it yourself!" Oh, I see.But how to do it? This old accountant is really nice, he taught me how to do it, and even made a few demonstrations of fake receipts. From then on, I not only learned a lot of worldly wisdom from the old accountant, but also learned a lot of the latest accounting techniques from him.The old accountant said: "You don't understand these techniques, how can you be a qualified accountant?"

Since then, I have worked hard to be a qualified accountant. When they go to the streets to make sporadic purchases, they do as taught by the old accountant, and ask the purchaser to issue a certificate, sign it, stamp it, and then reimburse it.Later, I made another development, simply, tell me the number, I fill out a receipt myself, and stamp it with the stamp of any store or company.All these stamps were engraved by myself in the street looking for an engraving shop. ??, within a few months, my drawer is full of stamps of various companies.I'm afraid half a street in a city doesn't have as many shops as there are in my drawer.As for some sporadic purchases, most of them are sold by country people, and there is no stamped receipt at all, so I will write a white note myself and press my thumbprint.Anyway, I have two hands, and I can press ten fingers on them; I have a pair of feet, and I have ten toes, and I can press ten more on them.If it is not enough, please ask the people who reimbursed the account to help, they are all happy, and each person can press 20 tickets.Even the old accountant thought that my creative activities in reimbursement technology seemed to me to be pedantic, but I was actually very promising, and even a bit of an inventive genius!

As a result, my reimbursement business went very smoothly.It can be said that everyone in the whole organization is very happy, and they all think that I am a qualified accountant for reimbursement.There is also Section Chief Zhang, who is very satisfied with my eagerness to serve him.Once, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "That's right, you old man, you're out of education!" Since I became a retired old man and a qualified accountant, I have been appreciated by the accounting director.You all know that the chief accountant has always been a confidant of the head of the organization.When an official is about to take office, he must bring two people with him, one is the secretary and the other is the chief accountant.Now that I am appreciated by the chief accountant, I am an old man who is not only out of school, but also has a bright future, but this has also passed his test. Once, the accountant director asked me to go.After exchanging pleasantries, a question was raised.He said: "You must be a sensible person. We all rely on the big tree of the chief to take a rest. What if a tree falls and the monkeys disperse? I think you understand that it is difficult to be an official now. The chief is now There are also difficulties, should you and I support him?" Although I haven't heard a clue yet, I can't help but pretend that I am a "sensible person" and express that we must support the director's affairs.So the accounting director asked me to find a way to "make up" thousands of dollars to contribute to the director. I really tried my best and tried my best to count it in the reimbursement. I squeezed out a few thousand yuan and sent it to the accounting director on time.The accountant chief praised: "Okay, okay, you are really a sensible person." I, who was upgraded from a qualified accountant to a "sensible person", have since joined the core of the bureau chief and accounting director.After I came into contact with many appalling and confidential events, I realized that the Grain Bureau is a unit envied by many people.Grain is not only "food is the most important thing for the people", but also more important than the sky. In our era when banknotes are very "hairy", food actually plays the role of currency.It is conceivable that there are a lot of people who want to compete for the plentiful position of the Director of Grain.Everyone uses banknotes to stuff it, whichever has the biggest "burden" can get this fat job, needless to say.If there is no strong backer in the food department of the government in Chongqing, you will be crushed within a few months if you get this fat job.I only now know that our bureau chief, although he is not a big official, is a close confidant of the Minister of Food.Later I learned that the minister is from our place.On several occasions, when there was a food shortage in Chongqing, it was because of our head of the grain bureau, who rushed to transport tens of thousands of tans of grain from our grain-producing county day and night, so that the minister passed the customs. The bigger secret that I knew surprised me the most, but it was that our bureau chief used official money to speculate and manipulate the market. That is really "inexhaustible gold rolling in"! One morning, just as I was going to work, I was burying my head in the pile of ledgers, playing with numbers, when the chief accountant suddenly called me into his office.After I went, he gave up his seat, handed cigarettes, made tea, and called me Mr. Wang, being very polite to me.The accounting director said, "Mr. Wang, congratulations on your promotion." I became uneasy when I heard it.Because at that time—of course, it's the same now, when your superior suddenly becomes polite to you one day and congratulates you on your "promotion", it's time for you to get ready to leave.I blinked, looked at our accounting director, and did not speak; I was thinking, I have always worked hard for them in a proper manner, where did I offend them, and they want me to be called "high promotion"? "It's true, Mr. Wang, don't be nervous. Look, someone has invited you to be the accounting director." The accounting director took out a piece of paper and opened it for me to see. It turned out that it was a gift from Yumin Food Company. letter of appointment.Being an accountant director and mastering financial power is naturally much better than my current reimbursement accountant.However, I don't know if this is the method of "promotion" by the director of the bureau and the chief accountant to get me out.I hesitated and said: "I am familiar with people in this grain bureau, and I can just eat a bowl of Taiping rice. I don't want to be promoted. Besides, Yumin Grain Company is a government-run business. I have never heard of it." The chief accountant laughed.He knew that our small civil servants who "bow their waists for two buckets of rice" were frightened by the formula "high promotion = dismissal", so he hurriedly explained to me: "Mr. It was not run by outsiders. In fact, our bureau chief is the general manager, but he is not on the signboard. Of course you understand this. You must also know that the bureau chief’s backstage is the Minister of Food in Chongqing. This company is the capital of the minister. It can be said that The minister is the chairman of this company. The Grain Bureau and the Grain Company are actually the same inside and outside. They are both officials and businessmen. The Grain Bureau makes money and the Grain Company benefits. The director sees you as a sensible person, honest and reliable, so he pulls you in. Come into our circle. If you find a backer like a minister or bureau chief, you can be proud for a lifetime." Oh, I see.I was indeed flattered.Of course I readily agreed and accepted the letter of appointment.Thinking about it carefully, I really want to thank the old accountant who taught me all kinds of worldly wisdom and various reimbursement techniques.Without him, how could I be where I am today?I was thinking of thanking the old accountant, but the accounting director said: "No one can tell about the company's affairs. Especially don't tell the old accountant. This person is very ghostly and unreliable." "Oh, oh." What else can I say but oh oh! The accountant director said again: "We will also call you 'Gao Sheng'. We will dismiss you because of your fault. Then you can go to Yumin Grain Company to find a job." Why did the accountant director talk upside down?Just now he said he would not call me "Gao Sheng" and fired me, why now he said he wanted to blame me for a little mistake and dismissed me?Yumin Company obviously sent me a letter of appointment, so why did they say they wanted me to find a job in that grain company?I looked hesitantly at the discolored face of the chief accountant, trying to read the weather from it, to see whether it was sunny or windy or rainy today. "Hey, brother, why are you being so mean-spirited? This cutscene must be gone. The letter of appointment is already in your hands, what are you afraid of?" The smiling face of the accountant director showed that the weather has turned sunny today, and I am in front of me. It is bright. Oh, I see.I immediately expressed my understanding. Sure enough, a few days later, I was "promoted" out of the Grain Bureau, and at the same time I took up a position in Yumin Grain Company.This company has a small appearance and fewer staff, but it is actually just a leather bag company.What is "Purse Bag Company"?It is to open the company in the purse of the manager, and specialize in doing things such as buying short and selling short, and speculating.The business is very simple. The grain bureau collects and purchases through the government, and the grain scraped from the common people becomes the capital of the company.With such a large capital invested in the grain market, it is completely possible to monopolize and manipulate the market.Ups and downs are hesitant, completely using money as a leverage.In order to wait for the price of grain to rise, even if the grain in the warehouse is piled up, they will not sell it.Poor people in Shengdou, carrying a sack in the wind and rain, lined up outside the rice store in the middle of the night, only to see a wooden sign saying "no rice today" hanging up in the morning.Some old women thumped the door panel and cried bitterly: "Are you really going to starve to death? The heavenly principle is conscience..." She thought that there really was such a precious thing as "conscience" in this world.What's more, it is the wooden sign that says "no rice today" with a ruthless face on her face. Sometimes, in order to fight against the small speculators and rice shop owners in the market, they want to sell them freely and severely suppress the price.At first, when the speculators saw the price of rice falling, they were quick to close it, but the price fell more and more, and it didn't take long for them to lose their composure.At the same time, they have limited capital, some of which are usury capital borrowed from the county bank.If they don't throw it out after a long time, among other things, even the interest they have to pay is too much for them to bear.On the one hand, the price of rice and grain in the market continued to weaken, on the other hand, the interest rate on bank loans continued to rise, and at the same time, the county bank tightened its money, just like the belt around the necks of those speculative rice merchants, getting tighter and tighter. .I just found out that this county bank was originally run by the director, and the backstage boss was still the minister who was far away in Chongqing. Naturally, the county bank had to work hard to cooperate with the boss's "cannibalism" business. (The terms "weakness" and "tight money", you know? These are the jargon of the market) These speculative rice merchants couldn't bear it anymore, so they had to reluctantly spit out the grain they had eaten at a high price at a low price. swallowed up.When you turn around, the price is high.Just in between swallowing and swallowing, the check flew into my safe like snowflakes.Simply put, some firms and rice shops were eaten up by the company in this way.The company is getting fatter and fatter. Every time I eat a rice shop, the accounting director will come to me for a drink.At the banquet, he laughed and said, "Turtle son, I ate another egg!" He gnawed on the bones of the sweet and sour pork ribs, clucking with relish, as if he was chewing the meat of those small people and peddlers. Bones, at least that's how I feel.The bloody squeeze and the brutal strife turned out to be their source of happiness. This Yumin company has been engaged in the "Yumin" business for less than a year, and has made a lot of money.I personally exchanged a lot of money to a private bank in Chongqing.But from the outside, there is still nothing to be seen. Yumin Company is still such a small shop, and there are still only a few people.We saw neither money nor banknotes, nor did we see the food in kind, so we flew back and forth relying on bank checks and food delivery alone.We are like magical magicians, playing back and forth between checks and bills of lading, and we see "endless gold rolling in".Of course, the few people working in our company are just a few string puppets. On the surface, it is the accounting director who is giving orders.They are officials with power and power, and merchants with food and money, manipulating the market, doing big fish to eat small fish, and small fish to eat shrimp, living a life of debauchery, with fat faces and round stomachs. Ordinarily, I’m just a humble citizen who was drawn in by chance. I have never seen or heard anything. Sometimes I think about it late at night, but I also feel a little scary, and I can’t justify it in my conscience.But when I got up in the morning, I was torn between the check and the payment slip, and when I heard the chief accountant say, "Conscience! How much is a conscience worth?" before. I have been working for a year, and I always thought that our bureau chief and the ministers behind him were invincible.The God of Wealth is like a cat or a dog raised in their mansion, who was fed by them.But they didn't know that there was a slingshot behind the oriole aiming at them.And I almost lost my old life in this kind of cruel struggle. Let’s say that one day, the accounting director came to me and said to me: “This year, the God of Wealth has taken care of us and made a lot of money, but it’s not enough to just have some bills. The grain company also needs to have a lot of real money. Only when the food is in the hands can we be considered as down-to-earth and not afraid of wind and waves." I agree with him, "But how?" I asked him. He smiled—the chief accountant always liked to talk about his pride, so he wrinkled his face in such a non-smiling way that he couldn't hear his laughter, only the sound that came out from between his teeth. Hush sound.It was like a biting cold wind, blowing through his teeth to my face.Of course, his laughter contained cleverness and wisdom, but more of it contained insidiousness and treachery.Today he smiled like that again--if that can be called a smile.I know he has another "best policy" to come up with.He said, "What should we do? We don't know how to grow grain, we don't know how to print money, and we don't know how to do magic tricks to make grain fall into our granary like rain from the sky." So what to do?Where does food come from?I was listening attentively, but he deliberately kept it secret and stopped talking.I asked, "Where does the food come from?" "Only here can food be produced." He pointed to his half-glowed forehead. "Where can food be produced?" I was a little bit unconvinced. "Make up your mind." He patted his head. Still baffled, I asked, "What idea?" "It's all about getting creative with your reimbursement technology again," he said. So he murmured in my ears for a while, which was really what was said in an ancient book, and told me to "be enlightened", and made me follow him to become wiser.Only then did I realize how clever a person can become and how brilliant a trick he can come up with as long as he is blinded by greed.And this kind of spiritual power can transform into material food.But how vicious and cruel it was!Just like that, it was like a magic trick, and thousands of dans of food from the public house were added to my account book. Seeing the way you looked at me in amazement, you probably want to ask me: "You don't want to be fooled, what is the trick, tell me!" I want to confess to you, if you need to say that, It's a crime.To put it bluntly, it is actually very simple, two words: average.Ask me to make a fuss about "average". What is "average damage"?Some of you probably know it, but most of you probably don't.Our county is close to the big river, and it is a wharf for grain distribution. Every year, tens of thousands of tons of grain are transported by water to Chongqing, the accompanying capital, for military supplies and civilian use.You still don’t know that there are many dangerous shoals on the waterway from there to Chongqing, and many rice boats are hit and sunk every year.Well, the dangerous beach has extended a lovely helping hand. As long as one or two big boats are "cracked", thousands of tons of rice will enter the company's warehouse.You want to say, no, the rice has sunk to the bottom of the beach, and it has gone to provide military rations for the shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the Dragon King. Where can it go to the granary of Yumin Company?This proves that your brains have not been soaked in greed and become smart, so you only know one thing, but not the other.Can't you withhold the grain in advance, put a small amount of grain bags on the ship for appearance, and the rest are fake grain bags?Anyway, the boat has sunk, and the food has been poured into the water. Who has the ability to go to the Dragon Lord to check the account of the sunk food?If a general accident is reported, the government will lose several thousand dans of grain. Oh, Mr. Zhang, you are laughing, don’t you believe me?Also, Lao Huang, you are from Chongqing, and the people on the big wharf, don’t you believe it?At first, I didn't believe it. There were so many rowers on the boat, and the boatman at the helm. Could it be that they were not afraid of death and forced the boat to hit the rocks?But after practicing it a few times, I am convinced.The fortunes of those rowers!Anyway, all or most of them were drowned, and only a few people were able to climb ashore.Just right, we can ask them to prove that the ship had an accident and all the food was poured into the water.But what about the boatman?Would he himself be willing to turn the rudder wildly, puff up his eyes and let the ship hit the rocks?What is he not willing to do?Just give him a few extra bucks.But that's still not a big deal.The safest way is that the escort sent to the ship, when he arrived at the beach, in the back cabin, he caught the rudder by surprise and pulled the rudder violently, taking advantage of the situation and knocking the boatman into the water, just like being knocked down by the rudder.The helmsman was drowned, and that was infallible.Ah, you said it was too cruel, right?Which old money-lovers and land-scraping bureaucrats are clean?Which banknote they scraped was not soaked in the blood, sweat and tears of the poor people?As long as there is a big profit, cut his own father into eight big pieces to sell as dog meat, get his mother-in-law to sleep with others, and he will shout at the bedside; ask him to be a turtle son or grandson, he is willing to do it of.Tomorrow, he will be tied to the execution ground, his head will be cut off for public display, and he will be told to gnaw river sand in his mouth and blood on his neck, so that his soul will not be able to ascend to heaven, but will only go to hell to go to the mountain of knives and go to the frying pan, and he will not be reborn forever. He is not afraid .Hey, I've seen a lot of these people. In short, with this trick, even if our Yumin Company has real capital, many warehouses of grain are actually affixed with the seal of Yumin Grain Company and belong to the company.Average was reimbursed in the accounting director's account, and my account was done seamlessly. But we are proud of it, but encountered a "hard fire." Once, we found that some speculators in the grain market were raising prices and grabbing grain again.The accounting director didn't care, and said to me: "Huh, those are just a few dried shrimps, not even small fishes. I'm sure his father can muddy the sea. Eat the dried shrimps delivered to your door." So he still used the method of vomit first and then swallow to deal with them. But this time it's a bit weird, these few shrimps refuse to accept their food, and they keep collecting food. The bank seems to be opened by them, and the checks are printed by them. Hard and can be cashed.After more than ten days, almost all the grain in the market with the most grain was grabbed, and it seemed that the appetite was still very large.Ok!This is not dried shrimp, could it be a big fish pretending to be dried shrimp!Both the accounting director and the bureau chief were surprised.It is obvious that the company is buying short and selling short, and what is being sold is national public grain. If Chongqing informs that it will send food immediately, or some army sends people here to ask for military grain, what should we do?The bureau chief had to ask the chief accountant to find out where did these speculators come from?After a lot of trouble, I finally figured out that they came from Chongqing, and they bought it under the banner of a Chongqing company called Fuguo Grain Company. They charged as much as they had in the market. What's even more strange is that the old accountant of the grain bureau, whom the accounting director thought was a "ghost", suddenly came to visit me and insisted on asking me to go out and find a secluded tavern for a drink.I am grateful to him for being my first guide, and thanks to him for teaching me the principles of being a human being and reimbursement techniques, I have made my fortune today, so I agreed to go.Arrived at a tavern, had a couple of drinks, he looked drunk.In fact, he has a good capacity for drinking, he is not really drunk, he just pretended to be confused and said a lot of drinking words, which was half intimidating and half admonishing me.He said: "Brother, the boat going down the beach is about to sink. Why don't you get off the shore soon, when will you wait?" I asked, "What do you mean by that?" He said: "The Yumin Grain Company you are relying on is probably in a precarious situation, right? Now it is already stretched thin, and after two more waves, I am afraid it will be called 'Dacho'." Strange, how does he know that our company is not doing well?I said vaguely: "I just want to get the five buckets of rice a month, and strive to get double salary for two months at the end of the year. I don't care about the rest." He smiled and said, "The five buckets of rice you bowed your waist for may not be reliable. Now there is an opportunity for five stones of rice in front of you, to see if you can raise your hand." I asked: "What do you mean?" He said: "Right now, your company's rivals in the market are very powerful. I don't think they have even touched the fire." I said, we already know that the Chongqing Fuguo Grain Company is here to catch the grain. He said: "Do you know who opened 'Fuguo'?" I said I don't know. He whispered to me mysteriously: "The background is very big, I heard it is this." He held out two fingers. I shook my head to show that I didn't know which he was pointing at with two fingers. "Hey, Miss Kong Er, have you never heard of it?" Oh, Miss Kong Er, I have heard that she is the second daughter of Kong Xiangxi, who is in charge of the government's economic power.About her, I have only heard many myths and jokes, but they are just chatter after tea and wine, who will take it seriously?For example, she often disguised herself as a man, and married several "face heads", that is, male concubines, and so on.It is also heard that she is a tyrant in Chongqing's economic circles and can turn iron into gold.This is true, if Fuguo Grain Company was really founded by her, then Yumin Grain Company would not be able to compete with her even with the current Minister of Grain as the backer.No wonder this time Yumin was put in such a mess, it turned out that he had hit a hard nut.I said: "In this way, Yumin is afraid that he will collapse this time." He smiled and said, "Hmph, do you think this is just to deal with you, a little rich man who hasn't grown up yet? The target is the Ministry of Food. It's the central government and the local government fighting for power over the country's food!" Oh, I really didn't expect such a thing, let alone being involved in such a thrilling vortex of struggle. He seemed to see through my thoughts, and tried to persuade me: "Brother, I am also doing it for your own good. To tell you the truth, Yumin Company is of course unreliable. He can't get off the stage. If you get out earlier, be careful that when others can't get off the stage, you will be thrown out as a scapegoat. Do you think that the hands and feet of the shipwreck were so clean? The helmsman didn't drown, someone raised him With this 'live mouth'!" It was a bolt from the blue!I didn't expect that the director and the minister's shipwreck would be leaked.I pretended to be confused and kept silent. This inside story was going to be leaked out. It was terrible. Is the Director of Grain easy to mess with?But maybe the old accountant just came to test me, they didn't really know the inside story. He saw that I was disturbed, and immediately attacked me: "This is a major matter involving several thousand tans of grain. Now the minister of grain is taking care of it, so it's fine. But what about the minister's collapse? The new minister has come to power, and he has been chasing after the general accident to the end? If the director doesn’t take a few heads, can this big case be closed? I’m worried that someone will borrow your heads.” I forced myself to calm down and said: "As I said, I am a poor civil servant. I just keep accounts and get five buckets of rice a month, and nothing else." I got up and left. When we parted, he warned me again: "Brother, get out early when you have to get out. Why follow the rotten boat off the dangerous shoal? As long as you are willing to turn around, someone slapped me on the chest. It is not the five buckets of rice you are holding now, but five buckets of rice. Shimi!" After I returned to Yumin Company, I was considering whether I should tell the accountant director about the hard background of Fuguo Company, and ask him to tell the bureau chief?I was still hesitating, and the accounting director came to me.He hastily told me that there is a shortage of food in Chongqing, and the food has been hoarded by big speculators and refuses to sell. The food in the market cannot be supplied. Relief.This is really bad.All the public grain here was used as capital and thrown out when fighting against the Fuguo Grain Company.At that time, I thought it would take only ten and a half months to collect and transfer them all. Who knew that the Fuguo Grain Company had a big background and could only eat but not vomit.The food is in their hands, and the bills are in our hands, which is useless, and the value of the bills is depreciating every day. It takes ten and a half months to buy 500 shi.Now Chongqing is rushing to deliver food, what should we do?Mo Naihe had no choice but to spit out the thousands of shi of grain that had been ignorant of his conscience and ate "average damage" in his mouth, and hurriedly sent it to Chongqing to plug the hole.But it was still not enough, so we had to go to the four townships to buy some grain at a high price to make up for it.说实在的，这么一搞，裕民粮食公司老本蚀光，倒背了一屁股债，早已过了宣告破产的格格了。看来我要失业了。 正在不得开交的时候，祸不单行，这里传说，在重庆的参政会上有人质问粮食部，粮食为什么飞涨，扬言要追查运重庆粮食的海损事故。有一天，会计主任来找我，说局长找我有事。过去局长是从来不和我照面的，一切都是经过会计主任，这回破格要见我，是什么事？ 晚上，我跟会计主任一块儿到局长公馆里去了。才坐下，局长劈头就问我：“你和那个老会计去喝过酒吗？” 我失悔那天回来，没有把这件事给会计主任说一说，现在只好认账了。I said "hmm". 局长火了：“好呀，你吃里扒外！”接着就用威胁的口气问我：“你老实说，你是不是看到'裕民'要垮，去挨'富国'去了？” 我否认有这样的动机，我说我也并不知道那个老会计早已被局长“高升”出去，他投进富国公司里去了。但是会计主任揪住我不放，像审问似的问我：“你放老实点，你是不是把裕民的老底子向他端出去了？” 我否认。 “那么海损的事除开你谁还能知道？为什么这件事在重庆闹开了？” 我只能矢口否认。我不想说出舵手还活着的事，那样会追查我这个消息的来源，如果说是老会计告诉我的，他们一定认为我陷进富国已经陷得很深了。我坚持我并没有暴露他们的阴私。的确是这样，他们找不到我泄露了什么机密的证据，事情就说到这里僵住了。 会计主任马上来转弯子，心平气和地说：“老兄，我们好歹都在一条船上，莫非我们还信不过你？不过想告诉你，那个老会计不是好东西，他正在安圈套想把你套住，你要当心，不要落进他们的圈套里去了。好了，今天就说到这里吧。”他一边说着，一边给局长在递点子的样子。局长也就马上改了口：“好了，好了，你为人忠厚，我们信得过。过去的事不说了，只要不和那个老会计去网，我们还是和衷共济，渡过难关，有你的好前程。” 我从局长的公馆里走出来，捏了一把汗。 过了两天，会计主任来约我一块儿到局长家里去，商量要紧的事。我们到了局长家里，局长和颜悦色地对我说：“好，好，你是个明白人，靠得住，我们这回送重庆的几千石公粮，请你去押运，并且替我带一封信到部长公馆去，他们要问什么，你才好回话。” 会计主任在一旁帮腔：“有部长在，我们裕民垮不了。你去见见部长，这机会可是难得哟。” 我只能应承了，他们两个看来很满意的样子。 运粮船队快开船了，忽然会计主任上船来了，还带了三个人一块儿上来，好像不是押运员。他说他们有要紧事要搭顺路船去重庆，和我一块儿走。船队开船了，一路挺顺利地过了险滩，天快黑的叫候，快要到重庆了。会计主任提议，我们另坐一条快船，先赶到重庆好安排粮船靠岸的地方。对头。我们从大船下到一条小船上，在前面走了。小船果然跑得飞快。 在黑蒙蒙的长江上，走了一程，会计主任带的两个人忽然靠近我的身边坐下了。会计主任开腔了：“这是你说老实话的地方了。你说说你把我们运粮的海损事故，告诉老会计没有？” 我还是那句话：“没有。” “好！”会计主任说，“你到底是说了还是没有说，都没有关系。你说了，砍你下水；你没有说，给你个全尸，沉你下水。” 说着，那两个大汉就把我按在舱里，硬要把我用麻袋装起来。我又哭又喊：“冤枉呀，活天的冤枉呀！”哪个管你？在这黑茫茫的江上，孤零零的一只小船，谁能听得到。 会计主任还奚落我说：“你记到，明年今天是你的周年，我们总算相交一场，到时候我到河边来给你烧纸。” 我已经吓得昏了，我怎么被硬塞进麻袋里去，怎么被抬起来丢进河里去的，后来又怎么样了，我完全不记得了。 当我醒来的时候，奇怪，我正躺在一张床上。这屋子比较黑，窗帘都拉上了，但是这间房子看起来还是蛮讲究的。这是在哪里？是在阴曹地府里吗？是在运粮船上做梦吗？我捏了一下我的腿，感觉很痛，我没有死，也不是在做梦，的确是会计主任和两个大汉合谋，把我沉了河了。但是这是谁把我从水里搭救起来了呢？ 我什么也想不清楚，我的头疼得很，是死是活，也不愿去想了。 “他醒来了吗？”一个很熟悉的声音从门外边传进来，跟着门被打开了，原来是老会计进来了。他走到我的床边，我想挣扎起来，他阻止了我“睡好，睡好”，显得十分亲热。毫无疑问，一定是老会计他们一帮人把我从河里救起来的。他们这帮人想必就是富国粮食公司那些人吧，就是孔二小姐一伙的吧！ “你这一条命是捡到活的。我劝你早抽身，早转向，你不信，差点下水喂了王八了吧？现在你该明白了，他们是想杀人灭口。你要想报仇，就把他们的老底子一五一十地都翻出来吧。”他表现出义形于色、十分愤慨的样子。 我从眼前九死一生的经验想，知道他显出那么愤慨不平，其实不过是为了最后那一句话，要我翻出局长、部长他们的老底子来。我默不作声，也不想对他们这帮人说什么。我陷进裕民的圈子里去，被他们当赌博的筹码使，差一点丢了老命，我现在再陷进富国的圈子里去，能活得出去？ 老会计却不管我理会不理会，只顾自己得意地说着：“哼，实话告诉你吧，那天我找你的事，他们知道了，我们就算定没有你好过的日子。我们本想把你绑架走，免得他们下毒手，谁知道他们赶在前头叫你押运粮食去重庆。我们一路坐小船跟了来，看他们到底要搞什么鬼。我们眼见他们把你骗上了小船，就算定他们是下了狠心，要杀人灭口了，果然眼见他们把你估倒装进麻袋，抬起来投进江里。我们早已在后边安排了人，下水去把你打捞起来，救活了你。你要想一想，富国公司和你非亲非故，救你起来干什么？你是个明白人，应该懂得怎样报答别人的救命之恩。” 这就说得再明白没有了。他们哪里是心存好意，死里相救，其实是要我当个活口，给他们提供打击对手的子弹罢了。要说那局长、部长是狼的话，他们这一般人恐怕是老虎，比狼更凶险些。我是再不想卷进虎狼斗里去了。我推辞说：“其实，我并不深知他们的老底。” “嗐，说你是明白人，一时却糊涂。你想，你没有拿住他们的致命短处，他们会这么把你往鬼门关里送？这点难道你瞒得过我们？老实告诉你，你到了这里，不说也得说。你说了总有你的好处。好吧，你歇歇，好好想想，明天我来听回话。告诉你，你要明白，你现在是到了什么地方。你要懂得哟，我不是随便来找你的。” 他说罢径自开门走了。从老会计这一席话，看得出来，我从狼窝里转到虎穴中来了。他们不从我口里榨出东西来，是走不出这个虎口的。算了，我又何碍于那杀我的局长这般人？我还是想自己早日脱身的办法吧！ 第二天，我把局长和他背后的粮食部长官商一体，买空卖空，沉空船报海损的事说了。老会计高兴得不得了，说：“这就对了，有你的好处，果然你是一个明白人。”我在这里又成了明白人了。 到底来了“好处”，他们真给我送来五石米的条子。还说，这是我开了口的报酬，以后只要我懂事，当明白人，还有更大的好处。于是有这样那样的人来访问我这个明白人来了。问情况，写材料，还有新闻记者来采访、照相。一下这个山城（我现在才知道，我现在是住在山城的一个公馆里了）像开了锅，报纸登了大消息，还有添油加醋的活生生的描写，什么《部长沉船记》，什么《裕民粮食公司内幕》，特别是把谋杀我的过程前前后后，像写侦探小说一样，离奇古怪地写在报上，连我没有亲身经历过，甚至连想也没有那么想过的事都写上了。好像那些新闻记者一直跟在我的身边，进行采访，和我一块儿装进麻袋，一块儿沉的河，并且随时钻进我的脑子里去观察过一样。对于新闻记者们的创造才能，我是不能不表示赞叹的。然而那惹是生非、造谣惑众的本领，也太叫我惊奇了。从此我才敬服我一个在报馆里工作的朋友对我说的经验之谈：“干什么事都可以，就不要去干这样工作。看起来叫'无冕之王'，好不神气。其实那些新闻记者成天在这个衙门、那个公馆卖弄风情、百依百顺，不是粉饰太平，就是造谣生事。骗了自己，还要去骗老百姓。”我看一点不假，这些报纸其实不过是造谣公司。 这一下引起轩然大波，参政会质问粮食部长，还有什么政府的惩戒委员会开会弹劾呀，闹得满城风雨，就像一场闹剧，一幕一幕演个不完。最后到底以粮食部长引咎辞职，我们那位局长撤职查办了事。 至于我呢？不是有好处兑现了吗？不是从为五斗米折腰上升到为五石米折腰吗？你们真要想得那么天真，你们的脑袋瓜子就是无可救药了。我当时就没有那么想过。我只想，我才从狼嘴里出来，又跳进了虎口，能活着逃出来，就算幸运。果然，当他们从我身上榨取到一切有利于他们进行斗争的材料，再也没有油水可榨了，而他们的官司打赢，粮食部长的肥缺抓到他们的手里去了。富国公司从此官商一体，生意兴隆，财源茂盛了。我的存在对于他们是无足轻重的，甚至是不可忍受的时刻快来了，于是在我面前又出现了老会计。 老会计又来看我来了。他，看样子是高升了，一看他那高贵的头的朝天的角度，走动起来他那两肩摇动的幅度，他那两袖生风的烈度和他那两脚的跨度，就可以知道。甚至说话的声音也似乎随同他的高升而变调了，从重浊的低音变成高八度了。他一进门就开门见山地说：“恭喜你完成了伟大的历史使命，该你高升了。” 我一听“高升”二字，就明白是什么意思了，是该我滚蛋的时候了。我乐得这样。 他走的时候还回头向我警告：“向你进一句忠言：有人对你是不会善罢甘休的。不要说留在这个城市了，就是留在这个公馆里，也不一定保险，你还是隐姓埋名，远走高飞的好。” 这点自知之明我还是有的，我不能忘记血的教训。死亡每天都在阴暗的角落里向我窥视。我不愿意忽然变成轰动一时的新闻材料：某某人自行失足落水呀，或者某人自行撞到别人的枪弹头上去了呀，以及各种20世纪摩登的奇怪死法——这种怪事在我们*的报纸上是司空见惯的。因此在某一天清晨，我不辞而别，从公馆逃走了，也许这正是他们希望的。 从此我就隐姓埋名，流落到这个冷衙门里来了。可惜我除开做报销会计，把我的双手双脚的积极性都发挥起来，并且把半条街的商号都开在我的抽屉里这样一点本事外，别的什么也不会。在这里还是天天干报销的工作，但愿我不会某一天连自己也报销了。 Who knows?这世道！