Chapter 113: Opportunity and Responsibility

“What is it?” Liu Xing asked curiously.

As for Xie Lionhead taking office as the head of Zhangmu Township, he was not surprised in the least. He had already known about it from his previous life.

Still, to keep Xie Lionhead from noticing anything unusual, he deliberately paused for a moment, then put on an exaggerated look of surprise.

The reaction pleased Xie Lionhead greatly. After smiling, he said, “Now that I’m taking over as head of Zhangmu Township, I can’t continue acting carefree and irresponsible like before. At the very least, I can’t keep Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and the others around me anymore. So I want you to keep an eye on them. If possible, find them some work so they can make a living.”

“Of course, I’m not asking you to look after them for free. The market in Laowu Village has always been lacking a manager, and I think you’d be quite suitable for the job. If you’re willing, you can take office whenever you like.” After a pause, Xie Lionhead added another sentence.

“What?” This time Liu Xing was genuinely stunned.

To get him to manage Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and the other young toughs, Xie Lionhead was actually offering him control of the market as bait. If it had been anyone else, they would have agreed without a second thought.

But after recovering from his surprise, Liu Xing hesitated. In fact, his first impulse was to refuse.

The reason was simple: he had no authority whatsoever in front of Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and the other ruffians. If he truly took over the market, he was afraid he would eventually be beaten to death.

Besides, if he wanted to make money, he had no need to rely on the market.

So…

After thinking it over, he decided that refusing was still the best option.

Xie Lionhead had long since seen through Liu Xing’s thoughts. Before Liu Xing could speak, he hurriedly said, “Don’t rush to refuse. I didn’t ask you to manage the market and look after Zhao Gou and the others on a whim. I’ve thought it through carefully.

“First, you paid to save Zhao Gou’s mother. He’s extremely grateful to you now and will definitely listen to you in the future. As for Zhao Liang, you helped him escape prison. That was practically a second chance at life. No matter how badly he behaves elsewhere, he won’t dare act up in front of you.

“Second, you’re exceptionally clever. You never panic when trouble arises. That was obvious when you stood face-to-face with Xiao Daode and confronted him without giving an inch.

“Third, if I hand management of the market to Zhao Gou, something disastrous is bound to happen sooner or later. You can tell from the fact that he collects stall fees yet can’t even support his own family.

“So no matter what, don’t refuse. Otherwise, I honestly won’t know whom to find to take over this mess.”

There was no need for him to be evasive in front of Liu Xing.

His sincerity was obvious from the way he had called the position a mess.

Liu Xing understood what Xie Lionhead meant. After all, Laowu Village had the only market in the entire township.

If the people under him managed it well, Xie Lionhead would certainly gain prestige. It might even help him on the road to a promotion.

But if Liu Xing took over…

He seemed to have neither the time nor the energy to deal with it.

With that thought, Liu Xing fell into silence.

Seeing this, Xie Lionhead produced his final trump card. “If you’re willing to take over the market and manage Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and the others, then officially, you’ll also have authority over the supply and marketing cooperative. At the very least, when it comes to buying and selling, you won’t have to be constrained by the cooperative.”

Those words were actually Director Ding and Director Wu’s idea.

Their purpose was to protect Liu Xing from being bullied by the Xiao family.

Xie Lionhead had not wanted to reveal this so soon, but when he saw that Liu Xing still had not agreed to his conditions, he had no choice but to bring it up.

That was also the real reason he had come to the market to find Liu Xing today. Otherwise, he would never have considered Liu Xing for the position of market manager. It was not that he distrusted Liu Xing or doubted his abilities—there were plenty of suitable people around him.

“Is that really true?” Liu Xing was finally tempted.

He had always been worried that the supply and marketing cooperative would oppose him once his shoe store opened.

Even though Xiao Daode had been arrested and Xiao Yang had been driven away by him, that concern still remained.

“Of course it’s true.” Xie Lionhead smiled and stroked his beard.

“All right. I’ll agree to your conditions for now. If I can’t handle the job, I can simply resign.” Liu Xing smiled as well, confidence shining in his eyes.

“How could you fail to manage a little market with your intelligence and ability?”

“Don’t underestimate the position, though. You’ll be entitled to involve yourself in every matter, large or small, connected with the market. The office may not be high-ranking, but you’ll be overseeing a great many business owners.” Xie Lionhead reminded him with a teasing smile.

“Do you think I don’t know that if I do a poor job, all I’ll get is abuse?” Liu Xing could not help saying.

“That’s true.” As someone who had been through it himself, Xie Lionhead understood perfectly. After glancing at the time on his watch with an awkward grin, he said, “Since you’ve agreed, I’ll go explain everything to Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and the others.”

“Wait. I have a few things I need your help with too!” Liu Xing quickly called out.

“Oh?” Xie Lionhead stood with his hands behind his back and listened.

“There’s no glass for sale in this market. Does your black market have any?” Liu Xing asked softly. “If it does, I’ll buy some from you in a couple of days. I need it for the shoe cabinets.”

“We have plenty. Just come to the black market and find me. If I’m not there, you can look for Boss Zhong or Zhou Can.” Xie Lionhead replied.

“Good!” Liu Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

If there was no glass, or if he needed ration coupons to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative, things would become very troublesome.

“Then I’ll go speak to Zhao Gou about what we discussed.” Xie Lionhead patted Liu Xing on the shoulder, turned around, and walked toward Zhao Gou and Zhao Liang, who were chatting by the roadside.

Liu Xing paid no attention to their conversation and instead headed into the kitchen.

In front of the stove, Liu Dongju was clearing away the bowls and chopsticks, while Zhao Dongkui was helping beside her.

When Zhao Dongkui saw Liu Xing enter, he hurriedly gathered up all the gift money they had received and placed it in Liu Xing’s hands.

“Take this money. Consider it payment for the blue-brick house you built for us.”

“There isn’t much—just a little over five hundred yuan,” Liu Dongju added. “If it isn’t enough, I’ll pay you back once I’ve earned some money.”

In truth, if Xie Lionhead, Boss Zhong, Zhou Can, Zhao Gou, and the others had not also given the couple gifts, there would not have been much money to give Liu Xing—two hundred yuan at most.

After all, in Laowu Village, the usual gift was only three yuan.

Even close relatives generally gave no more than five.

Looking at the money in his hands, Liu Xing was extremely annoyed. “Are you looking down on me? Even if I were taking back the cost of building the blue-brick house, it wouldn’t be this much! The soil tiles and white bricks cost no more than two hundred yuan altogether.”

When he saw that Zhao Dongkui and Liu Dongju were not listening to him at all, Liu Xing frowned and was about to persuade them again. Then he suddenly realized what was going on.

“I understand now. You’re worried that after accepting gifts from Zhao Gou, Xie Zhong, Zhou Can, and the others, you won’t be able to sleep peacefully at night, aren’t you?”

“How about this? Give me all the gift money they contributed. If any of them has a wedding or a funeral in the future, I’ll attend on your behalf and return the favor.”

After a pause, Liu Xing looked at Zhao Dongkui and added another sentence.

Hearing this, Zhao Dongkui turned hesitantly toward Liu Dongju.

“That’s fine. Listen to him,” Liu Dongju said after thinking it over.

Zhao Dongkui took out three hundred and sixty yuan from the gift money and handed it to Liu Xing. “Now that the house is finished, whitewashing the walls and laying the floor shouldn’t take more than two days. When are you planning to open the shoe store?”

Liu Dongju also looked at Liu Xing curiously.

She was genuinely looking forward to seeing how well the shoe store would do once it opened.

“Probably May thirteenth,” Liu Xing replied after thinking for a moment.

He had chosen that date because the market in Laowu Village was held on the third and eighth of every month.

May thirteenth was a market day, which meant that opening the store then would naturally guarantee plenty of foot traffic.

“I think that’s a good day too,” Liu Dongju said in agreement.

Zhao Dongkui naturally had no objection.

“Still, there are some troublesome issues. The biggest one is the shoe supply. The store is about to open, but we haven’t produced many pairs yet. So unless something unexpected happens, I’ll have to go back tomorrow and try to prepare a thousand pairs before the opening.”

Liu Xing shared his thoughts with them.

“You do need to go back. Mother said that Zhao Xiaomo and Kang Hu still aren’t very skilled at making shoes, and even Sixth Aunt’s workmanship isn’t good enough,” Liu Dongju said.

“I know.” Liu Xing nodded.

Before his mother had left the wedding banquet, she had briefly told him about the situation at home.

After all, Zhao Xiaomo, Kang Hu, and Sixth Aunt had not been making shoes for long. It would have been strange if their skills had already reached perfection.

“But I can’t go back today.” Liu Xing heard Xie Lionhead calling for him outside. After putting away the money Zhao Dongkui had given him, he smiled and walked out of the kitchen.