Chapter 16: Another Two Hundred Extorted! Li Junsheng Heads to the Black Market and Gets...

Li Junsheng readily agreed and held up two fingers to Chen Dazhu.
“All right, just give me another two hundred.”
It was exactly the same amount he had given his second son, Li Guohua.
But clearly, he was asking a bit much.
As soon as he named his price, Chen Zhiyuan cried out in shock, “Two hundred?! Uncle Li, are you out of your mind?”
“Who charges two hundred just to get a certificate from the factory? Are you trying to swindle us?”
Chen Dazhu didn’t stop Chen Zhiyuan from speaking, because he, too, thought it was excessive.
He had expected just a few yuan, maybe ten or so—yet Li Junsheng opened his mouth and asked for two hundred!
He could barely keep his polite smile in place.
“Old Li, two hundred is way too much… The thousand I gave you is everything I’ve managed to save in a lifetime, I really don’t have another two hundred to spare. Could you maybe lower it a bit?”
Ma Yulian chimed in, “Exactly! Didn’t you work in that factory for all those years for nothing? Don’t you have any connections?”
“Two hundred yuan for a lousy certificate—are you the one robbing people, or are they?”
“If you think it’s too much, why don’t you go talk to them yourselves? See if they’ll even process it after taking your two hundred.”
Li Junsheng leaned back in his chair, making it clear he was ready to drop the matter altogether.
Chen Dazhu and Ma Yulian gnashed their teeth in frustration at his attitude. They hadn’t expected him to be so high-handed.
If the factory didn’t insist on having Li Junsheng himself process the transfer certificate, Ma Yulian would have sorted it herself long ago!
The atmosphere in the living room was tense; Chen Dazhu stared at Li Junsheng, unable to say a word, and the two were locked in a stalemate.
Li Junsheng simply closed his eyes to rest, inwardly sneering.
Now that Chen Dazhu had paid him a thousand, he would hardly give up halfway.
So Li Junsheng wasn’t worried at all about getting that extra two hundred; he played his hand boldly, knowing he held all the cards!
Chen Zhiyuan, however, pulled a long face and said coldly, “No, two hundred is out of the question, Uncle Li. Name a different price. If you really want two hundred, then forget it—we’ll cancel the whole thing and you can give my dad back his thousand!”
Chen Zhiyuan was betting that Li Junsheng couldn’t produce the full thousand now, hoping to force him to make the trip for nothing.
“Are you serious? You’re willing to give up the job at the machinery factory?” Li Junsheng’s lips curled in a faint smile.
At this, Chen Dazhu glared at Chen Zhiyuan. “This is all your fault for meddling!”
After scolding his son, he turned back to Li Junsheng. “Old Li, don’t listen to Zhiyuan’s nonsense. Let me think about it.”
He then seriously weighed the pros and cons of giving up halfway or pressing on.
He and Ma Yulian had been planning for days to get Li Junsheng’s job!
Surely, they couldn’t back out now?
Even knowing Li Junsheng was extorting them, he couldn’t call him out.
He had no choice—he needed a favor.
Thinking this, Chen Dazhu gritted his teeth, hesitated a moment, and ultimately decided to pay.
“All right, two hundred it is.”
He began to scrape the money together.
He searched his bag, the change in his pockets, even the money stashed in his socks.
Still short, he started searching Chen Zhiyuan for cash.
“Dad! That’s my pocket money!”
Chen Zhiyuan protested, but couldn’t shake him off.
Li Junsheng watched Chen Dazhu’s desperate search and realized two hundred was truly his limit.
After much fuss, Chen Dazhu finally managed to scrape together the full amount, handing Li Junsheng a large wad of cash, his face dark with displeasure.
“Old Li, that’s all of it. Count it yourself.”
Li Junsheng nodded, counted the pile of small notes, and confirmed it was two hundred.
After pocketing the money, he gave Chen Dazhu a faintly mocking smile and quipped, “All right, magnanimous man, real talent! Otherwise, how could you dress yourself up like a big boss?”
Chen Dazhu looked respectable enough, but his actions were anything but.
In his previous life, Chen Dazhu and Ma Yulian had schemed against him, feeding off his very lifeblood!
Especially after he discovered their affair, Chen Dazhu had subjected him to endless torment, and ultimately, he’d died at their hands.
This time, Li Junsheng would see the tables turned—he would destroy Chen Dazhu in the same way!
A taste of his own medicine.
But right now, Chen Dazhu seemed distracted by Li Junsheng’s sarcastic words; he had invested too much and wanted nothing more than to secure the machinery factory job for his son as soon as possible.
He could not help urging Li Junsheng,
“Old Li, there’s no time to waste. You’ve got the money, now go get that certificate.”
Li Junsheng slipped the money into his pocket and replied airily, “What’s the rush? The factory workers have all gone home by now. At least let me have a meal and wait until working hours.”
“How can you think of eating at a time like this?”
Ma Yulian berated him, her frown so deep it could kill a fly.
Li Junsheng ignored her, went to the kitchen, and prepared himself something to eat.

He paid no mind to the anxious Chen father and son or Ma Yulian, mixing up a batter and frying himself two egg pancakes to eat.
The more upset Ma Yulian and Chen Dazhu became, the better Li Junsheng felt.
After eating his fill and wiping his mouth, he finally got ready to head to the factory.
Chen Zhiyuan, perhaps impatient or fearing Li Junsheng wouldn’t handle the matter properly, insisted on accompanying him—claiming he wanted to familiarize himself with the factory.
“Fine, come along then.”
Li Junsheng agreed, and when they arrived at the factory, he told Chen Zhiyuan to wander about as he wished while he went to find someone to redo the certificate.
After leaving the personnel director’s office, Li Junsheng handed the certificate straight to Chen Zhiyuan.
“Here you go. Take better care of it this time.”
Chen Zhiyuan was overjoyed to receive it and immediately wanted to go to the personnel director to take over Li Junsheng’s position—afraid that if he waited, Li Guojun would come rushing in to stop him.
Li Junsheng no longer concerned himself with them. His mind was on the batch of copper scrap in Section Chief Zhou’s hands; he left the factory and headed for the black market.
He had already spent seven hundred and fifty yuan to buy up all the scrap from Section Chief Zhou, and needed to sell quickly to recover his money!
From his past life, Li Junsheng remembered that a certain secretive stall in the market was run by a formidable broker called Old Dao, who specialized in just this kind of business.
After paying the entrance fee, he made his way to the hidden stall, stopped, and asked quietly, “Hey brother, do you know Old Dao?”
At his words, the stall owner, a man in his early thirties, looked him up and down.
Not only him, but several nearby stallholders also fixed their eyes on Li Junsheng, making him feel as though he was surrounded by wolves.
Looking back, Li Junsheng saw a group of loutish young men blocking his retreat.
“Old man, you clearly don’t know the rules of the black market! Today, we’ll teach you a lesson about what you should watch out for here.”
The stall owner exchanged a look with his lackey, who instantly threw a sack over Li Junsheng’s head.
Suddenly, he was blind, only able to feel himself being carried away at speed by several people!
After a long while, he was shoved into a truck, and the stall owner’s voice sounded right by his ear.
“Brother Dao, this guy came here asking for you by name!”